Sora awoke to his mother rapping on his door.
"Sora, wake up!"
"Aww mom… do I hafta? He buried himself further in the sheets, trying to ignore her.
"Alright…" his mom conceded sarcastically. "I'll just have to tell your visitor that you can't come out today…"
Sora threw off the sheets and looked out the window for Riku's boat, but there were none aside from his mother's and his own. Quickly getting dressed, he ran down the stairs to the living room, where his guest had to be.
"Good morning, sleepyhead…" a lilting voice greeted him.
"Kairi!" Sora was taken by surprise. "What are you doing here? Where's Riku?"
"He's not here," she replied matter-of-factly. "The Mayor dropped me off."
"Oh." Forgetting his manners, he said: "Do you want some breakfast?"
"No, I already ate."
"Well, I'm starving," he said, walking into the kitchen. The slightly cold eggs and fish waiting for him were devoured quickly, and he gave his mom a quick hug before going back to the red-haired girl sitting on the couch. "Are we ready?"
"Yes, let's go." She got up and called to Sora's mother before leaving. "Bye Sora's mom! See you later!"
"Goodbye Sora, goodbye Kairi!" she responded. "Don't stay out too late!"
"We won't mom!" Sora untied the boat and helped his friend get in. "So where are we going, Kairi? Back to our island?"
"No," she said, glancing at the island behind her, barely able to make out a tall, tan shape throwing a round thing at a short, fast-moving shape, and the smaller one hitting the round shape back at the tall one. "After last night I realized I needed to learn how to swim."
Sora blushed slightly at the mention of last night.
"And I realized that Riku is too bossy, and Wakka or Tidus would just try to teach me how to hold my breath for ten minutes, so I picked you!"
"Wow…" Sora said, embarrassed. "I've never really taught anyone to swim before…"
"Well, I think if we go somewhere where no one can see us, then neither of us will get embarrassed…"
"That's a great idea!" Sora thought for a moment. "I think I have a good place."
The pool was about as big as Sora's house, but no deeper than three feet at the center. For a young girl no taller than three and a half feet, this was challenging enough. Kairi made Sora turn around as she removed her shirt and dress, revealing a one-piece purple bathing suit that the Mayor had given her.
"Okay, you can turn around now." She waded into the water as Sora took off his sandals, not as concerned about his clothes this time.
Their first lesson was holding breath. Sora wasn't a Blitzball player, and so he came back up after two minutes. Kairi barely lasted 30 seconds.
"That's alright, Kai," the brown haired boy said. "Next we'll learn floating…" They practiced a few more techniques, but as the day wore on it quickly turned into splashing fights and playing hide and seek around the lagoon. Both would easily have admitted that they were having the time of their lives.
