Whoo, back again! Higurashi Month 2019, because it has become one of my lowkey life goals to keep perpetuating this until it becomes a proper tradition for all three-and-a-half people in this graveyard of a fandom. And then keep doing it anyways, because tradition. If you wish to check out the prompt list, its on my tumblr page under the same username.

June 8th, 2019

Keiichi eyed the clear, glistening water with misgiving. Rena, of course, was already ankle-deep in the rushing stream that flowed through Hinamizawa, and looking at him expectantly. Even the school swimsuit she wore did not distract him from the obvious threat of the water she stood in.

The brunet swallowed hard, shifting from bare foot to bare foot.

It was bad enough to admit that he didn't know how to swim, at all. And it wasn't weird, no matter what Rena insisted –he'd just never had the opportunity or reason to learn, what with living in the city and mostly focusing on his grades. But then Mion had gleefully announced two days ago that they were going to the waterpark in Okinomiya for some club activities (and to hang out), and unless he wanted to risk the shame, and in all likelihood punishment games, for merely standing awkwardly in the shallows or on the deck for the duration of their visit, Keiichi needed to learn to swim now.

So with a reason given, he had to make an opportunity, and it was with a cringing sort of deference that he had pulled Rena aside on their walk home and mumbled that she needed to teach him how to swim.

Secretly.

There was a reason he'd asked Rena instead of Mion, or Shion, or any of the others, really: Keiichi knew the humiliation that would be heaped upon him, should the mint-haired club leader discover his weakness. Rena was understanding. She could teach him, and she could keep her mouth shut about it afterwards…or so he hoped.

"Keiichi-kun, you won't be able to learn to swim if you don't even get in the water." Rena pointed out with grim logic, smiling at him playfully. He scowled and reluctantly padded forward into the water, feeling it lap around his bare ankles and wash away the dust of the rocky beach. It felt nice. He could smell all the tiny green and growing things in the water, along with the scent of wet, sun-warmed stones. A few ribbonlike flickers of silver fish swarmed about his feet, then retreated just as swiftly as he moved again.

"So, Keiichi-kun, what is it you don't like about swimming?" Rena asked, tucking a strand of her auburn hair behind her ear as she sloshed over, blinking at him with benevolent curiosity. Keiichi flushed and averted his eyes from her swimsuit.

"Its not so much I'm scared…" he mumbled uncomfortably, scratching the back of his head. "It's more like I don't know what to do with it and don't trust it on that account."

Rena rolled her bared shoulders in a causal shrug. "Oh, well then, there's no reason for you to be worried. We can just get you used to the water, and then you won't have to be concerned about it at all!"

She beamed at him, and Keiichi yelped as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him over into a sitting position with a shriek and a splash of water.

"You know, if I wanted to be yanked around, I'd have asked Mion to teach me…" he said grouchily as he shifted a knee so that it wasn't pressed so hard against the rocks, shaking his head as droplets of water were flung everywhere from his tousled hair. Rena flushed and dropped her eyes.

"Sorry, Keiichi-kun…I thought if it was sudden, you wouldn't have time to get antsy about it."

"Eh, I'm fine." he hummed with a shrug, seeing the puppy-like droop of her body and bright blue eyes. "It's just like a bath, to be honest."

Rena's eyes sparkled as she perked up again, brightening at his reassurance. "Yeah! Its just like a bath! That's what I wanted to teach you, Keiichi-kun! Now swimming should be easy! Just follow me out into the deeper parts!"

She shuffled backwards in the water, and with a gulp, Keiichi followed her, carefully shifting over the polished stones of the streambed on his knees, and occasionally his hands, for the slick portions of flat rocks covered with algae. The water crept up higher around his body, until it touched his ribcage, and Rena, who was crouching, was immersed up to her neck.

"There now, Keiichi-kun!" Rena said brightly. "Try to paddle around a little, and if you feel uncomfortable or anything, you can just put your feet down!"

Experimentally, Keiichi put his hands palm-down on the stones and swung out his legs, letting the slower flow of the shallower current tug at his body as the water crept up to his own neck. It didn't seem to be anything he couldn't actively handle, and he swished his legs a little, trying to mimic the things he had seen in movies and been told about in books. It took a little while, but he slowly got the hang of pushing against the current to support himself, and of creating little eddies and currents of his own with his powerful young legs to keep himself afloat as he experimentally eased up on his arms, carrying his own weight by kicking and by floating.

A near-dunking soon had Rena showing him how to hold his breath and puff out his chest to float unassisted, how to keep air in his lungs and water from rushing down his nose without pinching it shut, and how to paddle with both arms and legs, face-up and face-down. They didn't have any goggles, but Rena told him he could try to keep his eyes open underwater if he felt like it, even though it wasn't very good for his eyes here and would be even worse in the chlorine-filled pool at the park.

Not to mention the only things to see here were rocks, the tiny silver fish, and Rena.

Well, Rena might be worth seeing, but it wasn't anything he couldn't see when they both surfaced for air. She looked really cute in the school swimsuit, though he kept his mind from pursuing any further down that train of thought because for one thing, it would be pathetically easy to drown him in vengeance right now, and for another, it was part of his ongoing crusade to Not Think of Club Members As Girls, At All, Ever.

Keiichi might have been an honors student, but he was also a shut-in studier, which meant his experiences with the X-chromosome-inclined were somewhat limited. But he had still seen a lot, with his former classmates and all their summer dramas, and he did not want to drag that petty, hormonal nonsense into the perfect synchronicity of the Hinamizawa Club. He and his friends went together like well-oiled cogs in a machine, and Keiichi knew that if he started looking at anyone in the club In That Way, things would start to fall apart. If any of the girls liked him except the one he was making goo-goo eyes at, there would be jealousy, and even if everything went perfectly and he and, say, Rena went out together as a couple with no disagreements from anyone in the club, the club would still start to fracture, because he and Rena would prioritize he-and-Rena things over club things, and in the club, lose their merciless, battle-royal mentality towards each other, the one thing that kept all the club members sharp and prevented an ignominious defeat.

So yeah. Keiichi was not looking at the swimsuit, or the person it was covering, or how well the person in the swimsuit fit the swimsuit –nope, not at all. Yup, strictly platonic looking, that was how he was doing it.

The afternoon passed a lot faster than Keiichi thought it would.

"Thanks for teaching me this, Rena." he said as the sun began to sink in the west, striking rays of gold over the rustling treetops as he rubbed himself down with a color-smudged, paint-smelling white towel. (He was going to have to put in a word with his dad about using the house towels for his work…again.)

"No problem, Keiichi-kun!" Rena chirped, shaking out her own pastel-colored towel from where it had been laying upon the dusty ground too long, and carelessly sweeping it over her shoulders like a cloak. She grinned at him as her wet hair fanned across her cheeks and the back of her neck like a lick of copper flame. "It was really fun! And now, when we go to the waterpark, Mion won't tease you as much!"

Keiichi huffed under his breath, pulling the towel down from his damp hair to lay it around his shoulders in the same manner as Rena. "Yeah, as much." he groaned in dismal agreement, turning to where they had left their sandals, higher up on the bank. He hitched his onto his feet, watching as Rena did the same, before they made their way up the slight, rocky incline towards the dirt path.

His back stiffened as Rena's arms stole around his wrist, cheeks flushing. "Uh- Rena, you, um-"

"Sorry, Keiichi-kun, but my shoes aren't really suited to walking on rock." Rena apologized absently, squeezing his arm a little closer to her smooth side as she wobbled slightly, the flat of her sandals slipping a bit on the polished, rounded rocks.

"Yes, that's it!" Keiichi almost shouted, face turning red. "I mean –yes, um, good, I don't mind. Thank you. Uh, for trusting me, I mean."

"No problem~!" Rena giggled, the light dancing of her bubbly voice making it very difficult to keep his thoughts Strictly Platonic as they walked and she kept her hold on his arm. "We're friends, aren't we, Keiichi-kun? Close friends, who trust each other implicitly."

"Y-Yeah…" Keiichi coughed, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand anxiously. "Just friends…"

An irk mark throbbed on the back of Rena's head as she waved to Keiichi-kun, though an innocently blissful smile was still pasted on her face.

The auburn-haired teen had been sure that this little swimming lesson would be enough to net her a confession, or at least make her own interest in Keiichi-kun clear. Maybe she was being too subtle for him? She'd thought that holding his arm all the way to her house was enough of a hint, but apparently Keiichi was even denser than she'd thought.

Well, at least this way there was no chance of him finding out that she had suggested the waterpark excursion to Mion.

AN: As a diehard Keiichi/Mion shipper, this one was weird to write, but the idea got stuck in my head nonetheless. And besides, in the interests of fairness, I don't feel its proper to force my ship exclusively on the readers of this fic. Bless Keiichi for being as dumb as a bag of hammers, and thus making every ship interpretation possible, 'cause he's sure as hell not going to notice the difference in how the girls are treating him.

10.48 AM, USA Central Time