Next pair is Futakao and next vacation location is the hotel pool!

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

Chapter 3. The Pool

"Fuuutaaabaaa-haaan, hurry! We're wasting the day!"

"Quit rushin' me would ya? And we're not wastin' anything. We've only been here five minutes!"

Kaoruko has already gotten changed into her frilly blue two-piece bathing suit, stepped into her sandals, and is now waiting impatiently at the door ready to leave.

Futaba, on the other hand, is still in the bathroom finishing changing into her favorite sporty swimsuit. She can't remember the last time she's really gotten to swim for fun, without the premise of a play hovering over her head.

"I think a hundred laps is good to start," she coaches herself in the mirror. A tapping comes on the door.

"Futaba-han? If you're not out in the next 30 seconds I'm leaving you."

"Yeah, yeah." Futaba sighs and opens the door, finding Kaoruko already with her bag and ready to leave. "Geez," Futaba chuckles. "When we've gotta do something important like go grocery shopping or get to class you take your sweet time. But when it's the pool-"

"This is an entirely different occasion," Kaoruko says. "We go to class every day and we food shop every week. But we only get to go to a hotel pool once a year, if that!"

"Right." Futaba retreats to the beds and gets her bag, pulling out her sandals to step into. "So what exactly do you plan on doin' that's got you chompin' at the bit?"

"Why, I'll be working on my tan, of course!"

"Your tan. Got it…"

"Was that a snicker I heard?"

"No way."

Kaoruko huffs and crosses her arms, but actually seems to forget right away that she was annoyed just a second ago.

"Either way your 30 seconds are up. I'm going."

"Hold up, I'm right behind ya."

With their bags on their shoulders, the two of them exit their hotel room and start down the hallway to the elevators.

"Feels kinda weird, huh?" Futaba says as they step onto an empty cart. "To be wearin' bathing suits on the way down when we were wearin' uniforms on the way up."

"Not so much weird as it is cold," Kaoruko whimpers, clutching herself into a hug. "They're blasting the air conditioning way too much!"

"I'm sure you'll be dyin' to get back into it once we're done outside."

When they reach the lobby they make quick work of following the little signs that lead to the outdoor pool. Once they push open the door and step out, they're immediately greeted by a strong beam of sunlight. Kaoruko yelps and pulls her sunglasses down over her eyes. Futaba laughs.

"What'd you expect?"

"I feel like I'm blinded!"

"C'mon, you." Futaba takes her by the hand and begins guiding her down the sidewalk toward the enclosed pool area. There's a sign on the front of the gate stating all of the pool rules. Kaoruko mulls it over briefly.

"Oh dear, Futaba-han. It says children cannot be left unattended by an adult."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, you could easily pass for a child-"

"I'm gonna dunk your ass, Kaoruko!"

"Kyaaa, no-!"

Futaba pulls her into a light choke-hold and ruffles her hair until she yelps for mercy.

They quiet down before entering the pool area, finding it surprisingly empty. Other than the two of them, there are only four children in the shallow end with a few parents sitting nearby, and one girl at the lifeguard stand.

"Huh," Futaba mumbles. "Slow day. Guess everyone's at the beach."

"All the better for us~ Come, let's get chairs in the sun!"

Kaoruko leads her to the selection of empty chairs, ponders for a moment, and then selects two lounge chairs right in the center of the sunlight. They lay out their towels and put down their bags, then start applying sunscreen.

Futaba is already feeling the energy coursing through her; the long bus ride from school had given her time to get fired-up, so now it's finally time to let loose and work out. But before she can head for the water, there's a soft whine from the chair beside her.

"Futaba-han? Be a dear and get my back, would you?" Kaoruko holds up her sunscreen bottle expectantly. Futata heaves another sigh.

"Yeah, yeah." She grabs Kaoruko's towel on the chair beneath her and gives a slight tug, flipping her over onto her stomach. Kaoruko shrieks.

"H-Hey, Futaba-han! Don't be so rough! I'm delicate!"

"Uh-huh."

"My, how barbaric…" Nonetheless Kaoruko folds her arms and lies still as Futaba begins rubbing sunscreen over the exposed skin of her back. Kaoruko sighs dreamily.

"This is the life~ Now for a nice tropical, fruity drink-"

"You can get that yourself." Futaba snaps the bottle closed and puts it down. "There. I'm swimmin' now, so try not to burn like a lobster."

"Oh?" Kaoruko rolls onto her side to peer up at her past her sunglasses. "What do you plan on doing in there?"

Futaba shrugs. "I was shootin' for a hundred laps. Maybe I'll work on some flips or something. Rules say we can't dive."

"I see," Kaoruko nods. "But only a hundred, Futaba-han? You can do better than that. I say, I wouldn't be impressed with anything fewer than one-fifty~"

"Who the hell is tryna impress you?" Futaba grabs the end of Kaoruko's towel and throws it over her face with a laugh before heading to the water. After Kaoruko's wrestled the towel off her head, she casually peers after her roommate.

"Perhaps I'll watch her," she mumbles. "For entertainment's sake."

The nice thing about sunglasses was that she could observe Futaba's routine without Futaba knowing she was watching her. So she props up the back of her lounge chair and leans back against it, crossing her arms behind her head as if she were resting.

But in truth, she keeps her eyes on her partner as Futaba lowers herself from the ladder in the deep end, opposite the younger children squealing and splashing on the shallow side.

Futaba swims above-water for a moment, getting used to the feeling of swimming after so long. She'd always prided herself at being decent with sports, but she didn't get too many opportunities to get into the water. The pool is fairly warm, which she's grateful for, and she gulps down a breath before going under.

Opening her eyes beneath the surface, a world of shimmering blue streaked with light and void of much sound greets her. She swims to the farthest wall on the deep end and comes back up, deciding she'll only lap the deep end and avoid the opposite side of the pool where the other guests are enjoying themselves.

She glances back at Kaoruko lying on her chair, and it looks like she's already fallen asleep. Futaba frowns a little; part of her had sort of wanted to show off to her. But she shrugs and gets into position to kick off the wall.

"All right," she mutters. "Hundred-fifty laps, then. No sweat." With this, she kicks off and starts her first lap.

And from her position at her chair, Kaoruko watches quietly, both admiring and envying the way Futaba can move so effortlessly in the water.

"She looks like a mackerel," she mutters. "Perfectly at home."

She gets comfortable in her seat, listening to the sounds of the children laughing, now accompanied by Futaba's minor splashing. When she really concentrates, she can hear the rush of the beach behind her.

Kaoruko watches her partner swim, counting each lap in her head. It really doesn't take Futaba very long to reach fifty laps, and she has to admit she's quite impressed. All the stamina exercises and dance lessons are really showing.

A yawn comes up her throat, and Kaoruko decides to close her eyes for real for a moment or two, rolling over onto her stomach again to enjoy the heat of the sun.

Meanwhile in the water, Futaba is doing her best to keep her energy levels up. She refuses to admit that she's starting to feel a little sore and tired by lap sixty-five.

A hundred is nothin'. And one-fifty is nothin'! I'll show her I can do that easily…

So she continues her laps, sometimes swimming above water and sometimes under, focused on the goal ahead.

Back on her chair, Kaoruko actually naps for longer than she'd intended. The last of Futaba's laps she remembers counting was somewhere in the lower fifties. But as she sits up now, she looks to the pool to hear her partner sputtering "one-twenty four."

Kaoruko's jaw drops as she tosses her sunglasses aside and gets to her feet.

But a sudden dizzy spell hits her, making her realize just how strong the sun's rays have become, and just how much her skin is sweltering. She sits back down rather heavily, putting a hand to her forehead with a soft moan.

"Ahh…"

And small as the sound is, Futaba still somehow hears it over the splashing of the water. She's grown up her entire life while being honed in on Kaoruko above anyone else. She stops her laps abruptly and snaps her head over to the chairs, finding her partner with her head in her hands, clearly unwell. Futaba breathlessly heads for the ladder, muscles tense in panic.

"Kaoruko?"

As she calls out, Kaoruko hears her and looks up. She slowly gets to her feet and staggers to the pool's edge.

"Futaba-han…"

Futaba climbs up the ladder and hauls herself out and onto solid ground just as Kaoruko reaches her. Futaba grabs both her hands tightly.

"Kaoruko!"

"Futaba-han-"

They both pause for a moment, looking one another over. Futaba is waterlogged and out-of-breath, and Kaoruko can feel her fingers have become pruny. And Kaoruko is clearly overheated, sweating and dizzy and much paler than she should be after only half an hour in the sun.

"What the hell, Kaoruko!" Futaba cries. "Why'd you stay in the sun so long? You should've moved to the shade if you were getting overheated!"

Kaoruko drops her gaze.

"Because… I wanted to watch you, Futaba-han… I can't see you from the shady spots…"

Futaba's jaw drops a little.

"You… were watching me?"

"Of course I was! Why do you think I-"

"All right, take it easy." Futaba puts an arm around her back and guides her back to their chairs, then sits down beside her. Kaoruko admittedly feels much better to be sitting again, but she hadn't missed the shiver in Futaba's skin.

"You're one to scold," she pouts. "Futaba-han, you're freezing! You were in the water for too long!"

"W-Well, I mean… you said you wouldn't be satisfied with fewer than a hundred-fifty, so-"

"You dummy! That doesn't mean you have to get hypothermia!"

"I don't have hypothermia," she sighs. "But you might have heatstroke."

"I most certainly do not… And don't change the subject." Kaoruko takes Futaba's cold hands in her hot ones, and when they touch they create a comfortable balance. "You didn't actually have to swim that much…"

"I know," Futaba mumbles. "You only said that cuz you were tryin' to push me to go higher, like you always do. I knew that you didn't really mean for me to get all exhausted. But I wanted to try it as much as I could, anyway."

"You're an idiot…"

"Look who's talkin'," Futaba chides her. "You damn-near passed out just so you could watch me swim."

"Well, I mean… I came here to be with you, didn't I…?" Kaoruko looks down into her lap, where their hands are entwined.

They're both quiet for a long moment, fiddling their fingers together and both thinking similarly; that they should've known better. They're on vacation, so now is no time for pride.

Futaba is just gathering herself to apologize when Kaoruko actually beats her to it.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I didn't mean to push you, Futaba-han."

"Hah? You weren't pushin' me."

"I put it in your head that you had to swim an absurd amount of laps."

"But I'm the one who kept goin' even after I was tired, so that's on me," Futaba says. "If anything, I should've been keepin' an eye on you so you wouldn't have gotten this bad."

"That's not your fault," Kaoruko huffs. "I should've been more aware, I suppose."

They meet each other's eyes for a moment, and smile, leaning their hot and cold foreheads against one another's.

"In any case," Kaoruko says. "You need to warm up or you'll catch a cold!" She pulls up her towel from the chair and tosses it over Futaba's head, then starts ruffling it all over her shoulders. Futaba is stuck in her clutches.

"O-Oy, Kaoruko! I can do it myself!"

But nonetheless, she lets Kaoruko keep fussing over her and drying her off for a moment, chuckling to herself. By the time she's finished, Kaoruko's hair is equally as ruffled as Futaba's is. Futaba grins, but it turns into a frown when she realizes Kaoruko still looks pretty pale. Holding the towel around her shoulders, Futaba reaches out a hand to rest it on her partner's forehead.

"Oy, you're still burnin' up. Did you drink some water?"

Kaoruko looks sheepishly away.

"I… may have left it in the room…"

"Dummy! Why didn't you say somethin'?" Futaba grabs her own bag and starts digging through it for her own water bottle and hands it to her. "Here."

"But you just swam so much! You need to-"

"Drink, Kaoruko!"

Kaoruko pouts to have been scolded like a child in public, but she has to admit her head is spinning and her throat is dry as sand. So she opens Futaba's water bottle and takes a few generous sips. When she finishes and hands it back to its owner, she already feels better. Futaba takes a drink herself, then wipes her mouth.

"You okay?"

Kaoruko gives her a light smile.

"I'll be fine."

"Good."

Kaoruko opens her arms just as Futaba leans in to hug her. Kaoruko's hot skin feels cozy pressed to Futaba's chilled skin, and the reverse is true of her cold temperature as opposed to Kaoruko's warm one.

They stay like that for a moment, until Futaba has stopped shivering and until Kaoruko has stopped panting. When they've both settled and had a moment to catch their breath, they ease back a little and share a smile.

"So," Futaba says. "Do ya wanna head back in?"

"Nonsense!" Kaoruko huffs. "It's hardly been an hour! I want to go swimming, too!"

Futaba grins.

"All right! Let's do it!" She stands, letting Kaoruko's towel fall back onto the chair before taking her hands. She helps Kaoruko up, making sure she isn't still dizzy before leading her over to the pool's edge.

Futaba gets into the water first, then turns and treads water waiting for her. Kaoruko dips in one toe before gradually stepping in and submerging herself bit by bit. Once she's in she gives a little sigh.

"My… it's quite nice."

"Right? Here, let's go slow."

Futaba leads them in a leisurely lap around the deep end, and Kaoruko follows beside her. They keep to themselves, sometimes going under and following one another, and sometimes just floating at the surface.

They stay in for a while, enjoying the warm water and the even warmer rays of the sun soaking into their skin.

Another hour or so passes by before they get out and return to their chairs, sharing Kaoruko's towel and Futaba's water bottle.

After a bit of rest and relaxation, both girls feel properly revitalized.

There's a small souvenir stand stationed across the street on the sidewalk, and they decide to venture over to pick something out.

"Nothing too big," Kaoruko mumbles to herself. "I wouldn't want to have more things to carry on my way back…"

"How about keychains?" Futaba suggests. "Here, I'm gettin' the shark! They're super cool and they're great swimmers."

"I should hope so," Kaoruko says. "They live in the ocean." She looks through the keychain selection and chooses a seal for herself. "They swim when they need to, but they're very big on sun-bathing and napping~"

They make their purchase, then walk back to the hotel to collect their belongings. By now, both their stomachs are rumbling.

"I think it's time for lunch," Futaba says, slinging an arm around her.

Kaoruko leans into her side.

"I agree."

Together they head back inside to check out the hotel restaurant's menu.

A/N: Ah the prideful idiots. How I love them... I got the idea of one being too hot and one being too cold so when they came together they were just right.

Please review!