I know paddle boats are usually for two people, but imagine there's a big one for a whole group. -Rin

Day 7 - Seven swans a-swimming

It was the Christmas season, and as such, even the fearsome Sanada Genichiro tried to be more patient with his team, especially their youngest, Kirihara Akaya. But right now he was having quite a bit of trouble with that. It was hard to be patient when he was peddling a paddle boat as fast as he could, with people asking him to go faster.

This whole mess had started when Akaya asked if the Rikkai regulars could go to a nearby lake for the day. Yukimura had agreed, since it was around the holidays. They'd rented a paddleboat and forced Jackal and Sanada to pedal.

There were swans out on the lake, and Akaya had brought several loaves of bread to feed them with. At the moment, Niou was throwing the bread *at* the birds, rather than to them, trying to see if he could hit them. Yagyuu watched, considering joining him.

Akaya was leaning as far over the side of the boat as he could, trying to get the swans to eat out of his hand. Marui was holding onto Akaya's shirt in an effort to keep him from falling overboard. Yukimura sat in the prow, as if surveying his kingdom. Renji was in the back with his notebook, calculating the chances of Akaya falling in (98.7%), Niou getting in some sort of trouble (93.4%), and the boat being overturned, soaking everyone (83.5%).

Yukimura looked back at Sanada and Jackal. "Can you go a little faster, please?" He smiled in his mildly terrifying way. Yagyuu had joined Niou in annoying the birds. Jackal grimaced, but sped up nonetheless, forcing Sanada to match his pace to keep the boat from going in circles.

Niou and Yagyuu had by now drawn most of the swans on the lake to the side of the boat. Akaya was still trying to get the same swan to eat from his hand, and still failing. Renji was concerned with the 99.99% chance his notebook would get wet, and wished he had something waterproof to put it in.

After a few minutes at the faster pace, Jackal spoke up. "Anyone else want to take a turn pedaling?" He sounded hopeful, but he knew no one would trade with him. Marui was the only one to reply.

"Can't you go any faster? I wanna get back to the shore for lunch." They had brought a picnic, and the cupcakes were calling to the tensai.

"If you want to go faster, you can pedal." Jackal was irked.

Marui decided he didn't want to wait for lunch, and tried to reach the picnic basket with one hand, since he was still holding a fistful of Akaya's shirt in the other. He was almost there, with his fingertips touching the basket, when Akaya suddenly leaned over even more, having spotted a fish. Marui was unprepared and off balance, and fell in the direction Akaya had jerked him, knocking into Akaya, who began flailing wildly in a vain attempt not to fall into the water.

Unfortunately, all this did was cause the boat to rock dangerously. Then Niou stood up, and the whole thing flipped over, dumping them in the lake. Akaya and Marui began arguing over whose fault it was the second their mouths were above water.

Yagyuu surfaced next to Niou. "You did that on purpose, didn't you." It was a rhetorical question, they both knew he had taken advantage of the situation and made it worse. Niou grinned.

"Weren't you just saying earlier how nice it would be to go for a swim?"