Swimming With the Fishes

Hibiya didn't know why he killed the mood, but he did.

It was a very simple thing, an invitation, a suggestion, a thought given voice. Even if Hibiya had run the idea through his head few dozen times or so, stirring up a ton of varying potential outcomes, this wasn't what he'd expected.

Like gosh, it was something so simple, just a single action that he'd suggested.

To swim or not to swim.

Hibiya had proposed this question to the Dan, having invited them over to the farm for a week. The novelty of living on a farm, seeing all the animals, and the view of the stars, it'd all worn away by the third day.

In its place, was the pain of having to smell animals everywhere, and the lack of high tech services and traditional big city food options. To rectify this, Hibiya suggested they all go swim with the fishes.

Of course, this idea was a complete bomb. It crashed like the red bean cola cake idea, in a mass distribution of glances to the side and quiet mumbles.

Still, Hibiya wasn't quite sure why swimming was such a negative amongst his friends. Fish were pretty swell animals, and a farm being near a beach that looked like a resort (which it was, as another source of revenue along with the petting zoo) was pretty rare.

So why hadn't anyone liked the idea?

Seto had laughed awkwardly, asking if he could use the bathroom, putting down the dog he had been holding.

Kido and Kano watched him go, and didn't respond.

The old hag, in a burst of uncharacteristic behavior, didn't say anything.

Shintaro didn't either, but that was understandable. He was itching to get back to the game console he'd smuggled in, the same one that Mo- the hag had confiscated. Takane seemed just as eager to get at it, their old rivalry flaring up.

Marry glanced around at everyone else, observing the silence and choosing not to comment.

Only Konoha, Hibiya's once rival, seemed not to care, although he knew that Konoha's nonchalance came from a genuine lack of knowledge rather than from dislike. The tall boy, unaware of the discomforting atmosphere around him, continued to bite into an apple, the third one that hour.

Hibiya, realizing what havoc his simple inquisition had wrought, changed the topic, talking about how annoying the free-range chickens were, and whatever other miscellaneous nonsense came to his mind at the time.

Even though the entire Dan had gone through the entire farm and its processes, and even poked fun at him because of it, Hibiya's attempts failed. The conversation barely picked up, and even then it was almost unwillingly, hesitantly.

With that failure on his mind, with the many minutes of silence his question had wrought, Hibiya had to wonder.

About what, someone who wanted to know what Hibiya was thinking at that particular moment might've asked.

That wonder, that curiosity, was of the Dan.

Hibiya had known this rag-tag collection of clashing personalities for a whole year now, and had bonded with them over deaths and consolation. He had been with them, joked with them, and everything, even with his old week-long rival, Konoha.

Yet, in wake of that long year that had passed by too fast, in light of all the things Hibiya had done with them, the time spent, how well did he know them?

Hibiya had been unaware that swimming was a big no-no.

Hibiya hadn't known how to break the silence, and bring everyone together again.

Hibiya couldn't even keep the conversation going again after his failure.

Hibiya could not, he had not, he would not.

Why did Hibiya even call himself their friend if he could so thoughtlessly, so mindlessly, bring up bad memories? How could Hibiya be a friend, a comrade, anything if he didn't know much at all about any one of them?

Whether it be Kido or Kano, Seto or Marry, Shintaro and the hag, or Takane and Konoha, what exactly did he know about them? Their pasts, their presents? Sure Hibiya lived in the same building as a good chunk of those people, but still, he still know them, he didn't fully understand them.

Hibiya knew that he shouldn't be able to fully understand someone in a year.

Hibiya knew that it was an awfully bold expectation to understand a group of people within a short time frame, even if they lived together.

Hibiya knew, this he was completely sure of, that he was by no means a perfect person, nor a good analyst of character.

Hibiya was wrong to have believed in himself more. It was a pipe dream, a false reality, a shattered illusion to have thought himself that close to the rest of the Dan. Hibiya didn't have some fancy long past relation to the other members.

Even the NEET Shintaro did, with his old waifu being the sister of Kido Kano and Seto.

Even the mindless Konoha did, having once been part of a closely knit group with Takane Ayano and Shintaro.

So even then, Hibiya reflected, he was still probably just a kid to the rest of the Dan. Even though he might consider himself their friend, to them, Hibiya might just be the kid they hang out with. They might humour him, they could praise him, but when time came to shoot, he was disposable, unnecessary.

Hibiya thought about a lot of things in the silence he'd caused, in those long long five minutes of waiting he had before Seto came back with three more dogs tailing him.

Then, almost like magic, almost as if someone had chanted the magic words annarasumanara, just like that, everyone looked up, got over whatever had troubled them, and laughed.

They laughed at Seto's predicament, where all the dogs vied for his attention, and then contested each other by trying to occupy as much of his body as possible.

They laughed at Marry's sad attempts at aiding the poor boy, doomed to fail from the start. She didn't do much, and the dogs clung to Seto like a cat to its sleep.

Even then, even though Hibiya laughed along with them, after the dogs finally calmed down, his thoughts came back to him. What was he to the Dan? Who was he, and what was he to them?

Consumed by the curiosity, ignoring the cat by his side, Hibiya spent a good portion of that night in quiet melancholy. He wondered, he thought, and he used the bathroom a lot.

Hibiya sipped a glass of water, much like the elaborate gentlemen with their wines, and fancied himself as one. In fact, the thought amused him to the point where he drank and drank in front of a mirror by himself, striking faces and changing his posture to suit his imagination.

Hibiya laughed, his mood soaring once more, ready to go back to his friends and spend the night talking. Then, someone knocked.

"Come in. You know you don't really need to knock, right?"

The door swung open and Shintaro shuffled in, casually dumping his rear beside Hibiya, holding a can of soda.

"I'd rather be safe than sorry. Again."

"That was a one time thing!"

Hibiya's face burned, remembering his panda suit. It really was warm and comfortable, but Shintaro walking in was… another thing entirely.

"Just to let you know…" Shintaro trailed off, glancing around the room.

Maybe the floral pattern was a bit distracting? Hibiya might've blushed, had he not already had the wonderful crimson shade upon his cheeks. The dazzling pink tones and shades illuminated the walls. Why his parents decorated his room like that, he didn't know, but Hiyori had teased him to no end.

"Ahem, ah, sorry, I thought you'd want to know that Seto and Momo drowned." Shintaro coughed.

"…What?" Hibiya stared at him, full attention on Shintaro.

"It was how they entered the heat haze. Seto tried to save his dog, and Momo drowned along with dad."

More unbelievable notes. Hibiya had never really brought up the topic of how they had all died before, but that was a little… unexpected. Sure, he knew they all died, but Hibiya had almost forgotten in the everyday happy life he'd lived in the past year.

"I-I see. Sorry, I should go apologize to you and everyone else. I'm very sorry." Hibiya stood and bowed deeply, then moved to find the rest of the Dan.

"No." Shintaro deadpanned, pulling Hibiya back onto the bed.

"What?"

"No need to. No one blames you for something you didn't know." Shintaro drank a long draught of his cola, and Hibiya watched in silence. For the first time in forever, he thought that maybe, just maybe, Shintaro might not be as uncool as he'd thought.

"Shintaro!" A screaming Takane flew through the door, nearly tripping over a set of books.

"Found. You. I have a score to settle, rematch now!" Shintaro sighed.

"You mean our 0:7624 score?"

"Shut up, I'm beating you today."

"That's what you said yesterday."

Hibiya watched as Takane dragged Shintaro out of the room, the taller boy not even bothering to struggle. He wondered if maybe he would be that close with the rest of them someday.

Then Takane popped her head back in.

"Hibiya, you coming? I need more witnesses to prove that I beat Shintaro."

Hibiya smiled lightly, pushing back the worries and anxious thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm coming."

That night, Takane did wondrously, changing the score of 0:7624 to 0:7645, as the whole Dan watched in fascination, Hibiya included.

PROMPT – Write about swimming.

Hmm. I may have gone somewhat off-topic from the prompt. Then again, I change my ideas a lot, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

I also changed the writing style somewhat, from bulky paragraphs to a million split sentences. It's a bit less heavy on the MENTAL CONTEMPLATION this way, or so I assume it would be if the entire conflict in this one-shot didn't take place in the form of MENTAL CONTEMPLATION.