harmonize_rpg | (no subject)

"Yeah, same here," Haruka replied. She reached the end of the loop and approached where she'd heard the voice, stopping when she was a short distance away.

"I'm Haruka Shikata, I'm a second year. Pleased to meet you?"

"Oh, you're Shikata-senpai?"

Miyume's voice perked up with clear delight. Judging from its sudden infusion of warmth, one could infer she was smiling and be correct.

"It's nice to meet you in person. I'm Hazama Miyume. We spoke on the network recently."

Haruka tilted her head slightly, before making the connection and smiling.

"So you're the adorable kouhai. Thought you'd have an adorable voice." She nodded as she committed what she thought and what she knew to memory in her mental map.

"Why, thank you, senpai!"

She giggled.

"So what brings you here so early?"

Miyume could hazard a guess from simply watching her. It wasn't difficult to ascertain the other girl was blind which sparked her curiosity as to how they could have conversed online. She didn't know much about what daily life was life for the blind but she also knew all too well how uncomfortable questions like those could be.

"I thought I would check out the pool before things got crowded," Haruka replied. "It's a bit easier to feel your way around when there isn't anyone to bump into you or wonder why you seem so fascinated with pool edges. And if I accidentally bash my head testing the water, I'm the only witness to my opps." She seemed to pause and turn her head upwards. "I guess now I have a witness to take care of if that does happen. Darn."

Haruka was confident she wouldn't be bumping into much, though.

"Your secret's safe with me," Miyume said with a soft laugh. "If that should happen, anyway. You seem like you know what you're doing. Am I right?"

Haruka would be able to hear the easy kindness in her tone but there was something about it that suggested no help would come from her corner.

"I wouldn't want to familiarize myself with this place with a crowd here either. It's awkward enough to navigate."

Her voice held a ring of certainty, as if she were speaking from personal experience.

"I have enough practice or can pretend I do," Haruka replied, with a smile. "Need me out of the way to familiarize yourself? Still time to get in the water before anyone else shows too."

"Oh, no, you're fine. I just need to test the water temperature. I'll be sure to stay out of your way."

Miyume walked over to the pools edge, knelt down more gracefully than any girl who walked with a cane honestly should, and dipped her hand in the water. Unlike most people, Miyume didn't pull her hand back out immediately and simply held it underwater.

"Okay then. I'll do the same."

Haruka heard where it sounded like the water was coming from, and then walked a bit further away, until she was out of Hazama's way. Satisfied with the distance, she checked with her mental map again and then took off her towel, tossing it in the general direction of her cane at the side with surprising accuracy.

Unlike Hazama, who stopped to feel the temperature, Haruka just jumped in, completely disappearing with a SPLASH. About ten second later, Haruka resurfaced, shaking her hair and suppressing a shiver.

"Darn. Freezing."

Was it really that cold? Miyume wondered.

She gazed down at her hand in the water and let out a little sigh. The water felt warm enough to her. Miyume sighed again and sat down on the pool's edge and put her feet in the water. This time the result was even warmer than it had been for her hands. The only thing left for her to do was submerge her whole body. That should help her get a sense for whether she'd be able to withstand the pool temperature.

Miyume pushed away from the pool side, allowing herself to fall into the water with a splash. Unlike Haruka, Miyume had gathered her hair under a snug pool cap.

As Hazama tested the water, Haruka began to get used to the water. She began to move around a bit more, carefully feeling and comparing to her already made mental map, dipping her feet down and submerging until she hit the bottom, memorizing it all.

After coming back up again, and hearing a 'splash', she asked Hazama, sounding genuinely curious, "How long have you been doing swim?

"About six or seven months, I think," Miyume replied.

As she'd suspected, the water felt very warm, more on her feet than the rest of her body but it definitely wasn't cold to her. She swam around a little, enjoying being able to move her limbs as freely as everyone else could. In the water, she felt free.

Impulsively, Miyume took off her cap, freeing her hair, and tossed it poolside.

"What about you? How long have you been swimming?"

"Huh. Not bad," Haruka said. She did a slow length, to get a general estimate of how long it would take to go from one side to the other before she'd have to switch. She pushed off the opposite wall and replied, as she came back,

"Since primary school I guess? My first school didn't have as many physical activities as most." She pushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. "The dreaded wall is much easier to avoid than the dreaded basketball smacking into your face. And water feels nice. Don't have to worry about overheating or being covered in sweat either."

"My doctor back in Tokyo said that I should try for exercise after I finished physical therapy."

And with that, Miyume took a deep breath and plunged deeper into the water. She swam the length, still submerged.

"Sound advice," Haruka replied with a nod, turning her head in Hazama's direction before she heard the other girl submerge. Haruka did another length, a bit faster than before, more confident as she knew her limits. When Hazama resurfaced, she asked,

"You actually enjoy it though?"

"I do. Very much."

It was one of the few questions about herself she could answer with certainty.

"In the water, I feel free," she explained further. "It's not a feeling I get to experience much. It's nice to be able to move without having to worry if I'm hurting myself and just can't tell the difference."

Then she submerged again.

"Huh. Interesting." Haruka commented.

She sounded light enough but she lingered on what she had been able to hear and infer from Hazama before they entered the pool. For a moment at least. Once the moment passed, she shrugged. She did another length, closer to her normal speed. She did a somersault in the deep end before pushed herself off and back, faster. When she next returned to the wall and heard Hazama surfaced.

"Up for a race then?" She asked with a smirk, daring the younger girl to try.

Miyume was catching her breath while treading water. She considered it carefully. She'd have to put her hair back up or otherwise be at a serious disadvantage. It was one thing to keep her hair down while she let herself go a little wild in the pool but another matter to swim a race like that.

"Sure," she said cheerfully. "I'm game, senpai. Just need to put my hair back up first."

She paddled toward the pool ladder.

"Okay then. Whenever you're ready?"

Haruka swam to the edge and pulled on her hair tie and shook her hair. She'd had hair in her usual long tail but she if Hazama was going to be tying up her hair too...

Her hair was already soaked so it took a bit more effort to style. However, with practiced movements she retied her hair into an easier to manage high pony tail, briefly wishing she had a hair clip, but it wasn't going to matter when she was moving in the water anyway. She tucked her bangs behind her ears and practiced submersions while she waited.

Miyume climbed out of the pool, leaning slightly over the edge to wring out as much water as she could before walking slowly over to her discarded swim cap. Upon finding it, she carefully put it back on, tucking as much of her hair up underneath it as she could. Once she was finished, she walked over to Haruka and stood in the next lane.

"Ready when you are, senpai," she said brightly.

When she heard that, she braced herself on the ledge before pushing herself up. She shook her head slightly to get some of the water off, and then settled at the edge of her lane, waiting long enough in case Hazama was still getting into position before saying,

"Okay. On three. One....two..."

Suddenly, she jumped, saying just before she landed in the water, "Three!"

The feint took Miyume completely by surprise and she stood there a moment, just blinking. She shook her head, smiling, and jumped in herself with a splash.

She kicked off the wall the best she could to get some propulsion. She swam quickly after Haruka managing to catch up to her easily enough.

Miyume began to gradually edge slowly ahead as she focused on the other side of the pool as nothing else existed.

Haruka heard Hazama catching up and she couldn't help but smile. And then she focused on her estimation of time versus pool length and adjusted her speec accordingly. She sped up, gaining some of the ground she was losing to Hazama.

They sounded fairly close-

However, Miyume wasn't quite able to make up the margin Haruka had gained from her headstart. The other girl touched the wall just before Miyume did. But rather than call Haruka on her cheating, she simply smiled angelically.

"Good race, senpai. Congratulations on your win," she said, sounding just as normal as she always did, nothing at all in her tone suggesting even the possibility of her plotting any sort of revenge.

Haruka simply smiled back, as though she hadn't cheated. The smile was genuine though and so was how she sounded,

"Thanks. You are a very worthy opponent, oh great adorable kouhai."

She swam over, close to Hazama's lane. She held out her hand,

"Okay race?"