harmonize_rpg | (no subject)

"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?"

"You're welcome, senpai," Miyume replied with a little giggle meant to sound as she was nervous and blushing at the compliment. However, her face appeared pretty calm aside from a slight sparkle of mischief in her eyes that Haruka couldn't see.

Miyume's hand moved. To an outside observer it appeared like she might pull Haruka facefirst in the water for a moment but then nothing happened. She simply took the older girl's hand and gave it a gentle handshake.

Haruka felt the other girl's hand (small, very soft, a little fragile) and tilted her head slightly, as though waiting for something. When it didn't come, she shrugged a little, smiled, and lightly pulled her hand away.

"There's best two out of three sometime? You can count."

"Sure, senpai. That sounds like fun."

Despite her loss, Miyume's voice held genuine warmth. Though now she was starting to feel a little tired from all the swimming she'd done already and practice hadn't even started yet. Best not to strain herself too much.

"So... I was going to rest for a bit until practice starts. Would you like to join me?"

"Sure." She nodded and started to brace herself on the edge when she idly thought of something. "Huh. There's probably a rule against using the pool unsupervised or something too. Opps."

She didn't sound too repentant though. She braced herself on the edge and pulled herself up, shaking her hair a little before starting to untie it, letting it fall back loosely around her shoulders.

"Oh. I didn't even think of that," Miyume said, sounding just a teensy bit dismayed. She frowned slightly, a bit uncomfortable about breaking the rules.

Miyume took off her cap, shook her hair free in a way that reminded one more of a cocker spaniel coming in out of the rain than any kind of swimsuit model. She walked over to where she'd left her towel and used it to dry herself a little. Maybe the coach wouldn't notice so much if she wasn't quite so dripping wet.