harmonize_rpg | (no subject)

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.

She finished with her hair, retying it back into her usual long pony tail. She walked carefully on the floor, aware of how much she was dripping and how slippery the floor could be. She eventually found her way over to where she'd tossed her towel.

"We can say we didn't read the student manual?" Haruka replied. "I didn't."

"I didn't, either," Miyume said, sounding more relieved. They still might get in trouble but at least, they wouldn't get reputations for being rule-breakers. Unless the coach was the strict, unforgiving sort.

Miyume walked over to a bench not far from where Haruka stood and sat down. She draped her towel across her legs and sat her cap down beside her.

"Doubt 99% of the school has. I think it's the same as 'I have read the terms of agreement' things. No one actually really cares," Haruka said.

She finished drying herself a little before retying the towel around her waist. She settled on the bench, a little ways away from Hazama.

"What's your other club?"

"Creative writing. We meet on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays."

Miyume combed her fingers through her hair, realizing that after swim practice was over, she'd need to attack with a hairbrush to keep it from getting any more tangled than it already was.

"Your other one is..." Miyume wracked her brain, trying to remember. "Drama, right?"

"I see," Haruka said. "Sort of obvious I guess? Your specialty's creative writing, right?

"Yep. We're on Wednesdays and Saturdays." She turned her head upwards. "Darn. Guess I can't shangai you into joining."