The Shark and the Stingray

Chapter 28

"He's fast." Chris says as we got out, I saw a boy with brown hair, "I'm not that fast, maybe all of you are just slow." He grins, "I hate this guy already." I had an ick mark, Rin held me back, he turns around and sees us, "Well, well well. Wanna go next?" He looks at Rin, he smirks, "Sounds fun." He snaps his goggle straps, "Just try and keep up," He walks to the edge of the pool, "Oh, someone's confident." He smirks, Mikhail holds his arm out, "He isn't worth your time, no matter how many people you beat or you can out swim, I'm still not going to agree to your deal." Mikhail says, "Why not? You've already seen how easily I can beat these guys." He sighs, "Your speed isn't the only thing I care about," Mikhail looks at him, "So what more do you want?" The boy asks, "If you must know. It's..." Mikhail points at the boys chest, "Muscles. You've got them but not really the kind I like." He shrugs, "What does that mean?!" The boy protests, I snickered, "Kinda sounds like Kou." I walk forward, "You see Rin-kun's muscles are Cho very good." He points at Rin, "Cho very what now?" The boy asks, "It's Japanese slang, it means amazing. I think you would've understood that." He says, I laughed, "It's not that Mikhail, it's just that nobody uses language like that anymore." I grabbed his shoulder, "Say, can I verse you! I saw your strokes, they were bold and confident, I want to race you!" I look at the boy, "Uh... I mean you saw all those guys I just beat earlier didn't you?" He points at the pile of worn out swimmers, I had an ick mark, "Are you underestimating me? You're starting to seem more and more like a jerk." I stand close to him and glare up at him, "Woah, woah. Easy girlie, I'll take you on." He smirks and gets on the blocks, "Don't patronise me." I spit out and I get on the blocks next to him, "What stroke? Your choice." He pulls his goggles down, "I only do the two hundred IM, that's my specialty." I say, he was taken aback, "What? Is that trouble for you?" I ask, "No. Not at all." He looks back forward, "Ready." Mikhail says, "Go!" He claps his hands together, we dive off the blocks.

"You were saying," I grinned as I rip my cap off and swing my goggles around my finger, "Looks like you got your ass handed to you by a girl." I pull myself out of the pool, all the boys stare at me, "That was amazing," Mikhail looks at me, "Where do you swim?" He asks, I sigh, "I'm not actually swimming anymore, competitively anyway. My last race was at nationals in my final year of high school, set a record too." I say, the boy's eyes widen, "Yuki. Yuki Miller, is that your name?" He hops out of the pool, "Yeah? Why?" I look at him, "Natsuya Kirishima. I watched your race, I didn't recognise you today but holy crap. That time was amazing. Two minutes and five seconds. You hold the world record for women's two hundred IM." He says, everyone's eyes almost popped out, I shrugged, "I'm focusing on studying now so I don't care about my time or how I swim anymore." I dive back into the water and do a leisurely stroke.

At the end of the day, Rin and I headed out of the Aquatic centre, "Yo." We turn to the side and we saw Natsuya, "Hey Yuki." He grins, I look at him, "Hey Natsuya..." I look at him, "What's your name?" He looks at Rin, "The name's Rin Matsuoka." He glares at him, "Really? Thought Rin was a girl's name." He says, I couldn't hold it in and I burst our laughing, "Look, no reason to be so uptight," He rests his arm on my head, I look at him, "Look sorry about before, I shouldn't have underestimated you or patronised you." He looks down at me, "Yeah nah it's fine. Sorry for holding a grudge on you before, let's start off fresh shall we." I smile, he nods, "Come on, it's my first time in Sydney, come show me around." He walks off, Rin and I blink at each other and follow him. We took him to a restaurant in Chinatown, he guzzled down another pint of beer, "You like your beer huh." Rin looks at him, "Yeah is that a problem?" He chuckles, "Just not sure it's a good idea for a competitive swimmer." Rin says, "Well I don't have a team so the only person I have to listen to is me." He grins, I furrow my brows, "Then what do you..." I was trying to think of an answer, "I win black prize money." He pulls out a book, "I don't follow?" I cock my head, "Okay, I spend my days travelling all around the world entering races that offer cash prizes. Naturally, I win, then I use the prize money I get to set off for a new place." He stabs his fork into the steak and eats it, "See, there's more than one way of a lifestyle for swimmer, a lot of people go this route." He swallows, "What's wrong?" He looks at Rin, "Uh nothing. It does seem like a waste of your talent though." He says, "Well enough about me, I heard you went to Sano." He looks at Rin, "Iwatobi kid right here." He points his fork at his face, we were taken aback, "Wait! Are you kidding, then do you know Haru? Sorry, I mean Haruka Nanase," Rin asks, "Haruka Nanase, yeah I know him. He started going to Iwatobi when I was in my third year." He nods, "You mean middle school right?" I ask, "Yeah, what school did you go to?" He looks at me, "Me? Oh no, I lived here. I only moved to Japan for high school when my dad got a job offer. I was born, raised and lived here my entire life otherwise." I grinned, "Then you, didn't you go to Sano middle?" He looks at Rin, "Oh, I actually was here in Australia too. I was an exchange student studying abroad focusing on swimming. That's when I met this headache." He grabs my head, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" I pry his fingers off, "Damn, you were here when you were that young? You're kinda cocky then weren't ya?" Natsuya grins, "Ya think so? Yeah maybe a little." He chuckles, "A little? More like a lot." I smirked, "You know Haruka was pretty cocky too, always said I only swim free. Constantly. Then again I heard he gave up on the sport. So what's he been up to recently? He's not really done with swimming is he?" He pouts himself another pint, "No, he picked it back up at high school. He and I along with a few friends started a swimming club right there with our school pool. Now he's training with his college team back home in Japan. He's aiming for the global stage same as this one." I point at Rin, "Funny, you two might end up being my little brother's rival." He closes his eyes and rests his face on his hand, "Oh you have a brother?" Rin asks, "Ah, Natsuya?" I ask, I look at him, "The poor guy's fell asleep," I giggled.

"Come on, keep it together." Rin had Natsuya's arm around his shoulders as he supported his weight and kept stumbling over his feet, "Oh thanks, I'm just staying here. Thanks for bringing me back." He says, "No problem." Rin smiles, "See ya later then, and if not, see you back in Japan." We wave, "Yeah, will do." He nods and heads in. The two of us caught the ferry back home, "Geez, that guy was so high maintenance," He flops onto our couch, "And you say I'm high maintenance, at least you don't have to drag my drunk body back to the house." I sit on him, "Any who, I wouldn't mind, even if I had to drag your drunk self back home. I'd do it a hundred times over if that meant you were safe." He strokes my leg, "Such a flirt." I leaned down and pecked his nose.

The next few days, Natsuya watched the boys train everyday, "You're still here trying to win over Mikhail?" I look at Natsuya as he stared at pool deck, Mikhail came up to the grandstands, "Stay all you like but I'm not changing my mind." He puts his fists on his hips, Natsuya smirks and reaches into his bag, "How about this!" He brings out a book, I burst out laughing, it was a book all on pictures of muscles, it was called 'Winning Muscles' "Haha! How's this?" He asks, Rin came up and stood behind Mikhail, "I already have that." He shrugs, "I should've know." Natsuya grabs another book, I started laughing even harder and I grabbed onto his shoulder for support, Mikhail gasped, "It's a rare find in Japan." He grins, "Coveted by muscle maniacs worldwide." HE smirks, "I'm pretty sure my little sister has the same one." Rin looks at it, Mikhail jumps, "Does she really?! You must introduce me to her!" He spins around towards Rin.

"So you're really leaving?" Rin and I were at the airport, "Yeah, think I'll head back home to Japan," Natsuya nods, "Geez, you're just like a free spirit aren't you?" I smiled, "What can I say? I can't stay in one place too long." He wheels his suitcase, "Well safe travels," Rin holds his arm up, "Yeah, see you when you're back home." The two knock forearms, "Look, you know when you set that record back at nationals?" Natsuya looks at me, I nod, "Well my little brother, his specialty is the two hundred IM too, he idolises you now. You two are the same age and you're able to create times and records like that. It's amazing so please. If one day you get to meet him, please race with him." Natsuya looks at me, I smile, "I'd love to do that." I nod, we waved till he turned the bend towards the departures.

"I can't get over how great all the Japanese proverbs are! Like time is muscle. Oh! And uh, one day your muscles won't be around, and... muscle is the key to everything. Which ons is your favourite Rin-kun, Yuki-chan?" He looks at us, "I-uh, don't have a preference." Rin shrugs, "Rin-kun please. They say those who don't care about muscle will one day cry about muscle," Mikhail wags his finger, we stopped and Rin and I watched the TV in front of us, the other members were also crowded around, "Who is that?" I point my finger at the screen, "Well now, looks like they're watching a video of my high school tournaments," Mikhail snaps his fingers, "No way..." Rin mutters, "What's this? Could it be you're captivated by my amazing muscles I had back in my prime?" He bends down, "Those strokes are really bold." Rin was captivated by the screen, "You think I was bold? Look at the fella swimming next to me, that's Ryuji, actually they used to call him Fully-Built Ryuji in those days. An unbelievable swimmer had a lot of competitive talent at a global level but then he gave up competitive swimming out of no where, I hear he's coaching overseas after his retirement. All the swimmers that train under him tend to pack on lots of muscle so now a lot of people call it Pile-It-On Ryuji." He says, "His swimming seems so familiar?" I touch my chin, "I could've sworn I've seen it somewhere, or maybe it was mum that mentioned it once," I think, "Oh well." I shrug, we continue walking.