The Heat of Summer (MikaYuu)

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰᴏᴜʀ - ꜰʀᴏɢꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀꜰʟɪᴇꜱ

(Pic source: dailymail.co.uk)

✰✰✰

Finding out could wait until after the swim meet, though. Guren wouldn't be home until evening, anyway—something about his new job—so Yuu figured he might as well stick around till the end.

Halftime had already ended, and the swimmers had moved on to something called "breaststroke." The youngest kids went first, starting from 8-and-unders and advancing to what was now 11-12s. Yuu and Mika were sitting side by side on a lounge chair, watching the kids circle their arms out and under their chests, their legs pulling in before kicking away, heads bobbing up and down in the water.

"I don't get it," Yuu said. "They look like frogs."

Mika giggled lightly. "That's a common joke here. But it makes more sense than butterfly, doesn't it? Frogs are better swimmers, after all."

Yuu gave him a blank stare.

"You know, butterfly. The stroke I did in the relay." He sighed. "Jeez, Yuu-chan, you really came to a swim meet knowing nothing about swimming, huh?"

"That's not true!" Yuu protested. "I know lots about swimming!"

"For example?" 

"For example..." He smirked triumphantly. "Frogs are better at it than butterflies."

Mika let out a louder laugh at that. "Oh! I guess you do know something, after all. I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

"Yeah, you better be."

"Hey, you guys," a tired-sounding voice spoke up. "You're hogging the whole chair. Can't you go sit somewhere else?"

It was Coach Narumi, his droopy brown eyes gazing at them wearily. After Shinya left, the two boys had taken his spot on the vinyl straps. Narumi was practically falling off the edge of his seat in an effort to maintain distance. 

Yuu furrowed his eyebrows at him. "Oi, we can sit wherever we want! Who do you think you are?"

Affronted, Narumi snapped back, "I'm the assistant coach! And this is the coaches' chair!"

"Don't see your name on it," Yuu said petulantly. 

"Ugh," the man muttered, then turned to Mika, whose lips were pursed in discomfort. "Who is this kid, Mika? Your friend? Not gonna lie, it's a little weird to see you hanging out with someone. Especially someone so annoying."

"Hey!"

"Um," Mika replied, shifting in his seat. 

Yuu shut up, waiting intently for his answer. Were they friends? Earlier, he'd referred to them as acquaintances, but that was earlier. Could it be different now? How long did it take before you could call someone a friend? Yuu wasn't sure, but, although he'd never admit it, he longed to hear words of affirmation from Mika's lips. 

"No," was what came out instead. "He's just here to talk to Coach Shinya. I'm keeping him company because he doesn't know anyone else, that's all."

Yuu's heart sank.

Suddenly, a girl of about twelve or thirteen dashed up to the blond, stopping just short of his chest. "Mikaaa!" A plain white dress flowered out above her knees, long magenta hair flowing freely behind her. Tears threatened to spill from her fuchsia eyes. "Help!"

"Mirai?" Yuu was surprised at how quickly Mika's voice changed, becoming soft and soothing in an instant. "What's wrong?"

The girl pointed frantically toward the grassy area near the fence. "Akane found a cicada, and it was really disgusting so I told her to put it down, but she just threw it at me! And now she's trying to feed it to the baby birds in the bushes and I'm too scared to get close! You've got to stop her!"