The Shark and the Stingray

Chapter 22

"So! to finish up I think we should try a relay! What do you think?" Mako puts his hands on his hips, "Oh right!" "What's a relay?" The kids ask, I was in the middle of my last lap when I felt something grab my leg and pull me onto the other side of the lane rope, I screamed, "Mako! What the hell!" I slap his head, "That sounds so fun!" "So cool!" The kids gush, "It is fun." He smiles, "What did you do that for?" I ask again and splash a wave, "I'll have Yuki here help me demonstrate," He says, "We're doing a relay." He whispers, "Oh right." I grumble, still upset, I was about to finish my IM, "So she'll start on the other side of the pool and when she gets to my side, she'll give me a high five." He explains, I started swimming to the other side and I did a tumble turn before swimming back and I gave Mako a high five, "Then I swim, to the other side and I give the next person a high five and so on." He explains, "Woah! That tumble turn you did was so cool!" "I wanna know how to do that!" The kids clap and were all excited, "Well I'm sure Mako will teach you one day." I smile, "You can stand up and stop if you need to, I'll be in the middle if anyone needs help." Mako says, "Can I go back now?" I ask, "Yeah sorry," He claps his hands together and bows his head, I cup water and splash his face with it and dive under the lane rope. I was floating on my back when I realised it was Hayato's turn to swim, he didn't want to budge when Mako tried to encourage him, "I want Yuki." He cries, I stand up and dive under the lane rope, "Hey, Hayato," I hold his hand, "How about you try Mako's specialty. The backstroke, that way you can always see the sky and you won't be scared anymore." I say, his eyes shone, "I'll hold your hand the entire time, you've got my word." I help him float on his back, "And tummy, high up to the sky." I poke his belly, he giggles and pushes his stomach above the water, "Now, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick!" I encourage him as I help pull him along, I decided not to add the arms just yet, but just letting him float and kick, we passed the flags, "You see that, we've only got a meter left!" I say, he smiles and kicks harder, "You did it!" I stop walking back, he slowly puts his feet back to the ground, "Wow Hayato! You did the backstroke!" "That was so cool!" The two kids on this side claps and cheered him on, "Hayato!" Kisumi waved from above, he looked up and smiled at his big brother, "See, you did it Hayato." I smile, "I... I'm not afraid of the water anymore!" He looks at me, I smile, "Attaboy." I give him a high five.

After the lesson, Kisumi came down, Haru also met up with us, "Hey, thanks Yuki, now Hayato isn't scared of the water anymore!" He slings his arm around my shoulder, "Oh. It's no big, besides, I think you need to give that thanks to Mako, he was the one that gave me idea. After all, he said that doing backstroke made him not afraid of the water. If I let Hayato learn the way I did, I'd just traumatise him. Dad put me on his surfboard back at home and we rode a wave, we got dunked, next think you knew, I was swimming and that old geyser chucked me in the deep end hoping I's survive, yeah mum didn't talk to him for a week." I laughed, "Geez... talk about learning it the hard way. Anyway, I'm guessing you two are still swimming together?" He looks at Haru and Mako, "Yeah, we're actually getting ready for regionals soon. Rin and Sosuke are also competing." Mako nods, "Sosuke? Oh that's great, that must mean his shoulder's better." Kisumi says, I shot a look at Kisumi and dragged him away, "Shhh." I held a finger to my lips, "The boys don't know about it and he wanted it to be kept a secret. I only found out about it a few days ago." I whisper, "Oh... So he isn't better?" He asks, I shook my head, "He's still at rehab." I say, "Who's at rehab?" Haru walks over, "Crap." I flinched. 

"Still practicing? My goodness it's so late! It's past closing time and the guidance team is going to blow a gasket if they knew you boys were here at this hour." Miss Amakata walks out, we were at the school pool, training for regionals, "We'er coming up on the last week before regionals we gotta squeeze in all the practice we can." Mako says, "Our times are good but we need to tweak our exchanges if we want to be any good." Nagisa nods, "They've got a point, it can always be those final milliseconds that come first and second." I walk over to Mako, Nagisa and Miss A, "But what happens if you hit the water before your teammate doesn't touch the wall?" She asks, "Instant disqualification. It's just one of the risks you need to take if you're going to anticipate your teammates time." I sigh, "Miss A I know it's late but mastering this could mean the different between first and last if it's a close competition." Mako says, "Practice is running long I see." We all turn to the voice, "O-Oh, hello sir." Mako says, "Oh no, it's the principle, I'm dreadfully sorry sir I just told these boys it's time to wrap up." Miss A says, "Nah, you're fine, no harm done. Besides, it's not everyday someone gets scouted like you Nanase." He looks at Haru, "Every member of the faculty is as thrilled as can be. Do your school proud." He says, Haru looks down, "Yes sir." He says quietly.