Published at 25th of August 2019 10:14 pm

Book 1 Chapter 1 - Dive To Blue

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

The platform overlooked the restless blue. Whenever Tomoki stood at the tip of the concrete that jutted out from the diving platform, he was always hit by a deep sense of regret. Darn it, he thought. How could I be so careless that I just keep coming back here again and again?

A flight from a height of ten meters.

A dive at sixty kilometers per hour.

A mere 1.4 seconds of an aerial performance.

It really is quite ridiculous to somersault, twist the body, and get into a water entry position in such a short instance, all the while enduring that speed from that height.

Tomoki caught a glimpse of his feet, with his heels at the front of the platform and his cramped, rounded toes in the air. Don’t look down. Don’t think about it. If you hesitate, your feet won’t budge after that no matter what. Even though he knew this, Tomoki was still occasionally possessed by the “hesitation sickness”.

The diving pool shimmered from the setting sun shining through the window.

The transparent undulations of the water were like countless whorls of hair, entangled together.

A mysterious, elusive world of water awaited Tomoki far, far below.

When people learned that he was a diver, everyone always asked, “Aren’t you afraid?”. However, most people were thinking about the height of the diving platform, not the actual horrors hiding beneath it.

Water. That eerie liquid that never stayed still for even a moment. If you plunge into it at sixty kilometers per hour, the resistance created would be more similar to that of thin ice than water. If he succeeded in entering the water, Tomoki would feel the pleasurable sensation of diving into thin ice. Water always greeted a successful person warmly, so its welcome would feel like being wrapped in a soft gel.

But what if he failed? The water would then strike at his body without mercy. The impact will far greater than what someone watching would imagine it to be. Violent and dizzying blows to the consciousness, accompanied by nauseating pain, and it only gets worse when the whole body is paralyzed and sinks to the bottom of the water. Tomoki had actually fainted and almost drowned several times during practice, and had to be saved by his coach and teammates.

“Hey, Tomo, what are you looking at! Are there fish in the pool?” Coach Fujitani’s voice flew up from the poolside.

I must not look. Tomoki quickly glanced away from the water. He slowly turned his head back to look at Reiji and Ryou, who were waiting their turn on the diving platform’s staircase.

He resigned himself and faced the water, taking a deep breath. If he had been alone here, he would have turned back to the staircase dejectedly with the excuse that he was in terrible form today. But doing that in front of his teammates would be way too uncool, and most importantly, Coach Fujitani would never forgive him.

Tomoki stopped looking down and stared straight ahead instead. Focus on your lower body, concentrate harder, and plan out everything you do from now on with your head.

The forward reverse 1½ somersault in tuck position.

The success rate of the move isn’t bad. It’ll be all right. It’ll go okay for sure. While talking to himself, he spread both of his hands, as he bent his knees rhythmically to apply momentum, and jumped high—

Tomoki’s body was stationary at a certain point as he flew in midair, tracing a small circle backwards as he plunged down. In the next moment, when his fingertips that were joined together at the top of his head touched the water, Tomoki’s body was slightly angled as he submerged into it, causing a huge splash to go up.

The angle of entry was too shallow. His palm, which struck the water in a strange way, became numb. Nevertheless, in the water that bubbled up from his dive, as usual, Tomoki felt that indescribably comfortable feeling,

The sense of accomplishment from overcoming his fear, and the feeling of being relieved from tension.

And, the exhilaration of being in the water, not knowing whether it was friend or foe.

As he got out of the pool, he received some directions from Coach Fujitani for his performance just now.

“Your takeoff (1) is too half-hearted.”

“You’re straining your shoulder.”

“Your performance ends when your toes enter the water. Don’t lose focus until it’s all over.”

After nodding towards (2) each direction, Tomoki unsteadily walked toward the platform again. He could only see white, his skin still felt the sensation of being in water, and his feet felt light as he ascended the platform’s stairs, feeling a bit tired and strangely euphoric.

Maybe, just for a moment.

Something seized in those 1.4 seconds.

For the sake of making that pleasure his own, and more certain.

As if Tomoki was chasing some sort of rare animal, he set his sights on the platform, far above.

And indeed, as he set both feet on the edge once more…damn it, how did I so carelessly come to this place again…he was once again hit by an incorrigibly deep sense of regret.

_______________________________________________________________

“Tomo, you were frozen up there earlier.”

“He didn’t dive all that easily either. I was watching from behind and he looked pretty scared.”

During their break, as soon as they jumped into the Jacuzzi bath to warm themselves up, Reiji and Ryou both burst out talking as if they had beenwaiting for this moment.

“Sorry…I was stuck in a weird state of mind. It happens sometimes, and I’m not sure why I can’t dive.” Tomoki said.

Reiji nodded vigorously.

“Don’t worry, I get it. Something like ‘Even though I was able to dive yesterday and today, I might not be able to dive tomorrow’, right?”

“I just kept thinking about what will happen if I make a mistake in that situation. It doesn’t seem to be very good to imagine on the platform.”

“Imagination is the enemy!” Ryou said in a strange tone of voice.

“What, were you trying to copy Coach Nakanishi?”

“Yeah, he says that all the time. He says that when you’re on the platform, you should throw your imagination away, and become a rubber ball that can only bounce.”

“But Coach Fujitani doesn’t agree with that. He says to pretend you’re a bird, and then to immediately pretend you’re a fish. The most important thing is your mind’s performance, or something like that.”

“So, those two don’t agree with each other. Maybe that’s why Coach Nakanishi quit…” Tomoki’s voice sank.

“Coach Nakanishi didn’t quit because of his relationship with Coach Fujitani. It’s because our club’s going under soon, so he’s just moving to a more secure place.” Reiji replied, his voice sinking as well.

A silence dwelled between the three of them. Even though this topic depressed them every time they talked about it, they always ended up coming back to it, despite whatever they were talking about before.

“It really is just that. Out there, there’s clubs that have more famous, stronger divers, and have monthly salaries that are better than ours…”

“That’s not it…” Tomoki interrupted Ryou. “Coach Nakanishi didn’t transfer just for money, or fame.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, okay. We’ll leave it like that then.”

Hearing Ryou’s humouring tone, Tomoki was embarrassed at how childish he sounded, but he still didn’t want to hear about how Coach Nakanishi transferred from the club for money.

Tomoki, Reiji, and Ryou. The three of them were enrolled in the Mizuki Diving Club (MDC), which was directly managed by the major sports manufacturer Mizuki. There were rumors that the club was in deficit management and that its survival was in danger. Its divers included twenty-six elementary school students, seven middle school students, and one high school student. Twenty-six to seven to one. This ratio spoke to everybody about how difficult it is to continue diving as it is.

Diving was that kind of sport. It’s scary, painful, cold, and filled with constant suffering. Most people couldn’t put up with it and ended up quitting. Because of that, a good diver was hard to train, the competitions weren’t very lively, and it only got modest coverage on TV and in the newspapers, always overshadowed by the showier swimming races.

Of course, the reason for the downturn wasn’t just limited to the divers. There was a chronic shortage of coaches in the Japanese diving world. Even if a child with the physical aptitude and determination appeared, there weren’t many institutions that could nurture that talent in the current Japan.

That’s why six years ago the president of Mizuki made the bold first step to overcome this situation by establishing the MDC. The president being a former diver, he was especially enthusiastic about the development of the Japanese diving world, and set out to nurture the diver who would be responsible for the future of the diving world, at the risk of a large deficit. It was a wonderful aspiration.

However, he died. His hepatitis worsened, and the curtain was closed on his life in mid-January of this year.

Since then, the MDC that was left behind became a mere nuisance to Mizuki, and it shifted to become a more general swimming club. But there were constant rumors that it was going to be closed, and recently, those mere rumors seemed to be supported when one of the three coaches got poached by a Kansai diving club. Tomoki was doubly shocked when he learned that he’d been abandoned by his trusted coach, and that the MDC had been cornered to that extent.

“I also believe in Coach Nakanishi. It can’t be helped when your livelihood is on the line. It is a recession, after all.” Reiji said, like he was trying to wave away the humidity in the bathroom. “Besides, if the MDC survives without shutting down, Coach Nakanishi might come back.”

Tomoki was saved by that voice, but Ryou responded with an “Is that so”.

“I don’t think we’ll survive. But I know where Reiji’s confidence is coming from.”

“Youichi-kun.”

“Youichi-kun?”

“Our club has Youichi-kun. If he continues to be active in our club and help improve Mizuki’s image, won’t the executives regret it when they shut us down? That was what he was saying.”

“He said it himself?”

“From himself.”

“…Youichi-kun saying such a thing is so amazing.”

The three gave a big sigh at the same time as they relaxed.

“Well, it’s true that Youichi-kun is a huge asset to have, the problem is whether we can wait until then.”

When they returned to the pool while listening to Ryou’s cooled voice, Youichi had just climbed up the steps of the diving platform.

The twenty-five square-meter diving pool was filled to the brim with water. The Eidai-affiliated (3) Sakuragi High School Diving Club had appeared out of nowhere around the pool. Even at the one-meter springboard backing the window that reflected Akebono Bay, there was some university club already beginning water entry practice.

In the winter, when the outdoor pools couldn’t be used, all the divers scattered around Tokyo gathered around Akebono Bay like this—whether they want to or not. This was because the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center was the only facility in Tokyo that had an indoor diving pool.

“Fujitani-kun, for this one, try diving from the seven-meter (4) this time.” The advisor of the Sakuragi High School Diving Club, Coach Abe, called up to Youichi, who was on the ten-meter platform, from the poolside.

“Ok.”

Youichi nodded and went down to the 7.5-meter platform.

That was Youichi: MDC’s ace, Coach Fujitani’s son, and also a first-year student at Sakuragi High School. Just as divers in the Tokyo suburbs flocked to Akebono Bay, many high school students who intended to dive were enrolled at Sakuragi High. It was the only high school to have their own diving pool right on the premises.

Even if the MDC closed down, Youichi-kun would be fine because he could still dive at Sakuragi High.

Pushing those jealous thoughts out of his head, Tomoki looked up at Youichi on the platform.

Top divers attracted people from the moment they stood on the platform. You could understand the meaning of that phrase when you watch Youichi. His toned body. His stock-still posture. His sharp gaze. You wanted to find out how he was going to perform, and how much was he imposing on himself. Just the height of his will stood upright and was transmitted acutely. (?) Finally, Youichi’s knees stretched like springs, launching his body high into the air.

A backwards 2½ somersault in pike position.

How does he dive like that? Tomoki’s thoughts, as always, succumbed to both excitement and despair.How does he pull off a move like that so perfectly, and make it look so easy?

Youichi’s dive was beautiful. There was not a single disruption along the line of his body as he flew in the air. He boasted a track record of being the middle school champion for three consecutive years, and now, even though he’s just a first-year in high school, he was already looked at as the most promising athlete at Inter-High, and whenever Tomoki watched his polished performances, the words “talent”, “pedigree” and “DNA” came into his mind.

He was a thoroughbred; Coach Fujitani was a former Olympic diver, and his mother was considered the Madonna of the diving world.

“My dad used to be a gymnast, but the highest level he got to was prefectural meets in high school. He’s a hack compared to Youichi-kun.” Ryou said next to him, probably thinking something similar.

“My parents used to brag that they were really athletic when they were younger, but the Fujitani family is on a completely different level from them.” Reiji chimed in from the other side.

“Both of my folks aren’t athletic, but they’re always asking me to do a lot.” Sachiya’s voice came from the other side.

“Sacchin?” Tomoki and the others all turned toward the owner of the voice at the same time.

“Hey, you. When did you get here?”

“A while ago.”

“Where?”

“Where I’m always at.”

“From the Moms’ Synchro class?”

Sachiya dropped his eyebrows and responded with a “Yeah” to the three’s stunned expressions.

“Today, another mom joined. She was completely new to this, so she was always a beat off from everyone else. Her breathing was still not good. It seemed like she was going to hold everyone else back a lot if this continued, and I’m worried that there will be fighting with the leader mom with the hook nose from now on.”

Sachiya was talking and smiling happily. He was a sixth-grader, one year younger than Tomoki and the others. Although he was in the MDC, he hated diving. Even the three-meter platform was too scary for him, and whenever he had a chance he’d always sneak away to watch the relationship dramas of the synchronized swimming class being conducted in the next subpool over.

“If you don’t get rid of that hobby of yours soon, you’ll be found out by the coach.”

Sachiya completely ignored Ryou’s advice.

“I found out something about Coach Fujitani.”

“Eh. What about him?”

“With that angry face, you’ll be able see it better if you’re on the ten-meter platform. Didn’t you see it?”

“I didn’t see it.”

“Me neither.”

“I didn’t see it, but…”

While saying that, the trio’s feet turned to face the ten-meter platform despite themselves.

Sachiya then recalled something, and said, “That’s right.”

“So, I got a message from Coach Fujitani. He had urgent business so he had to go back home. He said if you still want to practice, you can follow Coach Ooshima’s instructions for the time being.”

“Urgent business? I wonder what it is that made Coach Fujitani leave in the middle of practice.”

“Don’t know, but I saw him with a pretty lady.”

“Pretty lady?” The three of them looked all around, but saw no sign of a pretty lady.

“Coach Fujitani’s on a date with her.”

“A lady more important than us?”

“Hey, are you still on that?”

This scandal involving someone so familiar to them quickly overshadowed Youichi’s wonderful performance and the MDC’s crisis.

All four of them ran to the locker room, while looking around uneasily.

_______________________________________________________________

“There.”

They changed their clothes quickly while drying their wet hair. When the four of them got out of the locker room, Coach Fujitani was still in the lobby, in front of the reception desk. Sure enough, he was with a young woman. But it wasn’t just the two of them.

Next to Coach Fujitani—who was, as usual, wearing plain clothes and looked nothing like a former Olympic athlete—there was a middle-aged man dressed in a suit who looked very out of place at a public pool.

“Hey, maybe it’s a love triangle.”

“A complicated love-hate relationship?”

As they spied on them from the shadow of a pillar, Sachiya, who was behind them, made an “ah” sound as if he realized something.

“That guy, he works for Mizuki. He visited here before. He seemed to get bored of diving quickly, so he watched the Moms’ Synchro class with me,”

“What a terrible employee.”

Hearing that, the woman who stood talking to Coach Fujitani turned around.

From between long, loose, wavy hair, a pair of cat-like eyes glared at Tomoki. Those eyes look like they’d glow in the dark, Tomoki thought suddenly. Beautifully curved eyebrows. A straight nose. Thin lips. While every feature was well-balanced, it was only those bright eyes that threw everything off by standing out.

She must be in her mid-twenties. She was dressed in a gray pantsuit that was somewhat lustrous, and despite not being very tall, she was strangely intimidating. Tomoki couldn’t look away from her.

It was like he was being sized up. He couldn’t stop feeling on edge, and his throat went dry.

Indeed, she had been appraising him.

“Hey, what are you kids doing there?”

Coach Fujitani followed the woman’s gaze and noticed Tomoki and the others. He scowled at them, and the four of them dejectedly walked forward. “Are they your students?” asked the man in the suit, but he didn’t seem very interested.

“Ah, yes, they are, even though they are already in middle school they still act like little kids…”

“It appears that you don’t have much students above middle school, as usual.”

“No, no, I really do still have some, but when they become third years in middle school they’d have to take exams soon, so it really can’t be helped that they don’t show up sometimes. And it also can’t be helped for the girls, since if their friends weren’t coming then they won’t come either…”

Seeing Coach Fujitani smiling at and buttering up the man in the suit made Tomoki uncomfortable. He knew that if that guy was in a swimsuit instead of that stuffy suit, then Coach Fujitani would be way cooler than him. It really was annoying that most things in the world happened outside of the pool.

“After all, the parents don’t understand. No matter how much we concentrate our efforts, if the parents don’t cooperate, then this is exactly how it turns out…”

No one was listening to Coach Fujitani continuing his explanation. Sachiya, who was next to him, piped up innocently with a “Hey, hey, who’s that lady?”

“Hey, who are you pointing at? This is…” Coach Fujitani was about to introduce her, but she cut him off to do it herself.

“I’m Asaki Kayoko. I saw you all dive from the poolside earlier.”

Her cat-like eyes pierced through them, and even Reiji and Ryou, who were on both sides of Tomoki, turned to face him. It was very obvious that Kayoko was only looking at Tomoki.

“You, what’s your name?” Though her voice was low, it was a distinctive sound that resonated well.

Tomoki felt agitated, and answered nervously.

“Sakai Tomoki.”

“How long have you dived for?”

“Five years…and, a bit more.”

“What are the heights of your parents?”

“Eh?”

“How tall are your father and mother?”

“…Dad’s a hundred and sixty-eight centimeters. Mom’s about a hundred and fifty.”

“What kind of sports do both of them do?”

“Um, Dad plays baseball, soccer, ice hockey, water polo and judo. Mom did ballet until she hurt her ankle…”

“So, your body must be quite flexible? Say, have you ever been told you were double-jointed?”

“Double-jointed?”

“Something you’re born with. If someone’s double-jointed that means they are more flexible than most people. You must be. Also, your limbs are long, your shoulders are wider than your waist, and you have a small build. And what’s more…”

“Eh?”

“Oh well, it’s fine. I got it, somehow.”

After finishing her barrage of questions, Kayoko seemed to comprehend something on her own, and put on the coat that she carried on her arm. On the prompting of Coach Fujitani and the man in the suit, they walked briskly towards the exit.

“Hey.”

Tomoki suddenly called out to their backs.

“You, did you come here to destroy our club?”

It was the first time he ever addressed an older woman with “anta”(5). Even he was surprised he used it.

However, when Coach Fujitani was about to scold Tomoki for being rude, Kayoko held him back and replied to him calmly.

“I didn’t come here to destroy it. I came to protect it.”

_______________________________________________________________

Beneath the cloud-covered sky, the lights in the windows of the lined-up buildings seemed to make up artificial constellations, glowing from a distance and nearby. Whenever a car crossed the bridge, the fake constellations blurred in the river, becoming a second night sky.

The road after rush hour was smooth, and Ryou’s mom, who was driving the car that Tomoki and Ryou were riding in, was also in a good mood.

“It seems we’ll be able to arrive earlier. That really helped.” She murmured to no one in particular.

It looked like the reason for her good mood was because the practice ended earlier than usual today.

It was a one hour drive from Tatsumi to Setagaya. Since Tomoki and Ryou lived in the same ward, their mothers took turns picking them up and dropping them off. The Tatsumi Swimming Center was open to the public for about four days a week, so although they took turns, Tomoki thought that it must be difficult to take out the car each time. However, he didn’t think he’d have the energy to take the train to Tatsumi after school, practice for two hours, and then go home. Even on the days Tatsumi’s pool couldn’t be used, Tomoki was still assigned dryland training for basic physical strength building. Although he skipped it sometimes, if he did it properly, he’d never have to go there on holidays. Although, Coach Fujitani had said that diving was a sport that required a great amount of dedication.

Ryou was also tired, and he sat next to Tomoki quietly with his eyes shut. Ryou, who usually talked as loudly as possible, was silent only for tonight. Before Tomoki had entered the car, Ryou had said, “Isn’t it great? The pretty lady from Mizuki was pleased.” Tomoki remembered that his lips were twisted and how uneasy he sounded, and became dejected.

Thinking about that woman made him feel tense for some reason. He felt like something troublesome will start soon. He didn’t know whether he was looking forward to it or afraid of it. In an effort to calm himself down, he placed his hand on the car window, which was cold as ice from reflecting the night view of February, and his fingers, wrinkled from being in the pool, felt prickly. According to the mechanical voice of a woman from the radio, it might snow tomorrow.

Even when the car stopped in front of Tomoki’s house, Ryou didn’t open his eyes, which only seemed to prove that he was just faking being asleep, but he decided to play along and closed the door quietly.

“Wow, Tomo, you’re back early.”

While waiting for his mother to warm up the miso soup at the table, his younger brother Hiroya came down the stairs.

“Practice ended early today.”

“Oh, why?” Hearing Tomoki, his mother Megumi poked her face in from the kitchen.

“Don’t know. But because Mizuki’s employees came, they must be having a conference or something like that.”

“Must be serious, if Fujitani-sensei’s there too. Even though the only thing in his head is diving, now he’s also getting pulled into the company’s troubles.”

While saying those pitying words, Megumi brought over a bowl of miso soup with daikon and fried tofu.

Since he ate dinner before practice, no matter how hungry Tomoki was after he returns home, he was only going to get miso soup. Flab was a diver’s enemy. Even if only a little extra fat was gained, it’ll throw off his sense of rotation immediately.

“By the way, Miu called.” Hiroya told Tomoki, who had his chopsticks in the soup. It sounded like he had been finding the right time to say it. “She said she’ll call again, but if Tomo is feeling well then he’ll call her instead.”

“’Kay.”

“You should call her. She’s probably waiting for you.”

“’Kaaaaaay.”

Hiroya was his younger brother, but since he was born one year after him in March while Tomoki was born in April, they were in the same grade, even though they weren’t twins. They felt more like friends than brothers. It was a strange feeling for Tomoki, that Hiroya, who was his brother as well as one of his friends, and Miu, who was his girlfriend as well as his friend, were in the same class together.

“Well then, call her. Miu’s always waiting for you. It must be tough to go out with such a sports-nut.”

“Shut up, Hiro.”

“Anyways, if you guys do go out, it’d be better for you to be more like me than yourself. Miu’s pretty careless too.”

“Tell that to her.”

“I did.”

“What?”

Miu, what?

As soon as he tried to ask further, Hiroya grabbed the TV remote and turned away. Loud music boomed from the speakers, prompting Megumi to frown and tell him to turn it down. Megumi could distinguish between Tomoki and Hiroya just from the volume of the TV alone.

Tomoki finished his miso soup. Although he took the cordless phone in front of Hiroya and went upstairs to his room, he honestly didn’t feel like calling Miu.

There was only one reason. He had nothing to say to her.

“Tomo-kun, I’ve always liked you. If you want to, could I be your girlfriend?”

That was what Miu had said when she confessed to him last spring. It had taken place immediately following being sorted into classes at the beginning of middle school, when she had been separated into a different class, even though they were in the same class in sixth grade.

Before that, in mid-February he received chocolate from her, which got him teased by his friends that if he liked them then he should ask her to be his girlfriend. It had been the first time such corny words had been said to him, so Tomoki had been perplexed. He had just become a middle school student, so he still didn’t have a sense of reality for things like boy-girl relationships yet. Someday he’d also fall in love, and he’d snuggle with and kiss with his girlfriend, and he imagined he’d probably do even more with her. But since that would be far off into the future, he’d never considered the specifics of the process leading up to that. Like others, he also had desires, but for now he’s satisfied with just his dream.

Nevertheless, as to why he answered “Okay” to Miu’s confession without hesitating, Tomoki still had no idea.

Perhaps it was for a very cowardly reason. Maybe it was because he didn’t want the other girls to call him a bad guy for rejecting Miu (Poor Miu, Tomo-kun is awful!), or that he wanted to gloat over his friends who thought he was putting way too much into diving (What, Tomo got a girlfriend?), or maybe, he just really wanted a little bit of color in his life that was dedicated to diving (Even I can get a girlfriend or two…)

In truth, he started thinking about whether or not he could actually go out with Miu, right after they started dating. Even if you say dating, it was always Miu calling him and visiting his class during recess, her reminding him that they were in a special relationship.

Tomoki had no time. He was always busy with diving practice. He didn’t even know how to talk to girls, and first of all, he didn’t even know if he actually liked Miu that way.

He thought she was a cute girl. He certainly didn’t dislike her. But he never, not even once, felt like he wanted to see her right this moment, or that he wanted to hear her voice, or that he wanted to embrace her very much, or that he wanted to marry her, or that he wouldn’t allow her to ever cheat on him, or that he wanted three kids with her, or that he would protect her even if an earthquake happened.

He wondered if that was okay.

Despite his hesitation, he called Miu, not wanting to spend the rest of the night wondering when she would call him again.

“Hello?”

When Miu’s voice came after just one ring, Tomoki knew she had been waiting for him to call, and felt bummed out again.

“Tomo-kun?”

“Yeah. Um…sorry that I was late.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m happy. Tomo-kun, are you not tired from practice today?”

“Yeah, since practice ended early today.”

“Why?”

“Eh? Well…there’s a lot of reasons…”

“A lot.”

“Yeah.”

“Tomo-kun always has a lot of reasons, huh.”

“…”

“Ah, it’s fine, I’m sorry. I just wanted to hear Tomo-kun’s voice. Oh yeah, I went shopping with Hacchan today, and I found a really cute jellyfish doll, which looked like you somehow, so I bought it. Tomo-kun, would you like to see it?”

“Jellyfish doll…”

After going through many silences, by the time he hanged up five minutes later with a “Well, later”, Tomoki was tired enough to feel like he dived off the ten-meter platform a hundred times.

What do couples talk about so much, when they call each other everyday? Hiroya said I should flirt, but how the heck do I do that? I’m such an idiot, I can’t even do something like poking Miu’s forehead while laughing, Tomoki thought.

Even though it’s Miu, it wasn’t not easy to have fun with their phone calls.

While lying on his bed and thinking, self-hatred suddenly assailed him along with sleepiness.

I’m so boring, he thought. Everything about me is half-done. Even though I’m going out with Miu, I’m putting all my time and focus into diving, and even that was half-hearted in the end. If I put more effort into it seriously, I wouldn’t skip practice sometimes like I do now, and would have kept practicing even if Coach Fujitani wasn’t there. But I have no perseverance or enthusiasm for that. But, I can’t even imagine a life without diving, and if MDC is gone, I’d lose everything…and that scares me a lot.

A diving pool with a depth of five meters. Though it was always filled with a blue that was refreshing to the point of being artificial, as soon as he got out of the water the world stopped shining, and became a dull grey. In the midst of that grey, Tomoki felt as though he was living while having trouble breathing, like he needed to breathe with gills.

Losing the world of water would mean losing the freedom to breathe.

Thinking about the MDC’s future, Tomoki couldn’t help but be extremely anxious.

What were Coach Fujitani and the employees from Mizuki talking about today?

And then, there was that woman, Asaki Kayoko.

Tomoki instinctively felt that she was not an opponent to be taken lightly. She seemed like the type of person who would break promises, lie, and cheat on her lover without batting an eyelid.

However, there was the last line that Kayoko had left with—

“I didn’t come here to destroy it. I came to protect it.”

Strangely, he had only believed those words in the moment that he heard them.

_______________________________________________________________

Translation notes:

(1): You probably all know what takeoff means, but I’m just going to give you guys a link to a diving glossary that helped me out a lot.

(2): The word used here is “相槌” which means interjections indicating one is paying attention (thanks jisho). Apparently the Japanese have a word for it but we don’t???

(3): I didn’t know what “永大” (Eidai) meant so I just assumed it was a shortened university name

(4): Technically 7.5 meters, but most people just call it the seven-meter platform

(5): Anta is a pretty rude “you” to use for someone you don’t even know, and is older than you. Funny enough Youichi uses it for Kayoko right off the bat and Tomoki uses it with her later in the story. She didn’t seem to mind it both times though

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