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DIVE!! (Light Novel) - Book 1 Chapter 9 - Unexpected Twist
Book 1 Chapter 9 - Unexpected Twist
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
He didn’t know what triggered it. Just like how he didn’t know why he kept failing, Tomoki didn’t know how he had succeeded. Even if he said that it was all due to his hard work, it felt like it wasn’t just because of that.
Before, Tomoki believed in Edison’s saying that “genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”, but indeed, in order to challenge the limits of human ability to the furthest, he now felt that some sort of chance action that transcended his own power was necessary to have. Just a little body deviation. The angle of his chin. A momentary wind. When several chance actions perfectly overlapped each other, people could do things that they thought were impossible before.
Tomoki finally did it as the overcast rainy season sky continued to stretch into early July. A light rain fell beneath the dark, cloudy sky.
This is it! In the next moment where he was convinced of that, though his body was quickly submerging into the water, his heart was soaring high up into the heavens.
It was far from a perfect performance. He overdid his entry, and his splashes went everywhere and were too high. His somersault form was all over the place, and his knees were awkwardly parted. But, before he achieved the 3½, was he in one piece? The water was gentler than usual, and the embrace of the smooth membrane made Tomoki’s chest hot. Even though his wet skin was tormented by the cold wind when he got out of the water, it still felt hot.
The world was silent, like he had pressed the “mute” button. Actually, he was surrounded by loud sounds, but they did not reach the ears of Tomoki, who was bathed in the afterglow of success.
First of all, there were cheers coming from Kayoko. Her long legs seemed to have gotten tangled to each other as she ran to him and shouting exclamations in a mix of English and Japanese, and suddenly hugged him. Coach Fujitani and his clubmates picked up on the commotion, and they all congratulated him. They knew how many times Tomoki had failed, and knew the importance of success. Some of them, like Ryou, glared at him with open hostility, but Reiji walked towards Tomoki himself and said, “You did it”, then extended his right hand. He chewed on his lip a bit like he was frustrated. Tomoki clasped that palm happily, knowing that frustration very well.
Then, Tomoki went home with an unexpected feeling of happiness, and played over his successful performance of the 3½ in his head all night long without sleeping that night.
He wanted to burn the memory firmly into his mind before it faded. He felt like it would slip from the spaces between his skin if he was not careful, so he tried to confine it within him.
3½ somersaults.
One more revolution than usual.
One more turn around the Earth—
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Tomoki’s tremendous advancement began the next day. As soon as he had succeeded once, Tomoki rode the wave of his previous failures as though they were unreal, and day by day he increased the success rate of the 3½. Some flexibility was created for his performance, and he came to be able to address specific requests about his form and entry. It was around this time that Kayoko’s expression changed, as before she had thought that it would be next to impossible to finish up the 3½ in time for the qualifying trials.
“It looks like you’ll make in time for the qualifying trials. No, on the contrary, you might be able to make it into the shortlist for the training camp members.”
As soon as going to Beijing was no longer a dream, there was a clear change in Tomoki’s heart. He was anxious to participate in the training camp that he had given up on from the start because it had been impossible for him.
The highest-level training camp where the top juniors in Asia gather.
Being taught by a veteran Chinese coach.
The first step to the next Olympics.
He wanted to grab that opportunity with his hands…
This ambition budded inside Tomoki. It brought forth never-seen-before intensity and vigor to him. Because Ryou and Reiji were stagnating from being overambitious, and Shibuki was still clashing with Kayoko and became isolated, Tomoki was therefore the only one steadily building up the strength to chase after Youichi. Everyone was amazed by this last spurt that accelerated day by day.
Three days left.
If only that thing didn’t occur, Tomoki could have continued his pursuit of the qualifying trials in the three days before they took place.
_______________________________________________________________
As usual, it was an unstable day where the rainy season sky lingered. During summer vacation, Tomoki finished his breakfast at home and immediately hurried to the Sakuragi High pool. When he was in good condition, he also had an agile body to go to practice with. Let the rain fall and the wind blow. He wouldn’t feel any pain at all.
However, on the other hand, if the weather turned bad, the risk for accidents happening would be severely increased. Coach Fujitani cut practice short past two o’clock when the rain did not let up at all.
While enduring the heavy weight of the rain violently striking his umbrella, Tomoki was soaked to the bone by the time he returned home after three. No one answered the door when he rang the doorbell, so he used his key to open the door, and noticed a pair of unfamiliar sneakers. They had red shoelaces and belonged to a girl. In the umbrella stand, there was also a pink umbrella that dripped with raindrops.
He turned his head to see if anyone was coming as he went to the living room, where on the dining table a note read, “I’ll be back around six. Mom”. So that meant that the person in his house wasn’t Megumi’s guest.
Tomoki left the living room, and was heading for his room upstairs briefly to leave his bag there. “Hey, Hiro, you there?” he called out.
There was no reply. But, there were signs. Tomoki’s room was next to Hiroya’s. There was someone there.
“Hey, Hiro, if you’re here you should just say so.”
When Tomoki got upstairs, Hiroya finally emerged from his room.
“What’s up, Tomo, aren’t you early? What happened?”
“The rain. Who’s here?”
Hiroya closed the door to his room as if he was hiding something, and abruptly started laughing, even though there was nothing funny.
“No, no one at all. But Tomo, what really happened today, coming back at such a funny time?”
“It’s the rain. Who’s here?”
“I told you, no one.”
“But, there’s a pair of shoes and an umbrella.”
“They’re nothing, so don’t worry about it.”
“Don’t worry about it…no way, did you bring over a girlfriend?”
To his half-joking question, Hiroya smiled a strange half-smile and did not speak.
“Wait, really?”
Tomoki gaped at him for moment, then laughed hysterically. Being unfamiliar with sexy stories, his sixth sense had functioned unusually well, and it was nice to have Hiroya to be at a loss for words for once.
“What. Well then, don’t hide her and introduce her to me!”
While laughing, he placed his hand on Hiroya’s door. He wasn’t really that serious about opening it. He was just teasing. However, Hiroya fiercely blocked him and was completely serious.
“Stop!”
Pushing away his hand with all of his strength, Tomoki looked at Hiroya with a start as he stood in front of his room to block him with a desperate look on his face. He had the same expression from when he was little, when he stood firm at the water’s edge to protect the sandcastle that he had finally finished. It had been a long time since he saw Hiroya looking so serious. That seriousness caused a small alarm to go off in Tomoki’s head.
Tomoki stared at Hiroya’s face intently. The more he looked at it, the more his unease spread. Hiroya looked like he was about to cry and covered up his eyes as though he was exhausted. Tomoki also looked away, then faced the door again.
“Is it Miu?”
No way, he murmured in his head. Hiroya looked at his feet and did not deny or confirm it.
No way. No way. No way. Tomoki gripped the doorknob with his fingertips that were bright red with blood. Hiroya no longer stopped him. Turning the knob with a click, the door moved.
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Tomoki scanned the room, and quietly understood. Seeing Miu crying as she hugged her knees in a corner of the room, curled up like a folding umbrella, told him everything without anything being said.
Miu kept crying, and kept on crying until it looked like she was about to dry up, and all that was left was the sound of sniffling. Hiroya, who couldn’t watch any longer, hugged her shoulders and escorted her out of his room. Tomoki, who had never held hands with her, much less held her shoulders, could only stand there, stunned, as he listened to the footsteps of the two fading, and the indications that they went out the front door.
His head wasn’t working right. He couldn’t control his heart. He didn’t even know why he was so shocked himself.
Tomoki went back to his room and curled up on his bed. Even though the doorbell rang and Hiroya came back, he continued to stay as stiff as a corpse. As time passed, his mother returned, and then his father, and before long the call to dinner was sounded. Tomoki still did not move. The world lost its sound. Its colors and sounds were also gone. It was the silence of the bottom of the ocean, far deeper and more distant than the diving pool.
A pebble was cast into the ocean at nine o’clock at night. Tomoki heard a knock on his door, which then opened without his permission.
“Tomo, are you sleeping?”
It was Hiroya.
Tomoki, who normally fell asleep within three minutes of entering his futon, was half surprised that he wasn’t already asleep, and half regretting that he wasn’t sleeping as he sat up in bed.
Hiroya sat on the chair in front of his study desk, and faced him with an oddly strained face. It was an unfunny expression that looked as though he was either going to break down in tears or get angry at any second. However, Hiroya didn’t cry or get mad, and continued to look at Tomoki as he spoke.
“I like Miu.”
“…”
“I’ve always liked her. Miu liked you, but she came to like me now. That’s why we’re dating.”
He didn’t look away from Tomoki, and it was as though his words were attached to weights as they sunk down into the ocean. He looked strange and unashamed.
This was probably what adults called “illicit love”. They called it “adultery” for the slightly heavier B-class. Tomoki was the one going out with Miu, and Hiroya was supposed to be the crafty villain in this situation, so why was he more composed than Tomoki himself?
Maybe, it was because even though Hiroya was the villain, he was also the winner. It was because that he has the confidence that he was the one who had Miu’s heart. Thinking about that, Tomoki himself was surprised by how angry he got.
“You knew well about Miu and I, but you still did that.”
“Oh yeah, I knew you guys were dating. But I also knew that it wasn’t going well. I probably know how much Miu was worrying about that better than you did.”
“It was going well with Miu.”
“So I hear, but do you know her birthday?”
“It’s…”
“Do you know what are her favorite colors and foods?”
“…”
“Those might just be small things, but if they were enough to make Miu happy, I will remember them all. Whether it’s her zodiac sign, her blood type, or her favorite flower in the language of flowers, I will remember them all, no matter what. But, you didn’t even listen to Miu about those things.”
“Because I was diving…”
“I know that, and Miu does too. That’s why she never told you to stop diving or to stop going to practice.”
It’s funny, thought Tomoki as he gripped his futon. Even though Hiroya was supposed to be the villain, the situation was quickly worsening.
“For diving, Miu had always cheered you on. I did too. That’s because we know how hard you worked. Because we watched you practice until you’re exhausted and made bruises to appear on your body. But…but I’ve been putting forth the efforts that you never did for Miu until now. Everyday I think about Miu, encourage Miu who’s feeling down because of you, confess to her in the midst of confusion, confessing over and over again…even though you, who never did anything like that, will hate me after this, to be honest, I didn’t get what she saw in you at all.” (1)
It was only when he said the last thing that Hiroya looked somewhat apologetic.
The amount of effort for Miu was different. Therefore, Tomoki was unqualified to blame Hiroya. That was what Hiroya wanted to say. Certainly, Tomoki thought there was some truth to it. That’s why Tomoki felt even angrier.
“That’s enough. I don’t want to hear about how much effort you made, or when you started to go out with Miu. But there’s just one thing…”
One last thing. Though he knew it’d be better to quit now, he couldn’t stop himself from asking this.
“Did you kiss her?”
Hiroya lifted a corner of his mouth, unable to conceal his happiness.
“Yes.”
It was at that moment that Tomoki decided that he would never forgive him in this lifetime.
“Oh, but I want to say, it’s not like we liked doing it secretly. We really wanted to tell you sooner.” Hiroya hurriedly added to what he had just spoken when he saw Tomoki’s expression suddenly change.
“But, Tomo, you have an important competition soon. And, Miu was worried, so we decided to keep silent about it until it was over.”
“…”
“She was only worried about the competition on the way home today. Even now she thinks you’re incredible. But, it’s just that she has come to like me more than you…”
“…”
“The competition’s next week, right? Miu wants to go and cheer you on, so can we go together?”
“…again.”
“Huh?”
“Never come again!”
Tomoki, who only had the words kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss…replaying in his mind over and over again while listening to Hiroya’s voice, shouted that, before flopping face down on his bed with a thud. He was a corpse again.
He was sad.
More than that, he was empty.
More than that, he was at the very least, frustrated.
His brother stole his girlfriend. Ever since she had confessed to him and they started going out, he had almost never called her himself, never invited her on a date, not even for birthdays, Christmas, Tanabata, or diving practices, and now his girlfriend, who he didn’t even know if he liked, was stolen by his brother who had spared no effort at all, and kissed her.
It was a somehow reasonable talk. Even he would choose Hiroya if he was Miu. He understood the reasoning behind it.
But, he felt frustrated.
Frustrated…
Hiroya, sitting next to Tomoki, who wouldn’t reply to anything he said, creaked on the chair of the study desk for a while, but then eventually stood and silently left the room.
Come to think of it, that might have been the first time I had ever yelled at Hiroya so loudly, Tomoki suddenly thought after Hiroya disappeared. No, this might even be the first time that we ever had a fight.
Hiroya, his brother who was born within one year of him and in the same grade. His younger brother, who was like a close friend to him. Even though he seemed stubborn to his little brother, his girlfriend was stolen—
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Translation Notes:
1. Not really a translation note, but I was a bit confused by that part since the subject was vague. The phrase used here is “ぴんとこない” which means “doesn’t get it, doesn’t ring a bell” which could also be used in contexts like when someone doesn’t “get” why something is popular. So Hiroya says something like “Honestly speaking, I don’t get it” but there was a comma after the “I” in the original, so maybe he was referring to Tomoki for not getting the hint about him and Miu, so I don’t know maybe if this line shows up in the anime I will change it
