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DIVE!! (Light Novel) - Book 4 Chapter 9 - Return Game
Book 4 Chapter 9 - Return Game
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
It’s from the final stage of a competition that the diver standing on the stage makes their essence shine in the empty space.
In the early stages of a competition, the divers, who dance one after another and then sink down, do not always expose their true faces. Putting on armor over and over again, and conscious of the eyes of the judges, spectators, and rivals, they played the part of the “self that I want to show”. From the middle stages of a competition, they melt their armor with the water they slip into once or twice, and their true faces peek through. Exhausted, their bodies were no longer hearing what was said, and their heads only thinking of results. Faced with the final rankings that were vaguely floating before them, the divers could be so cleanly separated into two types in the final stages that it was comical.
The types who go into defense and do half-hearted, passive performances, and the types who go on the attack and are assertive until the very end.
Keisuke felt greatly proud in his heart that all of his students belong to the latter.
Seeing too much assertiveness made one felt anxious, until there was no time to even take a breath.
The competition approached the final stages in the eighth round. Youichi, whose gait was unsure as he ascended the steps, defied expectations that he had already reached his limit by clearing the difficult inward dive with 3½ forward somersaults in tuck position with no mistakes. He wondered why his body that had been staggering on land suddenly stilled into top form in midair, and as he puzzled over that, he marked him with a high score of 83.52 points.
After him, Shibuki also showed off a performance with a sense of scale by doing an inverse dive with 2½ forward somersaults in pike position, and demonstrated it in the way of a bigshot who was strong at the last moment. He got added 73.08 points and came back to the top again.
Tomoki, who was last, also did a dive in the fourth group with an inward forward 2½ somersaults in tuck position. Tomoki first attracted the spectators with the height of his takeoff, made them ooh-and-ah with the speed of rotations, and precisely determined the angle of his entry. However, the lowness of the dive’s degree of difficulty had an effect and he didn’t catch up to the two before him, ending with 63.75 added points.
For now, the three succeeded without problems, maintaining the dream to “win with more than 600 points”.
But, as soon as he felt relieved, the top batter Reiji had already appeared on platform for the ninth round.
Reiji had just barely passed the preliminaries in the morning, and as expected, because of the differences in skills he was gradually falling back, the dream to the championship already disappearing. However, when compared to how he was usually, today he showed an astonishingly willful attitude with his breathtaking performances. Reiji, who until now stared at his feet and made himself compact when he was just climbing the steps, was looking straight up. Even just with that, Keisuke’s chest was filled with warmth.
Would I win or not? What place would I end up in? These were important questions for the divers themselves, but Keisuke thought that those who were coaches shouldn’t be moved by comparative evaluations like rankings, but aim to evaluate on an absolute scale on an individual-by-individual basis.
Do not overlook individual efforts that are not recorded in numbers.
If it is four people there then it’s four people, and if it is ten people there then it’s ten people; make evaluations according to each of their “nows”.
That is, fairly.
With that firm belief, Keisuke watched Reiji’s performance, ascertaining it with his own eyes until the moment his toes completely disappeared beneath the water, before finally letting his shoulders relax with a sigh of relief.
At the same time, Ooshima called to him from the seat next to Kayoko, who was sandwiched between the two of them.
“Coach Fujitani, Coach Fujitani.”
It took a while for his voice to reach Keisuke’s ears, as the stands in the main pool approached the climax of their competition, getting even noisier. The cheers of the cheering parties. The fervent applause. The mic echoes of the athlete introductions to their entrance music. To the divers who were in the difficult situation of standing on the platform, those flashy entrances could only be described as bad luck.
“Coach Fujitani!”
He finally noticed it by the third time.
When he turned, Ooshima dramatically leaned over and stage-whispered to Keisuke, “Over there, in the middle of the first row, you can see the backs of an old woman and a girl, right? Just now those two were hugging when they saw Shibuki at the top…”
“Ah.”
“I think that’s Shibuki’s you-know-who.”
With Ooshima’s raised little finger before his eyes, only the wrinkles between Keisuke’s brows deepened as he kept expressionless.
Ooshima was his underclassman from the Nippon Sport Science University, and he was a good, sincere man, but he was somewhat impatient. As the competition reached its climax, it seemed that he couldn’t endure the intensifying serious mood, and sometimes he tended towards meaningless, thoughtless words and deeds.
“That Okitsu-kun, who stays in the same room as you,” Keisuke said with some admonition in his voice, “seemed to have met with that young lady outside last night.”
Ooshima got a conspicuous “oh no” face.
“No, if it’s just for a short time then there’s no problem…um, I need to give him a lot of caution for physical relations as well. But, why did he do that?”
“It may be because you made a slip of the tongue.”
“Ah.”
“If the pheasant doesn’t sing, it won’t get shot at.”
Ooshima turned red, making his large body smaller.
Now that it came to this, Keisuke felt a little sorry, and spoke of his own accord, a rare thing for him to do in the middle of a competition.
“By the way, Hiro-kun and the young lady that he is in a relationship with have come to support Tomo.”
“Oh, that’s Tomo’s ex-girlfriend.”
“No, she’s Hiro-kun’s girlfriend.”
“But, she’s Tomo’s ex.”
“No, no, she’s Hiro-kun’s…”
“She used to be Sakai-kun’s girlfriend,” Kayoko cut in. “And now she’s his younger brother’s girlfriend.”
Keisuke was confused.
“So, they are the same person?”
“Yes. To make a long story short, it was an illicit love.”
“Hah. But, even that Tomo had a sweetheart…”
“A lot of middle schoolers nowadays do.”
“No, but, even so…”
Faltering, the wrinkles between Keisuke’s brows deepened even more.
“Even so, I don’t believe Reiji has one.”
“Huh?”
“What I meant was a sweetheart.”
“No, I don’t think Maruyama-kun has one.”
Kayoko quizzically responded, and Keisuke relaxed the stress between his eyebrows.
Ooshima drove home the final blow immediately after.
“But, there’s the fact that Reiji received a love letter.”
“What?”
“I think it was during his first year of middle school. He had no experience with it, so he didn’t write a reply, but even now he carries that letter around preciously… Youth really is beautiful.”
Keisuke no longer opened his mouth, and tried to calm his mind while he rubbed his brow with two fingers.
This isn’t a big deal. What do I need to feel disturbed for?
Even if Shibuki had a girlfriend who came all the way to Osaka to cheer him on, even if Tomoki had colorful, lively memories, even if Reiji carried around a love letter, that was that. Even if only Youichi spent his youth unbeautifully without having anything to do with those sorts of love affairs, as the head coach of the MDC, that was no reason to give special support to only his son.
Keisuke fired his spinal column up and turned to face the diving platform with his head held high.
Fairness to the last. I will maintain this belief until the very end—.
_______________________________________________________________
It was Tomoki who Keisuke about Shibuki’s girlfriend in the first place.
It could also be said that it was a product of an invited conversation brought about by time and coincidence.
Breakfast would also serve as a meeting at seven o’clock. All members were to gather at the restaurant on the first floor. Despite emphasizing that, when Keisuke went towards the restaurant on time in the morning, only Tomoki and Ooshima were sitting at the table.
“Youichi-kun and Sacchin overslept, Okitsu-kun’s taking a shower to get himself awake, and Reiji and Coach Asaki are still getting ready.”
Tomoki didn’t have to explain it; he had gotten a feeling that it would be like that.
Though it was rare for Youichi to oversleep, Shibuki and Sachiya were always bad at waking up. It took time for Reiji to get ready, and it took time for Kayoko to put on makeup. Since still no one showed up after they waited five minutes, Ooshima got up to go and call everyone.
Only Keisuke, Tomoki, and the buffet plates they’d brought were left at the table. Tomoki was already greedily stuffing his cheeks with omelettes and sausages. Some people didn’t eat much before a competition, but he felt pleased when he saw Tomoki’s way of eating.
“Did you sleep well last night?” Keisuke asked while wrapping his white rice in toasted seaweed.
“Yeah,” Tomoki smiled as he gulfed down his French toast. “I fell asleep before I knew it. I think maybe Youichi-kun put a blanket on me.”
“I see. If you’ve slept plenty, you’ll be in perfect condition.”
“Well, yesterday I got relaxed in Kobe and for some reason I seem to be doing great.”
“Was Kobe good?”
“Yeah. The water gyoza was delicious, and we saw the night view. Kobe was great. Really, everything was great until Kobe. But after that, Reiji told us about Coach Asaki’s…ah.”
Tomoki clamped his mouth shut.
“What is it?”
“Umm, nothing.”
“What about Coach Asaki?”
“Nothing.”
Tomoki pushed a banana into his mouth, as though using it as a plug to stay silent.
Had he become fourteen years old?
Keisuke felt that at that moment.
Keisuke’s students usually joined the MDC when they were in the lower grades of elementary school. At the beginning everyone was carefree, and although they constantly chattered about anything and everything, from fourth grade on they distinguished between things they do and do not talk about. When they become middle schoolers, they almost never talked about things outside of diving. They might confide in a young coach, but it seemed hard for them to talk to a much older head coach.
“Tomo,”
Second-grade Tomoki. When he remembered his flabbergasted appearance from when he just joined the MDC, his mouth unconsciously began to move.
“I believe I did something bad to you.”
“Eh, what is it?”
“I didn’t perceive your talent.”
“Huh?”
“No, I did perceive it, but I never helped you develop it. Your kinetic vision and flexibility…even though I’ve seen them for five years, I wasn’t able to make them bloom in the end. I’ve always thought that I did something inexcusable as I watched you grow so fast under Coach Asaki.”
Tomoki was speechless for a short while, and then he dropped his fork. “What do you mean?” he pouted.
“If you say that, then it sounds like the five years where I was taught by you and Coach Nakanishi are useless, doesn’t it?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say they were useless.”
“Of course not. The current me is…I don’t know how to say this well, but the current me is made up of everything until now.”
“Everything?”
“Yep. I don’t have parents who were former Olympic athletes, or a grandpa who was said to be a genius phantom diver. But, I’ve always had a normal family. My dad, my mom, and Hiro were there. When I go to the MDC, Youichi-kun, Reiji, Sacchin, Ryou, and Okitsu-kun were there. And of course Coach Fujitani, Coach Ooshima, and Coach Nakanishi were there. Since Coach Nakanishi was gone, Coach Asaki was there. Everyone was there like that, just like how the sky and mountains and rivers are always there, and everything from those fourteen years combined perfectly together, making the me who is here now. I thought of it like that a lot recently.”
“…”
“My friends at school say stuff like how old people are smelly and clumsy, but I really think that. If even one person wasn’t there, it wouldn’t combine perfectly.”
“…”
“I really do think that!”
“I understand.”
Even while nodding humbly, Keisuke was getting the chills. Ah, this child will continue to grow without stopping in the future.
Tomoki was a fresh, brand-new child. In a way, he could be called empty. But, that was why he could have room to accumulate things within himself. He could absorb everything surrounding him—friends, family, coaches, the sky and the mountains and the rivers—and transform them into power to open up his future. Beyond this point, Tomoki could change all the things he encountered, the things he saw, and the things he touched into energy, and spread his wings to anywhere on earth.
In contrast, Shibuki was already clogged with too many things inside of him, without an inch of space left. His ancestral blood. The dream his grandfather wasn’t able to fulfill. His grandfather’s and father’s deaths. His mother and two younger sisters who were left behind. The community of his Tsugaru village when he eventually returned home. Normally, those things would become heavy pressure, but Shibuki used them as a driving force, launching out explosive power. As long as he saddled himself with something, he would continue to be more and more astonishing in the future.
And then, there was Youichi—.
“Um, Coach Fujitani,” While Keisuke got lost in his thoughts, Tomoki timidly spoke up. “This might be none of my business, but I want to say it because I’m kind of worried about it, so…”
“What is it?”
“Coach Fujitani, I think you should only cheer for Youichi today.”
“What?”
“Coach Ooshima told me this earlier, but Okitsu-kun’s girlfriend came here to cheer him on for today’s competition. I think they’ve met up yesterday. I’ve also met her in Tsugaru, and she’s really pretty. And, Hiro’s coming to cheer me on. Along with his really cute girlfriend. But Youichi-kun only has you for a relative.”
“…”
“It’s an important match where the Olympics hang in the balance, and Youichi-kun’s been working really hard, so can’t you only cheer for him just for today, Coach Fujitani?”
“…”
“So, it really is none of my business?”
No… Keisuke shook his head, keeping silent as he didn’t know what to say next.
Coaches cannot watch over one student specially. In order to repay the parents who trust me and entrust their precious children to me, I have a responsibility to watch over all of you equally. Many reasons came to mind. But, those were probably not the reasons that Tomoki was asking for.
“If I…” Keisuke finally murmured in a hoarse voice, “cheer on Youichi, it won’t be helpful to him.”
“Why?”
“There are athletes born under such a causal star.”
Tomoki blinked, then tilted his head in puzzlement. No matter how much he ran out of words trying to explain it, Tomoki would probably still not understand. That there were athletes who couldn’t make everything external into energy like Tomoki, or make everything internal into energy like Shibuki.
Always trying to surpass yourself, standing on the edge of the depths of solitude, and only after that could you demonstrate your strength.
Perhaps the ones who could understand the athletes born under such a star were the same kind of people.
_______________________________________________________________
This child is similar to me in some way.
The reason why Keisuke purposely didn’t teach Youichi diving in his childhood boiled down to that one sentence.
Inflexible stubbornness. High pride. Burdening himself with a load even when he didn’t have to, and a capriciousness to walk a thorny path on purpose.
Nowadays, although he had matured through his years of being a coach, Keisuke had exactly been that kind of athlete when he was young. He stopped in his tracks to think about everything he was doing, and he didn’t move a step forward if he didn’t agree with even one thing. When he didn’t agree with it, he turned on his coach without hesitation. He drove himself on by bragging to his rivals, then pouring his heart’s blood into practice in order to make those boasts truth.
Just like the current Youichi.
Although back then he got aggressive at anything he didn’t like, as time passed, as a coach who put a distance of one or two steps between everything, now it was painfully reflected in his eyes the fact that those kinds of athletes had a damaging disposition. He didn’t know how good it would to be like Tomoki—loved and pampered everyone, turning that into energy and growing.
He wanted to let Youichi walk that way as well if he could. He tried to nurture his sociability by giving him the position of the MDC’s leader. Even at the time when Youichi went to directly appeal to Chairman Maebara, though on the inside he was thinking that it was something that was waiting to happen, he drummed into him fussily that he was insolent to go against the organization.
However, somewhere in his mind Keisuke was resigned to the fact that Youichi was his son after all. Because I was born under that causal star, as long as I am active I have no choice but to continue to be burdened with my karma.
If there was just one saving grace, it was that Youichi had much more outstanding talent than him. Fujitani Keisuke participated in the 1972 Munich Olympics and was easily eliminated from the preliminaries. Youichi was different from him, who was winning with his reputation as a coach nowadays, as he had the qualities and talents to do well in the world.
During the time when he was an instructor at Sakuragi High School, he took the seven-year-old Youichi to the diving pool of the diving club for the first time. It was unavoidable that he would come with him as his wife was absent, but he was also a bit interested as to what kind of response Youichi would show. If he showed interest, perhaps he could try diving from the one-meter. But that was not necessary. When Keisuke took his eyes off him, Youichi ran up the five-meter.
When he became aware of that, he was already dancing beneath the blue sky of August.
It was a magnificent dive.
In that moment, Keisuke might have already been resigned to the fact that that child’s talents could not be sealed. But openly he didn’t approve or disapprove of it, continuing to taking the position of leaving diving to Youichi’s autonomy and independence.
Such an ambiguous attitude was not permitted when Keisuke was enticed from Sakuragi High School to the MDC.
“Could you please come and take the position of head coach at Mizuki’s newly established diving club?”
From the start, he had not hesitant when he received the late chairman of Mizuki’s personal invitation. Keisuke had been coaching diving for ten years since he retired from his athlete career, and although he felt that this job was fulfilling and worth doing, he had always had a fundamental problem with it. It was too late to seriously train divers from high school who would be able to carry the Japanese diving world on their shoulders. Training for months and years from childhood was an indispensable condition. And so for Keisuke, who was concerned about the poorness of the institutions for that purpose, the establishment of the MDC was exactly a dream came true.
What he was hesitant about was what to do with Youichi.
At the time, Youichi was still ten-years-old. Even though he was obsessed with diving, there were also other possibilities left. Now he could still return from the thorny path. He hesitated about bringing Youichi to the MDC at this stage, which might decisively orient his life.
And then, putting his own disposition aside, if Youichi joins the MDC, it was apparent that from then on that between them the relationship of a coach and athlete would be prioritized over a father and son relationship. He cannot concentrate his biased affection to only his son. Such self-control could also widen the distance between him and Youichi more than necessary.
It was on a certain Saturday night that Keisuke finally reached the point of giving up after hesitating and hesitating. After coming home from volunteering at a diving experience class for half a day, he was having a drink in the living room after taking a bath, and could hear his wife and son talking in the kitchen through the thin curtain that separated the rooms.
“What did you do at school today?”
“The teacher read us Run, Melos!” (1)
“Ah, how nostalgic. How was it?”
“Well, it’s Melos’ victory strategy, right?”
“Eh…how?”
“Because even if Melos left early and ran normally, he wouldn’t have the time to easily help his friend. But, because he was having fun at his little sister’s wedding party, sleeping soundly, and humming songs as he walked, he became panicked in the end. I think that was definitely his strategy.”
“Strategy?”
“Yep. I’m sure that he won’t have enough time. It has to be more last minute, more of a close call, more of a really desperate situation with no escape, or Melos won’t be able to get fired up.”
A few minutes later, Keisuke weakly broke the news to Youichi, who was sitting at the living room’s dining table, about the MDC.
There was no need to confirm his willingness to join, as Youichi’s eyes were shining.
_______________________________________________________________
After that it developed just as he had expected it would, as Keisuke became Youichi’s coach before his father, and his relationship with Youichi, who was entrusted to his mother from the beginning, became more and more formal. Although in the beginning he was bothered by what to do about that, nowadays they had gotten used to their mutual coach and athlete relationship, settling into a strange state of affairs.
In his seven years as head coach of the MDC, there were only two occasions where Keisuke exposed his face as a father.
The first time was during the spring of Youichi’s fifth grade, when he failed at his forward reverse somersault and gotten a head injury.
The second time, when he learned that Youichi was going to do the new dive with those unlucky forward reverse somersaults for the last round at these qualifying trials.
As the first time occurred when it was still just under half a year since the MDC opened, because he was wholeheartedly set on not instilling terror in the hearts of the children who were just beginning to dive, he strenuously restrained himself from becoming distraught.
However, for the second time, he was a little unable to keep his self-control, and regardless of leaving the dive events entirely to Kayoko, when he became aware of it he shouted wildly to Youichi that his new dive was impossible and reckless. The next day he was ashamed that he did something immature, reflecting and regretting that perhaps it was himself who was dragging out the trauma of that incident more than anyone else.
However, in any case this was his last look at a lifespan-shortening competition. If he thought about it like that, it became some consolation.
With the results of this competition, whether the MDC continued on or was driven to shut down, Keisuke had decided to resign from being the head coach.
The MDC was a club that was planned, heavily engaged in, and ended up realized by Mizuki Shinnosuke. He had no hesitation about handing over the essential role of head coach to Shinnosuke’s granddaughter, Kayoko. Kayoko was a coach with a rarely seen genius, and though young she had an unwavering conviction. In addition, that confidence. Even though he still hadn’t talked to the person herself yet, Keisuke would be relieved if it was to Kayoko he entrusted his students to when the time came.
And as for Keisuke himself, he was thinking of transferring to a newly established adult course in the MDC after retiring.
Even if it avoided closing, MDC would continue to be in the red. As a part of his breakthrough solution, he had an idea of maybe trying to teach diving to a wider range of age group as a hobby. Although it was still in the planning stages, in the event that it was realized, Keisuke planned on volunteering to become the full-time coach for that adult course.
At Sakuragi High School he taught diving to high schoolers in their growth period. At the MDC he taught diving to children who would be growing up from then on. It was a good time to associate with diving from another angle, and leave the center stage of winning and losing soon. This was also a way of expanding the spread of diving, and honestly, he didn’t want to see his precious and innocent students suffer in the world of competitions anymore.
Of course, if the results of the qualifying trials were unsatisfactory, there was the possibility of the MDC itself disappearing, to say nothing of an adult course. In that case, he had already said it. Keisuke would take responsibility and leave the diving world, and made up his mind to take up the teaching job at the Otaru university. What would be left for Fujitani Keisuke if diving was taken away from him? It was obvious that everyone was saying that, but Keisuke also wanted to find that out for himself. What would be left for me if you take away diving? What would I lose, what would I drag along with me, what would I aim for next?
Either way, these Olympic representative qualifying trials would be the last competition with his students that Keisuke would be directly involved in.
“Later, when you have time, come to my room.”
Last night, he spontaneously told Youichi that when he returned from Kobe, because his mind was unconsciously worked up before the last day, probably. He shouldn’t say much until the end of the competition, and keep everything to himself, but even he didn’t know why he blurted that out.
Although he tried telling him to come, he didn’t know what he should say. In a restless mood, he was trying to write a manuscript titled “Spiritual Training—To Dance with One’s Heart”, until around nine there was a knock on his door. Keisuke set down his pen and showed Youichi into his room.
“As we welcome tomorrow’s battle, I just want to say one final thing. No matter who wins, who goes to Sydney tomorrow, that is merely a prologue. Fujitani Youichi. Okitsu Shibuki. Sakai Tomoki. You three are divers who possess the qualities to become exceptional. However, you are still young. Your battles continue even after Sydney. Even if you win this time, that is only the first step. Even if you lose this time, there is still ample room for recovery after that. Please capture the future with wide eyes, and from now on I want you three to devote yourselves to head for the top of the world, while mutually encouraging each other to improve. And if possible, outside the water I want you to be good friends who support each other.”
Keisuke thought that after saying that, he might want to do something like taking out three arrows from travelling bag, and say, “Snap them. You can’t, can you? One arrow by itself is weak, but three together is strong.”
But, of course, he did not stock three arrows in his bag, and his fingers, driven by haste as to what to say, grabbed the camera and film.
“I was asked by the JASF’s public relations department to take pictures at the Namihaya Dome. I am not really skilled with machines.”
His return game as a father had only just begun.
_______________________________________________________________
Loud music resounded from the main pool again, as a group of swimmers entered the venue with their hands thrust into the air. It was the men’s four x hundred-meter medley relay. As the final event, the cheering squads were leaning forward at this critical moment, making their energetic cries resound.
Matsuno, who went up on the platform during that time, hastily dived from being overwhelmed by that atmosphere, and was resigned to low scores from doing a small performance due to the fear of making a mistake.
After him, Asama broke both his feet doing a twist in his performance, yet another one in bad condition.
As an unpleasant mood hung over everyone, Youichi finally appeared on the platform again.
Slender and long limbs and a symmetrical physical beauty. His appearance that could capture the spectators at a glance was the same as usual, but at a closer glance his complexion was not good, and only his eyes were glittering strangely.
Keisuke noticed Youichi was destroying his physical condition without having to be informed by Kayoko. He knew it the moment he first saw Youichi arriving late at the restaurant. Oh, have you backed yourself into a corner again? You look like you’ve looked down into the dark bottom of a valley from the edge.
Could he dive until the end in that state?
Or would he fall along the way?
Either way, as a coach, there was nothing to do but to watch with his own eyes until the end. Calmly, fairly, watch one of his students betting on their last chance to go to the Olympics.
His ninth-round entry was a backward 3½ somersaults in tuck position and handstand.
As everyone in the MDC was staring at him, the whistle for the beginning of the performance sounded.
Youichi took a deep breath, then tilted his gaze down. After that, he slowly hung his head down from his forehead, bending his waist while maintaining the stability of the lower half of his body. A graceful movement that abounded in flexibility. In that position, he bent his upper body, at the same time extending his hands to the tip of the platform.
“Hosei University has set a new record in Japan!”
The spectacular fanfare resounded from the main pool just before Youichi’s fingers tried to touch the platform.
“Congratulations, this is the best record for men’s four x hundred-meter medley relay!”
The venue was instantaneously engulfed in thunderous applause, the spectators doing a standing ovation in the main pool’s stands. Towards the four people hugging on the poolside, the cheer squads lost control and screamed. It was as though they had gotten an Olympic gold medal.
The dome was instantly swallowed up by a huge swell.
Contrasting that uproarious main pool, the diving pool had fallen silent without even one sound.
Everyone, from Keisuke, Kayoko, Ooshima, Sachiya, the divers who were waiting for their turn, the judges, to Youichi on the platform, stared dumbfounded at the festival on the opposite shore.
If the whistle hadn’t sounded at that time, everyone might have been frozen to that spot forever.
“Oi, this is awful.”
Ooshima was the first to returned to himself.
It was the second whistle from the head of the referees. That was meant as a warning to the divers who were hesitating on the platform. The diver would have a score of 0 if they did not begin their performance within one minute of the warning.
Keisuke’s, Kayoko’s, and Ooshima’s faces were streaked with tension.
But, Youichi in that situation was standing still on the head of the dragon like a puppet with its strings cut. The eyes that had been glittering just a while ago were blankly roaming around in the air, and his feet were wobbling. There was no time for him to waver. There was no room for hesitation. If he didn’t start doing his handstand right now he would fall to last place. Nevertheless, Youichi didn’t try to move his body without so much as a twitch.
Ten seconds passed.
Youichi didn’t move.
Sweat floated on Kayoko’s forehead.
Twenty seconds passed.
Youichi didn’t move.
Tears appeared in the eyes of Sachiya who was holding his flag.
Thirty seconds passed.
Youichi didn’t move.
Hosei University’s cheer squad was beginning to sing their school anthem.
Forty seconds were about to pass.
That was when Keisuke moved.
“Stop that, this is not the time for singing, my son is about to dive!”
Suddenly, the cheering squad’s chorus came to a stop from the bellow of Keisuke, who was standing upright like a guardian Deva king. Within the venue that was covered in a silence like a desert at night, gazes like sandstorms pierced into Keisuke from all directions.
Kayoko’s crimson mouth was left hanging open, having forgotten to close it. Beside her, Ooshima had forgotten to breathe. Sachiya, who had forgotten to cheer, let his flag slip from his fingers, hitting his hair whorl with a clunk. However, Keisuke did not see any of that.
Keisuke’s eyes were only intently following Youichi on the distant platform, lifting his body and his feet that were firmly stepping on thorns, with his two arms.
At a height of ten-meters, he drew a perfect ninety degrees, an immovable handstand.
An indomitable will and strength.
“Ah,”
When the spectators finally returned their gazes to the platform, Youichi had already left the ground, making a brilliant arc glitter on the water.
Only when his body was sucked into the water soundlessly, did Keisuke collapse into his chair for the first time.
_______________________________________________________________
Rankings as of the Ninth Round (Cumulative)
① Okitsu Shibuki (552.09 points)
② Yamada Atsuhiko (519.24 points)
③ Fujitani Youichi (514.83 points)
④ Sakai Tomoki (510.45 points)
⑤ Asama Takashi (493.71 points)
⑥ Ogawa Shinobu (473.58 points)
⑦ Matsuno Kiyotaka (451.74 points)
⑧ Tsuji Toshihiko (447.03 points)
⑨ Nakayama Masahiko (425.91 points)
⑩ Moriya Kazuteru (408.27 points)
⑪ Maruyama Reiji (405.48 points)
⑫ Kaburagi Shinji (359.31 points)
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Translation Notes
1. Run, Melos! (Melos Hashire) is a novel by Osamu Dazai. You can read a better summary on Wikipedia, but it’s basically about this guy Melos who got his friend to replace him for his execution, and had to run back to him in three days or else he dies.
