My Childhood Friend And The Pool

According to my childhood friend, “Schools back in the day didn’t even have electric fans, let alone air conditioning.”

…Or so she tells me.

True, I do hear that global warming and the like keeps nudging the temperature up around this time of year, season after season, which, flipped around, would mean the past really was cooler than now. But for a kid like me, who’s had air conditioning at school her whole life, it just doesn’t click.

Now then, about that childhood friend of mine, the one who has me privately wondering (Is that a past-life memory talking? Or knowledge from this life?), namely Sakura Ayuri, well…

“Soooo hot…”

Summer was in full swing, the heat glaring back off the concrete, the humidity heavy enough that just standing there felt suffocating. Ayu trudged along the morning road with her parasol up, looking thoroughly listless.

“So hot I feel like I’m gonna shrivel up and dry out…”
“…”
“If I stop mov—”
“I’ve heard that one plenty of times, so knock it off.”
“…Okay.”

Parasol or not, when it’s rough, it’s rough.

Incidentally, at times like these Hotaru gets up early and hurries off to school. Even that senior, it seems, gives the clinging a rest when it’s this hot and sticky.

◆◆◆

“Today’s pool day!”
“Yeah, yeah.”

Whatever had become of the half-dead corpse from this morning. Ayu loved to swim, and with pool time in P.E. finally here, she’d perked right back up.

“You really do love to swim, huh, Ayu~”
“Like a tuna.”
“Oh! Gin, do you mean I’m big like a tuna and everyone’s favorite, just like one?”
“No, I mean you’re the restless type who’ll die if you stop moving.”
“Yeah, I figured that’s what you meant!”

Sure, she loves swimming, but how she manages to stay this peppy in this heat is beyond me. And where swimming’s concerned, being reborn as a girl this time around must have piled on all sorts of extra hassles for her.

“Are you all good swimmers?”
“Ayu’s, well, like that, and Hina and I are about average, I guess… what about you, Sumire?”
“I’m… not so great at it, maybe.”
“Ahh… you probably shouldn’t say that in front of Ayu.”

Sumire gave a blank, wide-eyed look at that. A moment later the corners of her mouth twitched up, as if she’d caught on to something.

“…Why?”
“That girl loves teaching kids who can’t swim, friends especially. I think she’ll get a little overbearing about it.”

Back in elementary school…

“Being able to swim beats not being able to — it’s more worthwhile and it’s more fun! Doing it well or fast doesn’t matter one bit!”

…That’s the kind of thing Ayu always used to say, I remember, as she taught all sorts of people to swim. Thanks to her efforts, a fair share of the kids in her class did eventually learn, though from middle school on it turned girls-only, with Hina pitching in to teach too…

“Ohh…”

…Yeah, I can already guess exactly what Sumire’s about to do.

Sumire turned to face Ayu…

“Ayuri, I’d like you to teach me how to swim too.”

…she declared, right on cue. Well, if she’s okay with it, then I guess it’s fine.

And naturally, Ayu…

“Eh…? Of course, Sumire!”

…agreed, delighted.

Not that it matters… but when Hina or the senior get all clingy, she pulls that iffy face and goes on about ‘the guilt,’ and yet the moment it’s her turn to look after someone, she throws herself right into it. What kind of line is she drawing in that head of hers? I have to admit, I’m a little curious.

◆◆◆

“You’re good, Sumire! You’ve done this before, haven’t you!”
“What is she going on about?”

The teacher’s instruction had wrapped up and free time began. Resting at the poolside, Hina and I watched the two of them, Ayu and Sumire, one teaching and one learning to swim.

“Looks like Ayu got taken from us, huh~”
“…Well, I’ve definitely got nothing to do now, sure.”
“It’s usually Ayu who kicks something off at times like these~”

Free time in a class like this is quietly kind of a pain; I’m never sure what to do with myself. Normally, whenever there’s a lull, Ayu starts something or other up, so right now I feel it all the more.

“Well, we’re not really the age to be splashing around in a pool anymore. Unlike Ayu.”
“Gi~n! Hi~na!”
“…Hm?”

Speak of the devil, sort of. Ayu, who was supposed to be teaching Sumire to swim until a second ago, came over to us, Sumire trailing slowly along behind her.

“What’s up~?”
“Listen, you two — every once in a while, just now and then, I get the urge to swim, and I’ll head to, like, an indoor heated pool, right?”
“Ehh~? Then invite me~!”
“Wait, what are we even talking about?”

This is way too out of nowhere.

“Now, now, just hear me out… so when I go, there are all kinds of people there, y’know? Folks who look like they swim all the time, older people who seem to be there to build up their stamina, that sort of thing.”
“Uh-huh…”
“So then, watching you sitting there at the poolside chatting away, Gin… you kind of look just like one of those aunties who come all the way to the pool only to hold a good old gossip session.”
“Aall right, so you’re picking a fight.”

I don’t know what she’s playing at, striking up a chat out of nowhere, but if it’s a fight she’s selling, I’ll gladly buy it. She’d even gone out of her way to single me out. “Gin,” she’d said, pinning it on me specifically, not “Gin and the rest of them.”

From where I sat on the pool’s edge, I flung myself at Ayu with all the momentum of a dive. But she’d already pushed off, and I couldn’t quite catch her.

“Ahaha!”
“Get back here!”

Now we were both swimming. Ayu had the head start and stayed out ahead, but…

“Gotcha!”
“Eh, so fast?!”

True, Ayu was the one who taught me to swim in the first place. But she was never much for sports, and I’m on the better side of it. Given our raw athletic ability, the outcome was plain as day.

“Heh heh heh… now, what to do with you?”
“No fair~! I really thought this was the year I’d finally win~!”

In the end, our game of tag turned out to be just the opener. Hina and Sumire piled in too, and the whole lot of us wound up romping around, acting far younger than our years.

And to think I’d been feeling just a little bit grown-up. In the end, I guess I’m still a kid after all, no different from Ayu.