111/Besties or just Estuaries

Besties or just Estuaries
Date of Scene:	18 July 2023
Location:	Sports Pavilion
Synopsis:	Michiru Kaiou was planning on getting her laps in - and she does that and more when she runs into Ami Mizuno at the school pool. Practice turns into a swim race - and an excellent introduction.
Cast of Characters:	Michiru Kaiou, Ami Mizuno

---

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Michiru Kaiou is famous for her musicianship, but less well-known for her athleticism. She is devoted to excellence in all aspects of her life, and keeps to a rather arduous exercise routine. A routine which she's had to adjust, now that she attends Radiant Heart. Fortunately, they have a pool, and so she can swim some laps when they fit into her schedule. Today? That's rather early in the morning, well before her first classes. Only another over-achiever like herself would even consider being at the pool at this hour.

She steps out of the women's locker room in her cerulean one-piece, her hair up in a teal swim cap. Her goggles are in her hand. She looks every bit the competitive swimmer. She is oh so competitive. She is accustomed to being the best at everything she does, at least everything she does for any amount of time. She walks over toward the pool. It's time to get her meditation on and just move her body.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Amazingly, there is someone already in the pool. Maybe Michiru missed the other swimmer while lost in thought, or something. But, there's a younger girl already doing laps in a modest blue one-piece swimsuit, her hair under a paler blue swim cap and her blue goggles on. It seems meditative for this girl as well, swimming the butterfly at a good pace, but also not obviously straining to do so.

The girl reaches the far wall of the pool and does a wall kickflip before continuing her laps, paying no attention to the famous older student in the area. Either she's very into what she's doing, or is ignoring Michiru.

Who ignores Michiru Kaiou?

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
To be entirely fair, with her hair up under the cap, Michiru is a little bit less recognizeable.

She walks over and sits down at the end of the lane next to Ami's, and lets her feet dangle in the water. She swishes her goggles around in the water and then brings them up to her face, the strap secured at the back of her head. She slips down into the water, cmopletely submerging herself, before kicking off the wall in a graceful and quick motion. She's starting off with freestyle, it looks like.

Just two girls swimming laps. Nothing unusual here. A school like this was bound to have at least one other over-achiever. So why, Michiru wondered, did this moment feel so significant?

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami ends up at the other wall as Michiru slips into the water, and instead of turning, she stands in the chest-high water of the Olympic pool, looking at the young lady in the lane next to her. Her head cants to the side, and she peers through her slightly-foggy goggles. It's almost as if she recognizes the other girl, but--nah.

But... Ami's heart skipped a beat when she felt the other girl touch the water. What is going on around Radiant Heart? This place has some weird people and weird events.

After a moment, she shrugs a bit to herself and moves to start a few laps of breast stroke. She's distracted, though, a bit slower than before, and it's obvious to any experienced swimmer that her rhythm's been thrown off. Still, though, she keeps going.

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Michiru is raw efficiency in the water. Watching her is like watching one of those 3D models of perfect swimming form. She practically cuts through the water, barely disturbing it as she shoots from one end of the pool to the other. With a quick kick turn she starts heading back, but slows down when she catches up to Ami, so that they reach the other end of the pool at the same time. Instead of doing another kick turn, she stops and lets her feet touch the bottom, standing there in the water.

"I didn't think anybody else would be here this early," she says with a laugh. "Want to race?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami looks to Michiru as she realizes the other girl is catching up to her, stopping at the wall as well. Her feet touch the bottom of the pool and she stands. "Oh, sure," she says with a smile. "But may I at least know your name first? I'm Ami Mizuno." A bob of the head follows the words, as it's hard to properly bow in the pool. "You're absolutely phenomenal," she adds. "Your form is impeccable."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Michiru smiles all the way up to her eyes with delight. She does not think she'll ever tire of _not_ being recognized. Maybe she might even shed her habit of never introducing herself. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. "Oh, yes! I've heard of you. You're in grade 9, and the top of your class, right?"

"I'm Michiru Kaiou," she says. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mizuno-kun. Now, let's see who's faster," she adds. And then she pushes off from the wall, rocketing off into the water. That is hardly fair.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami nods, blushing a bit. She barely has the chance to blink after Michiru introduces herself. "Kaiou-senpai," she says in an awed voice, before diving into the water and forcing her brain into the proper place for competition. She hasn't actually competed in a bit, so it takes a few moments. Once she's there, though, it's smooth sailing catching up to the older girl.

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Streamlining until just past the flags, Michiru moves with a precision and speed that are much more intense than before. Whereas before she was cutting through the water taking relaxed, perfect strokes, now she is shooting through it with a continuous churning motion. And yet her kohai catches up. This girl really is something else.

No really, there's something about her that's been lingering in the back of Michiru's mind since she slipped into the water. A familiarity. A kinship. This is just as much a part of the young girl in blue as it is a part of herself. _Who is she?_

That question will have to wait, though, because right now she has a race to win. Letting out just a little more, she furiously tries to inch out ahead of Ami, reaching the end of the lane and kickflipping off into a powerful streamline. The race is on for real!

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami blinks, and realizes what she's up against. She grins briefly to herself before before relaxing and giving it her all, forgetting everything but the race. The girl stays at a dead heat with her senpai. Who leads is a matter of the moment, really, because it changes so quickly. Ami is good, but she's a little younger, and doesn't quite have the skill Michiru has in swimming yet. Despite being a natural, she falls less than a half a length behind in the end, and loses by a partial second.

She stands once she touches the wall with her fingertips, signifying the end of the race, and looks to Michiru with a nod and a weird expression on her face. She's breathing heavily, chest rising and falling as she sucks air into her greedy lungs. "That's the hardest I've had to work in a swim race in years!" She sounds awed and impressed. "Wow, Kaiou-senpai, you're amazing at everything."

She says that, sure, but her expression isn't entirely awestruck. Ami is also competitive, and is replaying the race in her head, trying to see where she could shave off a few milliseconds. She watches Michiru with slightly narrowed eyes, but not in a negative way. It's a shrewd expression.

"It was a pleasure to race against you!" she says, finally smiling widely. "Would you like to make this a regular occurance? Once a week, perhaps?"

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Michiru was prepared to pace herself, just to give this girl a fighting chance, but it becomes very apparent just a few strokes down the return trip that Ami Mizuno is the real deal. She moves through the water with an unparalleled grace that feels deeply, intimately familiar to Michiru. She's met a lot of swimmers before, but never somebody like Ami.

She lets her feet fall to the floor and takes a lean against the end of the pool. Her breathing, too, is a bit labored, although not as much. She does this all the time. Her lungs are in peak condition. "That is not at all true. There are plenty of things at which I am not amazing," she says. There are, after all, plenty of things she has not ever bothered to learn. "But you're no shirk yourself. It's been a long time since I've had such a challenger in the pool."

Michiru seems to consider Ami's offer, then, and smiles, nodding. "That would be lovely," she says. "Though, for now, I need to get some laps in. You staying around?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami smiles at Michiru, nodding. "I understand how that goes," she says. "Can't master it all in one lifetime, you know?" Her voice, light, betrays the joke in her words. Or what she thinks is a joke, anyway.

She inclines her head. "I appreciate that, Kaiou-senpai." It's hard to tell from the flush of exertion on her cheeks, but Ami may be blushing. She smiles a bit, speechless for a few moments. Then, she shakes her head a bit and looks at the clock on the wall. "Sure," she says with a nod. "I don't have class for a while yet."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Michiru is glad that Ami is going to stay, because it means she'll be able to spend more time with the feeling she has, the way that girl feels in the water, both literally and mystically. There's something tugging at the back of Michiru's mind like a persistent memory that can't quite emerge from the depths of her past. If she spends more time with the girl, maybe she'll be able to figure it out. Of course, she doesn't say any of that. She doesn't even let it reach her face. Smiling, she says, "Great! Have a great rest of your swim! Thanks again for the race."

She kicks off and starts into an entire routine. So many laps. First it's freestyle, and then it's back, and then it's breaststroke, and then butterfly. She cycles through those several times before she's done, winding down with an entire lap of elementary backstroke. The entire time she's paying attention to what the other girl is doing, but not in any way that's obvious. Should Ami leave before she's done swimming, she doesn't even pause to say goodbye. But, if Ami's still there when she climbs out of the water, she does.

Then she's off to the locker rooms for a shower and to change into her uniform, ready to face the day.