Lotus || Asahi Azumane

chapter two

[A/n: i will be putting "*" on uncommon/common swim terminology which will be at a key on the bottom of the chapter. Hope this helps non swimmers.]

C h a p t e r
T w o

✿ alot of ass ✿

Ezume gasped as she turned her head to the side before dunking it back in the water, pushing herself until she hit the wall, lungs burning. The sound of her coachs voice echoed in the aquatic center, "If i can say more than the fist syllable of your name, you're breathing too long! Speed it up!"

Ezume groaned. The sets today were so long, and endurance building. Her weight training the day before left her muscles achey and sore, making swimming exponentially harder. She watched the clock for the bottom*, before starting the next set, 4321. These always sucked ass. 400 choice, 300 kick, 200 pull, and 100 swim. Typically they only did it for warmup, but her coach decided to put it in between all the sets. She dunked below the water, pushing off the wall and kicking before starting her pull out stroke*. She was the first in her lane, swimming ahead, mentally racing with Roku and Yukia who were in the lanes beside her. Once she finished the set, the coach paired them all to do resistance. Ezume was paired with Kito, one of the boys on the team. They weren't exactly friends, but he was nice enough. He walkes up with the harness and elastic rope attached. He smiled gesturing for her to put it on, "What strokes are you doing?"

She buckled the strap around her waist, tightening it and handing him the elastic side, "fly and free."

He nodded, "Okay, you ready?"

Ezume pushed her goggles in, slipping into the pool and holding onto the edge as Kito walked across the platform that cut the pool in half. The elastic stretched the whole 25 yards, almost pulling her off the wall, and she dove. She flew across the water so fast she couldn't even take a breath. When she hit the wall, Kito grinned down at her, "Was that good?"

She nodded with a smile, clutching the wall again as he walked back to the other side. Ezume watched as he braced himself, before diving under and pushing off. She loved the feeling of cutting through the water, and it was over all too soon. She unclipped the strap, climbing out of the pool as she held it out for Kito to take. He clipped it on, adjusting his goggles, and slipped into the pool. Ezume took the long elastic, carefully walking over the platform,  nearly falling in when the resistamce became very strong, but she made it to the other side. Kito sunk below the water surface, and Ezume began to pull. Kito wasn't the best on their team, but he was fast, cutting through the water even with breast stroke. He got to the wall, a wide grin on his face, and Ezume went to the other side, repeating the process but with free. He climbed out, slipping his cap and goggles off, his black hair falling out of the cap. "Damn! That's always so fun!"

Ezume smiled too, agreeing. It was fun. Their coach signaled practice was over, so Ezume headed to the locker room, towel wrapped around her body. She took a quick shower to try and rid the chlorine scent, but it never fully went away; she swam too much. She pulled her tight suit off, pulling on under garments, a pair of shorts, and her sweater. Ezume towel dried her hair, and slipped it around her neck while she slung the bags over her shoulders. Exiting the loud locker room she was greeted by Yukia's shining smile. "Hello!"

Ezume grinned and hugged her friend, "Sup. How was practice?"

Yukia pouted, "i couldn't beat you!"

Ezume laughed, "As it should be."

Yukia lightly shoved her, pursing her lips, "are you going to your boyfriends practice?"

"He's not my boyfriend," Ezume stated, throwing her towel at her friend. Yukia caught it and grabbed both ends, rolling it up before snapping it at her. Ezume yelped and looked at her friends smug face, "He might as well be you stupid bitch. C'mon, you totally like him."