▬▬▬▬▬▬ The water was her happy place. As (Y/N) dove into the water for her event, everything seemed to go smoothly.. Almost too smoothly. She utilized her streamline and dolphin kicked as far as the racing rules of swimming would allow, which pulled her ahead from everyone else. This was the fastest heat of this specific race, and the competitors were fierce. She would have to use every single one of her strengths to her fullest advantage.
Seeing that she was ahead in a race with some of the fastest girls in the prefecture sparked a profound sense of confidence within the girl- maybe she was finally becoming the elite swimmer she always pushed herself to be. Swimming with the best of the best.. now you could say that she really was the best of the best. She tapped into this new confidence, widening the gap between her and the other swimmers even further; her aching muscles in rebellion and every bone in her body begging her to slow down.
'It's okay to not come out on top for this one, you're going to hurt yourself,' her brain tried to reason with her. In spite of that, she knew she couldn't go down without a fighting chance.
It was probably around the 75 meter mark that she really started to feel the product of all of the force she had put on her shoulder. This was probably the most agony she'd ever physically been in- spots blurred her vision and her shoulder throbbed with shooting pains, not just up her shoulder but down her back. She began to realize that this just might have been the straw that broke the camel's back- the one race that ended everything.
Even if it was, she was determined to come in first.
'If I'm first to the wall, nothing else matters,' she reminded herself.
As she turned her head to the side to take the last breath of the race, she heard a myriad of voices shouting her name. A few she recognized as team mates, one was definitely Kiro's, and one was familiar, so familiar that she didn't believe it was his.
'Haru?'
It was at this exact moment, the moment where everyone she loved was in one place supporting her; that she knew. She didn't want to win. She needed to win.
Pushing out a second wind that lay dormant inside of her, she breezed through the last quarter of the race, slamming her hands against the touchpad. Squinting, trying to read through the spots still clouding her vision, she gazed up to the scoreboard.
Heat 7/7 Women's 100 Freestyle
1. Lane 4 (Y/N),(L/N) Shimo U 46.79
With a tired, content sigh, she ripped off her cap and goggles as she waited for the rest of the swimmers to touch the wall. She had come first, and set a tournament record. This also meant she definitely made finals. For a second there, she forgot about the unimaginable pain in her shoulder, adrenaline coating her body in a thick layer of numbness.
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you're the reason [haruka nanase]
Fanfiction"you gave me a reason to try again." ▬▬▬▬▬▬ [haruka nanase x reader] extended summary inside