High Speed! Volume 2

Chapter 9: Road

It was on the last day of the exam period that the ban on club activities was finally lifted. When Haruka and the others came out onto the poolside after making a bow, unexpectedly, Nao was there in his swimsuit. Opening his legs to 180 degrees, he's sticking his chest flat to the ground.

"Nao-senpai, ......you gonna swim?"*

Asahi asked.

"Yeah, just for fifteen minutes."

Keeping his legs opened and twisting his body at the waist, Nao answers benignly. If he can swim, why hasn't he swum until now, why only for fifteen minutes, what is he swimming for? He had so many questions that he couldn't count them, but no matter what he intends to do, Haruka got excited to no small extent that Nao will swim.

"Makoto, a contest with back. 25m."

"Eh?"

Raising his eyebrows, Makoto is surprised.

"It's precious time. Don't waste a single second of it."

"Y-yes!"

Makoto's reply echoed over the pool.

After the two of them scrupulously did the warm-up exercises, they entered the water and took a hold of the starting grip. Pressing their feet against the wall, they firmly pull their bodies in. A moment of silence. The expectations towards Nao's swimming rise.

Whistle––.

The two of them kicked off from the wall. The way their bodies stretch out is different. The point where Nao lands on the water is farther. When he starts doing the Vassallo from the streamline, that difference opens even wider and he reaches the goal with a few strokes after surfacing. It wasn't the kind of difference that comes with a super short distance of 25m. Why hasn't he swum until now? That question arises again.

The two of them climb up onto the poolside and Nao removes his goggles. Then, after he looked over the four of them, he showed a bright smile.

"What happened? All four of you look like you were bewitched by a kitsune."

He'd feel relieved if he'd get it over with and tell them that he's a kitsune. What in the world is Nao?

"Do you understand the difference between Makoto and I in that start just now? Asahi."

"U-uissu. Nao-senpai stretched out like pchoo."*

"Then, where does that difference in stretching out come from? Ikuya."

"Tachibana's legs did not finish stretching out."

"Why don't they finish stretching out? Haruka."

Even if he's told to say why, it's not something he knows unless he asks Makoto.

"He couldn't make use of the counteraction."

He thinks that's what it results in, but––.

"Makoto, why were you scared?"

"Eh?"

"Did you think you'd hit your knees or something?"

"............"

Makoto loses his words. No wonder. He doesn't get the meaning of what he's saying.

"When you kick off from the wall, the muscles of your thighs aren't being useful."

For the backstroke's start, there's an order for stretching your body, first you stretch your waist, next your knees, and lastly, you have to kick off from the wall, but in Makoto's case, because he's kicking off from the wall before his knees stretch out, he can't transmit his strength well.