Side Story: Leap of Faith

Whaaat? You can't swim?"

"Uh...yeah? So what if I can't? Don't look at me like that!" Ohtori, shot back.

"But you said you are going to join the Imperial Navy when you grow up!"

"That's right—but I will be a Navy aviator. And since I will be flying all the time, why should I bother with swimming?"

Zuikaku pursed her lips into a pout as she attempted to find a comeback to that.

"But what if you got shot down and had to swim? What are you gonna do?" she finally said.

"Heh. I won't get shot down."

"Don't get cocky."

"I don't want to hear that from you."

"Geh," Zuikaku groaned. There was some truth to that, she had to admit. But this wasn't the time to reflect on her own shortcomings. There's something more important.

"Look," she said, taking Ohtori's attention from the sea, "I'm...just worried for you, you know?"

"Uh, th-thank you, Zuikaku, but I'll be alright, I mean it," he replied, hoping his resolve would get to her despite his stammering and flustering. She didn't look convinced at all.

Before long, her pout became a grin.

"Say, you don't happen to be scared of the water, do you?"

"Uhhhh, what does that have to do with this?"

"Just say so. I won't make fun of you, unlike Shoukaku-nee."

Ohtori's gaze absently wandered, avoiding looking the girl in the eye. She was sincere—as always—but that didn't make it easier.

"Ye...yeah. Though it's only the sea I find intimidating," he eventually confessed. As promised, Zuikaku only nodded instead of teasing.

"That's too bad. Because I love the sea."

"Um, sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? You did nothing wrong," Zuikaku frowned, then laughed. "But if you really wanted to be in the Navy, then at least you must not be afraid of the sea, you know?"

Scratching the back of his head, Ohtori let out a nervous laugh.

"I...I guess you're right."

"Oh, I know. Maybe I could help," Zuikaku declared. The boy noticed her grin had become a little mischievous. Before he knew it, she had seized his clothes and leaped off the dock. The scream that followed was soon gone, replaced by a loud splash.

Ohtori gasped for breath as they surfaced shortly after that and coughed out the salt water. He also had them on his nose and eyes, which was unpleasant. But the worst was that brief moment of nothing but blue emptiness and now finding out he had no footing. It had been nothing short of terrifying.

Zuikaku laughed as she held the flailing Ohtori, and he realized he was at her mercy. She had always been stronger than most children their age and easily kept herself afloat even with the added weight of his body.

"Hey, calm down already."

"Do-don't let me go...o-okay?" He hated how much that sounded too much like desperate pleading, even though it was more along the line of telling her to take responsibility.

"Of course not! Sorry for this, but I've always believed that facing your fears head-on is the best way to get rid of them. So...yeah. Sorry for this spur-of-the-moment thing. But I won't let you go. I promise!"

Ohtori felt the grasp on his clothes grow tighter, and the damp fabric clung even more to his skin, the warm, sunlit water seeping through it. His face was just as warm, but for an entirely different reason, as he held onto her.

Yet, he was at ease.