Asatsu University.
It was a modest, but prestigious college, one of the most enticing options available in all of Japan for those interested in the fine arts. Its academic and sports programs, while robust, had been known to lag behind by comparison…at least, until recently.
Tsubaki Shishido took the world of swimming by storm. It was difficult to imagine any human flowing through the water as easily as she did…and yet, she did, over and over, seemingly without breaking a sweat. The more she crushed the competition, the more her reputation grew, and the more she became an obvious pick for Olympic representative.
That same Tsubaki Shishido was now drowning.
Asatsu’s pool room, which had often seemed vestigial until the recent rise of its swim team, found itself home to a terrifying incident. Sudden screams echoed through the halls nearby as panicking, swimsuit-clad students debated whether or not to jump into the deceptively calm pool. Toward its very center, a dark shape had sunken below the surface like a rock. “Oh my god…” One of the gathered girls murmured, her hands covering her mouth in fear and horror. “Tsubaki-senpai…!”
It was difficult to believe for those outside the know, but Tsubaki had fallen asleep mid-practice. Whatever instinctual response would normally wake one up during such a crisis was obviously failing her; the tall, lean figure that took to the water like a second home was now being lost to it, however peacefully.
Given enough time, her teammates would surely take action- but would it be too late by then? It seemed, despite everything, that tu was the deciding factor in this equation.
