It strikes me with sudden ferocity that out of all my years sharing a class with Shun and observing him like the good stalker I am, I have never once considered the question whether he can swim.

I've always assumed he could. I mean, he's a fast runner, the nimble kind, and he also does okay in other sports that require more speed and swiftness than sheer strength, so it makes sense that he would be a fine swimmer too.

But now that I'm actually thinking back to swimming classes, I realize that I've never seen him swim. Our PE teachers, while being strict in most other cases, are really slack when it comes to swimming, probably because changing in and out of swimsuits already takes up like half the class time and there isn't much time to do any serious laps. All I remember about swimming classes is everyone fooling around in the water, maybe playing some volleyball in the pool. Yeah, they were that lax.

My heart thuds like mad in my chest as I scour the water for any signs of life. But everything is too grey, the waves are messing with my eyes and to make it worse it starts raining out of nowhere. I contemplate diving under to see what I can find. After all, though a thousand thoughts have rushed through my mind, in reality only like a couple of seconds have passed (I think fast, sue me) so it's completely reasonable to assume that Shun has not drowned yet. But the water is dark, I doubt that I will be able to see at all underneath.

Doesn't hurt to try anyway, I think, but just as I take a huge gulp of air and ready myself, Shun saves me the trouble by suddenly popping out of the surface a couple of feet away. He flounders a bit, arms flailing, before going down again. He barely manages to surface once more, mouth open and struggling to inhale, but the waves are relentless and submerge him before he can get a breath, and all that is left within a millisecond are his hands clawing at the air.

Damn, he really can't swim.

I quickly propel myself towards him, even though I haven't the slightest idea how to save a drowning person. Logic tells me that I should punch him unconscious so I don't get pulled down by his struggling, and logic also tells me that there should be a badass and awesome professional way to do this, just that I don't know it. Unfortunately, this is someone's mind, not real life, and normal logic doesn't work here.

According to the teachers, in someone's mind, I can do anything if I believe. This is the basic rule of mindhacking.

However, I'm also the anomaly in our mindhacking school who can't mindhack for shit, so even if I "believe", it's not going to work. Besides, I don't even believe. I have very little belief in my lifesaving skills because reason tells me that I don't have any.

And my reason is being perfectly sensible because I really don't have any.

I try my best to pull Shun above anyway. It's a terribly hard process since our clothes are weighing us both down and the waves are everywhere and I barely have enough strength to keep myself afloat, let alone two people, and the more I try the more water I inevitably swallow. But the split second I manage to help Shun's face clear the surface I hear him gasp chokedly, desperately for air, and the sheer anguish I hear in it is more than enough to keep me going.

I wish I weren't so sensitive to sounds, but that's how it is.

We bob up and down for a few seconds, me battling to keep us both above the surface while gulping in like a gallon of water and Shun a shivering, sputtering mess. As soon as I get used to this weird rhythm of surfacing, going under, and surfacing again, I decide to strike for land. It isn't far anyway, apparently the tip of the hill we were trying to climb is not submerged and we haven't been swept too long a distance away from it.

It takes a lot of will power to do it. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. The waves and rain and my shit swimming skills and complete lack of stamina are giving me hell and every time I go under my hair gets into my face and blocks my vision and makes it that much harder to breathe and I don't have free hands to push it away. But I'll glance at Shun who's pretty much hyperventilating by now and immediately find the strength to go on.

This guy has saved me god knows how many times; I can't let him die here.

Tears, mixed with salt water, are flowing down my face when we finally reach concrete land. I can barely make the last few steps, stumbling and falling to my knees, but somehow it is done. We aren't even completely ashore, I think my feet are still in the water but I don't have the strength to drag them out. Who cares? It's not like my shoes will be wet in real life (and besides they are cheap anyway, I got them two pairs for the price of one in a sale at Shibuya 109).

I don't think I'm crying because I'm really spent. I'm not even sure why I'm crying. Maybe the fact that we aren't dead is getting to me at least. Maybe it's just the trauma of seeing and hearing that giant wave. Maybe it's because I've never felt so exhausted and breathless in my whole life. Maybe it's because Shun is coughing his lungs out beside me and hearing him like that is killing me.

It's probably that. I swear it's like someone fired an arrow through my heart every time he breathes. Shun has always been a reliable and mentally strong person as long as I've known him and I'd rather eat a cockroach than see him so weak and battered.

Actually that's not a very good comparison; some people do eat roaches, and if I were to eat one I believe it's more hard lines on the roach than on me.

I can't even bear to look at Shun, hearing him already sucks and seeing him in pain would only be worse. So I look at the ground, and wonder to myself what that ever-enlongating shadow is.

Oh.

And then I hear the familiar sound of silence. And turn, and see another wave. This time, it's even bigger.

I don't know if Shun has seen it. I don't want to know. We can't run, we're too tired, and there's nowhere to run. This wave is tall enough to take over the whole hill.

I close my eyes, wondering if this time I'm going to see my life flashing past my eyes. But all I see is that irritating orchestra conductor, one arm poised, ready to signal the end of my pathetic sixteen years of life. The musicians in the orchestra await, answering to his beck and call.

And then a completely wild thought crosses my mind. It was like I was suddenly back in the training room, when I was practicing conjuring up my elega. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Actually it was yesterday, just a lot of things happened between then and now.

I remember what Shun said to me then. You can make everyone in the room think the same thing with your elega. Now what if you use it in someone's mind, what if you can literally change their mind-

There is no time to think. My elega materializes in my hands like it's the most natural thing in the world. My whole body relaxes at the familiar metallic feel at my fingertips, and suddenly I'm afraid of nothing. My fingers find the chords by themselves.

It doesn't have to be a song. It doesn't have to be even a melody. One note will do.

I sweep my fingers across the elega's flat surface. It makes a screeching sound, like all the instruments in the orchestra have given out at the same time.

The conductor in my head scratches his neck. His musicians won't play. Their instruments are all wonky. He is a bit confused, but probably, he thinks, they're just not up to it right now. The conductor puts down his poised arm, and sits down. Maybe he could go get some coffee.

I am dragged back to reality by the sound of Shun gasping out things that sound like words, somewhere behind me. I look up and see the wave has stopped. Simply stopped. It's just there, looming above us, not moving.

Only now do I realize how insane a sight this is. Look, first there's the wave, taller than a twenty-story building, frozen in midair, curled really prettily. Then there's Shun who is lying on the ground half dead. I stand between them like a badass motherfucker, fingers still in position on my new shiny weapon. My elega.

"This is... the craziest... I've ever..." Shun is saying, but I realize I'm less concerned over the content of his speech than how frequently he has to stop for breath in between. I crumble to the ground and begin fussing over him like a mother hamster licking her children while trying to figure out whether she should eat them later when hungry.

Actually that's not a good comparison either, but whatever.

"Are you okay?" I demand, all bravado gone and anxiety taking over me all of a sudden. Tears have filled my eyes again, and no matter how hard I try to blink them away they just kind of insist on staying, which is really annoying, trust me.

"Yeah," Shun assures me, even though he looks anything but fine.

"You're a shitty liar," I declare.

"Uh, yeah, I kind of can't swim," he admits. "Sorry?"

I don't understand what there is to be sorry about and say so, except I'm crying so hard it's very difficult to get words out. Crybaby problems, you see. Shun somehow ends up comforting me again and maybe he should get paid for it because he's doing it like twenty-four-seven. Eventually he tries to pull me up.

"Riri will be unhooking us soon I think, if she's waiting for the calmer stats after the crazy ones. We tell her what's going on here, send her in with you again, you can freeze all the waves that appear, and she can fly over them and get Yukiya. Then we will have Yukiya at our disposal, and we can send Riri and Yukiya to get Katsuki while we can finally get some sleep. Sounds good?"

I wipe a tear away. "Nah, someone still has to spot."

"Okay, after we get Katsuki, he can spot, and we can get some sleep. Now that sounds good," Shun compromises.

I nod. It indeed sounds good.

We head up to the tip of the hill for no particular reason other than it's a more comfortable place to wait for Ririka to free us. It's got grass and is much nicer to sit on than concrete ground. I don't get how Shun still has the strength to climb the hill as my legs are pretty much jello, but he gives me his hand to pull me along and I feel all sorts of things running through my chest and feverently hope that the musicians that apparently live in my head won't start blasting some celebratory march.

Not that I think it's going to, uh, restart the wave or anything, but it will be really embarrassing.

And as I feel the familiar tug that is us being unhooked (whew), I hear Shun whisper, "Thank you, Tomomi."