A/N: Being bad at sport is the story of my life.

It was embarrassing being the only one in class who was painfully bad at sport, and Shintaro knew just how hard being weak and utterly unco-ordinated truly was – and worst of all was admitting in front of the entire class (though it was supposed to be only the teacher) that he couldn't swim.

He could live with knocking things over, coming last, getting hit by the rackets and getting run over; he could live with that. He could live with falling onto his classmates; there was one classmate in particular who slowed down just to run with him, only for him to trip over his own feet and trip her in the process, yes, as painful as it was he could live with that.

But for the love of all that was good in the world, he just couldn't swim and swimming was pain and he couldn't live with it and constantly pondered its very existence.

"What's the point of swimming anyway?" He grumbled under his breath, trudging towards the school pool painfully slowly. If he walked slower, would they just call it off and let him go home? "Humans are land creatures, not water nor amphibians so the point of learning to swim is what, exactly? Waste of my time…"

Here he was, after school on a Friday, being forced to learn how to swim. Ayano Tateyama, his kind classmate who offered to help teach him – also the classmate that he kept tripping over during athletics – was to be his guide and shining light, provided that he show up to the 'classes'.

He was going to get there eventually, he mused. She could wait.

It was like prolonging death almost. Funny how he was going to lose the only person who ever approached him because of his complete lack of water skills. Or athletic skills in general. Not that he would really care, but it was just plain sad.

"Kisaragi?" A girl's face peered out from behind the glass door of the indoor pool, and as a contrast to her usual appearance: her brown hair was tied in a high ponytail and a large fluffy red towel was draped around her. "Ah, Shintaro, you're here!"

He ignored her.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up!" She started to ramble, "Though the teacher told me you would get detention if you didn't show up, and I didn't want to rat you out if you really didn't so I didn't know what to do, but oh, thank god, you're here!"

After a moment's silence, she smiled awkwardly, extending a hand. "Um, I'm Tateyama Ayano. I sit next to you in class?"

"I know who you are. You're the one that's failing most classes, aren't you?"

She stiffened, before laughing it out. "Yes… yes, that's me. Ah, I can't believe you know me because of that…"

"Put your hand back down, it looks stupid." He quipped sharply. "I wouldn't even be here if the teacher hadn't threatened my record and yes, it's not surprising considering I do in fact, sit next to you."

Ayano seemed to brighten curiously at this, though she retracted her hand all the same. Changing topics as she was becoming mindful of the time, she chirped, "Are you any good at swimming, Shintaro? Or shall we start from the basics?"

Shintaro cursed inwardly when his plan to stall his cheerful swimming instructor failed. If she had just kept talking, they could've gone over time and no-one could say he didn't show up because he did. He sighed.

"I cannot swim at all." As an afterthought, he added, "I don't float, I sink and drown."

Crossing her arms, Ayano gave him a genuine smile. "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Get changed quickly, okay? I'll wait for you inside."

Just as he turned to leave, she stopped him, a delicate hand on his shoulder. "Don't take too long, hahaha… learning to swim is important and anything we don't get done today, I'll be teaching you again sometime."

"W-what? I thought this was just the one time."

She shook her head. "I won't let you stop until you can swim with confidence. If you drown in the ocean, it would be terrible, you know?"

'My sister survived.' He scowled, but didn't voice this thought. Even though Momo had survived, their father didn't, after all.

"Fine."

"Alright." Smiling again, she ducked back inside calling behind her an enthusiastic "See you soon!"

When he had emerged, he had finally realised just what the situation was. He, Shintaro Kisaragi, proclaimed genius of the school who couldn't swim, was being taught by an admittedly pretty Ayano Tateyama who definitely could, and would be right there to see his ultimate sporting fail over and over.

That, and swimsuits were far from flattering.

He sauntered out with a sigh, to meet Ayano already swimming laps and stopped in his tracks.

She had the most gorgeous legs he had ever seen out of anyone; including the internet and that was saying something. Her stroke was solid as she glided through the water, pale feet splashing through the glistening surface – sprays of pure vapour ascending, only to gracefully soar back down.

Despite his vehement denial of such thoughts, there was only one way to describe it: beautiful.

"Oh, Shintaro! Welcome back." Elevating herself out of the pool, Ayano lifted her goggles and grinned. "You ready to begin?"

Snapping out of his daze, his expression hardened and he scowled, trying his hardest not to stare at her legs. "No. I don't even want to be here."

Ayano giggled, "Hop in. You'll only get cold if you stand here watching. Here, I'll take your towel."

He groaned but obliged, daintily stepping into the shallow part of the pool and cringing the whole way. The water was colder than the air, so he didn't know how much worse it could get.

"Alright, okay." Sliding straight back into the pool, Ayano waded over to him and dunked him under, soaking his entire body. "Off we go…!"

Emerging with a flurry, Shintaro sputtered, "What the hell was that for?!"

"You can't swim if only your feet are in the water." She stated matter-of-factly. "It's to get you used to the temperature too, though."

"It's cold." He started to shiver, "Like Antarctic cold."

"Don't be silly! You know better than me that the Antarctic isn't nearly as cold as this!"

His only answer was an aggravated groan.

Sending him a reassuring smile, she began the lesson. He'd be lying if he said her warm touch wasn't the slightest bit comforting and even a little sweet. Because it was. Very much so.

An hour had flown with not much progress, but hey, he learned how to float so that was an achievement he'd be taking home. The downside was that it was hard to concentrate when he kept looking at her legs – but damn – he had never been so attracted to anyone but his soft drinks before.

All things aside, Shintaro himself would've felt humiliated being seen dragged along the pool edge by Ayano at first, but she had a calming kind of aura and soon all his worries dissipated. It was only like this that he survived, and was thankful he didn't drown too many times throughout their little session.

"You're getting it," She commented gently, only slightly blushing from their clasped hands. He couldn't blame her, because for some reason he was sporting an equally heated face.

He would've tried to avoid looking at her entirely, if the last time he had tried didn't end up with him face-first in the water. The eye contact made him a little tense.

"Not really," He replied quietly, looking away anyway.

"No, look, you're really doing it!" In his musings, he hadn't realised that Ayano had let go of his hands and he was now technically swimming by himself for the first time in his life.

When he looked back up at her in disguised shock, she was sporting a radiant smile, and clapped encouragingly. "See, sometimes there are things in the world that aren't as bad as they seem."

It was then that he realised not only was her face beautiful, and her form was beautiful – but her personality was beautiful too. He began to sink.

"Shintaro? Shintaro, no!" Pulling him back up by the arms, Ayano's eyes were wide. "Are you okay? I'm sorry, I'll keep holding onto you for now, if you want? I forgot this was your first time, ah…"

He blew bubbles in the water, exhaling deeply.

"… Shintaro?" Considerably calm now, Ayano took hold of his face, checking if he was still alive. "You almost gave me a heart attack, you know."

"You gave me one," He blurted. Stupid mouth.

"Did I actually?" She seemed frantic, pressing her fingers to his neck and wrist to check for a pulse. "Are you okay?"

He swatted her hands away, uncomfortable that she was touching him so closely. He mumbled, "I'm fine."

"W-well, I guess we should stop for now." Ayano said nervously, and led him back to the steps at the shallow end. "We're a little overtime and you learn really quickly too, so we might be able to tie this up quicker than I thought."

Shintaro nodded mutely, standing fully in the pool and waiting for her to conclude her speech. It was only polite, he assured himself. Not that he wanted to hear her voice more, because that was not true at all.

"Um, this made me really happy." She confessed. "I enjoy working with you, and I'm glad you came even though you hate P.E. and stuff… yeah…"

"Thank you."

"You should be proud of yourself for your achievements too, because- … wait."

Realising something suddenly, Shintaro darted up the pool steps, ready to go get changed and leave.

"Did you say 'thank you'?" Ayano seemed genuinely surprised, "I, ah… no, thank you, Shintaro! Thank you so much for joining me!"

"I didn't say it! I don't know what you're talking about. This whole thing was stupid!"

"Could it be that you enjoyed my lesson? That makes me so happy…"

"I didn't say that! Your teaching was sloppy, anyway."

She refused to be deterred though, and emerged from the pool quickly to pursue him before he escaped to the change rooms (and dammit, she was such a distraction, oh god).

"Thank you for being a wonderful student! And oh, I almost forgot!" Running towards a blue towel, she unravelled it to reveal a pair of soda cans, and held one out to Shintaro. "A reward. For coming."

He was rendered speechless, and not for the first time in her presence.

"Go on, take it. I hope I got the one you like, ehe…" With newfound confidence, her lips tugged into the most generous grin he had seen so far. "You deserve it."

Taking the offering from heaven, he nodded towards her. "Uh, thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome." She beamed, collecting her massive towel in her arms. "I like doing this. How does same time next week sound? … are you free?"

He nodded again. "Yeah, whatever. The sooner we can get this over and done with, the better."

Or he could feign being terrible at it for longer and have an excuse to spend time with her, hahahaha, nah. Who needed to pretend being bad anyway? Sports were pointless and he had always sucked at them anyway, and it would be his luck that would probably run out next week and he'd drown for real.

"That's right." Though she said this, her tone seemed a little distant. "Well, anyway, it'll be fun. I know you'll learn to love swimming eventually."

"It will never happen." He responded, though with her as a teacher, he wasn't so sure. Drink in hand, he began to proceed to the change rooms finally, somewhat relieved he could finally head home.

"See you on Monday." Ayano sang pleasantly, only a little hesitation in her voice.

"See you on Monday." Shintaro replied, rushing towards the change rooms before she could see the grin spreading on his face.

"I'm looking forward to it."