Track practice had wiped him out, in that good, endorphin-soaked way that made the world feel like a little less of a mess. Yuji towel-dried his hair as he wandered through the side hallway shortcut to the locker rooms—shirt slung over his shoulder, sneakers squeaking faintly on the tile.

He didn’t mean to end up in the pool room.

The glass doors were propped open to let out the humidity, and the faint echo of splashing caught his attention. Swim practice, right. He wasn’t in a rush, so he leaned against the doorframe, just for a second, watching the last few swimmers push themselves down the lanes.

Then she surfaced.

Hair slicked back, water cascading down her shoulders like something out of a daydream, and—oh.

Oh.

Yuji straightened like someone had just thrown cold water in his face. He’d seen her around school, sure. Passed her in the halls, shared a class or two. But right now—seeing her like that, strong and sleek and completely focused as she pulled herself up onto the pool deck—it clicked. Something sharp and startling sank into place in his chest, like his heart was hitting the brakes and the gas at the same time.

He swallowed. Hard.

She glanced up, catching him looking.

Yuji panicked, gave a too-fast little wave. “Hey!”

She blinked, nodded once, then turned back to her team without missing a beat.

Cool. Casual. Perfect.

Yuji stared at the water a second longer before dragging himself toward the locker room, half-laughing at himself.

“What the hell was that?” he muttered under his breath, pressing a hand to his chest like that’d calm the chaos.