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Chapter 5
Over at Diamond Head, summer was getting under way. Nagisa #2 was opened at the beach. Brian and AJ were as busy as ever being had to run two places.
"Hey, beautiful ladies!" AJ greeted his guests.
"Hi, ohayo gozaimasu! (Good morning!)"
"Kawai ne! (So cute!) Where did you bought your bikinis? They look so good on you."
"Arigato gozaimasu. (Thank you.)"
"Here, your drinks. Do come back again. Really, I've never seen so beautiful ladies before," AJ thanked them.
"Hey, AJ. We're working now. Stop flirting around. If Ayumi saw you doing this, she would be very angry."
"You see, if I praise them, they will come back again. I don't want to be like you, blockhead. Furthermore, it's girls' nature to keep themselves beautiful and it's boys' instinct to look at beautiful natures."
"I don't have the time to argue with you. Get on working. I'm busy."
At that moment, Ayumi ran out from the resort telling there was a phone call for AJ. It was Nick. All Nick said was sorry and nothing more. He hung up after saying that. The busy AJ didn't take his word seriously.
Back in Nagisa #2, Brian was kind of influenced by words of AJ. When AJ was not around, he tried.
"Hi, young lady, this colorful bikini suits you so much. Where did you bought it? Or is it made specially for you because I think no one will look as good as you in it."
"Hai, (Yes,)" the girl smiled. Just then, a burly man appeared beside the girl, looking angrily at Brian.
"Kochira wa watakushi no kanoi desu. (This is my wife.) Wife!"
Brian knew he was in big trouble. His face turned pale. Before anything could happen, he ran away, leaving Nagisa #2 unattended.
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That night, Takako brought in a guest who got drunk and collapsed. The guest turned out to be Mike Collins, who was a friend of AJ.
When Mike woke up, he came down for dinner. When anyone called him by the name of 'Mike', he would always say that his name was not 'Mike' but 'The Mike who had competed in the Olympics because AJ got injured.' Ayumi didn't like what Mike was saying about AJ because AJ couldn't help it when he got injured. But she didn't know the truth yet. She was proud of AJ being an Olympics swimmer.
Outside, Brian had a talk with Mike while he was doing some exercise.
"He is a good guy and a good swimmer, much more better than I'm," said Mike.
"But he didn't continue."
"Yeah. An Olympics representative."
Ayumi's friend, Yuko who overheard this and since she was a 'big-mouth', she told everyone in the town about it. AJ became sort of a hero after that. The next night, Mike told AJ that he came to compete with him.
"I'm here to challenge you. Nick told me you're here. He indeed didn't lie to me. I don't want to live as your shadow. I want to prove that my place in the Olympics was not given to me because you got injured."
AJ thought it was a joke but Mike was serious. Yuko once again overheard their conversation. Of course the whole town soon knew about the challenge. So, when AJ went out for groceries or whatever, people he didn't know would greet him and those people would be saying stuff like,
"Good luck! I placed my bets on you. Ganbatte! (Work hard!)"
But he didn't know what they were talking. From the start, he had no intention to compete with Mike.
Ayumi and Brian didn't like Mike complaints about AJ but after hearing Mike saying that swimming was his dream and he devoted his whole life in it, they began to think differently about him. In a way, Brian knew how Mike had been feeling.
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The day of competition between Mike and AJ came. The event became big indeed in the town. But AJ went about his daily routine as usual, unaware of the competition, until he saw a poster regarding the competition. Hajiko was looking at the poster too. She nodded to AJ. Then, AJ gave her a ride back home.
"We're the same," said Hajiko.
"Why?"
"I was once a volleyball player. But now, the failure of my heart impedes me from playing volleyball again. You were a swimmer but gave up because of injury."
"We're not the same, Hajiko."
"Hai. (Yes.) You resume to your actual health again. So, you can swim again. But me, I don't think I can play again."
"Don't feel offended. That's not what I meant. It's just…" AJ paused.
"It's okay."
When AJ reached the resort, the four were sitting in the dining room.
"I'm back! Why? Having a meeting?"
"Stop pretending that you know nothing. Stop pretending that you don't care," said Ayumi. She wished that AJ would go.
"Why do you give up? Go for the competition," encouraged Brian.
"Coward!" said the impatient Ayumi.
"Yes! I'm a coward. So what? Tell you the truth. I injured myself on purpose. I couldn't stand this pressure of competing for my country. I trained and trained but did anyone ask me whether I like swimming? No! I was the factor of the breaking up of the BSB. All because that I was forced to be a professional swimmer!"
Everyone was too shocked to say a word. Masaru was the only one who dared to say something.
"But don't you feel bad for Mike? He has been training very hard just for this day. Go and get things back to zero again," after a minute, he continued, "Just go back to be the idiot you were. Let him know he really deserve it."
Quietly, AJ walked back to his room and put on his swimming trunks.
He went to the pool where the competition was held and everyone cheered for him. When the race began, it looked as if AJ was going to win and it was a close finish. But he lost. Mike was happy and said,
"It's common sense that I won because I've never stopped training."
AJ smiled and was happy for Mike. At last, the burden in his heart was removed.
After the race, Mike decided to go home.
"Sayonara, (Goodbye,) The Mike who had competed in the Olympics because AJ got injured!" said Ayumi.
"That's over. Just call me Mike." The taxi went off and everyone waved to him.
"That Nick. He's going to get it," thought AJ as he smiled to himself.
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