Chapter 61: Leap of Faith

“That looks really high, doesn’t it?” Unsurprisingly, out of everyone here, Youna was the one most afraid of what was ahead. It was already bad enough that she wasn’t a particually strong swimmer. Though thankfully she was capable of doing so, which meant no high risk of drowning upon diving in. Not that the fact consoled her in any manner as she watched the first few people take their jumps.

“It’s not that bad when you actually jump in.” Ishi responded, reminded of his own time. Since he considered that to be the absolute worst way of falling into the ocean waves, then there was nothing for everyone else to worry about.

“So, when are you diving in?” Rinse asked Chiana. The latter was wearing a lavender bikini that covered her rather average body shape. To a lot of people, they were getting the chance to witness another idol in little clothing. Though it was weird for him to think of that being Chiane’s body while everyone else assumed this was a completely different person. In fact, she did little to actually change her appearance outside of that blonde wig.

“Nope.” She giggled in response. “I can’t swim.” Of course she needed to find an excuse to not participate. There was no way to keep up with the charade if she risked the only factor preventing anyone else to notice. While Ishi would’ve normally complained that she wasn’t doing it, even when she was the one who encouraged him to do it. The boy kept silent this time as he understood the true reasons for her denial.

“Hmm? You know don’t how to swim?” Otoya had a keen ear on these types of things. “Perhaps I could give you some lessons?” His flirtation of these girls knew no bounds.

“I’ll have to pass.” Chiana kept her cheerful face on, but he could sense that the real girl underneath wanted to really glare at him and call the boy a pervert.

“Come on girls, we should all dive together!” Ryugi had been reunited with her friends as they all charged for the peak. She was the one most excited over anything else a normal teenage their age cared about. The group laughed and screamed as they made their leaps off of oni’s peak.

Ishi knew that their turns were going to be coming up soon. The girl he was most concerned about was definitely Youna. Seeing as everyone else braved their fear and took the plunge, she was at risk of being the only one to chicken out.

“You’ll be fine, right?” He asked her as they watched more people hop up from their seats and charge the challenge with heads up. “Just to let you know, I’ve done it before. It’s not that dangerous, so it’s very unlikely for something to go wrong.”

“R-right, I und-understand.” His words did little to calm her nerves or her speaking. Her legs were shaking as she sat with all of them, dreading the moment when she’d be the one at the center of attention.

“Looks like we’re going to be the last ones up here.” Otoya scanned the emptying field as the few remaining students jumped off the cliff.

“Youna, you should go first.” Ishi recommended.

“Me!?” She was shocked that he, of all people, would suggest that. “B-but, why?”

“Because we’re still up here.” She was the one with the weakest heart. All the girl needed a little encouragement from her friend to take this chance. “But if you don’t want to, then that’s up to you.” Even with all that was going on, he was still giving her on out on this.

“N-no.” But she didn’t want to be the one that couldn't brave her fear. Youna had already failed when people counted on her before, she didn’t want to repeat that again. Not without a fair shot. “I can do it.” She stood up and walked over to the peak. Her knees were weak and each step she took was unsteady. It looked as though she would fall over any moment as she neared the edge.

“Hey look, its class rep’s turn.” Ryugi spotted the girl standing above them as all as she swam in the calm warm waters. “Go on, you can do it!” Everyone else hanging around also began to encourage her to take the plunge with the rest of them. She was viewed as an underdog by the people as she stood still. For the first time since coming here, Youna was now seeing just how high up this jump was going to be.

Sure, it was as Ishi said before. The height was roughly that of a high diving board at a local pool. Unfortunately she had never even had the nerve to jump from something as safe as that.

Her heart’s pace began to pick up as it seemed the height from land to water grew in her eyes. Shivers came across all her body as she felt her legs nearly give way. The girl stumbled down onto her knees, prompting concern from the onlookers that she might even pass out.

“I-I can’t do it.” She said to herself, tears forming in her eyes, her voice breaking up. “I can’t…”

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“Aye, I was worried about this.” Ishi muttered loud enough for Rinse to hear him as he stood up. Calmly, he began to walk over to the peak to join the girl.

In Rinse’s mind, he was doing it yet again. The boy was coming to the rescue of that meek shy girl once again. Did he enjoy doing this? His tone didn’t make it sound like that was the case, but he was still helping her out anyway. Why did it always have to be her? “Yo.” Ishi said to Youna as he stood besides her. His tone made it seem like this was of little concern to him.

“Ishi, I’m so sorry.” Youna couldn’t bare the shame of looking at him as she continued to cry over the peak. “I thought I was strong enough now.”

“You don’t have to do it.” He told her, kneeling down besides the girl for comfort. “There’s not a single person here forcing you to do so.” Everyone down at the sea could see him arrive to talk with her, but none of them were able to hear the conversation given the distance and the volume of their chatter. “No one would hate you for backing out now.”

“No.” She responded. “I… I would hate myself if I couldn’t do it.” Her response even gave Ishi a little bit of a shock. “I need to be able… I want to be more confident, like Hattori or Ryugi.” Those two were people she wished herself to be more like. Then perhaps she could be that girl who a certain boy might fall for. “But it’s too scary.” Youna continued on lamented her situation through her tears. “Why am I so pathetic?”

“So it’s going to be like this, huh?” Ishi took charge of the situation, taking Youna by the arm and helping her back onto her feet. “I guess it can’t be helped. Looks like I’ll just have to jump with you.” The boy put his arm around her shoulder to hold her body close to his. If the fear of being up this high already elevated her heart rate, then this move of his nearly made her heart nearly explode out of her chest.

“Then…” She tightened her grip onto his hand as she took one deep breath. “Let’s go now!” Youna yelled out to hype herself up as he led the two off the cliff. Her body felt weightless as she fell from the sky onto the waters below, but there was never a moment in her mind that she felt in danger in his arms.

There was a large splash as they contacted with the sea below. For a moment, her full body was completely submerged in liquid. That weightless feeling in his arms continued, as if he was an angel taking her to Heaven. Quickly, they brought themselves back up for air. Her body was shaking from the experience as she finally was able to break past the emotional barrier, even if it did require some help from a friend.

“Wow, you really did it.” Barely able to gather her bearings from the jump, many of their classmates swarmed her to celebrate the jump.

“Yeah, nice job.” They completely ignored that Ishi was a part of it as he ended up getting pushed away from Youna. That was disappointing for her, as she really wanted to be able to enjoy it with him.

“I promise, Ishi.” She quietly said to herself as everyone came up to her. “I’ll remember to thank you for this.”

Meanwhile, Rinse and Otoya were still yet to make the jump.

“So, you want to jump together?” He made the suggestion as they were two of the last three people still up alone. However, Chiana was going to be making her way down to the proper beach after she got the chance to witness the leap.

“Sure.” She accepted, but it wasn’t something she was genuinely looking forward to. The two of them walked up to the peak together and she gave a wave to her friend as the crowd below cheered them on. There were also scatter moans of disappointment in the realization that Otoya got the opportunity to make the leap off the oni’s peak with the school’s idol.

Rinse took one good look at the crowd, as she had grown skilled in doing so thanks to her job as being an idol. There were dozens of their classmates in the waters all watching them, but yet there was only one person she wanted to see out of all of them. It was Ishi, and that boy was in the midst of heading for the sand as he swam away from the others. It didn’t even seem that he was interested in watching her and his best friend make the jump at all.

“Well, here we go.” Otoya made a move and put his hand around her shoulder to prepare them to dive in.

“Right.” She replied with little enthusiasm. That was when the pair jumped.

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