savaster
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FMS Episode One 29
🕑 Added 2024-01-28 13:00:03 +0000 UTCIt was about the fifth time Chihaya looked up at the swaying sunlight above her head. She gripped the beam beneath her and put strength into her hands.
"Ugh…"
Her diaphragm contracted and then relaxed. The momentum that created urged air bubbles to break open the seal of her mouth. To distract herself, Chihaya squeezed her lips together and peered at her diving wristwatch.
Two minutes fifty-eight. Two minutes fifty-nine. Three minutes. And one.
(Topping three minutes)
Sense of victory filled Chihaya. She had been able to make three minutes, but today it was not as painful.
(…and counting)
Beside her, Aya was also perched on the cross beam of Yaeyama Maru's mast, also holding her breath as she held herself in place with hands and thighs. Here, the depth was about twenty-two meters. Probably due to the flux of water temperature, occasional cool water flow hit Chihaya’s cheek like a breeze.
"Gulp."
Aya let out a muffled voice and let out a string of bubbles. A three-minute hold shouldn’t be a problem for her. Or was the squatting exercise that she always did before a dive, to give Chihaya a “proper handicap,” starting to take its toll?
(You can give up)
Chihaya put on a provocative smile for her opponent. However, Aya shook her head a few times and kept a straight face, looking a little pale. Thus Chihaya closed her eyes and carried on, simulating an underwater nap. They then sat motionless like underwater figurines, with Chihaya’s wristwatch ticking away their time as the breath hold duel went on.
Comments
savaster
I guess it has to do with the dynamics of the scene - initially they must have been perched on the beam facing the same direction, like birds on a power line. But as the challenge progressed they decided to place the beam between their thighs so that they had a better grip to keep their bodies from floating. And they also would have wanted to view each others’ faces to see how their opponent was doing
umibuta
I've just got a question on this. Both this English and the old Japanese says "Besides her" and "横では", that is Chihaya and Aya sitting next to each other. Which by my common sense of both langugae, they seem to be facing the same direction, not facing each other. However in the old illustration it was them facing each other. Just want to know which is the author's interpretation when I draw this... I think from what described in later paragraphs, it makes more sense if I consider they were facing each other?🤔
savaster
Aya surely has raised the bar for her…!
melangalade
as a beginner diver, sitting calmly at 3 minutes at 22 meters, damn. she's a natural
Didrik Svahn
I really loved how this is the true start of Chihaya freediving training. And that it seems to have been expend upon in the text
