The Great Interspecies Race

**Date Started:** October 30th, 2021
**Date Completed:** Ongoing
**Previous Role-Play:** N/A
**Users Involved:** User:HikariYukigawa, User:NejiHyuga2
**Setting:** Tokyo's Minato Ward, Pacific Ocean
**Characters Involved:** Arisa Asakura, Honami Asakura, Asuna Himenomiya, Manami Hisakawa, Natsuki Miyagumo

Arisa, carrying a huge backpack, stood on the shore. "Aaah, the sea breeze is always awesome!" Wearing a loose white *yukata* with a pair of *geta* that made her looks like someone from Edo period, she looked extremely out of place, especially when onlookers watched her as while it was the season to wear them, she shouldn't be wearing these clothings just yet. Considering her origins, however, it is not really out of place. In her backpack, she stored clothes and all necessities for travelling; a *shamisen* is strapped to the side of the backpack, while her two *katana*, Byakugarasu and Kokuzuru, are strapped left & right on her waist, much to the norm of the Sōtei Renzurushiki. She decided not to join the other students on a plane because she herself is able to fly, and at Mach 3 at that. Logically, it would be faster for her to just go on her own. "Don't you think so, *Ojou-sama*?" Arisa turned her head to her princess, the true heir of Asakura clan, Honami Asakura. Both have decided not to ride a plane because of course, they could efficiently fly, by the virtue of being a member of Asakura clan.

"Indeed, I must say that this sea breeze is quite nostalgic," Honami replied. Running her hand through her hair so that she could place them orderly behind her ears, she added, "It is quite the fine day for swimming, don't you say so, Hisakawa-*senpai*?"

Right next to Honami stood a woman with a dazzling countenance. However, right now, it was currently dampened by an umbrella of deep embarrassment. "Uuuu, I'm sorry that you have to turn down the plane just for me... I simply cannot comprehend how you are able to sit in a flying box like that..."

"Wahaha," Asuna Himenomiya burst out. "Not to worry, Hisakawa-*senpai*, you *are* after all a mermaid. It would make sense for you to be afraid of the sky."

"In any case, would this be all of us?" Natsuki Miyagumo asked.

"I suppose so, Miyagumo-*dono*." Arisa clapped her hands. "Well then, as we agreed on before, is everyone ready for the race~? I'm sure Ojou-sama is ready for it, like I am."

"In that case, I shall introduce myself to the sea first." Without a second acknowledgement, the girl addressed as Hisakawa-*senpai* waved her hand, making her luggage disappear in a spray of sea foam from a breaking wave before diving into the ocean and disappearing toward the horizon. Fortunately, she made the sea foam spray large enough to divert everyone's attention away from her friends.

"Aaaah! Hisakawa-*senpai*, no fair!" Asuna yelled as she carried her luggage in one hand (only possible because she was constantly magically strengthening her arm) and jumped into the water. However, unlike her senior, Asuna took off across the water's surface, maintaining a constant high speed so as to not break surface tension as she chased after her senior.

"Well, I suppose, it wouldn't do for us to stay behind," Natsuki quipped as she too did the exact same thing as Asuna. Honami followed quickly after with just a simple chuckle and a shrug, however, she instead turned into a bird, more specifically, a beautiful crane, before picking up her luggage with her claws and rocketing away, blowing away the sea foam spray.

"Ooh~! Everyone is so lively today! I guess a headstart is a given, since I have the speed advantage. Well, it's normal for me to get handicapped," Arisa shrugged as she put her backpack down. "Well, let's not waste any more time, then!" Arisa turned into a crane as she jumped and picked up her backpack. With incredible vigor, she flew up, not being held down by her backpack at all. In one flap of her wings, she has accelerated herself to the point of breaking sound barrier. However, she can't speed more than Mach 3 now due to her being in crane form. However, Mach 3 itself is something that is a mere dream for normal cranes.

"*Ara, Arisa sure is trying her best,*" the maritime princess commented as she shot through the water. Controlling her magic just enough to make her entire body super-hydrodynamic as she flapped her tail once and pushed forward. "*I must say, Asuna-*chan *and Natsuki-*chan *sure are doing quite well too... Never thought they could match us aquatic and avian creatures with just their feet.*"

"Fufufu, I just got the feeling that Hisakawa-*senpai* was praising us," Asuna said smugly, her feet rhythmically slicing across the surface of the water.

"It's just your imagination, I assure you," Natsuki rebuked. "In any case... we've been running for ten minutes now and everyone's been maintaining a speed of nearly three times the speed of sound. How long until we arrive?" Natsuki tried directing the question to Honami, however, she pretended to not notice even after being stared at for ten seconds. Natsuki sighed and addressed Honami's retainer instead. "Arisa-*senpai*, the math?"

With her *Thema*, *Acceleratio*, she is able to accelerate all kind of matters related to her own body separately. And now, as her body is moving at the speed of Mach 3, her already-fast brain got accelerated again to the point of she can solve that kind of math in under one second. In reality however, she's still processing them as usual, it's just the processing speed has been accelerated.

"Well, well, we're still short 23 minutes extra some miliseconds. Let's just say that we're going to arrive in 24 minutes if we keep up this speed." Arisa said magically, because how else would a crane speak in human tongue if not with magic? Setting that aside, Arisa kept flying and asked her princess on her opinion. "What do you think, *Ojou-sama?* Anything to say, perhaps you have an even more exact calculation on our time?"

"Nnnngh, Arisa, you are still absurdly bad at math," Honami chided. "We'd be arriving in another 15 minutes or so, assuming we all maintain the same pace. I feel like your calculation was thrown off considering we just blitzed past Kyushu just now." At that correction, Natsuki and Asuna shrugged as best as they could while treading the water surface at supersonic speed. Meanwhile, the mermaid beneath them paid no attention.

"Aaah, thank you for the correction, *Ojou-sama*! Indeed, I did not calculate our position at all; and it was my own fault for doing so. However, it proves the point that the calculation is true, not the number. Well, it is a simple math though, so I don't think it's actually *that* hard." Arisa laughed, as a crane, producing weird sounds in her flight. It was embarrassing, but surely, considering someone like Arisa has nearly no embarrassment, it did not bother her in the slightest. Instead, she kept herself focused on flying again, now that the other matter has been solved.

Honami sighed and just like that, the girls arrived at Araha Beach, decelerating upon reaching two meters of the beachline. Honami stretched out her arms, sending out a burst of magical energy to nullify the sonic boom she would have unfailingly threw onto the beach with her sudden deceleration. The other girls stopped and did the same with only the maritime princess surfacing from beneath the waves, her clothes paradoxically dry despite touching the water. "Oh dear, I apologize for suddenly appearing like this," she asserted, curtsying gracefully to the flabbergasted beachgoers. "We're just a group of magicians who are passing by in the hopes of finding a resort hotel. Now, come on, ladies, let's just say that this race ended in a tie, alright?" The princess elegantly moved out of the water and onto the beach while again forcing the beachgoers to rub their eyes and check her twice or even thrice over; she was not even the slightest bit wet despite having come out of the ocean.

"... I suppose it's her natural ability but does she remember that we can't do the same?" Asuna grumbled as she and Natsuki trudged through the water in obviously soaked clothes as they were just normal humans.

"Ahaha..."