He'll appeal to Neo-Aikido and throw away his pride.

"Tenko!" Shuichi called out, his mind reaching for the first thing he could think of. "You're the star pupil, the next master of Neo-Aikido! Are you going to die here because you couldn't take my hand?! If you die, the secrets of your Master die with you! A-and, uh, Himiko's magic show will be ruined!"

"I hate to say it, but it's already ruined, nyeh," Himiko commented unhelpfully from the other side of the pool.

"Even more ruined, then!"

Tenko's feelings about this situation showed in her grip: she was using both hands in a **** bid for her life, but only the tips of her fingers, as though she couldn't stand to grab any more than that. Shuichi could see her big green eyes squinting through the muck as she tried to talk. "Shuichi... no... use... Too... male...!"

"Are you kidding?!" The detective grit his teeth, feeling Tenko's grip slipping from him. She was taking in slimy water trying to talk, and if she kept doing that, the situation would go from bad to worse. "Agh! If only I was one of the women, Tenko wouldn't be in this mess... Wait..."

He suddenly got an idea.

A dumb idea... for a dumb situation...

"Himiko! C-cast that spell you told me about." Shuichi knew he was taking an especially big risk, relying on the thick-headed magician to play around, but he needed to give his lie some extra oomph. "You know, the one that turns me into a woman!" He had to shout this loudly enough for the drowning Tenko to hear, and he felt his face burning beneath his mask of slime. He wanted to swim over and drag Kokichi, now doubled over and holding his ribs with laughter, into this mess with him.

The mage he'd called for raised an eyebrow. "Shuichi, did some of that slime water get in your brain, nyeh? There's no mag-" The detective watched in real time as the realization dawned on the slow girl. "Ah... I mean, there's no magician but me who can perform this magic! Of course, I was saving it for a special show, but here goes, nyeh... Hopenis Nopenis!"

"Wow! I c-can feel it... working!" Shuichi shouted, raising his voice to a hilariously poor shrill imitation of a woman. With all the slime on him, there was really no way to tell if his body had changed or not (although there certainly wasn't any logical reason to assume so). "Well, there's no problem now, huh, Tenko-"

"Shuichiiiiiii!!" Tenko suddenly shouted grasping his hand firmly, then his arm, and then his shoulders, basically climbing against him like a rope tied back to safety. "Now that you're a woman, save me, save me, save me! I can't swim!! I'm gonna diiiiie!!"

Unable to believe his plan was working, Shuichi tentatively wrapped one arm around Tenko's waist, amazed to find no resistance. Speaking of amazing things... beneath the water, her bare breasts were pressing against his chest. "I don't understand how a martial artist like Tenko can have a soft body like this... It's unreal...!" The 'girl' Detective tried to keep 'her' emotions in check as he stiffly paddled back towards the shore.

Tenko sniffed, but when she spoke, she sounded like she was in a good mood again. "Oh, Shuichi, you're my heroine... I thought the secrets of Neo-Aikido were going to die with me in this filthy pool! However, this day wasn't all bad... Now that Himiko's blessed magic has turned you into a woman, you and I can form a true friendship like I always wanted!"

The detective's eyebrows raised as the stimulating situation got even stranger. "You... what? Huh?"

"Why, now that you're a woman, I have no trouble even expressing my gratitude! I might even have to think about how to repay your feminine chivalry..." Preposterously, Tenko could be seen trying to bat her eyelashes underneath the slime.

"Wait... huh?! Hold on...!"

"Now, now... That new female timidity of yours is precious and welcome, but simply close your eyes, and I'll-"

"..."

"..."

Just as they'd gotten to the concrete edge, as Tenko's breasts had begun to sandwich the slender boy between herself and a hard place, Tenko had gotten close enough to feel something that definitely wasn't feminine brush against her stomach.

Before Shuichi knew what was happening, she had climbed up over his shoulders, stepped on them callously, and lifted herself out of the pool, curling up into a fetal position and forming a naked but slimy and indecipherable ball. "H-Himiko... Y-your magic... It d-d-didn't..."

Shuichi surfaced again, resting his arms on the concrete and gasping for air, now feeling bruises forming on either shoulder. He tried to weigh if the sensations he'd just experienced with Tenko's incredible body and even more incredible words were worth the pride he'd thrown away and the aching he was going to be feeling for a while after...