Hi! This is my first story in a long, long, long, time. Everything except the OCs I put into this story belongs to KyoAni Animations and any references I make also belong to their respective companies. Now that we have that out of the way without further ado, let the story begin. (I will have further comments at the end of this chapter.)

The human body is made up of fifty-five to seventy-eight percent water.

Therefore humans need water.

This is an indisputable fact.

However, the same cannot be said the other way around.

Water has no need for human beings.

In fact, it would probably be better off without them.

Therefore, those that the water welcomes are scarce in number.

But whether those scare few, whose presences are acknowledged by the water, accept it in return;

That answer is up to each individual.

Serizawa Izumi could feel a mix of complete and utter devastation stirring and winding itself further in to the deepest pits of his stomach.

He was sorely tempted to just scream out his frustrations, but it was probably better if he kept them to himself. He wasn't sure what his parents would say if they caught word of him being the crazy first-year that everyone gossiped about.

But how was that even a Photography Club?

Just remembering his visit still made him shudder in horror: a good portion of photos were blurred and shaky to the point that he couldn't even tell what they were of while those that were decent composed of selfies with major photo-editing enhancement or the strangest Photoshop collages he had ever seen. But the worst of it all summed up to one word: the Darkroom.

He slammed the door so hard before any member could greet him. Hopefully none of them caught a glimpse of his face.

Banging his head against his desk with the help of gravity, he cursed this whole 'first-year club requirement' gig.

Starting this year, Iwatobi High was now requiring all first years to join at least one club for their first semester to make the students more…appealing to colleges. While it wasn't like they'd expel a student for not taking extracurricular activities, but to half-heartedly joining a club he found no interest in; how painful his future afternoons will be.

And what about the people who did put their heart and soul into their club? Wouldn't his appearance be an insult to them?

He would have kept quiet about this matter if he could, but they were supposed to turn in their club forms during homeroom by the end of the week instead of just handing them to the club presidents, so more than likely someone was going to notice...ugh.

Deciding to just deal with the problem whenever it came back to smack him in the face – he was still very, very hopefully that the teacher might forget or something - Izumi, without shifting far from his comfy position, draped his arm over his desk and towards the floor below, rummaging around his backpack for his new camera. All that club-searching had deprived him from his latest snapshot review.

However when he pulled up his camera, a strange booklet, caught in between the straps, fell out and flopped on to the floor. He might have been inclined to just leave it there (it seemed like a lot of effort just to pick it up) but when he saw the rainbow-vomit colored cover with the Iwatobi's mascot - Iwatobi-chan was it? – flying, it was sort of hard to pretend he didn't see and just leave it there.

Wait a minute.

Wasn't Iwatobi-chan a penguin?

Unless the penguin anatomy had drastically changed the past few years, why was a penguin flying?

Perhaps the better question he should be asking was what the hell was this and where did he get it?

Oh.

The club assembly earlier that week.

That was the day right after he received his Nikon D3300 in the mail and spent all night fiddling with the new controls right until he had to get ready for school and ended up blacking out once they cut the lights in the assembly.

…Opening the booklet to page one, Izumi started flipping through it, page by page.

The Art Club, Drama Club, Manga/Anime Club…here was the Photography Club. For the next few minutes, he just sat there turning pages, checking off clubs that he had zero interest in; which was basically all of them.

However, while wandering aimlessly through the club listings, the words Swimming Club popped out of nowhere.

His hand lost the rhythmic swish of a page turn.

"What are you talking about? ... the only reason I kept swimming was because it was all for you!"

Ruthlessly slamming the book shut, he abruptly stood up, startling the few other students around him, and apathetically tossed the thing into the trash on his way out.

Guess his high school years were going to be pretty boring.

"Izu…Izumi…Serizawa Izumi!"

"Hm?" Izumi distant gaze tore away from his thoughts, only to see the entire table staring at him. He didn't know what made the silence more unbearable: the missing clicks and plinks of wooden chopsticks against ceramic bowls, the lack of chatter with stuffed mouths, or that one cricket that strangely no one could find much less kill.

Did he miss something?

" I. Zu. Mi. Kun." His mother enunciated with that voice that always made the room a few degrees colder.

Apparently he did miss something.

" Y-yes?"

"You'll take her…right?" As if she was giving him a choice.

"Y-yeah. I'll do it." He hesitantly answered and flashed a forced smile before stuffing a piece of salmon into his mouth to delay further conversation.

What he had just agreed to doing exactly, he didn't know. But now wasn't the best time to ask.

"Really?! You'll go to Sprashu Fest with me?" His sister, Emi, asked who he swore had sparkles glittering all over face that were multiplying by the second the more he stared into those huge, irresistible, honey brown eyes.

"…I'll go."

"Yay!"

"It's Splash Fest, Emi dear."

Damn it. He answered without thinking again. He hadn't fallen for his sister's charms since she was a toddler. But wait. Something didn't add up.

"What's Sprashu Fest?"

The blunt question made the more expressive family members present groan in agony.

"...Did I do something wrong?"

"Did I do something wrong?" his sister mimicked with a puppet hand. "It's the opening event happening at the new swimming center. I even showed you the poster when we were setting up the table earlier. Seriously, Izumi-nii you haven't been paying any attention to a word I've been saying ever since dinner started." His sister huffed with a pout, turning her head in a twist of disapproval. Uh oh. Whenever Emi was like this, it was difficult to pull her out of her of one of her fits.

Letting out a tiny sigh audible to him only, he placed his chopsticks aside, slapped his hands together and bowed his head a full ninety degrees. "I whole heartedly apologize! I should have been listening to the great Emi-hime as she spoke during the feast. Oh, what will it take for the Hime-sama to forgive me?"

She opened one of her eyes, but not without a tiny titter. "Take me to Sprashu Fest then?"

"Splash Fest, Emi. Please say it right."

"If it will appease the great Emi-hime."

And a face-splitting smile grew on her face.

Phew. For now he was safe. It appears as though impersonating those ancient Japanese dramas she'd been watching recently do the trick at the moment. Last year it had been the Queen Elsa role-playing after the recent Frozen movie. He seriously hoped that she didn't catch wind of the Katniss Everdeen phase, or else he might have arrows flying his way.

Splash Fest, huh? Placing his hand under his chin, he watched at his sister chatting away about the races she'd planned on joining as well classmates who she knew were coming with great enthusiasm. If Emi-chan hadn't asked at the table, the best response she probably would have coaxed out of him if visited him later that evening probably would have been was a vague We'll see if I'm Busy that Day or Not response; which basically might as well be a No.

It wasn't that he was against her going; it was just that… he could only handle a single glance to the empty chair next to him before having to advert his eyes anywhere but there.

It was probably for the best if he didn't go.

But since this was just a local event, the chances of any competitive swimming were slim.

If there was no competitive swimming then he should be okay.

He'll be okay.

He had to recite that phrase over and over again until the day came.

As Gou-san briefly chatted with the last Samezuka arrival, Rei couldn't help but notice how no one needed an introduction to this serious, daunting Sousuke fellow. His massive size and unapproachable atmosphere made him seem like he was a loner, much less friends with any one here.

"Who is that?" He whispered to Nagisa.

"Rin-chan's best friend from when he went to Sano Elementary School." Nagisa replied though not as discreetly. "He swam in the lane next to ours during that relay."

"Oh. That was him."

Another person that everybody but Rei knew.

He had long since come to terms that there may be moments where he might not have been privy to things from Haruka-senpai's and everyone's past, but the fact, even to this day, still made him feel…unsettled might have been the word.

"RRREEENNN!"

Everyone's thoughts and conversations were cut short as a young but rather boisterous voice called from swimming center's entrance.

"Geh." Not one, but both twins reacted.

"It's her!" Ren exclaimed as he hurried to scurry to hide behind Makoto. Why Ren was trying to avoid someone that had already spotted him was illogical to Rei. But then again Ren did share a lot of personality traits with Makoto (i.e. easily frightened by the trifling and the trivial); perhaps this was hereditary trait?

"Her? Oi, Ren don't pull too hard. " But Makoto couldn't relax his little brother's tight grip. This was strange. Ren usually clung to him when he and Ran were fighting over something that she started.

The little girl, probably in the same grade (maybe even in the same class; there was only one elementary school in this town after all) as the twins, skipped her way towards the two with no concern for the swarm of teenagers surrounding them.

"Morning, Ran." She greeted with a little giggle. Ran however wasn't sharing the same ambiance.

"Emi." She addressed as stiffly as…well, as well as a ten year old could; her arms were folded while she stood smack in the middle between the newcomer and her two brothers. Oh, another rare sight: Ran was protecting Ren. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Ren-kun~"

"Don't ignore Ran!"

"I'm going to be in the kickboard race today. What about you?"

Ren mumbled a barely audible, "yeah," in return from his hiding spot while he inched by millimeters away from her. As he watched the exchange between the three of them, Makoto couldn't make heads or tails as to why Ran and Ren were so apprehensive to their classmate. Based on first impression she seemed like a nice girl.

"Ah~ Like always, Ran is so cute!"

Then she did something that not even high schoolers would dare to do: She leaned in and gave Ren a quick peck on the cheek.

Makoto could only make what sounded like a rubber duck being flattened by a sledgehammer before his head ceased all functions.

"AHH!" Ran grabbed Emi and yanked her to what seemed to her a good distance away from her twin. "What are you doing to Ren!?"

"Wooahhhhh. You're pretty popular Ren-chan!" Nagisa commented from the sideline. He was probably thoroughly enjoying this sudden twist.

Haru though had his attention elsewhere. "Makoto!?"

"Makoto-senpai's not breathing!" Rei cried.

"WOOOOAAA! Amazing! G-G-Gou-san, even though this is our first meeting, i-if a couple of kids can do it then could you do the honors of giving me a f-first kis—ow! OUCH! Can't breathe…"

"Like hell she will!" Rin snapped as his grip grew even tighter around the freshman's neck.

Great. First his captain and now his little brother. Well, at the very least he could prevent this one from getting too close to his sister. Whenever Gou was approached by Mikoshiba-buchou, as much as he would like to wring his neck too, he couldn't lay hands on the man who gave him a second chance. So for now this was as much as he could do.

Plus, this was almost like choking the real thing.

"U-Um, Emi-chan was it?" Kou asked as she stooped down between Ran and Emi who were now arguing over who loved Ren the most with Ren trying to intervene with little to no success. Since the adults were busy getting the event ready and everyone else was either busy over resuscitating Makoto or was preoccupied with something else, she was probably the only one in the room that even cared to resolve the issue. Plus, it wasn't every day that she got her hands on some juicy romantic materials. Especially since she was surrounded by boys who don't really give a second thought about romance or girls. "You must really um…like Ren-kun very much? But don't you think that doing…that is a bit too far?"

"Doing what?" The instigator of this chaos asked.

"You know…that?"

"What. Kissing?" Wow. She really said it. "Why not?"

"Because, to kiss someone means that you love them. You don't kiss someone you only like. There's a huge difference between like and love."

"Oh." The diminishing tone in her voice indicated to Gou that she was coming to understand. "But I don't see what the problem is."

"Huh?"

"Because I don't like Ren, I love him!"

"Wha-!?" Makoto who was beginning to recover began breaking down again.

"Deep breathes, Makoto-senpai!"

But for Kou, she couldn't believe how bold this ten-year old little girl was! Yet to have intense feelings at such a young age...

"Because, he makes me happy whenever I feel down. Isn't that what lovers do for each other?"

"Well not ever couples does that, nor is it just for couples only. But Emi-chan, you're only ten. What do know about love?"

"I didn't fall in love with him and asked for his hand in marriage on the same day I meet him if that is what you are asking." What was she talking about?. "And what does age have to when it comes to love? Haven't you heard the saying?" Was it just Gou or did her tone just now seem really condensing? "Love knows no bounds." She said, waggling her finger. And for a second Gou could see Ama-chan-sensei. "Izumi-nii told me that."

What on earth was the brother teaching this kid?

"I don't think that he meant it in that context-"

"Oh! See! Here he comes! You can ask him yourself." And she released her tight grip on Ren to just to greet her brother, her eyes shining when she caught sight of him. "Izumi-nii!"

Unlike Sousuke's entrance, everyone noticed a teenager, probably about the same age as Nagisa or Rei, walking a wobbly beeline towards their direction. Despite his unruly, naturally curled, but unique gray hair too long for Kou's approval for a male athlete, it was visible that his eyes weren't looking up, but rather downwards onto the screen of a high specs camera as one hand held the camera while the other fiddled with the controls. If he walked like that from his house to here, it was a miracle that he didn't crash into someone or something because honestly it seemed as though he didn't pay any attention to the world around him. Emi-chan even had to grasp the bottom of his sweater to stop him before he walked right past them.

Surely her brother would intervene, were Kou's thoughts before she actually saw him in person.

Now? She wasn't so sure.

"Izumi-nii, this is the boy I was talking about earlier." She pulled Ren towards her despite Ran trying to pry her fingers off her twin.

"Yeah. That nice Emi. Mom says that we need to stop by the grocery store later."

"…Izumi-nii, your hair's on fire."

"Uh huh. That's cool."

"Izumi-nii, I'm eloping."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine." He lifted his hand, hovering around a bit before landing and patting Ran's head.

He wasn't not listening at all.

Sousuke, who was getting fed up with this nonsense, snatched the camera from the brother's hands.

"Hey! What's the big idea-!"But whatever he was going to say fled from of his mind when he saw Emi cling to a boy. "E-emi? Who's that?"

"This is Ren-kun. He's the boy I fell in love with."

It took a few second for that to register into Izumi's brain.

"…WHAT?!" The exclamation echoed throughout the entire swimming center.

"W-w-w-what are you saying Emi?!" Obviously ruffled by what just came out of his sister's mouth, Izumi could only shake her by the shoulders as he rattled her for answers. "Didn't you promise me that you would be more than happy if Nao and me were the only, and I repeat only, men in your life?"

That's what you're concerned about?!

He gave Ren a quick over view, scrutinizing this kid who took his Emi, before realizing that something was up about this. "Wait. This kid?! No there's no way you would fall for a guy this skimpy and skittish as this."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Makoto demanded, now finally revived from his mini episode.

"And I won't approve of any guy until your fifty or older!"

But Emi had to blink before realizing what her brother was saying. "What? But you said-"

"I apologize for all the trouble my sister caused you." And bowed the full ninety degrees before pushing his sister by the shoulder with one hand while seizing his camera back with the other. "And just in case, you," he began menacingly as he glared at Ren, "stay away from my sister," before dragging the protesting little girl to the locker room.

"Oi! Wait-!"Makoto said, but the two of them were already around the corner and gone before he could say another word.

Despite the situation leaving a rather awkward aftertaste in the atmosphere, Haru couldn't help but wonder: could the Nao that the brother had been referring be that Nao?

When he and Makoto shared a glance, despite Makoto being remotely vexed, he realized Haru's thoughts and both of them were asking each other the same question.

This marks the end of Chapter One! I know that the main character may seem to be a bit...rude and unpleasant at the beginning, but what is a good story without character development. Plus there is always an explanation for every action. And as for the Nao character, for just anime fans of Free! there will be an explanation later or you can refer to the High Speed! 2 Volume.

I will also be making edits to this story on a regular basis so that I can make this a story I can make to the best of my abilities, so beware of any notices that say I made updates. If Fanfiction does alert you of such new, 90% of the time it will probably be edits to previous chapters.

Please, let me know what you think of it in either reviews or PMs and what should I do in order to improve the story. I can't stress this enough. And many thanks for those that do review,PMs, Favorite, and/or Follow me.

Oh, and since I will be getting very busy this semester, I can't guarantee a new chapter coming out anytime soon (I have ideas as to how it pans out, I just don't have it down word by word yet). So many apologies before hand as well. But I will try my best!