AN: This is a reader insert, but because I hate having blanks, and because Fanfiction has banned the Second Person POV, your nickname is Mizu-chan. I don't know why. Maybe because once, after eating a lot of spicy ramen, you drank 11 bottles of water straight. Maybe it's because it's a shortened form of your first/last name. Mitsuko? Mitsubishi? Maybe it's an acronym for Miss Internet-Zealous User. I. Don't. Know. Please enjoy this drabble-fic. Thank you.
I also apologize for the title, I'm horrible with titles.
"Mizu-chan, are you available tomorrow?" someone suddenly said. I turned around, a bit startled. A girl in a red ponytail was looking at me with a worried expression.
"Yeah, I'm free, why?"
The red-haired girl, I'm pretty sure her name was Gou, grinned in relief. "Oh, good, I needed someone who could take my place tomorrow."
"Your place?" I said. "Wait, aren't you a manager of that new swim club?"
She nodded. "I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. I need someone who will be strict with the sets." She replied, before adding in a quieter voice. "Also, I can't ask Chigusa, she has a dance recital…"
"…Strict?" Was that how I was perceived?
"Huh? Oh! No, all I need you to do is yell and make sure that they swim the correct number of laps. It's not too bad. You also need to time them. I'm sure Makoto will be able to help you out, and I'll even pay you for your time."
I thought about it. "I'm not doing anything tomorrow, so I guess I could help out. But couldn't you just ask your club supervisor? I'm sure she'd do a better job than me."
"Our club supervisor is Amakata-sensei, ehehe…" Gou said with strained voice. "I can't exactly imagine her yelling out instructions."
I gave her a grim smile. "I-I see…"
So, there I was at the school swimming pool. I had to admit, the pool was in better shape than I thought it was, considering it was absolutely disgusting the previous year.
I glanced at the notebook Gou handed me and flipped through the pages. Sketches of topless boys and diagrams of angles filled the pages, and I wasn't entirely sure what all the messy notes meant.
I was a bit worried how I would fare as a temporary manager. I wasn't exactly experienced in giving people commands.
"Oh, you must be Mizu-chan Gou told us about." Said a voice.
"Huh?" I said. "Oh, yeah. I'm filling in for her today. And you are…?"
"Tachibana Makoto." The boy said with a kind smile. "Nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you, too. Oh, that's right, Gou said that you might be able to help me manage today. Have you any idea what any of this means?" I said, as I handed him the notebook.
He turned the pages, chuckling at the drawings and handwriting.
"Well, according to the latest entry, I supposed to do 10 laps of breaststroke, Rei-kun 10 laps of butterfly, Nagisa 10 laps of backstroke, and Haruka 10 laps of freestyle."
"Ehhhh?!" A voice cried out. A blonde boy quickly grabbed the notebook from Makoto and skimmed its contents. "Why is it that you and I have to switch while Haruka and Rei don't?"
"It's probably to work on our weaknesses, Nagisa. Rei can't do anything other than butterfly, and Haruka…"
"Haruka only swims free, I got it." Nagisa sighed. "Ugh, this is such a pain."
"I think that's about all she wanted us to do for today." Makoto said while returning the notebook. "It's rather easy for us to do this, so I apologize for having you come down and supervise. You're free to go home, if you'd like. I wouldn't want to bother you if you're in a hurry."
"I'll think I'll stay and time you guys. I'm in no hurry." I responded. Of course, I would've have gone home after that point, if not for the fact that Gou would be eagerly waiting my status report the next day.
"That would be great!" Makoto said.
"Huh? Are you managing us for today?" Nagisa asked. "Did Gou get sick? Did she eat too much teriyaki?"
"She had a dentist appointment." I replied.
"…Did she eat too many caramel apples…?" Nagisa said in a hushed voice.
"…No, I think it was just a regular dentist appointment."
And so I passed the day timing the guys. Rei-kun had a decent time, but I thought it could be better. Nagisa-kun struggled with the backstroke and complained a lot, but Tachibana-san took a lot of time to help him perfect his stroke. The other one, Nanase-kun, completely dominated the rest of the other members, and had the fastest times, thought this might have been because he was the only one who had already perfected his stroke.
Amakata-sensei sat next to me with her UV-blocking umbrella. She chatted with me a bit, occasionally emphasizing her speech with strange literary quotes.
The sun was actually beating down heavily, and since I forgot to put on sunscreen, I was a bit worried about getting a sunburn.
"Hey, Mizu-chan! What's my time?" Nagisa called out.
"3:11!" I shouted back.
"What?! That really sucks!"
The rest of the afternoon progressed in that way. We finally reached a block of time where the members were free to swim however they wished and, feeling drowsy from the warmth of the sun, I slipped into a quick nap.
I woke up to the sound of stillness. No splashing. No shouts of encouragement. Amakata-sensei wasn't next to me anymore, and it seemed like I was alone.
There was a piece of paper on my lap with writing on it.
"Thanks for coming by, I really appreciated your hard work. I didn't want to wake you, so I left you alone. Haruka might be still in the pool when you wake, feel free to leave him be, he has a tendency to stay in there for hours. Again, thanks for your time! Sincerely, Tachibana Makoto."
I yawned and got up from my seat. I could leave right now, but the years of serving customers had been ingrained with me, and I couldn't leave until the last customer had left. I walked down the length of the pool, wondering if Nanase-kun really was still in the water.
Sure enough, there was a faint shaping of someone in a black swimsuit sitting on the bottom of the pool. I decided to wait for him to come up so I could tell him it was time to leave.
Seconds passed by, and he still didn't come up. In fact, he remained completely immobile.
I held my breath. I was getting worried. How long was it that humans were able to hold their breath? 30 seconds? A minute?
He still hasn't come up for air. What if he isn't breathing? What if I had to go to school the next day and tell Gou 'Oops, sorry, I drowned one of your swimmers. My bad.'?
I let go of the breath I was holding and gasped for air. He still wasn't coming out.
He was in the same position as before, motionless.
"Shit!" I said. "Shit, shit, shit!" I hastily dropped the notebook and pen I was holding, kicked off my shoes and dived into the pool.
There he was, sitting as serenely as possible. He looked a bit surprised when he saw me.
He was sitting on the bottom, his arms crossed over his knees, his hair floating above in the water, almost comically.
I was relieved at first, thankful that he wasn't drowning or dead, but then I was pissed.
"Up." I mouthed while pointing to the surface of the water.
He slowly got up from the bottom of the pool and obediently swam upwards.
When I went for air, I gasped, realizing that in my panic, I had accidentally swallowed some water. "What the FUCK, Haruka!" I shouted out him, before going into a coughing fit. "How long are you able to hold your fucking breath? I got worried, you fucking shit." I swam to the side of the pool and paused to regain my oxygen.
Nanase-kun climbed up the pool ladder and shook his head to free out the water in his hair.
"Sorry." He said simply.
He held out a hand. I grabbed it and he lifted me out of the pool.
"It's late; you should leave." I replied a bit coarsely, as I wrung out the water in my hair.
"It's only six o' clock."
"…Yes, that's what I meant by late." I sighed and gathered my things while trying not to get the notebook completely soaked. "There's extra towels in the locker room, right?
"Nn."
"…"
"Augh! My socks are so wet." I muttered to myself as I dried. I was soaking. My shirt inconveniently clung to my skin, and I wondered if I had to hold my backpack to my chest as I walked home.
"Oi." Nanase-kun said.
"What is it?!" I said, a bit annoyed.
Nanase-kun had already changed into his normal clothes and wordlessly tossed me a shirt and sweatpants.
"They're clean." He stated.
I held the articles of clothing for a bit, staring at them a bit stupidly.
"Oh." I said, when I finally realized that the clothes were for me. "Thanks."
"The bathroom is down the hall." He said, pointing.
"…Thanks." I said again, before heading out of the room.
Feeling much calmer, I exited out of the bathroom to find Nanase-kun holding the things that I left behind.
"Here." He said as he handed them over.
"Thank you." I said once again.
His shirt was a bit too big for my figure, and my hair was still very damp, but the change of clothes made a considerable difference to my mood.
I sneezed, feeling a bit chilled. "I'll return your clothes tomorrow, thanks so much for letting me borrow them." I said as I pulled on my jacket.
Nanase-kun didn't respond. He didn't even give a single nod to register that he even heard me. Well. This was awkward.
We both walked towards the school exit, and I felt strangely nervous about it. There was nothing to be anxious about; we were simply going to the same exit, nothing wrong with that.
I reached the exit first, and pushed the door open. I could see that the sky was already starting to tinge in the colors of purple and black.
Nanase-kun soon exited after me.
I sighed and turned to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow." Perhaps I should laundry the clothes before I returned them. It's a bit unnecessary, but it was the least I could do after pointlessly making a fool of myself.
"For the record," Haruka said suddenly. "I can hold my breath for five minutes."
I turned to stare at him.
"Five minutes? Five fucking minutes? Are you a fucking dolphin?" I said incredulously.
"Wouldn't that be nice?" He said as he shifted his bookbag before leaving and waving nonchalantly. "Well, thanks for worrying about me. I'll see you tomorrow."
Five whole fucking minutes? What the fuck? And, wait, what? Me? Worried about him? A-as if!
After going home, I immediately stripped myself of the borrowed clothes and took a long, hot, angry shower.
AN: It seems that you are a tsundere, how interesting. Drabble drabble drabble. I tried to keep the characters in character as possible… Not sure how that will turn out…. My writing isn't that good, sorry... It's very short, and dialogue-oriented...