Rei sat by the side of the pool dragging his feet in the water watching the ripples move outward. Each started as a perfect circle and slowly shimmered its way into chaos. Haru and Mako had left on an after school trip thereby excusing themselves from club. Nagisa was also gone. Though they were in the same year, their different classes made it difficult to discuss anything until practice, so Rei was left again. He had no expression on his face as he concentrated on the ripples. He had already been here an hour running through his portion of Gou's schedule, and he was having second thoughts.
I should've stayed on the track team. They were much more open. Surely, someone else was always at practice. He sighed and slumped forward.
Gou peeked out of the locker room and frowned at her charge. Sometimes she felt like the team's mother. The thought made her grimace. Dammit! I'm too young to raise kids already! But her duty wasn't going to go past her. She walked behind Rin and folded herself down beside him with her cheek resting on her knees.
She was rewarded quite fantastically by Rei catching sight of her out of the corner of his eye, squawking, and careening into the cooling water. Gou laughed heartily at the sight of his desperate struggles and sputters. He popped his head out of the water with a gasp and cough trying desperately to regain his composure.
But it was broken when he looked up at the little guffawing red head. Her cheeks were dark in the gleaming sunset. Oranges and reds played over the water and reflected in her eyes as they crinkled with laughter.
Rei had always chased what was beautiful. It was why he strived to be the best at what he did. It was why he ran track through high school – sleek bodies throwing themselves into the sky to execute a beautiful flight. It was why he studied to get into the best university – the beautiful campus and lucrative prestige. It was why he joined the swim club at Nagisa's urging. They were a small group, and he was the only one not here on a sports scholarship, so it definitely wasn't the money urging him to glide through the water. In short, Rei had always chased perfection.
His eyes grew wide as he looked at Gou laughing hysterically in the sunset.
"Perfect," he breathed.
Gou took little notice over her own mirth, but when she calmed down, she held her stomach and wiped her tears looking to him expectantly.
He felt a flush rise to his cheeks, and he sputtered – his words failing him.
Gou waved a hand at him and grinned. "You look better that way. I mean, without that sad face." She placed her hands on the side of the pool and leaned toward him kicking her feet in the water.
He wiped the water off impatiently to hide his face which he could only be appalled at the thought of.
"I wasn't sad… I need to practice more."
Gou's face scrunched up, and Rei began to try to convince himself that what he had just witnessed was a hallucination and nothing more.
"Are you sure? You've been swimming for awhile now."
Rei reached to push his glasses up nervously forgetting they were not there. Just beautiful?!
"I'm fine."
"Well…" She stood up and stretched. "I have some homework to do, so I'll be in the locker room if you need anything."
"Right…" Rei sheepishly glanced back at her walking away thinking once again that maybe – just maybe – she was beautiful. Certainly, not perfect. But beautiful?
Then she held her leg out at an odd angle and tugged a wedgie out of her shorts.
He blanched. Not even.
In later days, Rei would look back on this day and realized that maybe – just maybe – they were perfect. Certainly, not just okay. But absolutely perfect for each other. Each one being left behind for older friends only to find something infinitely more dear.