It was a normal spring day at Iwatobi High School. The swim team had just finished a hellish practice that had Gou pushing them much harder than usual. Rei, much to Gou's annoyance, had skipped practice to study for an upcoming test. Haru, Makoto, and Nagisa were in the locker room. The former two were both changing back into their normal clothes while the latter was sitting cross-legged, still in his swimsuit, in front of his locker, happily munching on some unknown snack.
His blonde locks bounced up and down as he rocked back and forth, humming to himself. Makoto turned around to face his kouhai and asked him, "Nagisa, what are you eating over there?"
The younger boy's mouth was filled with food, puffing his cheeks out like a chipmunk's, so, rather than answer verbally, he held up the small plastic bag to the brunette. He saw that it was a bag of Xtra Cheddar Goldfish. Gou would not normally have allowed to Nagisa to eat that kind of junk food, but she permitted it today due to the intense effort he applied at practice.
"Want some Mako-chan?" Nagisa asked, still with his mouth full.
"Oh, no thanks Nagisa," the taller boy responded, sheepishly turning back toward his locker.
"Why not?!" the blonde whined, disappointed his senpai had rejected his offer. "I bet Haru-chan will try them!" He added, cheerfully turning to his darker-haired senpai who was almost out the door.
The black-haired swimmer, without bothering to even turn around, replied, "Only if there's mackerel flavor," and then proceeded to exit without another word.
"Well?" Nagisa asked inquisitively, casting Makoto a glance that matched his tone.
""Well" what? I just don't like Goldfish, Nagisa," and with that he left the locker room after a quick goodbye.
The next day, Tuesday, at lunch, Nagisa sat down directly beside Makoto and tossed a bag of Goldfish next to the taller boy's bento lunch.
"I already told you, Nagisa, I don't like Goldfish," the brunette informed the smaller blonde.
"Everyone liks Goldfish!"
"They are quite a beautiful snack," Rei contributed, pushing up his red spectacles. "There must be some reason besides taste that you don't like them Makoto-senpai. After all, they are only fish crackers with smiles, hence the phrase "The snack that smiles back" so there really isn't much to dislike."
"Rei-chan, you talk too much! I zoned out about the word crackers, but he's right Mako-chan! Why don't you like them?"
Nagisa took one fish from the bag and and made it "swim" in the air in front of Makoto, as if showing him how cute the cracker was. He then tossed it in the air and caught it in his mouth the way a penguin would snatch a fish thrown to it at the zoo.
Makoto was slightly embarrassed, his cheeks turning a soft shade of pink, but decided it was better to tell them his reasons if it might make them leave him alone.
"I...I don't want to east them because I could never eat a goldfish."
The three other swimmers all stared at the brunette, and Haru even showed a bit of uncharacteristic emotion by the slight surprise etched on his face.
"You won't eat simple crackers because you don't want to eat a goldfish?" Rei asked, incredulous.
"Yes," the brunette replied, annoyed. Suddenly, Nagisa leaped out of his chair and jumped onto his senpai. He attempted to force one of the small, yellow fish into Makoto's mouth.
"Just try one, Mako-chan!" Nagisa shouted, an intense, yet still playful as usual, look in his pink eyes as they stared into Makoto's emerald pair. The sight of the smaller blonde somehow overpowering the large brunette issued many stares from other students in the cafeteria. Haru, who was sitting to the right of Makoto, simply scooted a bit farther away from the scuffle. He continued eating his lunch, of mackerel of course, andmade no move to stop Nagisa; rather, he had an amused look on his face, though it wasn't even enough for a smile. Haru never smiled.
Rei, however, looked worried, and got up to pry Nagisa from his senpai. He struggled for a minute before a squirming, flailing kouhai was separated from his disgruntled, senpai, whose hair was now more of a mess than usual. Both swommers were sent to see the principal before going to the rest of their classes and finishing the day without further incident.
Over the next few days Nagisa made a few more, more subtle, attempts to convince Makoto to eat Goldfish both at lunch and even in the middle of class. All of his endeavors were shot down by Makoto. Thursday, Nagisa threw a bag of Goldfish onto Makoto's desk during Algebra. After class he checked to see if Makoto had eaten any of them. Instead, the brunette had sorted the the fish out on his desk.
"What the heck are you doing Mako-chan?! You're suppposed to eat them!" Nagisa shouted, startling Makoto.
"Oh! Nagisa. I named them. Aren't they so cute?" he responded happily. He did his signature head tilt and flashed a huge smile at his friend.
"What?!"
"I named them. This one is Jabberjaw, this is Sharkzone: he's really feisty sometimes. Then there's Rin, Gou, Ren, Ran, and of course the one with the frown is Haru."
Makoto kept reporting the name of each fish and pushing them one at a time to the side of the desk Nagisa was standing at so he could see them. Unbeknownest to the sometimes slow-minded -good thing he's handasome- backstroker, Nagisa had been shoveling every Goldfish passed his way into his mouth.
"...and this one," Makoto pushed the kas tfish with an air of finality, "is Ja-" he stopped and stared at his blonde friend with horror written on his face, "Nagisa!" he screamed, startling the younger boy.
"What?"
As he talked a few Goldfish fell from his overstuffed cheeks onto the floor.
"Gross, Nagisa," were the brunette's final words before leaving the classroom with a 'hmph.'
The inevitable finally rolled around on Saturday after swim practice. All four swimmers, along with Gou, had gone to Haru's house. Nagisa, though he was rather simple-minded, could be clever if he needed to, and had hatched a plan Thursday night.
He would leave the matter of the Goldfish alone on Friday to make Makoto believe he had finally given up, and then, on Saturday...he would strike with the rest of the plan! It was simple, yet effective, playing out exactly as the devious blonde had hoped.
Makoto was talking to Haru, a mostly one-sided conversation, and Rei to Gou, so Nagisa was able to open a bag of Goldfish without being noticed. He took just one cracker and hid the rest of the bag. "Mako-chan," he said to get his senpai's attention. The tall boy turned to his kouhai who tossed the singular Goldfish toward the brunette.
Makoto, not realizing what the food tossed at him was, reflexively caught it in his mouth, quicly chewing and swallowing it. "Mmm. What was that Nagisa?"
For a moment Nagisa sat there in disbelief that his scheme had worked, and then shouted, "I did it!" before falling backwards, spread eagle on the floor, a triumphant grin on his face.
"Nagisa-kun, what are you talking about?" Gou finally questioned after they had all waited a few minutes for the pink-eyed boy to explain himself. Makoto looked the most confused of all. Rei stared and pushed up his glasses. Haru only wore a blank expression, and Gou looked annoyed as usual with Nagisa's antics.
"Mako-chan ate Goldfish!" he shouted, sitting up. A surprised look spread across Makoto's face, and there was a tinge of guilt in his usually cheerful emerald orbs.
"Nagisa, how could you?! That was an adorable little fish and you made me eat it!"
Though Makoto was shouting, he didn't sounds angry, only annoyed. Nagisa was too small and innocent to get angry at. The brunette stood up and went straight to the bathroom. He gargled mouthwash and swished it around in his mouth for a solid three minutes, as if to 'cleanse his mouth of his crime.' After that, he went back to the rest of the group in the other room, and, once dinner was cooked, ate with, somewhat ignoring Nagisa, but being too nice to shun him completely.
After that night...Makoto never ate Goldfish again.