A/N: I have too much story ideas in my head and this was one of them. I apologize for the cheesy title cause it was the only one I could think of :/. Hope you like it!
When you dive into the water, you have two choices. Either sink or swim. So, which will it be?
Sink?
"You know dad said not to swim in conditions like this, right?"
Or swim?
"I don't care."
"That's always what you say."
"Do you have a problem with it?"
The young woman continued to stare at the clear blue sky with a blank expression as her older brother let out a hearty laugh. Letting her feet touch the pool's floor, the woman shook the water out of her hair while she waded towards the shallow end. "Besides, it's already spring." she muttered and watched as he used his strength to pull her out of the pool.
"I know, but I swear you're gonna catch a cold one of these days. Honestly, dad warned you about this numerous times already." the older sibling said before letting out a tired sigh.
"So, Lucy. You're starting at Iwatobi High this year, huh? Time really does fly."
"..."
Kyle Hinukajin watched his younger sister stare out into the distance with the same blank expression he hated to see. "I heard they have a swim club here, too." Kyle added and still, Lucy refused to answer. Sighing, the blonde haired man approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder, causing the woman to look at him with her cobalt blue eyes.
"Even if I joined, I still wouldn't be able to compete."
"Why's that?"
"There's no events I could compete in. They wouldn't let a woman compete in a man's event."
"Lucy. There's been talk about how your swimming could easily let you compete with men."
Letting out a scoff, Lucy folded her arms against her chest and stared her older brother down. "You know she would've been happy if you joined the club." Kyle muttered as she walked past him brusquely.
Stopping at the doorframe, Lucy turned to look at him one last time before entering their home.
"News flash, Kyle. Her opinion doesn't matter to me anymore."
And just like that, she disappeared into the house.
"Haru-chan! Wait up!"
"H-Hey! Don't just go running off like that, Nagisa!"
"Heh. Nagisa wouldn't just run off without telling us, Rei."
"But still. He shouldn't just do that!"
Makoto chuckled as Rei fixed his red glasses onto his face. The group of friends were on their way to school and were eager to see if the swim club had gotten any new members this year. Makoto saw Haruka, or Haru to others, stop in his tracks and stare at something intently with his blue eyes.
Following his gaze, the olive-brown haired man sighed and walked towards his childhood friend. "Water..." Haru muttered blankly and tried to enter the aquarium store with the intent of entering a fish tank, but Makoto stopped him. "Always eager to jump into any body of water huh, Haru?" Makoto joked and let out a laugh as Haru continued to stare at the water filled container.
"Oh no! If we keep standing here, we'll be late for school!" Rei exclaimed and the four men dashed down the sidewalk quickly in fear of being late on the first day of school.
When they arrived, everyone was practically out of breath. "Man...I've never ran so fast..." Nagisa panted as they stopped near the gates to catch their breaths. "Huh? Do you guys know who that car belongs to?" Rei wondered aloud after finally catching his breath and the group turned their heads to see a blue car parked at the entrance. "Now that you've mentioned it, I feel like I have seen that car before." Makoto mused and thought for a minute before a voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Makoto!"
"Eh?! Kyle!" Makoto exclaimed and rushed over to give his friend a quick hug. "I didn't know you moved back to Iwatobi!" he added and the blonde haired man let out a joyous laugh. Nagisa, Rei, and Haru looked at one another in confusion then approached the stranger Makoto was talking to.
"Ah! Nagisa. Haru. Rei. Meet my friend, Kyle Hinukajin. We used to go to school together before he transferred in junior high." Makoto explained and the stranger smiled genuinely at the group. "Wait! Do you by chance know Annalise Hinukajin?! The record-setting female swimmer?!" Nagisa asked and Kyle saw wonder gleaming in his dark pink eyes, but the group failed to see the slight falter in his smile.
"Actually, she's my sister."
"No way! That's so cool!"
"Where'd she go? She hasn't swam an event in months!" Rei added and Kyle rubbed the back of his head sheepishly then smiled broadly. "She's on vacation right now. She'll come back in a few months or so." Kyle explained and Makoto quickly changed the subject when a silence fell over the group.
"What are you doing here at Iwotabi High? Didn't you graduate already?" Makoto asked and turned his head when he heard the car door slam close. "Well I came here to drop this familiar face off." the blonde answered and stepped off to the side to introduce his younger sister to the group. "Is this Lucy?! Goodness, she's grown so much!" the young man said as the woman looked at him with blank blue eyes.
"Oh my gosh! It's the aspiring Lucy Hinukajin! She set the new record for women's freestyle last month!" Nagisa exclaimed and Lucy hid underneath her hair in embarrassment at the sudden outburst. Haru was immediately interested in the conversation when his fellow teammate exclaimed this new student's previous achievement.
Her long, rose colored locks cascaded down her back like a waterfall while her cobalt blue eyes nearly matched the shade of his own. "You swim freestyle?" Haru asked the young woman and she nodded slowly before shifting her gaze to the ground. "She could probably join the swim club!" Rei added and Lucy shook her head in disagreement when the words left his mouth.
"I can't. There's no events for me to compete in."
"We'll find a way! Right, Rei-chan?"
"Of course!"
Haru stole a quick glance at the girl and saw that she had been staring at the ocean at the front of the school, something he would often do. "Has she been scouted yet?" Makoto asked his friend and Haru immediately saw the girl tense before shooting her older brother a glare that could've burned through anything.
'Why is she glaring at him?' the dark haired man wondered and turned to look at something else. "It looks like I have to go now. If you want to, can you show Lucy around the school? It would really help her out since I don't want her to get lost." Kyle mentioned before bidding all of them goodbye.
"Bye Kyle." Lucy said as she waved to her brother before turning towards the school gates.
"You've changed so much, Lucy. How long has it been since I last saw you?" Makoto wondered as they continued down the path towards the school's courtyard.
"Six years."
"How long have you been swimming for?" Rei asked the young woman and she thought to herself before answering his question. "Ten years." Lucy answered and clutched her backpack strap tightly as they passed by classroom after classroom. The group asked her casual questions as they navigated the halls perfectly and she would answer each question in a monotone voice.
"Have you swam competitively before?" Haru asked and she nodded quickly, but she never made any eye contact. "Do you know where Annalise is, Lucy? Some people are saying that she's supposed to come back this spring or summer." Makoto wondered and Lucy balled her hand into a fist before a sigh escaped her lips. "Just like what Kyle said. She's on vacation." the woman answered bluntly and continued down the hallway, leaving behind the now suspicious swim club.
After school, Makoto and Haru walked alongside one another with Lucy trailing behind. "Lucy? Do you think Kyle would be home by now?" Makoto asked and the young woman casted a quick glance at the ocean before turning to face the young man. "I think so." she answered and silence fell upon them once more. 'She was never this quiet when someone talked to her.' the olive-brown haired man noted and saw that the young woman had started walking a bit faster.
They followed Lucy to a two-story, white house and were greeted at the door by Kyle. "Welcome home, Lucy. Mom and dad are waiting for you in the kitchen." the blonde explained and Lucy gave him a grunt of acknowledgement. "Kyle, mind if we have a quick chat?" Makoto inquired as his friend ushered both of them and offered to take their bags.
"Sure! Why not?"
"Mind if we stay a little bit here, Haru?"
"Whatever."
Kyle quickly introduced Haru and Makoto to his parents, who greeted them warmly. The three men stepped onto the deck and immediately noticed Lucy floating on the pool's surface with her eyes trained on the orange sky. Haru noticed how straight her body was as she floated, her back stiff as a board and arms outstretched like a bird's wings in flight.
Grabbing a seat on the patio chairs, they watched as she swam to the shallow end and pulled herself out of the pool. Disappearing into the house, Makoto immediately got down to business.
"Kyle, have you noticed the change in your sister's behavior? She's never been this distant before."
Closing his bright green eyes, Kyle smiled and let out a small laugh as the two other men stared at him in confusion. "I thought nobody would notice but, it seems you have an observant eye, Makoto." Kyle mumbled as he quickly stole a glance when he heard his sister's voice echo from inside. Haru followed his gaze and saw that she was playing with their youngest sister Catherine, who pretended to be a damsel in distress.
"I guess it's time I told you what happened."
Letting out a long sigh, he told the tale of why his sister changed in behavior.
"Lucy and Annalise were the best of buddies back then. In fact, Annalise was the one who taught her how to swim and encouraged her to join a swim club. I was kinda jealous of how close they were to one another."
"Heh. That sounds just like the Lucy I used to know." Makoto admitted and looked out towards the city of Iwatobi. Haru remained silent as the two men talked and toyed with the strap of his backpack to ease his boredom.
"They were on the same swim team and Lucy never felt so proud to swim with her record-breaking older sister. Lucy always hoped to catch up with Annalise and hoped that one day, she'll be able to out swim her or break one of her records. Everyday, they'd train and help one another get better in their respective category."
"Was Lucy ever thinking about getting scouted?" Haru asked and Kyle nodded, but his once cheerful expression changed into a grim one.
"Lucy had dreamed of being scouted by an elite college in Tokyo and she promised Annalise that she would get scouted by them, no matter what. Then, that fateful tournament happened."
"Lucy was..."
"They were swimming with all the strength they had and when the competition was over, everything changed. An official told us that the college Lucy wanted to be in had scouted Annalise...not her. Then, they started fighting and all hell broke loose. Lucy demanded that she didn't accept their invitation to attend while Annalise always said that she wouldn't."
"Lucy became jealous of her, didn't she?"
"Yes, but jealousy wasn't the only thing she felt for Annalise. She began to hate her."
Haru realized that this was the reason why she had glared at him when they first met at the school gates. "Did she eventually forgive her?" the dark haired man asked and saw the older man shake his head. "No. It only grew worse. Every time a reporter asked her about being proud of Annalise's scouting, she's give them the cold shoulder or a deadly glare." Kyle explained and leaned back in his seat, the night sky illuminating his green eyes.
"Did Annalise feel guilty about it?" Makoto added and his friend nodded solemnly. "She felt nothing but guilt ever since. Then, on Lucy's sixteenth birthday, she told the family about accepting the college's offer on joining their swim team. I had never seen Lucy so mad after Annalise told us, but all I could see was the hurt in her eyes." the blonde continued and tilted his head to gaze at the stars.
"Did Annalise try to apologize?" Makoto wondered and imagined how hard it must've been to apologize for stealing your younger sibling's dream.
"She did on so many occasions. After her birthday party, Annalise tried to apologize to Lucy and told her that she would've refused no matter what, but Lucy didn't believe her. I could hear Lucy screaming and yelling at her older sister, but the worse thing she ever said to her was, 'I've cheered you on during every competition you participated and this is how you repay me? By stealing my dreams? Some sister you are.'"
'How could one invitation tear those two apart?' Haru thought to himself as he listened to the story. "That's horrible. I can't imagine anyone who has the heart to say that to their older sibling." Makoto murmured and turned to look at his friend with a sympathetic look.
"I guess after hiding it for so long, she finally had to snap. Then, she distanced herself from everyone who loved her. I don't know if Lucy will ever go back to that sweet girl I knew." the blonde mumbled and got up from his seat to smile gently at his friends. "I think getting Lucy to join that swim club will change her. It's the main reason why we moved back to Iwatobi. Please, can you guys convince her to join the swim club?" Kyle pleaded and the two teammates looked at one another before nodding in approval.
"Of course. Anything for a friend."
After leaving Kyle's house and walking back to his own, Haru couldn't stop thinking about the story Kyle had just told. 'Is she trying to swim away from her problems?' he wondered as his blue eyes stared at the ceiling for what seemed like an eternity. "It'll take a miracle for someone like her to go back to who she once was." Haru muttered as he flipped to his side and shut off the lamp, blanketing the room in darkness.
Then, he started to think about what Makoto and him had talked about on the walk home.
"Haru?"
"Hm?"
"Do you think Lucy's gonna try for the swim club?"
"Judging by her previous answers, she probably will never."
A silence had hung over them as they climbed the stairs that led to their homes.
"Haru?"
"What?"
"Do you think Lucy will ever forgive her sister?" Makoto asked and Haru stopped in his tracks when he started to ascend the stairs.
"Imagine having your dream be stolen by a sibling. Imagine how betrayed you would feel when you realize that you worked blood, sweat, and tears for your dream and your sibling just whisks it away with no effort at all. Would you forgive them?" Haru asked his childhood friend and Makoto's eyes widened at his words.
"Haru..."
"If I were in her place, forgiveness wouldn't probably cross my mind." Haru answered and climbed the stairs to his house, leaving a bewildered Makoto standing at the stairway.
"She'll never change her mind." Haru muttered and shut his eyes when exhaustion took over.
