"Luna-san, it's time to get up." A vaguely familiar voice said, rousing me from sleep. I grumbled a few nonsensical words and turned over, shoving my face into a pillow. The voice sighed and I heard footsteps on the cherry wooden floor before the curtains were brutally shoved open, a bright stream of light hitting me directly in my eyes. It was so bright that my eyelids glowed red –and they were closed. I let out a muffled scream of frustration into my pillow before roughly pushing myself up and glaring at the person who dared interrupt my beauty sleep.
I was greeted with a petite, softly smiling brown haired woman who looked like she really didn't want to anger me and instantly, all my irritation disappeared.
"Oh." I mumbled, brushing a few strands of snow white hair from my face. She nodded once she saw I was finally awake and made to leave my bedroom, but just before she fully exited she shot me an apologetic smile and said that my mother wanted me showered and ready in fifteen minutes.
Once left alone, I slumped and crossed my legs, running my fingers through my hair.
So it was that time again, huh?
New Year, New school, new country.
You'd think I'd be used to it by now, with the way my parents and I moved frequently but it was still a tad bit frustrating. Every time I'd finally gotten used to a place, made a few friends, we would leave again
This time, we had relocated to Iwatobi Town, Japan. The place was beautiful, I must admit, with its lovely community feel, slightly modern and yet traditional houses…But the best part of it all, was the beach. Oh gosh, as soon as we drove past that wonderful specimen yesterday, I had sworn that not a day would go past and I would not visit. It was stunning! I mean, you'd think living in Rio would make you immune to the sight of the ocean, because it had some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, but no, Brazil couldn't hold a candle to Iwatobi.
I had never seen such white and pristine sand, let alone such blue water! It was God had spilled a bucket of the lightest blue paint on it and just couldn't be bothered to clean it up. My word, that place was stunning.
It was because of this that I would actually (hopefully) enjoy my time here and maybe, just maybe, we could actually stay for more than a year.
So, with that optimistic outlook on life, I hoped out of bed eagerly and made my way to the bathroom to get ready.
It was a quick shower, and soon I was ready –hairs brushed and bow primly tied. In all honesty, I had never really been one for uniforms but I happened to actually really like this one. It was nice; actually something I would wear if they were normal clothes. I liked it, with its stark black blazer, cream colored cardigan and the short sleeved white collared shirt. And surprisingly, it actually looked good with the red bow. And the skirt was nice too, and I didn't mind that it was slightly short, at least it wasn't those granny skirts they made us wear back home in England.
I quickly changed into the allocated pumps the school provided for outside of school (I was given the red and white ones) and grabbed my backpack before heading to the kitchen. I was pretty happy that I didn't have to tackle any stares, because climbing up them, with heavy textbooks on your back, tired after a long day at school wasn't the most awesome thing in the world. We had chosen a slightly, modern looking big Japanese home, and I liked it. It was different from the western ones we usually got.
"Good morning Mother." I greeted, once I saw my mother sitting at the table, dressed and ready to go. She smiled and put down the magazine she had been reading. I think it was about houses or something.
"Luna, darling. Good morning, did you sleep well?" She asked me when I sat down. I didn't answer immediately, because my attention was actually preoccupied with the bowl of rice placed in front of me, along with some type of sauce and two small fish which I suspected were Sardines on a separate plate.
"Oh, Richard and I thought that maybe we should try and eat the local food. Ami, sweetheart that she was prepared a tradition Japanese breakfast for us and it was positively lovely. It's rice and Miso soup, along with dried sardines. It's a tad heavy but it gives plenty of energy and it's wonderful." My mum explained to me, noticing my slightly curious gaze. I sighed and picked up the two chopsticks on the wooden holder next to me and poured the sauce on the rice and picked up the bowl. On the bright side, I knew how to eat with chopsticks so it wasn't really a problem for me to pick out the grains of rice.
"Eat quickly, you're walking to school remember?" And I nodded, shoving the food in my mouth faster. Soon I was finished, and with a kiss on the cheek to my mother, I was out the door, running down the steps and heading to the boardwalk.
I was happy Iwatobi High wasn't far from where I lived, so I wouldn't have to rush every morning. I took my time lazily walking down the peer, gazing out to the bright blue ocean. I thought I had seen a dolphin when I ended up crashing into something hard, stumbling and almost falling over. Luckily, I was caught by a pair of strong hands and when I looked up, I was met with a pair of curious midnight blue eyes staring into my own. I coughed slightly and stood up myself.
"Er...Hi...Thanks for catching me." I said in Japanese, though the words were heavily accented with my normal British tongue.
The boy who had caught me (and what a lovely boy he was) blinked a bit before nodding his head, short black hair bouncing a bit. There was another guy standing next to him, and he was just as good looking with his messy light brown hair which bordered on green and droopy olive colored eyes which just radiated kindness.
"Are you new here?" He asked me, and I noticed that were wearing a uniform similar to mine, except it was the boy's version and they sported green ties. But hot dayum, they looked good in it! I nodded and smiled.
"I'm Luna, I moved here two days ago with my parents for their job." I told them, holding out a hand for them to shake. They just stared at it for a while, kinda looking like they weren't exactly sure what to do with it….Oh! They didn't!
"Whoops! My mistake!" I exclaimed loudly, retracting my hand and bowing slightly, my long white hair falling out of its ponytail and into my face.
"I forgot that handshakes don't apply here in Japan." I explained, straightening up again. The guy next to the one who caught me laughed a bit and just shook his head.
"It's alright, you'll get used to it eventually. I'm Tachibana Makoto and this is Nanase Haruka. We also attend Iwatobi High." He introduced kindly. The boy next to him, nodded his head slightly and I gathered that he just generally didn't speak that much.
"Makoto." He stated simply and Makoto let out a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his neck, making me take notice of his tight arm muscles.
Yo…
"Actually, Haru is right. We better get going or else we'll be late. Come on, we'll walk together." He invited and moments later I was walking in between them. Haruka was staring out into the ocean, pure longing on his face and I couldn't help but grin.
"Do you like to swim…Er….Haruka-san?" I asked, unsure of which suffix to use on his name. My Japanese teacher had drilled them all into me but it was a bit different using them in real life.
"Haru loves to swim, and he's really good at it too. We used to swim together at the Iwatobi swim club." Makoto explained in Haruka's stead.
"There's a swimming club! Oh, great! I was worried I was worried about that." I told them, happy with the news. I had always swum competitively, no matter where we moved to, but I had been worried that maybe this school didn't have a team.
"You swim?" Makoto asked interested and even Haruka turned to look at me. I nodded eagerly.
"Since I was a baby." I stated. "I love to swim and I've been doing it competitively for years. I don't really have a specific style, though; I can swim anything and everything equally well. I guess you could call me all-rounded." I told them shrugging. Makoto nodded.
"Oh. I specialize in backstroke and Har-"The green eyed boy started but he was cut off.
"I only swim free." Haruka declared, and he said it with such….passion.
"Freestyle you mean?" I asked and he shook his head.
"Free." He repeated and I looked to Makoto for an explanation. Said boy shrugged and smiled sheepishly.
"Haru's like that, but you'll get used to it eventually." He told me and I nodded in understanding. We were at the gates of the school now and I took in how big and actually…nice it was.
"Wow. Nice school you guys have here." I said. Haruka grunted and Makoto smiled…okay, smiled wider. I don't think he ever stopped smiling.
"Do you know which class you're in?" Makoto asked me as we entered and I nodded.
"Class 1." I told them.
"Oh good, you're in our class this year." The brown haired boy said and after we changed our shoes (I found my locker with little difficulty) we were headed to class.
Home room was interesting…Apparently 'Haruka' and 'Makoto' were girls' names, and I just had to wonder why their parents would give them female names. It wasn't really nice, and I could only imagine all the teasing they received as kids.
When my name was called, every eye turned to me with morbid fascination, and as soon as lunch rolled around, I was the object of everyone's attention. The girls, because they wanted to be friends with the new popular foreign girl and the guys because they wanted to get with the new popular foreign girl. Just as the attention was getting a bit too much, Makoto came to my rescue.
"Luna-san, would you like to eat lunch with Haru and I on the roof?" He asked, and I jumped at the opportunity, getting up to join them immediately.
"Thank you, they were getting a bit overbearing." I said as we walked down a corridor. Makoto chuckled.
"Eventually it'll die down." He told me and then I remembered that I didn't bring lunch.
"Er, I forgot to bring lunch." I said to them both, slightly embarrassed.
"Me too." Haruka stated casually.
"You can buy some. Or you can try some of this." Makoto said before holding out a newspaper with strips of…something on top.
"It's fried squid." He stated, sounding amused when he saw my expression. Haruka stared at me and I took one and nibbled on it. It was actually quite good…
"It's delicious." I said, taking another. The green eyed boy smiled and handed me the paper.
"You can have it then." He offered and before I could say thank you, an eager voice interrupted us.
"Haru-chan! Mako-chan!" It cried happily, and we looked at the bottom of the stairs to see a curly blond with bright pink eyes waving at us. Correction, them.
Like the two other guys standing next to me, he was extremely handsome, and even more so because of the happy face he had. Though he was shorter than the other two, about the same height as me, which was 5'6.
"Nagisa?!" The two next to me exclaimed, and I was surprised to actually hear Haruka's voice actually raise that high. I stepped aside and let the reunion take place and soon I was trailing behind as we made our way to the roof.
"How long has it been?" Makoto asked while we were on the roof, and I was sitting on the ledge while they were leaning on it. "I don't think I saw you after the swimming club was shut down." He said, reminiscing.
Shut down? Oh, that sucked.
"Yep, I went to a different school." Nagisa told them, before grinning and pointing out in the distance.
"Look! There are cherry blossoms by the pool!" He exclaimed and when I turned to look, I was greeted with the sight of beautiful pink petaled trees surrounding a rectangular structure, which I gathered was the pool. I heard Nagisa ask Haruka a question but I wasn't really paying attention. Instead, I was looking longingly at the unused and clearly dirty pool.
I wonder if it were possible to start up a swim club? That would be awesome.
"-Where do you guys swim then?" I caught Nagisa ask and I turned my attention back to their conversation.
"I quit swimming competitively." Haruka stated coldly and I almost chocked on the squid strip I was chewing.
What?!
"Why'd you quit?!" Nagisa asked, sounding horrified. "I was all excited about swimming with you guys again in high school!" He exclaimed.
"We're not little kids anymore. Things aren't the way the used to be." Haruka stated coldly and I raised an eyebrow. Clearly, there was something deeper than that. Nagisa looked distraught and Makoto smiled sadly.
"Well, he stopped swimming competitively but he still loves the water. Haru can't live without water." Makoto said smiling amusedly. "During the summer he swims in the ocean and he was even soaking in the tub this morning."
Nagisa seemed confused and leveled Makoto with a stare.
"What does that have to do with swimming? Maybe he just likes baths." The strawberry blond pointed out, and I burst out laughing, drawing everyone's attention.
"Lu-chan, why are you laughing?" Nagisa asked, and it was such an innocent question that it made me laugh even harder. He was just too cute!
"Why don't you guys just start a hot springs club then? Since Haruka-san loves hot baths so much." I suggested, laughing even harder. Haruka glared at me and Nagisa nodded.
"That's a great idea Lu-chan!" He exclaimed, pouncing on Haruka. Haruka looked annoyed and tried to shake Nagisa off.
"I can't stand the heat." He stated and I giggled.
"What about you, Lu-chan? Do you know how to swim?" Nagisa asked, turning his attention to me, and I nodded, finishing the fried squid and balling up the newspaper page and throwing it into the trashcan a few feet away.
"Yep, I swim competitively. I wanted to join the swim club but…." I trailed off, not needing to continue. All three of them looked at me weirdly and I shrugged, before I noticed that some girl with red hair was staring at us from across the roof, a curious look in her matching eyes. Makoto caught me staring and turned in the same direction as I. When she caught his gaze, she nodded and turned back to her friends. Makoto and I looked at each other silently asking if either of us knew her, but the green eyed boy shrugged and shook his head. Nagisa and Haruka didn't notice the exchange, and soon, we were heading back to class.
"Hey, did you guys hear?" Nagisa asked, balancing on the rail as we made our way down from the roof. "The swimming club we went to in grade school is going to be broken down soon." He said, jumping off onto the stairs. I walked next to Haruka and saw his expression. He seemed shocked about it. Nagisa promptly jumped the rest of the five stairs and landed perfectly straight before turning back towards us.
"So before that happens, why don't we pay it a visit?" He asked, enthusiasm ringing through his voice.
"To dig that up?" Makoto asked, and I turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
What exactly was that?
"Exactly!" Nagisa exclaimed and my heart momentarily stopped beating when I saw his breath taking smile.
Surely, it wasn't good for my health if I hung out with such good looking people.
"We can sneak in at night-"He started, doing the spooky hand movements but Haruka cut him off by brushing past him.
"You can dig it up yourself." He declared, sounding as if he couldn't care less about whatever it was they were talking about.
"Don't do that Haru-chan! Come with us." Nagisa exclaimed, getting all up in the poor boy's face. Haru stared down at him with a blank expression.
"By us, you mean you and Makoto-san, right?" I asked unsurely. I didn't really want to go. It seemed that these guys were a tight knit group and I didn't want to intrude and be the unwanted fourth wheel.
"You're coming with us of course, Lu-chan!" Nagisa exclaimed and I turned to Makoto, and he smiled apologetically.
"I'm not going." Haru declared, trying to walk past Nagisa that is until he literally draped himself over Haruka's shoulder.
That boy needed to learn something about personal space.
"Don't you think it will be fun?" The pink eyed boy asked whilst Makoto and I walked past them.
"No." The ebony haired boy stated surely. Makoto chuckled.
"Why don't you humor him?" He suggested and I watched as Haru shook his head.
"No, it's too much effort."
"But there is a pool there…" Makoto drawled, and I smirked as I saw Haruka's resolve slowly crumble. "A pool is much better than a bath tub." Makoto continued slyly and I laughed as Haruka completely did a three-sixty turn around in opinion and seem eager to go. I discreetly patted Makoto on the back and he smiled conspiratorially at me.
Perhaps Makoto wasn't as innocent as he seemed…
"Wow, you live alone Haru. Lucky." I said, sitting next to him on the counter while he grilled Mackerel on an electric grill. He shrugged and didn't reply.
"Haru's mom went with his father when he had to move for his job." Makoto explained, examining a shovel which he had retrieved from the garden shed in Haruka's back yard. We were still all dressed in our uniform, minus Haru who was wearing an apron over his own. After school ended, we had decided to all come to Haru's house and then we would go home and change before meeting up at the Swim Club. I didn't know where it was though, so since I lived one story under Haruka (he lived at the top of the hill, I lived on the level under him) I would be going with him.
"That's lucky." I said to him, idly playing with a few hairs on his head. He didn't seem to mind. "I have to move every year with my parents because of my father's job, and they never let me stay behind." I continued, twirling an ebony lock around my finger. I was more comfortable with them now, to the point that I was acting like my true, shameless self again, and none of them seemed to mind.
"Oh, that must be sad. So Lu-chan doesn't have many friends then?" Nagisa asked me, coming into the kitchen, Makoto trailing behind.
"I make a few acquaintances here and there but I never really have time to actually become true friends with." I replied, watching as Haru flipped over a piece. Makoto looked at me sympathetically and Nagisa grabbed my hand a held it tightly.
"Yosh! Then we'll be your friends Lu-chan! And we can stay friends forever and ever!" He declared, and I smiled at him, before ruffling his already messy blond curls.
"Thanks Nagisa. That means a lot." I said sincerely and he blushed. I looked at him curiously, and when I looked up, I saw everyone else was blushing too.
"Why are you guys red?" I asked confused, and they all turned a shade darker after I asked.
"That's because Lu-chan is very pretty!" Nagisa stated, smiling brightly and playing with my white hair which I had let out its ponytail. It was now brushing my tail bone.
I saw Makoto nod and Haruka look away and I giggled.
"Well thanks guys. You all are quite smokin' yourself." I said, winking saucily. I think by this point they were all redder than freshly picked tomatoes and I laughed loudly, poking Haru's cheek.
"Ey, you guys are cute." I said, my laughter dying down to chuckles.
"Fish again?" Makoto asked as Haru lifted the second piece of fish and turned it over, making it sizzle and assaulting us with its heavenly smell.
"No one's forcing you to eat it." Haruka huffed irritably. I raised my hand.
"I know I will." I stated, "It smells delicious." I complimented and Haru smirked a bit.
"So, are we really gonna do this?" Makoto asked suddenly somber. We all turned quiet, but I didn't really know why.
"You were all for it just a moment ago." Haru pointed out. "Are you getting scared?" He asked bluntly. Makoto shook his head and I waited to hear his response.
"It's not that. But, should we really dig it out, just the three of us?" He asked, and I ignored the fact that he didn't say 'four'. I was missing something important.
"Well that can't be helped." Nagisa said, understanding what he green eyed boy meant. "Rin-chan isn't in Japan anymore." He said and it seemed that saying this triggered something in Haru's memory.
I watched as Haruka seemed to get lost in his own world, staring down at the fish and I turned to look at Nagisa.
"Is Rin a close friend?" I asked, somewhat hesitant to broach the topic. It seemed a little tender.
"Yeah, he used to attend the same Middle School we did, but he left to go to Australia because he was offered a scholarship at a prestigious swimming academy. We haven't seen or heard from him since." Makoto explained and my brows furrowed. I had heard of the academy Makoto referred to. Anyone who wanted to seriously pursue swimming as a career choice had. Well, whoever this 'Rin' dude was, he must've been extremely talented. To be able to get an offer like that at such a young age even. I too, had personally wanted to attend, and I had been accepted, but my parents had told me no. They never really appreciated my goal of being an Olympic swimmer. They wanted me to pick a more 'stable' career choice. It was a frequent topic of dispute between us all, so we tended to not really talk about it much.
Although, I thought, we would be having that discussion pretty soon, as this was my last year of high school. Ugh.
"We better go get ready. We'll meet up in an hour as planned right?" Makoto asked and we nodded.
"Yeah, Haru, I'll see you soon." I said, sliding off my perch on the counter next to him. He nodded and we all grabbed our backpacks and left. Makoto offered to accompany me home but I declined, saying that it really wasn't necessary.
I made it home in like, five minutes and was greeted with the sight of my mother talking on the phone with someone on the couch in our living room. She smiled and waved at me but pointed to her phone to indicate it was a very important call. I nodded and headed on to my room.
Dumping my bag in the corner, I closed the windows and drew the curtains. It was already twilight. I flopped down on my bed tiredly, shaking off my shoes and spreading out like an eagle and just staring at the ceiling.
I wondered who this 'Rin' was. He seemed to draw heavy emotion in Haruka when just mentioned and I knew, even though I had little experience with said boy, it wasn't easy to get a reaction from him. But his eyes when Makoto explained the circumstance to me said different. Haruka had looked genuinely sad at the fact that his old friend was gone away. Perhaps they were best friends or something? Maybe, it seemed that way anyway.
I rolled over and picked up the A/C Remote from my window sill and switched it on. Japan was humid at night, especially since summer was commencing. I sighed and stared at my black painted walls, wondering what exactly it was we would be digging up anyway. I'd bet it was a time capsule or something equally personal. They seemed much attached to it.
"Luna, how was your day? Did you make some friends?" My mother asked, coming into my bedroom and sitting next to me. I sat up and leaned against the wall, to which she shot a look of distaste at. She had never liked my choice in coloring.
"Yeah, actually, I'm going to be meeting up with them in a few minutes. I just came back to change." I answered and she raised an eyebrow, her bright yellow eyes which matched mine twinkling in suspicion.
"Oh? And are these friends boys or girls?" She asked, though she sounded amused. She already knew the answer.
"Boys." I stated helplessly. I had always meshed better with the opposite gender, since I was a child. She was used to having groups of rowdy male teens come over on the rare occasions I actually had any friends.
"What am I going to do with you?" She asked, exasperated and I laughed. "Where will you guys be going?" She asked me.
"The Iwatobi Swim Club. Apparently they all used to swim their as kids and want to dig up a time capsule they buried before it gets demolished." I explained. I didn't have to lie, I had no reason to, she trusted me, and I had never disappointed.
"Alright then. I'll save supper for you. Be back before eleven. You know the drill." She told me, before patting my long white hair fondly, smiling and leaving the room. I sighed and stood up, deciding it was about time to get ready.
After much deliberation, I settled on a pair of khaki shorts, a white T-shirt with the Brazilian flag on it, and a black cardigan along with a pair of black All Stars. I checked the time and saw that it had been maybe twenty minutes since I had arrived home so I still had plenty of time. I headed over to my desk and powered up one of my three high-tech Mac desktops, deciding to check my Facebook to kill some time. I browsed through numerous photos of the people I had met from all the different countries I had been to on my news feed, commented on a few, replied to a few messages and before I knew it, another ten minutes had passed. I had then deemed it enough time to let pass and grabbed my phone and headed out of my room, leaving the light and everything on. The nice thing about being an only child and having trusting parents was that I could even leave my door wide open and nothing would happen.
"I'm heading out!" I called out and I heard the farewell of my mum just before the door closed. I quickly made my way across the front yard and made my way out the gate and before I knew it, I was standing at the bottom of a very long flight of stairs that led to the only house at the top of the hill. When I was with Haru and the others, I didn't really take notice as to how high it was but now that I was alone, with no one to distract me, the prospect of climbing up all of them was horrifying. Honestly, how Haru managed to tackle it every day was beyond me. No wonder they were all in such good shape. Who needed exercise when you had this to keep you fit!
I sighed heavily, put my hair up in a messy bun and began the daunting task of climbing Mount Everest.
By the time I had made it to the top, I was panting worse than a dog waiting for a treat from its owner and I could barely stand straight. DAYUM! Those stairs were pure evil, I thought, looking down from the top and it seemed that I was standing on top of a tall building.
Actually, now that I thought about it, using these actually seemed like a good training regime.
I caught my breath and walked the well-worn cobble path which led to Haruka's two-story home.
Ringing the door bell, I waited about two minutes until Haru appeared dressed in black jeans, a purple shirt and a light blue hoodie and black All Stars. I laughed when I saw them, prompting him to raise an eyebrow in question.
"We're wearing the same shoes." I pointed out and he looked down to see that indeed I was right. He shrugged and proceeded to close the door behind him and we set off.
"Hey, Haru?" I asked, turning to him. He looked at me questioningly and I smiled.
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen." He answered simply.
"You don't seem seventeen. More like seventy actually." I pointed out, and he gave me a blank look. "It's just that, you're so mature for your age I guess."
"In comparison to Nagisa you mean?" He asked an amused smile on his face. I had to keep myself from staring. Haruka's smile was breathtaking, and the effect was only doubled because he rarely did it.
I playfully punched him in the shoulder and laughed. "You can't compare anyone with Nagisa. He has the maturity of a five year old. Has he always been like that?" I asked and the black haired boy next to me nodded.
"Yes. Ever since we were children." Haruka stated and my brows furrowed.
"How long have you all known each other? You're all so close…Even I can see that and I only met you guys today." Haruka looked at me weirdly, as if he could see inside my soul or something. Though, I wouldn't be surprise if it turned out to be true. Who knew what went on inside that black clad head of his?
"I've known Makoto since kindergarten and Nagisa since Primary school."
"And Rin?" I asked quietly to which he looked away and didn't answer.
Well, I suppose this conversation is over…
We carried walking and soon we arrived at the old abandoned building, and surprisingly, Makoto and Nagisa were already there. I noticed that all the guys looked so much smexier in Civvies. Like, it should have been a crime.
Makoto was wearing a striped black and navy top along with a blue cardigan and brown skinny jeans and blue shoes with his caramel leather watch. Nagisa was dressed in a cream colored, short sleeved button up top, with a blue long sleeved collared shirt underneath, light brown Khaki shorts and sneakers. He had a brown backpack on, though I didn't know what was inside.
"This place is pretty trashed." I said unsurely, as we all stood there and took in the completely spoilt building. There was graffiti everywhere, the paint was ruined because of the rain, lights were falling off, moss was growing…the place was pretty much a dump.
Nagisa pulled out something from his pocket and turned to us, nervous.
"Here, just in case." He stated. I looked and saw it was a paper with white powder inside.
"Purifying salt." The blond declared. Makoto looked at it unsurely.
"Salt?" He asked, confused.
"They say the place is haunted." Nagisa declared ominously, and Makoto laughed nervously.
"Don't scare me." He chuckled and I raised a brow.
"I'm not lying!" Nagisa exclaimed, making the green eyed boy jumped. Nagisa turned and gave the building a suspicious look. "People have been seeing shadows moving around. And hearing sobbing voices…" He continued and I rolled my eyes when Makoto's eye twitched and he looked positively terrified.
"Stand still!" Nagisa declared, and proceeded to sprinkle the spice all over us.
"Wait." Haruka declared suddenly, making us all stare expectantly. He took a grain and placed it in his mouth.
"This isn't salt, it sugar." He told us all, sounding vaguely irritated. I burst out laughing.
"Welp, this just keeps getting better and better, ey?" I asked sarcasm heavy in my voice. The boys stared at me and I shrugged. "Come on. Let's go." I declared jutting my head towards the building and walking in, and soon I heard footsteps rushing after me.
"Well, it's all mental anyway. So sugar will also get the job done." Nagisa stuttered out, clearly nervous.
"Cliché as hell…"Haru said, annoyed.
"It is one of the oldest mistakes out there…" Makoto declared, trying to make us all feel better, but it was mostly for himself. Next thing I knew, there were hands holding my own and a protective presence behind me. I looked at them and saw that Nagisa was holding my left hand and Makoto my right, whilst Haruka stood behind me.
I raised a brow.
"What the hell are you all doing?" I asked, incredulous.
"Well, Lu-chan is a girl, so we hafta' protect her from anything." Nagisa declared, pressing himself against me. I looked at them all like they were crazy and rolled my eyes.
"Whatever." I declared, carrying on walking down the dark corridor.
A loud sound of a can bouncing startled all of us, Makoto the most, making him jump and hide behind Haru. I stared at Nagisa who laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck.
"My foot hit an empty can…" He said, and Makoto glared.
"You're doing this on purpose aren't you?" He asked, and I shook my head, the hit the blond upside the head.
"Lu-chan!" He whined, cradling his skull.
"Idiot. You almost gave poor Makoto a heart attack." I said, pointing at the nervous looking caramel haired teen behind Haruka, who just looked like he really didn't care about anything going on.
"He was always scared of the dark…"Nagisa said laughing
"You're not helping any!" Makoto declared and I just rolled my eyes and carried on.
We walked for a while in silence, shining the flash light around and taking in the sights.
"It's not as trashed as I expected." I pointed out, when we entered the locker rooms. We left and entered another big, to which everyone stopped.
"This is…" Nagisa started, recognition dawning on his face.
"The lounge." Makoto finished and Nagisa ran forward to a wall full of framed photos.
"Come see!" He exclaimed, frantically gesturing with his hand for us to go over. We did and we peered over him to see a photo of all of them, along with some Maroon head, looking happy and wearing swimming trunks and medals. They all looked relatively the same as they did now, just younger but of course, Haru wasn't even smiling, nor looking at the camera. The four of them looked happy so I gathered that maybe they had won a race.
"This is the picture from when we won the relay." Nagisa said, and I was happy to note I was correct in my assumption. I looked to see Haru staring at the photo with a distanced expression on his face, and I guessed that maybe he was living a few memories. Makoto and Nagisa turned to leave but Haru stayed put so I gently took his hand and tugged him in the direction of the door.
"Haru, let's go." I said smiling, and he looked at me, before walking forward.
He didn't let go of my hand though.
We walked down a bit more corridors, Nagisa talking cheerily, Makoto hiding behind us and Haruka remaining silent like always.
As we passed a T-junction, I just happened to look down it and I saw a shadow walking towards us. At first I thought I was crazy, so I stopped and blinked a bit, before squinting down the hall. A figure shrouded in darkness slowly emerged into the dark light, wearing a black and yellow tracksuit, with a grey tank top underneath. I couldn't see their face, because the cap they were wearing cast a shadow on top of it, and they weren't looking up.
"Lu-chan, what's wrong….."But Nagisa trailed off when he saw what I was looking at. The others were paying attention now, and we all watched as the figure raised its head and looked right at us, scarlet hair falling into his face.
"Holy shit…" I breathed, taking in his face.
This guy, whoever the hell he was, was fucking hawt. Like ohmigash, I think my heart just stopped beating. He leveled us with a beautiful burgundy eyed stare that made my previously still heart go "DOKI DOKI…DOKI DOKI…" and I just couldn't breathe anymore. He hadn't seen me, as Makoto was blocking me from his view and I took the time to quickly and subtly untie my ponytail and run my fingers through my hair before he saw me.
Haru's eyes widened when he saw him, and I saw Makoto's back muscles tense in front of me.
Actually, now that I thought about it, this was the boy from the photo…
Boy, had he grown up nicely.
"Yo." He said in such a cool, calm and swag voice, fixing his cap. I had to swallow the fangirlish squeal that threatened to bubble up and render them all deaf, so I settled with a muffled choke.
"Who's that?" Nagisa asked confused, and I mentally face palmed. Even I recognized him, and I had only seen his picture once.
"I can't tell." Makoto answered, and I shot his back an incredulous stare. Honestly dude?
"I didn't think I'd run into you guys here." Sex god stated, then he proceeded to snap the band behind of his cap in such a cool way that I almost fainted right then and there.
Makoto and Nagisa gasped in recognition but Haruka remained passive and aloof, instead just staring at the new comer. He took off his cap and I swooned. He was just so HOT.
"Rin-chan!" Nagisa exclaimed in shock. Oh…So this was 'Rin'.
I think I'm in love with 'Rin' then.
"You're back from Australia!" Nagisa exclaimed, pouncing on him, clearly happy to see the long lost friend.
"What are you doing here though?" Makoto asked, smiling.
"This must be fate! Some unseen force bringing us all together!" Nagisa exclaimed, turning to us. But unlike him, I actually watched Rin, and saw that he didn't look as excited as them to see Haru and them. Actually, he was ignoring the other two and staring straight at the quiet teen who hadn't said anything so far. Rin looked irritated and leveled Haruka with an annoyed look.
"Haru, you're still hanging out with these guys?" He asked, clear disdain in his voice. I raised a brow and chocked down a surprised laugh.
Burn!
The looks on Nagisa's and Makoto's face were pretty sad though, they looked hurt and shocked that their so called 'close friend' would say that.
Well guys, people change.
Haru of course, didn't say anything.
"You never learn." Rin said, and Nagisa looked seconds away from crying.
"What are you talking about, Rin?" Makoto asked, clearly confused with Rin's behavior. I was too. In the picture, he looked like a pretty happy dude.
"And what about you?" Haruka asked suddenly, "Have you learned anything?" He asked, looking straight at Rin. They were ignoring with such efficiency that it was as if we weren't there.
"I'm glad you asked." Rin said smirking and cracking his neck.
Yo…It must have been a sin to be that sexy…
"Why don't I show you?" He asked haughtily, still smirking and I had to literally, force my legs to stay standing. I didn't want to draw attention yet. I wanted to wait and see how this played out, and enjoy the view while I did that.
"Let's race." Rin declared, waving his cap in a 'Come' gesture and walking away swagly. Haruka followed without question and we were left standing there.
"Did they just ditch us?" Makoto asked, shocked. I shrugged and we followed after the two boys quickly, not wanting to miss the race.
We arrived at the pool area and saw Haruka and Rin glaring at each other. Ugh, boys.
"I'll show you how different we are." Rin declared before taking off his shirt….Revealing toned muscles, washboard abs, developed triceps…
Oh dear lord, if I died now, I would die happy.
"Sure." Haruka declared, also taking off his shirt. "Go ahead." He stated and I was literally in heaven.
It was too much.
Too much smexiness in one place.
Like, holy shit.
"They're going to swim here?!" Nagisa and Makoto exclaimed in shock. I turned to look at the pool to see that…It was empty.
Welp, I wasn't going to say anything.
Why ruin the view of two boys in figure hugging swimsuits?
Rin looked absolutely delicious in his long, black, red trimmed swimming tights, which hugged his legs in every way imaginable.
"Wait, hold on! That's a bad idea!" Makoto cried, and I gathered that he had noticed the empty pool. Of course the two boys didn't pay him any heed and carried anyway.
"You've been wearing that the whole day? Rin too?" He asked in shock. I sighed softly.
"We have to stop them!" Makoto declared frantically, but I just shrugged helplessly.
"Let's get this started Haru! Ready? G-"But then they noticed that, no, there wasn't any water in the pool.
"There isn't any water." Nagisa pointed out, shining the torch on a mouse in the empty pool.
"That's what I was trying to tell you guys." Makoto sighed, and I smiled amusedly.
"Tch, Lame." Rin said, walking away.
"Well that was anticlimactic." I drawled, deciding to make my presence known. Rin paused mid-walk and looked back at us, so I stepped out from behind Makoto and smirked.
"Who're you?" He asked gruffly and I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Oh! That's Lu-chan!" Nagisa exclaimed eagerly, and Rin stared at me a bit more, curiosity in his ruby eyes before he turned and carried on walking. He picked up his things the held up a blue trophy.
"Oh yeah, are you guys looking for this?" He asked, turning back to look at us.
"Oh, our trophy!" Nagisa said, and we watched as Rin looked at it in disdain.
"I don't need this thing anymore." He declared before carelessly tossing it in our direction and walking away. Makoto panicked and tried to catch it but he was too slow and it ended up crashing loudly on the floor. Luckily for them, it didn't break. We watched in silence as Rin's form disappeared in the darkness, not looking back.
"He's kinda changed…" The blond next to me said sadly and I rolled my eyes.
"No duh." Was my deep reply.
"A dream?" Haru asked from under me and I looked down to see he had awoken from his brief nap.
"It wasn't a dream idiot." I said from my perch on his stomach and nibbling on my sandwich. It was lunch now, the previous night had come and gone and now we were at school, the guys still reeling from the shock of a completely changed Rin. I didn't see what the big deal was though. Rin had just grown up; there was nothing wrong with that. People change as they get older, it was normal. But apparently these guys didn't think so.
"I don't get it though." Nagisa drawled, crossing his arms. "Rin-chan was really weird." He said.
"Look-alike." Haruka stated and I stared at him.
"Why would a look-alike challenge you to a race?" Makoto contradicted.
"A ghost then?" Haru offered, raising his right knee, jostling me a bit. I shifted higher up on his tummy to get more comfortable. I was surprised Haruka didn't mind me sitting on him, according to him, I didn't way a thing.
"He wasn't floating." Nagisa stated.
"Doppelganger."
"Oh, that takes me back!" Makoto exclaimed happily and I looked at him. "We used to do that at the swimming club! Super fusion: Doppel-"But Haruka cut off his stupid looking actions with a grunt of annoyance.
"Keep it down Makoto." He stated, covering his eyes with his arm. I leaned on his raised knee and dusted my fingers from crumbs.
"I don't see what the big deal is. I mean sure, he was a little rude…But people change all the time. He's grown up now. Plus, he went to a super competitive school so maybe, that's just his personality now." I pointed out.
"But still…"Nagisa pouted, I reached out and patted his knee.
"I'm sure it will all work out. But you have to accept it, kay?" I asked, and he sighed before nodding dejectedly.
"Seriously! Stop calling me Gou!" I heard and I looked to see the same red haired girl from before shouting at another girl.
Stalker much?
"The place may be abandoned," the teacher said, "but it's still trespassing if you enter without permission!" He shouted angrily, and Makoto, Nagisa and I bowed our heads sheepishly. We were in the Faculty room now, where we had been summoned after the teacher found out about our little stunt.
"Do you understand?" He asked sternly and Makoto sighed.
"I apologise," He said humbly.
"We're all sorry." Nagisa joined in as well. I nodded too.
"Sheesh." The teacher sighed. "Huh, where's Nanase?" He asked.
"He left early this afternoon." I told him, and the teacher sighed,
"Again?" He asked in disbelief. I hid an amused smile.
"Now, Now," Ama-sensei said, appearing next to us. I looked at her and she raised her hands in a gesture to say calm down to the teacher. "I think that's enough." She said in that sweet voice of hers.
"Think back to what Li Bai once said; In human life, accomplishment must bring total joy." She said in a deep voice, index finger raised. "Do not allow an empty goblet to face the Moon." We all looked at her in confusion and she faltered slightly, before carrying on.
"You only have one life, so you should do what you want!" I looked at her, eyebrow raised. "It would be foolish not to drink from the cup places before you."
"You mean 'YOLO?'" I asked. The teens next to me breathed a breath of understanding when I used the famous teen saying.
"Oh…" They chorused and Miss Ama looked vaguely insulted at my simple word.
"Anyway, you guys can go now. Be sure to tell Nanase to stop leaving early." The unknown teacher said and we left hastily.
"Hey! Maybe Rin goes to our school!" Nagisa exclaimed and I shook my head.
"I don't think so." I said.
"Wouldn't hurt to try." Makoto said and we then proceeded to go to the locker rooms and read every single name tag there was.
"I can't find him guys. I don't think he attends this school." I told them after checking the fifth row and not finding anything.
"If he's back from Australia, he might have transferred into our school." Makoto said.
"But I didn't see him at the opening ceremony." Nagisa pointed out, unsure.
"Oh! I found hi-Wait, no…M-A-T-S-U-O-K-A G-O-U?" He pronounced, reading the name, I went to him quickly and a flicker of recognition ran through me.
"I know her! She was the one watching us on the roof the other day. She looks just like him, so I think she's his sister." I said and Makoto nodded.
We headed over to Haruka's place after that, and just our luck, we found the exact girl we were looking for standing by his door.
"Hey, we were just looking for you." I told her, smiling.
"Oh. Er…" She trailed off, hesitant.
"Come on! We can talk under the Pavilion!" Nagisa exclaimed and proceeded to drag the poor girl in the direction I assumed to be the Pavilion. We walked a bit, following the stone path slightly higher up the incline and before I knew, I was met with a beautiful structure on the edge of the cliff, only separated by a fence.
Once again, I was reminded as to how beautiful Iwatobi actually was, when I stared around and saw peacefully swaying green grass and the crystal blue ocean just under us.
"So you also chose Iwatobi High School Gou-chan!" Nagisa exclaimed, drawing my attention back to them. Gou frowned and looked affronted.
"Don't call me Gou! Everybody calls me Kou." She declared. I raised a brow. Clearly, she didn't like her masculine name.
"Huh? Why?" Nagisa asked confused, "Your name is Gou, like the Sengoku warlord Azai Nagamasa's third daughter right?" He asked, I gasped. That was an amazing name; it was so honorable and great.
"Really? That's such a meaningful name! Why wouldn't you like it?" I asked her. She blushed and looked down.
"Yeah, but the typical reading is 'Kou', so call me Kou." She stated and I furrowed my brows.
"I was named after the Moon you know. I wouldn't want to change my name for anything." I declared. They looked vaguely surprised.
"Really Lu-chan?" Nagisa asked and I nodded, crossing my arms.
"Yep. Gou's name is a sign of strength and independence. I think it's an honor to be given such a great name. Honestly, just because its masculine doesn't mean it's bad. It makes you even stronger. Nagisa has a girl's name. So does your brother and Makoto and Haruka. You don't see them changing it." I pointed out and she looked down, and properly chastised.
"Anyway, we didn't come here to get on your case for your name. We came here for something else. Makoto." I said, shifting the attention to him. He nodded.
"What were you doing at Haru's place?" He asked and she looked embarrassed for some reason.
"Oh…I wanted to ask him about my brother." She said, scratching her cheek.
"So Rin is really back from Australia?" Makoto asked and she nodded.
"He returned last month and he's attending Samezuka Academy now." She replied. I gasped in shock.
"Samezuka? The Japanese Swimming powerhouse?" I asked. I had wanted to attend when I heard we were moving to Japan, but then I was sad to find out that it was an all-boys school, and with my chest, there was no way I could even try passing for a boy.
"It's a boarding school, so he hasn't returned home." Gou said.
"Samezuka... Wow." He breathed and I nodded.
"Yeah, I remember you guys used to all be good friends so I wanted to know if you had seen him." She told us and I shook my head.
"We'll talk to Haruka about this. We'll see if he has." I suggested and Gou nodded before saying her Farewell and taking off. Before I knew it, we were at Haru's place. He didn't answer the doorbell so we had to enter from the back.
As soon as we voiced our suggestion of visiting the boarding school, he gave us a blank stare and said very promptly "No."
"Come on! Let's go!" Nagisa pouted whilst Haru dried his wet hair. I took the time to enjoy his revealed abs.
"Don't you want to see Rin?" Makoto asked, trying to convince him.
"We saw him yesterday." Was Haru's blunt answer. I sighed and crossed my arms.
"Hmm…"I hummed, drawing their attention.
"And here I was thinking you'd finally get the chance to swim if you came." I drawled. Makoto caught onto my plan immediately and looked at me with a mischievous smile. "I heard they have an indoor pool." Haru paused in his hair drying and looked at me, blue eyes shining.
I smirked in victory.
By sunset, we had already boarded a train headed to Samezuka and by Twilight, we had arrived at the prestigious academy.
I whistled appreciatively when I took in how humongous the place was and couldn't help but preen with envy.
Why couldn't I have been a boy? I wanted to attend this school too!
We snuck around the back quietly and we arrived at pool building, and we found a window that let us watch inside.
We were greeted with the sight of a bunch of hard working, shirtless guys swimming hard and stretching. Their indoor pool was huge, I must admit and once again, I was reminded that no, Iwatobi didn't have a swimming club.
"Do you guys see him?" I asked and they shook their heads.
"I can't tell." Nagisa said, distraught.
"Maybe he's out today." Makoto suggested.
"Hey Haru…" I turned to talk to the boy in question, only to see him already finished unbuttoning his shirt and moving onto the buckle of his belt.
"Whoa! Hold on a second Haru!" I said, holding his hands still. He looked annoyed.
"You're the one who brought me here to swim!"
"Hold on Haru-chan! Let's wait until practice is over and everyone is gone." Nagisa said, trying to pacify the angry teen.
"'Kay?" I asked, slowly letting go of his hands.
Makoto sighed tiredly and looked defeated. "We'll still be trespassing." He said and I chuckled, patting his shoulder comfortingly.
"It's too late to turn back now." I declared, amused at his expression.
"Yeah, it'll be fine. That teacher from before told us to do what we want with our li-"But he was cut by the sound of clothes rustling again and I turned back to see Haru clad in only his swimsuit.
"Idiot! Can't you wait?!" I cried, hitting him upside the head angrily.
Honestly, this dude.
We waited about to more hours (much to Haruka's chagrin) before we deemed it safe enough to sneak in undetected.
As soon as Haru took one look at the water, he was already out of his clothes and diving in, before we could do anything to stop him. I cringed in horror at the loud sound of 'SPLASH' that rang out throughout the whole hall, and had to lift my arms to block the water from hitting me.
"I still think this is a bad idea…" Makoto stated, looking around nervously, but ignored him in favor of watching our resident dolphin swim.
It was beautiful to watch, the way he easily glided through the water smoothly. His arms and legs worked gracefully, propelling forward, and he wasn't even making a sound as he swam. No sounds of water splashing around when his legs kicked, nor when his arms moved.
I held back the jealously that threatened to emerge when I took in how beautiful he looked.
"Haru-chan still reminds me of a dolphin." Nagisa said, smiling fondly.
"My thoughts exactly." I said, nudging him softly.
"Lu-chan! Let's swim with him!" He said turning to me. I looked at him like he was crazy but he paid me no heed, stripping.
"Hell no! We'll get in trouble if they find us!" Makoto exclaimed frantically. I nodded my head in agreement.
"Plus, we didn't even bring our swimming suits." I pointed out.
Nagisa winked at me mischievously.
"A little skinny dipping then?" He suggested and before I could stop him, his pants were off and he was jumping in the pool.
Makoto sighed heavily, hand on his forehead in frustration and I laughed at his expression.
"I'm going to sit by the bench then." I told him, moving away from the danger zone.
"Mako-chan! Come over here for a second!" Nagisa called and I rolled my eyes. Obviously Makoto wouldn't fa-
"What is it? I'm not joining- Huh?! Wait! No!" He yelled just before he landed in the pool clothes and all with a loud splash.
He fell for it.
I watched play and splash around for a few moments, them clearly having fun being juvenile delinquents. Technically, I was also being a delinquent along with them, but I wasn't the one in the pool.
The door opened and I looked to my right to see a very angry looking Rin enter wearing a white high-colored white uniform.
It was a pretty ugly uniform actually…but he made it work….somehow. When he caught sight of me on the bench, his angry expression faltered a bit when I smiled and shrugged then he "tsk"ed and looked away from me.
"What are you guys doing here?" He asked, walking closer to the pool and glare doubling when he saw them. They had stopped playing immediately when they heard the door open and now Makoto and Nagisa were looking at him, horror clear in their eyes.
I saw Rin look vaguely disturbed when he noticed that Nagisa was completely naked in there and I let out a laugh. Rin glanced at me again before rolling his eyes and turning back to them. I had noticed that Rin wasn't actually mean to me; he just didn't pay me any attention. But he wasn't openly hostile like he was with the other guys.
"We came to see you!" Nagisa said, smiling and raising his hand. Rin glared and sneered, his sharp teeth making the expression ten times worse.
"Get out!" He shouted angrily, making Nagisa flinch and Makoto frown.
"Rin-chan…"Nagisa breathed, bringing down his arm slowly. Haruka swam forward silently and emerged from the water, only to utter on word.
"Free…"He said and I raised my brows. What did he mean by that?
"Huh?" Even Rin was confused, apparently.
"Did you forget?" Haru asked, "I only swim freestyle." He stated.
"Haru-chan?" Nagisa asked questioningly, just as confused as the rest of us.
Haru got out of the water, dripping wet and I swallowed thickly. Damn…
"About three years until I'm ordinary." I heard him mumble. "I guess it couldn't hurt to wait a bit longer." He said to himself, and my brows furrowed.
What the hell was this dude smoking?
"I want you to show me that sight again." He declared suddenly, a smirk on his handsome face. "I've forgotten what it was that I saw." He stated. I watched silently as comprehension dawned on Rin's face and he too smirked.
I was going to get that dude, I decided.
"Sure, I can do that." The red head said, "But it won't be the same this time. I'll be showing you something completely different."
Well, I wonder what that could be.
I KNOW! I KNOW! I SHOULDN'T HAVE! BUT I DID!
Okay, sue me. But honestly, I hadn't planned on writing a Free! fic, I was just watching an episode at three in the morning and next thing I knew, this thing turned up. The plot bunny just hit me like BAM!
I didn't even get it Beta'd. Like, seriously. Forgive all grammatical and spelling mistakes.
Chikara and Chasing Pavements will be my main focus, and this thing will hardly ever be updated. Actually, on the topic of updating...well I'm not too sure when I'll be able to update Chikara, but I'll try. My main ficus is Chasing Pavements right now so yeah...
Don't forget to review!
Lots of love,
Blue!