Kawahara Swim Club
Chapter One: Second Years
Author's Note
So, this is the story I mentioned in my updated profile. It's (eventually) going to be a story about an ever-growing swim club, with yuri and het (though not so much of this het stuff – the main pairing will certainly not be het) harem undertones set around a female Kirito. This first chapter is going to be a bit odd, and will be more of a prologue than a real chapter.
So, fair warning: this story's female Kirito, named Kimiko, will be very… odd. Despite this, she seems to inexplicably attract all those who take the time to get to know her even a little. In other words, she has a harem aura that attracts people of both gender. The main pairing should be made quite obvious in time.
On a side note, I got the idea for this story while watching a YouTube series called 50% Off!, a parody of FREE! Iwatobi Swim Club that's hosted on the channel, Octopimp.
Well, that's all for this note. See you at the bottom!
"Of all the days to oversleep…"
These words escaped the lips of the jogging girl in an exhausted pant as she made her way through the back road that led to her friend's house. The beaten path behind their homes was much quicker than going along the winding road that they both lived on.
"She'd better be ready when I get there, or we'll both be late!"
With a mighty sigh, the winded girl with violet-dyed hair reached her friend's house. Or, more specifically, her backdoor. When she knocked, still panting, she received no response.
Several seconds later, after the panting stopped, the girl cast her magenta eyes down to the plain brown doormat. She bent down, lifting the corner up to find a small, silver key. Picking it up hastily, she inserted it into the door's lock before turning it and opening it.
Walking inside, she immediately made a beeline for the bathroom, where she heard the sound of an anime's opening theme playing inside.
Right, right…
She knocked on the tan bathroom door, and, upon receiving no response for several seconds, opened it to find exactly what she had been expecting.
In the rather large bathtub, a girl with short, black hair, wearing a dark blue school swimsuit while she looked directly at the intruder with somewhat annoyed stormy gray eyes. Her whole body, save for her head, was submerged in the water.
"I should've known," the violet-haired girl sighed, extending a hand out to her friend to help her get up. She couldn't help but crack a smile in spite of the situation; the swimsuit-clad girl was just so… herself.
"So, how long have you been sitting there?" the magenta-eyed friend queried as her friend took her hand, using it to pull herself up and out of the tub.
Without a word, the stormy-eyed girl grabbed the towel offered to her, drying her hair as she walked across her bathroom floor. She arrived at the sink counter a moment later, picking up her phone and pointing to a still-running stopwatch on the screen.
"Twenty minutes? Really?" upon receiving no answer, a hand went up to cover the traitorous smile that remained on her face as she admonished the girl in front of her. "Look, I know you love water, but you do realize what day it is, don't you?"
"Yes."
This quiet, one-word answer elicited another sigh from her friend, who looked around the bathroom until her magenta eyes made their way to the toilet seat, where a stack of clothes was set. Their school uniform.
"Then get dressed, and let's get to school," she commanded, walking to the bathroom door and going through to give her ebony-haired friend some privacy. "We're already gonna be late."
Several minutes later, the quiet girl exited her bathroom, clad in a navy-blue blazer with white trim over a white shirt, with a knee-length black pleated skirt. When she walked into the light provided by a window to her right, her violet-haired friend could just barely make out the straps of that same school swimsuit under her shirt.
"What're you looking at?" the scrutinized girl averted her stormy eyes, a light dusting of pink on her cheeks as she softly uttered those words.
"You're really going to wear your swimsuit under your clothes?" her friend queried rhetorically, knowing full well that her friend would probably wear it all day, every day, in every situation, if only she could.
After a few moments' pause, they both began walking to the front door. The question needed no answer, and they both acknowledged that as they began walking to their school in a comfortable silence.
As they walked along the shoreline road to their school, the violet-haired girl cast her gaze over to her friend, a gentle smile forming on her face.
She's always so quiet… she thought, looking down at their hands, which were close enough that they brushed against each other every now and again. She felt the urge to take that delicate hand in her own, but restrained herself at the last second and looked away, the smile still on her face. I wonder what's going through her head right now…
She always finds a way to put up with my weirdness, and even smile about it… the ebony-haired girl looked up at her friend's grinning face for a moment, before her gaze was inevitably drawn to their hands, which had just once again touched for the faintest of moments. I wonder how she does it…
An idea crossed her mind. She hesitated for a moment before acting on it, grabbing her friend's hand and intertwining their fingers. When her violet-haired friend looked over to her with a startled expression, a smile formed on her face.
"Kimiko…?" magenta met gray, and the taller friend looked down in shocked silence.
The shorter, quieter girl closed her eyes as her smile grew ever so slightly. "Thanks… for putting up with me, Yuuki."
As they walked, Yuuki tried her hardest to formulate a response. It took a full two minutes of leisurely strolling, their hands still clasped around one another, for her to finally succeed.
"Y'know, Kimiko…" she smiled once again as color filled her cheeks. When the ebony-haired girl next to her looked up to her, the color only deepened. "I may scold you or criticize your quirks sometimes, but…"
"But what?"
"But… you're still my best friend," magenta eyes looked back to stormy gray as Yuuki concluded her statement. "And I wouldn't trade you and your oddities for anyone else in the world."
With that, they looked to the road ahead, both of their faces filled to the brim with happiness. No more words needed to be said, and their feelings were conveyed by the simple touch of their hands.
"Yo, you two water-brains playing hooky today?"
Without even sparing a glance, Yuuki grimaced, stomping on the right foot of the intruding redheaded man with great force. The resulting howl of pain made a few birds scatter from the lively trees above them.
"Hey, what the hell?!" he shouted, glaring at his violet-haired friend.
"Knock it off, you ass!" Yuuki retorted, finally looking over to the man. "Seriously, Ryo."
"Hey, it's a legitimate question!" he replied, limping to keep up with the pair.
"Hey there, Klein," Kimiko greeted with a wave, giving the man a laid-back smile.
"Would you stop calling me that?" he requested in futile effort, already knowing that the name would forever stick in her mind. "My name's Tsuboi Ryoutarou."
"Sure it is," the ebony-haired girl replied, her smile growing a mite mischievous.
"I just can't win with you two pool junkies," their young adult friend sighed loudly,
"You're one to talk," Yuuki chided, giving him a smug smile. "You spend every free night at a club, trying to find a girl that'll put up with your antics."
At this remark, the eternally-single college man decided to refrain silent for a while. That is, until he was asked a long-expected question.
"But really, why did you think we're 'playing hooky'?" Yuuki queried, looking up at him with curious magenta eyes.
"Because your school classes started an hour ago, and you two are holding hands on a walk by the beach," he replied, finally taking control of the embarrassing as he saw Yuuki blush furiously and disengage her hand from her friend's. "Oh, and the turnoff to get to your school from this road was about fifty meters back."
Kimiko looked slightly disappointed that her hand had been abandoned, but quickly got over it, looking up at the man she called Klein with an adorably curious gaze. "It was?"
Klein just looked at her with a blank expression for several seconds before suddenly breaking down into a fit of laughter. His two friends stopped walking, looking at him as if he had grown a second head.
"Kimiko, you know I love you like my own sister," he said after his fit of laughter ceased, still smiling rather mischievously. "But your ability to get lost in your own world and even bring others with you is really something to be feared."
They both turned to look at Yuuki, whose face was now overwhelmed with fear. "We're a whole hour late for school?!" she nearly shouted. "Teach is gonna kill us!"
"Calm down, Yuuki," Kimiko soothed, putting a hand on her friend's back and rubbing in circles, a trick she knew would calm the terrified girl down. "We're second years now. We have a new homeroom teacher."
A mischievous grin crossed Ryo's face as he thought of a way to get back at Yuuki again. "Yeah, and what if he has an even worse temper than your old one?"
"Oh, God!" Yuuki shouted, shutting her eyes tightly. Kimiko instantly turned to her older friend, a deadly glare dancing across her face.
In a flash, she moved over to the snickering man. The poor soul didn't even know what hit him. He just found himself grabbing his stomach as he struggled for air.
Just as quickly as he approached him, the stormy-eyed girl left her redheaded friend's side and returned to rub soothing circles on her violet-haired friend's back. "Don't listen to that moron," she said gently, smiling comfortingly when Yuuki straightened up and looked down at her.
"You sure he won't be mad?" she whispered uncertainly.
Giving Ryo a death glare for a moment, Kimiko turned back to meet her friend's magenta eyes. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that no one could be as bad-tempered as he was."
It was then that the ebony-haired girl realized a way to have some fun. "But, on the off chance, why don't we go back to your place for the day instead of risking it?"
That was all it took to turn Yuuki into a red-faced, babbling mess. Ryo, who had just recovered from the blow to his stomach, took notice of this first, and immediately realized what was going on in her magenta-eyed friend's mind. He decided to put a stop to her fantasizing before it was too late to save Kimiko's purity.
"Don't start fantasizing just yet, girl," he shot down her obviously lewd ideas with a mischievous smile. "She probably just wants to go swim in your pool."
They both looked over to their short, stormy-eyed friend, watching as she shamelessly nodded with great vigor.
"All right, let's go," Yuuki said, laughing nervously, before darting off for her house. "I'll race you, Kimiko!"
Said girl took off after her friend, catching up to her quite quickly. Ryo, who was barely within hearing range at this point, heard Kimiko ask about what her friend's fantasies. Yuuki said she would tell her when she was older, to which she received the retort that they were the same age.
Ryo turned around with a chuckle, walking back on his original route as he said something quite a bit out of character for himself.
"Ah, the joys of young love. Good luck, Yuuki."
Author's Note
I won't keep you for very long down here. I just want to mention two things, one of which I'll keep very brief.
One: this was not subjected to any sort of final grammar check, so a few things may be a bit off. Apologies, but I just woke up at two in the morning with a sudden burst of inspiration to finish the next chapter.
Two: I'm going to try to keep updating my profile every once in a while. I'll give occasional updates as to progress on various stories, as well as sometimes mention my ideas for new ones. It might do you good to go over there now, since I've said a bit about progress on Gun Gale Online: The Swordswoman, Sword Art Online: Re:Designed, and Shoot to Thrill, Swing to Kill. You may not be very happy about what you hear, but I'd rather you all be informed than expect more than I can give.
Well, I think that's it! See you next chapter!