Sakurai Aki is a first-year student at Iwatobi High. She never had any interests with the swimming club until she watched the way they had introduced themselves when trying to recruit for members.
- During Free! ES.
(No OC x any of the main male characters - main BL ships are present!)
Author's note:
I can't believe I've decided to make a new story even though I haven't updated Suffocating in Water for ages... But I've thought about this story since season two ended and I just wanted to get this first chapter out of the way.
Also, do not worry, I won't be abandoning Suffocating in Water,as I do wish to complete something I've started. I may do a little change ups to it however. My writing may be a bit shaky since I haven't written anything for almost two years. Ignore the title... I haven't exactly came up with a good one as of now...
This story takes place in Free! ES and there will be a lot of OCs in this story. But as the summary says, I won't be doing any OC x any of the main male characters from Free!. I don't really like to ship my characters with canon characters. A lot of BL ships will be made present so look forward to that.
Disclaimer: All characters presented in this story (except for my OCs) do not belong to me. They are rightfully owned by Kyoani. I am merely borrowing them.
Chapter One: Iwatobi Swim Club
This year, is Aki's first year in Iwatobi High.
She was looking forward to experiencing anything that could happen during her time in high school. Meeting new friends and sharing the same interests, admiring crushes from a far and never telling them her true feelings, to experience high school hell with studies and exams, joining clubs and many more things!
When Aki arrived at Iwatobi high, she expected a lot of things.
Being interested in the swimming club however? That wasn't exactly on her list.
\o/
"Remember, all of you have to finish these problems until Friday. Have a good night everyone." The teacher says after finishing today's lesson. Few students were already rushing out of class, for what reasons, not many would know.
Today marks Aki's fifth day at school as the school bell rings to end all today's classes, and the start for students in club activities. Aki is still sitting at her desk which was in the first row of the class. She gets up from her seat and proceeds to clean up her desk before leaving. As she was placing her pencil case into her bag, two female students walked up to her. Both of them were much more taller than Aki whereas one of them had black straight hair that reached to her waist while the other had light brown hair tied up in a bun.
Aki addresses the both of them (and having to hurt her neck and back in the process because of how short she was compare to them), "Machida-chan," she looks to the girl with the black hair, "Hikari-chan," she looks to the girl with the light brown hair, "both of you are going home already?" She asks, smiling as she finally puts her pencil case in her bag while trying to converse. She met both Hikari and Machida during her first day at high school. The both of them approached to her to have and asked to have lunch with them in which Aki agreed to. They were both very kind people to hang out with, and also fun. Both Hikari and Machida are childhood friends, and Aki notes that the two of them have a very cute relationship as they're always teasing the other.
"Yeah," Machida says, nodding for a bit, "But not exactly. Both of us were thinking of eating before going home. Want to come with us?" She asks.
Aki shakes her head, "That's alright." She politely declines and grabs the handle of her bag. "I was thinking of dropping by at the swimming club today."
Both Machida and Hikari seemed to gasp at that. "The swimming club?" Hikari asks, in disbelief. Aki nods, smiling at their reactions, "Yes, the swimming club." She repeats. Machida stops her however. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Machida motions both of her hands towards Aki as if she was preventing Aki from leaving the class.
"You want to go to the swimming club? Don't you remember how weird it was when they were trying to recruit members? When they started pulling off their jackets? They were half-naked! And if that wasn't weird enough, remember those weird stunts they did? They're a weird bunch of guys - well the girl seemed normal - but the guys were weird!" Machida exclaims.
Aki shrugs at that. "True, all of those had nothing to do with swimming, although they did talk about their swimming forms... They don't seem that bad. They all seemed to be having fun... Take the blond boy and the glasses guy for example." However, Aki doesn't know why, but the glasses guy did rub off a weird vibe when he came on the stage.
Machida rolls her eyes but Hikari giggled, "I suppose that is true! What do you think about the captain? You could tell he was blushing right?"
Aki squeals, "He was so cute! He had his back towards us but you could tell he was shy! A blushing giant!"
Hikari agrees, "An adorable blushing giant!"
While Aki and Hikari were fangirling over how shy the captain seemed to be, Machida on the other hand, scratched on her cheek absently before adding something to the conversation.
"I don't know... The captain seemed alright... I prefer the vice-captain..."
Aki and Hikari stopped giggling and both turned to having their eyes on Machida. Machida looked perplexed at their reactions, "W-why are you guys looking at me like that?" Hikari had an odd smirk forming on her lips and she leans over to Aki (or more like she had to lean down, considerably how short Aki was), "You hear that? The vice-captain is her type." Aki almost laughed at that.
"Wh- no- no way! I was just saying how he- he seems to be better..." Machida was mixing around words and she grew frustrated when she couldn't come up with a way to decline what Hikari had say. "Ugh! You know what! Fine! I thought the vice-captain was pretty cool! Even though... He had a poker-face most of the time..." Her cheeks turned red as she confesses.
Hikari and Aki giggled at her comment. Machida, who was clearly blushing, looks back to Aki, "So why were you planning to go to the swim club in the first place?" She asks. Aki hums as she thinks for a moment. "Hm... I just wanted to see what they do... I mean, I used to be in a swimming club when I was younger... I'm not planning to join or anything." She says. Hikari suddenly leans towards Aki, draping her arms on Aki's shoulders and hugging her in the process of doing so, "So~ does that mean Aki-chan has someone she likes in the swimming club?" Hikari asks, snuggling against her. Aki struggles to break free, and she knows she's about to fall soon as Hikari is so much taller than she is, and the position they are in is very awkward.
"N-no!" Aki gasps, trying to break loose of Hikari's hold. "I was curious and just... Wanted to see it for myself?" Machida gives an unimpressed look while folding her arms as well. "Seems to me you aren't even sure why you're going there in the first place."
Aki gives a small shrug yet again and she could feel Hikari loosening her hold on Aki. Finally being released from Hikari's strong embrace, she pulled her bag towards her and shrugs. "I just... Wanted to see it for myself." She says again, smiling. Machida groans and rolls her eyes, "Don't just repeat it again as if you're sure about it this time."
Finally, all three of them decided to say goodbye.
Machida and Hikari head off to the opposite direction of Aki which lead to the school gates while Aki turns to further proceed down the hallways in search to find the swimming club.
As a typical female student in Iwatobi High School, Aki's uniform consists of her wearing a light-brown skirt, white shirt with a red tie, beige long sleeved jumper, dark grey button up blazer, and white socks with black shoes. Aki (as she thinks) must be the shortest girl in her year too, sitting around 150cm. Aki has light azure eyes, and short, cream-blonde hair that reaches to her neck and curls around her cheeks. She wouldn't say she's the most prettiest... but she is happy to know that most people thinks she has cute and feminine features.
As Aki began walking down the hallways, she turns to find stairs leading down to the first floor. Aki doesn't know where else to go to so she decides going down. 'Where would the swimming club be? I don't remember... Did they say where to find them?' Aki tires out her brain as she tries to recall anything about the swimming club and where it would be.
However, all she could remember was the four boys making surprising stunts that caught everyone off-guard while watching the way they would recruit other worthy members. Aki giggles softly to herself as she proceeds down the the stairs. They were an odd bunch, and oddly enough, Aki was gravitated towards them.
She didn't know why. She just couldn't stop thinking about all of them when she saw them on stage. They really piqued her interest, is the reason why she's looking for the swim club.
Aki reaches the first floor and turns her head to left and right. She had thought that if she couldn't find them today, she can start searching for them again tomorrow. She turns to the left and as she walks down the hallway, she sees two taller male students coming out from their classrooms. She was about to walk pass them when they started talking about their baseball activities. Figuring all sports clubs would know where other sports clubs would be, she goes towards them.
"Excuse me," She asks, stretching her neck to look up to them. Gaining both of their attention, they tilted their head down to look at her, "Yes?" One of them replies.
"Um," she begins nervously. She was never good at talking to the opposite sex. She never had any close male friends either. She only had few chats with boys in her classes, but never a full on conversation. Although, it's not all that bad. She can still talk to them once she got used to having them around.
"Do you know where I could find the swimming club?" She asks.
One of the boys looked at the other, while the other male student closed his eyes, as if thinking. When he opens them again, he smiles at her, "Yeah, I do. It's actually close to the baseball field too. You can come along with us and we'll show you the way." Aki smiles and nods, "Thank you."
As they began walking, Aki follows them from behind, trying to keep up as she has a hard time trying to walk in their pace. It didn't help much that she was shorter among the both of them which meant she also has shorter legs. As the two were conversing, Aki finds it surprising that they were, in fact, not talking about baseball. In the end Aki figures that, of course, not everything revolves around their sport clubs. They were talking about this show on TV which Aki lost interest in listening as soon as they got too deep about it. While the two were talking, Aki rummaged inside her bag to pull out her phone.
It's a pink flip-phone with anime character phone charms attached to it. Aki was planning to get a touch-screen phone soon, but she can't bear to forget this phone as she's had it for quite a while. She sees on the front screen that she received a message from her mom. She flips her phone open and goes to read the unread message.
Sub: Come back safe.
From: Okaa-chan~
Aki, I received your message. Make sure you get home safe. Come back before it starts to get dark, or have someone to escort you home. I don't want you to stay at school for too long.
Aki smiles at the message warmly and begins to write a reply.
Sub:RE: Come back safe.
From: Aki
Don't worry, mom. I promise I'll come back before it starts to get dark. And no way I'm going to get someone to escort me home! That'd be too embarrassing (lol) (^ω^)/
Also, what's for dinner?
Aki sends the message before putting her phone back in her bag. She looks back up to see that they're already left the school building and heading towards the baseball field. The male student who asked Aki to follow them, turns his head to look at her. "This is the baseball field." As they stopped, he turns to fully face her. He points a thumb over his shoulder showing a path leading down to other more rooms which looks to be other sport clubs, as Aki presumes. "Go straight down this path. If you've reached the end of the path, turn left and keep walking until you've find the swimming club. If you're still unsure, just go ahead and ask one of the other sport clubs members nearby. They'll be able to point it out for you."
Aki looks down the path and sees how much further she still had to walk to find the swim club. Inhaling and exhaling softly, Aki turns to look at the student and bows slightly, "Thank you so much for the help!" He nods, "No problem."
Aki excuses herself and was about to walk down the path when the other boy calls out to her, "Are you planning to join the swim club?" He asks. Aki turns to look at them both staring at her. She tilts her head slightly, thinking of a response. Finally she smiles and shakes her head, "No. I'm just curious." And that's the truth.
\o/
Aki reaches the end of the path and turns her head to the left. There were so many other sports clubs she didn't knew they had. There were the obvious sport clubs which were the basketball and soccer club. There were also a tennis club, a volleyball club, a boxing club... There was even archery and fencing clubs! Aki kept walking straight ahead, peeking through each club rooms, only to find most of them weren't the swimming club.
She turns around to find a tall fence and behind it were the other sport club members which worked more on field. Aki sighed. Maybe she could ask one of the other sport club members.
She approaches a club room closest to her and knocks on the door. It was the archery club as Aki looked at the sign beside the door. A male student who was about to change looks to Aki as he was closer to the door. He turns to the other members, lifting one of his eyebrows as if wondering if Aki was someone's friend or classmate. They all responded by shrugging their shoulders, shaking their heads, and whispering. The student then turns to look at Aki and approaches her.
Aki turned shy at his presence. He was actually quite handsome in closer observation. He had sharp, masculine features and brown shaggy hair that covers one of his eyes. Also, he was incredibly tall. He smiles warmly at her as he realizes how she was nervously shuffling her feet.
"Are you alright?" He asks, and Aki thinks of how his voice left a good first impression on her. "U-um." She begins, looking down at her fingers as the begin to curl around each other. She nervously looks back to the taller student. "Do you know where the swimming club would be?"
The male student's eye widen. "The swimming club?" He asks. Aki nods, "yes. I was told by a person from the baseball club to come down here... And he says if I can't find it, I could ask another sport club member to help me."
The boy hums and nods, "I see... Well if you're looking for the swimming club, it's not here." The boy says and Aki starts feeling exhausted. 'All the walk down here for nothing?' She thinks. The young man could see her distress and smiles. "But," he begins to step out from the club room, "If you keep going further down from here there'll be some stairs." The boy points to a path. "Go up and you'll be able to find the pool which is also connected to their club room. The next time you try to find them, won't be pretty hard too. It's actually pretty easy to find since the school doesn't have an indoor pool." He says.
"The person from the baseball club might have assumed there would be a swimming club here as the pool is closely around here." The boy laughs and shakes his head. "You can wait for them there until they arrive. I hear that they don't mind having spectators."
Aki nods, as soon as she has the information in her head. She looks back to the male student and gives him a smile. "Thank you for your help." The boy returns a smile as well, "No problem." A small wave and a goodbye, Aki walks ahead to find the outdoor swimming pool, but she can't help but think of how nice the archery boy was. 'Oh well. That'll be the last time I'll see him.' She thinks as she keeps walking down the path.
The boy from the archery club turned out to be right. After walking pass a few more clubs, she did found stairs that lead her right up to the swimming pool. It was behind green fences and Aki finds herself thinking how nice it would be to be in the water during such warm weather.
Aki sees that the gate for the pool was at the other side. Aki begins to walk around the fence to get to the gate. Thankfully, the gate isn't locked when she reaches there. Aki opens the gate and proceeds to go inside. She closes the gate shut after she enters. She then, gazes into the water and starts walking closer to it.
'Looking at this brings back great memories. I remember how much I loved going to the swimming club when I was six. As of now, I'm not sure if I can swim like I did before... Although I was never good at it from the start. I just liked the lessons.' Aki bend down beside the edge of the pool and carefully placed her fingers to touch the water. The water seemed so soothing and the warm breeze hitting her skin felt perfect. She felt almost comfortable and at peace.
Suddenly, bursts of voices could be heard which were coming from her side. Aki looks up to see a group of students coming her way up the stairs (but not the stairs she had used to come here). She started wondering if these students were here to spectate as well... Except these weren't just any students...
'They're the swimming club members.'
As they come to her view, Aki immediately recognizes all of their faces and their body build. She remembers the girl who was the manager of the swimming club and admired how pretty she was upon closer observation. She remembers the four swimming club members: the blond boy, in which Aki can remember his introduction the most, as he talked about his specialty being breaststroke and his charm-point being his... Calf-muscle? The vice-captain (or Machida's crush) who had a poker-face and did that cartwheel when he appeared on stage. The glasses guy... there's really not much to say about him... And lastly but not least, the adorable, shy giant in which Aki and Hikari seemed to have a liking towards to.
The swimming club members all stopped in their chatting and tracks as they saw Aki at the edge of the pool. Aki finding herself shy in the centre of attention, stands up and bows to them, "Hello." When she looks back up, they're still in the same place.
Aki wonders if she may have done something wrong... Is she not allowed to be in the swimming pool area without any supervision or permission maybe? Or was she supposed to tell them before hand? As Aki continues pondering, the boy with the blond hair walked towards her, nearly pushing Aki back.
"Eh-eh?" The boy starts, edging closer to Aki's face. Too close for comfort... "Are you here to join the swim club?" He asks suddenly, and thankfully, the girl with the red hair comes to Aki's rescue and pushes the boy back, "Nagisa-kun! You can't just get into their face and ask them!" The boy starts whining to her but the girl shushes him and tells him to go back. Aki seemed a bit puzzled.
They're a very lively bunch, was what Aki begins noting.
The girl with the red hair smiles at Aki and Aki finds herself smiling back at the welcoming gesture. "Hello!" The girl begins, "My name is Matsuoka Kou. This is the swimming pool which the swimming club members use for their club activities. What brings you here?"
Aki was about to reply when she heard loud chattering and bickering coming from behind Matsuoka-san. As she looks, it was the boy with the glasses and the boy with the blond hair who were bickering, although it looked more like the boy with the blond hair was teasing the other. The shy giant looked as though he was trying to calm the both of them whereas the vice-captain just stared at the pool.
Matsuoka-san rolls her eyes as if mocking them but Aki could tell it had a hint of playfulness too. "Ignore them." She says and Aki laughs lightly before replying, "I'm actually just here to spectate. I heard from a student at the archery club that you don't mind having other students watching you while you're practicing?" Matsuoka-san nods. "Yes, we don't mind. It gives us a chance to get some students interested in joining the swimming club... Although we haven't had any luck of getting more members." Matsuoka-san says, a little disappointed.
Aki bit her lip tightly, stopping herself from sighing from her mouth. She somehow felt sorry for Matsuoka-san, although she didn't know why. If she was still interested in swimming she wouldn't mind joining.
"I'm sorry." Aki says and Matsuoka-san seems to regain her normal expression and beamed at Aki. "It's not a big deal." She says.
Aki then turns her head to look at the pool, "Do you know why you aren't getting any more members?" She asks, eyes gazing at the pool. Matsuoka-san hums and tilts her head. "We aren't sure... We have tried using posters and all." Matsuoka-san says. Aki nods, her attention still towards the pool.
"Anyways," Matsuoka-san begins, gaining Aki's attention, "What's your name?" She asks.
"I'm Aki. Sakurai Aki. I'm a first year." Aki replies.
"Oh I see! I'm a second year."
Aki takes note of that as well.
"Would you like to meet the others?" Matsuoka-san asks as she motions towards the four male members of the swimming club. Aki looks to them and realises that only three of the swimming members (excluding the vice-captain... He was still looking at the water) were looking at her. The boy with the blond hair and the adorable giant began to smile at her whereas the glasses boy seemed a bit confused where his gaze was supposed to be.
Aki smiles at them before turning to Matsuoka-san.
"Of course."
End of Chapter One