"Please understand, Nitori-san, it's Hirakawa-chan's last year, and we want to give her the best chance possible to make regionals while she's still in high school. It's the least you can do for your sempai."
Nitori Aiko looked at her coach, who had pushed his glasses up his nose and bowed to her. Hirakawa Ono-san was standing behind him. Her hands were clutched to her chest and she was refusing to meet Aiko's eyes. The rest of her teammates did not have that problem. Hanabi-san, the backstroker, was directing pleading eyes at her. Eiko-san, Aiko's replacement, smiled a bit crookedly and shrugged her shoulders. And Kaneko-buchou, the team captain and relay anchor, looked utterly bored.
Aiko had wanted to swim, but she hadn't expected any differently. Eiko had a better time than she did – it was only natural that her coach would want the best team to swim the medley relay, only natural that he would use whatever excuse present to get the best time possible. She would even cheer for them. And Momo's encouraging shrieks next to her would even be loud enough to even cover up the fact that her heart wasn't really in it.
Aiko had expected it, but she hadn't expected the coach to bow to her in the process. It was embarrassing. She felt her cheeks heat. "Yes, of course!" she yelped. "Please raise your head! There's always next year for me. Please everyone, do your best for Ono-sempai's sake."
The coach stood up and beamed at her. Eiko-san jumped over to give her a slap on the back.
"Thank you, Ai-chan," Ono-san managed in a small voice.
"No problem," Aiko said. "I'll just go… swim my warm down then."
Aiko did not swim her warm down. This rebelliousness wouldn't hurt anybody but herself, but if her coach didn't care enough to make sure she swam it, what did she care. Her muscles might get tight and achy, but she'd be spending the rest of the season in the stands anyhow. She was a mediocre swimmer at best, and her times in the 100m breaststroke and 100m freestyle hadn't been even close to qualifying for regionals.
Instead she just pulled into the girl's locker room and threw her duffle bag down on the bench. She peeled off her swimsuit, and didn't even bother to shower or pull on her underwear before pulling her sweatshirt over her head. It was baggy and would hide anything anybody might want to see.
Not that anybody cared to see anyhow, she thought bitterly.
Puberty was not being kind, and while Aiko had felt okay that morning with her dry hair resting neatly on the sides of her face and the whole days' worth of events ahead of her, now, hours later and looking in the locker room mirror, she felt like the ugliest girl in the world. Her hair stuck up strange and was prematurely grey. Her legs were overly pale, her face - overly tanned. Acne was peppering her forehead. The sweatshirt that hung unevenly off her shoulders only served to accentuate how modest her figure was. And without pants on, she could see that a bikini wax would not be out of place.
Aiko might have sulked in front of that mirror all day, but that was the moment that Momo decided to intervene.
"Aiiiiiiii-chaaaaan!"
Aiko didn't have time to turn before Momo bore down on her, jumping forward and flinging her arms around Aiko's neck.
Aiko spun around under the sudden influx of weight. She grunted and waved her arms, trying to pry Momo off.
"Ai-chan, they told me what happened," Momo said, pouting. She stood down and held Aiko away at arm's length. "And put on some pants, nobody wants to see that."
Aiko huffed and grabbed her sweatpants from her duffle bag. Equally bitter and satisfied that Momo had confirmed she had nothing worth seeing.
"Himawari-chan told me what happened," Momo said. "Eiko-sempai's such a bitch. She didn't even try to turn the coach down when he asked her to swim! And Kaneko-buchou's not much better. She didn't stand up for you either! And all the while, Ono-sempai's acting all innocent!"
Aiko hummed and shoved her things back in her bag. Momo pulled a hairbrush out of the side-pocket and shoved Aiko's shoulder down as she roughly ran the brush through her hair. "Here let me help!"
Aiko struggled for a moment, before sighing and allowing Momo to brush her hair.
Momo was chattering on. "If Ono-san wanted to make regionals, she should have made it in one of the other three events she was signed up for today! The nerve of that girl! And she doesn't even have the guts to tell you to your face! Nooo~ instead she goes crying to the coach! Expecting her kouhai to pick up the pieces for her! Well! Nobody's going to have me make allowances for my sempai like that!"
As one of Momo's upperclassmen, Aiko had it on good authority that Momo made zero allowances for her sempai.
Momo finished brushing her hair and tossed the brush back into Aiko's duffle bag. Aiko grumbled and threw the bag over her shoulder. She turned to look in the mirror. At least her hair hung flat on her head now.
Momo watched Aiko examine herself in the mirror and reached forward quickly to poke at her friend's face. "Beep! Boop!" Momo said, tapping affectionately at her beauty mark.
"Quit it!" Aiko said, waving Momo's hand away.
"Oh good, you are alive in there," Momo smiled. "Good, because we still have the rest of the team to cheer on." She grabbed Aiko's arm and dragged her towards the locker room exit. Aiko barely had time to replace her sandals before they were out the door and right in the middle of the crowd surrounding the swimming stadium.
Momo had too much energy even on normal days, but it was almost unbearable now. Momo didn't seem cold at all, even as she walked around in just her ridiculous yellow otter-patterned swimsuit. Dragging Aiko behind her, she weaved quickly between the swimmers and spectators that congregated at the poolside and in the stands. Her head was turning side to side rapidly, trying to catch in all the sights, which caused her long ponytail to flip back and forth, occasionally knocking into Aiko's face.
Momo sat Aiko down next to her in their team's section in the bleachers. They had multiple team members signed up for the women's 100m butterfly, and had to cheer for all of them. For all Momo's talk in the locker room, she still cheered loudly along with Aiko during Ono's heat. When the event concluded, Momo resumed talking, maybe about stag beetles or something. Momo had never had a problem holding a conversation singlehandedly.
Finally she couldn't stand hearing Momo rattle on about collecting tree sap anymore. "Well, that's a whole day wasted," Aiko burst out, interrupting.
Momo turned to her with wide eyes and responded, without missing a beat. "Don't say that Ai-chan! It's a sunny day, we swam the best we could at our events~"
"I'm sorry, sorry," Aiko said, regretting her outburst immediately. What kind of sempai was she – airing her reservations, her foul mood, to her kouhai like that? "Of course it's not wasted."
It wasn't wasted. Not for Momo at least. Momo had already qualified for regionals in both the 100m and 200m backstroke.
And that's why Momo doesn't understand, she thought grimly.
"Darn right it's not wasted," Momo smiled. "If nothing else we can always people watch! Look at that one!" she said, pointing down into the crowd. "I don't think I've ever seen an ass that perfect. She's got a real mature look, eh? Ah! But her friend's the cute type! Both are good!"
Aiko looked down half-heartedly, resigning herself to listen as Momo pointed out girl after girl, because she was that way, and also in constant need of attention.
But then, before Momo had even pointed out four different girls, completely out of the blue, somebody caught Aiko's eye.
It was the last heat of the men's 100 butterfly, and he was lining up before the centre lane. His hair was dark, with a rust-coloured tinge, and he pulled his swim cap over it, and snapped the google strings behind his head. His body was on the trim side – for a swimmer at least – but it was well toned with a beautiful expanse of muscle. The whistle sounded and he took his place on the staring block and bent over and…
Well, in Momo's words: I don't think I've ever seen an ass that perfect.
His swim was no less entrancing. He entered the water gracefully and his body undulated powerfully as he pulled himself through the strokes in perfect rhythm. The hundred fly was a fast event, less than a minute across the pool and back, but it seemed even shorter than that to Aiko. The whole thing seemed to pass in only an instant, and she could have sworn she held her breath the whole time. The swimmer was at the finish line before anybody else and he threw his fist into the air in triumph. A group of his friends were waiting for him on the other side.
"You sure know how to pick 'em," Momo said.
Aiko startled. She had forgotten where she was. And Momo must have stopped talking at some point, Aiko realised.
She felt her skin heat up, and the blood rushing to her face.
"I've heard of that guy," Momo continued, unmoved by the change in her friend's constitution. "His name's Matsuoka Rin. He caused this big scene in last year's regional tournament. He apparently blew up at half the team and ended up swimming in another team's relay." Momo crossed her arms in an X-shape. "Instant disqualification!"
Aiko's eyes widened. He sounded- Aiko wasn't sure- …intriguing at the very least.
"But he must have turned it around somehow," Momo smiled, "because my brother named him the Samezuka captain when he graduated."
Aiko hummed. "He- He's- He seems like a really talented swimmer."
"You mean he's not bad on the eyes," Momo said, "if that's your type. Wasn't even sure you had a type for a while there."
Aiko did have a type. Her type was named Saito Akira, and he had been her sempai for the first two years of middle school. She had picked up a pen he dropped once and hoarded it away, and never told him how she felt about him.
It was all in the past now.
Her brother said she had another type. Addictive personality type: obsessive behaviours, pattern, habit, compulsion. Her brother was into that type of psychobabble. Aiko tried her best not to listen to it, because he only pulled it out when he was annoyed with her about something.
Aiko looked down, her eyes trying to follow the swimmer, Matsuoka Rin, or so Momo had said. She couldn't find him. He had disappeared into the locker room, or gone to warm down in the other pool. "It doesn't matter," she said. "Probably won't see him again anyhow." She tried not to think about the fact that they would both be at regionals, him – swimming the butterfly, and her – cheering in the bleachers for the rest of her team.
Somehow the whole thing had put her in a better mood though.
"Let's go down to the vending machine," she said to Momo.
Momo sighed, but got up and followed Aiko down the stairs. "I don't know what it is about you and vending machines," she said, as they approached the machine.
Aiko pointed at the selection in the machine, "Look, this bottle design for Pocket Sweat is limited edition. They're only printing about ten thousand in this design. And most people are just going to throw theirs away! It's a rare item, a collector's item!" she said animatedly.
"It's a soda bottle. It's just a piece of trash," Momo said.
"Well, I'm going to get one, while it's only two hundred yen," Aiko replied.
"Whatever you say," Momo said, crossing her arms behind her head.
Aiko reached into her pocket and pulled out a five hundred yen coin and dropped it into the machine.
Then it all happened at once.
The machine rattled and dropped the can of Pocket Sweat.
A girl with a dark, almost red coloured ponytail, walked by with a clipboard in her hand, and a whistle tied around her neck.
Aiko bent down to pick up her drink and her change.
"Whoa, did you see her?" Momo gasped, her eyes twinkling. "That girl was gorgeous!"
Aiko stood up and set the drink in her duffle bag. She looked in the direction Momo was gazing off in, dumbstruck. The girl looked perfectly ordinary to her.
"She's got a dynamite figure," Momo said.
"How can you even tell? She's wearing a loose t-shirt and basketball shorts," Aiko asked.
"Just trust me," Momo sighed happily.
Aiko shrugged and looked down at the change in her hand.
And then did a double take.
"M- Momo-chan, look, look! This coin- it's a foreign coin! Look at the lettering on the side!" Aiko admired the curving script, and turned the coin over. There was a palace on one side, and a man's profile on the other. "What language do you think it's in? Something from Southeast Asia do you think? This- This is a really rare item!"
Aiko couldn't believe her luck. Not only one, but two rare items from a single purchase! It was so lucky that she decided to buy the Pocket Sweat here!
"Really?" Momo said. She didn't spare a cursory glance at the coin in her friend's hand. "Hmm, maybe it's our lucky day! Hold on a minute. I think I'll try to catch up with that girl. Wish me luck, okay?"
And with that Momo surged forward through the crowd after the girl, leaving Aiko smiling down at the coin in her hand.
Maybe her luck was turning around.
.
.
The girl's name turned out to be Gou, and although Gou-san had not responded favourably to Momo's advances, her friend Hanamura Chigusa, who Momo insisted was just as beautiful, turned out to be more amenable.
That was what Aiko had gathered at least, from what Momo had excitedly yakked on about on the bus home from the swim meet.
And this was all fine, so far as Aiko was concerned, until Momo burst into their shared room three days later and knocked over the pile of notebooks next to Aiko's desk, along with a cow keychain, last year's journals, the limited edition Pocket Sweat can, and a jar containing her baby teeth.
Aiko frantically tried to grasp at the pile as it tumbled to the floor.
Momo didn't even seem to notice. "Ai-chan! Are you free this Sunday? Of course, you're not! You're coming with me to the park and to get pastries at Café Bleu, so there – you have plans already if anybody else asks. We'll go to the station at eleven in the morning. Make sure you're ready!"
Momo flounced off, and climbed up to her place on the top bunk, bouncing on the mattress slightly.
"Wait, why in the world would I go to Café Bleu with you?" Aiko asked, bending over to gather up the fallen notebooks.
Momo pretended not to hear as she stretched her arms and legs out before curling into a sleeping position.
Well, Momo was dreaming if she thought that Aiko would go along with whatever this was. The notebooks she had restacked promptly slid back down to the floor, to her consternation, as she stood up and climbed a couple rungs up the bed ladder. Momo's head was turned pointedly away from her, but their faces were at the same height at least.
"Why would I go to Café Bleu with you?!" Aiko shouted.
Momo jumped. "Geez," she said, turning over in her bunk to face Aiko, "if you make that much noise the captain's going to come across the hall and tell us off, again."
That was rich, seeing as Momo was the one who was always making the noise, crying at television dramas and giving her stag beetles what she called "pep talks".
"Why would I go to Café Bleu with you?" Aiko persisted.
"Oh," Momo blushed, "you know, just… reasons, um…" her voice became very quiet as she blurted something unintelligible.
Aiko narrowed her eyes and gave her best unimpressed look. "What?"
"-bl- -ate" Momo muttered.
"…did you just say 'double date'?" Aiko asked incredulously.
That opened the floodgates.
"Well, it's not exactly that it's a double date. It's just that I was kind of nervous and she was kind of nervous and then she said she'd bring a friend and- wait, let me start from the beginning. So Chigusa-chan and I were texting back and forth after the meet and we were talking about when we could meet up and- it was so cute- she said she didn't want to wait until the weekend to meet again, and how sad it was that she had classes. And then I said that that was so sweet of her, but that I had swim practice every evening, so then-"
"Stop," Aiko commanded.
Momo fell silent and directed a wide-eyed innocent look at Aiko.
"So, let me get this straight, she's bringing her friend to her date with you?" Aiko asked.
"Yes," Momo confirmed, "Gou-san is coming too."
"And you want me to tag along as well?"
"Oh, you'll come, won't you?" Momo pleaded, clasping her hands together.
Aiko ignored the question. "So if both of you are going to bring friends… Does this girl even know it's a date at all?"
"Well…" Momo started.
"Are you kidding me?!" Aiko hissed. "You're inconveniencing me on my day off in your blind hopes that this girl actually likes you when she doesn't even know this is a date?!"
"Nuh-uh!" Momo replied indignantly. "She likes me! See! I have proof!"
Momo whipped her phone out and tapped in her password, before holding it up to Aiko's face.
Aiko steadied herself on the bed ladder, propping her elbows up on Momo's mattress, before swiping the phone out of Momo's hands.
It was a chat log. It read:
Chi-chan said: (｡´ ‿｀ )
You said: (๑╹ڡ╹)╭ ～
Chi-chan said: (:3｣∠)_
You said: ┬┴┬┴┤ʕ•ᴥ├┬┴┬┴
.
Aiko scrolled up through the log quickly.
"This. This is just you sending lame emoticons back and forth."
It was a miracle that Momo had managed to set up a meeting on Sunday at all, since she seemed to be communicating entirely without words.
"Ugh!" Momo responded, swiping the phone back. "You're so mean, Ai-chan. You just have to scroll up further. It's way at the top."
Aiko snorted and descended the latter.
"You're coming to Café Bleu on Sunday with me," Momo shouted down at her. "Eleven am. Don't forget!"
Aiko huffed. She already had plans for Sunday (so what if it was just studying!). She wasn't going to let herself get dragged into any of Momo's stupid schemes.
.
.
On Sunday, Momo was wearing an orange t-shirt and too-short jean shorts. Aiko was wearing a striped blouse, capris, and a sun-hat.
"I'm so excited! I'm so excited!" Momo squealed and hopped around the park bench, in front of the duck pond. "Do you think they'll be here soon?"
"Probably," Aiko responded listlessly. She looked forlornly at the duck pond. "At least I get to see the ducks. Do you think they sell day-old bread anywhere around here?"
"There they are!" Momo said, pointing excitedly across the park, before she remembered that pointing was rude and brought her hand stiffly to her side.
Aiko looked around at the approaching girls. She recognised the one with the reddish hair from the swim meet. She was wearing a red sweat jacket and sweats, and running, lagging behind, another girl in a sundress and sandals, with her hair pulled up into a bun with a rose barrette.
"Momo-chan!" the girl called, out as she ran up. "It's so good to see you again."
"Yeah, it's so great to see you too, Chi-" Momo started, before catching herself and putting on a detached expression. "I mean- uh, likewise."
"Who do you think you're fooling?" Aiko said under her breath, as she walked up beside Momo.
Not Chigusa-san, clearly, judging by how the girl was beaming.
Chigusa-san and Momo ignored her, as they exchanged pleasantries and bashful looks.
Aiko stood there indignantly. It seemed like Momo was right, and Chigusa-san actually did like her. Although all bets were off as to whether spending the day as third wheel would be better than having to spend it comforting Momo after a rejection.
Fourth wheel, Aiko corrected herself, as the other girl finally caught up, trying to catch her breath.
"Oh," Chigusa-san said, throwing a glance at her friend and finally turning to acknowledge Aiko, "right. I should introduce myself." She bowed slightly. "I'm Hanamura Chigusa. I've heard a bit about you from Momo-chan. Thanks for always looking after her, and agreeing to come with us today. And this is Gou-chan. Mats-"
"I keep on telling you it's Kou!" the red haired girl interrupted. "Kou!"
"Right, right. 'Gou-chan.' That's what I said," Chigusa said, smiling at Aiko, as Gou-san groaned in the background.
"It's nice to meet both of you," Aiko replied.
"And this is my best friend, Nitori Aiko-san," Momo introduced. "Or I guess she's my sempai. Ai-sempai?" Momo tried out, scratching the back of her head.
"Oh, you're a senior then?" Gou-san asked, curiously. "Nice to meet you, then, Nitori-sempai," she bowed shortly.
"Oh no no," Aiko said, waving her hand awkwardly. "I'm in my second year of high school."
"Ah, so that makes you the same age as me and Hana-chan. So Momo-chan is a freshman?" Gou-san asked.
"Eh! Chigusa-chan is a year older than me?" Momo gaped. She then flushed, looking extremely excited as she turned to address Chigusa-san. "Should I call you Hanamura-sempai then?"
"Oh, no, not at all," Chigusa-san replied. "I like it when you call me 'Chigusa-chan'. It sounds so nice how you say it."
Momo and Chigusa both lit up like heat lamps. Aiko couldn't stop from rolling her eyes, it wouldn't be long before they passed out from heat stroke the way they were going.
Gou-san caught Aiko's eye and cringed slightly. She looked uncomfortable.
"So…" she asked. We were going to head to Café Bleu, right?"
"Oh, yeah," Momo replied, snapping out of her daze. "We'll go to Café Bleu, but before we do that, Ai-chan wants to feed the ducks in the pond."
"You like animals, then, Nitori-san?" Gou-san asked.
"Eh?" Momo snickered, replying for Aiko. "She doesn't like all animals. I brought a toad to our dormitory one day, and you should have heard how she shrieked. It's just ducks. And dogs. Whenever she sees a dog, she's always making this kind of expression."
Momo's face contorted, as she scrunched one eye, puffed her cheeks, and gave a half-grin. It was a decidedly unflattering impression.
Chigusa-san was sent into a quiet fit of giggles.
Gou-san looked sceptical.
Aiko glared at Momo angrily.
"Yup, she only likes ducks and dogs," Momo said, smiling brightly. "D&D. Double-Ds?"
Momo raised her hands up in front of her and cupped her own (flat) chest suggestively.
The joke was met with absolute silence.
Aiko resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands. It was only three minutes into this "double date", and she already wanted to crawl into the ground and die.
"Ah ha ha," Momo laughed awkwardly. "Don't worry. Just a bad joke. Aiko and I aren't- Aiko's not like that. She likes guys. One hundred percent. Out of a sample size of one out of o-huuunnnn."
Momo whimpered as Aiko stamped hard on her food. Hopefully that would prevent her from keeping it out of her mouth for more than a minute.
"Do you know if there's a bakery that sells day-old bread around here?" Aiko asked as pleasantly as she could.
"Hmm," Gou-san replied, "I think there's this one place, about three blocks from the opposite side of the park. I think it's called Wheat and Rye."
"Ah, that's the place right next to the record store, Mosh Pit Symphony," Chigusa-san said. "We should stop by there afterwards. It always has such good music."
"The place with the koto hanging in the centre of the wall, with all the electric guitars surrounding it. That place is awesome! We should definitely go!" Momo said.
"Really?" Chigusa-san asked, starry-eyed. "You've been there before?! You like it?!"
"I love it!"
"Then we should go! Race you there!"
And then Chigusa-san was off, running across the park with Momo following at her heels.
Aiko sighed. It was going to be a long day.
.
.
She looked to Gou-san in commiseration, but the other girl was already gone.
Gou-san was skipping half-heartedly after her friend. "Hana-chan, wait! You know I can't run as fast as you!"
Aiko sighed again, and stumbled after.
At the record store, Momo and Chigusa-san listened to sample music using the same pair of headphones, squishing their cheeks together and singing together, as Aiko and Gou-san pretended they didn't know them.
While feeding the ducks, Momo and Chigusa-san started play-fighting over the bread and used it as an excuse to climb all over one another. Aiko and Gou-san pretended they didn't know them.
And when they finally went to Café Bleu, Momo and Chigusa-san held up their forks to each other and simultaneously fed each other their own pastries.
"Girls are so nice," the waiter said, smiling as he brought the check, "how they can be so close with their friends. You two should try to be good friends too," he pointed towards Aiko and Gou-san.
"Please stop talking," Aiko said quietly, as she reached out for the check.
"You really don't understand," Gou-san muttered icily.
The waiter seemed rather put-out as he stalked off.
Momo and Chigusa-san were still making googly eyes at one another. They still had a half a fruit tart left.
Gou-san sighed, and turned to Aiko.
"Don't worry," she said, "Hana-chan and I are leaving soon. We're going shopping for vitamin supplements, and some other things for a school club."
"You're both in the same club? That's nice," Aiko replied.
"Nope. Hana-chan's in the go-home-early club. I keep telling her she should join track but…" Gou-san shrugged. "She helps me out with my club duties, though. You and Mikoshiba-san are on the swim team, right?"
Aiko nodded. "Yup, I've been swimming since elementary school," she said.
"Really?" Gou-san said, sipping at her cup of rose hip tea. "What stroke do you specialise in?"
"Eh, breaststroke," Aiko said, embarrassed, "but I'm not very good."
"You shouldn't say things like that," Gou-san encouraged. "I'm sure you swim very well."
"No, really, I'm not that great," Aiko said. "Momo-chan's much better at swimming than I am. In fact, I was going to quit back in elementary school, but- it's silly- I was at this one meet, little kid junior championship or something, and I saw this boy swim in a medley relay. I never learned anything about him, can't even remember what stroke he swam, but he seemed so graceful while he was in the water, and so happy on the deck while he cheered his teammates on – it made me think 'I want to swim like that, too.'"
Aiko hummed to herself. She hadn't thought about that relay in a very long time.
"I guess at this point I'm just swimming out of habit, though," she admitted. "Enough about me, though. What about you, Gou-san? You were at the meet too, what do you swim?"
"Me?!" Gou-san frowned. "Oh, I don't swim. I mean, I know how, but- I'm just the manager for the Iwatobi team."
"Oh, I think I've heard of them. They're new this year, right?" Aiko asked.
"Hm, that's right," Gou-san agreed. She laughed. "It seems I just can't get away from swimming. I'm so unathletic myself, but everybody around me really loves swimming. My brother swims for Samezuka Academy, too."
Gou-san suddenly turned red and grasped her cheeks as she looked down at the table.
"Not that being involved in swimming is bad," she said. "There are lots of m-muscles, if you know what I mean?"
Aiko did not know what Gou-san meant. She was too busy being distracted by the idea of Samezuka.
That was the school that that butterfly swimmer from prefecturals was from, or so Momo had said. The one who had snapped his goggles and swum the most beautiful swim that Aiko had ever seen, with the most beautiful body Aiko had ever seen.
Perhaps Gou-san knew the swimmer, since her brother was on the same team.
Aiko tried to work up the nerve to ask.
"A-ha, about Samezuka..." Aiko started.
Gou-san looked at her curiously.
"Ah, you know…"
"Yes, go on," Gou-san prodded.
"Momo-chan's brother was the captain there, until he graduated last year," Aiko blurted out instead.
It was reasons like these that Aiko was convinced she would die alone.
"Yes, I do know him," Gou-san nodded. "Momo-san takes after him a lot, doesn't she?" she said, throwing a glance across the table, where Momo was still cooing over Chigusa-san.
Aiko silently agreed with this evaluation.
"You know," Gou-san said, "my brother is the current cap- Ah! There he is!"
Gou-san stood at waved towards the door, which jingled as it was pushed open.
The man that entered the store nodded in their direction and began weaving through the tables towards them.
Gou-san shuffled through her purse and pulled out some money to pay the check, before collecting herself to leave.
Aiko did not notice, though. Because the person who was walking towards them nonchalantly was, without a doubt, the gorgeous, wonderful, graceful, amazing swimmer she had seen at prefecturals. His clothes were clean, but dishevelled, and his rust-coloured hair was pulled behind his head in messy little pony-tail, but none of it could disguise the gorgeous, wonderful, graceful amazingness.
"What took you so long?" Gou-san hissed, as the man approached.
"What?" he asked, indignantly. "You said four thirty, and it's four thirty-one right now?" He pulled an empty chair from the next table over and straddled it, resting his chin on top of the back-rest. "Usually, you're always running late when you see your friends anyhow," he added, whining.
Aiko stiffened. Of course, he had chosen to pull his chair up right next to hers.
"Hana-chan, it's time to go," Gou-san said loudly, across the table. "You promised we'd go shopping for equipment together with Rin."
"Aww," Chigusa-san whined across the table, "five more minutes, Gou-chan."
"See," Matsuoka Rin said, gesturing at Chigusa-san, "my point exactly."
Gou-san huffed.
"Anyway, this is Nitori Aiko-san," Gou-san introduced. "She's on the same swim team as Mikoshiba-buchou's little sister, Momo-san," she gestured across the table to Momo, who took the time to wave quickly before turning her attention back to Chigusa-san. "Nitori-san, this is my brother, Matsuoka Rin. He a third year at Samezuka, and the captain of the swim team."
"Nice to meet you," Matsuoka Rin said, smiling.
"A-a-a," Aiko croaked. The words caught completely in her throat. "You're, uh…"
Gou-san looked at her oddly.
"I mean- Nice to meet you, Matsuoka-sempai," Aiko squeaked.
"Heh," Rin-sempai chuckled. "So you swim, too, that's cool," he said. "It seems like all the teams I know are just guys, though. Is your team co-ed?"
"N- no," Aiko sputtered. "It's an all-girls school… Kujirazuka…"
"With a name like, it must be our sister school," Rin-sempai laughed.
It was such a beautiful laugh.
"So what stroke do you swim?" Rin-sempai asked.
"Swim?" Aiko asked. "I, uh-, breaststroke. I'm a breaststroke swimmer."
"What kind of times do you have? But I guess you'll need to remind me of the times for the women's events anyhow. I can never remember."
Aiko blushed. "My times are no good, anyhow," she muttered, biting on her lip.
"Eh, that's a horrible thing to say," Rin-sempai said.
Aiko wondered if it was possible for her to disappear into thin air. She was messing up this conversation already.
"But," Rin-sempai continued, "I used to go around saying I was the best all the time, and then when I went abroad and everyone else was so talented – I hit a wall."
He frowned slightly.
"That's all in the past now, though. Still, you should have more confidence in yourself, Nitori-san."
"Brother, we really should leave," Gou-san said, pointing at her watch.
"Yeah, yeah," Rin-sempai said, standing up.
"Hana-chan, we're leaving!" Gou-san shouted across the table.
"Oh, fine," Chigusa-san huffed. She turned to Momo. "I'll see you guys next week then, right?"
"Of, course!" Momo agreed brightly, as Chigusa-san headed out the door behind Gou-san and Rin-sempai.
Aiko watched him leave. He didn't look back as he made his way through the door.
"That was fun, wasn't it?" Momo said, dreamily.
Aiko turned on her viciously. "Why didn't you tell me Gou-san was Matsuoka Gou?!"
Aiko was expecting Momo to deny knowing that Gou-san was related to the swimmer from prefecturals in the first place, but Momo just sniffed.
"What, you would have remembered his last name from that one time I told you? Creepy~" She reached across the table for the check and, after checking to see how much Gou-san had left, dug through her wallet to find money for the remainder of the bill.
"But- but-" Aiko sputtered.
"Isn't it more romantic like this anyhow?" Momo asked. "You crush on him during a swim meet, and then he just shows up in a French bakery that you happen to be sitting in."
Momo laughed as Aiko swung her foot under the table to kick her friend in the shins.
.
Ending chapter one with violence. Perfect, I say!
AN:
I don't know about in Nipponland or in Free!land, but in the motherland all swim meets were co-ed, so that's how it's going to be here for the ease of the story.
Pocket Sweat is the slightly altered, non-trademarked name for the Pocari Sweat sports drink used by the Free! anime, in case you didn't know. You can google it to see the screenshot of Rin throwing a can of it to Nitori. I have no idea if Pocari puts out limited edition cans, by chance or by design. Nitori knows. Ask him.
Thanks to for the delicious emojis in Momo and Chigusa's chat. The third one is a "seductive walrus", I kid you not.
鮫柄学園 – Samezuka Academy – Shark School
鯨柄学園 – Kujirazuka Academy – Whale School
I'm not actually that proficient in Japanese, so if the pronunciation or anything else about this is wrong, please drop me a note.
I like to think I'm more proficient in English, but if anything is wrong with that, please drop me a note.
Other than that, thank you readers! Read & Relax, as they say, and I'll be back soon with more.