"Good practice, guys!" Gou congratulated the boys as she passed out towels. The routine had been particularly rough for the day, and even after cooling down, the swimmers were still out of breath and did not try to reply.
Makoto nodded his thanks and accepted the towel, wrapping it around his head to dry his hair. Behind him, Rei blindly patted a bench for his glasses and Haru deliberately climbed out of the pool as slow as possible. The black-haired senior was not so fast in using the towel as though he wanted to preserve the water for as long as possible.
Nagisa chuckled breathlessly and took a towel of his own, unable to keep himself from smiling. He felt unreasonably content. Being with his friends all the way through everything from average, uneventful days to active and emotional days was making him happier than he could easily comprehend. He almost dreaded ending practice because he wanted to spend more time with his teammates even though the workout had been strenuous and he was tired.
It seemed Ms. Amakata, who had been watching the swimmers inch out of the pool, picked up on the blonde's thoughts because she smiled to him in a reassuring sort of way and stood up, collecting her books from underneath her chair," I'm proud of all of your work. You're all improving very nicely. Make sure to stretch well tonight. We won't be having practice for two weeks."
Nagisa, who had been in the middle of sneak-attack-hugging an unsuspecting Rei, almost slipped and emitted a disconcerting enough sound to alarm his teammates. "No practice!? Why!?" He asked, feeling his good mood wither almost instantly.
Makoto motioned for Nagisa to be a little quieter with one hand while using the other to hold open the door to the locker room for Haru as he replied calmly," Midterms are coming up and we have to close clubs so we can study."
Nagisa cringed.
"Have you forgotten?" Rei asked, seeing the blonde's frown and pushing up his glasses into a comfortable position, "The teachers have been talking about it for weeks."
Nagisa pouted without spite at his friend and shook the water out of his hair, purposely letting the water hit his taller classmate. "I knew about the midterms, meanie! I just think that's unfair when we have to prepare for competitions!"
Gou sighed, picking up her school bag," Yeah, we get it, but we still need to study at some point."
Ms. Amakata nodded in vigorous agreement as she made her way to the exit door. Taking off her sunglasses, she faced the team with a serious gleam in her eyes," She's right. I worry you kids never get any studying done with all the time you spend here. Please take this break to your advantage. See you Monday!"
Makoto nodded politely in reply and entered the locker room. Rei quickly joined and Gou followed after her teacher, leaving Nagisa alone on the pool deck.
"Like I have a choice," Nagisa grumbled.
As it turns out, not going to practice was even worse than having to swim 40 laps of butterfly in a row.
Come Monday, the whole student body seemed to be in a robotic-like trance and the whole collective anxiety was like a contagious disease. Nagisa couldn't go straight to the pool after class ended, so he had to talk to people. But no matter who he spoke to, it was midterms this or midterms that and no one had the time to hang out. Even a classmate of his, a student that might've been the most laid back person Nagisa had met, had even said that he couldn't hang around because his parents were making him study for once. He had said it as if Nagisa didn't understand what it was like to be forced to study instead of having fun- like Nagisa didn't understand the pressure of people wanting him to be good at things he didn't think were important.
Of course Nagisa understood! His own parents were telling him the exact same thing since the day he began schooling!
He was just trying to find someone to hang out with so he could convince he parents that he was studying with them, but he couldn't find anyone who had the time. He knew he couldn't go to his teammates about it; they would either be worried and ask questions or they would make him study harder. His only other option (the only real option) was to actually go home and study despite his discomfort. The only problem was whether or not he could psych himself up.
…
"I'm home!" Nagisa called out quietly as he entered the house and slipped off his shoes. To his displeasure, he discovered an extra pair of shoes by the step which could only mean that one of his sisters was home too. He sighed, feeling his restlessness rise. Jeez, this is really not a good time.
"Welcome back, Nagi-chan." Someone said from the end of the hall. Nagisa felt a fraction of relief return to him. That someone happened to be his most bearable sister.
"Uh, hi Nanako," he waved cheerily, albeit awkwardly, to the young woman that had greeted him," How have you been?"
"Fine," Nanako replied succinctly, brushing some of her blonde hair behind her ear," Dad made dinner."
Nagisa scratched his cheek, shifting on his feet," D-did he now? Tell him I'll be there in a minute." Heading to the stairs without looking his elder sister in the eyes, he went to his bedroom to change out of his uniform and put away his school bag. When he came back downstairs to the dining room, he saw his parents and Nanako sitting around their western table with their meals untouched, as though they were waiting for him to arrive.
"You were in late, Nagisa," his father said as he sat down. The man sounded like he tried to be concerned but his posture was stiff and all-business as always," What were you doing?"
"I was studying in the library," the teen easily lied, starting his meal so he would have an excuse not to answer questions.
His mother frowned," I didn't think the school would be open this long." She seemed skeptical. Nagisa could tell she was worried, but he doubted that her worry was about him and that she was more worried about his reputation.
"There were difficulties at the train station, too," Nagisa said with a mouth full of food. To his right, Nanako cleared her throat and glared disapprovingly, so the younger blonde swallowed and mumbled a soft apology.
His family still did not seem like they believed him. Truthfully, they had every right not to believe him; he had not gone to the library and the train ride had been the smoothest ride of the year. When the search for a buddy became fruitless, Nagisa had rode the train to head home, but ended up wandering the streets because he wasn't sure what he would do once he got home. He knew that he definitely needed to study, but he couldn't ignore the overwhelming dread of having to spend the next two weeks studying and testing without spending time with his friends. For an hour, he had wandered about the neighborhood stewing in negative thoughts, and even blaming himself for starting the swim team in the first place. He had let himself enjoy himself for too long and now it hurt more to come back to reality.
Of course, Nagisa couldn't tell his parents that he had walked around town at night. That was on the List of Improper and Unacceptable No-No's for Future Businessmen and his parents would probably keep Nagisa up all night lecturing about how unsuccessful kids became because they spent their free time loitering instead of preparing for their futures. Maybe if he could convince them that he already studied for the day, then they would leave him alone and he could go to bed early or something.
But Nagisa was no fool. He knew that wouldn't be enough. It never was.
"Well then," Mr. Hazuki began, breaking the silence," I've heard exams are next week. I trust that you'll prepare yourself properly in the time that you have…"
"You may begin," The homeroom teacher stated flatly, his words stabbing holes in Nagisa's anxious body.
Directly in front the blonde, Rei flipped his test booklet over with a flourish and immediately began scanning the words on the page. Other students began testing, some with the same vigor as Rei and others without, various expressions of concentration or nervousness on their faces. Only a few appeared as though they were spacing out, but they had reputations for struggling in class, anyway. Sneaking a glance at the desolate clock hung on the front wall, Nagisa sighed and flipped over his own booklet, around him a chorus of turning pages and pencil lead against wooden desks following.
Jeez, He thought as he stared blankly at a screamingly complicated math problem on the top of the page, I am so screwed.
I am going to start off by saying that my living experience is nothing like this so if I am inaccurate you may scream politely at me. Episode 5 of Eternal Summer was the most realistic episode I have watched so far of Free and I searched for hours to find fics of it because that episode was very. good. kinda. I could not find much so this is here. This is not the conclusion but I couldn't wait to get some feedback so I will post the second part later if you like this one.