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CHAPTER 1
Full Throttle (Part 1)
SP! 1 (全開| Zenkai)
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'I want to discover the world beyond the water's surface and make the biggest splash that anyone's ever seen!'
The word 'splash' meant more than just simply jumping into the water and making the cool liquid dance in the air. It meant making an impact in your life and feeling its sensation take over you as your explore its touch and everything that it had to offer. Call it an allegory if you will, but it was something meaningful to those who loved to pierce through the water's surface with the perseverance to discover the unknown world beneath it.
Water was a tranquil being and it will embrace those who truly loved its presence and trust in it. The bubbles were your oxygen and the water's weight would still you and pull away any doubt that is brought within your heart. The deep water relieved you from the constant torrents of stress and it cleansed yourself of the raging waters of enmity that is brought on by the world. Take a breath and dive into the world that can free you from all your internal struggles and discover your true self.
Plunging into your life's calling with a big splash and having no regrets was the true meaning of being a diver.
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As daybreak arose in the eastern part of Iwatobi, a girl was currently gazing at the sunrise on a cliff while her right leg was propped up on a boulder. The gentle sea breeze from the ocean caressed her light reddish blonde hair as she felt the waves of the ocean crashed against the jagged rocks below her. Inhaling the ocean's salty scent, the girl had smiled as she closed her light blue eyes to feel the prickles of the water sprinkled on her face.
'Those years flew by so quickly. So many sweet memories. Both good and bad ones, but I cherished them all nonetheless, because they helped molded me into the person I am today.'
The girl was known as Kozue Miyoshi, the same girl who made that fateful declaration that night in the pool of her backyard. All those memories of her adventures in the Shizuoka Swim Club were flooding back to her like a tidal wave. She had indeed made friends and became one of the best backstroke swimmers in the club. Kozue's days of entering tournaments, mixed-relay races, competitions were plentiful with excitement and fun for her and she even had formed friendships and even friendly-rivals.
During her time there, Kozue had also practiced her diving skills and she had gotten better along the way, which sprouted a arch-rival in more ways than one. There were times where she had experienced some unpleasant moments that brought out the worst of her personality. But despite all of that, all those memories had kept a very special place in her heart.
Over time, Kozue had blossomed into a lovely young lady and she's even mature a tad bit, but it wasn't much. Her hair was still short, but her end tresses were styled with slight flips to make her appear more feminine. The light reddish blonde was wearing a school uniform with a pair of sneakers that belonged to Iwatobi High School and her light pink backpack was resting next to the rock that she was resting her leg on.
As Kozue stretched out some remaining kinks in her arms, she was not aware that someone else was watching her from a distance, taking in her appearance. The person was another girl about her age and she walked up to her, placing her hand on Kozue's shoulder, "Morning!"
The diver had turned around and she was greeted with a pair of hazel eyes that had belonged to the girl. She had mahogany brown hair that was styled into a short, asymmetrical haircut with choppy layers and a long fringe on the right side of her face. She also had light tanned skin and was a bit taller than Kozue, donning the Iwatobi school uniform with some flat pumps.
"Good morning, Jun!" Kozue had grinned at the brunette with a warm smile as she held up her hand and formed it into a fist.
Jun had lightly bumped her fist against Kozue's and smirked at her. It was their own little way of greeting and parting with each other on a daily basis. "What are you doing out here?"
"I thought I come by early and watched the sunrise before school started." Kozue had turned her attention back to the beautiful scenery before her.
"I see." Jun had placed a hand on her hip as she viewed the sunrise. It was indeed a lovely sight to see and the brunette understood how this put the light reddish blonde at ease. "You sure love this place, huh?"
"Yeah. This is the perfect place if you ever want to think about your problems and it's like a balm to soothe people's frayed nerves." Kozue had discovered this place when she was moved here a month ago when she took a personal tour around the city. She had gotten lost trying to familiarize herself with everything in town and she found this place by chance. Ever since then, she called this place her second safe haven from home.
"So, how long you been here, Kozue?" Jun asked, adjusting the length of her skirt. The brunette thought she would be used to wearing it by now, but skirts just wasn't her thing and it made her feel uncomfortable.
"About two hours at the most."
"And you know what time school starts, right?" Jun pressed again, raising a delicate brow.
Kozue had chuckled lightly from her friend worrying about her and she pumped her fist in the air with confidence. "Duh! At 9:00, right? I got plenty of time!"
Jun had looked at the simple wristwatch that she was wearing on her right wrist and she rolled her eyes from the smaller girl. She could be so dense at times. "Uhh, wrong. It starts at 8:30 and it's 8:00 now."
"Huh?" Kozue had answered, completely unaware of what Jun had meant. After a few more moments, it had dawned on her as she began to comically panic and hysterically pull on her own hair. "EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!"
She was gonna be late.
Kozue was gonna be late for her first day of school and it would take her at least twenty five minutes for her to get to the school on time. If she were to sprint all the way there, she would still be late regardless of her effort. The light reddish blonde groaned from her own carelessness as she quickly grabbed her backpack and started running towards the west to where the school was located.
Jun on the other hand had watched her and just shook her head in pity for her friend. Even after all these years, Kozue still didn't consider time to be a valuable asset of being a young adult and she still hated how time could ruin such a perfect moment of peace and tranquility. The light reddish blonde would never change.
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At Iwatobi High School, many of the students were gathering on on campus and preparing themselves for the day. Coming from the opposite direction, both Kozue and Jun were practically sprinting to get to the school before the gates closed. Being the quickest, Kozue was constantly dodging and side-stepping obstacles in her path in order to keep herself from slowing down and Jun was not that far behind her.
"Crap, crap, crap! We're gonna be so late and so in trouble!" Kozue exclaimed as the pair continued on their constant run. "When did they change the time for school to start?!"
"For one, they never changed it, Kozue!" Jun answered slightly annoyed, trailing behind Kozue the best way she could. "And two, you were always on time because I came to your house to get you every morning!"
"Oh yeah. That's right..." Kozue giggled in embarrassment. During their middle school years, both Kozue and Jun would walk to school together and the reddish blonde would still held them responsible for being late. Such wonderful times.
"Man, you run so fast! I can barely keep up with you!" Jun yelled as Kozue was steadily getter farther and farther away from her. Sometimes, Jun would wonder what was in the girl's diet to make her have such high stamina.
"I guess it pays to be in shape, right?" Kozue questioned as she looked her shoulder and winked at Jun, making the brunette frown from that jab.
"I'll pretend you didn't just call me 'fat', Kozue." The brunette clutched her chest as she felt the familiar tightening from accelerating her heart rate too much and her movements were becoming slower. "I don't think I'm gonna make it...! I'm getting exhausted!"
"I guessed it can't be helped." Turning back around, Kozue had quickly skidded behind Jun and scooped the brunette up in her arms, carrying her like she was in the arms of a boy. After confirming that she had a good grip on her, Kozue started sprinting again.
"What?!" Jun yelled indignantly, blushing madly as she felt the back of her skirt fluttered a bit from being picked up in such a manner. Jun had just barely grabbed her light blue backpack when Kozue did that. "Hey, put me down, Kozue!"
Kozue had shook her head and she gripped Jun even tighter. "This is the only way to get us to school faster! Besides, you didn't complain when I did this last time!"
"That's because we were kids back then!" Jun protested.
"But you called me 'adorable' and 'cute'," Kozue easily turned on her boyish charm and smirked down at Jun. "Am I right?"
"Umm, I uhh..." Jun stammered and her blush easily intensified from the memory. Back when Kozue and Jun were kids, the light reddish blonde was a tomboy and with her hair being super short back then, she was easily mistaken as a guy the majority of the time. Shaking her head to erase that silly memoir, Jun crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from her friend with a huff. "Shut it."
Kozue laughed from her best friend getting flustered. "I'm only kidding! I didn't think you would get so easily flustered from the memory! Hang on, okay?! I'm about to put it into hyper drive!"
"Hyper drive?!" Before Jun could disapprove of the idea, Kozue was already speeding up her footwork and the two of them had barely made it inside the gates. "Oh, man! Her speed is gonna get us killed!"
It was only for a moment, but some of the Iwatobi school boys had saw the two girls breeze past them and they immediately started having tiny red hearts in their eyes, imagining what kind of possible relationship did Kozue and Jun had. Some of the boys even thought of them in a different manner and
this caused nosebleeds for those who thought of them in a perverse way.
On the other side of the street however, someone was watching the light reddish blonde as she and Jun entered the Iwatobi school building. "Kozue Miyoshi. So the rumors were true after all." It was a male and his fists clenched tightly as he slammed it against the light pole he was leaning against. But his face that was currently a scowl had changed into a smirk. "It looks like I'll get the chance of finally being free." Turning his heel, the young man had walked into the empty streets, letting the jacket of his school uniform move freely in the rustling wind.
=xxxxx=
Inside the Class 4 room, the teacher in the classroom was currently writing his name on the chalkboard and all the students were settling into their seats so they could get started for the day. He was a male teacher with a short brown hair, light gray eyes, and wore a simple white dress shirt, a gray vest, and a black tie with matching slacks. As the students pulled out their supplies, the teacher had sat down into his chair and pulled out a black pen to do a recount of students for attendance. "All right. Is everyone here?"
"Yes, Aoki-sensei!" The class announced happily which made the teacher sighed happily that things were going smooth so far. Before he could speak about the lesson, he heard the light rumbling of footsteps echoed from outside in the hallway.
When he turned to the slide in door in the classroom, he was met by two girls who had just entered the classroom. Aoki had looked at the two girls in confusion from the their strange entrance and how one girl was carrying the other. "Okay. Not everybody."
Wanting to break the awkward silence in the room, Kozue was the one to speak for both of them. "Sensei, we're here! Sorry about being late this morning!"
"Yes, we apologize for not being able to get here on time." Jun had gotten down from Kozue's arms and blushed again from being held like a damsel in distress. The brunette had to stop getting so flustered around her best friend.
"Calm down, ladies. It's only the first day, so that's understandable." Aoki gave a lenient smile at the two female students, pulling the top off his black pen and opened up his student attendance book. "What are your names?"
The brunette just went ahead and introduced herself to him with a formal bow. "Umm, I'm Jun Yoshida."
"Okay." Aoki had marked Jun's name down in his book and he pointed to the light reddish blonde who was still at the doorway. "And you?"
"It's Kozue Miyoshi." Kozue had noticed that some of the students were giggling with amusement from what she and Jun had said. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
"That's odd." Aoki questioned, scratching his head with the blunt end of the pen. "Aren't those boy names?"
"So what if they are? Is there something wrong with having a boy's name?!" Jun had raised her voice without even realizing it and she accidentally spooked her teacher.
"No, no, no, you two! It's just a little different, that's all!" Aoki waved his hands up in defense from the brunette's question. "Now go on and take your seats. There are two empty seats in the back between Rui Aizawa."
"Rui Aizawa?" The two girls asked in unison and their gaze fell on a boy that was sitting in the back of the classroom. He had short, red hair with slightly messy fringes, light blue eyes, and a charming smile. The redhead had waved at them in a friendly manner and Kozue had quickly paced herself to the back of the room to sit next to him.
As Jun had took her time walking to her seat, she could feel the other boys in the classroom looking at her and whispering snide remarks about her boyish name. It was annoying last year, but it was plain ridiculous that she would still had to deal with this nonsense for another year. She was not having it and Jun would be damned if Kozue got treated the same way as she did because of her name.
Having enough of the, Jun had slammed her fist down on her desk and she shouted, "KNOCK IT OFF!" The brunette's loud and roaring voice had immediately silenced them from saying anything more about her. Kozue and Rui were shaking like leaves as they comically held onto each other from Jun's thunderous voice.
As she sat down in her chair, Jun had crossed her legs and pulled out one of her notebooks from her backpack. "Stupid hyenas."
Aoki had sighed dejectedly from what he had just witnessed on his first day. So much for things running smoothly for him on his first day.
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It was now noon and all of the students were in their classrooms getting ready to have their lunch break. Since it was the first day, it was allowed that the students could find a place where they would like to eat and Kozue, Jun, and Rui were walking through the hallway while looking for a place where the three of them could eat their lunches together.
While they were walking, Jun's closed eyes had twitched with annoyance and a red angry mark was pulsating near her forehead. She was clearly still upset about the name thing and Jun didn't want to keep acting this way for the rest of the day. Being the caring person that she was, Kozue had decided to break the ice atmosphere. "Geez, did you have to yell like that?"
The brunette had scratched the back of her head, trying to think of the proper way to convey her feelings, but to no avail. She let her agitation from this morning be known. "Every year, it's the same thing! Why can't people just leave us alone when it comes down to our names?!"
Rui had winced slightly from Jun's yelling and covered his ears to try and tone down her screaming. Of course, that did not work. "No offense, but it is a little bizarre that a girl has a boy's name and vice versa."
Kozue laughed when Jun became even more upset about that situation. She found it cute that her friend could be so sensitive about such things. "Look on the bright side, at least our names match our personalities."
Sadly, that speculation did make Jun feel better and she flopped her head in shame from Kozue's weak resolve in trying to cheer her up. "Why did our parents curse us with this problem?"
"Rui, I didn't know you were going to this school." Kozue asked as she held on tightly to her lunch. "Jun, why didn't you say anything or mention it?"
"Because I had asked Jun not to, because I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Besides, I wanted to see that surprised look on your face when you saw me again." The redhead winked cutely at Kozue as he ran a free hand through his hair.
Rui Aizawa was one of Kozue and Jun's friends during their elementary years on the Shizuoka Swim Team. Back then, the two girls had met him through a chance encounter with a mix swimming medley. His personality was warm, brightly, and simply uplifting whenever you were around him and he could make a person smile with a simple gesture of wrapping his arm around the person's shoulders. Even at the age of 17, the personality of the redhead hasn't falter over the years and that was a plus in the girls' book.
Jun had smirked at Rui's sad attempt at flirting. "Knock it off, wannabe playboy."
"Well, I'm just glad to be around my two favorite chatter boxes again." Rui stated and he wrapped both his arms around the two girls' shoulders while they walked. His cheeky smile had widen as he had thought of something. "Oh, that's right! I gotta show you guys something!"
"Show us what?" Kozue and Jun questioned.
"Come on!" Not wasting another second, Rui had grabbed both Kozue and Jun by their hands, nearly startling them as he lead the two girls down the hallway. Passing by the faculty lounge where most of the teachers were for the time being, the redhead made a left turn and the door that lead to their destination was right in arm's reach.
When they made it to the door, Rui had opened it and he presented to them the place that he wanted to show his friends. "Tada!"
Kozue and Jun had looked up and they were located at the back of the school. Jun's face had showed disappointment in what she was looking at. "Uhh, what is this place?" She couldn't help but wonder what was it that Rui was trying to show them.
"The school's swimming pool." Rui answered.
"WHAT?!" Kozue had took in the sight of the school's pool and it was anything but pleasant. The pool was empty and it was covered with shrubbery that was growing through the cracks of the marble floor. The fences that surrounded the school were rusty and stained. Tumbleweeds were flying around across the empty pool. The paint from the swimming platforms were smudged and dirty, not to mention that the concrete that surrounded the pool was covered in dirt. Seeing the pool like this was a living nightmare for the diver. "What happened to it?!"
"Basically, the pool had fought against Mother Nature and it lost." Rui chuckled from his own sense of of humor. "It's been like this ever since I started school here."
Kozue had leaned down and touched a crack in the edge of the pool and her expression was one of concern and worry. "The poor pool. How could nature do such a thing?" She questioned, rubbing her fingers over the chipped surface. It saddened her to see one of her favorite things in such an unusable state. Kozue figured that the only saving grace was that no water was in the pool to suffer the horrible wrath of nature. She was thankful for that at least.
Rui had called Kozue over to where he and Jun were and they sat on the benches where there wasn't much dirt and started to eat their lunch. Every now and then, Rui would take momentary glances at the empty pool, remembering a small part of his life when he was a swimmer. "When I started coming to this school, I would always eat out here to relive the memories of our childhood. So much has happened over the years."
"That's true." Jun agreed as she took a bite of shrimp tempura from her lunch.
"I wish the swim club would come back. That's the only reason why I came to this school." Rui answered truthfully. The redhead had wanted nothing more than for the water to be apart of his life again.
"Judging from the looks of that pool, it doesn't look like it's gonna happen." Kozue concluded wistfully, but she had thought of a wonderful idea. "Well, there's that new Sports Gym that located in the western side of town. You can swim whenever you want!"
"Yeah, but you have to pay for it." Jun reminded her. "Membership there is very expensive." The idea of year around swimming was too good to resist, but the brunette had to look at things from a realistic perspective.
Kozue had huffed from her idea being shot down and ate some more of her salmon-stuffed rice balls "So much for that idea."
"I miss swimming and competing so much. If the swim team does come back, I'm definitely joining!" Rui declared with enthusiasm.
"You would? Seriously?!" Jun inquired with excitement.
"You damn right I would! Splashing water left and right is the best feeling and I would love it if you guys swam with me again." Rui haven't stopped swimming since his elementary days and to be in a swim team again with his friends would really drive him and motivate him.
"I'm definitely in!" Jun stood up and Rui had joined her as they clasped their hands together. "What about you, Kozue?"
"Even if I could, I wouldn't want to join anyway." Kozue said while putting away her empty bento box.
"And why not? You have the skills and you'll be a good addition to the team if they ever open it back up again." Jun had dealt with this before and she knew how good Kozue was, but it was unusual for her to show any type of low self esteem.
"That's not what I'm worried about." Kozue's eyes had showed doubt and worry. "Wouldn't the team feel, you know...incomplete?"
Rui knew immediately what she was referring to and he not gonna have her ponder over what happened in the past. The moments were very disheartening and the redhead didn't want her to relive those moments. "I get what you're saying, but isn't it time to live out that awaited dream of yours? Our dream of being the best swim team to hail from Shizuoka?"
Kozue had spaced out for a minute from remembering the moments that truly changed her life from. She didn't mean to take that awful trip down memory lane. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"I am right!" Rui held her up by her forearm and held his hand out. "So throw fear aside, Kozue and let's go for it!"
Seeing what Rui was doing, Kozue had placed his hand on top of his and grinned happily at him. "Thanks, Rui! I'll keep hope alive for the club to open back up someday!"
"And when it does, the three of us will make Shizuoka and Iwatobi proud when that dream becomes a reality!" Following them, Jun had put her hand on top of Kozue's and smiled right along with them. 'At least Rui's still in good spirits about swimming. That's good.'
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The afternoon had finally arrived and that meant school had ended for the day. It was interesting to say the least, but this made Kozue become even more giddy with amusement from knowing that she could finally do the one thing that she always wanted to do since she moved to Iwatobi: ride the train home from school. It was a new experience for her and Kozue had a good time riding the train while catching up with Jun and Rui.
It took about 20 minutes for the train to get the trio to their destination and it saddened Kozue that she had to get off it, but she quickly recovered when she remembered that she had to take it to get to school everyday, so all wasn't lost. As the train doors slid opened, Kozue had hopped off as she slung her backpack onto her shoulder. "Man, I've waited all day for that!"
"To get out of school or ride the train?" Jun asked while she and Rui were getting off the train.
"Both!" Kozue answered and she turned around as she started to walk backwards, keeping eye contact with her friends. "After today's talk, I'm ready to go home, let loose and practice my diving moves!"
"Wait. How do you practice? Is your pool deep enough to do those moves?" Jun knew that Kozue's backyard pool was only five feet in depth from what she understood and that could be pretty dangerous if she wasn't careful.
"I use acrobatics to help me with my body movement and coordination. That way, I can get the tricks down right."
"Nice." Rui nodded in agreement. "That's very smart, Kozue."
"Yeah. Considering that she's a scatterbrain." Jun snickered and this made the light reddish blonde growl at her. The redhead had snorted a bit from their banter. It was always a joy to see those two constantly egg on each other.
"Quit messing with me already!" Kozue spat in a chagrin tone. Rui and Jun could almost see dark orange aura surrounding her, further showing her anger. It would be funny if she had a conniption like she did when she was a kid. "Anyway, you guys are heading home?"
"Not likely." Jun said as she calm down from her laughter. "Me and Rui have to go to our part-time job today."
"It's at the convenient store that's located in center of our housing block." Rui finished, pulling out a black apron that he would wear on a daily basis while working.
"You two are working now?" Kozue was getting miffed by all the secrecy being kept from her by Jun and Rui. Is it so bad to keep a secret from her? It's not like she would blurt out their business or anything. "Are there anymore surprises that I need to be aware of?"
"Nope, except that Rui fears a certain customer that comes into the store." Jun figured it was time to lay off Kozue for a minute and let the redhead become her next target on her cruel joking spree.
"What?!" In that instant, Rui had literally paled from Jun had just mentioned. "NOOO! Don't tell her about that!"
"Tell me what?" Kozue was now curious as to what the secret could be. Rui was the bravest person that Kozue knew and it was quite funny to see the redhead panicking so easily. 'Who has enough menace and audacity to scare Rui of all people?'
"That's not important! Nope, nope, nope, it isn't!" Rui literally felt that playful yet spiteful smile that was plastered on Jun's face and he had to quickly intervened before the brunette had revealed that sensitive information to Kozue. "Let's talk about something else, okay?!"
"You're acting like a frighten seal, Rui." Jun had teased him even further by trying to make noises similar to that of a scared seal. It was a sad imitation of a seal, but it tickled both her and Kozue and they were both laughing loudly at the agitated boy.
"Not funny, Jun, Kozue!" Rui defended himself as he held his head high in the air. He was trying to keep some dignity, but that tactic was failing hard on his part.
"Come on! I'll race you guys there before we part ways for the day!" The diver suggested and Rui shook his head from the question. He couldn't afford to wear himself out from exhaustion before he had started his part time work.
"No, thank you. I think I did enough running for one day." Jun declined, remembering how much stamina she would have to use just to keep with Kozue.
"Oh, come on, you two! Don't be such downpo-" With Kozue not looking at where she was going, she had turned around as she bumped her head face first into a broad chest and she stumbled backwards from the contact. "Owwww..."
"Kozue, you okay?" Rui had held her by the forearms to maintain her balance. He was glad that she didn't fall and hurt herself.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Kozue then realized that she had possibly hurt someone and she didn't even apologize for it. She turned to them and starting bowing apologetically. "Sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm very sorry! I wasn't paying attention!"
"Well, that wouldn't be the first time that happened." A smooth yet calm voice had answered and this made the light reddish blonde's eyes widen from hearing the voice. "Right, Kozue?"
When Kozue had looked up at the person, she was face to face with a young man looking down at her and he seemed to be the same age as her. He had long, jet black hair with long fringes that framed his face and it was tied in a low ponytail that draped over his left shoulder. His slanted light blue eyes had matched his fair skin and he was wearing a white school uniform with black loafers. He was carrying his black school bag over his shoulder.
"No way." Jun felt a bead of perspiration rolling down hair cheek and it dropped on the ground with a soft splat. There was no way that this person was here right now.
Rui didn't want to believe who he was seeing in front of him, either. It wasn't an illusion or anything like that. It was real! The redhead he muttered the name that belonged to the raven-haired male. "Nao Otaka."
"It's been a long time, Kozue." The young man now known as Nao had smirked slyly at the three people standing before him, How long had it been since he had seen the three of them together like this? It felt nostalgic, but he knew that they wasn't gonna feel the same way about this little reunion.
Kozue was not looking to see her old-time rival standing before her like this and if this was another surprise pulled by her friends, then she was gonna kill them for it. There was nothing pleasant about this situation and judging by how both Jun and Rui were reacting, they were just as shocked as she was.
What was Nao Otaka doing here in Iwatobi?
Whatever it was, nothing good would come out of it.
DREAM'S NOTES
1) There some elements used for the first chapter from the 1st episode of "Free!", but it has very unique twists that separates the story from the anime.
2) For the very first chapter or pilot, it will broken into two parts. For each new chapter following, they will be very lengthy (about the size of a anime episode) for the series, so it will take a while to update the story with a new chapter.
I want to thank everyone who faved and reviewed the story so far. I am very grateful that you guys like it so far. Hopefully, I'll continue to please you all as the story continues. And as always, please review with positive comments and constructive criticism are always welcome.