Warning: This chapter contains OCs.
Disclaimer: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club and its characters do not belong to me
Beta: ravenreux
I groggily walked out of my house and into the bright daylight. The lighting was harsh on my eyes, making the area look bleary. Squinting didn't help. I was just too darn tired from studying the night before.
I reached back and pulled out my metal canister from my backpack. I twisted the lid off and took a swig of the contents inside. Dark and bitter liquid warmed my insides. I didn't particularly like coffee, I preferred tea, but my house had miraculously ran out of it the night before, so this was the next best thing.
I stopped at the top of the stairway. Tachibana-kun was there again, this time sitting at the bottom. He was playing with a white ball of fur. I tilted my head to the side, realizing that it was a kitten. This is what sleep deprivation does to you. As I proceeded to walk down the steps, the kitten scampered away.
When Tachibana-kun heard me approaching, he turned around. "Ah, ohaiyo Kaori-san." He scooted to the left to allow me to pass. "I guess this is going to be a regular thing, huh?"
I slowly nodded and took another sip out of the container in my hand. "Ohaiyo gozaimasu, Tachibana-kun."
An amused smile was playing at his lips. "Coffee?"
I nodded again.
He laughed softly. "I can smell it from here. Did you not get enough sleep?"
I shook my head. "It's just been these past few days. We just got new material, so I've been staying up late trying to cover it all." And by we, I meant my cram school class.
He understood. "You know... you shouldn't push yourself so hard. If you get tired take a break, okay? You shouldn't just worry about your grades. You have to worry about your health, too."
I was surprised by his words. "You sound like a captain."
"Eh? Do I?" He scratched at his cheek.
I smiled. "Anyways, how's the club going?"
"It's going okay. We have enough members to be an official club now, but we still need another swimmer if we're going to compete in relays. So, in the meantime we're fixing up the pool."
"Hmm... it must be hard then."
He rested his elbows on his thighs. "We're almost finished. I think we can fill the pool today. If you have time you should stop by to see how much the pool has changed." He paused. "How's student council?"
I spoke as I put my drink away, "We're actually going to be having our first meeting today after school."
"Nervous?"
"Yes," I admitted.
He held both fists up. "Ganbattene!"
"Mm."
Tachibana-kun checked his watch, then rose and sighed. "Haru is taking forever," he whined. "You can go ahead of me, Kaori-san. I think he's going to be a while. I don't want you being late."
"Oh.." He thought I was waiting for him? Well, I didn't want to make him feel awkward or embarrassed so I waved to him and said, "I'll see you in class then."
He smiled and waved back. "See you." He then turned on his heel and marched up the stairs.
I pressed a hand to my cheek and contemplated when he was out of sight. It wouldn't be that bad if I walked with them to school. I mean, the first time I hadn't wanted to because I didn't know them very well. But now, Tachibana-kun and I were friends, or so I thought, and hopefully the lame conversations and awkward silences that I feared wouldn't be there.
I groaned. Ah who am I kidding? Tachibana-kun had told me to go ahead so I might as well. With hunched shoulders, I traveled down more steps down to the shoreline.
The waves were lapping against the rocks, and the air smelled of the sea. The sky was clear and blue. Honestly, I could not remember a day when the weather in Iwatobi Town wasn't nice. Spring always had the pleasantly cool weather, followed by a month of heavy rain. Summer was always hot. The wind chimes and cicadas produced a calming feel. Autumn had the crunching of leaves and the fireworks. Winter was the season for softly falling snow and breaths of mist.
The rest of the mile to school was quite peaceful and uneventful. I listened to the morning birds chirping and waves caressing the shore. I pulled a loose string off my sleeve and messed with my hair as the breeze blew at my bangs.
I love these walks to and from school. They were nice.
.
.
I stood in front of a classroom on the first floor. The sole purpose of this room was to serve as the student council's headquarters. I would be working in this room, not just on papers and plans, but with other people. Truth be told, I was nervous. Very nervous. I didn't actually have any friends. It's not that people didn't try to befriend me, but after I was promoted from junior high, I was always so focused on studying that I never had time to socialize. So the very thought of interacting with these people for a year made my stomach queasy.
I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my mouth. I guess it's now or never. With the key the principal gave me, I unlocked the door and slid it open.
The first thing I noticed was the view we had. Across the dirt road, lined with flowers and shaded by trees, were the gymnasium and baseball field. This classroom was just in front of the path that branched off and led to the pool.
"We're actually fixing up the pool right now... but we're almost finished. You should stop by to see how much the pool has changed."
A thought of stopping by crossed my mind.
"Konnichiwa," a voice piped, snapping me out of my reverie. I pocketed the key and turned around to meet Kunnagi Ayame, a third year. She was an extremely pretty, pink haired beauty. A lot of guys were head over heels in love with her. Rumor has it that at least once every four days, a boy would confess his undying love for her. I'm surprised her name wasn't the clichéd 'Sakura.'
She bowed to me, with her hands placed delicately over each other. "I'm Kunnagi Ayame, the new vice president. You can call me Aya! It's nice to meet you."
"Ah!" I bowed as well. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Tezuko Kaori."
"Ahh, so you're the president. Eto... may I call you Kaori-chan?"
"Sure."
Her smile stretched further to show a dazzling display of pearly white teeth.
Without missing a beat, a short green haired boy on the verge of tears came running in.
"Sumimasen! Sumimasen!" He ran straight to Aya-senpai and repeatedly bowed. "Kaichou, sorry for being late!"
A smug looking guy with dark hair and glasses, wearing a hood walked in. He was much taller than the green haired fellow.
"Baka," he drawled, "that's not the president."
The green haired boy's face slowly turned red as tears began to pool over. He then faced me and bowed deeply. "Kaichou! Sumimasen! I didn't know!"
Well I will admit that Aya-senpai does look more like a president figure than me, but this guy really needs to tone it down.
"Calm down," I soothed, trying to ease his high tension.
The hooded guy grabbed onto the smaller boy's head and kept it down. I looked at his hand in shock, taken aback by his rough actions. This guy's a member of the student council? He bowed slightly and jutted his thumb toward his own chest. "I'm Nashimoto Takashi, and this baka over here is Shihara Yukimaru."
"Damn first years," Aya-senpai muttered under her breath. I looked at her in shock as well. You could practically feel the dark aura being emitted from her. With feigned politeness she greeted, "It's nice to meet you Yukimaru-kun. Takashi-teme."
Doom and gloom was written all over the first years' faces. They immediately straightened their backs and stood stiffly.
"My, my... What a lively bunch we have here." A pungent smell of ginseng and herbs hit my nose. The principal walked in with a stack of papers tucked in the crook of his elbow. His crow's feet became more prominent as he smiled. "I'm glad to see you're all getting along."
The meeting commenced. After we reintroduced ourselves-I presumed we were all on first name basis-we went over school rules and regulations. The duty of the student council was to enforce these rules. We were supposed to police the halls, the roof, the cafeteria, etc. But it appeared that the highlight was being in charge of festivals, which Aya-senpai was looking forward to, if her amiable chatter was anything to go by. I was looking forward to them as well; festivals have always fascinated me.
An hour later, the principal called the meeting to an end. I offered to stay behind to lock up the room. I could take as much time as I wanted since I didn't have cram school today.
The sunset stained the quiet classroom. I sat down at the desk that was to belong to me and slowly dragged my index finger along the grains of wood and graffiti etched in. There was history in this room, in this school. A gentle breeze found its way through an opened window.
I rested my head on the table and closed my eyes.
I relished these calming, soothing moments away from home... away from the drama.
So school has started again and you know what that means... slower updates. :(
But the good news is that I finally have a beta now! :)
To TheDroidsYoureLookingFor: You were right about the Iwatobi's principal appearance in canon! To be honest I was quite surprised to see he didn't have a mustache. For some reason I really expected him to have one. Lol. I think when I get to season two in this fanfic I'll just have him shave it off to match canon. Looool.
Random Yet Interesting Facts:
The elephant is the only animal with four knees.
The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
On average, there are 178 sesame seeds on each McDonald's Big Mac bun.
Cats can hear ultrasound.
Stressed is desserts spelled backwards.
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Reviews are love.
