Hey! I'm back again with chapter four of Sea Salt. I this chapter is pretty... everywhere. Sorry if some parts don't make sense or something. Thank you surlie and NightWindAlchemist for favoriting/following and 'Guest' for reviewing! I'm thinking about making an angst-y story with Nitori and Rin. Would any body be willing to read it? Remember to follow/favorite and review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Free! Iwatobi Swim Club or any of it's characters, just my oc.
The water was cold and woke me up as I jumped into the pool. My feet safely landed on the floor, much to my relief. Right next to me where big bolded words 'four feet' and I mentally face-palmed myself. I wiped the water off my face held onto the edge. Being five foot six, at least a foot and a half of me were out of the water, yet I felt like I could drown any second.
"It's ok, Misaki, just take a deep breath." Makoto placed his hand on my back with an assuring smile. "Pretty much when you're swimming, you have to be calm. The more nervous you are, the harder it'll be. If you feel like you're going to drown, just remember the ground is right there. Just stand right back up. The deepest the part of the pool is ten feet deep, just don't go over to that area."
I gulped as I looked over to the ten feet side. Impulsively, I grabbed Makoto's arm.
He chuckled lightly, "You can hold onto me if you want. So, let's start with floating."
Makoto showed me the 'turtle float' and Rei's face gave a disapproving look.
"It's so not beautiful. Not beautiful at all." he said, shaking his head.
"That's just because you can't do it!" Nagisa teased.
Rei pushed Nagisa, who fell right on top of the two of us. His foot hit me right in the jaw and I winced painfully. Haruka jumped right in and came to my side.
"Are you ok?" Makoto asked.
"Yeah, I think." I blinked back tears, cradling my jaw.
"Rei, Nagisa, how many times do I have to tell you to be careful. I said you would hurt someone. You guys were the one who pushed Misaki into joining us, know you guys are hurting her." Haruka scolded.
I saw tears gathering up in Nagisa's eyes and immediately felt guilty.
"Haruka-senpai, it's fine. You didn't have to say that, I joined because I wanted to learn how to swim. And yes, they should have been more careful, but they'll know that from now on."
"I'm so sorry, Misa-chan, I'll be more careful! I promise!" Nagisa hugged my head and I felt his tears streaming onto my face.
Rei also got into the water and apologized over and over. I'm not sure why they made such a big deal. It doesn't even hurt anymore. I felt really bad for Rei and Nagisa, it was just an accident after all.
"It's ok! Really, I'm ok. I just need to learn how to swim now." I said again.
Finally, everything calmed down. Nagisa and Rei sat by the pool with their feet inside, watching us. I took a deep breath and rolled myself into the turtle float pose. The water was in my nose, so I tried my best to just deal with it. I stayed in the position for as long as I could until I accidentally breathed in the water. Choking, I sprang up and tried getting the water out of my nose.
"Take it slow, don't push yourself too hard. When you're swimming, you can take a lot of breaths, short breaths. So right now all we need to work on is your breathing timing." Makoto advised.
We tried a whole bunch of exercises. None of them really helped except one. He handed me a kickboard. I swam around the pool. With the space between my arms and the board, it really helped me with the whole timing thing. As I swam a lap, I felt very accomplished.
"Kids, I have to go." our supervisor said. "It's getting late, so go home now."
I jumped out of the pool and Kou came over with towels. I grabbed one and went over to the showers.
Feeling refreshed, I joined everyone and started for the train station with Rei, Nagisa, and Kou.
"Look! Misa, you're bruising." Kou poked my jaw.
I brought my hand up my jaw and yes—as I poked the stop, it stung like hell.
"I'll just ice it when I get home."
Rei spoke up then, "When you get home, ice it for an hour. Tomorrow, apply heat. If you don't have a heat pack, you can borrow mine. Eat things like pineapples and bell peppers. They really help as well. What else? I think that's all. It should really help."
I was shocked, he sounded just like a doctor.
"Do you want to be a doctor when you grow up? Or like a nurse or something?"
He opened his mouth to answer, but Nagisa answered first.
"Rei-chan would never want to become a doctor. When seeing patients he would be like 'That cut is so not beautiful' and just stand there, disgusted. He only knows this kind of stuff because he spends too much time studying."
I laughed at his reply. The two of them were just too cute. From what I've heard, Nagisa is the one who urged Rei to join the swim club from the start. Every time I see one of them, the other is close by. They get on and off at the same stop as well. Being a girl, I can't help but ship them.
The next few days, Nagisa taught me the various strokes. I can't do breast or butterfly for life, it's just not my style. It didn't really matter anyways, I don't have to compete in any tournaments or anything. Since tournaments only need four members to enter, I just have to cheer on the sidelines.
I guess the main reason I said yes to joining is to learn to swim and to watch them swim.
Before I knew it, the week ended. I survived the first week in a new school in a new place. The boys (Nagisa) decided on going out for a 'boys day out' on Saturday and invited Kou and me, but Kou had a 'outing' with a 'friend'. Even though I made their 'boys day out' a 'boys and girl day out', I decided to tag along.
Our day started off at Haruka's house. After banging on his door to no response, Makoto led us through the back.
"Can we seriously just walk into his house? I kind of feel like a burglar." I asked awkwardly.
"It's only hard the first time, you start to get used to it. We do this pretty much all the time." Nagisa explained, laughing slightly.
I opened all the door I saw, not knowing which was which.
"Misa-chan! We found him in the tub!" Nagisa's loud voice echoed throughout the entire house.
My face flushed red as I thought of them walking in oh him during a shower. Sure, I've seen him half naked dozens of times, but half naked isn't naked.
I passed through his kitchen when something in the room next to it caught my eye. There was a trophy on the shelf, next to a picture. I picked up the picture, smiling as I saw it. The boys were there, young and adorable, but Rei wasn't. Instead of Rei, there was a boy with red hair like Kou's. He was the one holding the trophy.
"Misa, let's go." Makoto called.
I was just about to ask them who this redhead is, but something in my head told me to just keep quiet about it for now.