Disclaimer: I, KawaiiTenshiCeres does not own, Free! Iwatobi Swim Club / Eternal Summer, or Nettaigyo no Namida by Flower. I only own my OCs such as Okimoto Asahi.


熱帯魚の涙 / Nettaigyo no Namida / Tears of the Tropical Fish
Chapter Seven


"Eh. Asahi-chan's so good at drawing!" "She's like her Okaasan!" "Hey, Asahi-chan! Maybe you should go become a mangaka someday!"

An eight year old Asahi nervously smiled at the other kids, while she sat at her desk with a pencil in her hand. She had various drawings of anime characters in her notebook in various poses. She looked over to near the entrance of the classroom, who were in a circle, as they were huddled over a portable boombox, discussing a song, while others were practicing some moves. She blinked at them, before watching them quickly stand up to rehearse a dance.

She looked at her hands thoughtfully, softly mouthing the song lyrics as they sang the song out loud. Her eyes closed for a brief moment, feeling a bit nervous. Should she approach them? What if they reject her? She quickly looked away from them and back at her chatting classmates, staring blankly at her 'art'. She simply copied what she saw, or remembered how some these characters looked like and drew it like how the original artists did.

Seeing the girls over there dancing and singing...Maybe...should be like one of them? Nah. It was probably a terrible idea. Yeah. A terrible idea.

"My bad, Gou-chan..."

Clapping her hands in front of her face, Asahi glanced at the sighing red head, looking at her fellow second year thoughtfully. It was after school, and the blond was at the pool area watching the Swim Team next to her friend. Tapping her in the head with a book, the Matsuoka girl stared at her with a blank look on her face.

"We really needed more people to cheer these guys on, you know?" Gou sighed, rubbing her temples. "It's fine. I heard about that contest, so it's fine if you're around here for at least today," she smiled.

Asahi nodded to her, before watching her friend walking towards the edge of the pool, barking orders at the boys. The artist smiled in amusement at the sight of it. She looked over at the row where Haruka was swimming in for a brief moment. Before long, however, the swimmer slowly came up to the surface, causing her to quickly look away from him, to avoid eye contact.

Quickly looking at her phone to try and make it look like a distraction, Asahi realized that her inbox had a new unread message in it. Opening it, she realized what it was: an email from her parents. They sent her random messages that she and Taiyou often read together, and it usually made the pair excited to read it... Yet, that particular message that was specifically addressed for her made her a bit worried.

As Haruka shook his head, getting the drops of water out of his dark locks, he watched the girl staring out into the distance, all while holding that phone of hers. He didn't know why...But seeing her looking so concerned over that phone...felt annoying.


"...Asahi."

Practice was over. The guys were washing the chlorine off of them, while Asahi and Gou were talking to each other. Haruka had approached the girl, touching her shoulder without a second thought. She jumped back staring at the dark-haired swimmer with a shocked look on her face, clinging onto her fellow second year out of fear.

"Can we talk?"

His blunt attitude had made Asahi worried, and Gou looking quite concerned. She hesitantly nodded, following him to the other end of the pool. It was strange. She rarely talked to Haruka unless she actually called him out on something...Or possibly... No, it couldn't be about him. She hasn't talked about him for the past few weeks that he would come up to her now and confront her.

"W-What is it?" she questioned, looking at the dark-haired swimmer with some hesitation.

"You were looking at your phone again," he remarked.

"And?"the blond huffed. "I like my phone. I don't really swim as a sport, so obviously...I can't just hang around here and just stare at you guys..."

Her hands were shaking while gripping her cell phone. She was a terrible liar after all. Haruka stared the girl down, causing her to slowly back away from him. He quickly grabbed her hand and snatched her cell phone away from her, without a second thought.

On the screen, a message from her father had appeared clearly into view:

'...We want you get first place in the competition, Asahi. - Papa.'

Asahi's eyes stared at the phone's screen in horror, trying to avoid Haruka's gaze. She quickly tried to claw at the swimmer, hoping to get her phone back, only to see him quickly throwing it into the pool. She stood there for a moment, watching the electronic slowly sink into the bottom. Slumping down, the blond knelt down staring off into the distance, hearing Gou shouting at Haruka over what he just did, while the swimmer simply looked away from her with a pout on his face.

Her eyes closed for a moment, hearing that faint voice ringing in her head.

"...Hello, Asahi, it's me! Do you miss me? Haha. I miss you too.I miss you a lot."

Tears formed in her eyes. She wanted to cry. However, seeing the phone sink to the bottom...Deep down, why did she feel so... relieved to see it disappear?

"...I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Asahi. Can you forgive me?"

Asahi was torn between wanting to get it...and simply just walking away. She quietly stood up, and began to walk off on her own, much to Gou's protesting for her to stay, hoping that Haruka would at least apologize to her. Before Asahi could touch the door knob, leading her way out, a hand quickly grabbed her shoulder, causing her to stop in her place. Already wearing his white swimming jacket, Haruka had swiftly dragged her into their club room before she could say anything.

...She was trapped.

"...Sorry," Haruka spoke up, breaking the silence between the two.

The blond looked up to see him, pouting like a small child in front of her. The artist had a small handful of remarks to quickly lash out at him...Instead, the second year looked down and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm herself. It was only just the two of them in this room. It was better for her to tell him, than to keep it a secret.

"Have you always liked swimming, Senpai?" she spoke up.

Her eyes stared at his thoughtful face as he looked up at her. A small reluctant smile formed on Asahi's face. They...probably have a similar mindset. Holding her wrist, Asahi dug her nails into her arm, feeling her heart dropping. It was going to be a lengthy explanation, yet she had told Haruka heavy things like this before. She didn't know why it had to be him out of all people.

"If in the morning I were to gain knowledge of the correct path, I would be able to die at sunset," Asahi recited.

"My parents named me and Taiyou after that saying, hoping we would be like them when we're older. My parents...found out I'm going to be entered in an art competition. Instead of encouraging me to do my best, the only message they sent me was simply to win, knowing I'm like them," she explained, tilting her head off to the side with a small smile on her face. "Silly isn't it? I've been sick of doing art ever since elementary school, yet..."

Her grip on her arm tightened, feeling her nails digging deep into her skin. Asahi didn't want to cry in front of him. The uncanny resemblance was forcing her tears back. She didn't want him to pity her. Haruka looked at her, his eyes showing a bit of concern about her hesitation, waiting for the last of her sentence to come out of her mouth.

"...I always wanted to..."

Thud!

The door quickly opened, with Gou standing in the doorway, holding Asahi's phone in her hands.

"Ah, Asahi-chan! I got your phone for you!" the Matsuoka girl beamed. "I had Makoto-senpai fish it out for you!"

The blond blinked her eyes, as she faced her friend thoughtfully, with the annoyed Haruka, glaring straight behind her. She bowed to her fellow second year, taking her phone from the other girl, with a sheepish look on her face.

"T-Thanks, Gou-chan. I-I'll talk to you later," Asahi stuttered, walking past her, and out the door.

Looking at Haruka thoughtfully, the coach waved a hand in front of the swimmer's face, curious about his now moody attitude. Everyone else had walked in, shortly after Asahi had left, noticing their friend's change in attitude, and the air became heavy in the club room.

"Haruka-senpai...?" she questioned.

"...It's nothing," he muttered, before heading over to his cubby to go get changed.

Glancing at his best friend, Makoto looked at him with a worried look on his face, before glancing at the doorway where Asahi had just left. He knew something had happened between the two.


Slowing down to a stop, Asahi gripped her shoulder bag, and stared at her drying phone in her hand. Thank goodness for growing technology...Her smartphone was waterproof. Not much damage had occurred other that it slightly floated down to the bottom of the pool floor. However, she didn't know how long it was until Makoto had gotten it. It still could have been damaged.

Pressing the button, her eyes noticed something was up.

...They messed with her phone.

Her lock screen wallpaper was changed with Nagisa's picture on it, doing a weird face, with Rei laughing evilly in the background, while in the corner it had both of their names in hiragana. She assumed either Gou or Makoto had taken this picture, seeing what had happened earlier. Asahi stopped in her place, as she knelt down trying to hold back her laughter. Various people who passed by her, staring at the teenager, who was trying to contain her horrible laughing fit. Quickly getting up, the blond nervously cleared her throat, and began to powerwalk home. That...That was terrible, and embarrassing to say the least.

Yet...It really made her day.

"We really needed more people to cheer these guys on, you know?"

Asahi was hesitating. Now, she really wanted to see them compete. Yet...Why did their competition have to be the same day as her contest? Hearing Gou's voice chiming in her head and still thinking about her father's message from earlier...The girl was still torn between betraying her parents and her own club...and wanting to give into what she really wanted.

While slowing down into a stop in front of the view of the water, Asahi stared out into sea, trying to collect her thoughts on this matter.

"Hey. What are you going to do when you graduate?"

A smiling Asahi walked next to the older male, as he carried the bag of groceries. The sun was slowly setting over the horizon, as they were heading back to the apartment complex. The man's emerald colored eyes glanced at her for a brief moment, before he let out a long sigh.

"...I want to do the same thing like I always do: Photography. I mean, your dad does photography too, right? Maybe that's why he was so lenient on making me your tutor. He kept bothering me to convince you to go back to doing art. I mean, those paintings you do were really nice," he laughed.

Absently to him, Asahi stared out into the distance. They passed by some kids who were taking pictures of themselves after finishing practice. That same group was laughing together as they passed by the duo, walking home in the opposite direction. The look of it had kept her thinking.

"...Hey...do you even like photography?" she questioned.

A thoughtful look formed on the male's face, as he looked at the teenager with a questionable look on his face. He gently placed his free hand into her hair, gently tussling her dark locks.

"...If I hated it, then I would've quitted it a long time ago," he remarked, with a cocky smile. "...Then again I quitted a lot of things I liked, because of I had other priorities. You know... You seemed to love what you're doing right now. Even Miicha thinks so. Don't let your folks take advantage of what you think,"

A tiny embarrassed smile formed on Asahi's face. She lightly smacked the older male in the arm, while he simply laughed at her flustered attitude. Her eyes looked at him, before she cleared up her throat and grinned at him, trying to compose herself.

"...Thank you...Aki."