Chapter 8: The Truth

Disclaimer: I do not own Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

"We have to talk." Gou says to her Rin as they stood in front of each other. Rin slowly nods and they began to walk.

"How did you find me?" Gou asked.

"You haven't called mom so she sent me to check on you but you weren't home. The pool came into mind and ran all the way here…" Rin answers and slowly comes to a stop. Gou stops in her tracks and turns around to her brother. Rin takes a deep breath and looks into his sister's eyes.

"Gou, how did you do that? How did your feet become flippers? How did you move that big ball of water?"He asked in a serious tone. Gou stays silent for a moment then she motions her head towards to ocean.

"Follow me." Gou ordered. They climbed down the slope towards the ocean and went to a cluster of rocks. "Stay here." she said. Then, she runs towards the ocean and dives into it. After a few minutes, Gou rises out of the water with frilly gills and scales. She swims towards the shore to her brother. She drags herself out of the water but just a little bit just in case that there were other people around. Gou slowly raises her red tail and raises her webbed hands, showing him her other. Rin stares at her wide eyed at the site of his sister.

"Onii-chan, I'm… not me anymore." Gou says sadly to her brother.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Rin says in a harsh whisper.

"I'm not human anymore, well…till we find a way to break this curse."

"We?"

"Bo and I. We have the same problem." Gou explains carefully. Gou pulls herself out of the water and climbs up a rock that was closer to land. After a while her legs were separating but Gou starts to wheeze. Her gills flare, trying to get oxygen.

"Gou!" Rin cries out. Gou waves her hand at him and tells him to not to get any closer. Slowly her gills went away and her legs were back. Gou releases a big breath and breathes heavily. Then she motions her brother over to carry her. Rin obeys and picks her up and carries her far away from the ocean.

"Tell me more when we get home." he said as he puts Gou down. They went back to the main street and walked home in silence. When they got home, he gestures Gou to sit on the couch next to him. Gou hesitantly sits down right next to him and looks down at her lap.

"How did this happen?" Rin asks. Gou tells him everything that has happened for the past few weeks. After the long story, Rin was just staring at her like he couldn't believe that all that happened to her.

"So now you and Watanabe are looking for a way to break this curse right?" Rin says concerned.

"Yes." she nods. Rin leans back against the couch and relieves a sigh.

"My sister's a fish!" he said as he covers his face. "How did you get cursed?"

"I don't know."

"Does Bo know?" Rin asks. Gou shakes her head in disappointment. Then Rin rubs her head. "It's okay; I know you can find a way to break it. You're strong. I know you can do it. If you need any help, you can ask me. You can trust me. You're secret is safe with me." He says kindly as he narrows his eyes. Gou smiles at him and gives him a hug.

"Thanks Onii-chan." She said, rubbing her head on his chest. Then she pulls away and stands up. "Man, I'm tired. I'm going to bed!" Gou says as she yawns. "Good night, Rin."

"Good night." Rin replies. As Gou goes up the stairs, she felt a big vibration. 'Huh? An earthquake?' She stands there on the steps, waiting for another vibration but nothing happens.

"Gou, are you okay?" Rin calls out.

"Y-Yeah." Gou replies and quickly goes up the stairs to her bedroom.

The next day, Gou goes down the stairs to the kitchen, She sees Rin already up and making breakfast.

"Yeah, Onii-chan's cooking!" Gou shouts happily.

"Today's special is pancakes with a side of bacon." He announces. Gou stops in her place and turns towards her brother with a forced smile.

"Sorry Onii-chan, I can't eat meat." Gou says sadly. Rin stops cooking for a moment but then he continues.

"O-Oh, sorry. But, that means there's more for me!"

"Onii-chan!" Gou shouts, making her brother laugh. Gou turns around and turns on the TV.

"In other news, Iwatobi Park has been vandalized…" announced the reporter. Gou and Rin snap into attention listening intently to what the reporter is saying. "In the middle of the night, parts of the park have been destroyed by…" Then, Gou's phone rang. Gou checks the caller ID and sees that it's Bo.

"Bo?" Gou answers.

"Hey Gou, are you seeing this?" Bo asks.

"Yes. Who would do this?"

"Not who, what." Bo corrects her.

"What do you mean?"

"A regular person can't do this in one night. Come on Gou, that's pretty obvious."

"Shut up." Gou pouts. Bo laughs loudly.

"Do you want to see this up close?"

"Don't you have errands to run today?"

"A little detour wouldn't hurt."

"Fine, I'll see you there."

"Okay." Then Bo hangs up. Gou stands up and runs to the kitchen.

"Wow, right on time." Rin says surprised. Gou grabs a pancake and runs upstairs to her bedroom.

"Gou what are you doing?" Rin calls out. Gou leaves her room wearing blue shorts and a white T-shirt with the swim clubs logo and mascot on it.

"I'll be right back!" Gou shout as she runs out the door. Gou runs all the way to the park. As she gets close, she sees Bo already there wearing a blue tank-top, sandals, and tan shorts with a plastic bag in her hands.

"How did you get here so quickly?" Gou asks out of breath.

"I was already out on errands." Bo smiles. Gou and Bo push through the crowd to get a better view. As they reach the 'Do Not Cross' tape; they could see that a part of the park was destroyed. The swings are smashed into pieces, trees were pulled out with roots and all, and the big slide was bent and flipped the other way. The park was a disaster.

"What could have done this?" Gou asks in a whisper to Bo. Bo was silent for a moment then she slowly opens her mouth.

"Look." She whispers motions her head to the nearby pulled out trees. Gou squints and sees some reddish mud humanlike handprints on parts of the trees.

"Is that mud?" Gou whispers to Bo.

"Yeah; judging by the size of those handprints, the thing is the size of an elephant." Bo answers with a serious thinking look.

"Do you know what could leave a handprint that big?" Gou asks in a serious tone. After a few minutes of silence, Bo answers:

"It could be from-"

"Gou!" a shout interrupted Bo. They turned around and see Makoto and Haruka, walking towards them. "Good morning Gou!" Makoto greets Gou with his bright smile.

"Good morning Makoto-senpai, Haru-senpai!" Gou greets back blushing.

"Why are you here Gou?" Makoto asks, smiling.

"I saw this on the news and decide to check it out with Bo."Gou answers.

"Bo?" Makoto tilts his head.

"Makoto, Haruka meet Watanabe Boboa. Bo this is Tachibana Makoto and Nanase Haruka" Gou introduces them.

"Watanabe Boboa, nice to meet you. Just call me Bo." Bo greets and waves at them. Then she sees Haruka just staring at her. Bo smiles at him and gives him a little wave. Haruka turns his head and looks at the ground with his face flushing red. Bo giggles at his reaction.

"Onii-chan!" yells a little boy.

"Where did you go!? We need to go get groceries!" yells a little girl.

"I'm coming Ran and Ren!" Makoto shouts back. "I got to go, see you later." He smiles at Gou, narrowing his eyes. Gou nods and stares back at him. They stood there looking at each like they were the only ones around until Haruka taps his shoulder. They snap out of it and look away from each other.

"S-see ya!" said Makoto as he turns around and leaves with his head down. Haruka walks behind him but then he turns his head and looks at Bo. She notices and waves at him. Haruka immediately looks away. After the girls watch the boys leave, Bo pokes Gou's side.

"Hey! What was that for?" Gou shouts.

"You're crushing hard." Bo raises an eyebrow.

"A-am not!" Gou blushes hard making Bo laugh.

"You're too easy to read Gou." Bo says bluntly. Then they felt a big vibration causing them to look around the crowd.

"Did you feel that?" Bo asks Gou.

"Yeah, what the hell was that?"They stood still to feel the ground vibrate again. After a moment, the ground vibrated again. The girls looked at each other, nodded, and snuck away from the crowd. They went to a different part of the park, feeling the vibrations getting closer and closer. Then, the vibrations stop.

"What?" said Gou. They look around but didn't find anything. "Do you know what that was?"

"I have a theory but I'm going to have to check the books to make sure." Bo answers. Gou nods in agreement. Then they say goodbye to each to her and went their separate ways. When Gou got home, Rin was glaring at her went she went through the door.

"Oh, o-onii-chan…" Gou said scared.

"You went to the crime scene didn't you?" Rin says angrily. Gou nods but it made Rin angrier. "Don't go anywhere without telling me!?" he shouts at her.

"Yes!" Gou cries out. As punishment, Rin made Gou do all of the chores for the rest of the day.