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 11

"I admire you a lot more!"

This was terrible. Asahi didn't ask for her phone back. She didn't want to talk to Haruka. She was in a terrible dilemma. For her…She was going to probably try to play it off and try to act as normal as possible when she sees him at school. As the blond slowly wandered towards the kitchen, she watched her brother grabbing the ingredients for the rei shabu shabu from the fridge.

"Oneechan!" Taiyou called out. "I got everything out!"

The boy smiled at her, while she returned that smile, hoping to get everything off of her mind. Opening the cabinet, and reaching for the glass, the phone suddenly rang out of nowhere, causing her to drop the glass onto the floor. As Taiyou ran to get the phone, Asahi stood there in her place, staring at the broken glass for a brief moment. Her eyes staring at it, clearly stunned and frozen by what had happened.

Crash!

Standing in front of the pile broken glass, the woman glared at her husband, as he gently pushed their children to go to their respective rooms.

"What do you mean?!" Asuka screeched. "I HAD to pull some strings to let her in that competition this late, and she refused?! You know, if you didn't convince me to let her 'do what she wanted', she's going to hurt herself!"

A frown formed on Soumei's face. "Oh, please! You know, if you didn't act so controlling, she wouldn't be acting this way," her father argued. "I already convinced my protégé to help her, but you're thinking he's going to do something bad! Look at her! She's doing better in school, and she's clearly looking happier!"

Asuka threw the nearest book at him, sneering at him. "Oh, puh-lease! Asahi's been spending too much time with that sleazy college boy, and look what's gotten her! Whenever she's up there, she's in the back row, and barely is given any time to shine. She's considered 'average', compared to her so-called 'best friend' that's going to Tokyo, along with those other girls. With our help, if she continued pursuing art, she would be studying in Europe by now!"

Shaking his head at his wife, her father had enough of this conversation, leaving her to smoke out in the balcony. The woman had made use of this silence, casually drinking her wine, but by the looks on her face, she was still fuming. As Asahi wandered back into her room, locking the door behind her, the high schooler looked down at what was supposed to be her contest entry: a blank, untouched canvas.

For a while, Asahi stared at it, trying to force herself to draw something, only to drop her pencil and let out a long sigh.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Looking up at her wall next to her bed, the girl wandered over and sat on her bed, facing the wall. Her phone vibrated, noticing she had gotten a mail from Akihiro.

"I heard yelling a few minutes ago, are you okay?
-Aki"

Closing her eyes, Asahi slowly tapped on the wall twice, giving her so-called 'answer' to him.

Knock. Knock.

Leaning against the wall, the first year felt her heart tightening. Thinking about her mother's words from earlier felt extremely painful for her. Her phone soon began to vibrate, causing her to quickly pick it up without a second thought. Already, tears were in her eyes, wanting to hear Aki's voice over the phone.

"Hey…I know you're a strong person," Aki whispered. "Don't let her get to you,"

"…I…I just really want to see you right now," she cried softly.

After a brief pause, the man let out a brief sigh.

"I'm sorry. Not right now."

Sweeping up the glass shards, Asahi threw it away in the trash, and wandered back to the kitchen to prepare the food. As the place had remained quiet, and Asahi not muttering a word after what had happened, Taiyou looked at his older sister with a concerned look on his face, curious about what had happened to her. He knew that something had happened when she was outside...

"Good work today, Makoto!"

Waving goodbye to Coach Sasabe, Makoto smiled brightly as he left the public pool, after finishing up his 'job' as swimming coach for the children. The sun was setting, and he was walking home alone. It was a relatively quiet walk for the time being, before he heard some faint music from down the road, with a male voice singing along.

Emerald green eyes looked at the man singing with the guitar, walking next to a familiar blond, while she was humming the same song. The man looked to be in his twenties, having light brown hair and hazel colored eyes.

"Asahi-chan?" Makoto whispered, noticing that she had looked back and noticed him.

"Makoto-senpai?" she spoke up, with a bright smile on her face.

Makoto froze up in his place, watching her slowly approach him. His eyes looked at the taller male, who also smiled and casually waved at him.

'Is he…Aki?' the swimmer thought to himself.

Noticing that he was alone, the girl eyed Makoto with a strange look on her face. "Hm? There isn't practice today, so…why are you…?" Asahi muttered.

"I'm helping out at the local pool," he quickly replied before leaning in close to her. "Hey…Is that Aki?"

"HAH?" she screeched, covering her face. "Why…Why would you think he's Aki?"

After hearing Asahi's little outburst, the man let out a hearty laugh. "Ah. This sometimes happens, you know?" the man remarked, slowly approaching them after carefully putting away his guitar.

Pulling out his wallet, and plucking out his business card, the man politely bowed to the taller teen. The bright blue business card had read: 'Hiroshima Talent School, Vocal Instructor. Kuroda Shougo (黒田正午)'. Re-reading the kanji in Shougo's name to himself once more, Makoto looked up at the man.

"Eh, sorry, if my name looks a bit off to ya," Shougo sighed. "I was born on exactly noon, so they technically named me 'Noon'. Put me next to Asahi, and you got 'Morning' and 'Noon'," he joked, before feeling the girl slapping him in the arm.

"'Dawn'is someone who has the kanji of 'Dawn'or'Daybreak'in their name...They're...a very good'friend'of mine."

Remembering Asahi's words, Makoto looked at Shougo, and then at Asahi. Furrowing his eyebrows, he knew those nicknames on her phone really did mean something, and felt curious about asking them about it. It already a huge hint that Shougo was obviously the guy that he and Haruka had talked to on the phone the other day.

"Something the matter?" Shougo questioned, quirking an eyebrow. "Y'know, if you're Hii-chan's senpai, then you're most likely my kouhai. You can always talk to me about anything!" he grinned.

Asahi laughed at Shougo's remark. "Haha. But, Shougo-senpai, you were whining the other day about how the kids at the school were being mean to you," she joked.

"Well! When I transfer to Tokyo, and when you graduate and head to Tokyo, we will be unstoppable!" the man laughed proudly, not noticing the girl freezing up and looking over at Makoto.

Blinking at her, Makoto looked at Asahi questionably. "You're going to Tokyo after you graduate, Asahi-chan?"

"W-Well, it's not for a while, but I haven't-" she stuttered, shaking her head in denial.

"She wants to start fresh after all!" the man grinned, patting the irritated teen's shoulder.

The way things were going, Asahi was already on the verge of blowing up. Hearing Shougo mindlessly chatting away for her in front of Makoto was quickly getting on her nerves.

"…misses being one of us! After all, when it's your vacation, she wants to see-"

Slapping his hand away, Asahi glared at Shougo. "Can you stop talking for me?" she growled. "I know you care about me…But, stop,"

Before the two could say anything, Asahi ran off on her own. The man looked over at Makoto while the atmosphere soon became awkward for both of them. Within minutes, they were standing there in complete silence, wondering if they should talk or just straight up leave.

Before long, Shougo scratched the back of his head, he glanced over at the third year, with a bit of curiosity.

"Well…If you have time, is it okay if I talked to you about something?"

The houses in the neighborhood were slowly lighting up, while the sky was turning darker by the minute, as the evening was quickly approaching. The two of them had kept their silence towards each other for the time being, taking in the silence. It wasn't before long, that Shougo had cleared his throat to get Makoto's attention. It was a strange, but at least he had something to start the conversation to say the least.

"You were the one who answered Asahi's phone the other day, weren't you?" Shougo began.

Blinking at the man, the swimmer lightly scratched his cheek and nodded. "Y-Yeah," Makoto replied.

"To be honest…I thought you stole her phone," the man joked. "But..."

Looking at Shougo's sudden change in face and attitude, the brunette stopped walking and inspected him. His gray eyes stared out into the horizon, while sun slowly disappeared into the darkness.

"…Seeing you today, your face reminded me of someone I knew…" he began. "He's a kind and hard-working guy. Always took care of everyone, yet…"

"…She doesn't deserve a guy like him."

"…It's really hard to forgive him for what he's done," Shougo muttered to himself, before looking at Makoto. "I'm hoping you won't turn out like him," he growled.

Watching him quietly walk off, the teen began to follow him, his face filled with confusion. As Shougo stopped to look back at him, the swimmer looked away for a moment, unable to speak. The sheer intimidation coming from the older male's face was evident: He came here for a reason and it wasn't just for a simple visit or a plain vacation to the peaceful Iwatobi.

"Kuroda-san," the teen said, holding down his ground. "Why are you even here?"

With his eyes staring down Makoto, Shougo couldn't help, but to frown at him.

"...Because of Aki…Both Asahi and I aren't happy with ourselves,"