After school Rin and Haruka followed their three new friends to the swimclub they'd seen from the roof at lunch. Aki, Aiichiro and Sousuke were talking happily and Rin joined in on the conversation very often. Haruka was the only one staying silent, and nobody really seemed to mind him much. He just followed the others around. It had been the same way at Iwatobi middle too.
They entered the swim club and were greeted by a man with blonde hair.
"Hello, I see you brought some friends with you today?" he smiled at Rin and Haruka.
"Yeah," Aki said. "This is Nanase Haruka and Matsuoka Rin," she introduced them to the man. "This is our swim coach, Sasabe," she continued now looking at Rin and Haruka.
"Rin and Nanase would like to join the club," Sousuke said.
"A membership?" Sasabe asked.
Rin shook his head. "No, I don't think we can afford that," he said in a saddened voice.
"Then there are only two options," he said.
Just then a group of four younger teens entered. Two boys and two girls. Among the boys were Nagisa and Rin and Haruka both looked at him as he spoke to the other boy.
"Is it true you are that good at the backstroke, Momo-chan?" he asked.
Rin had to force back a laugh after hearing that nickname. It was so girly, he'd completely forgotten that his own name was girly as well.
"Rin-chan, Haru-chan!" Nagisa smiled cheerfully as he saw the two others. "You guys gonna go swim too?" he asked.
Rin shrugged. "Don't know," he mumbled.
"Coach Sasabe!" the other boy – Momo – yelled. "I'm bringing a guest in with me today," he said.
"Alright," Sasabe said before signaling for the youngsters to go ahead, and so the little group disappeared.
"You can either do as those guys just did and be invited as guests," Sasabe said. "Though if you choose that, you will always be in need for someone else to enter along with you, and they have to have a membership," he informed.
Rin and Haru looked at each other. If they chose this one, it would be really troublesome as much as Haruka would want to go into the water.
"What's the other option?" Rin asked.
"I'm in need of someone to help clean out this place about once a week. If you take the job, I'll allow you free access to the club. This will also be the only thing I pay you though,"
Rin thought. Working in exchange for a membership. He wouldn't gain anything other than that, it won't help out at home very much, but hopefully both he and Haruka could get their need for swimming under control.
"What do you say, Haru?" Rin asked.
Haruka shrugged. "Either way is fine," he mumbled.
Rin should have figured that answer. As long as Haruka got to swim, practically everything was fine with him.
"Then I guess we'll have to take the job and work for our access," Rin said.
"Excellent," Sasabe smiled. "You can work every Saturday then," he said. "Come in at around three in the afternoon and then you just leave when you're done," he said. "There will be a few others to tell you what to do,"
"So, can they start swimming today?" Aiichiro asked.
"Not yet, Ai. They haven't worked for it yet,"
Aki nodded. "Nanase-kun, You can enter as my guest for today," she said with a smile on her face.
Haruka nodded. That was more than fine with him. As long as he got to enter it couldn't be any better. Even if he barely knew Aki it didn't matter. Rin would also state that he'd get to know her anyway. That was true if she was so much a part of the little group that Rin and Haruka had ended up joining.
"Then you'll be my guest, Rin," Sousuke said before leading the way to the changing rooms.
There weren't many in the changing room. Only Nagisa and Momo, and then of course Rin, Haruka, Sousuke and Aiichiro.
"I bet there aren't others than those two girls and Yazaki-san in the girls changing room," Aiichiro commented and the others just nodded.
Haruka was first to finish and walked to the pool area without waiting on the other boys to follow. There still weren't a lot of people, only a few swimming labs in the pool. The girls hadn't even made it out yet. Haruka jumped into the water, not bothering to wait for anyone and started swimming labs as well in his preferred swimming style: Free.
When he made the second turn he noticed someone standing by the poolside. With a quick look up while breathing he recognized Aki standing there in her swimsuit with a smile on her face. Someone then jumped in the next lane and tried to gain on Haruka. Though it didn't go too well since Haruka was ahead and the other was just as fast as him. Truth be told, Haruka was a fast swimmer and the only one who had ever been able to keep up with him was Rin.
"Wow Momo-chan, you're fast!" Nagisa's loud voice was heard all the way through the room.
"Mikoshiba-kun has always been fast," Hanamura Chigusa said.
"Personally, I think his older brother is better…" Matsuoka Gou commented. Both the girls were watching. It were the same girls that had accompanied Nagisa and Momotarou on their way in here.
"Why aren't you impressed, Gou-san?" whined Mikoshiba Momotarou.
Gou sighed. She still wondered if the day would ever come when Momotarou would finally get it through his VERY thick skull that she WASN'T into him. Then again, if the day ever came when Momotarou gave up, Gou would just end up having his older brother hanging around instead.
Her hateful thoughts were interrupted when she took a look at the furthest end of the pool where two boys were rising from the water. She had never seen them before, but she knew, those hanging around them were Sousuke, Aiichiro and Aki from the 9th grade. Gou suddenly found herself captivated by the black-haired boy's triceps' and the others entire body. All those muscles to look at, and the fact that their bodies were still wet from the water, didn't help to hide the fact that they were really good looking in Gou's opinion.
"Who was first, Rin-chan?" Nagisa called out to one of the two unknown to Gou.
The red-haired boy looked at Nagisa with an irritated expression on his face that could only be interpreted one way. He'd lost. The black-haired didn't turn his head. He didn't even seem to care about any of that.
"Do you know them, Nagisa-kun?" She asked.
"Who? Rin-chan and Haru-chan?" Nagisa asked. "They're my brothers,"
Gou nodded. The first thing Nagisa had said when introducing himself was that he was an orphan and had three older brothers who weren't really his brothers. He just saw them that way.
"So those are two of them," Chigusa smiled.
"They're really good swimmers," Gou said.
"I know," Nagisa looked at the two boys also wearing a smile on his face. "I hope to become as fast as them someday, but I've still got a long way to go,"
Gou smiled. She didn't know how it felt to have such skilled older siblings as Nagisa had, but she could imagine it wasn't always that easy. But there was no doubt in her mind that Nagisa was skilled as well. Maybe someday he would really be as fast as his brothers in the water.