The next day, Rei asked me to come to practice a little early because he wanted my help. He wanted me to give him some pointers for the butterfly stroke. Rei hadn't tried that stroke yet, but I honestly didn't think he'd be able to do it. After all, it was the hardest stroke.
I sat on the edge of the pool and watched in awe as Rei showed off his perfect butterfly stroke. The rest of the swim team came in a few minutes after Rei had shown me what he could do.
"When did you learn butterfly?!" Nagisa ran over, Makoto and Kou in tow.
"You know, it's the strangest thing, but it sort of just came to me. I asked Riku to give me some pointers, and once I tried it, I could swim," Rei said with a grin.
"Do you know why?" Kou asked. Rei mumbled something and he shot a glance at Haru, who was staring at the butterfly resting on his finger.
"What was that Rei? You were mumbling."
"Nope. Your guess is as good as mine," the corners of Rei's eyes crinkled as he smiled.
"Seriously?"
"I'm just glad he won't need the kickboard," Makoto let out a sigh of relief.
"I wanna see another lap. Make it beautiful!" Nagisa punched the air in excitement.
"Naturally," Rei grinned even wider before he dove back in.
I put my hands on my hips and smiled; the boys had a relay team. It would certainly take some time to convince Haru, but that was something we didn't need to worry about yet. Rei still had some catching up to do, but at least I could help him improve his stroke. It would be nice to have another butterfly swimmer on the team again.
.oOo.
When I got to practice a day later, I got a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting Yukari to be there, but I wouldn't complain. I quickly changed into my swimsuit so I could go talk to her while the boys were busy bothering Kou.
"I love the swimsuit!" she squealed as she pulled me in for a tight hug.
"About that..." I bit my lip. I hadn't told her about my encounter with Rin yet, so she probably had no idea what was going on.
"What happened?" she asked with a smirk. Just from her expression, I had a feeling she already knew who was involved.
"So, we went swimsuit shopping as a team last weekend. I wandered off to find one for myself, and then I heard someone behind me. I thought Kou had come to help me choose, so I asked her which one she thought was best. Turns out it was Rin, and he picked this one." My voice was low. The others didn't know about it, and I wanted it to stay that way for now.
"Why did you pick the one he chose?" Yukari asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't really know. I told him he should go back to his team so he wouldn't be seen with someone who was such a waste of his time. He told me I wasn't a waste of his time, and—"
"Stop blabbering, and start practicing!" Kou yelled, cutting me off. The boys all came running to the pool deck.
"Later." Yukari smiled, shooting me a peace sign as she skipped away.
"They're finally here!" Nagisa said as he ripped open the box. He pulled out a shirt and a jacket, putting them on. He whirled around to face us, holding out his arms. "What do you guys think? Yukari-chan helped me pick out the colors."
"The trim on the jacket is nice, but that logo…" Rei trailed off with a grimace.
"Little Iwatobi is the cutest mascot of all time!" Nagisa pouted, crossing his arms "I was going to put him on the jacket, but since you and Riku-chan hate him so much, I figured I'd just go for the shirt."
"It would have been nice if you left it out entirely," Rei said under his breath.
"Alright guys, let's get started," Makoto said. "We should take a minute to go over the events we'll be entering at districts. I'm up first, in the 100m and 200m backstroke. Now, who wants to go next?"
"Breaststroke for me. I'm thinking about competing in the 100m and 200m," Nagisa said.
"Riku?" Makoto said, turning to me.
"I'm doing the 100m and 200m butterfly."
"Haru?" Makoto said.
"I only swim free."
"I don't even know why I bothered to ask," he sighed, but there was a grin on his face. . "What about you?" he said, turning his attention to Rei.
"I'm only comfortable with butterfly."
"That's because you are one," Nagisa said as he nudged the other boy.
"At any rate, it's been awhile since we've competed, so we'll have to work on our stamina. We should stick to short distances for now," Makoto said
"I think we're forgetting the most important thing," said Nagisa.
"I assume you mean the relay. We don't have to decide now, there's still time. Today's goal will be learning to pace ourselves, and focusing more on—"
"Check it out! You won't believe what I just found," Kou interjected, waving a book in our faces.
Kou had found a little booklet about a deserted island training camp done by the old swim club. She thought it would get us in great shape for regionals. Nagisa was already enamoured at just the thought of the islands.
I was more concerned with Makoto. When we were kids, the fisherman who gave Makoto his pet goldfish, died at sea. Only Haru, Rin, and I knew about what happened, and about his fear of the ocean. I can't say I wasn't surprised when Makoto seemed all for it.
.oOo.
Yukari stayed for the entire practice, and even came with us to talk Amakata-sensei into funding the trip.. Obviously there was no way that we could get the funding for it, so we were at a dead end. The six of us went to get ice cream at a convenience store to lift our spirits. Makoto brought up the idea of camping outside. His family had some nice camping equipment, so that took care of one problem. Now we just needed to find someone who owned a boat.
I helped lug the equipment to Haru's before Yukari and I walked to the train station. Hopefully, the others would come up with a way to get to the island.
"So, he said you weren't a waste of his time," Yukari prompted me to continue, linking her arm with mine.
"Then I told him that he had an odd way of showing it, before Makoto called my name. Rin asked if Makoto and I were dating." I pretended to gag.
"Shouldn't he know that you two are just friends?" Yukari asked, shocked.
"I thought he would, but I told him that Makoto was like a brother to me and Rin asked what he was to me."
"What did you say?" she gaped at me.
"I told him that he was a dick, and that I'd see him around." I shrugged.
"I can't believe he asked you that. You should still give him a piece of your mind the next time you catch him alone," Yukari said.
"I just didn't want the others to know about Rin being there but I have a feeling that Haru ran into him too."
"I still can't believe he said you weren't a waste of his time." Yukari shook her head.
"Me too. I know you said to not worry about Rin, but I just can't get it out of my head." I clenched my fists as I stared at the ground. We were nearing the train station now.
"Just don't think about it too much. If he says something like that or just acts differently, take note of who's around." I looked back up at Yukari, who was staring at the clouds. When she noticed my gaze, she smiled. Moments later, her train pulled into the station. She hugged me, then got on the train. As the train pulled away, I turned to head home. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. It was Nagisa. Coach Sasabe offered to give us a lift to the island in his squid boat!
.oOo.
It was finally the day we would have our training camp. My step-mom sent some snacks with me, and I had to make sure Nagisa wouldn't eat them all. Instead of meeting Haru and Makoto at our regular spot, my mom offered to drive the three of us to the pier.
"Thanks again, Mrs. Matsumura," Makoto said as my mom came up to the pier.
"Anytime, you know I'm always here if you boys need anything." She turned to look at the guys in the back seat. "Have fun you three!"
I hugged and kissed her goodbye as Makoto and Haru got out of the car and gathered their things.
"Hey Haru-chan, Riku-chan, Mako-chan!" Nagisa waved at us from afar. As soon as he laid eyes on the plastic bag I was carrying, his eyes lit up.
I sighed, fishing out a small baggie and handing it to him. "You can have it, but later. "My mom's way of saying thanks."
"Thank her for me, will you?," he said as took the bag.
"You guys are late," Rei said, looking at his watch in distaste.
"That's my fault. I'm not really a morning person," I said, running a hand through my hair with a little laugh.
"Are we all here now?" Coach Sasabe asked.
"We're still missing Amakata-sensei," Rei said.
But as soon as he did, Amakata-sensei sped by and came to a screeching stop.
She grabbed all of her stuff in a hurry before she came to meet us."Sorry to keep you all waiting. You must be Coach Sasabe, I've heard so many wonderful things about you. Thank you very much for the help. We couldn't have done it without you," Amakata-sensei smiled as she gave Coach a bento box.
"Wow, that's really sweet of you," he looked surprised, but accepted the box anyway.
Amakata-sensei frowned, "Is something wrong?".
Coach narrowed his eyes as he leaned in."Have I met you somewhere before? You look familiar." He studied her face.
"Sorry, we've never met before today. You must have me confused with someone else." She turned away, suddenly nervous.
"Is it just me or is he totally hitting on her?" Kou whispered incredulously..
"He's totally hitting on her," I agreed, rolling my eyes. Then I went to help carry on the supplies for the camping trip.
.oOo.
When we reached the island, it was absolutely gorgeous. I knew Yukari would be jealous that I was spending the weekend on a 'deserted' island. Poor Rei had gotten sea sick, and he rushed to the bathroom while the rest of us unloaded the boat. I was planning on helping Amakata-sensei pick out an ideal camping space, but before I could, Rei came rushing back. We rushed to follow him, dumping the supplies near the potential campsite.
Rei led us to the side of a building with large windows. I heard yelling from inside, and when I looked through the glass, I saw water: a pool Nagisa pressed up to the glass looking at the swimmers down below. As soon as I saw maroon hair, I knew it must be Samezuka.
"Why's the Samezuka swim team here?" Makoto asked what everyone was thinking.
"Look, Rin's here too!" Nagisa pointed to the older Matsuoka.
"What's the deal, Gou? Is this a part of your plan or something?" Makoto said.
I crossed my arms, curious if this was her doing.
"This is a total surprise to me, I swear!" Kou put her hands up in defense.
"Are you sure about that?" I raised an eyebrow.
"I mean, it pretty much goes without saying that my brother won't listen to a word I say. And plus…" She glanced at Haru.
"Plus what?" Nagisa asked.
"Nevermind. Forget I mentioned it."
"So you're saying this is just a coincidence? We should go say hello! Maybe Riku-chan can—"
"No," I cut him off.
"We can't," Haru said.
"Why not?"
"I made a promise. We're going head to head at districts," Haru said.
I furrowed my brows, wondering if that conversation had happened when we went shopping. Nagisa immediately started to question Haru, and I made my way back to the campsite to pitch the tents.
.oOo.
When we finished, I had found out that Kou would be staying at the lodge with Amakata-sensei. She explained that she totally forgot about sharing a tent with me, and invited me to join them. I declined since I was looking forward to camping on the beach with the boys.
Once we got into our swimsuits, Makoto went over the training regimen. Before Haru and I got in the water, we stopped to look at Makoto—who was staring out into the ocean. When he saw our gazes, he gave us a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry about me, I'm gonna be just fine. Come on, let's go catch up to them." Makoto started to walk towards the others. I ran past him to jump into the water felt really good compared to the hot sun.
.oOo.
For the first day of training, things went extremely well. Rei fell behind, but I made sure to stick near him so he wasn't by himself. When we stopped training, the sun was beginning to set.
"I never thought long distance swimming would be this difficult," Rei panted.
"For a first timer you did really well. I don't think I could've done that," Makoto said.
"You'll be lapping us in no time," I said, giving him an encouraging smile.
Nagisa started going on about how we would be in amazing shape by the end of this camp. I had gone off to my tent to put on shorts and shoes since we would be eating soon.
"Hey, that's enough work for one day, guys. Let's eat dinner with this gorgeous sunset while we can," Amakata-sensei said.
"Alright, tropical barbecue!" Nagisa pumped his fist in excitement.
"Oh no. I forgot to bring the seasoning!" Amakata-sensei said, looked down at the bags.
"I'll just go borrow some stuff from the lodge," Kou saids.
"I'll go with you. I want to see what it looks like," I said, following after her.
We ran toward the lodge, and I could feel my muscles getting sore. Just as we were about to enter the store, Kou bumped into a mousy grey-haired kid. When she moved back to apologize, I recognized the boy as Nitori—the one from Samezuka.
"Hey, you're Rin's sister, aren't you?" Nitori asked Kou before he looked over at me.
"Is everything okay?" Rin appeared, leaning against the doorway.
"Hey, big brother."
"Gou."
Rin glared at his sister, and then he turned his eyes to glanced at the swimsuit I was wearing—the one he picked for me. "Hey Riku." He finally met my eyes.
I noticed a small smile on his face, and I nodded to him."Hey Rin."
I turned back to Kou. "I'll go get the seasoning." I rushed inside the store before Rin could see that I was blushing.
When I left, Rin and Kou were no longer in front of the store. The siblings had gone to talk on a nearby bench. Rin had looked past his sister to stare at me. I began the walk back to the campsite, trying to get Rin off my mind. Sooner or later, he was going to find out that I picked the swimsuit he chose, I prefer that he would find out at districts. At least he wouldn't have a chance to talk or smile, like he did only moments ago.
"Where's Gou?" Nagisa asked when I arrived at the campsite.
"She went to go get something in her room," I said. "I'm starving." I focused on making my pizza (without any pineapple or mackerel on it).
Kou returned shortly after, humming with a smile on her face.
"You're happy," I said when she caught me watching. Kou was definitely up to something, and hopefully it had nothing to do with her brother.
Kou shrugged before she went to make her pizza. I did plan on telling Yukari what happened when we got back home. Right now I wanted to focus on the training camp. Hopefully, it would keep my mind off Rin.