Chapter 13: Up on the Hills
Disclaimer: I do not own Free! Iwatobi Swim Club
In the Hills…
"Come on Wataru, are you coming or not!" shouted a little boy in a red baseball cap.
"You can do it we're almost there!" said the second boy in white sweats.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" said the third boy in a green T-shirt as he catches up to the other boys. "Why are we here again Tomoe?" he asked.
"We're here to see the ghost!" said the boy with the red baseball cap. "They say that there use to be a woman who lived on these hills. She was very pretty and every man wanted to marry her. One day she met a Scottish man and fell in love."
"Ew." The boy in white sweats stick out his tongue.
"Hey I'm not finished yet Yuki!" scolded Tomoe. "As I was saying, they fell in love but the man disappeared and never came back. The lady died of a broken heart while waiting for him. And now she haunts this place still waiting for her love to return. They say you can hear her singing in sadness at night as she waits for him."
"Wow, I didn't take you as a romantic Tomoe." Yuki giggled.
"Shut up I'm not a romantic!" Tomoe shouts at him. Wataru and Yuki laugh as Tomoe flusters. Suddenly they hear twigs breaking.
"W-What was that!?" Wataru asked as he hides behind Yuki.
"I don't know…" Tomoe says as he shines his flashlight on some bushes.
"You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road,and I'll be in Scotland before you.Where me and my true love will never meet again, on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond" A female voice sings in a sad, mystic tone.
"If this is a joke it's not funny Tomoe!" Wataru cries.
"It isn't me." Tomoe said as he flashes his flashlight all over the trees.
"Where's it coming from?" Yuki wondered.
"By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes, where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond, where me and me true love spent many days, on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond." The voice continued to sing.
Suddenly mist appears around the boys. Then a woman forms in the mist, rising out of the ground. She hummed her song as she stood in front of the boys.
"AAAHHH!" the boys screamed and ran down the hill.
"Hmmm, how interesting…" said a man in the tree above where the boys were standing. "This gives me an idea…" he said as he sticks his fork-like tongue out and smiles.
At School…
"Wait, you wanted to be called Kou instead of Gou?" Bo asked.
"Y-Yes." Gou nodded.
"…Really?"
"Yeah she did!" Nagisa interrupted. "She thought her name was too boyish so she tried to make it more girly but it didn't work!" Gou looks down in disappointment that it didn't catch on.
"I like Gou's name!" said Makoto with his cheeks tinge with pink. "I-I think it suits her!"
"T-Thanks!" Gou said with her cheeks reddening.
"Ha ha!" Bo laughs.
"What's so funny!?" Gou shouted at her.
"You two are so…I can't even." Bo continued to laugh. Gou and Bo bickered again.
"Wow you guys are really getting along." Rei said astonished with Chigusa tightening her grip on his arm.
"Is there something wrong with that Ryugazaki?" Bo raised her eyebrows at him.
"N-No ma'am!" Rei said with his voice shaking and quickly looks away. Bo laughs at his reaction.
"You love scaring Rei-chan don't you?" Gou asked.
"You don't even know." Bo said. Then the bell rung meaning that lunch was over.
"Remember there's a swim meet with Samezuka Swim Team today!" Gou reminded everyone.
"Yes!" they answered.
As everyone started to leave Gou quickly grabs Bo's arm.
"I need you to do something." Gou said.
"What is it?"
"I want you to stay here and text me when the cherry blossoms start to fall into the pool. Can you do that?"
"Yeah okay why?"
"It's a surprise~!" Gou smiles and runs down the stairs.
"Ugh so much work…" she complained to herself. Suddenly she felt nauseous and she stumbled a little. Then an arm caught her. She looked up and met two ocean blue eyes staring down at her.
"Are you alright?" Haru asked.
"Yeah, just felt a little dizzy that's all. I'll be fine." Bo flushes.
"Here I'll walk you to class." He suggested as he motions his head to follow him. Bo nodded and followed him out to the stairway.
'Man, my vibes are giving me a REALLY bad feeling. I wonder what's going on.' Bo thought as she walked to her classroom with Haruka.
At Samezuka Academy…
"Gou-chan!" shouted a tall red-headed man as he spots the Iwatobi swim team walk into the indoor swimming pool.
"Oh, Seijuurou-senpai…" Gou says hesitantly. 'Oh boy…' she thought.
"It's been awhile! Wow you're beautiful as ever!" He said so happily with red tinge cheeks.
"Now now Seijuurou-senpai step away from my sister." Rin intervenes and pulls him away.
"It's nice to see you again Mikoshiba-senpai." Makoto says with a smile as he stands in front of Gou.
"Everyone go get ready!" Gou orders the team. They all agreed and went to the changing rooms.
"See ya later Gou-chan!" Seijuurou said and walks towards the pool. As Gou goes to a nearby bench, Rin grabs her arm and turns her around.
"There's a bench over there away from the water. Sit there so you don't get wet." He said. Gou looks over at the bench he was talking about. It was really far from the pool so it was safe.
"Okay, thanks…" Gou said and headed for the bench. 'Man this sucks. I can't see anyone who is swimming. But I do get to see amazing muscles from here as the swimmers walk by!' She thought.
"Hey did you hear about a ghost in those hills over there…" said a Samezuka teammate said to the other teammate.
"Yeah..." replied the other teammate. "I heard that a woman haunts there singing some old Scottish folk song or something. A friend of mine's brother told him that he actually witnessed her!"
"No way!"
"She was tall and has the face of a skeleton!"
"Wow how scary! I also heard that she suppose to harmless so maybe it isn't a violent spirit."
"Not anymore. I heard she has started to attack the people who live on the hills now."
"Really!?"
'A ghost attacking people? I don't think that's even possible. I should tell Bo about it.' Gou thought. She quickly texted her and then went back to watching guys with abs.
After two hours the swim meet was over. Gou's phone went off. She picked it up and saw that Bo answered her.
Sounds interesting! We should check it out^^
-Bo
Really?!
-Gou
Oh yea! And the cherry blossoms are in the pool.
-Bo
…Thanks.
-Gou
"Haru-senpai!" Gou calls out. Haruka walks up to her with his stoic look he always has. "Invite my brother to the Iwatobi High School pool now! Go!" she tells him and points her finger to the direction of her brother. Haruka agrees and goes after him.
"Where's Haru going?" Makoto asked.
"It's a surprise!" Gou tells him happily. Makoto smiles at her and narrows his eyes.
"You're a very sweet girl…" he said lovingly.
"What!?" she said shocked. He quickly covers his mouth and his face becomes red.
"I told him. Let's go." Said Haruka.
"Y-Yeah…" Gou nods and quickly gets her stuff and leaves the pool.
"You said something out of the blue again didn't you?" Haruka asked Makoto.
"Let's talk about this later." Makoto says and heads for the door.
At the Iwatobi High School Pool…
"Surprise!" Everyone shouts to Rin, exposing the pool with fallen cherry blossoms in it.
"You always said you wanted to swim in a pool full of cherry blossoms so tada!" said Gou.
"Wow…" Rin's eyes went wide at the sight.
"Do you want to go for a swim?" Nagisa asks.
"It's too cold for that." Rin says blunty.
"Mmm, too bad!" Nagisa says and pushes Rin into the pool. Gou quickly moves backwards to avoid the water.
"Gou you okay?!" Rin shouts at her from the pool.
"I'm fine!" Gou said relieved that she didn't get wet.
"What's with that question?" Rei asked Gou.
"Oh I-I felt dry so I put lotion on! I don't want to get to dry!" Gou quickly lied to him. Then her eyes caught sight off Bo in the distance, leaning against a tree. "Oh look Bo is over there! I-I'm going to go talk to her now! Later!" Gou runs away from the boys and headed for Bo.
"Bo!" She called out to get her attention. "Come join us!"
"Thanks but I'll pass. I don't do well with water you know." Bo smirks.
"Ha funny." Gou says.
"Go on. Go have fun." Bo motions her hand for Gou to go back.
"Not without you. You are a friend to all of us." Gou says as she grabs Bo's hand. She pulls hard and drags Bo to the pool.
"Hey look has come to join us!" Nagisa shout from the pool.
"Watanabe-san!" Rei cries out in fear.
"Don't piss yourself Ryugazaki." She said giggling a bit. Rei quickly hides behind Nagisa trying to avoid her looks.
"You shouldn't be so mean to Rei-chan!" Nagisa shouts. "Only I can do that!"
"I do what I want!" Bo shouts back at him.
"That isn't very lady-like you know!" Nagisa said.
"I don't care!" she said back. Everyone laughed and had fun together till the sun was gone.
In the Hills…
"You know we have a curfew right Bo?" Gou points out to Bo as they went up a steep hill.
"We're fine we aren't breaking any rules…" said Bo. Gou sighs and follows Bo up the hill. "…till we get caught." Then Gou almost trips over when Bo says that.
"You crazy bitch!"
"Whore!" After they bicker, Gou turns serious and starts to talk about spirits.
"So…I thought spirits don't really attack people."
"They don't unless they are really angry."
"What about the souls in the ocean?"
"They are too lost to even do anything." Bo answers. Then a mysterious voice starts to sing.
"By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes, where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond.where me and me true love spent many dayson the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond" the voice sings.
"Oh I love this song!" Bo says happily.
"Isn't this Loch Lomond? It's a Scottish song right?" Gou asked.
"Yeah." Bo answers and closes her eyes and listens to the voice. Then mist starts to surround the girls.
"Wow that's weird." Gou said. Suddenly a hand grabs her ankle. Gou screams and falls to the ground and pushes herself away from the spot.
"What's wrong?" Bo asks worriedly.
"S-Something grabbed me!" Gou shouts and points where she was standing. A boney arm comes out of the ground and pushes itself out of the ground. It stood up, revealing a skeleton wearing an old white kimono with a flower pattern on it.
"Gou that's not a spirit…" Bo said to her.
"Then what is it!?" Gou says frightened.
"The undead…" Bo answers her slowly. The skeleton limps towards the girls and starts to hiss.
