Chapter 15: The Date

Hey it's been awhile! Sorry I'm taking so long. School has been crazy but the great news is that summer vacation is here so I can continue this story! Enjoy!

Reviews are welcomed!

Disclaimer: I do not own Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

Gou looked at her phone or the time as she waited for Bo in front of the park. 'She's late. I wonder if she's okay.' She thought as the time passed. Then she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"Gou! Gou!" the voice shouted. Gou turns around and sees Makoto heading towards her. "Did you wait long?" he asked while panting.

"What do you mean?" Gou asked with a confused look on her face.

"Well Bo told me you were waiting her for me so we could hang out." He said in between breathes.

"Bo said she wanted to hang out today and I was supposed meet her here…" Gou said slowly and completely confused. She thought for a moment until she figured out what was going on.

"Um, hold on a second senpai!" Gou said and quickly pulls out her phone and goes a bit away from Makoto and calls Bo.

"Hello~" Bo answered.

"Bo! What the hell!" Gou angrily whispered so Makoto or anyone doesn't hear. "What the hell were you thinking!?"

"I was thinking that it was time for you guys to go on a date." Bo said so happily.

"You don't get to decide that!"

"Too late now. Enjoy your date!" Bo shouts and hangs up. 'I'm going to kill her. I'll drown her! No, I'll freeze her so she can sink to the bottom of the ocean and never be heard of again…' she thought. She gripped her phone very tightly, trying in to hold in her anger.

"Gou-chan, is everything okay?" Makoto suddenly asked behind her.

"E-everything's okay." She answers. "Apparently Bo set us up on a date." They became awkwardly quiet when Gou announced what happened.

"Well…we shouldn't disappoint her. Let's go." He said with a smile and reaches his hand out to her.

"Wait, we are really going to do this!"

"Um, yeah…unless you don't want to…" he said and slowly lowers his hand with a sad smile. Without thinking, Gou grabs his hand.

"L-Let's go shall we!?" Gou shouted in a squeaky voice. Her face became red and looks down on the ground. Makoto was taken aback by her reaction but then he smiles lovingly at her and tightens his grip on her hand.

"Okay, let's go." He said kindly and gently tugs her hand. They both start to walk into the park.

….

"Kukuku!" Bo giggled at the sight of her best friend being all embarrassed. "Oh boy this is going to be great!" she said to herself.

"Watanabe-san?" said a familiar voice behind her.

"Ah!" she shouted and turns around. Behind her were Rei, Nagisa, and Haru, looking at her with confused faces. "God damn it Rei, you startled me!" Bo yelled at him.

"Sorry! I was just walking by with these two and we just saw you being creepy." Rei says back to her. "Ah! I don't mean by creepy-It's just that-you-!"

"Rei, shut up its fine." Bo said to him with her arms crossed. "All you had to do is apologize. I don't need any extra details."

"Got it!" Rei said as he straightens up.

"Oh Rei-chan!" Nagisa giggles and blushes a little. "So what are doing here Bo-chan?" he asked with a wide smile.

"You are not going to believe what I did!" she said excitedly. "I set up Gou and the whale on a date!" she starts to smile and laugh uncontrollably.

"The whale?" they all said while cocking their heads to the side.

"Sorry, I meant Tachibana-senpai." She answered while scratching her head.

"Why 'the whale'?" Nagisa asked.

"Doesn't he remind you of a gentle giant? Plus he's a swimmer. So whale works. It's better than elephant or giraffe." Bo answered happily.

"Oh! Do you have nicknames for us too?" Nagisa started to jump up and down. Bo raises a finger and points to Nagisa.

"Penguin." She said coolly.

"Penguin?" Nagisa scratches his head in confusion.

"Well you act cute and for some reason it reminded me of a penguin. But don't worry, Ryugazaki has the worse one."

"And what is that?" Rei wondered.

"Butterfly!" Bo says as she moves her arms trying to imitate a butterfly. "Get it because get flustered a lot and the only way you can swim is to do the butterfly!" Bo laughed.

"That's not funny!" Rei shouted.

"Oh come on, it's hilarious because it fits you so well!" Bo continues to ridicule him.

"What about Haru-chan?" Nagisa asked.

"Oh he's Dolphin." She winks at him. Haru blushes a little and looks away.

"Awe, how come he gets a better nickname than us!?" Nagisa whines.

"Because…Dolphin is cool!" Bo says with a smile. Haru looks at her and blushes even more. "Do you like it?" Bo asked him. Haru nods and looks away again. Bo smiles from ear to ear and her cheeks turn a little pink.

"Well I got to go spy on the lovebirds at the park. See you guys later!" Bo waves them good-bye and heads for the park.

"Wait I want to watch too!" Nagisa shouts and drags Rei and Haru with him.

….

"It's a nice day isn't it?" Makoto asked Gou as they walked through the park.

"It is but it's also hot!" Gou complained. Gou thought. Makoto laughs a little at her complaining.

"You really have changed much huh?" he said while laughing.

"What do you mean?" She asked a bit puzzled.

"You would always complain when you were little. You would always complain how rowdy we were or how we always smelled like chlorine, haha!" He continued to laugh at the memories of their childhood.

"Oh how embarrassing!" Gou covers her face with her hands.

"I thought it was cute." Makoto said as he pulled one of her hands off her face and gripped it tight. Gou tightens his hand in return. They both blush and turned away from each other. They continued to walk down the path while still holding hands.

….

"Ooohhh they're holding hands!" Nagisa clapped his hands while looking at the couple through a bush.

"Penguin calm yourself, you're going to give us away." Bo patted his shoulder.

"I can't believe you dragged us just to watch a relationship bloom."Rei complained.

"Shut up Ryugazaki. If you don't like it then go hang out with your girlfriend." Bo said to him harshly.

"If only it were that easy. We are not on good terms right now." Rei rubs his neck a bit annoyed look on his face.

"Oh dude that sucks." Bo said trying to comfort him. Rei gives her a little smile then looks down at his feet.

"Oh no they are getting away! We got to go now! Hurry!" Nagisa yells at everyone and quickly moves away.

"Wait up Nagisa!" Rei shouts at him and chases after him.

"Well come on Dolphin, let's go." Bo said as she gets up.

"Do…" Haru starts to speak slowly, "Do you really find me…cool?"

"Yeah of course! You are probably my favorite out of the whole swim team except Gou. She's on the top of my list. However you are tied up with Gou." Bo smiles as she speaks. As she said that, Haru quickly gets up and pins her to a tree.

"What can I do to make me number one?" He said deeply as he looked down on Bo's face. Bo's face turns scarlet red as she looks back at Haru.

"What are guys doing? Come on let's go!" shouted Nagisa. Haru slowly pulls away and straightens his shirt.

"Come on." He said to her as he took her hand and gently pulls her to the others.

….

"Are you thirsty?" Makoto asked Gou as they took a break on the bench.

"Yeah!" Gou nods her head.

"I'm going to the vending machine. What do you want?" Makoto asked politely.

"Some ice coffee please!" She smiles. He smiles back and heads for the vending machine.

'Oh man it's hot! I just hope that I don't turn into a fish when I sweat.' Gou hoped. Then she sees a strange man leaning against a lamp post, looking at her. He wore a brown jacket, dark pants, and wore a brown cap that covered his face.

'Who is that? It's a bit hot to wear that.' She wondered.

"Here you go." Makoto says suddenly as he hands her an ice coffee.

"O-Oh, thank you!" Gou says cheerily. She opens the ice coffee and chugs it down. As she chugs it down, she notice some little water droplets on the can. 'I really don't want to get wet and transform here! She crushed the empty can flat in her right hand and throws it into a nearby trash can.

"Wow Gou, were you that thirsty?" Makoto says awkwardly as he watched the scene.

"Oh yeah, it's really hot out today!" She points out. They became silent and the atmosphere became awkward.

"Gou," he said, "Did you really want to go on this date with me?" he asked looking down.

"O-Of course I did! I always wanted to go on a date with you!" Gou blurts out and quickly covers her moves. She turns bright red and turns away. Then she felt his hand on her shoulder.

"Gou," he said as he turned her around, "I have always dreamed about going on dates with you." He said staring into her eyes, turning a bit pink. They looked at each other for a moment. Their heads start to move slowly towards each other.

"Ice cream! Come get your ice cream!" an ice cream man shouted from his stand. They stopped at the ice cream man's shouting. They laughed and decide to get some ice cream. 'Oh that man…' she remembered and turns her head towards the lamp post. The strange man wasn't there anymore. 'My imagination then?' she thought and continued to go toward the ice cream stand.

"Damn so close!" Bo said frustrated.

"Don't worry Bo-chan,!" Nagisa tries to calm Bo down. "Makoto has been in love with Gou-chan for a very long time. I swear they'll get together today. You have my word!" he says has he puts his left hand over his heart.

"Oh Penguin!" Bo said and hugs Nagisa.

"Bo-chan!" Nagisa says, hugging her back.

"We'll get them together!" Bo said with determination.

"I'll be right behind you!" Nagisa said back.

"And after them…" Bo whispers to Nagisa, "I'll help you get Rei."

"Really!" Nagisa's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh thank you thank you thank you!" he hugged her again.

"I wondered what they are talking about." Rei asked Haru. Haru shrugs not really knowing either as he watched the two of them talk so cheerfully.

…..

Makoto and Gou's date continued. They walked hand in hand and went to eat at the food stands. They ate ice cream and sandwiches. Then they came upon a violinist. He was playing a sweet melody as he sat there on the bench.

"Oh it's so pretty!" Gou said as she listened to the violin. Then Makoto pulls her to his chest and rests his hand on her lower back and holds the other hand up with hers.

"Shall we dance?" He asked. Gou giggled and nodded her head. They been began dancing to the violin's song. As they dance they kept stepping on each other's feet and messed up on twirls but they didn't care. They were too much fun to care.

"Aw look at that couple. That's so cute!" a girl said.

"They're so adorable." said another girl.

"Everyone is watching us." Gou looked down in embarrassment.

"Hey don't worry about it. Keep looking at me." He said gently. Gou looks up and locks eyes with Makoto. Makoto starts to lean in towards her lips with his. She got up on her toes to get closer until a man bumps into them.

"Sorry." The man said and continues to walk away.

"No problem." Makoto said as he watched him walk away. Gou turns around and sees that it was the same man from before. She stiffens a bit and it catches Makoto's attention.

"Are you okay Gou?" he asked very concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine." She smiles at him so he doesn't need to worry. 'Who is that man?' Gou wondered. Makoto grabs her hand and they head towards the lake.

….

"That motherfucker!" Bo groans in frustrations. "I'm going to find him and kill him!"

"Bo-chan please get a hold of yourself!" Nagisa tries to relax her.

"You guys haven't notice him following them." Haru raises his voice.

"He has?" Rei asked him. Haru nodded his head.

"He's been following them since the beginning of the date." He said. "I thought it was just a coincidence but I don't think so."

Bo looks at the man more closely until she felt a sudden spark of electricity in her spine. She let a little cry and collapsed to the ground. The boys call her name and quickly went to her side.

"Bo-chan, are you okay!?" Nagisa shouted.

"I'm f-fine." She said weakly as she tries to get up. 'There's something about that man. My vibes just went off the charts. They never hit me like that before…' she wondered and felt a sudden worry for her friend who might be in danger from a very mysterious and possibly dangerous man.