Chapter 16: Complications
Disclaimer: I do not own Free! Iwatobi Swim Club
As they hold hands, Gou and Makoto can across a lake in the park. There were some boats shaped like swans that were floating on the surface.
"Oh that looks like fun!" Gou says with excitement. Makoto stiffens a bit as he looks at the boats. Gou noticed his stiffness and asked him what was wrong.
"Its n-nothing." He said hesitantly.
"Come on and tell me." Gou insisted.
"Well it's just that I heard that when couples ride of the boats, they break up." He said, looking away. Gou blushes at his answer and quickly squeezes his hand.
"Don't worry! It's just a superstition!" Gou says to him. "Everything will be fine!" she smiles at him and drags him to the boats.
'I have to act normal. I can't be afraid of this curse.' Gou thought as they get into the boats.
…
"Oh no, not the boats!" Nagisa shouts from the bushes. "If they ride one, they'll never be together!"
'Or turn into a fish.' Bo thought as she watched worriedly, hoping she won't get wet. "Don't worry Penguin. There aren't even together yet. That superstition only works on real couples." She said.
"Wow you're smart Bo-chan!" Nagisa says and hugs her.
"Um, thanks I guess…" Bo said to him. Then her eye catches that strange man again. He was heading towards the lake.
"There's something off about that guy." Haru speaks up. "I got a bad feeling."
"I do too." Bo told Haru. 'Well for me literally.' She thought and then felt little shocks in her back. Her hands started to tingle. 'This is different from my regular 'bad vibe' feel. It's stronger. What's happening to me?'
"Bo-chan, are you okay? You look pale." Nagisa asked her.
"I'm not." She said. She shakes her thoughts about herself and quickly takes her smart phone out.
"What are you doing?" Rei asked.
"Taking a picture. Thank God my aunt is a cop." Bo answers as she takes a few pictures and sends them to her aunt. "I feel like he's going to do something bad."
They all were quiet as they watched the stranger hang around the lake.
…
"Wow this is nice!" Gou says happily. They peddle the boat across the blue, glittering lake.
"Yeah!" Makoto agrees. "So have you heard that Gorou-sensei is doing a swimming festival at the new swimming pool?" Makoto asked her.
"Yeah I have heard. Do you guys want to help out with that?" she asked.
"Of course we will." He smiles. Then they became quiet. Makoto slowly holds her hand and starts to rub it gently.
"It is there something wrong?" she looked up at him. He looks back at her with a glint of fire in his eyes.
"Gou." He says deeply."I…" he starts to say until he grabs his head in pain.
"Makoto-senpai, are you okay!?" Gou freaked out a bit.
"I-m…fine. I think the pain has passed." He said to her, smiling. He pats her head reassuring and continues to rub her hand. "Are you alright Gou?"
"Why would you ask that? You're the one in pain!" Gou scolds him.
"I told you I'm fine really. But are you? Have you checked your temperature?" he asked. Gou gave him a puzzled look. 'What is he asking about my temperature for?' she wondered. Then they heard a whistle blow, alarming the couples that their time in the boats is over. They agreed to go back to shore.
….
"They're coming back." Haru says as he watches the couple coming back.
"The guy is moving." Rei points out. They turned their heads and see him going towards the dock and stands there, holding something in his pocket.
"He's going to do something!" Bo told them worriedly. She tries to think of something until Nagisa gets up and leaves the bushes.
"Excuse me sir!" Nagisa shouts to the man.
"Yes?" the man said to him. His voice was sounded older and mature. Then Nagisa takes out a weird wooden bird out of his pocket and showed it to the man.
"Would you like to buy an Iwatobi Swim Club mascot key chain? It's to raise money so the club can go to competitions!" Nagisa explains to the man.
"That's a mascot?" the man asked.
"What's he doing?" Rei asked out loud.
"He's distracting him." Bo explains to them and smirks. "Quick thinker." Bo gets out of the bushes and runs to Gou and Makoto at the dock. She went passed the man and Nagisa but the man quickly notices her.
"Hey!" he calls out.
"Bo, what the hell!?" Gou calls out to her angrily as she spots her running towards her at a great speed.
"Yell at me later! We have to go!" Bo shouts at her and grabs her wrist.
"Bo what's going on!?" Makoto asked. Then Makoto looks behind them and shouts out. "Hey watch out!" and he pushes them out of the way. The girls fell onto the dock and looked up. The man was there, raising a large kitchen knife, covered with some strange liquid that was dripping off the blade. He slashes knife down and it cuts Makoto's arm. Makoto cries out and pain and collapse onto the dock, clutching his arm.
"Makoto!" Gou shouts. The man was in front of the girls with a wicked smile.
"I've got you now demons! You will not taint this world with your sins!" he shouts on the top of his lungs. He raises the knife and moves the knife downwards. Then Bo grabbed his wrist, stopping his attack. Suddenly, sparks of electricity was coming out of her hand. It quickly shocked the man and he drops the knife and goes down onto the dock, grabbing his wrist in pain.
"Let's go girls!" Makoto shouts at them and grabs their wrist. He pulls them to land and kept running. The other boys followed them out of the park.
…
They all stopped running and panted at the entrance.
"What the hell is wrong with that guy!? Demons? What?" Rei shouts in disbelief.
"Rei-chan calm down. It's all over." Nagisa said in a soothing voice. He wraps his arms around Rei, trying to calm him down. Rei wraps his arms around him in response. Nagisa rubs his back and hums a tune.
"Are you okay Watanabe-san?" Haru asked with worry.
"I'm good Dolphin. Thanks." Bo gives him a reassuring smile. Haru then pulls her into an embrace. "Dolphin, I'm fine." She told him.
"I know." He said in relief.
"Oh Gou!" Makoto hugs Gou tightly. "Are you okay?" he said in a soft, quivering voice.
"What about you!? You got cut by that knife of his!" Gou yells at him and holds his injured arm.
"It's not that deep. I'll be fine." He gives a reassuring smile. Gou rips the bottom of her white shirt and wraps it around his arm. As she took care of his injury, Gou starts to tear up.
"I'm sorry…" she said with her voice fading. She couldn't hold back her tears. Makoto rubs her head as he told her that it was okay. Then he stops and raises Gou's face to his.
"I know something that can cheer you up." He said. Then he slowly puts his lips on her. It was a light kiss but that kiss made Gou stop crying. She stared at Makoto with wide eyes, shocked by what just happened.
"Gou…" he said soothingly as he puts his forehead against hers, "I always will by your side. I always will to protect you."
"Oh Makoto!" Gou cries loudly as she continued to cry.
"Aw…" Bo and Nagia said at the same time.
"How romantic!" Nagisa smiled.
"I know right!" Bo agreed.
"Bo…" Gou says to her in a low, scary voice.
"Hey you're not angry at me for lying are you? Gou?" Bo asked nervously. Gou slowly steps forward to her and looks up at her. Bo squeezes her eyes, feeling that she'll get.
"Thank you." Gou says to her in her regular voice. Bo opens her eyes and sees Gou smiling.
"You're welcome!" Bo said to her and hugs for a moment till she suddenly jumps off of her and shivers.
"Gou, you okay? You feel like an ice cube." Bo says as she starts to rub her arms.
"I do?" Gou feels her arms but felt nothing. "I feel fine." Gou became puzzled and started to worry. 'Is it because of what I can do?' she wandered and looked at her hand.
"Let's just go home. Lots of 'stuff' happened today." Makoto suggested to everyone. They all nodded their heads and went their different ways. Nagisa went with Rei, Haru left with Bo, and Makoto decided to take Gou home.
….
"Today was eventful wasn't it?" Makoto said as he walked Gou back to her house.
"Yeah, it really was." She agreed.
"I wander about what he meant by 'demons' and 'taint with sin' or whatever?" Makoto asked her with serious expression. Gou hesitated to answer but quickly opened her mouth.
"I don't know, maybe he was just crazy." She said, trying to get this part of the conversation over with. They became silent again. Eventually, they reached Gou's house.
"Thank you for taking me home." Gou smiled.
"Anytime." He said, returning her smile with his. Gou turns around and opens the door. Then Makoto grabs her arm and turns her around. He pulls her towards him and gives her a deep kiss. When Makoto pulls away, Gou pulls him back, giving him a kiss. They holded on to each other has the continued to kiss. Then they pull away still clutching each other.
"Let's go on another date sometime." Makoto suggested and kisses her cheek.
"I would love that." Gou said softly. He kisses her forehead and leaves. As Gou enters her home, she tried to get her phone out of her pocket but finds that it isn't in her pockets. 'Oh man, I must have dropped it at the park.' She thought. 'I'm forcing Bo to help look for it.' A mischievous smile spread across her face, then left for Bo's house.
….
Gou knocks on Bo's door, trying to get her to come with her to find her phone. The door opens, revealing Watanabe Nana, Bo's aunt.
"Oh Gou-chan!" Nana said surprised.
"Oh hi Watanabe-san! I was wondering if Bo was home." Gou asked her.
"Home? She told me that she got a text from you to go meet at the park again." Nana said with a puzzled expression.
"I didn't send her a text. I lost my phone at the park…" Gou voice fades out and realizes something was wrong. "Oh crap! That guy has my phone!" she shouted. She realized that guy from the park has her phone.
"Guy? What guy?" Nana asked worriedly. Then she remembers something and quickly pulls out her phone. "You mean this guy?" she asked as she holds up a picture of the guy from the park.
"Yeah, he attacked my friends and me at the park today!" Gou tells Bo's aunt what happened at the park.
"Then we got to go!" Nana said. "My niece is in danger!" she shouted and quickly locks her house and runs to the park with Gou.
….
"Gou, I'm here!" Bo calls out in the woodland part of the park. "Gou!" she shouts again. Suddenly, a bucket of water falls on her. Her legs turned into a golden fin and she falls to the ground. "Damn it all!"
"Damn it all indeed." A man's voice says to her.
"Who's there!?"
"Me." a man steps out behind a tree. It was the man from the park but now he was wearing a priest uniform. "It's time to end your demonic ways, you wretched soul." He says to her with disgust. He pulls out his kitchen knife with the same liquid dripping from the blade. She tries to get away from him but her fin was too heavy to move. The man gets closer to her and raises his knife.
