Chapter 19: Lessons
Disclaimer: I do not own Free! Iwatobi Swim Club
"There's something wrong with the Butterfly." Bo points out as she eats dried squid, watching the boys practice swimming.
"Why do you think that?" ask Nagisa.
"I seen that he's tired all the time now and barely shows up. Maybe he's ditching for his bitchy girlfriend what's-her-name." Bo says as she takes out a tentacle and waves it around.
"You mean Chigusa." Nagisa reminds her.
"Ah details." She brushes it off.
"Come on Nagisa stop wasting time and swim!" Gou blows her whistle.
"Come on, they deserve a break from swimming! They did great at the festival! They are really fast!" Bo shouts.
"Thank you, Bo-san!" Makoto shouts at her. Bo gives him the thumbs up.
"Yeah I know they did but we have the prefectural coming soon! We have to be the best!" Gou shouts at Bo.
"That's in like a month or two from now! Don't worry so much!" Gou reliefs a loud, annoyed sigh and sits next to Bo and stole some squid. "I can feel the tenseness on you."
"Thanks." Gou says sarcastically. They became silent and watched they boys practice their swimming.
"My aunt got some info from that priest last week." Bo speaks up but says in a whisper.
"Really? What did she learn?" Gou asks.
"He is called Father Hinata Mirai. He is a priest for that church at the end of the main street. He's been in and out of asylums many times for religious delusions. Arrested for vandalism and attempted murder. He almost put a stake in some girl for sleeping with a guy before marriage."
"That's crazy and he still was able to be a priest…" Gou shakes her head, thinking people actually hired a nut job to continue to be a priest. "How did know about us or even find out?"
"He says that a young man had told him about some demons possessed some people and made them run around doing sacrifices. He did describe the man but the police haven't found him yet." Bo said with a serious look on her face.
"Do you think it was that 'man in chains' that the ghost told us about?"
"I don't know but we have to be careful. We don't want to bring anymore trouble." Bo gave Gou a stern look. Gou agrees, giving her the same look. They stopped talking to each other and continued to watch the boys.
After Swim Club….
Gou walked down the street to go home, trying to clear her thoughts for a bit. As she tries to open her door, she discovers it to be unlocked. She quickly forms an icicle from a nearby puddle and hides it in her white shirt sleeve. She gently opens the door and slowly steps inside. Then she heard noises in the kitchen and walks very slowly, preparing her icicle.
She looks in behind the door frame into the kitchen. There were pots on the counters and the stove. Then a large object was moving in the corner of the kitchen. Gou enters the kitchen with the icicle slowly going into her hand, preparing to fight. Suddenly the figure stood up, turning around, revealing a small woman with short red hair in a blue business suit.
"Oh Gou!" the woman says happily and smiles at her.
"Mom!" Gou shouts in surprise. She quickly pushes the icicle back into her sleeve. "When did you get back!?"
"I came back a few hours ago! I got hungry and saw the time and thought 'Gou is coming back in an hour or two, let's eat together!' So I'm making dinner!" Gou's mom said and rushes to Gou, giving her a hug. Gou hugs her back with one arm so her mom doesn't feel the hidden icicle.
"Now go wash up, there's so much I want to tell you about my trip!" She said excitedly and rushes back to the kitchen. Gou awkwardly agrees and goes up stairs into the bathroom. She quickly puts the icicle into the tub and leaves it there to melt.
A Few Days Later….
"Rei hasn't been himself recently. Bo is right about him. There's something off." Makoto tells the others.
"I agree Mako-chan!" Nagisa agrees.
"I guess he really cares about Chigusa." Haru speaks up.
"Aren't they having problems or something?" Bo asks him but Haru shrugs.
"Do you know Gou? You guys are friends right?" Nagisa asks Gou.
"Um…I don't really know." Gou answers awkwardly. 'I really don't want to talk about her at all really.' Gou thought.
"Let's follow him and see where he goes after the club." said Nagisa. Everyone agreed at the plan. They decide that Nagisa, Haru, and Makoto to follow him. Gou told them that her mother was home and Bo made up an excuse.
The Next Day…
"So you're saying is that Butterfly has been getting lessons from Onii-san for the past few weeks just to get better at swimming?" Gou says in disbelief.
"I'm so sorry Gou-san!" Rei bows deeply. "I just wanted to get better!"
"It's alright we understand how you feel." Makoto says, patting his back.
"It's okay Rei-chan!" Nagisa jumps on him.
"Nagisa!" Rei yells at him in pain.
"Well someone is just a goody-two-shoe." Bo laughs.
"You always have the chance to mock me don't you Watanabe-san?" Rei gives an awkward smile and fixes his glasses.
"You know I'm just messing with you. We all know you have been working hard, especially with swimming." Bo says as she takes some bags out of her bag.
"Cookies!" Nagisa cheered.
"One bag for each person!" Bo announced. She hands Makoto a bag of whale shaped cookies, penguins for Nagisa, butterflies for Rei, dogs for Gou, and dolphins for Haru.
"You're really a girl huh." Rei laughs a little.
"I will take everything that I said and those cookies back you know." Bo threatened. Rei quickly apologizes and ate a cookie.
"These cookies are really good!" Rei says amazed.
"Thank you." Haru thanks her with pink tinted cheeks.
"I'm glad you like them." Bo says looking down embarrassed. Gou elbows her in the side, giving her a big mischievous smile. Bo looks at her and then rolls her eyes causing Gou to laugh.
After The Club…
"Mom I'm home!" Gou calls out when she got home.
"Yo, Gou!" Rei greets her at the door with Sousuke.
"Oh you guys are here!" Gou says surprised.
"I heard that your mom was back so I want to welcome her back." said Sousuke. They all went to the kitchen, helping her mom. Suddenly, Gou's phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Bo. She quickly answers it.
"Gou you there?" Bo asks.
"Yeah, what's up?" said Gou.
"Turn on your TV now to the local news channel." Bo ordered. Gou quickly goes into the living room, takes the remote, and turns on the TV to the news.
"Are sea monsters real? We go to the Iwatobi Port for the truth." A reporter said and it switches to another reporter in front of the port.
"There's an emergency going on down at the ports today when a worker was dragged into the sea by an unknown creature. Boats are getting destroyed by large, long tentacles. Everyone I panicking and running for shelter…"
"That's awful." said her mom as she walks into the room with Rin and Sousuke.
"Come to the port, we need to take care of this. See you there!" Bo says and hangs up the phone.
"Do you need to go?" Rin whispers into her ear. Gou slowly nods. "Go, I got mom. Get that thing."
"Thanks." Gou smiles. "Hey mom, my friend needs help getting to nice safe place so I need to go get her!" Gou lies and leaves the house with the shouts of Sousuke and her mother echoing behind her.
At the Port…
"This place is more of a mess that with the Golem." Gou mutters to herself as she reaches the port. The boats were crushed and the piers were torn apart.
"Gou over here!" Bo calls out to her and she quickly grabs Gou and pushes her to some nearby bushes. "Here put this on!" she hands Gou a large brown poncho with a hood sewed onto it.
"Do you know what were dealing with?" Gou asks as she puts on the poncho. Suddenly nine tentacles came out of the water and started destroy more boats. Then a larger arrow-shaped head comes out of the water. The creature was a deep blue color with the similar appearance of a giant squid.
"That." Bo points out at the large creature.
…..
"Isn't it a beauty?" Hex asks the man in the hoodie as they sat on a nearby cliff, watching. The man in the hoodie doesn't say anything as he watched the creature attacked. "This is going to be great!" Hex cheered as he leaned back and ate some popcorn. He offers some to the man but the man doesn't pay attention. "Fine then." Hex pouts and continues to watch.
