Waking up with the Sun Chapter 2: Lollipops pt. 1
I have another chapter in mind, and I was thinking of publishing this as a separate story parallel to Waking up with the Sun but eh fuck it let's put these two together. All flashback fics will be titled with 'Lollipops', in reference to a fic I made like 5 years ago (but lost all the original files to OTL). It is kind of early for flashback chapters but w/e.
Re-writing things for better continuity. Preface to Waking Up with the Sun. Starts at episode 32 of the anime (A Shark Showed Up to the Pool!) and slightly alters canon, only not really. Goes along with major canon arcs, but they're not included in the story. Chapters are more like flashbacks to days of the past, since Waking Up with the Sun takes place 11 years post the start of the series, meaning it's also past the future arc, so everything is okey-dokey.
Also lol my writing style has definitely changed in the past 3 years, so forgive the format difference.
-Namimori Public Swimming Pool, 16:32-
"I was too busy enjoying myself that I totally forgot, Hahahahaha!"
Sawada Tsunayoshi gawked at his older friend, completely flabbergasted at what he called 'swimming'. Here he was, in dire need of swimming education to avoid being embarrassed in front of the class, and his friends and their crazy methods were really only making things worse. Yamamoto's way of learning was based off of weird sounds that made no sense at all. Gokudera only caused him pain and confusion, and Haru was just downright embarrassing. Reborn didn't help with anything, but that's really not anything new.
And then there was Ryohei-oniisan.
Ryohei started laughing again, only to be cut off by someone completely new.
"You call that 'swimming'?! You're a total disgrace to the sport!"
The four teens turned to the reaction the voice came from, only to be greeted by a girl who looked to be around their age. She was pointing an accusing finger at Ryohei, with a (really ugly) sneer on her face. Reborn remained silent as she proceeded to list everything (everything) wrong with the boxer's technique.
She made a look of disgust as she placed her hands on her hips, covered by a one-piece suit that girls wore for their uniform. Her skin was a sort of uneven tan, light brown hair that had obviously been dyed in a messy ponytail.
"Hahi! Hazuki Hino-senpai!" Haru was the first to say something, stopping the other girl (who was in the middle of explaining just how wrong Ryohei was).
Hazuki-senpai? Haru knows this girl? Tsuna made a look of disbelief as the girl named Hazuki moved her hand, pointing to the brunette.
"And you! I won't even start with you, Miura Haru-san! After cheering at so many of our meets, you would think that passion isn't the only driving force! There must be technique! Skill! Motion!"
This girl sounds a bit like Onii-san and Gokudera-kun combined…
Hazuki wiped her chin with a smirk and the sun reflected off of the goggles that sat upon her head. She moved to point at Gokudera and was about to lecture him when she was interrupted by Ryohei.
"Eehhhhh?! My technique is great to the extreme!"
"Your technique is stupid to the extreme."
Soon the two were arguing by yelling the same insults at each other and really they were getting nowhere. Tsuna was never going to be able to learn to swim in time and where was Reborn in all of this? He was laying on a floater not too long ago feigning sleep… His train of thought came to a skidding halt as two very loud voices echoed at the deeper end of the pool, and he shaded his eyes from the sun to see Hazuki and Ryohei preparing to race.
"I'll show you how it's done, amateur! You're no match for me underwater!" The girl pulled her goggles over her eyes and knelt on one knee, extending the other leg far back. She looks like such a pro. Ryohei grinned enthusiastically, enlightened by the challenge. Yamamoto called out to them, saying that he wanted to join in the race as well and was greeted with open arms. Tsuna made his way to the deck of the pool and sat near where Haru stood, her demeanor completely changed from pouting because of Hazuki's commentary. Tsuna blinked and saw Reborn pop out of nowhere at where the three other teens stood, a whistle in his mouth, a timer in one hand and a pistol in another.
Gokudera made his presence next to his beloved boss known with a click of his tongue, "I'll bet she's just all talk like a stupid woman." Haru huffed and turned to glare at him, a gleam in her eyes.
"Hazuki-senpai is the captain of the Midori Middle Swimming Team! She's won medals for the school two years in a row! And her team has won multiple medals, too!"
That would explain a lot. Tsuna prepared himself to watch his friends fail. With the way Yamamoto tried teaching him he could only assume so much about the baseball enthusiasts' swimming, and onii-san… Let's just leave it at that.
The shot signaling the start of the race was fired and all eyes were on the three. Hazuki dove into the water with grace and in such a slim form that her dive caused little splashing. He didn't see her surface until about 3 metres past where she entered the water, swimming at full speed. She's gliding through the water like it was nothing.
Tsuna looked back to his friends to see Yamamoto only slightly behind, swimming… normally.
Tsuna didn't see Ryohei surface. He grimaced at the possibility of what was happening underwater, though he finally did resurface, only to dive back down again and move about one metre forward. And repeat. Onii-san…
His eyes went back to the race between the two others and Hazuki had already started the lap back while Yamamoto just made it to the wall.
By the time Ryohei surfaced once more (after this happening three times), he was at the middle of the pool, in Tsuna's line of sight. Yamamoto just made it back as Hazuki was already sitting on the deck holding Reborn and pinching his cheeks, cooing at how cute he was in his little swim suit and matching cap.
"You guys really suck. And you're trying to teach him how to swim? I feel like I should be teaching you guys (or at least most of you) how to swim. Properly."
She was met with protest. A lot of it. Coming from Ryohei. And Gokudera. Hazuki made the same look of disgust that she had earlier. And then she threw kickboards at both of them. Where even did that come from?
Tsuna inwardly cried. He could feel himself getting stabbed with insults. He looked to Reborn with pleading eyes, but the baby had a look on his face. A look that meant something bad (for him at least) was coming.
"Alright, maggots! Line up! I'm gonna teach you the way my dad taught me!" Hazuki yelled from the top of her lungs, now sporting a whistle and sunglasses.
Reborn laid idly once more atop his floater, snot bubble and all. Tsuna sunk into the water between Gokudera, who had finally joined them in the pool (he babbled something about supporting the tenth), and Yamamoto, who was eager to just swim with everyone. Their impromptu coach was interrupted every 5 seconds by Ryohei, who constantly defended his 'Rumble Fish' style swimming. Haru deadpanned, wishing she could switch places with someone else so that she didn't have to see his awkward underwater movements.
Hazuki rolled her eyes. These people are idiots, she dove over Yamamoto's head, quickly resurfacing and pushed the hair that covered her eyes back.
"Since all you need to do is swim 15 metres, I'll give you the condensed version. The first technique is to master breathing. Follow what I do."
She took a big breath of air and then submerged, letting out bubbles for about 10 seconds, and surfaced, squinting her eyes as she mumbled something about forgetting her goggles, which were currently resting around her neck.
The others complied, and there was a violent eruption of bubbles next to Haru, who distanced herself from the boxer.
Tsuna came up gasping for air at the same time that Gokudera and Yamamoto did.
"Juudaime! Are you okay!?"
"Maa maa, Tsuna. Take your time, haha!"
Hazuki rubbed the bridge of her nose, and instructed them to continue with the exercise 10 more times, earning an insult from Gokudera (who had a foam floater thrown to his face seriously where did that come from), a laugh from Yamamoto, and enthusiasm from Haru and Ryohei. Tsuna groaned once more. The sun was setting and he still had homework to do. Just how long was this going to take.
What he didn't noticed was that half of his thinking was done underwater. And he didn't notice that he was coming up for breaths periodically. And that the others were off doing their own thing. That is, until he was greeted with a splash to the face.
Hazuki flashed a genuine smile and gave him a thumbs up.
"Now that you've mastered breathing, this is the easy part."
She waded through the water and gently approached him, "Inflate your stomach like it's a big ball, and that'll give you buoyancy. The key is to stay afloat. So just think of your stomach like a big inflatable beach ball, ne?"
She then proceeded to pull a very colorful one out and throw it, hitting Ryohei gracefully at the back of his head. I don't even want to know, but there's no sense in not trying. Tsuna nodded as his feet lifted off of the pool floor, his tummy fat with air. He started to panic as he sank, but an assuring hand pushed his back up.
"Calm down, calm down. This is normal. Now just relax and I'm going to take my hand out and don't move."
She reassured him with a soft smile and backed away. He tensed up and felt his legs sinking, but then took a big breath of air and it stopped.
"Good. Now, turn onto your tummy and extend your arms, like you did earlier. Straighten out your legs and don't bend your knees, and start kicking. Like you're trying to walk but you don't have knees."
What kind of reference was that. He gulped before turning onto his stomach and did as he was instructed, panicking as soon as his face hit the water. He lifted his head to breathe and stood up, coughing.
"Okay….. Not exactly what I expected, but just try to remember everything I taught you in the past half hour."
Hazuki grinned and gave him another thumbs up. He replicated all the things he had learned and after he came up for air about six or so times, he stood up, body exhausted from the effort and was suddenly confused by the change in scenery.
He turned around and saw that he was a good three metres away from where he started, where a pleased Hazuki crossed her arms and smiled. He saw Gokudera, Ryohei, Yamamoto, and Haru cheering him on.
She called out to him, "Now just keep practicing that! I hope you pass your test!"
With that she pulled herself out of the water, bowed to Reborn, who had taken it upon himself to set up a lounge chair, sunglasses adorning his face, and waved 'bye' to the people she had just met.
-Somewhere in suburban Namimori, 18:23-
"Aaahhhhhhhhhhh I'm so tired…"
Tsuna massaged his back as he and his friends walked home after being kicked out the waterpark, the manager mentioning something about a dolphin and explosions and never being allowed back there ever again.
"Ne, Hino-senpai is really awesome, isn't she?" Haru's eyes glittered after getting some first-hand experience swimming with her school's team captain, getting advice from the older girl, who was actually in the same year as Ryohei.
"Tch. Bastard woman was so annoying. Thinking she could take charge of things. And throwing so much crap at me!? Who does she think she is?! Disrespecting the Vongola Decimo's right-hand man?!"
Gokudera seethed through his teeth, though he won't admit that he was (somewhat) thankful for the girl's teaching, since she did work with the physics of swimming.
Yamamoto smiled and laughed, "But this is great! Now Tsuna can swim, and we had a fun time and made a new friend!"
Tsuna cracked a smile and adjusted Lambo and I-pin in his arms, both sound asleep, exhausted from the day's activity. They had run into the five-year-olds at the waterpark amidst their shenanigans, and they weren't allowed back at the pool either, by association.
The only one who wasn't revelling in Tsuna's new-found ability was Ryohei, who seemed troubled by the girl's harsh criticisms and comments, saying how he didn't deserve a title related to swimming with technique like that. But there was also some sort of new determined fire in his eyes, and that troubled the younger boy. Slightly.
"Alllrriigghhhhtt! I train myself in swimming to the extreme!"
"Shut up, turf-top! You're so loud!"
"Whaddya say, octopus-head?!"
And so their pleasant walk home had turned to disaster. By the time Tsuna found his way home, he was even more tired than earlier. He plopped his stuff down onto his floor and fell onto his bed with a 'PLOOF', groaning as 5 seconds passed before a familiar 'Ciaossu' disturbed him from his moments of peace.
Tsuna collapsed onto this floor after a horrid day. I can't believe we had to do breaststroke. All that effort for nothing…
The day just got worse as he was handed a bill for the repair costs from the park.
;~; bleheughgughugh
The funny thing is that I originally had planned for Hino to be part of the track team, but I recently got into Free! Iwatobi Swim Club and it reminded me of my swimming days back in elementary/middle school. OTL