Gou-chan still looked pretty embarrassed for having bumped into me, though, in all fairness, I had also been distracted so we were both at fault. My instincts told me to cheer her up so I did.

"And what brought you to Iwatobi?" I nodded my head, prompting her to accompany me into the busy hallways. Gou looked away, I kinda remembered something about us helping her brother… or maybe because she loved muscles and she heard boys here were cute.

"I, um… this school was near my house." Hmm. Well, it kinda was, but that's not it. I'm not gonna push, though.

"Cool! I went here because of the name." When she gave me a weird look I shrugged, "I know it's not a famous one," pun intended "but I think rockhopper penguins are the coolest thing in the world!" And it wasn't a lie, I had joined because the school's name was Iwatobi, but also because I was hoping Haru-chan and Mako-chan had joined. And that they'd be in the swimming club already. Oh well, let's go over this again. I'll have to try harder this time.

"I guess that's nice..." oh no, she felt awkward, as a fellow female, I was hoping she'd feel more open to me. But I guess I'd have to do more than that. Hmmmm.

"Hey," she looked up, and I gave her a mischievous smile and leaned into her, once I fake-checked nobody was listening, I whispered, "have you seen the senpais?" This was soooo awkward, but if I wanted Gou-chan on my side, I'd have to compliment Mako-chan's and Haru-chan's muscles. "When I was looking for High schools, I was told to visit them before making up my mind, and when I went to the track team, I couldn't stop staring at their muscles!" I lowered my gaze, trying to seem embarrassed by this, which I kinda was, geez, "and it may sound like a fetish or something but… it's not like that, I just… appreciate the beauty in them…"

I hope that was enough. I sure felt my pride go down a couple hundred feet underground.

I finally dared look at Gou, and when I noticed that weird, excited glint in her eyes, I felt it as a success. Even if she'd drag me to muscles events afterwards… I probably should have thought this better.

She also looked around, genuinely checking we weren't being eavesdropped on, "I know how you feel, I… also like them so… you're not alone, have you checked the online forums?" whoawhoawhoa, there are online forums about this kind of thing?! Geez, Gou-chan, um…

"N-no, I haven't. I um…" destiny, why?! "I'm still pretty new to this, so maybe…?" Japanese, please lend me your implied gifts and not make me actually phrase the whole sentence. If anything, Gou-chan looked more excited.

"I'll be happy to, Hazuki-chan!"

Step 1: achieved. Kind of.

"Hey, since you said you came here before term started, do you know if there is a swimming club in here?" Yes! An opportunity! Finally!

I placed a hand on my chin and hummed, "now that I think about it… not really. The pool seemed pretty out of use, it wasn't even filled, and when I asked to the principal about it, he said the club had to be disbanded long ago because there were no new members." Sad as it was, that was the truth. The Principal had told us that if he didn't convince more people to join, then we'd have to close the club after Haru-chan and Mako-chan graduated. We got newbies somehow, but I didn't get to know them before this happened.

Gou looked pensive for a moment there before she had an idea, "what if we ask people to help us join the swim club? How many people do we need?"

"At least four swimmers… include me, I like to swim." Gou-chan seemed a little surprised at this, but she nodded.

"Then we'd only need three more people…" bingo.

"I know two more people who would like to be in a swim club!" If Mako-chan doesn't go all suspicious on me, that is… wait, maybe I can convince Rei-chan to swim here too! "Make it three people!" If he hadn't joined track yet, that is.

Well, Gou-chan seemed to have faith, at least.

First, and maybe the easiest, were Mako-chan and Haru-chan. I wondered how they would act, probably Mako-chan would ask me if I was the one who called him at 7 am yelling (which I was but he does not need to know that), and Haru-chan… let's hope my promise to cook him mackerel and letting him be in the water all he wanted was worth it.

Gou-chan and I had to depart for homeroom, since we were in different classes, but agreed to meet after lunch. And there I was, alone, with my new classmates.

Hmm, they looked the same, and they sat in the same places I remember them to be.

My seat was still empty, so I took it before anyone else could.

I peeked to look at the seat in front of mine, and surely, Rei-chan was already there.

I wonder why I felt all giddy, back with Gou-chan I was still alright, but maybe not having Rei-chan look back at me to make sure I was last-minute studying for my tests made it feel more real. Again I was caught behind.

I had no time for my thinking, however, as the teacher had already arrived. And was ready to give us the speech of our lives. Gosh, I had also forgotten all about this.

Okay, so, where did Gou-chan and I agree to meet?

Uh, I still remember where her classroom was, but maybe I could be wrong?

Still, walking there was my safest bet, so there I go.

Awe, everybody had already left… wait, there's still Hana-chan in there!

"Excuse me, Hana-chan!" She looked up to me, surprised.

"How do you know my name?" Oh, shoot.

Quick, Nagisa! "I don't!" okay that sounded stupid, and Hana-chan seemed pretty suspicious about how a girl she just met guessed her name right. Then I looked at her hair and saw she was wearing a pretty brooch. That's it! "I just saw the brooch you were wearing and happened to splutter the name, I'm sorry if I assumed, I thought it was cute." Pleaseeeee tell me I got out of that one unscathed, the last thing I need is a girl on my back. Hana-chan hummed and looked at her brooch, maybe only now realizing she was wearing it.

"I guess you're right. It kinda does give a hint to my name. What's yours?" She placed the pin back in place and stared at me curiously.

I proceeded to place my greeting grin. "I'm Hazuki Nagisa, pleased to meet you!" I waved my hand and bowed a little, certainly energetic.

"Likewise, Hanamura Chigusa." She bowed as well and when she was back on my eye level, she asked me, "what brought you here, though?" And only when she asked me that question I remembered I was here on a mission. Silly me!

"Oh, that's right. I was looking for Matsuoka Gou, she told me her classroom was this one, and she didn't really give me a meeting place for lunch break…"

"Gou?" Oh, that's right, she prefers Kou.

"Yeah, that's her name. She prefers Kou because it's more girly, but I saw the kanji on her locker and it was Gou." I placed my hands of my hips, trying to emphasize my point with a pout. "And I don't really get it, I'd be honored if I was named after Nagamasa Azai's third daughter!" Also, it was pretty funny to rile her up over it. It would be like if I was ashamed of my girly name… no wait, I'm a girl here, so there really isn't a reason for me to be ashamed of my girly name. What was I doing again?

"Hazuki-chan!" Well, I'm glad Gou-chan and I had the same idea. She came running to me and grabbed my hands, enthusiast that her new friend was still here. "I'm really sorry, I didn't realize I had forgotten to give you a meeting place until homeroom was over…" I shook my hands and kept saying "s'okay, s'okay!", I really needed to distract hers and Hana-chan's attention.

"Well, shall we go?" I suggested, maybe a little too eager, but I needed to be quick if I wanted to convince Haru-chan and Mako-chan, "we need to find people who would want to join!" If I remember correctly, they'd meet up on the roof… oh wait, that's right, Haru-chan didn't come today… well, we can still try to convince Mako-chan… but what if he remembers the incident from this morning? Welp, we can still try. Besides, I can only tell him my last name.

Yeah, I can… I can do that.

"Sure thing, Hazuki-chan! Lead the way!"

I waved back at Hana-chan and led Gou-chan from the classroom, I was pretty sure that Makoto would have lunch in the roof, and I tried to keep up with the small talk Gou-chan was making on the way, something about a muscle model she saw on last month's magazine issue. When I reached the door to the roof, I felt the nerves I had earlier come back to me, I already knew for a fact none of them remembered me, so…

I don't know how it felt so easy with Gou-chan, maybe because I didn't interact with her as much, even if I had known her longer (at least longer than Rei-chan). So re-acquainting myself with her wasn't as hard? It still stung to have her as a stranger at first.

Ah, stop thinking about it!

There he is. He looks so lonely without Haru-chan listening to his conversation. He was in a corner eating the bento his mom made, and I doubted my plan for a second. "There he is," I nodded in his direction, and Gou-chan stared at him, probably trying to measure his muscles under the uniform. She seemed satisfied. (Mako-chan did win a muscle contest, after all.)

"Then what are we waiting for?"

I imitated Gou-chan's enthusiasm and made a beeline to Mako-chan, "excuse me," Mako-chan looked away from the fence to stare at me, he offered me his custom smile and I could see his brain trying to form answer and probably a rejection (he did use to get tons of love confessions from girls, if I remember correctly). "Tachibana-senpai?"

He blinked and stared curiously at me, "I'm sorry, but do I know you?" Ah, how cute, using keigo. No wonder girls swoon over him, Mako-chan's always been Prince Charming material.

"Ah, not personally but… uh…, you see… I had a little brother who went to ISC…" he seemed to light up a little when I mentioned it.

"Is that so? What was his favorite stroke?" Oops. I should probably have thought this better.

"Breastroke."

"Ah, how nice…" he stopped mid-sentence, and gave me a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, I interrupted you, please do continue."

"It's no problem," I assured, sometimes, amongst his hen-mom times, there were also little kid times, y'know? Like, he'd get really excited over things. "The thing is.. I um, remember Tachibana-senpai's and Nanase-senpai's swimming really well, and I was wondering if maybe you…?" Pleasepleasepleaseplease accept….

"...join a swimming club? I'd love to… but I don't know about Haru, he'd probably just say "I only swim free", so he wouldn't really like a club…"

"Really? But I thought you had been with Nanase-senpai in a relay during Elementary…" Mako-chan frowned, and his confusion matched mine.

"Relay? We never did one." He seemed to look through his memories for a second, trying to remember a relay, but nothing seemed to occur to him. "There was this kid from Sano Elementary that wanted to do one (Matsuoka-kun, was it?)"

"You were in the same swimming club as my brother?" This time Gou-chan interfered, she seemed surprised about it. Wasn't that the reason she had approached us? Because she knew we were in the relay with Rin-chan?

Wait. Didn't Mako-chan just mention that they never did the relay?

Mako-chan stared at Gou-chan, as if just noticing her. "You're Matsuoka's little sister? I never knew he had one…" What do you mean? She had brought cookies to Rin-chan once… and, and she cheered a lot from the bleachers…

"Why didn't Nanase-senpai agree to the relay?" Haru-chan had already agreed to the relay when I asked him, all they needed was a breastroke swimmer.

"He always thought Matsuoka-kun was too pushy, so he never gave in. And I couldn't make him do anything if he didn't want to." He looked sorry about it, maybe it was my dejected expression that made him look like that.

"What about Junior High?" I'm pretty sure they did one then, I had gone to see them and they won also with their new team.

"Again, Haru didn't want to, so he dropped out." I remained silent, pondering over this. Mako-chan seemed to catch up on that fact and went back to Gou-chan, who was more prone to talking than I was. "So you're Matsuoka-kun's little sister? How is he doing? I remember he mentioned at school that he was going abroad to Australia." Haru-chan had been very upset about it.

Gou-chan no was the one who looked sheepish. "I don't know what happened over there. Last time he came… he seemed… weird." I can still help him, right? We can… we can do it.

"I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be, there's nothing to be sorry about." She shrugged and I could feel her heart reaching out to Rin-chan. Yeah. I didn't come so far only to give up.

"Where is Nanase-senpai?" Mako-chan looked back at me.

"He didn't come today." Ah, so I was right.

"Can you please bring him tomorrow? I'm sure I can convince him to join!" Mako-chan looked wary of my determination, but I hope he at least gave me the benefit of doubt.

"I'll try… um…"

"Hazuki Nagisa." He looked taken aback, it was probably a bad idea to tell him my name this morning, and it was probably a bad idea to reveal (even if unintentionally) that I knew him. However, if he remembered my 7am slip, he didn't comment on it.

"Hazuki-san."

"Nagisa is okay with me."

We went back to our classrooms in a gloomy mood.

Gou-chan seemed to pick up on my feelings (which I am thankful for, blessed female intuition), so she didn't comment on anything nor did she ask me stuff. (She also surprisingly didn't comment on the fact that I told Mako-chan to call me on a first-name basis.) Once we reached Gou-chan's classroom, I sighed and stopped.

"Well, I guess we'll meet up after school, does here sound good too? I still have another possible candidate for club member." I knew it'd hurt me, to hear Rei-chan's harsh words of rejection to joining the swimming club. Even more after all I heard from Mako-chan. But I had to try, I had done it once, I could do it again.

I knew how to do it, so it should come almost natural to me?

"Yeah, sure. Sounds good."

Classes were still pretty booooooriiiiiiing, I don't know how I passed all this without dying from boredom…

Oh, right, haha, I kinda forget.

Anyways, tracking Rei-chan, right? Easy enough. I had memorized his timetables back at freshmen, so I knew which route Gou-chan and I could take to get to him.

So I had about fifteen for him to start track activities… enough time to retrieve Gou-chan.

I walked through the crowded halls, trying not to get too pushed around as I was a lot smaller now. Almost there… just this hallway until Gou-chan's…

"Hazuki-chan! Over here!" There she was, waving a couple of feet away from me and a huge smile on her face. It was always nice to see my best female friend happy, and it was so contagious I also felt the corners of my mouth slipping up.

"Shall we go?" She nodded and started walking, even if she didn't know where to. I giggled and corrected her direction to where the track team was.

It was all just as I remembered. Sorta. I didn't really come around much after Rei-chan joined, but it was fun chasing him here just for the sake of it.

"Who is it?" I glanced at my partner and tried to remember what we were supposed to do. Heh, my attention span sure is short.

"Uh, he has blue hair, purple eyes, red glasses…" I trailed off, looking for him between the rest of the guys.

"The one with fabulous biceps!" Oh dear, I had already forgotten what Gou-chan's first impression of Rei had been. I smiled sheepishly as I agreed with her. I guess Rei-chan did have nice biceps, having done lots of track exercising.

"Yeah… that one…" I just hoped 'what nice biceps you have there' wasn't the first thing my female best friend was planning to say to my male best friend. It'd be so awkward. And even more so since Rei-chan didn't really know us. "Are you ready to talk to him? I should warn you though, he isn't very keen on joining." Not very keen, indeed. Too long to convince him, it took me too long to convince him. But maybe, since I'm earlier this time, it can also take me less time.

"We won't know 'til we try, yeah? Let's go, Hazuki-chan!"

I stopped her with an arm, as Rei-chan was preparing himself to make a jump, because I wanted to see it again. The beauty that had caught my attention on freshmen.

There he goes. Stretching, mumbling something to himself, probably the mathematical probability that he will land okay on the mattress, and I was back in time (no pun intended).

He soared, and I was taken aback once more as he sliced his way through the sky.

I wonder if he would have had a career as a track member if I hadn't pegged him to join the swimming team.

"There he goes," I mumbled to Gou, then tugged her arm and nodded towards the track and prepared myself for the speech I was about to give to my best friend.

It was pretty crowded, some people were just running, others were stretching in a corner, and others were jumping fences in the straight side of the track. The atmosphere was pretty different from the pool, eh?

I took a deep breath and yelled "Ryuugazaki-kun!" while waving my hand, surely it caught his attention. But before I could continue advancing, out of the corner of my eyes I saw someone running towards me.

"Nagisa!" ...uh?

Wait, wasn't that… Rei's ex Track Captain? "Sera-senpai?" That was his name, right? Re-chan didn't use to mention him much, so I wouldn't really remember. Anyways, how does he know my name? We didn't interact much back then.

"Oh, come on, Nagisa. You've known me since forever, no need to be so formal." He smiled and came closer to me, much to mine and Gou-chan's confusion. "So you did come to Iwatobi after all, interested in track?" ...what?

"Y-yeah, I did. I heard the rock-and-hopping bread is the best." I glanced at my friend, who was staring at me expectantly. "And actually, I was hoping to get some people to help me create a swimming club." I tried to avoid using his first name as I didn't know it. Why does this have to keep getting weirder?

Sera just hummed. "I didn't know you liked swimming, you had told me you didn't know how to swim." And I felt my very soul come to my feet in astonishment. Just what did my female me do?

"I-I did?" I tried to laugh it off, though it did make sense that, as I hadn't signed up on ISC, I didn't know how to swim… to be honest I don't really remember if I had to learn from the very beginning, it had been so long ago… "well, you know what they say, better to learn know, than to learn drowning!"

Okay, now both Sera and Gou-chan were staring weird, and I could already feel her questions.

"Hazuki-san, wasn't it? I believe you asked for my attention." Bless you Rei-chan, always talking on the right time...

"Ryuugazaki-kun!" I tried redirecting the attention to him, which would do for the time being. "Yes, I was actually thinking of asking your help for the swimming team." He gave me a skeptic look.

"I believe that if I am here, it means I plan on signing for track, doesn't it. Which reminds me," and he turned to the captain. "Sera-senpai, was the jump high enough? What can I do to improve it?"

I tried not to look too dejected yet again, and nodded to Gou-chan to get out of there. It wouldn't really work if there were too many people present.

"I'm sorry, he was a little blunt." Gou-chan told me once we walked out of school. I shrugged and continued walking.

"I was expecting that already, don't worry about it. He's just a little closed." my friend seemed a little pensive over that comment.

"You sound like you know him."

Yeah, I do. "I used to, but he doesn't remember me." And that was the closest to the truth I could get without it being weird. "He's still doing tryouts, so he will come around eventually."

"You make it sound like you've done this before."

Yeah, I have.

I didn't wait for Rei-chan to arrive at the train station, I already needed to think of a plan to convince Haru-chan and Mako-chan to join, and if it came to that, I could convince him like I had last time. Though the fact that I apparently know Sera surprised me, and that he was so familiar with me as to use my name with no honorific. Gou-chan seemed to catch up to that, but didn't question it. Or the fact that I didn't act with as much familiarity that I did with Rei.

I wonder what's going through her head.

It is somewhat gratifying to know, however, that my sisters aren't as nosy in this universe or whatever, though I guess that since I am a girl, I wouldn't have been embarrassed by their attempts at dressing me up when I was little.

I'll take what I can get.

I had woken up earlier this morning to make some mackerel. I remember how to cook it since 1), I wasn't really bad at Home Economics and 2), because I had asked Haru-chan how to grill mackerel. As he had said this was some valuable skill to have in the future (er, past), he had agreed instantly. (This reminds me of that time when we were talking on the roof, about who would we date if we were girls. Haru-chan had chosen me because I had promised to cook him mackerel every morning, and Mako-chan complained that he had been chosen over fish. Oh boy, I miss them already.)

Anyhoo, the train ride was uneventful, I was keeping to myself today, trying to think how to make my plan work, and to get my friends back. So I didn't take much notice of Rei once he boarded and got out to run his station-long jog, nor was I very attentive when my station arrived. (Though I was lucky enough to un-board on time.)

Classes were also boring, I had already seen this, so it was pretty easy. (Maybe this is considered cheating? Rei-chan would consider it cheating.) And once I got out, I walked to Gou's classroom, where she was already waiting for me.

"Look, I brought something to help convince Nanase-senpai." I said as I showed her a bento with the mackerel and rice.

"A homemade bento? Do you think he'll like it?"

"I'm pretty sure he'll like it!" I double-checked that the taste was good enough, and that it was enough for Haru-chan to feel satisfied. "Let's go!"

"Sure!"

Fortunately, I didn't feel as nervous about talking to Haru-chan, so walking up to him was way easier than it had been yesterday with Mako-chan. Also, it kinda helped that Mako-chan was already expecting us. And my plan to bribe Haru-chan with mackerel seemed to work as he forgot to bring his own today.

"Tachibana-senpai! Nanase-senpai!" I ran to them and sat between them, petting the small spot besides me for Gou-chan to sit too. "I was hoping you'd meet here today."

Haru-chan just eyed me weirdly. "She's the girl you told me about?" Mako-chan looked a little sheepish.

"Yeah, she's Nagisa. She says her brother went to ISC and she remembers us. She's willing to help create a swimming club." Haru-chan still looked wary of me. So I started bribing.

"I was hoping this could help convince you, senpai." And I reached the bento to him, he stared at the small box curiously and started to unfold the cloth. "I'm really sorry if it looks too plain, though, I was running late this morning and I only had some rice I washed last night and mackerel to grill…" I tried to make it seem pretty casual, the fact that I couldn't even cut veggies and put them tonkatsu sauce while the fish was grilling…

And when I saw the glint in Haru's eyes, I felt like I had hit the jackpot. "It is no problem."

Gou-chan seemed to catch on something and stood up from her place. "I'm going to the cafeteria, do you want something, Hazuki-chan?"

"Ooh, ooh, rock-and-hopping bread please!" I asked and handed her a couple of 100¥ coins. and once she was away, I glanced at Mako-chan, who was eating egg rolls, and Haru-chan, who seemed pretty happy with my grilling skills.

"So, did you guys hear that they're planning on tearing down the swimming club?" They looked at me curiously, and after I received no answer, I continued. "Yeah, such a shame though. Do you guys wanna go one last time before they demolish it? I was planning on going tonight, for the good times, but the more, the merrier!"

Mako-chan just stared at Haru-chan, whose brain seemed to decide whether or not to go. And maybe there was a little voice that said "the water's there" because he only looked up at me and nodded.

Sweet. Next up was Rin-chan.

First of all I'm sorry. ;; I had school and zero inspiration, I had some free time today so I used it to finish this.

The first pun Nagisa was talking about, is because the words "name" and "famous" share a kanji.

So I was re-reading the High Speed! manga, and I came across a really cute panel when Nagisa proposed to Rin that, if he won first place at breastroke, he could join the relay team. Rin, reluctantly, said yes. And then Nagisa ran really happy to Haru saying that "I'll be on a team with you", and Haru was like "yeah yeah, whatever you say", and Rin kinda used Nagisa to convince Haru to do the relay. So that's something else that changed with Nagisa not being part of the original relay team, he wouldn't have known it, though, he'd just have thought they needed another breastroke swimmer.

Oh, and about the muscles online forums, there are some, but more for the people who work out than for people that admire muscles. I don't really recommend them, they made me cringe a little.

I have some ideas for this, so wait for them. :D

Matane!