Chapter 4

They had finally started training in the pool, and Nagisa had been begging her to come watch their practice all week. Akira hesitated outside the entrance to the swimming pool area, wondering if this was a good idea. He still followed her around as much as ever; but Akira was finding it more and more difficult to get annoyed at him when all she wanted to do was laugh or smile at his antics. She blushed, clenching her fists. It wasn't like she had a crush on the adorable kid. Besides, if she just came and showed her face at their practice, he would stop pestering her.

Akira finally entered the pool area, careful not to slip on the water. She could see Haruka and Makoto in the water, swimming laps. The bespectacled boy was stretching by the side of the pool, and Nagisa was just climbing up the pool steps.

"Akira-senpai!" Nagisa beamed, hoisting himself out of the water and hurrying over to her. Akira froze and flushed a furious red color at the sight of a half-naked Nagisa. She took a shaky step back, unable to take her eyes off him.

With his adorable child-like face, Akira had expected that the rest of Nagisa would be equally child-like. But despite his height and cheeks, he had a wonderfully toned body. Akira stared at the muscles, her hands trembling. This is wrong! He's not supposed to be this hot! She screamed in her head. Yet, despite all her screaming, the truth was that the innocent, child-like Nagisa was hiding a wonderful upper body. "Akira-senpai, are you okay? You're red."

"F-fine," Akira spluttered out. As Makoto lifted himself out of the water, Akira flushed further. How did they get these bodies? She turned back to Nagisa, who was watching her with his magenta eyes. She stared into them for a moment, trying to calm herself down. It was just Nagisa. Those magenta eyes followed her around with that puppy dog face every day. It was nothing to get flustered over. "You asked me to come watch practice, right? I had a little time before my Photography Club meeting."

"Hai, I'm glad you came!" Nagisa beamed. He grabbed a timer off a table and handed it to Akira. "Can you time me, Akira-senpai?"

"If I have to," Akira muttered, taking the timer as Nagisa snapped the goggles back onto his face and headed for the pool. She pressed the button as she watched him dive in smoothly, and smiled. He was amazingly fluid. She had no idea that he was so talented. Nagisa reached the pool wall again and slammed his hand on it, just as Akira clicked the timer off. "32.5 seconds," she told him as he climbed out again.

"Really?' Nagisa asked, disappointed. He smiled up at Akira. "I got nervous because you were watching me, senpai."

"You were still amazing," Akira said with a small smile, as Nagisa shook his hair to get the water droplets out of it. The droplets hit Akira's face and she squealed, trying to get away as he shook his hair more. "Nagisa-kun! Baka, don't do that, I have to go to a meeting after this!"

"Gomen," Nagisa laughed, handing her a towel. "Here."

Akira took it, rolling her eyes as she tried to dry herself, hiding her smile in the towel.

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Akira leaned back on the pool chair, the book propped up on her knees. She'd started coming down and sitting by the pool on the days she didn't have any other work; it was relaxing, in the heat and the poolside was always cool. Not to mention it kept Nagisa happy and off her back. She sighed and leaned back, glancing over the page to spot Makoto and Nagisa racing each other in the pool.

"He tries harder on the days you're here, senpai," Gou said as she walked over and stood next to the second year girl who was reading. She claimed she was here to escape the heat, but Gou had seen her peeking over the book and watching the boys swim.

"What?" Akira asked, frowning.

"Nagisa. His times are always better on the days when you're here, it's like he tries harder to impress you," Gou explained. Akira flushed a little, and covered her face with her book.

"I don't know why he bothers, it's not like I'm watching," Akira muttered, embarrassed.

Gou looked down in surprise. Despite how often she came down here and watched Nagisa swim, Akira very rarely complimented any of them. In fact, it almost seemed like she was embarrassed to admit that she liked hanging out here. Maybe she was really developing feelings for Nagisa and she was too afraid to admit it. Gou smiled. Either way, it was nice to have a girl around some of the time, even if Akira wasn't the friendliest of people.

Haru took a smooth dive into the pool and Akira watched quietly, thinking about how Haru's fluid motion was picture perfect. Picture perfect… "Kou-chan?" Akira said suddenly.

"Hai, senpai?"

"Do you mind if I bring a camera and take pictures sometime?" Akira asked slowly. "I usually only take pictures of nature, but… I think I might be able to get some nice shots here."

Gou looked eager. "Hai! It would be nice to get some shots!" she paused and frowned. "But it's summer vacation from tomorrow. You won't be coming around here anymore, will you? I mean, we might not even practice here. We had this idea of going to an island to practice in the ocean."

Akira blinked. "The ocean? Is that safe?"

"Sure! The old Iwatobi swim club used to do it. Didn't Nagisa-kun tell you about this? We've been thinking about it for a while now."

Akira flushed, tugging at her braid. "Well, he probably did… To be honest, it's hard to listen to everything Nagisa-kun talks about and sometimes I fall asleep on the train and he keeps talking because he didn't notice, so…"

Gou laughed. "Well, we're trying to figure out the details."

"Oh well. Maybe after summer, then."

Gou nodded and smiled, before glancing at her watch and whistling for the boys to come out of the pool. Akira sat up and closed her book, stuffing it into her bag just as Nagisa hoisted himself out and came hurrying over to her. Akira glared at him. "Don't you dare spray water on me!"

Nagisa laughed. "I won't, Akira-senpai!" he promised before he turned a little solemn. "It's the last day of school, summer vacations are starting. We won't see each other anymore."

"Thankfully," Akira muttered. "Finally, a break."

"I know! Akira-senpai, what if you came with us to the island where we're going to practice?" Nagisa asked, beaming.

"I am not giving up my life to go sit on a deserted island with you," Akira said simply. She packed up her bag and slung it over her shoulder, rolling her eyes. "Besides, I have work. We'll see each other after summer vacation, hopefully you'll have grown up a little by then." She turned to wave at the other boys. "Bye all!"

Makoto and Rei called goodbye after her, and Akira left the pool area, turning back for a second to see a pair of adorable magenta eyes staring after her sadly. Damn him, she cursed silently.

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A/N – Thanks for reading, guys. Do leave a review.