Chapter 11

"Where's Akira-san?"

The simple question made Nagisa's smiling face fall. His fists suddenly clenched and his magenta eyes flashed. He glared down at the swimming goggles in his hands that he had just removed. He felt the sudden urge to throw them across the room in frustration. He settled with clenching them in his fist and throwing them in his bag.

"Why do you ask?" Nagisa muttered through gritted teeth as he stuffed his swimsuit in the bag along with the goggles. They were standing in the locker room of the Iwatobi swimming pool. He turned around and waited for his friends to finish changing so that they could go home. His hands were trembling.

Makoto, who was rubbing his wet hair with a towel, didn't notice the expression on Nagisa's face. He shrugged, taking the question lightly. "I was just asking. She didn't eat lunch with us and she hasn't been coming to practice to walk home with you. Is she busy with something?" When Nagisa didn't respond, Makoto looked up and saw the frustration in Nagisa's magenta eyes. He'd never seen the cheerful, blonde boy look so upset. "Nagisa? What's wrong?"

Nagisa shrugged, hitching his bag up on his shoulder. "We had a fight." He turned and forced a cheerful smile at Makoto. "It's okay, though! Let's go home, guys!"

"Ehhh?" Rei demanded in surprise. "You had a fight with Akira-san? Did you do something to make her mad?"

Nagisa turned and glared at Rei. "Why do assume I did something?"

Rei shrugged sheepishly. "Well, honestly… even if she did something wrong, you wouldn't really get mad. So I have to assume that you did something and Akira-chan got mad. So, what happened? You seemed fine last week."

"It's nothing," Nagisa mumbled. "And it wasn't my fault!"

"Nagisa-kun! Come on, tell us!"

- X - X -X -

Nagisa held up the penguin plushie to his face, cuddling it happily to his chest. He had gifted it to Akira on her birthday, and she kept it diligently on her bed near her pillows. Nagisa was lying back on his girlfriend's bed after school. He pressed his face into the softness of the toy and inhaled. It smelled like her. She probably held it at night when she slept. He grinned at the thought of Akira going to sleep clutching the penguin doll.

"Baka. Are you seriously smelling the stuffed toy?" Akira asked him with a frown. She was sitting at her desk, twiddling her pen as she wrote something down. But the sight of Nagisa rolling around on her bed and clutching the penguin was distracting her. She swiveled her chair and turned to look at him. "What are you even doing here? Shouldn't you be studying with Rei?"

Nagisa pouted. "Rei-chan's busy today."

"Nagisa, don't lie. If your grades don't go up… you know I promised your parents that I would make sure you studied and did better." Akira gave him a stern look, but Nagisa whined and began to roll around on the bed while still clutching the penguin.

"I don't want to study! I studied all day, yesterday! Akira-chan, please, let's do something else!" Nagisa pleaded. He pushed the penguin plushie aside and stood up, moving over to where she was sitting at her desk. He grabbed her hand and kneeled beside her chair. "Let's go eat ice cream at the park!"

Akira shook her head. "I can't leave the house. Katsu-chan is in his room and my parents are out, I can't leave him here. And he's doing his homework. Like you should be?"

Nagisa pouted, throwing his arms around Akira and pulling her closer. She flushed red as he wrapped his arms around her stomach and snuggled up to her. He was warm and he smelled like chlorine and strawberries. Akira sighed, closing her eyes as Nagisa nuzzled her neck happily. "Akira-chan, you're so soft. And you smell nice." He kissed her neck and Akira bit her lip.

"Baka. Don't do that," she mumbled, but Nagisa was already placing soft kisses on her neck and jawline as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her out of the chair. Akira clutched his shoulders. She could feel the chiseled muscles underneath and briefly wondered how he maintained them with all the ice cream and sweets he ate. Her breath hitched as Nagisa lightly bit down on her skin.

"Gomen," Nagisa muttered. He pulled away lightly to look Akira in the eyes. "Did that hurt?"

"N-no. I liked it," Akira muttered with an embarrassed huff, before pulling Nagisa down so that his lips met hers. He kissed her softly and gently, occasionally placing teasing and ticklish pecks on her cheeks and jaw. Akira closed her eyes as she enjoyed the feeling of Nagisa's kisses on her skin. His arms were wrapped around her waist and she could feel the heat from his body. "N-nagisa… my brother's in the other room. What if Katsu comes in?"

"He won't." Nagisa leaned forward and claimed her lips, stopping Akira from making any protests. She stiffened slightly but then melted into the kiss. She slid her fingers into his honey-blonde hair, pulling him closer. She whimpered against his lips lightly as Nagisa's arms slid down her back and her waist. She could feel them sliding further down as they kissed. Akira jumped when she felt him cup a hand over her butt and squeeze it.

"Nagisa!" Akira squeaked in surprise. She flushed red and swatted his arm. "What was that?"

Nagisa rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Sorry. Your skirt was cute."

"Baka." Akira pulled away from him quickly, while Nagisa pouted as his girlfriend wriggled out of his arms. She hurried back to her desk. "We can't do this now. My little brother is in the other room. Besides, you need to study and I have to finish this work by tonight."

"What are you even doing?" Nagisa asked, slightly put-out. His shoulders were drooped as he approached her desk, picking up one of the many sheets of paper lying on it. "Are you studying? What is this? Application form? Ehh?"

"They're college application forms," Akira replied as she hunted for her pen. It had probably fallen down when Nagisa had pulled her out of the chair. She bent over to pick it up from the floor. Nagisa grinned, putting the paper down and playfully tugging her skirt. Akira straightened up and glared at him with a flush on her cheeks. "Oi! Hentai! Stop playing with my skirt!"

Nagisa grinned. "Gomen." He sat back down on the bed and pouted as Akira began to resume her work. He sighed and picked up one of the abandoned college applications, looking at it with a frown. "Why are you filling college applications anyway, Akira-chan?"

Akira raised an eyebrow. "Baka. What kind of stupid question is that? I'm graduating in a few months, I'll have to go to college after that."

Nagisa frowned, suddenly feeling his mood darken. He hadn't thought about the fact that Akira was a third-year and that she wouldn't be in school next year. He hated the thought that she wouldn't be on the train every morning, and they couldn't eat lunch together. He wouldn't be able to slip into her classroom during the break and kiss her, embarrassing her in front of her classmates. He paused, looking at Akira. Her dark hair was pulled over one shoulder and she was biting her lip as she concentrated on what she wrote. Nagisa couldn't imagine high school without Akira. "I… I guess I forgot." He looked down at the application dejectedly. "I'll miss you at school, Akira-chan."

Akira turned and noticed the puppy-dog expression on Nagisa's face. She suddenly felt bad and reached out to ruffle his blonde hair. "Baka. Don't worry. I'll come visit you during the holidays, we can meet at Christmas and during the summer."

Nagisa furrowed his eyebrows. "Ehh? Christmas and summer? Why do we have to wait until the holidays to go on dates? You can still come and watch swim practice! And I'll come over to your house every day after school!"

Akira looked at him oddly. "Nagisa… you can come to my house, but it's not like I'll be here."

Nagisa's magenta eyes widened slightly. He stared at Akira for a few seconds before glancing down at the application he held in his hands. The words that were written across the top of the paper made his heart drop down into his stomach. His hands trembled. "T-tokyo?" Nagisa mumbled. He clutched the paper and stared up at Akira in shock. "Why are you applying in Tokyo?"

"Because they have really nice colleges. I want to study architecture."

Nagisa shook his head, almost as though he couldn't believe it. Akira watched him, worried. She had assumed that he knew she would be leaving home for college. But the horrified expression in his magenta eyes showed that he hadn't even considered it. Akira wondered if she should have broken it to him more gently. "Nagisa…"

"Why can't you study architecture here?" Nagisa asked suddenly. His eyes were hard. "Why do you have to go all the way to Tokyo? What am I supposed to do here without you?"

Akira sighed. "Nagisa, I'll miss you too. But you have dreams too, right? Don't you want to fulfill them?"

"You can have different dreams! There are plenty of things you can do with me! We can… we can become deep sea divers together! Or we could go on an expedition to Antarctica and study penguins! Or we could open an aquarium in Iwatobi where we sell all kind of exotic sea creatures! You don't have to go to college in Tokyo."

Akira stared at Nagisa for a long moment. "Okay. That's cute, Nagisa-kun. I think your imagination is adorable, but the deadline to submit those applications is Monday so I really need to finish filling them. Can you please give them back?"

Nagisa stared at her for a long moment. How could Akira just sit there and tell him so calmly that she was leaving for Tokyo on a few months? Didn't she care about anything? A sudden wave of anger shot through him and he jumped up from the bed, sing his fingers to rip the application form to tin pieces. Akira watched him in shock as he dropped the torn bits of paper on the floor of her room.

"What the hell is wrong you?" Akira cried. She lunged for the application form, but it was no longer in any salvageable condition. She looked up at Nagisa, her eyes flashing. "You idiot! What the hell do you think you're doing, it took me half an hour to fill that! What is wrong with you?"

Nagisa was breathing heavily, his hands trembling as he looked down at the paper he had torn. He felt a tinge of satisfaction at seeing it in pieces. "I won't let you go to Tokyo." He looked up at her, his eyes filled with angry tears. "I won't let you!"

Akira clenched her fists. "You won't let me? And who the hell are you to stop me?"

"I love you! I thought you loved me too!" Nagisa cried. "If you loved me, you wouldn't leave me!"

"Just because I'm going to Tokyo doesn't mean I don't love you!" Akira snapped. "But this is a stage in our lives where we have to move on! We can still be together, I told you I'll come visit during the holidays and-"

"That's not enough! I want you to stay here!"

"Stay here and do what, Nagisa?" Akira snapped. "Huh?"

"I told you, we can become deep sea divers, or-"

Akira laughed, feeling anger bubble up inside of her. She looked down at Nagisa, who was glaring at her through tear-filled magenta eyes. For a moment, the childish expression on his face infuriated her. "Are you stupid? Those aren't real dreams, they're never going to happen! For god's sake, would you please grow up and stop behaving like such a child?"

Nagisa glared at her. "I'm a child? You're the one that's being completely selfish! Don't you even care about my feelings? I thought we were going to be together forever!"

Akira took a deep breath. "That's a nice thought. But relationships don't last forever when one person is being unreasonable and unwilling to understand what the other wants."

"I'm not unreasonable! You're the one who wants to move halfway across the country just to study in some stupid college!" Nagisa cried. He let out a choked, angry yell before storming across the room and yanking the door open. He slammed it behind him as he left, leaving Akira in complete silence.

She sank back into her chair, putting her head in her hands. What had just happened?

- X - X -X -

Makoto and Rei exchanged shocked looks as they heard the story. They couldn't believe that Nagisa had gotten so angry, or that he and Akira had such an ugly fight. Nagisa was sitting silently on the bench in the locker room, his magenta eyes glaring dully at the floor.

"Nagisa-kun… I mean, you must have known that Akira-chan would want to go to college. She's really smart too, so of course she would get admission somewhere good in Tokyo…" Makoto began gently. "I mean, she probably should have told you before, but…"

Nagisa frowned. "I don't want to talk about it."

"But-"

"Let's go home."

Nagisa stood up and walked out of the locker room silently. Makoto, Rei and Haru followed him. None of them knew what to say to Nagisa. They had seen him in a number of moods; happy, sad, distressed and worried, but none of them had ever seen him angry before. They all walked out of the pool area, only to see that Akira was standing near the entrance to the pool area. She was clutching her bag and kicking a pebble absently, but she straightened up at soon as she saw the boys.

"Nagisa-kun," Akira began slowly.

"I don't want to talk to you," Nagisa replied bluntly. He walked past her quietly, almost as though she wasn't standing there. Akira stared after him, her eyes filling with tears. Why was he behaving like this? Nagisa wasn't this sort of a person. She would prefer it if he started screaming at her again; but she couldn't take this silence, this detachment. She bit her lip to hold in her tears as Rei approached her gently.

"Akira-senpai, are you okay?" he asked.

Akira looked up at Rei, upset. "Why is he behaving like this? He won't even talk to me! Can't you do something, can't you make him see sense?"

Rei frowned. Makoto and Haru had left to catch up with Nagisa. "To be honest, I don't know what to do. I've never seen him like this. But I don't think he's really angry, Akira-senpai. I think he's just upset that you're leaving. Give him time to adjust to the idea."

"Do you really think he'll get over it in time?"

Rei shrugged. "I don't really know."

Akira cursed and kicked the pebble irritably. "This is so stupid. I can't believe I'm fighting with him over something this stupid. Wasn't it obvious that I would go to college? But I don't want him to get angry, I can't stand seeing him so upset!"

Rei stood still, having no idea how to comfort the upset girl. Before he could say anything else, Akira had grabbed her own bag and stormed off in the other direction. He sighed and pushed his glasses up on his nose. What a mess.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X