I have nothing to say (watch everyone cheer!) except enjoy the new chapter!
It was three days later when Goro presented the idea to the Iwatobi boys. Two days that had mostly involved him and Seijuro arguing, debating, compromising, patting each other on the back, and then arguing some more. Gou had been present mainly to take notes, which ended up being a series of sloppy scribbles and scratched out sentences throughout her notebook due to the two gentlemen being unable to decide on anything without changing it three times. It had been a great test on her patience as well as her ability to write as fast as they threw out ideas.
Those two should have been the ones to get married. Then they could argue together happily all day. They must have skipped the honeymoon phase. Or maybe that was their honeymoon phase.
All that arguing had at least merged into a plan. Seijuro had announced it yesterday to his own team but Goro had put it off until today - the day they would be dong the training camp for heaven's sake – for some unknown reason.
But maybe having Goro be the one to present the training camp to the boys was a bad idea…
"Your forms are terrible!" Goro started off without any forewarning. "You guys have no idea what you're doing!"
Gou raised her eyes to the ceiling. This is my failure as a manager.
The four boys seated on the floor glanced at each other. "Isn't that a little harsh?" whispered Nagisa.
"He has even hardly seen us practice yet," mumbled Rei.
"You leave me no other choice!" Goro carried on as if no one had spoken. "How do you like this?!" With a flourish he pulled off the black cloth covering the white board set up in the living room, revealing the words underneath. "Training camp!"
He even drew sparkles around the words. Come to think of it wasn't that Amakata's handwriting?
"A training camp?" The boys shifted on the floor. "What sort of training camp?"
"A good one!" Goro declared. He turned to the white board. He brandished a marker like it was a weapon of battle. "We'll start with plank holds then move onto side crunches and squat jumps, then follow up that with flutter kicks and lunge jumps, and some Kenpo crunches…" Furiously he wrote across the white board, filling the entire surface with blue circles and maniac lines interconnecting the circles and arrows pointing all sorts of different ways.
Rei tilted his head to the side. "I wonder if he has taken lessons from John Madden."
"This is looking really hard." Nagisa's mouth was downturned as he observed the ill written mess on the board. "How are we supposed to do all that?"
"Do you mean read everyone on that board or the actual exercises?" asked Haru.
Nagisa considered. "Both."
"I-I'm sure it will be fine." Makoto chuckled in that uncomfortable way of his. "Another training camp would do us some good considering we haven't gotten in much swim time." He frowned. "Speaking of which where'd that white board come from anyhow?"
That was a good question. Even Gou was unsure how it had come to be in there. Had that been the reason why Goro had waited to announce the training camp? Because he was waiting on the whiteboard?
"Amakata got it." Goro said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He failed to notice the eyebrows that comment raised as well as he proceeded to carry on. "You boys are out of shape! It's been far too long you've been sitting around playing your video games and watching your anime cartoons and reading your porn magazines-"
Makoto choked on air.
"You mean you're actually supposed to read those things?" Nagisa whispered, aghast.
Rei raised his hand to push back his glasses in an effort to hide his red face. I bet he reads the articles.
"But no more of that!" Goro swept his hand through the air. "Today we are going to whip you boys back into shape! You aren't getting the exercise you need to be competitive, especially with the recent lack of swimming practice, but today is the day we're going to change that!" He smacked the board over the training camp words with their sparkles around them. "We'll be starting this afternoon! Prepare yourselves!" He sniffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Also we'll be training alongside Samezuka."
Gou covered her face with her notebook. One of the most important aspects and Goro had said it almost like it were an afterthought. He might be a good coach but his public speaking is God awful.
That drew a collective "ehhh" from three of the boys. Haru's eyes just widened slightly. "We'll be training with Samezuka?!"
"You're too loud, Nagisa!" Goro admonished just as loudly. "And you bet! Training together will provide motivation! Seeing how good the competition is will reinforce how much training you need to do! Samezuka is one of the top schools! Beating them will be imperative! Observe them and learn!"
"You mean it's not because Gou-chan is married to Sei-chan that we're training with them?"
Gou's mouth dropped. "W-what?! That has nothing to do with it!"
"Oh well of course," Goro said without hesitation. "It was their idea after all. They thought it up together. Cute, isn't it?! And it would be cruel to separate newlyweds besides."
Gou's face reddened. Did he have to say it like that? Her and Seijuro had thought it up together but it wasn't like they were done it just to think up ventures to be around each other. They lived together for God's sake. And that's not the stance an adult should be taking on this!
Truthfully she had thought having the two teams train together would be more fun for them. A little harmless competition would be good and healthy for them, and provide some motivation like Goro had said. Her decision to have the two teams practice together had nothing to do with Seijuro. None whatsoever. Even if the training camp had been his idea and she had gone along with it, and despite the fact they had spent the last two days hammering out the details and coordinating everything together. Nope, it had nothing to do with him at all.
"We'll be able to train with Rin-chan again!" Nagisa exclaimed happily. "And Sei-chan too! I bet Gou-chan's happy about that!"
"That has nothing to do with it!"
"I bet Gou-chan used sexual appeal to get Sei-chan to agree to the training!"
Gou choked on air much like Makoto had. "I did not!"
"Your marriage must be going very well then," mused Rei. "From what I understand sexual appeal supposedly fades after you get married."
Gou's mouth moved but no words came out. Why? Why would Rei know something like that? She hadn't even told them about the kiss and Rei was spouting stuff like that. Nothing else had occurred between Seijuro and her since then – the Samezuka captain hadn't tried anything, not even when they were sitting close enough to each other on the couch that their thighs were nearly touching - but still. It didn't change the fact they had shared a very intimate moment with each other, no matter how brief it had been.
"Is that true, Rei-chan?" Nagisa's eyes were wide.
"Well, it's what I've read but I cannot speak from personal experien-"
"Let's never get married then, Rei-chan!"
"I-I wasn't referring to us!" Rei's face was utterly scarlet.
In her head Gou laughed at his embarrassment. Karma, Rei! Served him right after all the comments he had made in regards to Seijuro and her. Although it was a little ironic that it was his very own partner who was doing it to him. Then again it was Nagisa. Rei should have known it was inevitable.
"Don't yell so much you two!" Goro yelled just as loudly. "Save your energy! You'll need it for practice! It's going to be a hard regime, can't you see that?" He smacked a hand against the board and its scribblings.
Of course they can't! No one can see anything on that board! Gou slapped her forehead against her hands and shook her head.
"We leave in two hours!" Goro announced. "So be ready!"
"Yes, Coach!"
Goro left to head back to his own lodge and the Iwatobi boys wandered off to do their own thing. Rei and Nagisa went off to 'warm up', though if that meant warm up like stretching so they would be prepared for the training later or something a little more X rated Gou didn't know and didn't want to find out. Since the wine vineyard she honestly wasn't sure what to expect from them. They hadn't announced if they were dating or not but it seemed like they had if Nagisa's comment was anything to go by.
Makoto and Haru disappeared onto the wrap around porch. The two had been very quiet during the discussion about the training camp. For Haru that wasn't unusual but Gou would have expected Makoto to be a bit more verbal. He was the captain, no matter how unofficial that position typically was in regards to Iwatobi, and the training camp should have been something he would be fairly interested in. He had barely uttered a peep though.
It was only after she had finished up cleaning the mess Goro had made of the white board and tidied up a bit, and was about to leave that she understood why.
"Are you really okay with this?"
For a second Gou was puzzled. It was Makoto's voice, that much was unmistakable, but he was no where nearby. She looked about herself when her gaze fell on it. The window near the front door. Someone had left it open. Makoro and Haru must not have noticed or they hadn't thought to close it. She moved to shut it herself when Makoto's next words made her pause.
"I mean training with Samezuka. Rin will be there you know. Are you truly okay with that?"
Rin? Her brother? Why would Makoto be asking Haru about that?
"He's been around a lot lately," was Haru's simple reply.
Gou could not see their faces through the window but she could see their torsos. They were both leaning against the railing outside, standing quite close to each other.
Makoto's shifted on his feet. "That's due to us being paired with Samezuka on the events. That's something we can't help. This is. I know the training camp isn't a bad idea and we can certainly use the exercise but…I just want to make sure you're okay with it."
There was a long pause. "It's fine." Gou nearly had to strain to hear Haru's quiet response. "It's in the past."
In the past? What did that mean? But Makoto only made a soft sound. He turned and his back faced her as he looked out to the ocean. The conversation was over. At least verbally. If it carried out in that special nonverbal way of communicating that Makoto and Haru had Gou didn't know and she wasn't about to inch over in order to peek further out the window. She had eavesdropped bad enough already.
Her phone went off at the worst possible time and she nearly smacked into the wall at the sudden noise. She fumbled to get hurriedly out the door before the two boys could get a chance to look through the window at the unusual sounds.
Outside the lodge she placed a hand over her racing heart and took a couple deep breathes before she felt calm enough to check her phone. The text was from Seijuro. Asking if everything was ready on their end. Gou texted him back they were all set and would meet them down at the beach at the designated time.
She had been texting with him more lately. That was mostly due to the training camp as they exchanged ideas and discussed details, but even when she had been with Iwatobi or out with Hana and he had been with his own swim team they had been texting each other about it. The hesitation Gou had experienced before when sending him a message out of the blue had faded a bit. She felt a little more comfortable communicating with him even when she didn't absolutely need something.
Not that that meant his texts got any longer per say. His response to her answer was a simple 'Alright'. Well, at least he had graduated from sending 'K' to 'Alright'. Six more letters was an accomplishment.
Placing her phone back in her bag, Gou frowned, her mind going back to the conversation she had heard. Had something happened between Haru and her brother in the past? Something she didn't know about? If something had happened then that might explain why they acted the way they did towards each other now. Haru's coldness - a coldness bordering dangerously close to indifference - and her brother's hot spite. A sharp contrast to their past relationship when Rin would throw his arm over Haru's shoulders and Haru would feign annoyance. Haru had never smiled, not even then, but it had been clear her brother had meant something to him and vice versa. So what had happened that had ruined that?
She still didn't understand and there was no way she was going to ask Haru about it. That would not only be intrusive but Haru was not the sort of person that would appreciate something like that, especially not from her. Haru didn't dislike her, she knew that, but they weren't close either. Makoto prodding him was one thing but that only spoke volumes about their relationship. Gou couldn't intrude on the space that Makoto alone occupied in Haru's life. For now all she could do was hope that somehow, someway Iwatobi would be able to break through to her brother and return him back to his old self. And maybe by doing so Haru could be free from whatever burden he carried too.
Putting thought of Iwatobi and her brother out of her mind to focus on the present, Gou continued over to the other lodge to finish her preparations before the training camp started.
The beach was crawling with half naked boys. Half naked swimmer boys. Half naked swimmer boys with glorious muscles that rippled and glistened under a thin sheen of sweat. Row upon row of bare chests and arms and backs and oh god. Gou nearly dropped her notebook she had been pawing through at the sight. So many muscles in one place! Deltoids and biceps and rhomboids! Amazing! Wonderful! Marvelous! She almost ran into a palm tree.
"Are you alright, Gou-san?"
"Yes, yes. I just uh…Has anyone really been so far to even decide to use…even go, uh, want to do more like?"
Rei squinted at her. "Was that even Japanese?"
Gou sniffed powerfully through her nose. I am going to get a nose bleed.
"It's easy to tell they're from a champion school," Goro observed of the Samezuka members lounging about on the beach. "You boys have some hard competition ahead."
You got that right, thought Gou but for an entirely different reason.
Seijuro was talking with that youngish looking boy when he caught sight of them and he came over to greet. Somehow he had managed to keep his shirt on. Miracle of all miracles it had sleeves too.
Too bad. Realizing what she had just thought, Gou quickly battered her mind in reproach and tried to think of something, anything else. Math problems, mackerel, Nagisa's speedo thing. Oh God. Too far. Maybe he and Rei just bought those things to model for each other.
"Thanks for coming." Seijuro greeted them pleasantly. "We were just waiting on you to get started."
"Thanks for having us." Despite the conversation Gou had overheard earlier Makoto genuinely sounded happy to be there. He must feel better after Haru's reassurance.
"Don't mention it." Seijuro looked them over. The boys had dressed in workout clothes and Gou had packed a full pack of water, sunscreen, towels, and other things they might need. That pack was currently slung over Makoto's shoulder. A little amusing considering the outside of the pack was covered in a flowery design. Seeing the tall muscular Makoto carrying such a thing had forced Gou to hide her giggles more than once.
"Looks like you guys came prepared." Seijuro motioned to an area at the front of the pack of boys. "Sasabe and I will be up at the front. You boys can find a place in among the rest of them. We'll be starting shortly."
"Yes, Captain Mikoshiba!"
Even Seijuro looked a little taken aback at that energetic chorus from Nagisa and Rei. Nagisa even saluted him. "D-do you need anything, Gou-kun?"
She was a bit surprised at him addressing her directly, especially considering they were in full view of her brother somewhere out there on the sand, but at the same time she was sort of happy about it. He was paying special attention to her, maybe even making sure she knew he was aware of her presence and wasn't ignoring her because he wanted to. That was surprisingly endearing. "I'm alright, thanks. I'll just take a seat on a bench or something. Don't worry about me." As an afterthought she said, "And don't use Gou and kun together!"
Goro and he headed towards the front, and the boys, once Makoto had deposited Gou's pack on a bench off to the side, began to look for a spot for themselves. Gou was searching for something too and she spotted it near the back.
"Brother!"
Rin looked up at the sound of her voice. "Gou." The scowl on his face as she approached was unmistakable but not unusual. He was typically scowling these days. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Huh?"
"This training camp." His voice was low but his gaze was flickering hot. "What is it you're trying to do?"
She didn't get a chance to answer as Nagisa suddenly careened into their midst, shouting jubilantly. "Rin-chan!"
Rin made a strange face. "Nagisa?" He looked over the smaller boy's head. "Don't tell me you…"
Gou turned to see what it was her brother was looking at. Nagisa and Rei. They had chosen their exercise spot to be right next to Rin. A few yards away Rei stood on his mat, an almost defiant look on his face as he observed Nagisa and Rin. Just beyond him was Makoto and next to Makoto Haru. The furthest away but still there, still present.
"Out of all the places on the beach and you had to chose this one?!"
"Yep!" Nagisa's enthusiasm was not deterred by Rin's reaction. "That way we can exercise together!" He raised his fist in the air. "Let's have fun today!"
"Fun?" Rin's scowl deepened. "You guys aren't worth my time." He turned his back on them very deliberately, almost dramatically, as if to make sure they knew he was completely and utterly going to pretend they didn't exist anymore.
"Rin-chan doesn't look to be in a good mood today," Nagisa observed.
No, Gou thought sadly. He's just back to his usual self. The old Rin from her childhood had reared up for a moment after the boat incident but now that things were back to normal and Gou no longer in danger he was back in his angry and reclusive skin.
"Looks like they're starting." Rei pushed his glasses further onto his nose. The flash from the sun on the lens made it so she was unable to see his eyes, but his tone was strange, stiff almost. "You don't want to be in the way, Gou-san."
"O-oh, yes." She hurried to get out of the pack of boys. "Let me know if you need anything!"
The bench was a good place to be out of the way but close enough to still be able to observe everything. She had considered moving to the front but had reluctantly decided against it. Even if her and Seijuro had planned this training camp together it would be setting themselves up for suspicions to be raised if she was around him too much. Goro and he could easily run things without her help. Which left her to simply be an observer.
Watching the boys exercise wasn't as exciting as she had imagined it to be either. Most of the exercises they did involved some pretty odd positions and movements that looked rather ridiculous. Like kicking their feet rapidly as if they were young girls pretending to be mermaids.
Still it gave her a golden opportunity to observe the competition and she set to work documenting what she could. She knew from her excursion to the Samezuka training on that mini vacation which boys would be swimming in the same events as Iwatobi. She focused on finding them in the crowd and into her trusty notebook she made notes about their performance. She even drew their muscles and made notes about those. For research purposes of course.
Goro hadn't been lying when he had said the training was going to be tough. It wasn't long before the Iwatobi boys joined the shirtless crowd, shucking off their shirts to expose the marvelous muscles underneath. With Haru being the closest in Gou's line of vision she was treated to an enjoyable view of his unclothed torso. And the gleam of sweat on their skin like oil. And their slightly accelerated breathing that made their chests swell and their back muscles to move like a silky snake skin.
I'm going to get another nose bleed.
When a short rest was called she was quick to bring water and towels to them. "Leave the water if you would." Makoto was breathing harder than she had thought from watching him at a distance. He was sweating profusely and downed almost the entire water bottle she had brought him in one gulp.
"Is the training really that hard?"
"It's just been a while." He gave her a weak smile.
Well, with that big body of his it was no wonder he would tire fast. Nagisa and Haru weren't much better off; Nagisa was so desperate to recover his breath he didn't speak a single word. The best out of them seemed to be Rei but that wasn't that much of a surprise with his track history. His stamina when it came to exercising on land was likely better than the others.
A discreet glance at Rin further down showed he was breathing a little heavily but not badly. Compared to Iwatobi he was in much better shape. But Rin had always been a bit of a physical nut. Ever since they were young kids he had been like that. Their mother used to poke fun at him about it, saying if he exercised anymore he was going to start looking like those wrestlers on TV Rin always used to make comments about. Even when Rin had stopped swimming upon his return from Australia he had spent his time jogging and exercising. No matter what he did he just seemed to be one of those people that had to stay physically active.
Once the break ended Gou was quick to get out of the way and return back to her bench and her notes. She was putting the finishing touches on one of the competition swimmers muscles when she sensed the presence of someone else and looked up.
It was a boy. Actually a group of boys. Teenage boys that looked to be around her age. They were watching the training camp with interest and one of them, the closest to Gou, smiled wildly. He chattered to her in a language she did not recognize.
"Uhhh." She had no idea what he was trying to say and since she wasn't even certain of his nationality she was at a loss as to what language it could be. They weren't Asian. Perhaps European of some sort or American. With halting words she asked if they were.
The boy said a word she didn't know. He gestured to the group of exercising swimmers, chattering away, then he gave her a thumbs up.
Gou knew what a thumbs up was but why he was giving her one she had no idea. Maybe he was saying he approved of the training camp or the boys exercising? Maybe he likes muscles too. Maybe he was approving of the drawing of muscles she had done. Hesitantly Gou gave him a thumbs up back.
The boy smiled widely once more. He said something to his companions and then unexpectedly they moved off towards the pack of boys.
"Wa-wait." She tried to rise to go after them but it was no good. Even if she did stop them she would be at an utter loss to communicate with them sufficiently. She watched in hopeless bafflement as they proceeded to set themselves up onto the back of the group, taking places not far behind Iwatobi and Gou's own brother in fact. From the front of the pack Gou caught Seijuro sending her a questioning gesture, indicating the new foreign boys, but all she could do was raise her hands and shoulders in a 'I don't know' expression.
Perhaps the foreign boys were swimmers themselves? It made sense and explained why they would be drawn to the training camp. Despite not being able to understand Japanese they were following along with the exercises well enough, which indicated they were familiar with them on some level or another. And it wasn't long before they followed suit with the others in the training camp and the shirts came off.
Gou fanned herself. Yes, yes, they had to be swimmers. Swimmer physiques for sure. Those biceps and quads…
It was getting close to sunset by the time the training camp ended. All the boys were exhausted, even the Samezuka ones who were more accustomed to such vigorous training. "That coach is a demon," Gou overheard one of them muttering as she weaved her way through to Iwatobi. "His training regime is really tough."
Gou grinned a little. Even if Samezuka was in better shape and the more experienced team Goro was still giving them a run for their money. Maybe Iwatobi wouldn't be as far behind them as circumstances would normally dictate.
Rin was already heading away when Gou reached them. He said nothing and hardly paid anyone a glance as him and Nitori gathered their things. Well, there was nothing to be done about it. If she went after him he would only get irritated or ignore her.
Gou turned her attention to the Iwatobi boys instead. She raised her eyebrows. "Is Nagisa dead?"
The smaller boy was stretched out on the sand, his face buried in the grains.
"He's alright." Makoto was sitting upright be he didn't look much better off than Nagisa. He was covered in sweat and nearly gasping for breath. "He's just worn out."
Nagisa moaned into the sand. He flopped one arm half heartedly. "I feel worse than that time I was hung over."
"You didn't throw up, did you?"
"…Maybe a little."
Now that was bad. Gou still remembered how bad she had felt from her own hangover and Nagisa's had been ten times worse. If he felt worse than that time maybe he really was close to death.
"That is highly doubtful. Alcohol poisoning and being fatigued are two entirely different things," Rei admonished. He still went over to help the fallen get up though.
Nagisa was practically dead weight in Rei's arms. He sagged against the taller boy. "Carry me, Rei-chan."
"You aren't that fatigued!"
"We aren't doing this again tomorrow are we?" Makoto asked a little desperately. "I don't think I can take anymore of Goro's training."
Gou shook her head. "Tomorrow's running instead!" she said brightly.
Makoto looked a bit like he had been punched in the gut. Haru offered him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "You'll sleep well tonight at least."
"That's the least of my worries…"
Speaking of Goro. The coach had not made an appearance yet. He must have lagged behind to talk to Seijuro. "I'll go get Goro so we can get out of here." Getting them back to the lodge and out of the sun would be best for them. "You guys wait here."
No one offered a protest and Gou set out to for the front where Seijuro and Goro had been. Goro was still there, and Seijuro too, and with them was none other than the foreign boys who had tried talking to Gou earlier. They were speaking to Goro and Seijuro, or attempting to.
"What's going on?"
"They're trying to ask us something." Seijuro scratched the back of his neck, a slight frown marring his features. "I don't know their native language, and their English isn't so good. Neither is mine really. Sasabe doesn't speak it at all."
English? She knew someone who spoke that. Pretty well too. "Hold on."
She managed to find her brother walking down the sidewalk on his way back to his lodge with Nitori. He paused at her calling, though he didn't look happy about it. "Gou, for the last time—"
She interrupted him before he had a chance to carry on his conniption fit. "I need you to translate!" She grasped her knees in an effort to regain her breath. Maybe she should follow along with the training too. She was getting a bit out of shape.
Rin's eyebrows lowered. "Translate?"
"English," she gasped. Now she understood how Nagisa felt. "I need you to translate English."
The face he made was one all teenagers make when they do not want to do a favor someone has asked them to do. "What? Why? Why do I have to do it? Get Azuma to do it."
"Because." Gou searched for the words that would convince him. It came to her a moment later. "Because you're the best at it."
The word every man falls for. Especially hot headed ones like Rin. Best. Someone like her brother would eat that up and as she expected it did.
Rin's sneer faded a bit. He shuffled on his feet. "Well…I suppose I could. But just this once!"
"Of course!" She seized his wrist and pulled him along. Despite agreeing to help he still acted like a petulant child and she had to drag him to where Seijuro was with the foreigners.
Seijuro looked a little concerned at the sight of her brother but then comprehension dawned on him. Rin had studied aboard. Out of everyone there he was the one most likely to understand any sort of English. Gou pushed him towards the foreigners. He aimed a hot glare at her over his shoulder but for the time being she paid it no mind. She could deal with his vinegary attitude if it meant helping Seijuro and the poor lost in translation foreigners, who she felt oddly responsible for. She had been the one to give up the thumbs up sign that had propelled them to join the training camp after all. In a way she had sort of adopted them.
The foreigners caught on to what Rin was there for and turned to speak to him directly. Rin listened intently for a moment before speaking. "They want to know if we are going to do this again, and if it would be alright if they participated once more."
Goro and Seijuro exchanged a look of surprise. Seijuro smiled and laughed. "Sure, sure, that's fine. So long as they bring their own equipment it's totally alright."
Rin translated that back to the foreigners. The boys smiled in turn. They bobbed their heads in what must have been thanks. Rin chatted with them a bit longer, reiterating what days the training camp would be held and what they would be doing.
"Are they American?" asked Nitori curiously at one point.
Rin repeated the question. He shook his head. "German."
By that time Iwatobi must have wondered what had happened to Gou and why she had not returned. They came walking up and it didn't take long for Rin to spot them. His sneer returned and his English became more clipped, as if embarrassed caught speaking it. "Am I done here?"
"Yes, that will be good. Thanks, Matsuoka."
"Yeah." He turned to head back without another word.
Nitori followed devotedly after him. "That was amazing, Rin-senpai! You speak English so well!"
"You shouldn't make a fuss over useless things, Nitori."
After some hand shaking and more head bobbing the Germans took off too as well, waving enthusiastically and full of beaming smiles.
"We should get going too." Gou shouldered her bag. Nagisa was leaning heavily on Rei, and even Haru was flitting around Makoto as if afraid the other boy was going to collapse any second.
"Yeah." Seijuro's gaze wandered over to where Rin was. He must have deemed it safe, for he said, "I'll see you at the house later?"
She nodded. "I'll be there a little later. I want to make sure these guys are alright first."
"I'll be waiting."
She turned away quickly lest he see the blush fan out across her cheeks.
She stayed at the Iwatobi lodges for quite some time to pamper the boys a bit. After their hard work she felt they deserved it. She surprised them with ice cream, provided them with hot and cold wraps to relieve their aching muscles, and offered encouragement and praise. She went over the schedule with them as well, outlining what they would be doing for the training camp and also the planned events the host country had for them. "Get lots of rest," she advised them. "You don't want to overexert yourselves."
That didn't seem to be an issue, for right after they were done with dinner the boys were too tired to do anything but head off to bed. Nagisa had actually fallen asleep in his dinner he was so exhausted.
"You don't think this is too hard for them, do you?" Gou asked worriedly as she watched Makoto and Rei carry Nagisa to his bedroom. "Maybe it's too much?"
"They'll be alright." Goro waved his hand. "They're young, they'll recover quickly. If they have any hopes of winning they'll need this besides. You saw Samezuka. If they can't keep up with them they'll never be able to succeed. It'll get easier for them, you'll see."
Gou hoped that was true. She hated to think they were pushing the boys too far. But if they did want to win they would need to be pushed.
It was shortly after dinner that she finally headed over to the house. The lights were on and Seijuro was home, but the sight that greeted her when she opened the door was not one she had been expecting.
Seijuro was in the middle of the living room floor. Shirtless. Doing sit ups. "Hey." He greeted her without stopping.
Gou choked on her laugh. "W-what are you doing? Well, I mean I know what you're doing but why?"
"I have to lead the training. I don't get to join in the exercises." He paused a moment to breathe deeply. "So I'm doing them at home instead."
Gou shook her head, a small smile pulling at her mouth. She should have expected something like that. Seijuro was the type who would do such a thing. Or maybe he just gets that bored when I'm not here.
She left him to it and went into the bedroom to deposit her stuff from the day. Once that was finished she headed to the kitchen to check Samezuka's schedule. While she knew Iwatobi's by heart and they normally had identical schedules she still made sure to check Samezuka's periodically just in case. Seijuro still hadn't memorized the darn thing and she had an inkling he wasn't going to. Therefore it was up to her to verify it for him.
She brought it closer into the living room for the light and over the top of the paper she saw Seijuro had switched from sit ups to one hand push ups. And without his shirt she was given a most ample view of his back. His very muscular back.
She bit her lip. Honestly there was just something about his back. Anytime she saw it she was unable to take her eyes away. Was it because his back was so broad? No, that couldn't be it. Makoto's back was broader and while she could appreciate that view it was different. Maybe it was Seijuro's height? That might be it. Seijuro was the tallest person she knew. Maybe the fact he towered over her was part of what did it.
A thought suddenly hit her and she stifled a giggle. It was silly. Utterly silly and stupid but she couldn't help herself.
She walked over to where he was in the midst of feverishly rising up and down and promptly sat down on his back. He nearly fell to the floor at the unexpected weight and he had to shoot out his other arm to keep him upright.
"H-hey! What are you doing?"
"Helping you." Gou giggled. "The more weight you have the more benefit you'll get right?" She looked at him teasingly. "Why, can you not do it? I'm not that heavy, am I?"
Those words had the effect she had anticipated. He smiled and made an amused noise in his throat. He resumed his push ups, apparently accepting her challenge. Gou grasped his shoulder to steady herself on his back. One very muscular shoulder. He was so high off the ground her feet could barely touch the floor either. Such long arms. Long muscular arms.
Focus. She brought her attention back to the schedule in her hand. Same as Iwatobi's. Same as always. Well, that makes things easier. She wouldn't have to memorize two different schedules. "Tomorrow is running for the training camp, right?"
"That's right." He didn't falter in his push ups as he answered her. "The day after that we'll take a break and then resume with the same sort of training we did today."
Gou grimaced. The boys weren't going to be too happy to hear that. "Nagisa almost died today."
"Did he? Good thing he didn't. Rei would have been upset."
She snorted a laugh through her nose. That he would have been. "You think those German boys will show up again tomorrow?"
"They might. Without a pool to practice in the training camp is the next best thing for them to stay in shape in the meantime. Plus it's completely free and they don't even have to do any planning for it except to show up. It's a win-win for them no matter what."
That was true. "We didn't get their names, did we?"
"No. I forgot to ask actually."
That was too bad. "I'll have to give them nicknames."
"What? Why?"
"I feel like I've adopted them."
Seijuro laughed. "If you name them though you'll become attached to them. Then they'll never leave."
"That's only if you feed them."
"That's true. With your pizza and mackerel I don't see that happening however."
Now it was her turn to laugh. She looked back to the schedule."We have another hosted even coming up."
"Do we?"
"The day after tomorrow."
Seijuro must have grown tired. He lowered himself to the floor and promptly rolled onto his side, forcing the laughing Gou to slide onto the ground. His hands circled her waist to steady and against her back she could feel the heat of his skin. He was almost curled around her. If he had bent his legs and moved them up she would have been essentially cradled against his midsection.
The intimacy of their position was quickly not lost on Gou. Her heart sped up and her brain faltered. She didn't want to necessarily ruin it – whatever it was - but she wasn't sure how to react either without freaking out a bit. His eyes were on her face, alight with amusement and enjoyment, and Gou found she was too embarrassed to look back at him. Those sharp golden eyes of his were too much.
Grasping for something to do, she ended up shoving the schedule into his face. "W-we have a cooking class tomorrow."
His head jerked back at a bit at the sudden assault of paper. His hand reached up for it and he rolled onto his back in order to hold it above himself to read. The move to his back placed a little more space between them. Not enough that they still weren't close, but enough that the situation wasn't as incredibly intimate, and Gou felt herself relaxing a bit.
Seijuro studied the paper. "A cooking class?" His brow furrowed. "Why?"
"To learn to cook?" Gou giggled.
"Is that a good thing to do with a bunch of swimming teenage boys?"
"Probably not. Then again they did send us to a winery and gave us free alcohol."
"Good point. Noro said that was the worst hang over he's ever had. Something about wine hangovers being the worse."
"I wouldn't know."
"I wouldn't either. Let's keep it that way. I mean for both our sakes."
Both our sakes? Gou wasn't sure what he meant by that.
He climbed to his feet. "I'm going to take a shower and then head to bed. You should too. We have to be up early tomorrow."
She accepted the hand he offered her to pull her to her feet. "What time did we decide on for tomorrow?"
"Nineish? That will give us some time before it gets too hot."
That sounded good. She would have to remember to change her alarm. She moved away to head to the bedroom and was nearly into the hall when Seijuro said her name.
He held up the schedule he still had a hold of. "The cooking class is the day after tomorrow, by the way." He grinned. "Not tomorrow."
He was poking fun of her. Pointing out how flustered she had been when they had been so close. Forgetting the day when events were planned. She wouldn't have done that normally. Only in certain situations would she do such a thing. Gou's face reddened. "I-I knew that! I meant the day after tomorrow!"
His grin only widened and Gou's face only reddened more. She turned quickly away. "I'm going to bed!" she decreed.
His chuckle followed her. "Have a good night, Gou."
It's Kou, she wanted to yell back at him but she was too embarrassed to do so. What an idiot, but even she wasn't sure which one of them she was thinking of.
Thank you to everyone who offered suggestions regarding the continuation of this fic! You guys are way too nice. I have the next few chapters roughly planned out so hopefully updates will come sooner; it really just depends on my free time with work and whatnot.
Also I was spelling senpai wrong this entire time. Whoops. You can tell how not Japanese I am.
Replies to some things:
Demonprincess713 - Because I enjoy torturing them.