I am a terrible, terrible author and I apologize. I actually finished this a week ago but what I had planned for the chapter turned out much shorter than I anticipated so I put it off in order to add more. I've also been spending quite a bit of time planning for this fic to fill in for the time I originally didn't have planned out so hopefully updates will come faster. Hopefully being the key word here hehe.
The next day when they did their running it was pleasant and beautiful out. Incredibly beautiful. The humidity was down and it was nice and sunny out. One of those days you would want to spend lounging in a chair outside with a good book or something.
Gou, however, was having a hard time enjoying it. She glared at the items lined on the bench in front of her as if it had done something highly offensive to her. Several large sports coolers and bags of plastic cups. This is what she had been reduced to.A water girl. She sighed despondently.
The idea had been a courtesy of Goro and none other than Amakata. Samezuka had thrown in the majority of the money needed for the coolers and none other than the returning German team had bought the cups once they had caught on to the idea. It had been a joint effort.
And Gou was the one who got stuck manning it. She crossed her arms with a huff.
Despite herself she knew it did make sense for her to do it. All the boys were busy running and she was the only free one about that was involved with the training camp. As a manager it was her duty to manage such things but still. It was kind of lame feeling like she was simply standing around running a lemonade stand.
At least she wasn't alone in her demoted position. To the side Amakata sat in blissful serenity beneath her umbrella. The teacher had opted to come along to get some fresh air and to observe the boys progress she had claimed, though honestly Gou wasn't sure how much of that was true. More than likely the teacher was just bored with everyone being gone at the training camp and there was only so much one could do by themselves in the town. She didn't even have Goro free to drag along with her.
She fanned herself and stretched her arms over her head. "Ah, it's so hot. I'm going to work up a sweat if I'm not careful."
Gou was opt to point out that Amakata wouldn't feel so hot if she shed the light outer layer she had worn over her dress but decided not to. Amakata refused to wear swim suits and that rule of hers seemed to carry over to sleeveless dresses in the form of a light jacket to cover her arms. Come to think of it Gou couldn't recall a single time she had seen the teacher expose her entire arms. Maybe Amakata was just one of those people who didn't feel comfortable in exposing much of her body, even if it were just something as harmless as her arms.
Gou fanned her own shirt. She had debated wearing a swimsuit herself but after considering the company she was going to be around had dropped that idea. Like the day of the clam hunting being around a slew of teenage boys as the only girl and being scantily dressed was not something she really wanted to do.
"Oh, look." Amakata sat up straighter. "That's one of those German boys you told me about isn't it?"
Indeed it was. Not only had the German group shown up again for the second day of the training camp but they had brought along additional members. It had been interesting to watch her brother interact with them earlier, Rin translating between the two groups. Seeing him doing something that helped others made her really proud for some reason. Perhaps because it reminded her a bit of him from the old days when he had been friendlier and enjoyed socializing. These days the only one he seemed to associate with was Nitori, and that seemed to be mainly due to Nitori's dogged determination to be around his senpai more than anything. The young boy's diligence was truly impressive.
"I heard there was a group of Chinese swimmers that joined in today too?"
"That's right." One of the Samezuka members or maybe even one of the Germans must have told them about it. Either way this morning there they were, and Seijuro and Goro had both been obliging in letting them join in. The training camp was apparently catching on with additional swim teams and Gou couldn't help feeling a bit proud about it. Seijuro might have been the one who had thought of it but she had been the inspiration behind that idea. And Rei's swimming books of all things.
The second day of their training camp mostly consisted of running and some light stretching exercises. Those exercises had been part of their warm up this morning and now the boys were in the midst of running about four miles. Goro and Seijuro had set up the running route to be a circle roughly a mile and a half long, with part of the route being half on sand and half on pavement of the streets. The participants were to go around it three times, and Gou and the water jugs had been placed at the start and ultimately the end as well, a place the swimmers could stop if they needed refueling.
Speaking of which…
"I'm going to die." Nagisa sank down until his knees were nearly on the ground, his head and arm supporting him barely upright against the bench. "Why are Goro-chan's regimes so hard?"
"Now, now, Nagisa. Now isn't the time to give up." Makoto swiped an arm across his forehead. "We only have halfway more to go."
Nagisa groaned. "Someone carry me the rest of the way."
"That would be defeating the purpose of the training camp altogether now, wouldn't it?"
Gou handed a towel to the sweaty Makoto. "The training isn't too hard is it? I tried to tell Seijuro that but…"
At the mention of the Samezuka captain's first name Makoto paused for a second and for some reason Gou swore she saw the hint of a smile. "It'll be fine," he reassured her. "It's only the second day. It'll get easier as time goes on and if Samezuka is able to do it then we should be able to as well."
"That's the spirit!" They would need to do it if they had any hope of beating not just Samezuka but also the also other countries in the tournament. It was an ambitious goal but Gou had faith they would be able to do it. The boys were willing to put in more work than anyone. Well except maybe her brother. When he had a goal in mind he tended to throw himself into it with a tenacity that bordered on obsessive.
"Just do your best and I'm sure everything will work out," said Amakata encouragingly from under her umbrella. "As Margaret Mead once said learning the value of hard work is by working hard!"
Whatever that meant.
The boys moved off after resting for a few minutes. Other runners came and went by her station, mainly Samezuka members but also pair of Germans, who gestured and head bobbed with Gou in a somewhat hilarious communication attempt on both their ends. Gou still wasn't too familiar with the majority of the Samezuka members but there were a few she recognized fairly well. Like the one who had drank way too much at the winery and whom she often heard Seijuro making comments about. And the one with the youngish looking face who was often in the other's company. She had seen him take charge of the swim team on occasion, like when Seijuro had been detained while dealing with that little punching incident at the ship museum. She didn't know their names but she did remember their faces and they smiled thankfully at her when she gave them water. They had to know her by sight considering she was the only girl but if they knew anything else about her she had no idea. She found it highly unlikely that Rin would speak about her to anyone besides maybe Nitori, and Seijuro was staying a bit tighter lipped due to their current circumstances. He wasn't yelling out her name whenever he saw her like he used to do anyway. Then again they were seeing each other quite a bit more often than they had in the past. They lived together for God's sake.
Speaking of her brother and the Samezuka captain. Rin passed by her little setup first. He didn't stop and as he passed by he kept his gaze pinned straight ahead, not even sparing a glance her way. Nitori made to stop but when he saw that Rin was not stopping instantly pursued the red head, crying out senpai and compelling the older male to wait.
And followed shortly after her brother was none other than the Samezuka captain and Goro. Gou narrowed her eyes at the both of them. "You're following behind my brother on purpose aren't you?"
A wide grin spread across Seijuro's face at her words and in his golden eyes there was an undeniable devious twinkle. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
That was a good a yes as any. He definitely was following Rin on purpose. Even Goro was smirking, the coach moving past the water station and over to Amakata. The teacher had risen from her chair at the appearance of the two men and if Gou wasn't mistaken she was smiling softly. Must be because Goro's the only other adult around. The coach and teacher moved away a few feet, but if it were to give Seijuro and her privacy or because they wanted privacy Gou didn't know.
She turned her attention back to Seijuro. "You're incorrigible."
"I prefer the term insatiable." He proceeded to dump a cup of water over his head.
"Of course you do." Gou watched transfixed at the rivulets of water streaked down his frame. His shirt lacked sleeves as usual and while he was turned away she couldn't help but indulge herself a bit. Such amazing biceps. Faintly she wished he had taken his shirt off. It was practically sticking to him like a second skin but the fabric was still irritatingly in the way of her looking at beautiful muscles.
"If I keep him in front of me I know where he is at all times," Seijuro was saying and Gou quickly averted her gaze as he turned around. "That way we can insure no mishaps occur."
What mishaps exactly he was referring to she had no idea but she couldn't argue with his logic either. By keeping her brother in his sight's Seijuro could make sure him and Gou weren't too close when the other male was around. "You've lost him now though. He'll be way far ahead by the time you start running again."
"I'll catch up."
"You think so? My brother's pretty fast you know."
"I'm faster." He shot her a cocky grin that made Gou turn away lest he see her blush.
He stayed for another moment to go over the stopwatch Gou had brought. She had started the device when they had first started running and she was to record the times when each runner finished. "Names don't matter so much so don't worry about that," said Seijuro. "I just want to get a general idea of times."
Gou nodded at the instructions, her eyes glued to her notebook. "Got it."
She looked up in slight surprise when she felt his hand briefly atop her head. The touch wasn't a pat exactly. It was something softer, more affectionate.
"Perfect, keep it up. I'll check it later when the camp's over with."
"A-ah."
She was glad the Samezuka captain and Iwatobi coach moved off and resumed their running after that. Her cheeks felt hotter than the sun beating down on them. She fanned her face.
"Is something wrong, Gou-chan? You look a bit flushed." Then again Amakata was still there. Of course.
"N-nothing. It's just hot."
Amakata's face said she knew better than that and Gou was forced to pour a cup of water over her own head to backup her excuse.
The training camp lasted for about another hour and a half as the tired swimmers steadily staggered to the end of their last lap. To say they were exhausted would have been an understatement. Some were so tired they flopped onto the sand like beached muscular mermaids and didn't budge for several long minutes. Others leaned heavily against random objects, their whole bodies moving with the force of their labored breathes. One poor soul was puking into the bushes, but whether that was from the strenuous exercise or a hangover was unknown. At least while they were in this country it was anyway.
Iwatobi finished strongly in the middle. All of them came in together which meant they had run together on purpose. While it wasn't a bad place to be it made it harder for Gou to determine their fitness individually. Rei would surely have outrun the other three if he had gone off on his own.
And leave his precious Nagisa? Yeah right. It was rather cute to see the four foregoing performance to support one another though. Even if it made it more difficult for Gou. I bet they would work really well in a relay together…
It was nearly early afternoon by the time the last swimmer finished the run. Considering they had started at around ten the training camp had taken more time than Gou had expected. Then again with the new swimmers from other counties joining in it wasn't surprising that it would take longer.
"You boys should head back now." Goro clapped a hand on the sweaty Makoto's shoulder. "Good work today, you boys did well. Go back to the lodge and rest up. I'll take care of the rest here."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it. Mikoshiba and I will take care of it. I need to talk to him about tomorrow anyway."
Speaking of Seijuro. Gou still had to give him the times she had recorded. She stretched her neck up to search for him in the crowd of swimmer boys. He had come in shortly after her brother – somehow he had managed to catch up with him like he had said he would – and so had not approached or said a word to her. She found him rather easily with his red hair and height. He was on the opposite side of the crowd. Next to him was none other than her brother. The two of them were talking to the Germans and unless Gou really wanted to push her luck it was best to stay away for the time being. Even if it was just about the running times interacting with Seijuro in any sort of context in front of Rin was just inviting disaster in. One wrong word or sentence and Rin would be on it like a shark on a wounded fish. She would just have to text him later.
She turned her attention to Amakata still lounging in her chair. "Are you not coming back with us, Ama-chan?"
"Oh no, you guys go on ahead." She beamed a smile. "I'll stay here and assist with the clean up."
"R-really?"
Amakata hadn't moved from her chair and in the attire she was in it didn't seem like she was suited to clean up anything, much less large water coolers. Actually it didn't seem like she had any intention of cleaning up whatsoever. Why she had said such a thing was beyond Gou. Amakata could be really weird sometimes.
The five of them headed off towards the lodges and further down the road Gou glanced behind herself. She could see Amakata's umbrella and next to the bright colored thing was Goro. The two were chatting amicably and as Gou watched the teacher laughed lightly, her hand poised to cover her mouth.
Is she…is she flirting? It certainly seemed like it. Was that the reason she had wanted to stay behind, to spend time with the swimming coach? She had bought that white board for him too. The two had been spending quite a bit of time with each other since arriving to the country but Gou had just assumed it was because they were the only two adults they knew while they were here. Could it be that they…like each other? Maybe it was something in the water that was causing it…
Makoto held out a water bottle. "Do you want some water, Gou?"
Gou recoiled like he had just presented her with a live hissing snake. "No!"
It ended up being that Seijuro was busy that night. He had had a meeting with Nakagawa and after that several of the swim team members had coerced him into sticking around. Supposedly anyway. Gou wouldn't have been surprised if he had wanted to spend some time with his team outside of the training camp, swimming, or the hosted events considering he hadn't been associating with them much lately. If anything he had been hanging around Iwatobi for the majority of his free time. He needed that time with his team so Gou wasn't upset in the least when he texted her letting her knew he would not be around.
Well so long as they weren't planning on going out to the bars she didn't care anyway. For some reason imagining Seijuro at the bar drinking and getting intoxicated made her uneasy. He had gotten married to her the last time he had gotten drunk for God's sake. What sort of shenanigans could he get into the second time he got wasted? And with whom for that matter?
Gou bit a fingernail. She disliked thinking about that almost as much as she disliked picturing any other girls Seijuro might have kissed before her. He was technically free to do whatever he wanted with whomever he wanted. It would just be…rude for him to do so. Yes, that was it, rude. That must be why it bothered her. Regardless if their marriage had been a mistake and they weren't in a relationship of any sort he was still legally married, damnit. It would be rude for him to pursue someone else why they were stuck in their little situation.
"Your face is turning slightly red, Gou-san." Of course Rei would choose to be overly observant now of all times. "Is the temperature too hot in here for you?"
Nagisa grinned like a fat cat with a mouse. "I bet she's thinking about Sei-chan!"
Gou stiffened. "I-I am not! It's just hot in here!" Stupid Nagisa! Stupid Rei! Those two together could be the worse.
She spent a bit of time at the Iwatobi lodges but overall the boys were too exhausted to provide much entertainment. Nagisa passed out drooling all over the couch cushions whilst watching Pretty Woman of all things– Gou assumed he had taken the video from Amakata's collection but then again it was Nagisa - and Rei followed suit shortly after; falling asleep while sitting up, his chin bobbing onto his chest whilst Julia Roberts complained about dresses or something on screen. Haru disappeared into the bathroom shortly after their arrival and failed to come back out. He had likely turned the bathtub into his own personal kitty pool and was lounging in it with his swimming jammers on.
"He's restless," said Makoto when Gou mentioned it. "We haven't had much swim time lately." His mouth twitched with the beginnings of a frown. "I'm starting to get a little restless myself. The training camp certainly helps but nothing compares to actual swimming. It would be nice if the hosts could get us our own pool to use. We could really use the practice to tighten up our times."
That they could and Gou understood where he was coming from. It was frustrating for all of them that they had a competition coming up and such limited swim time, but thankfully that would be changing in the weeks ahead. According to the schedule their swimming days would increase as they got closer to the competition. The three weeks beforehand would involve lots more swimming time. They would be stretching out the training camp for about another week roughly to compensate for the current lack of swim time and then after that it would be strictly swimming. Plus the hosted events. Those weren't going away.
After the boys proved to be lumps on a log Gou decided to invite Hana to go to dinner with her. Having spent so much time around boys lately with no other girls besides Amakata it was nice to get some girl time. Even if Hana could be really irritating sometimes…
"Soooo how's your marriage with Mikoshiba-san going?"
Gou scowled with her fork full of God only knew what halfway to her mouth. Communicating her order to the waiter had been a messy ordeal and honestly she wasn't even sure if she had been served what she had tried to order. It was delicious regardless so she wasn't complaining. "Do you have to phrase it like that?" she demanded of the girl sitting across from her. "And why do you always ask about that anyway?"
Hana waved a hand. "Oh come on now! You know you would be asking the exact same thing if our positions were switched."
Point taken. If Hana had been the one who had gotten married while drunk then Gou would have been the one asking her all sorts of intrusive questions about it. Saying she wouldn't do such a thing would have been a straight up lie. Come to think of it imagining Hana marrying some random guy while drunk was actually sort of hilarious. Gou's eyelids lowered to half mast. I'm damning myself in my own logic here.
She tried to shrug as casually as possible, poking with her fork at what might be a shrimp on her plate. Or a crawfish. She really wasn't sure. "Nothing's happened. We've just been running the training camp."
"Seriously?" Hana leaned forward in her chair. "You mean to tell me nothing else has happened since you guys kissed?"
Gou jumped in her chair, her fork falling onto her plate with a clatter. "I told you! We didn't kiss. He kissed me!"
Hana sat back in her chair with a frown. "I'm surprised he hasn't tried anything else since then." She sounded almost disappointed by the news.
Gou scowled again. In retrospect it might have been a bad idea to tell Hana about the kiss. But she had had to tell somebody about it! She would have gone crazy just keeping it to herself.
Besides Seijuro had only kissed her because she had been whining about not being able to remember her first kiss she was fairly certain. She found it highly unlikely it would ever occur again. Because anytime she thought about her first kiss now all she could think about was that kiss in that bedroom and therefore she had no more reason to complain…
"Maybe he's shy," said Hana.
Gou guffawed around her shrimp/crawfish. As if Seijuro could be shy about anything. Shyness was simply not a facet of his personality.
"Maybe he's scared of you," Hana continued.
"Of me?! I'm half his size!"
"Speaking of that, you know what they say about tall guys, right? If he has big feet then that means he has- "
"Big shoes," Gou interceded before Hana had a chance to finish, her hands clutching her fork more tightly than necessary.
"Imagine if you guys were to do it though," Hana carried on heedlessly. "He's so big, you're likely to be crushed."
Gou choked. "H-hana!"
"You'll have to be on top for sure. That's the only way to be safe. This is for your protection. As your best friend I implore you to-"
Gou proceeded to spill her drink all over the table. Luckily it was water but it still soaked the tablecloth and nearly Hana's lap. Gou kind of wished it had. It took several minutes and several napkins for them and a poor busboy to clean up the mess, and afterwards Hana complained about her seat being wet.
Good. Served her right for talking about…that stuff! Seijuro and her's relationship was not like that and Gou really didn't want to hear Hana pondering about certain bedroom activities. Not to mention there was no way in hell Gou was going to talk about Seijuro's…endowments. Ogling his naked chest and back was one thing but discussing more…private areas was not a land Gou wanted to trespass into. The line had to be drawn in the sand somewhere. My face is so hot right now.
"Imagine how mad your brother would be though if he found out," said Hana once they had resumed their meal. "I mean about you and Mikoshiba-san kissing, not that other stuff."
Gou stiffened. "We aren't going to know how he would reach because we aren't going to tell him. Isn't that right?"
"I know, I know. Trust me, I'm not going to say anything. But Mikoshiba-san must be pretty brave to do such a thing considering how Rin-san would react if he were to find out. Is he aware that your brother has shark teeth?"
That…actually was a good point. Not the shark teeth part but the possibility of Rin and Seijuro geting into an altercation. It would be devastating to say the least. Rin would definitely confront Seijuro if her brother were to find out, there was no doubt in Gou's mind about that, and Seijuro didn't seem like the type who would docilely take any antagonizing regardless of it being her brother or not. Both boys were incredibly strong and neither of them particularly lacking in the height department. A fight between the two, a real fight, could end up causing some serious injury.
That's why it's imperative that brother does not find out. They had two months left. If they could get through the next two months and back to Japan without incident then they would be home free and able to get a divorce. They had made it through one month. Two months surely couldn't be that much worse, right?
"But even if it was Mikoshiba-san who kissed you and you didn't kiss him," Hana was saying, "you still liked the kiss, didn't you?"
Gou's whole body jerked like she had just been given an electric shock. She nearly knocked the whole table over. "W-what? What do you mean did I like it? What kind of question is that!"
Hana blinked at her for a moment. She leaned back with a slight smile. "Well, now I know you did."
Gou's hands tightened on the edge of the table. "W-what?! Why?!"
Hana's smile widened into a smirk. She winked at her. "Because you didn't say you didn't."
The next morning Gou sat on the curb sippng a juice box in front of the building they were to be having their hosted event. The hosted event which would be cooking. Cooking of all things. They should have renamed it home ec. The building was on the smallish side, smaller than she would have anticipated, made of stones with that old town look about it. The words pizzeria stood proudly on its front.
"Pizzeria?" Nagisa gazed at the letters, gnawing absentmindedly on a granola bar. The boys had been too tired after yesterday to wake up early enough to eat much this morning. Their breakfast had pretty much consisted of whatever they could grab as they were leaving the lodges. "Why a pizzeria? Are we not making local stuff?"
"Maybe they consider pizza local cuisine?" Rei offered, though it didn't sound like even he was very convinced about that either.
Nagisa scratched his blond head. "I thought pizza was invented in Italy?"
Rei hummed in his throat and Gou paused from chewing on her straw. Did…did Rei actually not know that? It was the first time she could think of that he didn't know at least a little about something since he had been unable to figure out why he couldn't swim upon first joining the club.
"You should ask Goro. That's more of his expertise," said Rei. He did have a point there. Goro was their resident pizza expert and it was actually a good thing he didn't know exactly where they would be cooking at. He would have insisted he come along if he knew it was going to be at a pizzeria.
Gou yawned and placed her chin in the cup of her palm. She was so tired. She had not slept well last night and if Samezuka took any longer she was going to fall asleep here. It was all Hana's fault she hadn't slept well. After all the things she had said at dinner Gou had felt way too self-conscious to go back to the house with Seijuro and so had spent the night at Iwaboti's place instead. Seijuro had been busy with his own swim team anyway. If anyone asked that was her excuse. Besides they had a hosted event today and she would have had to go over to Iwatobi's in the morning regardless. Staying at Iwatobi had saved her a few trips, although it meant she missed out on sleep. Seijuro's bed had cursed her.
"They're here," Haru said and Gou tilted her head to look dully over. Inside her chest her heart sped up a fraction despite herself. She promised herself she wouldn't let it bother her but all the things Hana had said about Seijuro and her still flickered at the edges of her mind. They were embarrassing, especially when he was standing right in front of her.
"Good morning, Tachibana-san!" came Seijuro's exuberant greeting. "Sorry we're late."
"Oh no, it's fine. Don't worry about it," Makoto greeted back pleasantly. "We weren't waiting long." That was a lie, a complete lie, but Makoto was too polite to say otherwise.
Gou clasped her hands with her juice box together between her knees and pretended to be very interested in the architecture of the nearby buildings. Maybe if she acted like Seijuro wasn't there he wouldn't notice her…
"Good morning, Gou-kun!"
She grit her teeth. Maybe if she just didn't look at him…"G-good morning."
"You look tired," he observed. "Did you not sleep well?"
He just had to ask that out of everything. She coughed. "Y-yes." She tried to force down her blush. "And don't use Gou and kun together!"
Before the cooking class they were given a short tour of the pizzeria. It was relatively uneventful and rather boring. The only part that was somewhat interesting was the huge firing oven the pizzas were cooked in, although Nagisa's comment of, "Imagine how many bodies you could fit in there," was rather uncalled for.
"Are we really going to be making pizzas?" Gou whispered as they were ushered into the back of the building. She was having a very hard time believing it. "Doesn't that seem a little ridiculous?"
"This whole country is ridiculous," muttered Makoto.
"I'm assuming they wanted us to make something that was familiar," said Rei. "Pizza is pretty universal. I wouldn't be surprised if all the different countries participating in the program will be making it."
Nagisa tilted his head thoughtfully to the side. "I once heard a saying that pizza is in every country where sex exists supposedly."
Gou nearly stepped on her own foot at the sudden comment, and Rei proceeded to splutter and turn red as a tomato. In front of them Seijuro made a noise that sounded suspiciously like suppressed laughter.
"N-Nagisa." Makoto's smile was incredibly strained. "L-let's not bring up those sorts of things right now, huh?"
"But he is right. Pizza must exist in every country then." Despite their topic of conversation Haru's blasé expression did not change in the least. "Sex does."
"H-Haru!" Now Makoto was starting to turn as red as Rei.
"Exactly! See! Haru-chan gets it!"
They were luckily interrupted by the host before that conversation had a chance to develop any further. The woman ushered them into a room full of cooking stations. There were two of each station to a row and each station was designed to accommodate two people. And of course the host proposed using the seating on the bus as a way to designate pairs.
Of course. Gou sighed. Then again, if she wasn't forced to pair up with Seijuro then who wouldshe pair up with? Iwatobi had an odd number of members. Someone would have to be the odd man out and pair up with someone outside of Iwatobi. Rei and Nagisa would certainly not split up – especially not now – and Haru and Makoto very obviously wanted to be paired with each other. If things had been different Gou would have thought she could pair up with her brother but as things stood now she wasn't sure if he would have agreed to it. Being the one guy stuck with the only girl there and it was his sister on top of which. That wasn't exactly presenting a very macho image to the other guys.
Instead what would have most likely happened is Makoto would have offered Gou his spot so she wouldn't get stuck with someone she didn't know. He would have done that only to be nice though and in the end it would have made none of them happy. So in some regards being forced to pair up with Seijuro actually made things a bit easier. Except for the fact they had to be careful around her brother that is…
The host gave them each long aprons to wear over their clothes. Long white aprons that required the back and neck strings to be tied, a task that proved troublesome for the less experienced boys when it came to such maneuvers. Rei and Nagisa tied each others with little fuss, as if it were perfectly natural for them to assist each other in such a fashion. Haru tied his own with ease and then wordlessly assisted Makoto when the other boy struggled. After all the times Haru had spent cooking mackerel at his home he must be well used to kitchen aprons.
From the back of the room she caught Rin glaring over at them but if it was because of Haru and Makoto or because Seijuro and her were so close she didn't know. A moment later his attention was deterred anyway by Nitori's struggled with the apron strings. "How could you possibly be having so much trouble?" he grumbled but still assisted the younger boy.
Gou fortunately had no trouble with tying her's, having had some experience with tying bikini tops, and thankfully neither did Seijuro. Although where his experience came from…Hopefully not from tying biking tops. Tying other girls' bikini tops. Gou crossed her arms over her chest, a growl ushering deep in her throat.
"Do you have any experience making pizza?" asked Seijuro.
Gou started and quickly dropped her arms. "N-none at all. You?"
"I've heated up frozen ones in the oven before," he said brightly.
"I…I don't think that counts…"
A large tower full of big dough balls was rolled out by the host and some guy in a chef's apron assisting her. Each team was handed one of the large squishy masses. "Now make sure you stretch the dough properly!" the host cautioned. "If you stretch it too thin you'll create holes. If you do create a hole don't worry though. You can just patch it back up! Make sure you stretch it evenly on all sides and don't pull too much from the center! One of the top chefs here will demonstrate!"
Gou watched with rapt attention as the gentleman demonstrated how best to stretch the dough. He stretched it and tossed it from one hand to the other easily without the dough stretching to the point of separation. He even stretched it on the tips of his fingers like he was attempting a cat's cradle.
"Now you try!" the host encouraged once the man was done with his little demonstration.
Well, that didn't look so hard. Or at least the chef made it look relatively easy. She watched as Seijuro attempted it. He stretched it along the top of their station. "This is easy! Just like that, right?" He tore a hole in it. "Oops."
"Pinch the dough back together to seal it back up," Gou suggested. "Like this." She leaned over to do it and it was only after she had done so she realized how close she had gotten to him. Her arm brushed against his midsection and she was nearly pressed against his side. Quickly she jerked back as if she had suddenly caught sight of a snake hidden in the dough. "Like that!" she squeaked like a mouse being stepped on.
It was easier said than done repairing their broken pizza. No matter how they tried to keep stretching it the same hole kept opening up. "I think we need a new one." Seijuro gazed at their poor dismembered dough. "This one doesn't seem like it's going to work out."
They weren't the only ones having trouble. Nagisa and Rei's attempt to stretch their dough by Rei holding onto one end and Nagisa running whilst holding onto the other – Nagisa's idea of course – had turned out poorly with Rei holding onto a huge glob that resembled stretched taffy all the way to the floor and Nagisa holding onto a shred. Haru was still working on his attempt, carefully and methodically turning the dough on the table like he was working on a piece of priceless pottery instead of a common food item. Several of the Samezuka members had failed attempts as well. Some of them were still squabbling over how best to proceed.
Gou glanced behind herself to how her brother had fared. He stood there with his arms crossed, clearly declaring he had no intention of participating in the activity. That didn't stop him from issuing hints and recommendations to his younger compatriot however and finally, with Nitori still struggling, he sighed and took over. Not that it helped. He ripped it in record time and the look of pure contempt on his face for the dough made Gou turn away before he caught her laughing at him.
He had always been that way, even when they were kids. He always grew frustrated if something he didn't really like doing failed to work out the way he wanted it too.
They were given a second piece of dough to try out with and Gou took over this attempt. She tried tossing it from hand to hand like she had seen the chef do. "Like this?" She dropped it. "Oops."
They were given a third piece as behind them Nagisa cried out for his third as well. We're as bad as Nagisa. Gou bowed her head in shame.
"Now, now." The host flustered at how much dough was being given out. "Let's try to stay focused. You're all…Why doesn't the chef give us another demonstration!"
He stepped forward and did, but this time he made a terrible mistake. He tossed the relatively flat dough into the air, twirling it smartly and catching it quite impressively as it came down.
"Ohhh! That was so cool!" Nagisa's exclamation of wonder was unmistakable. Gou flinched. This was not going to end well.
"Let's try that, Rei-chan!" he proclaimed and promptly threw his dough into the air amid Rei's splutters of protest. The flat disc of dough spun in the air like a plane that had lost one of its wing and then splattered onto the top of Rei's head like a large soggy leaf. Nagisa burst out laughing.
"D-don't do that!" said the host but it was too late. Nagisa's toss had started a chain reaction and several of the Samezuka members followed suit. There were soon discs of dough flying haphazardly in the air like UFO's with drunken aliens at their helms. Boys dove to catch the falling items. A few lucky ones did. Others that weren't so lucky ended up tripping all over each other and flopping onto the floor along with the dough.
"Don't be hooligans!" Seijuro held up a large spoon like he was going to beat them with it. "If you're going to throw it in the air make sure you catch it!"
"Yes, sir!" came the usual chorus.
"The point was not to throw it in the air at all," said the host in a small voice but then sighed and seemed to give up.
Gou's and Seijuro's third attempt to stretch out their dough turned out a little better. Gou diligently kept the dough on the table and carefully stretched it. Sweat dripped down the side of her face at her focused concentration.
"Make sure you don't tear it." Seijuro was practically hovering over her. It was awfully distracting and Gou's face was turning red but she refused to deter from her goal. The chef made it look so easy. She could do this!
"I got it, I got it."
In the end Gou managed it but their dough had very thick edges and an extremely thin middle. It was nowhere close to round and looked more like a deformed pancake than anything.
"Well, the crust is supposed to be thick, right?" Seijuro poked at it like it were a dead animal. "At least it doesn't have any holes."
Behind them Nagisa and Rei had finally accomplished their task as well, and Haru had gotten his on the first try. All that time spent carefully stretching had paid off. His was the only one that even closely resembled what a pizza shape was supposed to look like. Beside him Makoto's eyes were sparkling with pride and adoration, like a mother whose child had gotten a really good grade or a significant other who had just witnessed their boyfriend do something amazing. In Makoto's case it was likely the latter.
Next was the pizza sauce. Gou would have thought that would be easier than the pizza and it was, but not when it came to Nagisa. The boy made a huge mess with the marinara. He splattered it onto the pizza like he was throwing paint at a wall and the residual splashing even came down like a red rain onto Gou and Seijuro, prompting both of them to turn with a chorus of scolding protests. The cheese was next which fortuitously was uneventful as Rei took over from Nagisa and then they were offered a variety of toppings to choose from.
"Mackerel?" Haru inquired immediately. His face fell with devastation when the host responded they didn't have any available.
"Don't worry." Makoto patted his back. "We'll just add mackerel to it once we get back to the lodge!"
Haru accepted this suggestion with a sullen nod.
"Let's put everything on it, Rei-chan!" Nagisa declared.
"W-what?! Do you know how many items are on that list?!"
Seijuro scanned the list of toppings they had been given. "What do you want?"
"Anything but pineapple." Gou shuddered, memories of what they had been stuck eating during the training camp on the ocean flashing through her mind. "Or mackerel," she added.
"Olives then?"
"Ugh, olives? No way."
"Onions?"
"Even worse."
"Watercress?"
"I don't even know what that is."
"Fungi?"
"Like the stuff that grows on cow poop? No thanks."
He suggested a few more things, all of which Gou instantly shot down, and finally he lowered the sheet with a sharp flick of his wrists. "What do you want then?!"'
"I don't know! Stop picking weird stuff!"
"It's not weird!" He huffed through his nose. "Fine. What isn't weird then?"
"What about bacon?"
"That's way too fatty!"
Oh yeah his diet. She had forgotten. "BBQ chicken then."
"Do you know how many calories BBQ has?"
Gou rolled her eyes to the ceiling. They didn't seem capable of agreeing on anything. Pretty ridiculous considering it was just toppings on a pizza.
"I got it." Seijuro dropped the list to the table top. "We'll split it in half."
"Half?"
"Yeah. We'll each get half of it. That way we can both put what we want on it and both be happy."
Half. Just like her mother had said. When you're married you're supposed to do everything by halves. And maybe you were supposed to do it in halves because then, like Seijuro had said, it would make both of them happy.
Gou shook her head. It was no good to be thinking like that. Even if it was something as silly as splitting a pizza.
A good thing they had decided to split it too considering the ingredients Seijuro put on his half. Olives, onions, mushrooms, peppers. It sort of looked like an extremely drunken leprechaun had puked all over it. Gou's upper lip arched in disgust. "Your breath is going to smell atrocious after you eat this, you know?"
"Well." Seijuro's tone was strange, almost mischievous. "I guess you'll just have to stay far enough away that you won't be able to smell my breath until it wears off then, huh?" He flashed her a sly, cocksure grin.
Gou's face reddened. The thought of how close she would need to be in order to smell his breath… Hana's words echoed through her mind once again. "But you liked it, didn't you?" Quickly she turned away. "I-I don't need something like that."
Discretely she tilted her head to get her brother in sight. He wasn't looking her way and it didn't appear that he had somehow managed to hear Seijuro from that distance. Her older sibling was currently preoccupied rebuking Nitori's choice of toppings.
"Do they have anything else planned for us to make, Gou-chan?" Behind her Nagisa's face was dotted with flecks of marinara and there was splotches of it in his hair. His apron was so covered in the red sauce it looked like he had murdered someone whilst wearing it. Beside him Rei was making a valiant attempt at cleaning the stuff off his glasses. Their pizza was practically a mountain too, Nagisa apparently having gotten his request to put every topping on the thing.
"T-they might have but…" She looked around the room. The once pristine area was now mottled with pieces of dough, marinara, and various toppings that had been spilled onto the ground. The floor looked like some sort of bad smearing experiment had been performed on it. Someone had even somehow managed to get some dough stuck to the ceiling. It swung dangerously like a pendulum, ready to come down on someone's head at any moment.
Gou grimaced. "I don't think they're going to now."
Back at the house, Gou peered into the oven at the bubbling mass that was their pizza. Despite its weird shape it still looked incredibly appetizing and the smell was making her mouth water. Even Seijuro's weird toppings smelled good, though Gou had no intention of trying them. She'd end up killing some poor plants with her bad breath.
Closing the oven door, Gou stepped back and looked to the timer ticking away on the counter. Any minute now.
After the chaos that had been created in the pizzeria, the hosts had sent them home with their creations and instructions on how to bake them. It had been left up to them to finish the process. Normally Gou would have protested eating pizza for dinner but considering how much work they had put into it she would be damned if she wasn't going to eat the blasted thing. She was fairly certain Iwatobi felt the same way and so she hadn't protested about them indulging either. Even Seijuro, Mr. Diet Guy, had agreed to it, saying, "I suppose its okay to eat stuff like this every once in a while. We've been getting plenty of exercise lately anyway. Maybe I'll add a few extra exercises to make up for the calories…"
Gou grimaced a little. The Iwatobi boys would not be happy about that. Nagisa might even cry if he found out.
The timer went off, startling her, and she hurried to get it out of the oven. It was perfect. Utterly perfect. If there was one thing Gou could pull off right it was obeying instructions. She had diligently timed the thing like it was her homework or something.
"Is it ready?" Seijuro's voice drifted to her from the living room from where he was going over the notes she had taken from their second training day. It was the first time they had been home together since then and he finally had a chance to look over them.
"Yep!" She got out plates to allow the pizza to cool for a moment and then set about creating slices. Amazingly she was excited about trying this pizza. Considering how much pizza she ate due to Goro it was almost unbelievable, but maybe that was because this wasn't some greasy cheap restaurant pizza but something she had created. Well, something she and Seijuro had created. Half and half.
Seijuro stepped into the kitchen. "Woah, it looks really good."
"Doesn't it?" She pointed to a plate with several slices stacked on it. "That's yours."
He moved to retrieve them and as he did so he drew close to her. "Oh, you know you have something on your face."
"Huh?" Gou looked up from her slicing. "I do? Where?"
"Let me see."
She turned towards him, making sure to place the huge knife she had been using to slice the pizza onto the counter. She lifted her face to look properly at him, but his hand still went underneath her chin and he gently tilted her face up further. Gou's gaze darted to random objects at the kitchen, too embarrassed to stare back at him when he was so close.
"I-it's not something gross is it?"
"You mean like a bug?"
"Don't even joke about that!"
He let out a ghost of a chuckle. He leaned in closer, a mere few inches from her, and Gou's breath stilled. She could feel the flutter of his against her skin. Was he…was he going to kiss her again? Was there even really something on her face?
"Ah, it's marinara."
Gou blinked. "Marinara?" Her eyes widened. Nagisa! He had sprayed both of them when he had been throwing marinara everywhere. It must be a leftover smudge from that. She hadn't even noticed it was there.
Before she had a chance to do anything Seijuro licked the thumb of his hand that wasn't under her chin and wiped away the smudge. "There you go." He released her, turned and retrieved his pizza, and then walked away with it back to the living room, humming lowly.
"A-ah." Gou stood there in a bit of a daze. She touched her face where he had wiped away the smudge. And where she had felt his breath. They had gotten close enough that she had felt it. Just like he had mentioned earlier.
And despite thinking he was trying to kiss her again she hadn't moved away either. Hana's words came up once more. "You didn't say you didn't like it."
Gou's hand wandered to her lips then suddenly another thought struck her and she narrowed her eyes. Thank God he had done that before he had eaten his pizza. If he had done that after he had eaten that foul thing Gou might have gotten knocked unconscious or died from his bad breath. Thank God for small miracles.
Heaving a sigh of slight aggravation, Gou grabbed her own slices of pizza and headed to the living room after him, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to do.
Seijuro just really strikes me as the guy who would be like, "No, I can't eat, it'll go straight to my thighs." Inspiration for this chapter came from a job I had a few years ago making pizza where I was the one stupid SOB who just somehow couldn't figure out how to stretch dough. It took me like two weeks literally. I'm never working in a kitchen again.
Apparently now allows you to respond to reviews directly? I haven't tried this out yet (anyone want to be my guinea pig? ^_^ ) so I'll just keep responding to stuff via here since that's what I started out doing anyway.
Maxridelover - Actually in the show there's hardly anyone that calls her Kou either. I believe the only one who does Makoto at the start (he switches to calling her Gou around episode 5) and Haru, and Haru rarely ever calls her by name. The only time I can recall him doing so is when he first meets up with her again. Nagisa, Rei, Seijuro, Rin, and even Amakata all call her Gou. Not sure what Goro calls her, I don't think he's ever called her by name.
Vongolaswimguard - The real funny thing about this comment is I do have several of these events planned out to do but later on down the road. Pretty amusing you guys picked out the same exact things I intend on doing.