I'm not dead?

I apologize for how long this update took! Life has been really hectic lately so I haven't had much free time, and since it's summer my house goes from being just two of us to six so yeah. I need sleep.

Seijuro didn't always tell the truth. It couldn't be said that he was a liar per say. He couldn't recall the last time he had told a bald faced lie and he felt that if you had to do something like lie because you were so afraid of telling the truth than there was a bigger issue at hand then simply telling lies.

So Seijuro wasn't a liar. A lie is a false statement with the deliberate intent to deceive, something he didn't believe in. What Seijuro did instead was he omitted information.

When he had first become captain he had learned quickly that while some situations warranted and even required a full indulgence of truth, which could be awfully painful sometimes, others required a certain more delicate approach. Which often meant not always giving out the entire truth, but rather something like a half truth, a half indulgence of information.

The omitting of information was a way to keep things simple, to preserve harmony and stave off drama. Perhaps it could be considered a form of manipulation, but when you were the captain of such a large group of people - especially when those people could be hot headed, hormone infused, teenage male athletes – it required a bit of manipulation and deviousness to preserve peace and stay at the top. In a perfect world full honesty may be the best policy but in reality it could often cause more problems than it solved.

In some situations people should only be told what they absolutely needed to know rather than the whole truth.

So Seijuro didn't consider himself a liar. He just omitted information when necessary.

So when Gou had asked him about missing his family he hadn't told her the whole truth. He hadn't told her that he hated being under other people's direction and had left partly because of that. That he had left because he wanted to be independent and didn't want to have to answer to anyone else. Because of the way she smiled at him as they walked along the streets of downtown after dinner. The way her eyes sparkled and cheeks reddened when their eyes met for longer than a few seconds.

He hadn't told Gou the entire truth. He didn't want her knowing those ugly facets of his personality, at least not yet. He had only told her what she needed to know because he didn't want her thinking negatively of him.

He's always been selfish.

"If you keep smiling like that your face is going to get stuck you know."

Seijuro didn't lower his hand from around his chin but his smile did morph into a bit of a smirk. He had thought by hiding some of his expression with his hand and fighting off the smile with sheer will power would make it unnoticeable but apparently not. Nakagawa could be quite sharp and Seijuro was being less careful than usual. He just couldn't help himself, a natural response to things like the way your leg jerks when someone hits your knee. He dropped his hand, knowing there was no point in trying to hide it now. "You say that like it's a bad thing, Nakagawa!"

Nakagawa's brows creased, like he knew Seijuro was happier than usual but was unable to determine why. "Did something happen last night?"

Seijuro twitched a little. Damn Nakagawa. "Nothing in particular," he stated simply.

Sometimes people didn't need to know all the information. If circumstances had been different he would have ecstatically, and maybe a bit proudly, proclaimed to Nakagawa what had happened, but as it was he had to keep his mouth shut. Nakagawa was already onto him, like a bloodhound after a rabbit. Nakagawa's sharpness could be a real pain sometimes.

But the more important question – screw Nakagawa - was had last night been a date? What defined a date anyway? Seijuro honestly wasn't sure as he had never been on one before and he was fairly certain neither had Gou. He tapped his thumb against the side of his chin. If he asked her out on an actual one – and by actual he meant explicitly stating it was a date because he didn't know any other way to do it – would she say yes? He was unsure about that as everything else he had invited her on had not explicitly been dates and she may view them in a different light entirely.

Then again things were going great as they were now. Asking something like an actual date so forthright might scare her. Even if when they went out weren't dates he still felt like he was getting somewhere. One step at a time. After all, getting shot in the foot takes a long time to heal, and you certainly don't start out running on the thing. Slowly but surely.

His gaze wandered over to Matsuoka. The red head was thankfully in the pool. He was pushing himself hard today, which was saying something because Matsuoka generally always pushed himself hard. It was a little strange considering he hadn't even joined the swim team when he first entered Samezuka.

I wonder what he would do if I asked Gou out on a date. He frowned a little. He imagined Gou's older brother would not be very happy about it. The marriage was one thing; that had been an intoxicated mistake and Seijuro had no idea what he must have been thinking at the time. It had been unintentional. But asking Gou out on a date would be very, very deliberate and pre-planned. That made it feel different somehow. At least to Seijuro it did. Not that it's likely Matsuoka will think the same.

A thought occurred to him then and he wondered briefly how he would feel if his own little sister got married while in another country. I guess that would depend on who she married. If it were someone like him…That would be great! Just imagining it, all the fun they could have together, made him excited. Having a brother-in-law who was just like him would be amazing! But having a brother-in-law like Matsuoka? Ick.

Then again…Matsuoka was his brother-in-law. Seijuro frowned. Shit.

"Have you decided on the relay team yet?" asked Nakagawa out of nowhere and Seijuro was quick to school his expression into something more neutral and captain like. "It's getting close now."

That it was. Most of the other events and who would be participating in them had been announced recently but the relay Seijuro had been delaying. "Azuma, Ueda, Kawamura, and Noro I'm thinking. They're the strongest of those requesting the relay and they work together well." Even if Noro had become a drunken hooligan since arriving to this country. His times were still good regardless. Seijuro made a mental note to ban him from the bar from now on.

"I thought that's who you'd go with." Nakagawa made a few notes on the clipboard he was holding.

Seijuro hummed in his throat, not paying much attention to his vice caption as his gaze was trained on Matsuoka. The red head had climbed out of the pool and Nitori, who had been sitting almost sullenly by, raced over to hand him a towel.

Nakagawa turned. "I'll go get things together to get those four entered into the relay," he said as he proceeded to walk off. "I'll let them know about it later tonight."

"Alright."

Across the way Nitori was speaking loudly and even from where Seijuro stood the smaller boy looked agitated. Matsuoka on the other hand was simply standing there with a towel up to his face, hiding his expression, and while Seijuro normally didn't like to get involved in personal matters he also didn't want any tension in his team. Small ripples, if not interrupted, tended to grow bigger until they encompassed the entire pool.

He approached the two boys and called out to them when he was a few yards away. "Something wrong?"

"Captain." Nitori turned his way almost earnestly. "I just-"

Matsuoka turned the exact opposite way. "Nothing's wrong," he stated curtly. He moved off to reenter the pool. He threw his towel dismissively into the air as he did so, leaving Nitori to catch it, and despite how incredibly rude that it had been Nitori still caught it anyway. He clutched the fabric as if seeking something from its fibers.

He turned Seijuro's way again. "Why didn't you say anything to Matsuoka-senpai?" His voice was unnaturally high.

Seijuro raised an eyebrow at the smaller boy. Nitori was usually dependable but he had a knack for getting a little too emotional at times. And those emotions, Seijuro was finding, typically revolved around Matsuoka. About Matsuoka or for Matsuoka. Matsuoka hid his emotions almost to a crippling degree – outside of irritation and anger anyway – while Nitori seemed bent on pouring out enough emotion for the both of them combined, as if he were trying to make up for Matsuoka's lack of them. Maybe that was why the two made such an unlikely pair.

"Why are you so upset?"

But as Seijuro expected Nitori didn't give an answer; his expression only turned solemn as he lowered his head and looked away. The sound of Matsuoka diving back into the pool drew his attention however and he looked back up. It was a bit strange really. No matter what Matsuoka did he was guaranteed to have Nitori's full attention. No matter how much Matsuoka pushed the younger boy away, or ignored him, or treated him rudely, Nitori still gave him his full attention.

I know the feeling.

Seijuro watched Matsuoka glide under the water. "Well, I'm sure he has his reasons."

There was no response from Nitori. Undoubtedly he was not pleased with that retort but Seijuro would say nothing more.

Because sometimes it's best to only tell people what they absolutely need to know.

Gou stared at the landscape as if she had encountered an alien planet. Around her stretched an expansive area of water covered in tall grass, tall grass that resembled more of needles than actual grass, at least to her anyway. Palm trees and other taller vegetation dotted the landscape and throughout the grass streaks of water passed like liquid highways.

She leaned over to peer over the railing of the boardwalk she stood on. The water several feet below was rather dark and grimy, and she could scarcely see anything outside of the grass descending below the surface. Does anything even live in this? Almost as if on cue a flock of white birds flew overheard and a bug landed on her arm. She slapped at it, missing completely, and it flew away with a buzz that sounded almost affronted. So there was life here apparently…Although she didn't like the thought of what might lurk below the surface.

Off to the side the host was prattling on about the sawgrass habitat – That explains the weird grass - and how it had been decreed into a national park about fifteen years ago. Since then large restoration projects had been going on to restore the sawgrass back to its natural state and the government had high hopes of it becoming a large tourist attraction. They're using us as guinea pigs again.

She covered her yawn with her hand. This was their longest hosted event as of yet, encompassing two whole days, with the drive alone taking nearly five hours. They had to be at the bus stop at six AM for God's sake, which had meant she had needed to be up by five in order to shower, eat, and make sure all her stuff was packed. Packing had taken the longest by far though…

"Do you really need to pack so much?" Seijuro stared down at the three large bags sitting in their living room as if he couldn't figure out how they had gotten there. "I thought we were only going to be gone for one night."

"We are only going to be gone for one night."

"Isn't this a little excessive then?"

Gou clutched her purse, which had been stuffed full to nearly the size of a pregnant rhinoceros, that she had been about to add to the pile. "I need all this stuff!"

"You packed nearly everything you brought with you!"

"I did not!"

Gou smirked a little. She had packed nearly everything but she wasn't about to admit that to Seijuro. Granted getting it to the Iwatobi lodges first and then to the bus stop had been a bit of a pain. Makoto and Rei had ended up being her pack mules.

Her head swiveled around to where the others stood further down the boardwalk, listening to the host prattle and peering about the strange area. She had distanced herself a bit, putting some space between her and Seijuro while her brother was around and trying to rouse herself after the long ride they had endured. Unlike the others she hadn't been able to sleep well on the bus. The Iwatobi boys had leaned on each other to sleep but her attempts of sleeping against the side of the bus had been thwarted by its bumpy path that had caused her head to bump against the glass. Seijuro didn't look like he had gotten much sleep either, as she caught him awake each time she had opened her eyes and he was yawning just like her amidst the pack of Samezuka members. He hadn't even had a window to try and lean against.

"The first thing we will be doing today is an airboat ride!" the host said brightly. She gestured at the metal contraption sitting sedately in the water at the end of the dock. It sort of reminded Gou of a coke can that had been sliced in half. It was fitted with seven seats; two rows with three seats each and a lone one furthest back for the guide. But most impressive was the giant fan attached to the back of the thing. The huge fan looked like one of those that were customarily used in factories to provide cooling or maybe on a jet. It certainly seemed out of place on that coke can boat.

"What's an airboat ride, Gou-chan?" asked Nagisa.

"It's Kou," she answered automatically. "And I'm not sure. Something to do with this…boat thing I guess. Why are you asking me anyway?" That seemed like more of a Rei question.

"Because you know the schedule." Nagisa made it sound like the most natural thing in the world. "Did they not mention it on there?"

They hadn't. The schedule had only shown they were going to the sawgrass park and hadn't provided any details.

"What does that boat even do?" Nagisa turned his questions over to Rei. "Does it fly?"

"Improbable," answered Rei. "What would be the point of that? Besides the fan is in the completely wrong spot for flight."

"It would be a lot more fun if it flew I bet."

"It being a water only vessel is completely acceptable," Haru commented in his usual monotone.

"The airboat will guide you on an exciting trip through the marshes, swamps, mangroves, and cypress domes that exist in our first national park!" chirped the host. She pointed to the boats. "Let's go ahead and divide up by bus seating for the boat rides!" She beamed a smile in the general direction that Gou, Makoto, and Seijuro were in. "Leaders first!"

Gou grimaced. Already she could feel her brother's intense gaze on her and carefully she whistled and twiddled her thumbs, pretending not to notice. If she so much as glanced at Seijuro, or accidentally brushed against him, or spoke to him, or breathed near him Rin might pop his top. Gou really didn't want to test her luck.

She scuttled into the first seat of the boat before the others like a deer fleeing a loud noise and tried to act as innocent and oblivious as possible as the others boarded. She gazed at the nearby foliage as if enraptured by it and when the weight of a person settled next to her she only discreetly glanced out the corner of her eye. She had expected to find Seijuro next to her, as was customary, but to her surprise it was Makoto. The boy gave her a little smile and a wink and Gou knew he had placed himself there between Seijuro and herself on purpose. She smiled back gratefully, though at the same time she felt a little twinge of disappoint that she wasn't going to be sitting next to the Samezuka captain. It almost felt…sort of weird to not be sitting by him. I must have just grown used to it.

Seijuro took a moment before boarding to yell to his swim team to behave themselves and not cause any trouble, but Gou couldn't tell if he was doing that just an excuse to get on the boat last and thus take the last seat or because he felt it was part of his duty as captain. Rin was still glaring but that wasn't exactly unusual.

"Enjoy the natural paradise of swamps, marshes, and tree islands!" said the host once all of them were settled. "Make sure and pay close attention to the wildlife! Especially the alligators!"

"Alligators? They didn't say anything about alligators before." Makoto glanced almost desperately at the sides of the boat. "Is this all they're going to leave us with? No bars at all?"

"We wouldn't be able to see the animals then, Mako-chan!"

"I don't care about seeing them! I just don't want to get eaten by them!"

This is like the zoo all over again. "I-I'm sure it will be fine," Gou tried to speak soothingly. "I doubt the alligators will even get that close to the boat. They're scared of humans, aren't they? I'm sure we have nothing to be afraid of!"

The engine started behind them, making such a roaring noise that Gou nearly jumped out of her skin. Makoto squeaked like a mouse being stepped on.

"If you're scared Mako-chan, just grab onto Sei-chan like before!"

"No, don't do that," said Seijuro at once. "Because then Gou-kun will laugh too much and get us kicked off again."

"I-I will not!" Gou placed a hand over her racing heart. Yes, this was definitely like the zoo all over again. But this time she would persevere! "And stop calling me Gou-kun!"

The boat jerked forward suddenly, the fan sounding like a jet had landed behind them, and Gou grasped onto the sides of the craft to keep herself steady. Faintly she could feel the three boys behind her bump into the seat she was in while beside her Makoto yelped like a scared puppy and grabbed onto the closest thing to him. Which just happened to be Seijuro.

Despite her earlier decree, Gou couldn't contain her laughter. She made a noise that sounded somewhere between a grunt and a whine as she tried to contain it and covered her mouth with her hands as if that would help hold it in.

"My arm's going to go numb again," said Seijuro and Gou could feel her face starting to turn red as she was quickly losing the battle to stifle her laughter.

"You're going to get us kicked off again, Gou-chan!"

"I-I am not!" Laughter bubbled unbidden out of her throat, sounding like a pained cough as she tried to fight it. "I-I'm not laughing!" She faced away from the two to try and compose herself. Thankfully the engine was too loud for the guide to hear much of what they were saying, if anything at all. The boat moved off from the dock, gliding into the open water and they made a wide arc to turn towards the rest of the park.

"If you want you can switch seats with me, Nanase-kun," Seijuro suddenly commented.

Behind them Haru straightened like he had just been caught doing something even he wasn't aware of doing. He turned away. "I didn't-"

Whatever he was going to say next was drowned out by the clamor of the engine. The boat surged forward like a ball someone had kicked and the wind blasted against them. The speed was a bit overwhelming and Gou glanced behind herself at the dock that was rapidly being left behind. Very faintly she could see her brother still watching them and scowling still but if there was actually something making him scowl or if it were just his normal visage she was unable to determine.

"This sound will most surely damage our ear drums!" Rei had to shout to be heard. "I am finding this situation very hazardous!"

"You can hold my hand if you're scared, Rei-chan!"

"T-that isn't what I was saying!" Rei's face turned scarlet.

The wind was hazardous too. Even tied back the wind was blowing Gou's hair around so much she could scarcely see without the strands flinging into her eyes. The problems of long hair. She tried to hold it down with her hands with little success. It's going to be an absolute wreck by the time this is over.

Still the view was nice, what she could see of it through her tangled hair anyway, and the ride was rather relaxing once you got used to the noise. Well relaxing for the boys anyway, who didn't have to worry about hair blowing in their face the entire time. Makoto even managed to release Seijuro's arm before the other boy lost it due to lack of blood supply.

The long grass was everywhere but also little groves of trees, which the host had called tropical hardwood hammocks if Gou remembered correctly. Water highways, called sloughs according to their guide, laced through the grass and they traversed down several of them. One of them was framed on either side by trees with roots that stuck out of the water at odd angles resembling a drunken spider web, trees that the guide called mangroves. At one point they passed through a section that was covered almost entirely in what looked like lily pads. They slowed down through these areas, the guide giving them time to observe and a respite for their blown out ears.

"There's an alligator!" Nagisa pointed eagerly as they sped along.

Rei adjusted his glasses as he peered over the smaller boy. "I'm fairly certain that's just a log."

"There!" Nagisa pointed in a different direction.

Rei pursed his lips. "A root…"

It wasn't long after that that they came to an open area where several of the troughs met together, forming almost a sort of small pond. The guide brought their craft to sedately rest against the fringing sawgrass before cutting the engine and with the boat having come to a stop, he gestured that it was okay for them to get up and move around. "Special place," he said but would provide no other explanation besides that. More than likely he didn't know enough Japanese or English to explain any further anyway.

Gou peered into the sawgrass. She could see absolutely nothing remarkable within the foliage. Just grass, grass, and more grass. A minute or two passed with nothing happening.

"What are we doing here?" whispered Seijuro next to her.

"I don't know," Gou whispered back, although for the life of her she didn't know why they were whispering. Come to think of it when had Seijuro come to stand next to her anyway?

Above them the guide moved and Gou looked up to see him strangely reach for a bag of marshmallows under his chair.

"What do you suppose he's doing?" muttered Rei.

"Maybe he's hungry," said Nagisa. "I hope he shares."

But the guide didn't eat the marshmallows nor offer them any. He didn't event open the bag. Instead he shook it.

It was like shaking a bag of cat treats. The sawgrass rippled and shifted and suddenly alligators came darting out into the open water, one so close it actually bumped against the boat.

"My goodness." Gou took a step backwards, watching a little warily as one drifted by her spot on the boat. Most of them were on the smaller side and that was okay, but there were one or two that looking a little too big for comfort…

"Alligators!" Nagisa raised his arms in the air.

"There's so many!" Seijuro's eyes were unusually bright.

Well, at least someone's happy about it. Makoto's face looked like someone who had just witnessed roadkill occurring.

The guide, who was still seated up by the controls with the marshmallows in his lap, tossed one down into the water. It was like throwing a bone at a pack of starving dogs. The alligators snapped after it, thrashing and whopping against each other to reach the little piece of junk food. Alligator tails slapped against the water and Gou threw up her arms at the onslaught of water droplets, letting out a squeal. When she opened her eyes, Seijuro was somehow in front of her.

"I bet I could wrestle that one!" He pointed to one of the bigger ones that had managed to fight its way to the marshmallow.

"I bet I could too!" Nagisa bounced like a kid at this his birthday party beside him.

"I'll get the head, you get the tail!" Seijuro placed his foot on the edge of the craft.

"You're going to get yourselves killed is what you're going to do!" Gou smacked Seijuro's shoulder in an effort to deter him. "Don't be ridiculous!" She swiped at the dirty water droplets on her cheek when her hand stilled and her eyes widened. My hair! She pulled it forward in devastation. Now it's tangled and soaked with nasty water! She fought back a wail.

"There will be no wrestling of crocodiles here!" Makoto flinched away from the side as one of the reptiles approached within inches. "Put your foot down this instance!"

"Actually they're alligators, not crocodiles, Makoto-senpai." Rei pointed down to the scaly reptiles. "See you can tell them apart by their snouts. Alligators have more rounded snouts while crocodiles have more of a 'V' shaped one. Also if you look at their teeth—"

"The last thing I want to do is look at their teeth!" Makoto heaved an aggrieved sigh. "This is terrible. Why can't we go somewhere pleasant like a butterfly garden?"

"They have those here?!"

Makoto sighed again and moved back to sit down on the seats, apparently already done with their excursion, when something caught his eye. "Haru! What are you doing?!"

At the other end of the boat Haru was in the midst of disrobing. He shucked off his shorts, thankfully revealing a pair of swimming jammers underneath, and placed his foot on the edge of the boat. "I want to swim."

"Haru, no!"

Haru leaned forward but ere he could dive into the murky water an alligator suddenly surfaced from the water just below. It snapped at the boat, pitching its wide head in Haru's direction and the boy reared backwards, his foot falling away from the rail. He stood there in morbid silence.

Makoto, who had been in the midst of dashing towards him, drew within a few inches of him. "Haru?"

Slowly Haru turned away from the railing. "I do not want to swim here," he announced. Like a robot he marched over to the seats and proceeded to sit down in them, looking like someone who had just been told the world was not what they expected it to be.

"He forgot to put his clothes back on," Seijuro observed and Gou was forced to turn to hide her failed attempt at not laughing near his chest lest Haru see it.

They spent a bit more time with the alligators. The guide fed the reptiles more marshmallows and Gou ducked behind Seijuro whenever he did so to avoid the splash. The tall boy and Nagisa were having an absolute ball, loudly proclaiming which gators they would be able to wrestle and encouraging their guide to throw in more marshmallows. The guide even let them throw some in and then, in what must have been a moment of pure insanity, he gave them have the bag in what could only be the equivalent of giving a fire cracker to a toddler. The two boys discussed for half a second what they would like to do and then immediately proceeded to dump the entire bag into the swarm of alligators circling their boat.

It was like throwing a match into a house filled with methane. The water exploded into a frothy rage. The alligators dove for the tiny white morsels, colliding, thrashing, and battling with each other in an utter sugar induced frenzy, turning the water into what looked like water boiling on a stove, their large bodies and tails smacking against the side of the boat in such a furor the boat rocked. Gou yelped at the assault of water droplets, raising her arms to shield her poor abused hair, and then stumbled as the boat rocked a little too dangerously for comfort.

Seijuro caught her. He held her by her elbows, the tossing of the boat causing her to stagger into him and grab onto him for support. "Isn't this great?!" Seijuro had the nerve to laugh. "That was a great idea!"

"That was a terrible idea!" Gou clung to him despite her reddening face. Her safety was a little more important than any embarrassment she might be feeling at the moment. "You're going to get us all killed!"

On the other corner of the boat Nagisa was laughing just as much as Seijuro, while Rei, who was paler and sweating more than usual, was nearly on the floor whilst trying to steady both Nagisa and himself from the rocking. Makoto and Haru were clinging to their seats, Makoto looking a little more than green around the gills.

"Let's do it again, Sei-chan!"

"Sure thing! Does the guide have any more marshmallows?!"

"Absolutely not!" "No more marshmallows!" "This situation has become more than problematic and I implore you desist at once!" came the chorus from Gou, Makoto, and Rei.

They resumed the boat ride after that, thankfully leaving behind the open area with its multitude of alligators to head off into different areas. Seijuro ended up sitting next to Gou somehow – not that she was complaining, it felt back to normal - and Nagisa claimed the seat next to him as Makoto remained in the back next to Haru.

They likely did it on purpose. That way the two of them could feed off each other's enthusiasm. Lunatics. Still the two of them kept things interesting at least. It reminded Gou of their last few nights, when the Iwatobi boys and even Goro one time had come over to Seijuro's place at different intervals to try and beat each other at video games. The first night they had come over Gou had been worried and overly concerned that her brother would see them. If Rin happened to see Iwatobi entering or exiting Seijuro's place he would indubitably become suspicious. He might think she was visiting there, and while the reality was much, much worse if he thought she was visiting Seijuro in the evenings it wouldn't bode well for either of them. But nothing had happened that first night and Gou had relaxed considerably once it seemed that having the boys come over wasn't so dangerous. Even if her brother did happen to see the Iwatobi boys Seijuro could just pass it off as an extension of friendliness to another swim team and with Rin's current strained relationship with, well, everyone, it was unlikely he would ask in the first place. Gou hoped so anyway.

The rest of the airboat ride was pleasant rather than treacherous. They saw more wildlife; several birds and turtles, and even an otter. There were more alligators, but these gators were calm, floating sedately in the water or perched on banks to sun themselves. Maybe we lucked out with Seijuro and Nagisa throwing that entire bag in. Otherwise they would have likely thrown out marshmallows to these peaceful gators and then they might have ended up with a trail ofthem following them home.

By the time they pulled into the dock it was early afternoon. The host was there, having opted out of taking an airboat ride it seemed, and informed them the other boats hadn't returned yet. "They should be back shortly," she said. "Please feel free to use the vending machines in the meantime!"

Encouraging us to spend more money. Still, it worked. After they wasted time using the restroom they descended on the nearby vending machines like ghouls on a hapless victim.

My hair is destroyed. Gou did her best to straighten out the tangled bird mess that had once been her hair, cursing herself for not bringing a brush along with her. It was currently packed up with the majority of her stuff on the bus. Maybe I should have packed more…

The boats came in steadily one at a time, within the next half hour they had all returned. "Alright!" The host clapped her hands together once all of them present. "Our next stop is going to be right down this way!" She pointed to a dirt path lined with fences. "Please follow in an orderly fashion! And try not to make any sudden movements or disturb the fences! We don't want to disturb our friends!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Makoto muttered.

With this country there's no way of know. It didn't take long for them to figure out what the host meant however.

Alligators. Alligators on either side of them. Alligators in paddocks with cement pools and sandy beaches and dark green grasses. Alligators in water, alligators sitting with their mouths open on the grass, alligators lying against the fences. Alligators here, alligators there. Alligators everywhere. So many alligators.

"Why do they have so many alligators?!" Makoto was clinging to Haru's shoulder, crouching on the other side of the boy as Haru was the one walking close to the fence. "Why would anyone need so many alligators?"

"Alligator farming is actually quite popular these days, Makoto-senpai," began Rei. "It's practiced in such places as the US, China, Africa, Australia, and overall it has had positive effects on alligator conservation. Since the luxury goods industry has a reliable stream of product, they don't have to resort to illegal poaching to obtain skins and businesses engaging in ranching protect alligator habitats to take care of nesting sites to ensure a healthy population. The fiscal incentive is enough for them to keep a healthy environment for breeding alligators and so the animals are seen as an economic resource. This can also augment the government's willingness to be involved in taking care of crocodilians and see monetary returns-" One of the gator's hissed at Rei. He jerked away, catapulting straight into some Samezuka members. "But those benefits are heavily outweighed by the cost when one is eaten by these things!" he declared, his face turning red again.

The host led them past the alligator enclosures to a lone fenced square. Inside were several alligators lounging in a pool of water and a large sandy area. A large pool of water. Gou snuck a glance at Haru. The teenagers eyes widened at the water and his finger twitched but other than that he remained still. Guess he learned his lesson from earlier.

It took her a moment to notice the large man standing in the pen with the gators. A large burly man with arms the size of her torso.

"Please everyone gather around the sides!" The host swept her arm in the direction of the open areas surrounding the pen. "Spread out as much as you like! You will want to have a good view for we are about to be treated to a very exciting and fantastic show!" She clapped her hands and beamed a giant smile. "Alligator wrestling!"

"Oh, God," Makoto moaned. "I should have known."

The Samezuka members didn't share his lack of enthusiasm however. They eagerly spread out along the enclosure, talking excitedly and leaning onto the fence in anticipation as the burly man within the enclosure proceeded to pull one of the alligators lounging in the water out by its tail. The gator didn't seem very appreciate about that, as it opened its large mouth and hissed, which seemed to only make the Samezuka members only that much more excited, as several let out exclamations and began shouting out suggestions. Gou watched intensely as the burly man walked around to the front of the alligator. He leaned down and then he proceeded to stick his hand in the creature's lolling open mouth.

"Oh God." Makoto covered his face.

Nagisa careened forward, nearly knocking himself backwards as he collided with the fence. He clung to the metal as if he would fall off the world if he didn't, shouting out along with the Samezuka members.

"That's dangerous!" Rei scolded. "Don't go flinging yourself at objects that may be unstable!"

"This is amazing, Rei-chan!"

Gou shifted a bit to make room for the boys to see, but a tall presence next to her made her look up. Seijuro was standing next to her. Like them he hadn't moved very far away either. Or had he done it on purpose?

Not that it mattered. He was utterly transfixed on the burly man and alligator. "This is great!" He looked over at her. "Isn't this great?!" His eyes were alight once more. Gou was debating how to respond but Seijuro moved forward without waiting for her response to join Nagisa along the fence.

I think he's developing a case of hero worship. Gou grimaced. Hopefully he wouldn't decide he wanted to look like his new idol. Otherwise she would have no beautiful muscles to stare at, not to mention all that hair…

To say that the boys were thrilled about the alligator wrestling would have been an understatement. Nagisa moved and bounced around like his shoes were on fire and Seijuro was way too excited. He cheered and pumped his fist at the guy, yelling encouragement when the burly man held the creatures jaw closed and its head up between his chin and chest. "I found my new career!"

Most of Samezuka was the same. All across the fence boys were clinging to it, shouting and gesturing, creating a large hullabaloo like they were watching some sort of cage match on one of those terrible wrestling shows. "Put your thumb in its butt!" one member shouted.

Gou's lip twitched, watching as the man placed his head between the alligator's jaws. This would be far more enjoyable if that guy had some nice muscles to look at. She glanced up past the burly man and alligator and stiffened. Across the way Rin was scowling. She couldn't tell exactly where he was looking nor If he was scowling about her being close to Seijuro, or about Seijuro and his behavior, or something else entirely but she stepped away from Seijuro just in case. Maybe Rin felt a kinship with the alligator since they had the same sort of teeth after all, and maybe he was trying to express it.

It was late afternoon by the time the alligator wrestling was over. The host announced that was the end of their hosted events for the day and they would now be returning to the buses for a short ride to their hotels for the night.

Thank God. It had been a long day and after being up since five AM she was looking forward to a nice quiet hotel room, a nice comfy bed and a long, hot shower. A relaxing night would be the perfect remedy for such an exhausting day.

The hotel wasn't far and as the host went inside to check in and get their hotel cards, the swimming students unloaded their luggage.

"Thank goodness." Makoto stretched his arms over his head, tilting first one side then the other to loosen up. "I'm ready for an uneventful night and some sleep."

Even Haru next to him nodded in silent agreement.

"I want to eat and go to sleep."Nagisa yawned. "Rei-chan, let's get squid."

"I doubt they have any squid here." Rei smoothed down the other boy's hair, which was more bedraggled than usual. "But I'm sure they offer a large variety of other seafood. Crabs, crawfish, clams-"

"Mackerel," said Haru.

"M-maybe," Rei replied doubtfully.

"I just want to sleep." Gou tugged on a piece of luggage that had to weigh three times as much as she did. "That alligator wrestling took way too long."

"Are you kidding? That was great!" Seijuro pulled Gou's luggage onto the sidewalk like it was made of cotton. "I could have stayed there all day!" He frowned at Gou's array of luggage gathered on the sidewalk. "How are you going to get all this luggage up to your room anyway?"

"Hmmm?" Gou quickly shook her head out of her ogling daze, not even realizing what she had been doing. She snuck a glance back to the other bus but luckily Rin was preoccupied helping Nitori with his luggage and hadn't been looking over at them. She really had to be more careful about that. "Oh, well, I'm sure I'll think of something…" Honestly she hadn't even thought about that yet. I sure hope they don't put me on the top floor.

The host emerged with their hotel keys a few minutes later, and by then everyone had finished unloading their luggage and had gathered together in a loose clump to wait. "Alright, everyone! Here are your hotel keys! Please be responsible with them!"

She handed the first card to Seijuro. Standing next to him, Gou tilted to the side to peer over at the little white plastic card. It had some writing on it she was unable to read, the hotel name, and the hotel room number printed in big red letters on the center. Well, that will make it easy to remember what hotel room I'm in.

"Here you are!" The host handed out cards to the Iwatobi boys. "And for you!" She held one out to Gou and as she did so the host winked at her.

Gou blinked in confusion, utterly stumped as to what that was about. That host can be really weird sometimes. She turned over her card to look at her room number. The big red letters glared back at her.

Gou's eyes widened. Her heart felt like it had dropped into her stomach and then her stomach had dropped down to her shoes. No. Oh, no. No, no, no, no.

It was the same number as Seijuro's. The very same room.

She froze, completely at a loss what to do. Of course they would put them in the same room! The host country knew they were married so of course they would!

Panic batted up her skin. Her brother was right there. If he looked over and saw…Oh god.

Desperately, not knowing what else to do, she turned wide eyes on Makoto. She didn't say anything but he seemed to sense she wanted his attention anyway, for his head swiveled her way a moment later. He blinked at her strange expression. She opened her mouth but only a desperate voiceless sound came out. She held out the card for him to see, praying that he could read the frantic plea for help in her gaze alone without forcing her to explain.

Makoto blinked some more. "Something wr-" Then he caught sight of the hotel card she held in her hand and his eyes widened as much as hers. "O-oh." He looked around himself as if searching for an answer. "Ummm, o-oh, oh, Gou!" he said her name much too loudly. "That's my hotel key! You must have grabbed it by accident!" He was nearly shouting. "Sorry about that! Here let me get that!"

He slapped the key out of her hand. He moved forward so quick to retrieve it before anyone else would have a chance to grab it that he barreled into Gou. She stumbled backwards. Thankfully she collided into something steady, which just happened to be Seijuro. He grabbed her and stabilized her.

The commotion had drawn Rin's attention, no surprise there. He turned his head to look but Makoto suddenly popped up in front of Gou like a jack in a box, effectively blocking her from view with his superior height. Vaguely she could see Haru and Rei had done the same, moving behind Makoto to create a screen of human bodies. Despite not knowing the situation they understood something was up and were taking protective measures. I am going to owe them so much after this.

Behind her Seijuro released her and hastily stepped to the side to put some distance between them.

"Here you are!" Makoto pressed a sweaty hotel card into her hands. "This one's yours!"

Gou took a deep breath, clutching the card against her racing heart.

It seemed her bad luck had continued to follow her.

This cannot possibly get any worse…

I tried really hard to incorporate and expand more on their 'date' but I hadn't initially planned that and the story just didn't want to cooperate. I hadn't really intended for the last chapter to be a cliffhanger but unfortunately that's how it turned out. I'm so sorry *lies down forever*

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed! Seriously I got some of the nicest reviews lately and you guys are way, wayyy too nice considering this fic is pretty much word vomit. I am not worthy.

Also I want to say a big thank you for all the understanding considering how long it takes me to update this thing. I've see other authors complaining about receiving messages demanding updates and I've never received anything like that so thanks so much! I have the best readers ;_;