Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, Favorited, and followed! I'm still amazed everyday at the reception this fic has received considering its word vomit. You guys are way too nice!
Gou threw her coin into the offertory box, watching it clink against the wooden rails several times before falling in. There was no bell to ring so she made sure to hold her bows extra long during her prayer. It had been Nagisa's idea to come here. "A good prayer to the water gods will increase our winning chances!" he had claimed and of course after he said that Haru had been in full agreement.
Three days left until the tournament. Gou had been counting down the days. Quite literally in fact.
"Can you stop that?" Rei glared down at the stack of papers announcing how many days were left until the tournament as if they had done something to personally offend him. One sheet of paper for every day. Gou had made sure of that. "We all know how many days are left, don't we?"
Do you, Gou almost wanted to challenge him, ruffled at his dismissal of her hard work. "These are meant to motivate you!" She shook one of the papers at him. "Pressure is what pushes people to the next level!"
"Pressure can also ruin some people," Haru deadpanned and Gou was honestly a little surprised to hear that psychological observation coming from him. Maybe he was a deeper thinker than he liked to let on.
"You mean like Rei-chan?" Nagisa suggested.
Rei spluttered. "I'm not that weak!"
"You couldn't sleep the night before the plane ride."
"That is totally different!"
"Well, I'm sure a little pressure will motivate us," said Makoto in an attempt to compromise. "A little pressure is good for anyone, right?" He frowned a little as he gazed at the papers. "Although I don't understand why you had to wear a hakama to make these. Did you actually bring a hakama along with you?"
Gou kicked them out of the room.
She snorted under her breath. She had brought a hakama with her but she wasn't about to admit that to them. Boys wouldn't understand that sometimes you had to pack something just in case you might need it. And she had ended up needing it! There was a reasoning behind her logic.
Since returning from their sawgrass adventure their time had been filled with almost nothing but swimming. The host country had finally worked out enough pools for all their competitors and so all of them now had their own private pools to practice in. Iwatobi had been given an outdoor one that was a little on the smallish side and looked eerily like their pool back in Japan, while Samezuka had been given an indoor one that was Olympic size or pretty darn close to it. It was a little unfair the difference in perks between the two schools, but considering Samezuka's reputation and how many swimmers they had it was no surprise they would be lavished upon by the host country. Things like that don't win competitions though. Gou was just glad they hadn't tried to put the two swimming teams in the same pool due to the marriage. That would have been a disaster.
Regardless of their pool not being on the high end spectrum side of things, they had been taking full advantage of it. Early to bed, early to rise, swimming, come home, go over notes, go to bed, rinse and repeat. That was all Gou's life had consisted of lately. The same was true of Seijuro. She had seen very little of the Samezuka captain, outside of comparing notes and discussing some swimming ideas. By the time both of them got home they were typically too exhausted to even hold much of a conversation. Not that she was worried about it. They both had their own separate things to concentrate on and with the competition right around the corner it was to be expected.
Except for that one time…
"I couldn't find that movie 'Girls Who Scream Bloody Murder'." The corners of Seijuro's mouth were downturned in disappointment. "The clerk hadn't even heard of it. Sorry."
"T-that's alright."Gou swallowed, thanking her lucky stars that the clerk hadn't heard of something similar or at least hadn't related the two if he had. "I-I didn't like that one very much to begin with."
"I found lots of other good horror movies though!"He held up the boxed videos like they were rewards he had won. "Let's watch them all tonight!"
"O-oh." Gou's face hurt with the strain to keep her smile in place. "Goodie."
At least all the videos had been dubbed just as badly as that porno. Gou couldn't manage to get scared at all when their voices and mouth movements were so utterly and hilariously out of sync. Not to mention Seijuro had spent most of the time yelling at the screen anyway whenever a character did something stupid. It was rather hard to be scared with a 6'2 well-built guy sitting next to you, especially when said guy kept making comments like 'Turn around! He's behind you' and 'Don't go in there! Why would you go in there?!' or 'Don't run that way!'. Honestly Gou had been laughing more than anything.
Today was the first day Iwatobi had gone out somewhere besides swimming, Goro insisting they needed to rest their bodies a little bit before they overstrained themselves, and the shrine had seemed like a good idea. Some light relaxing exercise on the way to it and a peaceful atmosphere to relax in once they had reached it. The scenery wasn't bad either.
"Now, now." From the stairs leading further up into the shrine Gou overheard Makoto's voice. He, Rei, and Nagisa had wandered over there to rest their legs shortly after doing their own prayers. "We all decided to stick with individual events too, so we could focus on our strengths."
Beside him Rei lowered his face. "I wanted to swim in a relay." He said the words so lowly Gou almost didn't catch them and the looks of surprise and delight that crossed Nagisa and Makoto's faces must mean he had not spoken this desire out loud before either.
"You want to be in a relay, Rei-chan?!"
"Yes. I rented a video of the Olympics." Rei's cheeks were turning pink. "It was beautiful to watch four athletes swimming different styles in succession to complete a race together. It was especially beautiful how the butterfly…"
He prattled on about how beautiful the butterfly stroke was but Gou turned her face away, tuning him out. So they wanted to be in a relay? If those three wanted to be in a relay then did that mean…
She looked over to where Haru stood a few feet from her observing the rest of the shrine. He had been quiet today, but if that was due to the impending race against her brother or him just being his usual self she wasn't sure. She couldn't ask him about it either. Not only would he more than likely not appreciate it but she might accidentally give away all the conversations she had heard involving him.
Could he be the main reason why they weren't doing the relay? Makoto had never explicitly said that to her but he hadn't exactly given her an explicit reason as to why they had decided not to do the relay either. As to why Haru would be against doing a relay she wasn't sure, although she could recall back in elementary school how her brother would come home and complain sometimes at how stubborn Haru would be about the relay Rin had been fighting to get him into. Perhaps Haru really was just the type who preferred to swim alone and the only reason he had agreed to that relay in elementary school was because her brother had chipped and chipped away at him, sharpening his teeth against the other boy's stubbornness until he had caved. Because if Haru was stubborn than Rin was twice as so.
She looked up as Haru stepped over to the offertory box. Next to it was a bunch of folded papers that supposedly told your fortune. Gou had taken one for herself earlier but all it had said was 'you will marry someone tall, dark, and handsome'. Like I haven't done that already. She had thrown it away shortly afterwards.
Haru took one of the fortune papers and unfolded it, and Gou was close enough she could read it. She blinked at what she saw. "Half luck?" She had never heard of anything like that before. What did half luck mean? If it was only half luck then what the heck was the other half? Bad luck? No luck? "That's not good is it?"
Haru didn't answer and she read a few more of the lines on the paper. The rest didn't sound so bad, or quite as vague. 'Focus on your studies'. 'Your business will do well'. 'You'll make lots of good memories'. 'You will be reunited with the person you want to see'. 'You will make good friends'.
Maybe those last three were referring to her brother? That would sure be nice. Maybe after their race, no matter who won or lost, it would solve whatever quandary was currently going on between them. Gou had seen that happen in lots of sports manga before anyway, why couldn't it be the same in real life?
She tried a joke in an attempt to crack the somber atmosphere. "Maybe you grabbed my paper by accident."
The corner of Haru's mouth twitched but not in the manner of a smile. "In that case it would have no luck."
Gou raised an eyebrow. Was…was Haru actually making a joke back? He delivered it so deadpan it was impossible to tell.
He stared down at the paper in his hand for another moment. He folded it, hiding its declaration of half luck, and tucked it into his pocket. "I don't need luck," he muttered as he turned away. His eyes were hard. "I'll make my own."
Gou watched him leave. She hoped he could. She really, really if Haru was capable of turning his luck into what he needed it to be with his own two hands then maybe so could her brother.
And maybe so can I.
When Seijuro's alarm went off he didn't flop over with a groan and grumblingly tap his snooze button five different times like he normally did. Instead this morning he turned over right away and gleefully turned the noisy device off like it was singing happy birthday to him rather than sounding like some sort of screeching boat horn. Because today was the day. It was finally here. The day of the first competition.
He nearly leaped off of the couch rather than dragging himself off of it like some beached whale. He took a few moments to stretch, making sure his muscles were well prepared and to get his blood flowing. It would look poorly on him indeed if he pulled a muscle due to not having stretched properly or because he was too excited. He had to be in his best condition.
From the other room he heard Gou's alarm go off as well. She must have been just as energized as he for it was turned off a moment later and he could hear her movements as she got out of bed. Like him she hadn't hit the snooze even once either and a moment or two later she stepped out into the hall.
"Today's the day we advance!" was his instant greeting.
"You mean we advance," she corrected without missing a beat.
He grinned at the challenge. "You better be ready then. We won't go down easily!"
She met his grin with a smile of her own. "Neither will we!"
It was a half hour before they left to meet their teammates. They moved about the house gathering what they needed, brushing by each other as they shuffled from room to room, reaching around or below or over each other when they needed something in the same spot. It was a routine they had gone through for the last two weeks now, and the familiarity and comfortability of it astounded Seijuro when he actually paid mind to it. Just like any married couple did as each got ready for their day.
"Have you seen my sunglasses?" asked Gou, standing with hands on hips as she surveyed the living room as if it were the room's fault they were missing.
Seijuro plucked the shades off the top of her head and handed them to her.
Seijuro patted down his many pockets. All of them were empty. "I forgot my-"
"Here you go." Gou tossed him his red phone.
"Thanks."
They walked down the path together and at the end they both paused, like the breath before the plunge. They both seemed reluctant to take that next step forward and continue on with their day. Because today was the deciding moment. If any of them messed up or did poorly, that would be it for them.
Seijuro looked up. A hawk was crossing the vast blue of the sky, its shadow crossing over the both of them, as if too had been waiting for this day and was watching them to see how they would do. Seijuro rolled his shoulders in an effort to loosen them. "So today's the day."
"Yep." Gou took a deep breath. She smiled. "I hope both of our teams advance."
"Me too." He tried to think of something to say that would lighten the heavy atmosphere when a wicked thought crossed his mind and he couldn't help the grin from crossing his entire face like some sort of wildfire. "How about a kiss for good luck?!"
Gou's mouth fell open. She turned away almost instantly but not before he saw the blush already spreading across her face. "A-absolutely not! I'm not doing that!"
"Awww." Well, it had been worth a try. Too bad. Such a smooth move like that should have worked. Seijuro had been complimenting himself on a job well done before she snuffed that out.
Gou started to walk away and Seijuro turned halfway to head in his own direction when Gou suddenly drew to a halt, hands fisted by her sides, as if she had suddenly reached some significant conclusion. When she whirled around Seijuro looked at her questioningly, but his confusion only mounted when she unexpectedly started marching towards him, mouth set in a grim line. "Something wro-"
Forcefully she turned his head, cutting him off. Then she arched up on her toes and kissed him on the cheek right near the corner of his mouth. "Good luck." The words sounded almost choked. Just as quickly she dropped back down and turned away to resume walking, Seijuro catching only a glimpse of her reddened face as she did so.
Seijuro was so stunned he couldn't move for a long moment. His hand slowly came up to his face. He touched the place where her lips had been. Did she just…
A gleeful smile split his face. So it had worked after all! What a smooth move! He'd have to try that more often. "W-wait! I have to give you one for good luck too!"
"Go away!"
It took longer than Seijuro had anticipated for all of his swimmers to get on the bus. He had gotten there with plenty of time to spare but that spare time was dwindling awfully fast. Who knew teenagers could be so disorganized and slow, even on the day they had been waiting two months for.
"Hurry up! Let's go!" He pushed a yawning Noro onto the bus, nearly kicked the other teen to get him in faster. "Get the lead out now!"
Noro paused on the bus steps. "What does that expression even mean anyway, Captain?" he asked guilelessly, scratching his cheek. "Get the lead out?"
"It means hurry the hell up!" Seijuro pushed him forcefully further into the bus. Thank god the majority of the members would be departing later on a separate bus. With how much time it was taking for just the swimmers to get on they would have made it there tomorrow if all of Samezuka had been there at once.
Quickly he counted those in attendance. One short. They were one short. Who in God's name were they missing? It took him a moment then he realized a certain shark-toothed bad tempered red head was missing. "Nitori!" he shouted towards the small freshman. "Where's Matsuoka?!"
Nitori had the decency to at least look bashful at the lack of appearance of his senpai. "He'll be joining us later." He swallowed. "He said he'd take a taxi."
"A taxi?" Seijuro could feel his eyebrow developing a tick. "Why is he taking a taxi?"
"He went to pay respects to his father."
"His father?" Seijuro's forehead creased. "What do you mean his father? How could he possibly pay respects to him here?" Why would he need to pay respects to him?
There was a tick of silence. "The ocean," Nitori said quietly.
Seijuro paused. The ocean? Did that mean…Gou had never mentioned her father before. Her mother yes, on several different occasions in fact, but never her father. Could that be because…
He grit his teeth. That would have to wait until later. He couldn't let himself get distracted now, not with the competition so paramount. Winning was what was more important. He had stay focused.
"Well, hopefully he makes it in time. Hurry up and get on. We have to go."
"Yes, captain!"
As they clambered onto the bus, Seijuro tightened his hand into a fist. Matsuoka was in one of the first events and while he was sure Matsuoka had his reasons for...whatever it was going on with him, he just hoped he didn't make his teammates pay for it.
The stands were emptier than Gou would have expected by the time her and Amakata got to the stadium. The seats were nowhere close to being full and the two of them were easily able to snag a place at the front with a great view of the swimmers. It appeared the locals weren't interested too much in the swimming events, for the majority of people in the stands looked to be coaches, other swimmers, and escorts that had come with their teams. Gou even recognized one of the German boys from their training camp across the way from her.
Speaking of coaches, Goro was currently absent. He had claimed he had an errand to run before the competition, although what errand could possibly be more important than this Gou didn't know. No amount of scolding and protesting had been able to sway him, and he had only insisted he would be there on time and wouldn't miss anything. Time sure was ticking though. He had better show up.
She glanced at her watch. The boys had departed for the stadium earlier than Gou and Amakata had. All four had wanted to check out the pool before their events and they had needed to check in besides. They should be coming up to the stands anytime now. She had texted Makoto shortly before letting him know where they were situated.
She gazed at the ample supply of muscles existing by the pool. So many muscles. No matter where she looked there was inevitably some fine muscles to gaze at. All these swimmers together in one place standing around in their swimming jammers with their torsos shamelessly exposed and their legs…She shook her head to dispel her trance like state of muscle admiration. She needed to concentrate. Now wasn't the time to be ogling. Despite how much there was available to ogle.
She opened the program pamphlet she had been given to distract herself. The first event of the day was the 100m free followed by the 200m one. The 100m free was the event Haru had entered and as she scanned the listings she found his name. And right next to his was none other than her brother's.
They're going to be in neighboring lanes. She grimaced. That could be either good or bad. Being so close to each other might motivate them or it might distract them. Hopefully the former.
"Gou-chan!"
She looked up to see the boys at the entrance to the stands. She waved them over and showed them the pamphlet once they reached her. "This is the program for the day. They're starting with free in the morning, followed by backstroke, breaststroke, and then butterfly."
It didn't take long at all for Nagisa to pinpoint the exact same thing Gou had noticed only moments before. "Haru-chan and Rin-chan are in neighboring lanes."
Gou didn't respond to this.
"The heats were drawn based on qualifying times, right?" asked Makoto.
"That's right."
Most noticeably perhaps was that Haru made no reaction to this. He simply stared forward in his seat.
"The top eight from each event will advance to the second and final round a month from now," Gou went on. "All others that don't make it will end here."
Rei stiffened at the news, as if believing himself to be the weak link, and that prompted Amakata to provide a quote from Napoleon that didn't make much sense in an effort to cheer them up. In a way it worked regardless of its lack of correct context. The three boys laughed as Gou attempted to explain to Amakata how her quote didn't apply, and Makoto ushered some reassuring words that had the three, outside of Haru, cheering in seconds. So at least they were motivated instead of nerve wracked.
Well, Haru was being deathly silent and there were some dark circles under Rei's eyes that hadn't been there yesterday. Did Nagisa kept him up or did Rei kept himself up? Some mystery's were better left unsolved.
As they waited for the events to start, Gou took the time to point out some of the more notable swimmers they would be competing against, including one of the Germans who had participated in their training camp. "Alois Bader is his name. Supposedly Bader means bath."
"That's not a very cool nickname," muttered Nagisa.
"You won't be saying that if he beats you," countered Gou. "He has an incredible vertical. You should be careful."
"How did you collect all this data?" That kind of question would come from Rei.
"I'm the manager, aren't I?" She displayed her notebook with its many notes and drawings. "It's my job to gather that sort of information."
She didn't mention Seijuro had been the one who had provided her with a lot of it. Nagisa and Rei would only make comments about how well her marriage was going and she didn't want to add any more fodder to that fire.
"You even have notes on their muscles." Rei's eyelids were lowered to half mast.
"Of course! Muscles are important too, you know!" She pressed her lips together, gaze wandering back to the pool area with its multitude of half naked male bodies, hands tightening around the pages of the notebook. "But…there are some things that simply can't be adequately expressed through notes…"
"Eh?" said Rei.
Gou flung herself at the railing, notebook almost getting dangerously crushed in the crook of her elbow. "Muscles are best seen in the flesh!" Her voice had risen several octaves. "All of these muscles simultaneously in one place! Deltoids, triceps, biceps, rectus abdominis! Wonderful! Marvelous!"
"She's getting more creative in her muscle choices."
Gou fanned herself with her notebook in an effort to calm down. She was sweating worse than a sinner in church but she couldn't help herself. All those glistening silky muscles in one place…It was criminal!
"Heeeeeeey, Gou-kun!"
She paused at the sudden sounding of her name. She recognized that voice and down below by the pool she instantly spotted him by his hair color and height. Seijuro stood there with a smile on his face the likes of which she didn't think even she had seen before, his arm in the air as he waved enthusiastically, shouting her name without a care in the world.
For a moment she choked and almost yelled 'what the hell are you doing' down at him. If her brother saw him acting like that than the least of their worries would be losing their races. But then again Seijuro knew better then to act so carelessly when her brother was nearby. For him to act so insouciant that must mean Rin was not in the immediate vicinity.
She could feel her face heating up as he continued waving and shouting 'over here' again and again when she didn't react to his initial calling of her name, remembering what she had done before departing this morning. She tried to look anywhere but at him, embarrassed heat racing up her skin. "I told him not to call me Gou-kun," she grumbled under her breath. She debated throwing her notebook at him but then she would lose all the pictures of pretty muscles she had drawn. A shoe might suffice better but then she'd only have one shoe…
"Sei-chan looks awfully happy today," observed Nagisa.
Gou stiffened.
"Yes, you're right," Rei agreed thoughtfully. "Happier than usual it seems."
Gou turned away to hide her grimacing face.
"He must be really excited about the competition," commented Makoto and Gou could have kissed his feet. Trust in sturdy dependable Makoto to think up a likely excuse.
Vaguely out of the corner of her eye she saw Haru rise to his feet and look down to the pool area, showing interest in the swimmers below for the first time since coming to the stands.
"I don't see Rin," Makoto commented quietly. At those words Haru looked at him and Makoto held up his watch. "He might have already headed over to the assembly area," the tall boy suggested.
Gou glanced discreetly at them out of the corner of her eye but Haru was already walking off, having taken Makoto's suggestion apparently, and Makoto's back faced her as he stared after the dark haired teen. "Win your race, Haru."
Gou's hands tightened around her notebook for an entirely different reason this time. Hopefully today's race would do just that and the two would be able to settle whatever score they seemed to be having. No matter who wins, I just want them both to be happy.
They watched the first three heats for the 100m free. Some of the swimmers were quite impressive and it wasn't just their muscles. Haru was going to have some stiff competition, especially in the final competition a month from now. Of his succeeding through this round of competition there was almost no doubt in Gou's mind. Haru was the best swimmer Iwatobi had and blessed with overwhelming talent besides. He had to place. If he didn't it would be a severe blow to the morale of the other three, not to mention worrisome if their best couldn't succeed.
"Haru-chan and Rin-chan are up next!" Nagisa leaned over the rail and pointed across the side of the pool to where the eight swimmers in the fourth heat were approaching. Haru and Rin were smack dab in the center and their faces were grim as they moved to get in position for the third heat to end. Gou clasped her hands tightly together.
"Who are you cheering for, Gou-chan?" asked Amakata.
"Both of them!" Gou answered right away. "Both of them!"
The boys moved onto their blocks and as they stood there waiting for the referee's calls it felt like some of the longest seconds in Gou's life. She held her breath, hands tightening around themselves as the referee called out and the boys lowered their bodies to prepare for the dive. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears, waiting tensely for the call to be given.
"Go!"
The boys dove into the water like a whip crack. Around them in the stands people started yelling, encouraging their comrades, and Gou's knuckles were white as she grasped the metal railing. Next to her the boys were tense with baited breath, eyes wide as they watched the swimmers below.
"They're fast," said Rei and Gou didn't have to ask to know who 'they' was.
"Rin-chan's gotten a lot faster!" Nagisa echoed. "He's pulling ahead of Haru-chan!"
Out of the corner of her eye Gou saw Makoto move as if jerking upright. "Haru's failing behind in the first leg?"
Even Gou, who was much less knowledgeable of swimming tactics, could tell there was an unusually large gap forming between the two. The distance between them was greater than Gou would ever have expected and her brother was nearly schooling Haru. Had Haru underestimated her brother and therefore not anticipated this sort of challenge? Or was it something else that was holding Haru back?
"They're entering the turn!" said Rei.
Rin got to the wall first. He pushed off and the two swimmers flashed by each other. In that brief millisecond of crossing Rin must have done something too for quickly afterwards…
"Haru-chan's catching up!"
The gap between them was shortening once Haru had done his turn and swiftly too. If Haru managed to push through at the very end…
Makoto suddenly sucked in a breath. He shouted. "Haru!"
Rei was quick to join him. "Haruka-senpai!"
Gou's throat was too tight to speak much less shout. The two were neck and neck now. It was anybodies call and as the two boys raced to the end in a spinning whirl of extended limbs and thrashing feet, they touched the wall, the buzzer announcing their finish, and it was too close for Gou to determine on eyesight alone. She looked up to the big scoreboard where Haru and Rin's names sat side by side in big glowing letters. The numbers one and two flashed beside those names.
"Haru…lost?" For being such a large individual Makoto's voice was surprisingly small.
Gou swallowed, coaxing some moisture into her dry tight throat. "And." When she spoke it almost felt like someone else was and she barely recognized her own voice. "He didn't advance."
The sounds of cheering drew her attention back down to the water. To say Rin was not enjoying his success would have been an utter lie. He was shouting loudly, utterly caught up in his triumph and he smacked his arms into the water several times. Above him Samezuka chanted out his name.
The lane next to his was a sharp contrast to Rin's cheering. Haru hasn't even gotten out of the water yet. The teen hadn't moved from his spot since finishing and he made no reaction whatsoever to Rin's revelry. He might as well have been a statue if not for his heavy breathing.
Gou bit her lip. Was Haru upset about losing? He always claimed he didn't care about that sort of thing. But still…surely it couldn't feel good to lose so closely and to have your rival rub it in your face not even a foot from you.
Rin climbed out of the water. He paused at the edge of the pool and from his superior height he spoke to Haru though what he said Gou had no way of knowing. Then Rin smiled.
He smiled. For the first time in a long time Gou saw Rin smile.
But this was…this was all wrong. It was not the smile Gou had seen on him when he was younger, the smile he used to give whenever he threw his arm across Haru's shoulders, jubilant and unfettered. This new smile looked all wrong on his face, all sharp edges and glinting severity, like a razor opening. It didn't look like him at all.
She sat heavily back down in her seat. Her hand tightened in her lap. This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. This race between him and Haru was supposed to bring back the person her brother had used to be.
But instead it had only seemed to make him worse.
The atmosphere was a somber and quiet one after that. The next few heats for the 100m free went by and then it transgressed into the 200m free event. Everyone watched without seeing, gazes on the events but not truly observing it, and no one spoke, perhaps too shell shocked from what had occurred in Haru's race. They might have stayed that way indefinitely except Goro finally showed up.
"Sorry for being late!" the coach greeted them as he walked up wearing one of the ugliest shirts Gou had seen in her entire life. The bright colors were nearly blinding and it looked like he was on some tropical holiday rather than coming to a swimming event. Gou was fairly certain he had to have one of the worst fashion senses in the history of mankind.
"Where were you?!" Nagisa demanded, standing up to better scold the coach. "You're late, Goro-chan!"
"Sorry, sorry, I had something I absolutely had to take care of that couldn't wait." He rubbed the back of his head and glanced down at Amakata. For some inexplicable reason there was a hint of a blush on his face.
"What could be more important than the race?!"
"T-that's private! Don't worry about it! Young people wouldn't understand!"
What the heck did that mean? The red on his face only seemed to be getting worse as he continued talking too and now it looked like he might be sweating a bit.
"Haruka-senpai already swam in his event," broke in Rei before the two managed to get anymore distracted.
"Oh he did? Damn, I did miss it." Goro rubbed his forehead with a hand. "Those reservations too way too long to make." He scowled.
"Reservations?" murmured Makoto.
"Oh well, I'll be able to still watch him in the final round." Goro shrugged, recovering quickly from his disappointment. "That's what's most important anyway."
There was a moment of silence. No one wanted to delivered the news, and it was Makoto, perhaps feeling like it was his place being the captain, who finally did so. "Haru…won't be in the final round."
"Huh?"
"He didn't make it pass the first round."
Goro's mouth fell open. "He lost?!"
There was no response forthcoming but everyone's faces were answer enough, and Amakata pulled the coach down beside her to quietly explain in better detail what had occurred. Gou wouldn't have believed it either if she hadn't actually seen it. Haru had been their best bet in moving forward. For him to lose…
Next to her Gou overheard Goro saying to the teacher, "Amakata-san, uh, what do you happen to be doing later this evening?"
"Eh?" said Amakata.
"Don't come here just to hit on girls!" Nagisa yelled over.
"I'm not!" Goro's face was red again.
At least the coach's impromptu entrance and continued arguing with Nagisa was providing a good distraction. It had managed to pull the boys out of some of their funk. Enough for them to begin paying more attention to the current events going on rather than just staring into space anyway.
The 200m free was still going on and as Gou watched one of the swimmers was so far ahead of the others it couldn't really be called a competition. She narrowed her eyes. She hadn't been paying attention when the swimmers had started out but that swimmer looked awfully familiar. He touched the wall and above their heads the loud speakers crackled into life. "Mr. Mikoshiba in lane 4 has set a new tournament record," came the announcement and Gou leaned back in her seat. So she had been right.
Well, that would make Seijuro happy. Winning was what was most important. Just like he had said.
"Jeez." Goro snickered. "I knew he was good but not that good. That is impressive."
Down below Seijuro was cheering and smiling like he had just been told he had won the five thousand dollars right there. And he likely already felt the money was in the bag. Considering his huge win it wasn't that far of a stretch to believe so.
"Sei-chan sure did well," commented Nagisa. He turned Gou's way. "Don't you think so, Gou-chan?"
"Huh?" Gou blinked at being addressed. "O-oh yes." She tried to smile but she couldn't really muster the effort. As much as she knew she should be paying more attention, especially since it was Seijuro, she couldn't bring herself to do so. Her brain was stuck in a rut with what had happened earlier and that smile on her brother's face. That hadn't been what she had wanted at all.
Her despondent attitude didn't seem to be going unnoticed either, as Makoto and Nagisa glanced at each other and Rei checked his watch. "Something wrong?" asked Makoto.
"Haruka-senpai sure is taking a long time."
"A-ah." The way Makoto said this it sounded like he had already noticed this.
"He's probably taking a shower," said Nagisa.
"He's taking a long time though." Rei looked at his watch again and while it was true Haru normally did take obscenely long showers Rei didn't appear satisfied leaving the situation as it was. Maybe because he was outside of the circle that knew what was going on between Haru and Rin. Maybe that was what made him act faster than the others did. He rose to his feet. "I'll go check on him."
"Wa-wait, Rei!" Makoto called but Rei didn't stop and Gou watched with a touch of surprise as the three boys raced up the stairs, Makoto going after Rei, Nagisa going after the both of them, and Rei ignoring any of Makoto's calls to wait up. Rei was on a mission and wasn't about to let anyone stop him from finding their missing teammate. Under different circumstances she would have found it cute. As it was it was only making her more depressed.
She turned back to staring at the pavement between her shoes. A soft weigh settled on her shoulder. Amakata's hand.
"Don't dwell on it," the teacher said encouragingly. "That's how sports are."
"That's not it." Gou pressed her lips together. "I wanted to watch my brother and Haruka-senpai swim together. But…that wasn't what I was expecting." Or wanted. No matter how she tried she couldn't get her mind off it or get herself out of her gloom. Everything seemed so pointless all of a sudden.
"What are you acting so down in the dumps for?" Goro's loud voice made her raise her head. The coach was very nearly glaring at her, like he didn't understand at all why she would have any reason to be upset. "Just because Haru lost doesn't mean we're out yet! There are three others that haven't even swam yet! Don't act like we've lost already!"
Of course Goro wouldn't realize having not actually seen the race between Haru and her brother. He must think she was upset about the fact Haru had lost. "T-that's not-"
"You need to be more optimistic!" Goro carried on. "Those three boys practiced hard to get where they are! Now is the time we need to be cheering them on, not moping! You can't be downhearted and give up just because one person didn't make it! What kind of manager gives up on her team before they even compete?"
Gou lowered her eyelids in a glare of her own at the dig. Okay so Goro had no idea what he was talking about when it came to Haru's loss but he did have a good point. Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei still had their own races to do. It wasn't fair to continue acting dejected when they had tried just as hard if not harder than Haru to be where they were now. If she wasn't hopeful it would only drag them down as well and then there would be no point in them being here. In that case they might as well pack up and go home.
No way. Gou hardened her resolve. They weren't out of this yet. Haru losing was certainly a devastating blow considering he was the best swimmer they had, but those three still had a chance and so long as one of them placed they had a chance. Iwatobi needed any accomplishments they could get and they needed that money if they planned to become a successful swim team. She couldn't give up just because of her brother. Whatever was going on with him she would deal with later. Right now she had to focus on what was most important.
She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. "Okay," she said. "I'm ready."
"Ready for what?" Goro demanded.
"I'm ready to cheer!"
"That's better!" Goro smiled at her and Gou realized how lucky they were that Goro had agreed to come along on this trip with them. The guy could be a real pill sometimes, especially when it came to his unhealthy obsession in eating nothing but pizza, but his personality provided exuberance and his vigor spurred the boys to not only do better but to become excited about doing better. He provided the enthusiasm they needed to cheer on their comrades despite how grim the situation might be.
By the look on Amakata's face she was a little more than captivated by that too.
Gou eyed the two of them warily. If they started making out like a pair of hot blooded teens she was going to find a different seat, cheering be damned. Lines had to be drawn somewhere.
Taking another deep breath she faced forward and readied herself to cheer for her comrades, like they needed her to.
They could get through this. There was no way it could end here. Not after everything they had put into it.
Surely they would be able to succeed.
Losses.
All of them.
Every single one a loss.
Makoto's backstroke. Nagisa's breaststroke. Rei's butterfly. All losses.
Across the screen Gou watched Rei's time populate. She didn't need to see that to know he hadn't placed. He had done well, very well, had even set a new personal record for himself, but he had come in last in the heat he was in.
Just like the others he too had been beaten.
Despite their best efforts not a single one of them had progressed. None of the four had gotten past the first round. They had lost.
Gou looked down into her lap where her hand lay limply against her thigh. This was really it. This was where it ended. Here, at the first round, with all their efforts and time and desires amounting to nothing, everything they had worked for snuffed out so quietly and thoroughly, so indefinitely. Everything amounting to nothing.
And her brother's jagged, salt water, rip current ruthless smile.
Gou tightened her hand into fist. No way. Not while she was manager was she going to let that happen. She wasn't going to let it end here.
She stood, hands fisted at her sides. She looked towards the exit for the stands.
"Gou-chan?" Amakata called after her.
"Bathroom," Gou said curtly over her shoulder. She didn't want to explain. Not yet. Amakata might try and stop her. She would tell her afterwards, when the teacher would be unable to stop it. It might be cruel but it was necessary.
With a bit of confusion she navigated the halls of the stadium, struggling to decipher the signs posted in several different languages but not Japanese. It took her a bit but she finally found what she was seeking.
Thankfully there was still someone there and the clerk was a little startled at seeing her. It was awfully late for this sort of thing to be occurring. "Can I help you?"
"Yes." Gou took a deep breath. The boys might be mad at her for doing this without having asked them first and there was no guarantee they would agree to it, especially Haru, but what choice did she have? If she didn't do this then it would all be over. She wasn't ready for that to happen.
"I would like to enter the Iwatobi swim team into the medley relay please."
This chapter is admittedly long and boring but it was super essential to the plot so thankfully its done!
UMmm so I hecked up with Momotarou. When I wrote the past chapters where Seijuro talked about his siblings only the younger sister had been mentioned so that's what I had gone with. Eventually I have plans to go back and edit these parts to include Momotarou (I think there's only like two or three places) in order to stay more true to canon but nothing should require a reread as it doesn't change the story much at all.
Replies to some things!
Joy-girl – Oh my goodness I'm so glad you liked the egg analogy. When it crossed my mind it was just too perfect not to use and I'm really hoping to incorporate it more later on. I actually did modify the last line for last chapter concerning Makoto because I am trash and it didn't feel right considering his prior conversations with Seijuro. I feel like the modified line makes a bit more sense now.
Jesse Bro – I don't want to say too much in order to not to spoil anything but I do have plans concerning Gou's last name so that will be addressed. UMMM I hecked up with Momotarou. When I wrote the past chapters talking about Seijuro's family the only sibling that had been mentioned at that point had been Seijuro's younger sister. After a lot of consideration I am likely just going to go back and edit those parts to include Momotarou rather than make him a different sort of relative outside of Seijuro's brother (I considered for a while making him a cousin but I just really hate deviating that much from canon) as there aren't too many scenes where Seijuro talks about his siblings anyway. Sadly Momotarou will not be making an appearance in this fic.
Guest – Oh man thank you so much, I am so flattered, you are way too nice, I don't deserve that considering this fic is pretty much word vomit. As for my updating ummm it can be pretty sporadic depending on my inspiration level, free time, and how cooperative the chapter wants to be (there were some chapter I rewrote parts literally three or four times before I was satisfied with them). I'd say two weeks is probably around average, give or take. For chapters left I am guessing around 10 or 15 possibly. I have a general timeline down for what I have left to do so it entirely depends if I decide to split up or combine parts due to length.
YourTrulyJaneDoe – I honestly think this is one of the funniest reviews I've ever received. Whenever I need a good laugh I just go look at it and it never fails to crack me up. So thank you.
Tttttoobs – Never. This is a PG cartoon damnit. We don't even get to see nipples on the swimmers for crying out loud.