A/N: Hey, guys! This took longer than I expected… We meet some more Free! characters in the chapter! In order of appearance, Rin, Ai, Nagisa…It's implied that we meet Haru and Makoto but Nagisa is only one that is mentioned by name. And More OCs is added! We also switch POV, which by indicated by a line.

Disclaimer: Chapter One.

"Sora-nee!" The girl bombarded by an auburn blimp crushing her lungs. Sora recognized the auburn blimp as her cousin, Minako Takai. She remembered that her aunt had mentioned her cousin possibility attending Sakurano. Since that wasn't going to happen, it made sense that Minako would go to Samezuka instead. The curly-haired head popped out of her head, hazel eyes shining. "Are you surprised that you find me here?"

"Not really," replied Sora, glancing to the side as her cousin pouted. Minako was related to her through their mothers, both being sisters. Minako was the eldest daughter of CEO of some company that Sora had forgotten, and the only daughter of a couple younger sons. Minako was constantly pressured by her father to be the lady he would expect her to be. Sora was relieved that her uncle let her cousin attend Samezuka and hopefully there wouldn't be any problems.

"Hello, Minako-chan," Sora's father called as he carried a couple of Sora's boxes.

"Hi, Oji-san," Minako shouted, letting go of Sora to wave.

As the conversation between her father and cousin continued, Sora grabbed a box and headed inside. Once in the building, she was welcomed with a little lounge and kitchen. Not bad, she thought. She continued her way to the stairs and climbed to the fourth floor, the top floor. This year she was bunking with Hisoka because said girl stated that Sora was the quietest of the bunch.

Stepping into the fourth floor hallway, she bumped into a slightly taller girl. From what Sora could see, the girl had short light blonde hair and amber eyes. "I'm sorry," the girl piped before disappearing into the stairwell behind. Sora paused, before shrugging it off and continued to walk to her new room. She noticed the door was open, Thank Kami she praised in her mind, and walked in.

The room reminded her of how Sakurano had their dorm rooms set up. A little walkway into the main room with a bathroom and closet on either side. the main room had two sets of everything: desk, bed, and dresser with a set on one side of the room. Even a little TV on a stand underneath a small window with a short curtain.

"Disappointed, huh?" Sora heard Hisoka in the main room as she entered. Hisoka was on the side of the closet which was the right side, and she happened to be on her bed for the next year. "We don't have a balcony and the room is smaller than the ones at Sakurano."

"It's not that bad," Sora commented, placing the box down in the floor. She looked around the room once more. "It doesn't look smaller…"

Hisoka opened her mouth to reply, but Sora's father and her cousin entered the room with the rest of Sora's boxes and bags. "That's all of your stuff, Sora-chan," her father sighed, placing her boxes beside the one she had before. "We were lucky that Junko and Akira came down when they did." Said girls appeared with more bags in the room as he stated this. "Well, I should be off."

"I'll walk you down," Sora piped, leaving with her father and out of the building. She and her family embraced once they got to the car with her head tucked underneath his chin.

"I'm sorry your mother couldn't be here," her father murmured softly. He placed a kiss on her head before talking more. "I don't like that you're going to go to all-boys school and be on a team with a group of boys nearby." He paused, sighing. "However, I trust you and your friends enough to take care yourselves and each other. Be kind to your cousin and be there when you can because this is the first time she has been away from home."

"This is the happiest I've ever seen of her," Sora mumbled, realizing that there was a light to her cousin's eyes.

"That's true," her father chuckled, placing another kiss on her head. "I love you. Be safe."

"I will. I love you too, daddy." He squeezed her tightly before letting her go. Sora watched as her father entered the car, and started it. She waved as her father drove off the campus. Suddenly, she felt her cheeks wet and realized that she was crying. Huh? How long was I crying? Sora shook it off and walked back to her room.

Once there, she found her three friends chatting. "Where's Minako?" Sora asked, finding that her cousin wasn't in the room.

"She met up with her roommate and they went to explore the campus," Junko explained, smiling innocently.

"I tell ya, Sora," Akira piped, laying down on Sora's bed. "Your cousin is energetic and emotional. The complete opposite of you."

"What about your cousin, Akira?" Hisoka turned the tables on her.

"Your cousin is nothing like you." Junko teased back, before appearing to be in thought. "In fact, she seems nicer than you."

"Hey, I can be nice!"

The next day was the first day of classes. Sora and her friends walked to their homeroom in their new uniforms for Samezuka: a white blazer over a black button-up shirt with a pair of white pants. The blazer was fit to the girl's body and the pant had black thick stitching to indicate that it was a female's uniform. There was a knee-length white skirt with a black hem for warmer weather, much to Sora's dismay. You would think that a school originally meant for boys would require girls to wear shorts instead of skirts, Sora had thought.

When Sora and her friends entered their homeroom, the boys in the class didn't bombard them, much to Sora's relief. The teacher stood up and walked to the group.

"Welcome to Samezuka, girls," the teacher stated with a kind smile. The teacher was male, which was understandable for Samezuka, all-boys school, with graying hair and a kind face. "You may call me Nagano or sensei or both, whatever you're comfortable with. I'll warn the boys that if they harass you there will be serious consequences."

"Thank you, Nagano-sensei," the four girls chorused in unison, bowing in respect.

"You may take your seat," Nagano hummed, returning to his desk.

Akira and Junko took two empty seats beside the window while Sora and Hisoka took the empty seats across from them. Sora felt eyes on her and concluded that it was the boys in the room gossiping about her and her friends. What a bunch of girls, Sora huffed in her mind.

"Okay, settle down," Nagano stood with a clipboard in his hands. "Welcome back, students. My name is Nagano-sensei. Call me that, Nagano-san, Nagano, or whatever you feel like. Now, listen up as I call roll." Sora tuned him as she called out names until he got close to the M's. "Matsuoka?" Silence answered him and Sora noticed an empty desk behind Akira. It was the only empty desk in the room. "Rin Matsuoka?" Silence once more before Nagano sighed, "It's only the first day. He's going to be behind."

"Who misses the first day?" Akira murmured under her breath, making Sora shake her head.

Seriously, who does miss the first day? Akira thought. Just as she thought this, a boy entered the classroom, panting like he ran the mile.

"Matsuoka?" Nagano asked, concluding that this was the missing person on his roll. The boy recollected himself and rose, nodding at the teacher. "Good, take a seat."

The boy headed for the row that Akira was in. As he came closer, Akira noticed that he had maroon hair that was about the same length as her black locks and red eyes, mouth set in frown. He wore the Samezuka's academy. She looked away, feeling her cheeks turning slightly pink. She realized that she was staring at him.

"Uchiyama?" she heard Nagano called her name. She responded with a "Here!" and heard her sensei finished roll call. Nagano cleared his throat and Akira brought her attention to him. "Now as you young men may have noticed that we have girls in our class. Yes, they attend Samezuka now. Even if I haven't had you for long, I expect you boys to treat them with respect as you would any of your fellow students. If you harass any of these new female students, there will be consequences. Now onto the first agenda…"

Akira tuned him out as she divulged in her post mourning. Because her parents had died due to illness, she was an orphan. She lost her mother before she turned 10 and her father died a few years back. She almost gave up on photography, her father's passion, and swimming. Now, she was glad that she didn't.

"I hope you girls had an interesting first day of school, but now it's time to prove yourselves." Sora paced in front of a group of girls and she recognized her cousin in the group. After classes let out and clean up was done, the swim club met up. Sora and her friends changed into their suits, before the first years did. "My name is Sora Mizushima, your captain for the next two years. I expect every girl to pull her weight and work hard in her swimming. Yes, I realized that we are training with boys in the pool, but that's no excuse if you slack off. I won't go easy on you even if you have special connection with me or the other second years. Now, after you stretched enough and are ready to swim, you will meet with me or another second to take down your name and preferred stoke. You will go to me if you are frontward crawl; if butterfly, you will go to Akira Uchiyama; if breast stroke, you will go to Hisoka Ishiwata; and finally it back, you will go to Junko Ishiwata. We will record your time it takes you to swim 100 meters so we can see where you are. Any questions? Good. Dismiss!"

For the next few minutes, Sora watched as the group stretched. Before she knew it, the first girl came to her. She had white hair in a bob and very interesting periwinkle eyes. "Name?"

"Yuki Ametsuchi."

"You're Akira's cousin?" Sora raised an eyebrow as Yuki watched her captain write down her name.

"Yes, Mizushima-buchou," Yuki replied, nodding. "My mom and her mom were sisters." Yuki remembered that Akira had told her and her mom all about her friends at Sakurano, including the fact she told them of her parents. The whole family grieved, more Akira than everybody. It was hard especially on Yuki's mom when they had lost her aunt, leaving behind a family and bakery. Yuki hoped to run that bakery in honor of her aunt's memory.

"Alright, let's wait until all the frontward crawl swimmers have come," Sora hummed, looking at the group. "Then we'll start timing with you. For now, just hang tight." Sora's attention was taken by another girl.

Yuki took this time to observed the boys practice. The boys were already in line for the pool and the lane that her captain chose was the lane beside the line of first year boys. She looked back to check to see if her captain was ready. Suddenly, she felt a wet body collide with her and she stepped away quickly.

"Sorry," she and the mysterious person interjected, before Yuki bowed. The person must have done the same because she felt her head bumped into a hard object. "Sorry! No it's fine!" The person and her started talking in unison again. Yuki lifted her head to look at the person she kept injuring herself on.

The person turned out to be a boy with light blue eyes and a beauty mark under one of them. His wet short grey hair indicated to her that he had just gotten out of the pool. Yuki and the male gave each other a look before laughing together.

"I apologize for not seeing you," the male chuckled lightly. "I was just getting out of the pool and I…"

"It was my fault for standing like an idiot," Yuki interrupted before giggling. She composed herself and looked at him.

"My name Aiichirou Nitori," the male introduced, complete with bow.

"Yuki Ametsuchi."

"Ametsuchi!" the two of them jumped when Sora called her name. Yuki looked toward her captain who beckoned her with her head. "We're about to start. You're up first." Yuki nodded, putting her swim cap on.

"Good luck." She heard from the male she bumped into as she walked off.

Huh? You would think it wouldn't take them long with the line? Akira thought the next day at lunch. Now to find a table. She passed a few tables with guys wanting her to sit with them. Ugh, why can't they understand I want to EAT, not vomit? Oh, here's a good spot. She sat down at a seemingly empty table. She blessed the food and broke her chopsticks.

Just as she was going to dive, Akira noticed that Rin Matsuoka sat at the table. Being the socialite she was, she piped up at him. "Hi!" Argh, that sounded too adorable. "Hey." Now that one sounded too flat. "Salutations!" That one sounded too fancy. She sighed, and opened her mouth.

"If you try to greet me one more time, that food on your plate will become food on your face," the Rin guy interrupted before she could say hello in an appropriate way. Noticing his stern glare, she closed her mouth and pouted at him.

"I apologize," Akira replied, before narrowing her eyes at him. "To be fair, the proper response to a greeting would be one back, preferably with a "How are you?", instead of a threat, Matsuoka-san? Or said I say Matsuoka-chan?" She was satisfied when she heard him growl, intensifying his glare at her. She smirked at him triumphantly. "I'm waiting…"

He growled one more time, leaning in close to her smirking face. She then noticed that his teeth were like a shark's. "Listen, girly. You're about this close," he demonstrated with his fingers being a small distance apart, "from making me losing my patience. You don't want to know what happens when I lose my patience."

Akira huffed, standing to look at him in the eyes. "Please. Whatever you can do, you ain't got nothing on me. Despite my size, I can take you in three. Seconds. Flat." She leaned in close to match his glare, him not wavering. "Now since we're getting along just fine, I'll introduce myself. Akira Uchiyama, breast stroke swimmer for the former Sakurano Swim Club and now the Samezuka Swim Club. I know you're Rin Matsuoka, and I'm aware that you just came back from Australia."

His eyes narrowed even more in suspicion. "How do you know that?"

"Your Japanese still has a bit of an outback accent, Mate," Akira stated in English, surprising him. Her English dialect sounded like a combination of American and British. "That's right, I know English too." She continued in English. "Judging by your arm muscles, I can assume that you used to be a swimmer. You're welcome to join the Swim Club anytime. I'll make sure of it. Enjoy your meal." With her meal, Akira walked off with a smirk on her face.

Minako jogged along with her intelligent roommate, Kiyomi Miyake. Said girl seemed to tower over her, making her feel like a munchkin, with light blonde locks and amber eyes. Despite what her hair color suggests, Kiyomi happened to be very intelligent, already the top of their class at Samezuka.

"Why do we have to run? We're a swim club," Minako whined, pouting at the ground. She was wearing a Samezuka tracksuit, along with her roommate.

"It builds up strength in her legs which help our kicks in the water," Kiyomi explained in a matter of fact tone.

"Still doesn't make me like it." The two rounded near the Samezuka's pool.

"Be patient, we're almost done."

Suddenly, Minako stopped in her running, after hearing some shouts around the gym. She asked if Kiyomi heard that the shouting. Kiyomi nodded and the two sneaked around the corner to find a group of boys. The group consisted of a short blond, a tall brunet, and black-haired of average height, each wearing the same kind of uniform.

"I recognized those uniforms," Kiyomi gasped softly, making Minako raise an eyebrow. "They go to Iwatobi. Why would they come here?"

Minako looked back and started to walk toward them, ignoring her roommate's calls to her. She walked until she was close enough. "Hi," she stated in an innocent tone, startling the tall brunet boy.

The short blond was opened to her presence as he beamed at her. "Hi, I'm Nagisa Hazuki. What's your name?" She noticed that his magenta eyes shined. He's kinda cute and hot, she thought with a smile.

"Nagisa, you just can't talk to strangers," the tall brunet sputtered, looking at sketchily. "Especially one that crept on us.

"Well, she's a cute stranger," the blond called Nagisa piped, winking at her.

She giggled cutely, "My name is Minako Takai. Now that you know you know my name, I'm not a stranger anymore." She stopped giggling when she felt a tap on her shoulder, turning to find her roommate behind her.

"Don't run off like that to a group of strangers," Kiyomi warned, glaring sternly.

"They're not strangers," Minako huffed, crossing her arms. "They're just people we haven't met yet. By the way, Kiyomi-chan, this is Nagisa Hazuki-kun." She indicated the blond, who waved.

"Why are you talking about him like that?" Kiyomi asked hastily, before noticing the black-haired male stripping the yard. "What is he doing?!"

"Can't you wait?!" the tall brunet blurted out. "What is wrong with you?! There are girls here!"

"Ooh, strip show!" Minako whooped, pumping her fist.

"We are not staying for this!" Kiyomi exclaimed, dragging Minako off from the group.

"Aw…" Minako pouted, before sending a wave to Nagisa. "Bye, Nagisa-kun!"

"Bye, Minako-chan!" she saw the blond wave back, before getting chastised by the tall brunet.

Iwatobi, huh? That's not far from here, is it? Minako thought.