Free! Ebb and Flow Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The following morning when Haru, Makoto and the girls arrived at school they ran into a panting Nagisa who was wearing his gym strip. “What are you doing?” Haru asked, Nagisa attempted to catch his breath. “Haru chan, Mako chan...” Nagisa spoke, Tay turned to see Rei walking towards them. “Oh Rei chan!” Nagisa said in a chipper voice, when Rei stopped he looked over at Haru. “Are you Haru chan san?” Rei questioned, Haru just glared back, “don’t use chan or san with my name.” Haru stated with his usual expression. “Is something up?” Nagisa asked while everyone stared at Rei. “I’m willing to participate in your joint practice as a trial member.” Rei informed, “What really?” Nagisa’s eyes widened. “But only on one condition, I won’t do any swimming.” Rei stated, “That works just fine.” Tay smiled hoping that it would lead to something more. Nagisa must have worked really hard to convince him.

When arriving at Samezuka later that day, Tay grew more and more nervous to meet the famous Rin that meant so much to Haru. Everyone was impressed by the pool; Gou on the other hand was infatuated with all of the muscled hotties on the team. “Easy to see they’re from a champion school, but ours are just as nice.” Gou stated turning back to look at Haru and Makoto who were in the middle of stretching. “Right Tay?” Gou smiled however Tay was too flustered looking at Haru to hear. “Hey thanks for coming!” The captain waved walking over to the Iwatobi team. “Thank you very much,” everyone bowed. “Sure, you’re Haruka Nanase right?” He asked turning to look at Haru. “You won a bunch of regional tournaments in grade school.” He then added, “Yeah...” Haru replied, Tay looked over to see someone walking past them. The guy looked familiar like Tay had seen him somewhere before. He turned to fix his gaze on Haru and Tay quickly put the pieces together. “Big brother!” Gou called out as she ran over to him. “Gou was right, her brother is really attractive huh Mel?” Tay smiled, she turned to look at Mel whose eyes sparkled, “He’s... Gorgeous...” Mel spoke, her heart started pounding, Mai and Tay looked at her with widened eyes.

Nagisa ran up to Rin with an excited look, the rest decided to follow him. “Rin chan we get to swim together again, let’s have fun today” Nagisa smiled. “Together? You guys are a waste of my time,” Rin stated before walking off. “Big brother...” Gou spoke with sadness. “Wow that was harsh...” Mai added, “What’s his problem?” Rei asked, “Yeah there’s some history there.” Makoto replied, the girls then went to sit on the side and observe while the Samezuka’s captain gave the orders. “I can see now why the guys were so upset when it came to Rin...” Tay sighed, everyone looked at the ground. They may not have been a team long but their feelings were already connected. It made all the girls sad to see them like this, Gou especially. When they looked up again they saw Rei being dragged off by a boy with silver hair in a bowl cut. When they returned Rei was wearing a speedo, which seemed to lift the mood, the girls held back their laughter as much as they could.

Makoto was starting first, Gou pointed out that her brother seemed to be watching the boys. It seemed he showed some interest, Tay felt herself smile a bit... Maybe there was hope for them after all. Nagisa was up next and Rei was told to be ready for when he returned. He seemed really nervous; Tay recalled that he said he wouldn’t swim. The girls focused on Rei while he took position, he had great form. Diving in he looked like a pro, however he ended up belly flopping causing everyone to cry out in shock. Standing up with surprise Tay felt her heart race faster, it had been a few seconds already and Rei hadn’t surfaced. “Uh... he hasn’t come back up,” Makoto spoke sharing the same expression as the girls. “Uh this looks bad...” Gou said with a worried tone, Tay quickly turned to look at Haru who had in that very second ran forward diving into the pool. Nagisa swam to them as well while the Samezuka’s captain ran over. The boys returned to the surface, everyone gave a sigh of relief. Makoto then went to help Haru and Nagisa get Rei out of the pool. Tay turned to Mai about to say something then froze in shock when she saw Mai with wide eyes, shaking and sweating. “Mai are you okay?” Tay questioned as she held onto her shoulders making a form of physical contact. “Tay bring her over here to sit down!” Mel called out while she ran to grab a bottle of water. Tay sat Mai down and noticed that the look in her eyes showed she had returned to reality. Mel handed her the bottle of water she ran to get, Mai took a sip and luckily it seemed to calm her down. “Are you okay?” Tay questioned placing her hand on Mai’s back. “Yeah, sorry I’m okay don’t worry.” She smiled, however Tay and Mel could see right through it.

Focusing back on Rei, Tay and Mel walked over hearing Nagisa say something about Rei not being able to swim. “Are you saying it’s my fault? I told you I wasn’t going to swim!” Rei turned his face in embarrassment; “You should have said something earlier.” Nagisa replied with concern, he must have felt guilty being he was the one who kept hounding Rei about joining. “I wasn’t going to admit I couldn’t swim, that would go against my sense of beauty.” Rei replied honestly, “I’ll clear things up with Samezuka. Sorry about forcing you into this situation.” Makoto reassured while Haru adjusted his goggles, it was his turn to swim. Everyone turned to watch Haru; he had this quality to him that just made it so people couldn’t look away. Watching him swim made Tay’s heart race faster, seeing him do what he loved most, that made her so happy. She glanced over to Rei whose eyes were fixated on Haru, it seems even he couldn’t help but be inspired. Haru pulled his swim cap off shaking out his hair; Tay’s heart was struck again, something about him doing that was just irresistible to her. Looking up to see Rin in the distance watching Haru she couldn’t help but wonder what was on his mind. What did he think of Haru? Would their relationship ever be what it used to? Even if it was useless in that moment Tay decided to do whatever it took to get to the bottom of this.

The next day the team went out to the track to see Rei again. It seemed as though Nagisa hadn’t given up yet. Rei looked like he had regained his composer when he went to jump. Everyone sat on the bench watching, Rei used the long poll to leap into the air, however he made quite the weird pose and hit the bar when landing. Rei got up and made his way over to their direction making a stop in front of Haru, looking at him with eyes full of resolve. “I want to be like you Nanase san,” Rei spoke. “What do you mean?” Haru questioned, “I want that kind of freedom.” He responded, “it’s not freedom, it’s freestyle.” Haru stated, everyone turned to look at him with shock, “freestyle... anyway I would like to formally join the swim club.” Rei bowed causing everyone to grin, “what really?” Nagisa gleamed, “if you want to swim go ahead.” Haru responded, accepting Rei in his own way. “That’s that then, welcome to the team.” Tay smiled, Rei then turned to Nagisa. “However you were the one who initially invited me to join, I expect you to take responsibility... Nagisa kun” Rei blushed, Nagisa’s eyes widened with joy leaping up to half hug Rei. “Leave it to me!” He called out. “Hey watch it!” Rei yelled back, it seems like things were starting to fall into place after all.

While waiting for Haru to show up Tay and Makoto decide to pass the time by playing with a local kitten. “What a little sweetheart!” Tay chimed while Makoto used a blade of grass as a cat toy. Looking up Haru was stopped at the top of the stairs, “morning Haru, today’s the big day.” Makoto smiled grabbing his bag, “morning Haru!” Tay blushed, “morning...” Haru replied as he headed down the steps towards the others. Now that they had another male member the boys could start entering competitions, Tay couldn’t help but wonder how this would change Haru. The fact that Haru stopped before, loving swimming as much as he did, Tay knew somewhere in her heart that something big would happen. Something that would affect all of them, and this feeling continued to linger in her mind.

“Okay now we officially have four male members now, and it’s warming up outside. So we will finally begin training in the pool today,” Gou stated as she held out a hand written regimen. In the blink of the eye Haru dived into the water, completely ignoring the manager’s speech. “Hold on, can you at least hear what I have to say first Haruka senpai?” Gou cried out, Makoto and Tay smiled knowing how happy Haru must be right now. No one seemed too surprised though, Haru and water were like opposite charges on a magnet, and before you knew it they would make contact. The girls sat on the side and observed practice; since they needed to teach Rei how to swim they didn’t want to get in the way. Tay was happy about this decision being she got to watch Haru, however she couldn’t help but pick up the unease that was on Mai’s face.

Makoto was explaining the regimen to Rei, Gou ended up stating that she had found it when she was cleaning up. Apparently it was one her brother used to use; the mention of his name was enough to bring a distant look to Haru’s eyes. The girls tried to avoid looking at Rei while he stretched; the embarrassing poses were enough to send anyone into a fit of laughter. Tay made her way over to Haru as he took a look at the regimen. Gou walked over and smiled, “are you that interested in my brother’s old regimen?” “Not really, you can write down a regimen and not follow it.” Haru responded handing Gou the paper and diving back into the water. Tay and Gou looked at each other and smiled, “so he is interested.” Gou giggled, Tay couldn’t help but laugh a little as well.

Sitting back with Mai and Mel they looked back over to Rei who was still stretching. He eventually takes position to dive, wearing a great grin of confidence. Everyone watches as somehow once again his perfect dive turns into a belly flop of failure. Impressive in it’s own way Rei still attempts to swim going ever downward. Tay and Mel try to fight their laughter when they turn to Mai. Her eyes were wide; she was sweating and frozen stiff. “Mai are you alright?” Tay questioned with worry, placing her hand gently on Mai’s arm, trying not to startle her. “Yeah sorry just a bit of a headache,” she responds with a forced smile. “Maybe you should go lay down in the nurse’s office.” Mel suggests, “No it’s fine I am just going to go get a drink, I’ll be back.” She responds getting up. “Okay take it easy,” Tay insists turning their attention back to the guys.

Gou joins Tay and Mel while Makoto and Nagisa attempt to teach Rei the basics of swimming. The strange part was he could float, but the second he tried moving his arms and legs he would just start to sink. Haru swims by, pulling off his cap, shaking out his hair. Gou moves closer, seemingly wanting to talk to him. Tay and Mel listen in whilst watching the others. “Haruka senpai... Why do you swim?” Gou asks, Haru looks up at her, showing no emotion. “I don’t have a reason,” he responded looking down into the water. “My brother’s dream is to become an Olympic swimmer, that’s why he went all the way to Australia to study.” Gou said, almost like she was trying to answer her own question. “That’s got nothing to do with me, besides it’s just a dream.” Haru retorts, Gou looks down accepting what he said. “Perhaps, but I think he’ll be a little closer to his dream if he’s with you guys. Like when you swam in the relay together,” Gou smiled, Haru looked up but says nothing. Feeling as though there is a huge distance between them, Tay continues to fix her eyes on Haru. Glancing over to her Haru can sense that there is something on her mind. Somehow he just knew that she was worried about him.