Open Waters

Chapter Three

Midnight Visit

"Hey, have you heard?" Nagisa piped up. He danced down the stairs and, when he reached the bottom, the excitement was plainly transferred into his movement as he jumped around, grinning. "The swimming club we went to in grade school is going to be torn down soon. So, before that happens, why don't we pay a visit?"

"You want to visit an abandoned building?" Hana asked, her brow furrowed. "But, I doubt -"

"To dig that up?" Makoto asked, cutting over her. Hana folded her arms and glared at him. It wasn't like Makoto to cut over anyone. Maybe he just hadn't heard her. If that was the reason, Hana wouldn't have been surprised. She had spoken fairly quietly.

Still, she did hear what Makoto said about digging something up. She frowned, not understanding what her friend was talking about.

"Yes!" Nagisa said enthusiastically. He mimicked the action of someone sneaking past. "We can sneak in at night..."

"You can go by yourself," Haru interrupted.

Nagisa reacted immediately. He spun around, his big eyes even wider than usual, his mouth open and gaping. He looked so shocked and horrified, it was almost comical. "You can't say that!" Nagisa exclaimed, clutching the sleeve of Haru's blazer as he walked past. "Come with us, Haru-chan!"

"I'm not going." Haru sounded absolute.

Nagisa hadn't given up yet. "Don't you think it'll be fun?"

"I don't."

Hana sighed. "Haru, it doesn't sound that bad," she said bracingly, lightly stepping down the stairs. She made sure to stop at a step just above everyone else, so that for once she didn't feel so small.

"Why don't you just humour him?" Makoto continued.

Haru turned away from them all. "No, it's too much effort."

"Aww!" Nagisa moaned, and leaned agaisnt Haru as though his words had shocked him so much that it had caused him to lose all support in his legs.

Hana sighed and visibly face-palmed. "It's just a simple visit to an old building," she tried to reason. "I don't see much hard work in that."

Unsurprisingly, Haru paid no heed to her words.

Makoto held his chin, looking as though he were in thought, or remembering something. "But there's a pool there," he said slowly. "A pool is much bigger than a bathtub."

Hana almost burst out laughing right there. Oh my goodness, Haru is so cornered. She glanced over at Haru, who had looked back at Makoto, a spark of interest in his eyes. Yup, we got him.

She wasn't wrong in thinking that. "All right," Haru eventually said.

Makoto and Nagisa shared victorious looks. Hana laughed and trailed after her friends as they chatted animatedly. She frowned thoughtfully as she walked along. Surprisingly, found herself intrigued about the swimming club.

She didn't know much about her friends, even Mako, who she knew from childhood. There was so much she didn't know and, until then, she couldn't entirely be a part of their lives. 

She needed to understand.

"Hey," she blurted without thinking. The boys all turned to face her and she flushed, fiddling with her hands as she looked down at the floor, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. God, why didn't I think this through? Why did I speak without thinking? "Do you, uh, y'know..." She cleared her throat. "W-would you mind terribly if I come along?"

They looked surprised. "Hana -" Makoto said, but she cut over him. She was a jumble of nerves and found herself tripping over her words. She was a little afraid of how they would react, and thought it better to get all the words out now while she still had the courage.

"Look, I understand that this is personal for you guys and everything, and that I have absolutely no clue in whatever happened at the swim club, hell, I wasn't even around when you started at the swim club and I don't even swim, but I want to go. If I'm going to be friends with you guys, I want to understand everything a little better than I am, and just - I just want to go along with you." She bit her lip and looked down, her cheeks flushed a flaming red. Gosh, I jprobably ust made a massive fool of myself. Good job, Hana, good job.

But to her surprise, Makoto stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and found him smiling, a little indulgently, probably because of the jumble of words that had just spilled from her tonuge. "Of course you can come, Hana," he said. He glanced back at the other two. "Can't she?"

Nagisa nodded. "Sure!" he exclaimed.

Hana's eyes flicked to Haru. She knew he would be the most hesitant about this. Their eyes met, and a small stare-off went down between them.

Haru then sighed. "I don't see a problem."

Hana beamed, giddy with relief. "Thanks, you guys," she said, grinning.

Now there was one thing left to do: convince her parents.

* * *

As soon as she got home, Hana proposed the idea of going out with her friends to her parents. She left out the detail that they were going into an abandoned building, something she wasn't sure they'd approve of, and told them they were just hanging out for the night. After a quick discussion, her parents agreed.

Elated, Hana raced to grab her phone, and quickly punched in Makoto's number.

"Hey Hana," Makoto greeted as he answered. "Any luck with your parents?"

Even though she know Makoto couldn't see her, Hana still nodded vigorously. "My parents are good," she chirped. "They say that, as long as I'm back before ten, then I can go. And it's only going to be a quick visit, right?"

"Of course," he said. "We've only got a few things to sort out there, and then we're going."

"Right." She paused and bit her lip. A wave of uncertainty hit her and she looked at the floor, as though that way provide a way of escaping her sudden feeling of discomfort. "Are you sure the others don't mind me tagging along?" she whispered. "I mean, I only met Nagisa today, and I only met Haru a few times, and I wasn't even around when you started the swimming club. This is something personal for you boys, and I would hate to be intruding." Her teeth pierced the skin of her lip as she bit it, blood seeping out from beneath the cracked skin.

"You always worried too much, Hana," her friend sighed. "If Haru agreed, then I don't see why anyone else would have objections. I'm currently with the other two right now, and neither have raised any objections to you coming."

"Oh." Hana flushed. "Okay then. Well, I'll meet up with you soon."

She ended the call and placed the phone down on the desk. They'd arranged to meet up at after dinner. Hana warded off the time by completing the small amount of homework they'd been set that day and reading one of her favourite books.

When dinner was served, Hana ate as quickly as possible while still maintaining her etiquette. She didn't want to est too quickly in front of her parents. Once she'd finished she jumped up, put her plates away, thanked her parents for the meal and ran into the garage, where her bike was. She wheeled it outside and, after kicking the stand up, took off down the road.

Hana was glad that she'd had the initiative to change once she'd arrived home. It would have been awkward, riding on a bike with just a skirt on. The jeans she wore made her feel much more comfortable and were easy to ride in.

It didn't rake too long to reach the old swim club by bike. By the time Hana pulled into the parking lot, night had fallen. She swung her leg over the seat and chained her bike to a nearby lamp post.

Seems I'm the first here, she thought. She crossed her legs and glanced up at the building before her. It looked pretty trashed and worn down. The paint had faded considerably, the halls were dark, the walls had been vandalised in a few places. An abandoned atmosphere surrounded the bundling.

Wonder what this place was like when people were still using it?

Hana wasn't waiting too long for the boys to show up. When she spotted them, she waved and jogged over. "Hey," she greeted brightly. The night was a bit nippy, so she pulled her cream-coloured cardigan closer around her body.

The boys all greeted her. She noticed with a small spark of surprise that Makoto was carrying a shovel. What would we need a shovel for?

"This place is pretty trashed," Makoto commented,

Nagisa stepped in front of the group, opening his hand to reveal something that was resting on his palm. "Here, just in case. Purifying salt."

"Salt?" Makoto repeated.

Nagisa looked back at the building, his face oddly illuminated by the moonlight. "They say the place is haunted."

Makoto laughed weakly. "Don't scare me."

"I'm not lying," Nagisa said forcefully, whipping around in a movement so sudden Makoto jumped back, frightened. "People have been seeing shadows moving around and hearing sobbing voices."

Hana rolled her eyes at Nagisa's tale, and then sighed once she caught Makoto's terrified expression. She had never believed in ghosts. She edged closer to Haru, who was the only one who appeared as unfazed by ghost stories as she was. "I highly doubt that's true," she said.

He looked down at her and nodded. "It isn't likely," he agreed.

They both watched with some degree of amusement as Nagisa flung salt over Makoto. Once he was finished, he bounded over to Haru and Hana. "Okay, you're next Haru-chan," Nagisa chirped. "You'll be last, Hana-chan."

Haru rolled his eyes, but still allowed Nagisa to fling the salt all over him. When it was her turn, Hana put up a little protest, but ended up having small white particles thrown at her, anyway.

"Hey," Haru said, looking at his sleeve. With his finger, he scooped up some of the white particles resting against his blue jumper.

"Wh-What is it?" Makoto asked. Hana glanced over at him, amazed that his voice was trembling. They hadn't even gone inside the building yet, and her friend was shaking at the mere thought of ghosts.

Honestly.

Haru pressed the grains of salt to his tongue. "This isn't salt," he said after he'd tasted. "It's sugar."

"Sugar," Hana repeated. Her eyes flicked down to her own shoulder, where several white flakes were resting on the sleeve of her cardigan. Wanting to test Haru's claim herself, she raised her finger and picked up several of the white flakes, popping them in her mouth.

Definitely sugar, she thought, the sweetness of the sugar melting on her tonuge. It tasted nothing like the sharpness of salt.

"Come on," Haru said, once Makoto tried the experiment out himself. Once he started to make his way toward the building, the others hurried to catch up.

"Nagisa, what was that for?" Makoto demanded. They passed through the threshold of the old, abandoned building. Hana looked around with small interest. The corridors were dark, covered in shadow. Only a places where the moonlight hit were lit up. An old, abandoned air hung over the place. Hana shivered. She did feel a little spooked, now that she was inside.

"Well, it's all mental anyway, so sugar will get the job done," Nagisa said lightly.

"Clichéd as hell." Haru's voice was quiet and he mumbled, but Hana was close enough to hear what he said. She chucked, causing Haru to look back at her.

When he stared at her, she shrugged. "I couldn't agree with you more," was all she said in a way of explanation. Haru looked at her for a moment longer and then turned back to face the front.

"It is one of the oldest mistakes out there," Makoto said.

A loud noise rang through the empty space. Makoto yelled and jumped back, clutching Haru as he looked around with panicked eyes. "What was that?"

Nagisa smiled sheepishly as he turned around, rubbing the back of his neck. "My foot hit an empty can."

Makoto groaned and relaxed slightly. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

Hana couldn't help but laugh, much to Makoto's dismay. This certainly was turning out to be more amusing than she thought a visit to an abandoned building could ever be.

"You were always scared of the dark," Nagisa commented.

Gosh, wasn't he always. Hana remembered some of the pranks she'd pull on Makoto in the night back when they were kids. He never seemed to get used to them, and his reaction would always send her into fits of giggles.

"You're not helping any!"

"Sorry."

Goodness. Hana shook her head but grinned.

The first room they entered was a locker room. The lockers still stood, their colours dulled by the large shadows. The room was exceedingly bare and meant nothing to Hana, but it brought a reaction out of the boys.

"This brings back memories," Nagisa said, smiling as he looked around the room.

Makoto surveyed the room. "It's not as trashed as I expected."

The moved on, walking into the next room. It was just as dark as the locker room, though this time there was hardly anything there, making the room feel even emptier than the locker too,. "This is..."

"The lounge," Haru finished.

Nagisa had run over to the back wall, looking at something that had been hung up there. "Hurry up!" he called. Once the others had walked up to him, he indicated to one of the pictures. "Look. This is the picture when when we won the relay."

"You swam in a relay together?" Hana asked, interested. She peered closer at the picture and smiled, instantly picking out Makoto, Haru and Nagisa. They were grouped together, all smiles and laughter. Except Haru, that was, who wasn't even looking at the camera. She smiled.

But there was one face she didn't know, his arm on Haru's shoulder as he laughed, smiling brightest out of all the four in the picture. "Who's that?" she asked, nodding at the red-haired boy.

"Oh," Makoto said. "That's Rin. He was quite a good friend of ours. Then he moved to Australia to a swimming school, and we lost contact. It was his dream to become an Olympic swimmer."

"Ah. I see." Hana nodded and she straightened up, though her eyes didn't stray from the photo. Her eyes lingered on Haru, and she smiled indulgently. What kind of kid doesn't smile when they win a relay? Then again, Haru isn't exactly normal. He hasn't exactly changed in thst regard.

She looked over at him as she thought this, peeking through strands of her light brown hair. Haru's gaze was fixated on the photo, a sort of far-off look on his face.

"Haru," Makoto said, jolting Haru from whatever thought he had been lost to. "Let's go, Haru."

Haru slowly straightened up. "Yeah..." he said quietly, and followed the others as they headed back out into the corridor.

"You think the marker is still there?" Nagisa piped up as they walked along.

Makoto looked anxiously around. "Can we pick up the pace a little?" he asked quietly.

Hana rolled her eyes. "Makoto. You are not a child anymore. Come on, stick it out." She grinned and grabbed him by the sleeve. "Surely it's not that bad."

Makoto glanced down an adjoining corridor as they passed it, and paused. "Makoto -" Hana sighed, and the word died off her tongue as she noticed the shadowy figure making its way down the corridor toward them.

"Huh? Who's there?" Nagisa asked, as the others caught on to what she and Makoto were seeing.

Makoto strained his eyes, but ended up shaking his head. "I can't tell."

Hana tipped her head to the side as the strange figure emerged from the shadows. He didn't resemble anyone she knew. And even if he did, the jumper, trousers and hat he wore certainly obscured his features enough Hana to not instantly recognise him.

"I didn't think I'd run into you guys here," the stranger said. Huh? He knows these guys? She watched curiously as the stranger reached to the strap at the back of his cap and pulled it back. It didn't go far, and the action utterly bewildered Hana as she wondered what the whole point was to that, but it earned gasps of recognition from Makoto and Nagisa.

Cries of "Rin!" and "Rin-chan!" came from them both. Hana felt her eyes widen. So this is Rin. He must have moved back from Australia. Huh, imagine that. I hear about him for the first time today, and how I'm meeting him. Crazy.

"You're back from Australia!" Nagisa exclaimed, bounding forward. Hana wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she thought she detected a flicker of exasperation, even irritation in Rin's face.

"What are you doing here, though?" Makoto asked.

"This must be fate!" Nagisa declared. His excited smile was bright enough to bring light to any dark room. "Some unseen force brought us all here at this exact -"

"Haru, you're still hanging out with these guys?" Rin interrupted. He scoffed. "You never learn."

Wait, what? What does he mean by that? Hana instantly felt defensive of her friends and glared heavily back at the newcomer.

The others were just as shocked. "What are you talking about, Rin?" Makoto murmured.

"And what about you?" Haru's voice cut through the air, quiet and almost bored. "Have you learned anything?"

Rin smirked. "I'm glad you asked. Why don't I show you?" He flung his cap to the cap. "Let's race, Haru."

"Race?" Makoto repeated as the two walked off. He lunged forward. "Wait, Haru!"

Haru didn't look back, he only walked further into the shadows of the corridor behind Rin. Hana was stumped. Well, that was sudden.

"Did they just ditch us?" Nagisa murmured.

"Hate to break it to you, but it sure looks like it," Hana replied, her voice wooden.

The three looked at each other for a moment, then simultaneously turned and sprinted down the corridor. "Wait!" Nagisa yelled, and the two boys led the way to the pool. Hana followed them, not knowing the way around this place herself. 

"I'll show you how different we are now," Rin was saying as they skidded on to the scene.

Haru sighed, removing his shirt. "Sure. Go ahead."

Hana's hands flew to cover her mouth, and her eyes bugged to the size of dinner plates. She could feel herself begin to panic and hyperventilate at the same time. Oh my God, that's the second time today! Is this going to become a normal sight for me?

Yes, I sure hope so, a part of her brain thought eagerly, as she looked at Haru and Rin's well-toned bodies. I never saw anything like this back in my old town.

"They're going to swim here?" Makoto cried. He looked panicked.

"Wasn't swimming part of the plan?" Hana squeaked. She still found that she wasn't exactly able to function properly. "You suggested it yourself, Makoto! That's how you got Haru to come here."

"Yes, I know Hana... Wait, hold on!" Makoto yelled. "Haru, that's a bad idea -"

A chorus of yells came from Makoto, Hana and Nagisa as Haru and Rin stood before them... both of them in their swimsuits, their trousers to the side.

"Wait, you've been wearing that the whole day?" Makoto exclaimed.

"Rin-chan too?" Nagisa cried.

"I've never known anyone who liked wearing their swimsuits so much," Hana commented, rather casually. She was surprised; she was sure that anything that passed her lips would have come out as squeak.

"We have to stop them!" Makoto yelled, brining Hana back to reality.

"Do we really?" Nagisa asked.

"Yes!"

Hana was bemused. What was wrong with swimming? Unless there was something wrong with the water... her eyes travelled to the pool and she gasped, her heart squeezing in fear.

Haru and Rin were making their way to the starting blocks, both eying the other. "Let's do this, Haru!" Rin yelled, snapping his googles over his eyes.

"Haru!" Hana screamed. "Both of you, get away from there!"

However, both were too preoccupied to pay attention to her words. They jumped onto the starting blocks and got into position. "Ready," Rin said. "G-"

He didn't finish his sentence. Hana felt her body sag with relief once she knew the two boys had made the same discovery she had before it was too late.

"There isn't any water," Haru said quietly. He sounded disappointed.

Makoto sighed, his body deflating with the heavy release of breath. "That's why Hana and I told you to stop."

Rin scoffed. He stepped off his block and removed his goggles. "Lame," he sneered.

He and Haru recollected their gear. Hana watched them, icily glaring at Rin whenever he eyes travelled over to him. He soon had everything and stood. "Oh yeah," he said suddenly, producing a trophy. "Did you guys come here for this?"

"Oh, our trophy," Nagisa gasped. Our trophy? I wonder if that's the trophy they earned during the relay?

Rin glare at the thing for a while and shrugged. "I don't need this thing anymore." He dropped it, much to the horror of the boys, and it landed on the ground. Thankfully, it didn't break. Rin stared at it for a moment longer and then walked off, soon enveloped by shadows.

"Wow." Hana blinked, staring after Rin as he left. "You guys used to hang out with him?" She could hardly believe it. Haru, Makoto and Nagisa were all so fun to be around, and then there was Rin, who looked nothing like the cheerful boy in the picture, the one with the bright smile. He had changed drastically since that photo had been taken.

"Rin-chan..." Nagisa sighed, forlorn. "He's kinda changed."

Hana sighed. "You want my opinion?" she asked, hands in her pockets. Without waiting for a response, she shrugged and said, plainly and bluntly, "My personal opinion is that he's a jerk."

----------------------------------------------------
A/N: ah Hana, so blunt and forthright at the end there. just so you know, i do not hate Rin, but i had to write Hana's reaction like that to make it realistic

so, Hana's now met Rin, and it doesn't look like he's made a good first impression on her. i just love writing her reactions to everything that's going on and she's already growing closer to the boys, man, i'm jealous of her to be honest. ((i think anyone would be, because THOSE BOYS))