𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟖- 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐒
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By the time the two had reached Samazeka Academy, (Y/N) could feel her nerves begin to skyrocket. Just the other day, she had vowed to steer clear of Rin, yet here she was, not quite ready to confront him while his younger sister lead the way like a fearless general.

They walk up to the receptionist, where Gōu greets the man behind the counter with a small smile. "Hi, I'm Rin Matsuoka's sister Kōu." She then extends her arm to the girl beside her.

"And this is his friend, (Y/N)! We're here to visit him." The word 'friend' makes (Y/N) grip the strap of her bag, but she holds her tongue, unsure of how to respond.

The man behind the counter nods to them with a smile, before glancing down to his clipboard. "Let's see..Matsuoka..it appears he hasn't come back yet.." he looks up the two and apologizes.

Gōu kindly waves him off with her cheerful demeanor before turning to (Y/N), giving her a questionable look, silently asking if she knew where he would be.

The older girl shrugs her shoulders before pausing, and her eyes widen as she nods, an idea popping into her head.

_____

Samazeka Academy was renowned not just for its rigorous academic standards but also for the discipline it instilled in each and every boy that passed through its halls.

Yet, (Y/N) was certain of one thing, that this school housed the most impressive swimming center she had ever seen.

She follows closely behind Gōu as the two push through a sliding door, instantly enveloped by the cool rush from the air conditioning as they scanned the area for a particular maroon-haired boy.

(Y/N) however, seemed to be the only one looking, as she turns and stifles a laugh at her friend's wide eyed expression, captivated by all the shirtless men, her eyes practically glowing as she traces and memorizes their muscles into her mind.

But (Y/N)'s moment of amusement is swiftly interrupted when she bumps shoulders with Gōu and nods towards and approaching figure. He stands a few feet taller than the girls, his vibrant orange hair impossible to ignore.

"Hey, how's it going?" The taller boy greets, decked out in the Samazeka swim team's uniform while the front was slightly opened. "You're the gal that's looking for her brother." He notes, and flashes a cheeky grin at (Y/N).

"And I'm guessing you're his girlfriend?"

"No!" (Y/N) is quick to yell, and looks away in embarrassment when she gets odd looks from people around her.

"Damn orangutan.." she mutters, mentally labeling him with a fitting name.

The orange haired boy chokes, a bit off put by the girl considering they had just met. "My hair is burnt orange, okay? Not orange orange like a monkey-" he cuts himself off at the notion that he was trying to explain his hair color to a complete stranger.

(Y/N) snorts, but shakes her head and offers him a small smile. "We're looking for-" she's cut off by the boy, and watches as a small blush makes its way to his face.

He ignores the girl and instead diverts his attention to her companion. "This is gonna sound weird..but you're really cute." His statement makes (Y/N) slack jawed, while Gōu simply smiles and thanks the strange boy.

The maroon haired girl looks up at him nods her head. "You're right, I'm here to see my older brother Rin Matsuoka."

"Rin.." he thinks it over in his head, trying to remember if he had met anyone by that name. "Sorry to disappoint you guys, but there's no one here by that name on this swim team." The sound of water splashing cuts its way through (Y/N)'s ears, before the information solidifies itself into her head.

She looks down at the ground and frowns, her nerves all disappearing at that moment. 'He's not part of this swim team?' Her phone buzzing suddenly cuts through her thoughts. Quickly fishing the device out of her pocket, (Y/N) looks down and reads the message from Makoto.

She feels a small smile grace her face before she turns to Gōu. "Our charter got approved." She grins, and her friend is quick to clap her hands with her own smile as she congratulates (Y/N).

They excuse themselves before turning around and  begin to head out the door, and the orange haired boy waves them off with his own cheeky grin. "I'll say hi to boyfriend if I see him!" He calls out, and laughs when (Y/N) whips her head around before screeching, her voice cracking in between her words.

"Shut up you damn orangutan!"

_____

By the time (Y/N) had returned to school, she was met with her friends already getting to work on the swimming pool, and she looks around nervously as she takes in sight.

A lot needed to be done, as weeds and mold grew from chipped cracks and paint smudged all throughout. She sighs and places her bag at the edge of the empty pool, which causes her friends to look up.

"(Y/N)!" Nagisa waves frantically from the shallow end of the pool, and beckons her over. "Get in here! We've got a lot of work to do!" He yells, and tumbles over while trying to rip out a piece of grass sticking out from the wall.

(Y/N) sweatdrops at the sight, but rolls her sleeves up and begins to climb down. "No kidding.."

_____

The group spend almost an entire week getting their new pool up and running, while it took just over two days to fish out all the grass and clean all the mold, the real mission was repairing the cracks and old paint.

(Y/N) and Makoto stuck close together during the time, conversing while they worked and swapping small stories here and there. The boy was surprised to hear that his friend had ventured off to go speak to Rin, but couldn't help the slight relief in his chest when he hears she never got the chance.

The two often caught sight of Haru, who by surprise, worked harder than any of them to repair the pool, sweat dripping down his forehead and all the way down his neck.

Once all the grass had been removed, the group all stacked into Miss Amakata's car before speeding off to a hardware store to fetch new paint and swimming supplies. The trip had been quite relaxing, safe for when Haru tried to take a dive into an ankle high fish tank.

That resulted in (Y/N) tackling him to the ground, her cheeks red while she shoved his shirt over his head and dragged him back to the car.

During all this, they had revisited the idea of branding their club with a poster. Nagisa's design was out of the question however, due to its overly bright colors and confusing lines.

Haru's, however, drew attention, and resulted in both Nagisa and (Y/N) having to hold their friend down to the ground while the art students tried to drag him away to recruit him into their own club.

Makoto found the whole thing amusing, and was surprised to see a small smile make its way onto Haru's usually frowning lips.

The brown haired boy often caught sight of a such a rare sight, but what caught his attention more, was the smile was often directed towards a distracted (Y/N), who was too busy yelling at the art students to unhand her friend to notice.

_____

After a rather tiring week, the group had finally reached their goal in completing the pool, and begun the final finishing touches. (Y/N) and Nagisa were off to one side while Makoto and Haru worked the other side.

Miss Amakata sat patiently on a lawn chair with a large black umbrella, shouting small encouragements towards her students. Her excuse was that her fair skin could damage easily, which prompted several eye rolls but otherwise no one complained.

The small door to the area swung open, and Gōu entered with a bag full of snacks and cans of sodas. She scans the area, impressed with how far her friends had come.

Nagisa stares at the bag in her grip, and his stomach began to rumble. "Are you here to lend a hand Gōu?" Said girl huffs, before coming around and bends down to offer (Y/N) a can of soda. "I was gonna give you a gift but since you called me Gōu, maybe I'll reconsider!"

(Y/N) laughs at her friend, and nods her head in thanks before popping the can open and taking a long needed sip.

"I'm sorry! It was an accident!"

Her gaze turns when she sees Haru eyeing her expectantly, his jaw tensing and his throat moving up and down as he swallows harshly. (Y/N) raises a brow, before offering him her can. He hesitates for a moment, but obliges and quickly takes the can with a pout.

Makoto watches the two, and his brows furrow ever so slightly when he sees a small blush creep onto his friend's cheeks.

'Haru..'

_____

The group had spread out and searched top to bottom of their school for one final member. Considering a club needed five people, the four members were at a standstill of actually getting their club up and running.

"This sucks!" (Y/N) flops onto the ground of their locker room, her feet kicking in the air like a toddler. "Not one single person wants to join!" Makoto bends down onto his knees and gently pats her head, Nagisa behind him while Haru sat on a stool a few feet away.

"It feels like we cleaned up that pool for nothing.." Makoto breaths out, his mood deteriorating. Nagisa looks at his friends, slightly upset but still optimistic at their plan.

"Don't say that! We'll find someone!" He tries to cheer them up, and the sound of something scrapping gathers their attention. The trio look up and see Haru with a small piece of wood in his hand.

He was skillfully carving away to create small keychains of their new little mascot 'little Iwatobi', which was a long bird with yellow wings and a pair of swim trunks.

(Y/N) watches him, surprised at how determined he was to get the club started. She moves her head to the side before closing her eyes, and she listens to Nagisa's new plan.

"It's time to use our secret weapon!" The young boy starts, "Miss A needs to give us the shirt off her back."

(Y/N) scrunches her brow as she listens, a little concerned on where this was going.

"People might not love swim clubs, but I bet they'd love to see her prance around in a swimsuit, right?!" His question causes Makoto to stare at him blankly, while (Y/N) slowly begins to sit up from her place on the floor.

"We have to be proactive right?" (Y/N) and Makoto exchange 'is he serious?' glances with each-other, before calmly trying to understand their friends weird plan.

"I see..so the shirt off her back comment was literal.."

The sound of the door opening alarms them, and Miss Amakata stares at the trio with a small glare as purple flames consume her. "I'm sorry boys but no.." she points to Nagisa, "No.." she then points to Makoto and (Y/N), and each teen feels a small jab in their souls. "No!"

She walks towards them, and bends down slightly to make her point even more clear, "I swore to never wear a swimsuit again and I don't intend on going back on that now! Okay?" She ends her threat with a small smile, and (Y/N) couldn't help but see the resemblance between Miss A and her own mother.

"Crystal!" The trio swear, eyes wide with fear and hands up in surrender.

_____

The next day, (Y/N), Haru and Nagisa all gathered around to finish the final paint job on the pool. Makoto took charge in finishing up preparing the fencing around the school, before Gōu joins his side, and the two talk amongst themselves.

Makoto had finally got the chance to explain to the maroon haired girl about Rin beating Haru in the race a few nights prior. Why Haru had stopped swimming competitively, despite he himself not knowing the exact reason.

The information dump surprises Gōu, and causes her to divert her attention to (Y/N) currently running away while Nagisa chases her around with a paint brush.

_____

The day Rin beat Haru, the group had all gathered around the dark haired boy, small smiles on their faces while Rin was off to the side, a wide grin on his.

He turns to gloat, but stops when he sees Haru's small smile, and (Y/N)'s gaze not once changing to look at him. Instead she kept her gaze on her friend, endearing and happy.

Rin grits his teeth when Haru turns and congratulates him, his face unchanging.

The maroon haired boy lashes out and grips Haru's goggles around his neck, before tugging him forward, a storm brewing behind his eyes.

_____

(Y/N) feels her nose begin to twitch, and jerks her head down to sneeze. Haru moves away from her, and eyes her suspiciously. "Someone's talking about you." He says simply, and his friend hums before looking up and eyeing Makoto and Gōu.

Nagisa finally catches up to her, and jumps on her back before turning his head and yelling. "Did she just say what I think she said?!" His voice reverberates in (Y/N)'s head while his arms wrap around her neck, and laughs when she struggles to support his weight.

Makoto grins and shoots them a thumbs up. "Yeah! Kōu just offered to be our fifth swim club member!" This causes (Y/N) to run around in circles, Nagisa still clinging to her back while they both cheer and laugh together.

"This means the swim clubs officially opened for business!" The young blond haired boy yells, but screeches when (Y/N) trips over a paint can, sending them tumbling towards the ground, a few scrapes and bruises decorating their still grinning faces.

"We're okay!" (Y/N) yells from the floor, her smile still bright as she and Nagisa continue to cheer into the sky.

_____

The day had quickly turned to night, and another hard days work was put to rest. (Y/N) had gone out a few minutes prior to having dinner with her mother to have a quiet stroll around the neighborhood.

Coincidentally she finds herself walking towards her old swimming center, the top half already demolished and reduced to rubble. She feels herself frown at the sight, but looks forward and squints when she sees a familiar mop of brown hair.

'Makoto?' Picking up her pace, (Y/N) sees her friend in the middle of a heavy conversation with a familiar man on some kind of moped delivery vehicle. Makoto looks up at the sound of footsteps, and his smile brightens when he sees her.

Quickly waving her over, he gestures her to his side and wraps his arm around her shoulder. "Coach Sasube, you remember (Y/N)?" The two stare at eachother, and (Y/N) feels her eyes widen when she takes in the older man's strange blonde haircut and the two piercings dangling from his left ear.

"No way!" They yell at the same time, and Goro Sasabe grins. "It's been a while squirt." His old nickname for the girl brings back several fun memories, and (Y/N) softly nods with a small smile of her own.

"I was just telling Makoto here about the time you, Rin and Haru came way back when for one last swim!" Her grin slowly fades at the mention of the memory. She nervously peeks to her friend, and finds a small smile gracing his face, though (Y/N) could see he was slightly hurt that she never mentioned this to him.

"Oh yeah.." she chuckles awkwardly. "I forgot about tha-"

"Yeah, didn't you act as the little referee between the two?" Sasabe laughs. "You were jumping for joy when Haru beat Rin, you always did favor one over the other, huh." (Y/N) shakes her head when she hears this.

She vaguely remembers Rin's bright red face, tears streaming down his little face. She and Haru had tried to reach out to him, to comfort him so he knew it was okay. But he shoved them aside, his head hung low before he walked towards the changing rooms, not a word spoken between them.

Sasabe and Makoto watch as (Y/N) becomes lost in her thoughts. "Something wrong, squirt?" Their old coach asks gently, and she quickly shakes her head before looking up with a small smile.

"Nothing at all." Makoto stares at her for a few moments longer while she tries to change the topic, but doesn't miss the way her lips begin to quiver ever so slightly.

'Ah..' he thinks. 'That's why Haru quit swimming competitively..and why (Y/N) stopped swimming altogether.' He frowns, and gently weaves his arm through his friend's before bringing her closer to his side, and listens to her swap stories with their old coach.

'It's because they hurt Rin so badly..'

_____

The following day, the group all gathered around their finally done up pool, full of fresh water and shining so bright.

Miss Amakata had brought small cups of apple cider, which they all grabbed eagerly. "All righty!" She begins, and looks to each of her students with a warm smile. "Congratulations on the swim club being approved!" She raises her cup, and the rest follow suit.

"Here's to the swim club!" They cheer together, before taking small sips and congratulating eachother on their hard work.

"Even though it's not quite warm enough to swim yet, we've gone ahead and filled the pool with water as a test run." Miss Amakata informs the group, and (Y/N) watches with a small grin as Haru stares eagerly at the pool, his eyes shining as bright as the water.

Miss A holds up a small chlorine pod, and hands one each to the members. "After we toss these in, we're all set!" She gestures for them all to gather around the edge of the pool, and they all cheer before releasing the pods into the air, and watch as they sink and desolve into the water.

"Looks like the swim clubs officially official!" Nagisa cheers with a small grin, his attention moving to Makoto and (Y/N) by his side. The brown haired boy nods with a smile.

"Yeah, it's just too bad we can't get into the pool yet.." the sound of clothes falling to the ground makes the trio nervously turn around, and their faces pale when they see Haru stripped right down to his costume.

"You're in your swimsuit?!" (Y/N) yells, and chokes when she sees Gōu eyeing her friend's muscles, her mouth agape and cheeks flushed red. "With triceps like those? I'd say he can do whatever he pleases!" The shorter girl admits out loud, and (Y/N) backs away from her, slightly concerned.

Makoto sweatdrops while he listens, and grips (Y/N)'s shoulders when she backs into him. "What has gotten into you-?" His question to Gōu is cut off when he watches Haru dive in, and sighs when his friend starts to float across the waters surface, his eyes closed and mouth slightly agape.

"Haru! Get out of there it's to cold!" He tries to warn, but gives up when he's ignored completely. Nagisa chuckles and folds his hands behind his back. "I don't see the problem, he looks comfortable to me!" The bubbly boy laughs, and Gōu nods along.

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that!" She pauses for a moment, and stares at Haru's face before waving her arms in the air. "Wait! Are his lips turning purple?" Her concern causes the rest of the group to quickly dash around the pool, all yelling and screaming at their friend.

"Get out of the pool! You'll get hypothermia!!" Makoto yells, and screams when (Y/N) appears behind him, a pool net in her grasp. "Why do you have a net?!"

"Catch him with this!" She yells, and begins to flail the net around before accidentally whacking Makoto in the head.

"..my bad." She sweatdrops, and backs away when her friend rises slowly, his head red and bruised.

Nagisa laughs as Makoto begins to chase her with the net, and turns to watch Haru dive back into the water, completely at peace.

"Go Haru!" He yells, his bubbly laughter affecting the rest of his friends.

Gōu watches from the side, her cheeks beginning to hurt from how hard she was smiling. She looks down and pulls her phone out from her skirt pocket, and opens her messages.

She scrolls down before beginning to type away at her keyboard, and hits send before placing her phone and blazer on the ground to chase after Makoto and (Y/N).

"Makoto! Don't kill her she's our safety net!" Her yells fade into the air, and her phone buzzes, indicating that her message had been sent and delivered.

The picture she had taken the week before fills the screen, (Y/N)'s back to the camera while the small black and white kitten peeks out from the bottom left hand corner of the frame.

Below the picture, Gōu had written a small message to the person she had been trying to reach, her brother.

'(Y/N) hasn't changed a bit, Rin.'

_____

𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝟐