Open Waters

Chapter Nineteen

Fun and Games

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They had spent the night on the deserted island, and had only swim back early that morning.

Haru was exhausted beyond belief. He didn't know how he had managed to finish the swim, for he was dead tired. Having spent the night up, following by the taxing swim back, was enough to tire anybody out.

While Makoto, Nagisa and Rei all collapsed on the hand and dropped off into a heavy sleep, Haru forced himself to remain awake for just a little bit longer. For the duration of his time on the island, a part if him had been worrying about Hana, and how she'd react it she discovered them missing, especially since the incident at the docks with the fisherman.

Though his body screamed at him to rest, Haru forced himself to walk the short distance to Hana's tent. He listened closely, hearing nothing. Slowly, he opened the tent and peered inside.

Inside, he found that Hana was indeed inside and was curled up into a tight ball, her eyes closed, her breaths light. She was fast and soundly asleep.

Reassured that she was okay, Haru closed the tent door once more and stepped away from her tent. He only staggered forward a few steps before he collapsed to the ground, tiredness weighing him down heavier than gravity.

Soon after he collapsed on the sand, Haru passed out into sleep just like his friends.

*          *          *

Hana, to put it simply, was tired.

No, she was exhausted.

After she had awoken due to the storm, she had only fallen asleep once the rain had ceased, which had taken a good amount of time. During that time, the sound of the torrential rain, the howling wind and the roaring sea had kept memories she'd rather keep at bay at the surface of her mind. Those fear-filled memories had kept her awake and shivering long after the rain had stopped. And even as she'd drifted off to sleep, it had been a fitful and uneasy one.

Hence, when she woke up the next morning, she was excessively groggy and felt like the walking dead.

Hana groaned lightly and shifted positing. Her eyes felt like they would be impossible to open, like her eyelids were coated in iron. She was sure she had huge bags under her eyes. She'd be surprised if she didn't.

It took Hana a long time to finally drag herself from her half-asleep state. It was almost like she had been drowning in her tiredness. Even when she was sitting up, battling the persistent yawns and droopy eyes, it wasn't only Makoto's gentle call of, "Hana, breakfast's ready," did she crawl from her tent, not caring just how bedridden she looked. She was too tired and preoccupied to care.

Makoto and Haru were waiting for her as she crawled out of the tent, blinking profusely in the sudden sunlight as it hit her eyes. Makoto's trademark warm smile was on his face, though it looked more weighed down that usual. Bags were under his eyes and, if she squinted hard enough, she could see similar bags under Haru's eyes as well.

Did the storm keep them up as well?

"Hana, you alright?" Makoto asked gently, obviously noticing how tired she was. Or maybe he had thought of last night's storm and how it connected to her, to the both of them. To Haru as well.

"Fine," she mumbled, finishing her unconvincing statement with a large yawn. "And, you? The storm..." Now she thought of it, was Makoto's hair damp, and Haru's, too?

Makoto hesitated and glanced back at Haru for a moment. A small nod exchange passed between them, and Makoto looked back at her. "We'll tell you later."

She nodded, too tired to take too much notice of their strange exchange.

Together, the trio wandered up the beach, barefoot. The muddy sand stuck and got into the good between Hana's toes and stuck to the soles of her feet.

Nagisa, Rei, Gou and Ama-chan were already waiting. Gou, bright and cheerful and looking as though early mornings didn't faze her, ran up to their group with a skip in her step. "There's toast and fruit. I think the toast is going cold though."

"That's fine," Makoto reassured.

Hana trudged over to the neck and plonked herself down opposite Nagisa and Rei. It only took a moment for her to realise, even in her sleep-deprived state, that they were drowsy, with slightly damp hair and bags under their eyes. Just like Haru and Makoto. She frowned over this, but kept her questions to herself when her toast appeared in front of her. She'd eat first, ask questions later.

Breakfast was unusually quiet. It must have been due to the tired state of the boys. As she devoured her breakfast, Hana couldn't help but wander what might have happened last night to make them all so exhausted.

"Are you sure you guys are up to training today?"

"We'll be fine, Hana-..." Rei cut off his setence with a small yawn.

"Rei, be honest with me. Can you handle it?"

Rei paused. "It'll be different one we're in the water," he said eventually, with supporting nods from his friends.

Hana pursed her lips, realising she wasn't going to make any progress with them. She sighed, a little dramatically. "Well, if you get tired, stop of one of the islands for heaven's sake! I don't want any of you drowning!"

They all nodded. "Yes, Hana." Hana suddenly had the fleeting impression of being an elementary school teacher, with the kids droning a good morning to her. She chuckled softly at the comparrision.

They're anything but that,she mused, as they headed into the water for their second say of training. She smiled as she watched them leave, and suddenly experience a small, fleeting desire to be next to them.

*          *         *

The sun was beginning it's downward path when the boys returned. Hana, wearing a light shirt and shorts over her swimsuit, had run over with Gou to present them with towels. However, to their surprise, they all refused politely.

"We're going in the ocean again!" Nagisa exclaimed.

Hana's eyes had bugged at this. "It's almost dark, and you're going again?" At that moment  they all were officially crazy to her eyes.

"No, we're just going to enjoy some time in the water. It's been a while since we've do be anything related to water that hasn't been preparation for the prefecturals. The change would be a one welcome," Makoto explained.

Hana nodded. "Ah. I see."

Nagisa raced off for the water a moment later, his laughter heard above the splash of the ocean water as he ran in. Gou, who was dressed in her swimsuit, shrugged off her light jacket and after a small hesitation, ran after him. Haru entered next, followed by Makoto and Rei, leaving Hana standing awkwardly on the edge of the beach, the ocean water lapping at her toes.

Nagisa waved to her. "Hana-chan! Are you going to join us?"

Hana bit her lip and rubbed her arms, feeling uncomfortable. "Oh. Uh..."

Makoto and Haru, who were nearby, left the water to approach her. "You don't have to if you're not comfortable," Makoto said. "Don't let Nagisa pressure you."

Hana hesitated, and then drew in a deep breath.

"No, it's - it's fine. I'll come in."

Haru narrowed his eyes critically. "Are you sure, Hana?"

She balked a little under the intense look of his gaze. It was as though he was trying to pierce her soul for the truth. "Y-yeah."

"Are you sure of thar?"

"Well, I'm with you guys." She gestured to everyone around her; all of whom would be perfectly capable of reaching her should she start to drown again, which was an almost impossible situation for their current location. She smiled a little shyly at him. "I trust you. What can happen?"

He stared at her for a moment longer, and then realised she was being honest and conceded defeat. "Just stay close, Hana."

She laughed a little at his protectiveness. "As long as I can see the bottom, I'm fine. I'll just stay in the shallow part of the water."

She quickly took off her shirt and shorts, leaving her in only her swim costume. Hana knew Makoto with looking at her, bewildered, wondering when and why his friend had bought a swim suit.

With Haru and Makoto close by, Hana slowly entered the ocean. The salty water was cold and lapped gently at her ankles, sending small shivers up her spine.

Before long, her waist was submerged beneath ocean water. She gasped a little at the realisation. She was back in the ocean... and it wasn't as bad as she remembered. Then again, she had been drowning last time. This time, she only waded in up to waist height.

Haru and Makoto remained nearby. "How are you?" Haru asked.

"I'm surprisingly okay." Hana glanced down at the floor. There was a small cloud of sand where her feet had disturbed and kicked it up, but otherwise she could see the bottom fairly clearly. Her heart thud a little erratically at the realisation. "I think this is as far as I go, however."

"Don't force yourself," he advised.

She smiled gently in response. "I won't."

She stayed in the shallow end, where she felt safe, joining in a few splashing games as they all sent water flying at each other. Makoto and Haru drifted away from her side once she became reasonably comfortable, but still sent small glances back her way.

Halfway through one of their games, Nagisa gasped and left. Hana was curious about why he left the water, but didn't pay much attention to it. As it worked out, they didn't have to wait long for Nagisa to return anyway.

"Beach volleyball!" Nagisa yelled upon return, running on to the scene. All splashing ceased as they turned to look at the blonde boy, and found that he had an inflatable beach ball in his hand, and a wide smile on his face.

Hana stared at the ball, chuckling lightly. "Since when did you pack a ball, Nagisa?" She hadn't recalled any of them placing a beach ball high on the list of things they needed to bring to camp. Then again, Nagisa didn't exactly have the same priorities as everyone else.

"It's a blow-up." Nagisa glanced a moment at them all. "Is everyone in?"

"Yeah, of course!" Gou exclaimed instantly.

"Sounds fun," Makoto admitted, with a smile.

Hana nodded. "I'm in!" She hadn't played volleyball in ages, even if she'd never played it properly, only mucking around with inflatable beach balls with her friends back at her old town.

Haru was the only one who didn't respond, but Hana could tell that he would join in, especially is me they would be playing in the water.

Nagisa grinned estastic. "Divide into teams!" he called.

Hana grinned and turned around, the water churning around her as she changed direction to look at the two boys behind her; her closest friends at Iwatobi. "Haru, Makoto?"

They both nodded in response. Hana jumped back around. "We have our team!" she called to Nagisa, pointing at herself and the other two.

"That leaves us then," Gou murmured, her eyes flicking between Rei and Nagisa. Hana chuckled to realise the match had turned out to be a game between the first years and second years. It was a bit of an easy division.

However, there was one practicality they had no considered, but Rei noticed. "But there's no net," he point out. Hana frowned as this was pointed out. If they didn't have a net, how were they going to divide the space between the two teams fairly?

The realisation wasn't about to dampen Nagisa's spirits, and he pointed to the island set dead in the middle of where they were standing. "We'll improvise. That middle island is about the centre."

"Isn't that a little vague?" Rei asked.

"At least we have a general idea!"

Not wanting a pointless argument to arise, Hana stepped in and spread her arms out. "Right, let's start!" she said loudly. "Nagisa, your serve first!"

The bright boy grinned back at her. "Yeah!" he said back. He took off down the beach, kicking sand up with each footstep, and ended up sending water flying in all directions as he entered into the water. Hana gasped as water flew into her eyes; she quickly averted her head and thrust her arms up to shield her face, all the while laughing delighted laughter as salt water drenched her upper body.

Oh Nagisa, I'm getting revenge on that!

*         *         *

The volleyball match was friendly and went in no one's favour. Hindered by their lack of volleyball experience and the water slowing them down, it was rare for an extensive rally to take place. Even still, it was fun and had them all laughing as they enjoyed some time mucking around and having fun together.

Before it got dark, Miss Amakata called them over for dinner. All of them dripping wet, each person having fallen over at least once, they ambled back up the beach, smiling and laughing. Well, all of them except Haru, but those who knew him well enough could see past his usual blank mask and see the amusement sparkle in his eye, something Hana picked up on instantly.

Dinner that day was, yet again, pizza. Hana didn't mind, she pounced on it instantly. She couldn't recall having pizza for dinner two days running, so this was perfect for her.

Makoto glanced over at her, eyebrows crinkled up with amusement. "This is heaven for you, isn't it?"

Hana grinned as she swallowed a mouthful. "Oh, you bet it is. It's something I could eat easily any day. No need for any special occasional for some good pizza."

Her last words triggered something in Makoto's memory. "Oh! I almost forgot something." He glanced sideways at Hana pointedly. "It's someone's birthday next week, isn't it?"

At his words, all eyes instantly turned to Hana, who flushed furiously. "Makoto!" she exclaimed, burying her head in her hands to hide her burning cheeks.

"It's your birthday next week, Hana-chan?" Nagisa exclaimed.

Hana nodded, still looking into her hands. She had been meaning to tell them eventually, she really had, but the way Makoto just dumped it on everyone without warning, and how everyone just stared at her, made her want to disappear. She hadn't really been one for too much attention, after all.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Gou demanded.

"I was going to!" Hana protested heatedly. "Honestly, I was! I just... didn't get around to it..."

Makoto smiled fondly. "Thats so like you, Hana."

"Oh, shut up," she moaned, only to the laughter of everyone else.

"So, are you going to have a party?" Nagisa piped up.

"What? Oh, uh..." Hana rubbed the back of her neck, caught off guard. She hadn't given her birthday much thought, let alone if she was going to have a party of not. In the end, she just shrugged and gave everyone a smile.

"Yeah, I'll think about it, most definitely."

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*coughs* not so subtle Haikyuu!! reference *cough*

so, a little bit of fun and games XD oh, and it's Hana's birthday next week? ;D