Open Waters

Chapter Twenty-One

Before Prefecturals

.

How is it already five days to the prelims?

The note on the countdown calendar Gou had created had been like a slap in the face for Hana as she wandered into the pool after school. She had frozen and stared at it, reeling in disbelief. It felt like no time had passed since they had started the swim club, and they were already facing the prelims which were just around the corner.

Maybe it had something to do with everything that had been going on recently. There had been her party, the training camp, endless swim practices, and weekends where all she did was go over to either Makoto or Haru's place, without needing invitation, to spend the day with them. She would have visited Gou, Nagisa or Rei, but they lived fuehrer away, and Makoto and Haru were basically just around the corner.

Her swim practices with Haru were also going well. Over the past practices, Hana had found her technique improving, and her ability to swim growing. She was able to cover larger distances without as much effort, and slowly her times were getting better. The more she practiced, the more she got used to it. Hana was surprised to find that she was actually enjoying all her swimming practices. She didn't think she'd like it as much as she was. Sure, there was still a stab of fear whenever she first submerged herself in the water, a stab of fear that had been drilled into her mind since she was young, so it would be hard for her to overcome. But still, she was swimming, enjoying it, and had Haru by her side every time to help and encourage her.

Hana found herself anticipating her next practice after training finished that day. She found it odd, how eager she was about this. Just weeks ago she'd do anything to avoid the water. Now, she just had to wait for training to finish so she could get in herself.

Like they'd been doing for a few days now, Hana and Gou stood on the edge of the pool, stopwatches in hand, timing the boys on their strokes. A qualifying time had to be sent through the the prefecturals no later than the third day before the date, and they were watching their friends increase their speed.

That day, Hana was timing Haru's 100 metre freestyle, and Gou timing Nagisa's 100 metre breaststroke. Makoto stood behind them, checking the times, just like the reliable captain he was.

Hana's eyes didn't leave Haru as he swam along at the fastest pace he could manage. As soon as his hand made contact it's the egged of the wall, Hana clicked the button on the stopwatch and checked the time displayed on the screen. Her lips spread out into a grin. "Haru, that's another personal best!" she exclaimed. "Your times just continue to improve!"

"The training camp from hell surely paid off," Gou chimed in, as Nagisa finished his breaststroke. Gou stopped the timer.

The blonde-haired boy ducked into Haru's lane. "What about me?"

Gou checked the stopwatch and smiled indulgently. "You'll have to work a little harder, Nagisa-kun."

"Still, I think we've come a long way in such a short time," Makoto said with a smile. He glanced up, and Hana followed his line of vision to see Rei practicing his butterfly in the far lane. "And Rei's been improving his butterfly time."

Hana nodded to herself as she watched Rei practice. He had truly beautiful form, and had been working hard on improving his technique and time during the entire lead-up to the prelims. His determination was hard to miss, and all his hard work was paying off as his time continued to decrease. Hana was glad for him. He'd come into the swim club with no clue how to swim, and now he was swimming and steadily improving.

"It helps that Rei-kun is pretty built from all the pole vaulting that he's done," Gou commented. "But! That's not good enough! We need to aim higher! Find a proper coach!"

"What? Find a coach now?" Makoto spluttered. Even Hana raised an eyebrow at this. There were only fine data until the prelims, and Gou wanted to find a coach now? That would be worth nothing for sure. What could a coach do in five days to improve a swimmer's performance? The best Hana could think of was a few last-minute tips and advice, and a guidance of what was best to eat before the tournament.

"It's never too late to start," Gou countered, a determined gleam to her eye. "Even if someone can just help provide some last-minute conditioning, we'll be in much better condition for the tournament!"

Hmm, well, that does make sense.

Makoto frowned thoughtfully. "A coach would certainly help, but there's nobody avaliable -"

"That's why we have to look harder!" Gou argued back, spinning around to send a glare Makoto's way. Hana chuckled as her oldest friend raised his hands in surrender, which allowed Gou to relax.

While Gou and Makoto had their small exchange, and Hana watched them amused, none realised Haru had approached or heard them until he stood beside them. "That isn't necessary,"

"Well, Haru probably doesn't need a coach," Makoto said with a light chuckle.

Hana turned to watch Haru as he readied himself again, his fingers curling around the edge of the starting block, his eyes narrowed in concentration. When he dived in, Hana almost forgot to start the timer again, thankfully doing so in a way that didn't affect the end results.

His dive, and his swimming... it's still as good as it was at the joint practice. He doesn't need a coach. In fact, he is a coach; mine.

Practice finished soon after. As usual, Haru and Hana lingered behind. It had become routine now, and they didn't need to ask each other if they were going to swim: it had become a given that they were.

As usual, Hana had her swimsuit under her swimming club get-up. She quickly discarded her other clothes, pulled out her goggles and entered to water. Haru looked at her and nodded and, after drawing in a deep breath, she started her freestyle.

Swimming freestyle was more natural to her now than it had been when she'd first started. Sure, as she ducked her head under the water, her body momentarily froze, but she soon got over it and started swimming through the water. She didn't feel like she was battling the water as much anymore; she felt more like she was gliding through it. It was a surprisingly wonderful feeling.

All too soon it seemed, she finished her two laps of the pool. She broke the surface and breathed in, taking some time to recover.

Normally, Haru would be there with tips and advice, telling her if there was anything wrong with her form or something she could improve on. So when Hana looked up at him, she'd expected something along those lines.

However, she had not been expecting him to say, "Hana, you're doing well."

Hana pushed her goggles up to her forehead, eyes widening. Had Haru just... given her praise on her swimming? She was beyond startled. "Really?"

"You're improving at a steady pace."

"I am?" Hana blinked, and rubbed the back on her neck while grinning, hiding just his much that comment meant to her. She felt like she could be glowing with those words. "That's good news then, I'm really enjoying this."

Whatever she was going to say, Haru hadn't expected that. He looked at her, surprised. "You are?"

She nodded. "Yeah. A lot more than I expected. And this couldn't be possible without you helping me out, Haru." Tentatively, she stepped forward and hugged him briefly. "Thank you."

Haru looked at her, startled and unable to move as she pulled away. "You're welcome," she finally managed to say, all the while feeling a small smile about to show on his face.

*          *          *

The prefecturals are tomorrow. How is this even possible?

Hana leaned back against the wall before her, eyes cast upward at the sky. The rough texture of the wall stuck into her back, and the concrete was relatively cool against her crossed legs. A gentle breeze played with her hair, bringing over the scents of the cherry blossom trees nearby.

Hana sighed, glancing over at the four boys beside her. Haru, Makoto, Nagisa and Rei hadn't stopped talking about the tournament tomorrow. Whether it was nerves, excitement, anticipation of a mix of them all, they were all waiting for the tournament with a sense of anticipation. Haru, Makoto and Nagisa hadn't competitively competed in a while, and this was Rei's first swimming tournament. Surely there was some nerves in there somewhere.

Footsteps echoed up from the staircase leading up to the roof. Hana turned her gaze away from the boys and leaned forward, elbows resting on the rough concrete, to find Gou had ascended the stairs with something clutched in her hand.

"Everyone, I printed out the photos from our training camp!" Gou said brightly, running over and plonking herself in front of them.

Nagisa gasped, his face lighting up. "Let me see!

Gou chuckled. "Yes, here." She drew out the photos and placed them all on the floor. She ran her hand over the pile, breaking it up so each photo lay scattered and visible for all to see. Hana and the others leaned forward with interest, eyes scanning over each photo placed before them.

"Wow, you took a whole bunch!"

"Everyone's having fun!"

"Oh! Look at this!" Nagisa pointed to a picture with a wide grin. "Haru-chan has a funny look on his face!"

Hana took one look at the picture and burst out laughing. It was so amusing to see such an expression on the usually-serious Nanase Haruka's face. Makoto chuckled as well. "At least he's actually looking at the camera for once," he joked.

Their laughter was interrupted by a groan from Rei. They turned around, and found he was holding a picture, an expression of horror on his face. He glanced up and looked accusingly at Gou, flipping it around. "Why did you keep this picture? It's not beautiful at all!"

Hana caught sight of the photo and snorted. So he didn't lose his kickboard again, for a day they had tried another flotation device for Rei. He hadn't been happy about it, but the others had insisted.

Gou shrugged. "Ah, preserving the moment?" Hana raised an eyebrow at her friend. I wonder if she kept in on purpose...

Her eyes dropped down to the photos again, and an image stood out at her. She grinned as she picked it up. "Here's our volleyball match!" she exclaimed, studying it with delight. Her expression faded slightly as she studied it a little more and she closed her eyes, cheeks flushed. "But it's the moment I fell into the water."

Sure enough, the picture displayed her the moment she'd made contact with the water after a failed attempt to hit the ball back. Water was sprayed in all directions, catching Makoto and Haru, while Nagisa and Gou laughed and Rei looked on, an amused expression on his face.

"We all fell into the water at some point, Hana," Makoto pointed out, but he was still smiling.

Hana scanned the other pictures and flushed deeper. "But there's only a picture of me, no one else!"

"Ah, look at this!" Nagisa cried, and Hana and Makoto whipped around to see him holding up a picture of Makoto, and pointing at a figure behind him. "There's something standing behind Mako-chan!"

Upon sight of the picture, Makoto yelled out in a fright. Hana grinned upon recognising the person behind Makoto: on the third day, Ama-chan had put on a hyaluronic acid mask an stood behind Makoto as the picture was taken. They'd all done it with the intent to frighten Makoto, and it looked like it had worked.

"Ah, that's Ama-chan wearing a hyaluronic acid mask," Gou explained.

"Hyalu what?" Nagisa repeated, confused.

"Hyaluronic acid," Rei supplied.

Makoto moaned, closing his eyes. "Don't scare me like that Nagisa!"

"Sorry about that."

Out of the corner of her eye, Hana noticed Haru reach out and pick up an photo. She looked at it, confused, and then gasped as she saw what it was. The others made similar exclamations once they saw what Haru had picked up.

"Can you guys keep it down?" Rei said, but no one was paying attention: the photo was of Rin, and he definitely had not been a part of their training camp.

"Is this Samezuka's swim team?" Nagisa gasped, spotting a few other photos of swimmer who weren't a part of the Iwatobi team. "When did you take this, Giu-chan?"

Gou grinned. "I did some scouting on the second day."

Ah, she did disappear for a while that day. So that's where she went.

Makoto looked up at her, surprised. "Wow, that's our capable manager."

Nagisa too looked up. "Did you seduce them again -"

"I didn't seduce anybody!" Gou snapped back instantly, eyes narrowed. "And I got plenty of information with the pictures." She leaned forward and pointed out pictures of different swimmers as she talked. "These are the swimmers who will be swimming the 100 and 200 metre breast with Nagisa-kun. These are the swimmers doing the backstroke with Makoto-senpai. This is who will do butterfly with Rei-kun. I'll have their individual swimming styles and other informant on recorded in this secret data book by tournament time." She glanced up at Haru, who still had the photo of Rin in his hands. "Oh, and my brother's in -"

"The 100 metre free," Haru finished, without hesitation.

Gou blinked, and then looked down. "Yes... he didn't enter any other events just so he could focus on his race with you."

Hana glanced sideways at Haru at this, eyebrows narrowed. Wow. They certainly take their competition seriously, those two.

"I'm sure it'll turn out okay," Hana said nervously. "I mean... if you're focused..." She paused and wrung her hands. I really don't know how do give a prep speech. Does Haru even need a motivational speech? I really doubt it.

"Oh," Makoto said. "That reminds me; we should visit a temple and pray for the ability to do our best. It's traditional to do before a tournament."

"Ah!" Nagisa said. "Yes, I remember doing that! We should do it after practice!"

"We did something similar in track," Rei admitted. "Yes, I'll join in."

"Haru? Hana? Gou? Are you in?" Makoto glanced at the three of them as he said their names.

Hana shrugged. "Of course I'll come. Anything for you guys."

"Same applies to me," Gou said with a firm nod.

Everyone glanced at Haru, who looked back up at them. He shrugged. "Yes. I'll come."

Makoto nodded. "Alright. After practice is good for everyone?"

Everyone agreed. Hana smiled and leaned back, butterflies briefly appearing in her stomach.

The suggestion of prayer now made the prefectural seem more real than ever to her. And even though she wasn't a part of the swim team, Hana felt a little nervous all the same.

She did want her friends to do well, after all.

*          *          *

Hana was a little disappointed that, when practice finished, she wouldn't be able to work on her own practice. But she knew that the prefecturals were more important than her perfecting her freestyle, so once practice finished and everyone had dried off, she went along with them to the temple to pray.

Fortunately, it was only a short walk away. But even then, the sun was beginning to stem casting long shadows over the area. The soft golden light was a pleasant sight, at least.

The six soon arrived at the temple. Hana fished around in her pocket, relieved to find five yen. Gathered on the doorstep, the six each tossed in a five yen offering and placed their hands together in prayer, closing their eyes as they did so.

I pray for the Iwatobi Swim Team; that they may do their best and be able to achieve victory in the prefectural tournament.

Hana reopened her eyes and glanced around, seeing the others had finished their prayers too. Hana wondered what they had all prayed for, and if they'd prayed for similar things. The boys might have prayed for their individual performance, but she wasn't about to ask.

Gou glanced around. "Anyone want to draw a card?"

Surprisingly, Haru was the only one. The others gathered on the steps, talking. Hana joined Haru and Gou as they wandered over to the cards and stood before them.

"Draw one," Gou chirped.

Haru frowned, glanced at each of the cards. He reached out and selected one hesitantly, flipping one over. Gou instantly looked over his shoulder, reading what he had pulled out.

"Huh?" Gou cried, eyes bugging at the sight of the card. "What is this, Haruka-senpai? Half luck?"

Hana frowned, tilting her head to the side as she studied ghost card. I don't think I've ever seen that before... what foes it mean? Her eyes flicked up to Haru, wondering how he was taking it, and found he was as impassive as always. However, if you looked closer, she could tell from the expression in his eyes that he was mildly troubled.

"Hun? What's going on?" Makoto, Nagisa and Rei ran up, no doubt becoming curious after Gou's loud exclamation.

"Half luck?" Makoto read. He furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Never seen that one before."

"Does that mean half your luck is good?" Gou wondered.

"What's the other half?" Hana countered.

"Ordinary," Nagisa supplied.

Hana frowned, unconvinced. Similarly, Rei shook his head. "I don't think that's it..."

Neither do I, Rei. Neither do I. Hana glanced up at Haru and bit her lip, wondering what exactly was going through his head at that moment, and how he truly felt about pulling that card out.

Well, whatever the card meant, and whatever this other half to Haru's luck was, Hana hoped it didn't have any dire consequences.

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*breathes* free! eternal summer episode one will be shown later on today, oh my goodness, I am so ready for this. i can't believe the day's here already, eeep!!!!

next chapter's the prefectural tournament... we all know what happens there. how do you think hana will react? i'm always interested to hear your thoughts!!