sick • rinxharu

twenty one

•Twenty One• Gou's POV •

We were all gathered around the pool. It was a beautiful Friday morning: the warm sun was out, and there was a soft breeze which gently touched your skin. It was amazing.

"So," I began. "The principal has kindly let us use the pool all day, considering tomorrow we are representing the school and need all the practice possible."

"Go us!" Nagisa cheered. His little 'celebration' soon faded out as he realised nobody else was doing that. "Sorry."

"Putting that aside, you all need to try your best today and show me you've improved." I picked up a stopwatch.

"What's that for?" Asked Haru.

"I'm going to time you all again. Just to see what we can do." I answered.

"But, wouldn't we need to stick to the special regimen? After all, you were the one who was focused on following it." Rei spoke.

I turned to face him, "That was to lead up to this day... this day, is our final chance to get even better."

There was too much talking which worried me. "I didn't get this day off for you, just for you to speak to each other!"

"Sorry." Makoto said.

"It's fine. Now first we'll start off with Nagisa. You can all have a fifteen minute warm up so get working." I went and sat on a bench to read through my daily plan for everyone.

At 12:00 was food.

That was one of the most important things, according to the plan. I guess it was.

Everyone were still warming up. "I'm ready!" Yelled Nagisa from a starting block.

"Good!" I shouted back, picking up a pen and my clipboard. The stopwatch was hung around my neck which was convenient, like my whistle.

Nagisa stood in his starting position.

"Ready." I said. Then, I blew the whistle and quickly turned on the stopwatch.

Everything was going fine. Nagisa was swimming really fast, and actually looked as if he had improved on his turn. He did his usual extending near the end of his swim.

I watched closely, and as soon as his hand touched the wall of the pool I stopped the stopwatch. "How did I do?" He asked, breathing heavily.

"Great," I answered, writing down his time. 41.34 seconds. When he got out of the pool I showed him the stopwatch. "You can do better."

"Alright." He smiled. I let him chill for a while in another lane of the pool.

"Next Makoto." I did the same thing with him. 39.21 seconds. "Well done."

He joined Nagisa, then Rei did too. Finally, it was Haru's turn.

"Do I have to do this?" He asked, putting on his hat and goggles.

"Yes. Everyone else has." I replied, preparing myself.

"Lets just get this over with." He muttered.

"Alright," I sighed. "Ready!" Then I blew the whistle, and Haru dived into the water. He swam magically... it was so fast yet beautiful.

"Yay Haru!" Spoke Makoto.

"His swimming is amazing." Said Rei.

I was still focused on Haru, and soon enough his hand was on the wall and I had stopped timing him.

"Here you go." Makoto helped him out of the pool... he must have came to watch out of the water.

"What was his time?" Yelled Nagisa.

"It was-" I was cut off.

"I don't care." Haru picked up a towel and started to dry his hair with it.

"There's no point in doing that, you're going to be going back into the water again." I rolled my eyes and made a few more notes on my clipboard.

"Oh well." Makoto smiled.

I looked at my watch. 11:29am. That took a while... longer than I expected.

***
For the rest of the day the team dedicated a few hours for their individual races, ate the food I made, and spent a long time on the relay.

Finally, it was the end of the day. "You've worked so hard this past year, and now it's time to show off all your skills in a proper competition!" I smiled. "Of course if you advance, we will do more practicing. Anything you'd like to say?"

"Thanks for being our manager." Makoto answered.

"Yes thankyou." Rei added.

"It's been fun!" Nagisa celebrated.

"Thanks." Haru quietly spoke.

"It's fine," I felt my cheeks go slightly red. "To pay me, promise me you will all do your best in each race."

"We promise." The team said... except Haru.

"Haru?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Good." I turned away, and a few seconds after looked back again.

"So what's happening tomorrow?" Rei questioned.

"Oh right," I remembered. "I got in touch with Coach Sasabe. He said he will take us all to where prefecturals is being held. Meet us at your old Swim club tomorrow bright and early at 7am."

"Got it." Nagisa laughed.

"Alright. That's all!" I said.

They began to walk to the changing room.

"And remember to bring an overnight bag! We're staying in a hotel." I yelled.

They made me aware they heard, and carried on walking... it's embarrassing to say, but I did feel proud...