Open Waters | Free! Fan Fiction

7. Lending a Hand

Open Waters

Chapter Seven

Lending a Hand

Hana narrowed her eyes, squinting at the scene before her through her lashes. Her hands were placed on her hips as she critically analysed the sitatuon.

"Well," she mumbled. "This place sure needs a clean up."

And that was an understatement.

The pool was cracked in numerous places, the paint faded so much die to the elements that Hana could barely tell there was paint there at all. Weeds poked out of numerous places in the ground, and the whole area just looked shabby and abandoned.

The place just looked like one overgrown jungle.

This is going to be more work than I anticipated. Hana sighed and twirled her fingers through the hair she'd pulled back into a ponytail. Oh well. I want to be here, helping these guys. I don't care about how long it takes, or how much hard work this involves.

Luckily she'd dressed properly for the occasion; a tank top, jacket, and tracksuit pants. This task would have been made awkward if she only had her school uniform with her, especially with that skirt. She'd have to continuously be very conscious and keep pulling it down.

"Well, it could be worse," she said after a while, in an attempt to be encouraging.

Makoto nodded faintly to acknowledge her words, but soon jumped into captain-mode. "Those weeds need to be taken care of first," he said. "After that, we can start work on the pool.

She got to work, bending down and grabbing the roots of the weeds, yanking them from the ground, and then throwing them onto a pile. It was repetitive and surprisingly tiring job, especially with the sub streaming down and burning the back of her neck. It didn't matter though, if Hana kept her mind on the task.

Okay. Bend down, grab, pull, throw, grab, pull, throw. Hana focused on her job, but didn't fail to notice other things, such as the beads of sweat running down the back of her neck due to excessive contact with the sun.

Talk was common, and it was one of the things that helped made the experience more bearable. There was something different about pulling weeds out of the ground yourself and with others.

Hana wasn't sure what it was, but she was certainly enjoying working with her friends.

"There. Looks like that job's done," Makoto said presently.

Hana exhaled in relief as she pulled the final weed from the ground. "Thank goodness," she sighed, running a slightly dirty hand across her forehead, leaving a small trail of dirt in its wake. She grimaced as Makoto pointed it out, and she rubbed at it with her sleeve.

Now the weeds were gone, the remaining work they needed to do was made clearer. Hana analysed the faded paint near her and ran her fingers over the worn ground. The uneven floor was rough beneath her fingertips, and also desperately cried out for a paint job.

"There's still a lot of work to be done," she said. Her eyes flicked up to study the rest of the pool area, and spotted several places by the worn fence where leaves of bushes stuck out of the railings. "And not just for the pool, either."

So much work. How I'm juggling all this, the pool, hanging with these guys in general, and homework... I do not know.

"Hana's right," Makoto said. "We should come up with a list of things we need to repair the pool and shoe Miss Amakata, and she can help us."