Clouded Distance | Free! Fan Fiction

9. Iwatobi SC Returns

Clouded Distance

Chapter Nine

Iwatobi SC Returns

True to their word, after they all finished practice, the swim club members helped Sasabe put the posters advertising the swim club's return.

Before they put the first poster up, Rei was adamant that they fixed the English. It was bothering him to no end, and refused to put one poster with the incorrectly spelt English up.

There weren't many ways that they could fix the poster, and the best they could do was stick the corrections over the top. The posters didn't look the best once that had happened, but at least there was no longer any embarrassment over incorrect English.

They split up into small teams to get more posters put up quicker. Hana went around Haru, and Nagisa paired with Makoto. Rei and Gou opted to go around town on their own. They arranged to meet by the steps by the beach when they'd finished.

The sky was coloured gold as the sun set. Haru and Hana ambled around their area of town, finding places to put up the posters. They got permission from a few shopkeepers to put the posters up on their windows. 

They were done much faster than Hana had expected. With a smile at Haru, she and him walked back to the beach, talking the entire way.

Despite how quickly they seemed to have finished, they were the last to arrive.  With a small roll of her eyes, she and Haru tok their seat on the steps beside their friends. 

"Done at last!" Hana exclaimed in celebration, as she collapsed on the steps. She stretched her arms out and lay back on the concrete. She frowned. It hadn't been her best decision; the edge of the step was digging into her back.

Nagisa grinned. "Now we just need an exciting main event!"

The suggestions started folding at once, so much that Hana wondered if people had been thinking things over while putting the numerous posters up. Ideas certainly hadn't graced her for this particular event and her mind remained annoyingly blank.

"How about a doggy paddle contest?" Gou suggested.

"That sounds like fun!"

"Then how about a contest for the most beautiful form in the butterfly stroke?" Rei suggested. "We can call it, 'the Butterfly of Beauty!'"

Hana muffled a light chuckle behind her hand.

"Or we can have a muscle contest as well..." Gou mused. A dreamy expression was on her face as she spoke.

Hana outright laughed at this, though she clamped her mouth shut almost as soon as she did so. Oh, Rei, Gou.

"Would you get over the muscles already?!" Rei exclaimed. Gou was unfazed by his sudden exclamation.

Makoto chuckled, and looked across at the only one of them who had remained silent this far. "What about you, Haru? Any ideas?"

Hana propped herself up on her elbows and looked across at him, interested in what Haru might have to say.

A small pause, and then Haru looked up at them all. "How about a relay?" he suggested quietly.

Everyone's reactions were instantaneous.

"Are you serious, Haru?" Makoto asked.

"That would definitely be exciting!"

"Let's do it, Haruka-senpai!"