Clouded Distance | Free! Fan Fiction

13. An Opportunity

Clouded Distance

Chapter Thirteen

An Opportunity

The atmosphere in Haru's house was tense. It had been tense all the way to his house, in fact. Everyone had deliberately been avoiding looking at Rei, who was left looking lost and confused. Hana felt nerves twist in her stomach. How was the best  way to confront Rei about this? It had all been so rushed.

Now they were seated around the table, but no one had uttered a word. Rei cleared his throat. "So... what's the meeting about?"

"What?" Makoto jumped, his gaze flicking from side to side before resting on Haru. "Eh, um - what was it again?"

"Don't pass it off on me," Haru muttered.

Hana's thoughts ran wildly as she tried to think of something that was similar to talking about Rei and the swim club, while not addressing it directly. "Well Rei, the thing is, we - we're..."

"Going to taste-test a new mackerel recipe!" Gou blurted.

Nagisa frowned. "That's not an emergency at all."

The nerves of the others were all plain to see as everyone argued quietly while Rei sat down, watching them, appearing to be confused.

After a while of pointless bickering, Rei stood up. "Well, if there is no meeting, I do have an errand to run, so..."

No! Hana exclaimed to herself. Her heart rate quickened slightly as they watched Rei begin to walk off. No, you can't leave, we've just been too nervous about bringing the topic up! Hana jumped to her feet just like the others. "H-hey, wait!" she cried, wishing she wasn't on the opposite end of the table so she could reach out and grab Rei before he walked any further away.

However, someone was close enough. Nagisa lurched forward and managed to grab Rei's legs.

Rei jumped a little and turned around. His eyes widened as she spotted the blonde. "Nagisa-kun?"

Nagisa raised his head. "Don't quit the swim club!" he blurted.

"What?"

"Don't hide it from us." Nagisa stood up, his head bent down. "You plan to go back to the track team, don't you? I don't want that!"

"He's right, Rei," Makoto said. "We're a team. I won't let you leave like this."

"As the team manager, I can't agree with it either," Gou said firmly, crossing her arms.

Hana walked forward. "Rei, it was your persistence to keep trying to swim that encouraged me to get back in the water," she said softly. "I can't bear the thought of you leaving."

Haru nodded. "Rei, it was because of you that Rin and I were saved. Wasn't it you who said the four of us were going to swim tighter at nationals?"

"He's right!" Nagisa sobbed, clutching Rei's shirt. "We all promised, didn't we? That the four of us would swim the relay together. You said you'd show us your beautiful butterfly strokes nationals!"

Rei blinked. "Wait a second. What are you all talking about? I have no intention about quitting the swim club."

"But you were talking with the captain of the track team," Gou said, tilting her head to the side a little.

"You saw that?" Rei laughed lightly. "Yes, he did ask me to come back, but that was all that happened. There's no way I would ever quit the swim club!"

Hana stared at her blue-haired friend for a moment, his words sinking in. She then cried out in relief, a large smile on her face as she sank down to her knees, along with everyone else gathered there.