The Shark and the Stingray

Chapter 1

"We have a new student, his name is Rin Matsuoka, he's just come from Japan, Rin, would you like to introduce yourself?" Our teacher smiles at him, he gives a big grin, "Hi, my name is Rin Matsuoka! Name sounds like girl but I am a boy. Nice to meet you! I love swimming, I hope you can make me feel welcome here!" He bows, his english was broken, obviously a native Japanese speaker, "There, you can sit in the seat next to Yuki, Yuki, please raise your hand," The teacher looks at me, I smiled and raised my hand, he lit up and trotted over to my seat, "Yuki huh? Snow?" His english choppy, "Daijōbu, my mum's Japanese, I speak Japanese at home, I'd love to show you around later. My name's Yuki Miller." I whispered in Japanese, his eyes gleamed and he nodded. School seemed to pass by like a breeze, Rin and I went to the playground and ate lunch together, after school he kicked his bike stand up, "How are you getting home?" I asked him, "I'm actually riding to the swim club, my mum enrolled me there last week, I did say I like swimming didn't I?" He grins, showing his pointy teeth, "Hey so am I! I've got swim training, I'm heading there right now," I jumped up, "How about you sit on the back of my bike? We can ride there together," He pats the metal stand behind the seat, I wrapped my arms around his waist and we rode down the hill, both of us laughing the entire time.

"Alright, Ray, you're leading the squads, hundred meters free, fifty back, fifty breast and fifty fly," Coach blows his whistle, I slapped my goggled onto my face, I saw Rin come out of the change rooms and I waved him over, "Hello, my name is Rin Matsuoka, it's nice to meet you," He bows to Coach, "Rin! Here you are, we've all been waiting for your arrival, I've heard great things about you, I hope you enjoy swimming here," Coach gives him a big smile, Rin hops into the pool, "Are you ready?" I grinned at him, he nods, "Begin!" Coach blows his whistle and I start the laps. "Wow you're like a shark Rin!" I throw my hands up in the air, he wasn't out of breath at all, "We're done for the day kiddos, head over to the showers and get changed, Ray, Rin, can I talk to you guys for a sec?" Coach says to us, we both look at each other, shrug and walked over to him, "You two, I was wondering if I can move you two up to the senior squads team, I know you are both juniors but I think you two have it in you to get moved up," Coach looks at us, both of us held our breaths, "Yeah!" We pumped our fists into the air. We saw our mums talking, "Mum! Mum!" Both of us waved our flyers in our hands, "Rin," "Yuki," Our mum's called out to us, "So this is Rin, nice to meet you Rin, I'm Yuki's mum" Mum bends down, "Nice to meet you Mrs Miller," Rin bows, "So polite," Mum cups her cheek, "Nice to meet you Mrs Matsuoka," I bowed to Rin's Mum, "I see she's still got the traditional Japanese blood running through her," Rin's mum laughed, the four of us walked out to the carpark, Rin and I running ahead wrapped in our towels, our goggled hanging around our necks, "Now that I remember it, why does Coach call you Ray?" Rin asks, "Just the reason why I call you Shark," I grinned, he laughed, "It's story for Stingray, he's always called me that since I've swum here," I hopped on Rin's back, "Giddy up horsie!" I gripped onto Rin's shoulders, we both laughed and he galloped to the cars, his Mum already but his bike in the boot of their car, "I'll see you tomorrow okay?" I shouted and waved from the car, he nodded, "See you tomorrow!" He leant out of the window, both of us screaming bye until we turned the corner. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you and Rin were life long friends," I see Mum looking at me, "Yeah, I like Rin, he's fun, plus, he's really good at swimming too!" I throw my hands towards the roof, "Careful, don't let Dad hear, he'll think you've got a crush on him," Mum smirks, "MUM!" Blushed bright red. 

Six years later. "Shark!" I leant on the door of his classroom, he looks over and lights us, "See ya fellas," Rin slaps his hands on his desk and stands up, "What's up Ray?" He and I walk towards the school gates, "Are you dumb, baaaaaka?" I drew it out, he playfully rolls his eyes and cups his hand over my mouth to make me shut up and throws me over his shoulder, "How could I forget? Swim training," He laughs and starts running, "RINNN!" I screamed and clutched on his shoulder, he laughs even harder and runs even faster, "DON'T DROP MEE!" I screamed, "Like I'd dare to. The Ray'll sting if I do anything to her," He grins, his english was now fluent, after six years, he's a fluent English speaker, now with the traditional Australian accent just like me. After swimming, the two of us got on the bus to go home, "I have something to tell you," He leans his head back, "Hmmm?" I hummed and opened one of my eyes, I leant my head on the window, he clears his throat, "I'm, I'm heading back to Japan next week, Samezuka high school," He looks at me sadly, I instantly jolted up, "What?!" I choked on my own spit and coughed violently, I saw a bunch of girls behind us snickering, Rin unzipped his bag and passed me his water bottle, I took gulps of water and wiped my mouth, "What?" I asked again, he looks down, "Mum, Dad, Gou want me to come back home, I've already been staying at my homestay parent's house for long enough, they miss me, they want me to come home, they've already enrolled me into Samezuka," He says sadly, "Riiiin," I flopped into his lap, "Hey, it's fine, I'll always come back and visit, we'll always swim together," He lets my ponytail run through his hands, "I came to Australia to train to become an Olympic swimmer, but now I guess my family wants me to come back," He lets my ponytail flop onto my face, I blew it out of my face, I grunted in annoyance, "Hey come on, don't sulk," He flicks my forehead, I grunted again and held my mouth, "Come on speak," He says, "Come on Yuki, speak," He pleads, "I don't want you to leave," I looked out the window and huff, "What?" He asks, "I said I don't want you to leave," I huffed and looked at him, he held his mouth and burst out laughing, the girls looked at us again, Rin turns his head and glares at them, they look back at their phones. 

"I'll see you next time then," I went to drop Rin off at the airport, "Don't worry, I promise, I'll be back, and when I do, it's the Shark vs. the Ray," He shows his sharp teeth, "Well go on, you've got a flight to catch," I jumped up and slapped his head, "Oh keep your hands to yourself or the Shark'll bite," He slaps my head, "Keep your hands to yourself or the Ray'll sting," I pouted, "Hurry up and leave otherwise I'll cry," I kicked his suitcase and it wheeled towards the departures wall, "Fine, don't worry, I'll be back," He smiles and grabs the suitcase's handle, "Bye," I waved my hand, "Bye," He grins and turns the corner. 

I was walking to my new school, Iwatobi High School, I looked to the side and I saw the ocean, I hadn't swum since Rin left, it made me lose my passion for the water, I swim but not competitively anymore, "Let's see, Miss Haruka Nanase?" The teacher at the front of the classroom says, I was in the class 2-1, "Excuse me Miss, Haruka's a guy," The boy next to him raises his hand, everyone burst out laughing, "Oh so you are, very sorry Mr Haruka Nanase, I don't believe you were here yesterday was I correct? I already introduced myself to your classmates but I'm Miss Amakata, hi there," She smiles, "Now Miss Yuki Miller," She reads, everyone looks at me, I know it's not common for kids here to have a last name like mine, "Here," I raised my hand, "Well you too, you weren't here yesterday, nice to meet you," Miss Amakata smiles, I gave a small wave and a nervous smile. During lunch, everyone was talking about Miss Amakata, "I think she's a local girl went to college in Tokyo though, oh yeah lended her a green job right out of the gate and ended up getting sacked for some reason who know, maybe her dream job was something to do with music," I heard someone say, "Great, how are we meant to learn from a failing performer who ended up choosing education as a plan B," I snickered to myself, "My point exactly," I heard someone next to me say, I turned my head and I saw the boy, Haruka Nanase, "Nice to meet you, my Name's Yuki Miller, please just call me Yuki, it's weird if people call me by my last name," I rubbed the back of my head, he nods, "It's lunch time, wanna go at on the roof, you're welcome to join us," I saw a boy, his name was Makoto Tachibana I think, "Sure," Haruka nods, "Thanks," I smiled. I brought my bento out, "I haven't had one of these in years," I unwrapped the cloth wrap around it, "Haruka, Makoto, it's bene forever, a long time huh?" We looked down and saw a blond boy wave at us, "Hey he just called me Haruka," He looks at us, "You know him?" I asked, they both flinched, "Wait... Nagisa?!" They both asked, he smiled. We all made our way up to the roof, "We haven't seen you in forever, since the swim club shut down," Makoto eats the squid he brought, "You guys swim too?" I ate some of the rice, they nodded, "Haru here's a water fanatic, you can always find him in the ocean during summer," Makoto laughs, "Really..." I looked down, Haru and Nagisa were bantering about something, Makoto seemed to see something and I turned my head in that direction, I saw two girls, one with red hair and the other brown. 

"Hey, you guys heard about our old swimming club huh? They lost the lease or something and are gonna tear it down soon," Nagisa hopped down the stairs, Haru's eyes widened, "So I was thinking, we should stop by for old times sake, you're welcome to join us..." Nagisa looks at me, "Oh Yuki, Yuki Miller, nice to meet you," I bowed, "That's an exotic last name, where are you from?" Makoto asks, "Well my mum's Japanese but my dad's from Australia, that's where I was born, I only came back to Japan because dad got a work opportunity here, and just call me Yuki, it's better than calling me Miller." I giggled, "Well then Yuki, want to come join us!" Nagisa jumps up to me, I shook my head, "It's fine, besides, I didn't go swimming here, I wouldn't understand, you three go, I've still got to unpack the boxes anyway," I rubbed the back of my head. 

"Are you guys good? You look like you've come out of a fever dream," I stacked sakura petals on Haru's forehead, he laid his head on my legs, "I dunno... dream?" Haru was delirious, "No it really happened!" Makoto retorts, "Yeah maybe but it doesn't make sense, he never used to act like that," Nagisa crosses his arms, "Ah, lookalike," Haru closes his eyes, "He just happened to know who we are and challenged you to a race?" Makoto leans forward, "Fine, ghost," Haru faces away, "Looks solid," Nagisa looks up, "Ok, then an evil doppelgänger," Haru says, "Oh like in the old days! It's a game we used to play as kids, super fusion... doppelgänger!" Makoto strikes a weird pose, "I'm so confused, who are you talking about?" I started to stack petals on Haru's head again, they toppled over when he turned his head, "He was someone in out old swim team, he moved away though," Nagisa touches his chin, "Ahh, I see," I nodded, "Hey don't fall asleep!" Makoto stands up, Haru sits up, the tower fell over again, I huffed, "What were we talking about again?" Nagisa asks, "Guys!" Makoto scratches his head.