The Shark and the Stingray

Chapter 9

"Hey well done Haru, I don't know how but you set another PB," I stopped the stop watch, "That training camp from hell must've done wonders," Kou claps, "Give it to me straight, how am I doing?" Nagisa asks me, "Judging from the numbers alone I'd say you can push yourself a little harder," I look at the clipboard in my arms, "There's always room to improve that's right," Mako nods, "Just look at Rei, he's been training hard to tighten up his butterfly, his determination's gonna make him catch up to the rest of the team in no time," Kou smiles, "However the clock is ticking, we can't afford to move that slow. Five days left till prelims and we need someone to push us to the next level!" Kou raises her hand, "And that's why we've got to find a proper coach!" I finish her sense, she nods, "What? We'd have to find one right now?" Nagisa blows bubbles in the pool, "It's better late than never, if we find one now it won't be easy but some last minute conditioning'll get you into tip top shape! If we get the right guy we might just win this tournament!" Kou and I high ten, "We all agree a coach would be a big help but I seriously doubt anyone's available," Mako leans down, "Well I seriously doubt any of you have tied searching hard enough!" Kou retaliates, "None of this is necessary," Haru comes up to us and walks off, "Maybe just him but he doesn't need a coach," Mako and I sweatdrop, Haru dove off block 1 and went for another lap. 

"Hey there guys, guess who got pictures all printed out from Summer training camp?" Kou opens the rooftop door where the five of us were already eating lunch, "Lemme see em'," Nagisa reaches up, "Tada!" She sits down with us, "Hang on, where'd you get a picture of the Samezuka swim team?" Nagisa looks at the picture I picked up, it was of Rin, "Let's just say on day two I had my fair share of sight seeing," She giggles, "That kind of stuff reminds me how lucky we are have have you Kou," I grinned, she flicks her hair back proudly, "Anyway, along with the snapshots I got a ton of intel on their team lineup. Here's a list of the swimmers in the 100 metre and 200 metre breaststroke with Nagisa. These are the swimmers doing backstroke with Mako and this is who's doing the butterfly with Rei! There'll be more once we get closer to the tournament, including individual skill levels and average lap times," Kou smiles, "Oh and my brother will be swimming-" Kou looks at Haru, "The 100 metre," Haru finishes, "Yeah, he didn't enter any other races, even the ones he's good at," Kou looks down, we all hummed. After school we all headed to the shrine, we dropped a few coins in, rung the bell and clapped our hands three times, "Rin told me he didn't enter in the butterfly, relay or medley. Those were pretty much his best ones, do you think he didn't sign up because Haru didn't?" I asked Rei, Mako and Nagisa, Haru was still at the shrine, "But why would it be so important if Haru signs up or not to that event?" Rei asks, "Exactly my point, I don't know, I didn't swim with you guys before so I'm not sure what your history with Rin's like," I rested my cheek on my hand, "It's hard to explain, it's just how they are," Mako smiles, "I'd like to sign up for a relay," Rei looks down, we all it up, Mako, Nagisa and I smiled at each other, "You wanted to swim in a relay with us!" Nagisa was so excited, "Yes, I watched a video from the Olympics out of curiosity and seeing four accomplished athletes swimming different styles and succession, working concert to a mutual objective! It was beautiful! Especially the one swimming butterfly finally touched the wall, the swimmer finishes the most glorious thing about the entire process watching those Olympians showcase their prowess made sure there's no room for doubt, there's others I know who feel exactly the same way I do!" Rei stretched his arms forwards as if he was touching the wall at the end of a race, "What? What do you think it means Haru to have good luck?" We heard Kou's voice from up at the shrine, the four of us ran up the stone stairs, "Hey what's going on guys?" Nagisa asks, "Half luck? I thought luck was good or bad?" I read his fortune, "Let's say it just means you're half lucky," Rei says, "Well what's the other half?" Mako asks, "That's deep," Nagisa reads, "It's not deep, it's confusing," Rei looks at Nagisa, "Well it could be both," Nagisa whines, "It could be but it's not," Mako banters, Kou and I giggled at their useless banter. 

0 days till the tournament. We got to the venue, there were people everywhere, all warming up and stretching, "Here's the roster for today, we're gonna kick it off with the freestyle events in the morning, according to this Haru's scheduled for the fourth heat. Rin and Haru are right next to each other," I pointed at their numbers, 4 and 5, "So I assume they group swimmers by qualifying times am I right?" Mako asks, "Yeah," Kou nods, "That means Haru and Rin are pretty evenly matched," Nagisa chimes, "Here's the rundown for how it all works, the eighth fastest swimmers from each event will go onto the finals, advance to finals and you qualify for regionals!" I grinned, "You're going to be fine, you've got nothing to be nervous about, just swim like it's any other day, the most important thing is that perseverance is the key. Makes me think of something Napoleon once said, just five minutes can make a victory or a defeat," Miss A swishes her hand out, she pulled her umbrella out as usual, "Five minutes?" Nagisa peeks his head out, "Um Miss, the race would be long finished by five minutes," Kou sweatdrops, "Never mind," Miss sighs, "Alright guys, this is our big chance to give it everything we've got, so whatever happens don't remember to give it all you've got!" Mako pumps his fist up, "Yeah!" We all punched the air, "That's Oga South High School, Oga South for short. They've got this swimmer who's style is so delicately refined his nickname is White Bait," I point to a guy stretching, "Aw, I want a cool nickname," Nagisa sighs, "And way over here we've got Seijohine, they've got a guy who's called the Flying Fish! Supposedly his got an incredible vertical," I point at a guy jumping up and down, "Huh? That's so cool, you think I can get a cool nickname like that?" Nagisa asks again, "Maybe we ought to give you one of those nicknames on how you stretch yourself on your last lap?" Mako says, "What do you think about Bamboo Nagisa?" Kou touches her lip, "Ok, granted that sounds pretty cool and all but I don't get what bamboo has to do with swimming," Nagisa leans over to look at her, "I'm surprised you were able to gather so much intel about our rivals," Rei peeks his head out, Kou brings out her notebook, both of us proudly puffing our chests out, "Well we are the manager and vice-manager," She smiles, "You took notes on their physiques?" Rei judges us, "Yeah well some things can't be fully captured no matter how well you observe," Kou says, her tone of voice changing at the end, both of us looking back at pool deck, it was an open air venue, the sun was beating down, "You have to see muscles in the flesh to truly appreciate them, just look how many toned bodies there are all in one place, it's like I've died and gone to heaven!" Both of us squealed and had an aura around us, "Shut up, you've got Rin," I slap my face on either side, "Hey Gou! Look, down here!" We look down, "Hey isn't that Mikoshiba?" I see him waving up, "Yeah, I told him he has to stop calling me Gou," She pouts, Haru stood up, both of us scanning for Rin, "Where's Rin? Has anyone seen him?" I didn't see him anywhere with his team, "It's late enough that he might've headed to the assembly area," Mako looks at his watch, Haru and I look at each other, "Well it's your time to shine, show them what Iwatobi's made of," I grinned, Haru nodded and grabbed his cap and goggled before heading down to the marshalling area. The whistle was blown then the buzzer went off, heat three dove off the blocks, "There's Haru and Rin's heat lining up to swim next!" Nagisa leans over the railings and points at the line of boys walking up, you would clearly see, Rin was in his Samezuka tracksuit and Haru was in his Iwatobi tracksuit, "So who will you be cheering for Miss Matsuoka?" Miss A asks Kou, "For Haru and Rin," She clasps her hands, "What about you Miss Miller?" Miss A asks me, "For Rin," I looked down and cleared my throat, "Haru too of course," I didn't dare look back up at her after what I said, the whistle was blown, the boys went up on the blocks, "Ready," The boys held onto the blocks and crouched down, the buzzer beeped and everyone dove in, everyone cheered for their school, "Holy hell, look at both of them," Mako gasps, "They're fast and look, Rin's gotten even faster than before I don't know how but he's pulling ahead of Haru!" Nagisa says, Kou and I both stared intently at the two boys, "It's the first leg and Haru's behind," Mako was worried, "About to hit the turn," Rei says but he was too late, Rin already did his tumble turn and was powering back to the wall, "It looks like Haru's finally catching up!" I leant on the rails, both of them touched the wall, everyone looked at the digital score board.

4, 1, Matsuoka Rin
5, 2, Nanase Haruka

People started filling up the column with their respective placings, we were shocked at Haru's results, "Haru lost, again, but how?" Mako looks down, "No way..." Nagisa holds onto the rail, Haru's name cleared, "He didn't advance," I said sadly, Rin's stayed, "Alright, alright, Samezuka!" Samezuka cheered for Rin, he splashed the water in happiness that he beat Haru, Rin got out of the pool but before leaving he said something to Haru, his eyes widened and Rin left, just what did Rin say?