The Shark and the Stingray

Chapter 14

"Good morning," I waved at Mako as he opened his door, "Morning," He breathes out a breath of fogged air, it was snowing and everything was covered in a blanket of white, we walked up the stairs to Haru's house, "Good morning to you too," I saw the white cat Mako and I used to always play with as a kitten rub up against my legs, "Fine, only for a little while though, we've got to get going," I picked her up and she licked my nose. The two of us got to Haru's door, Mako rung the doorbell, "He's in the bathtub, I already know," I chuckled and shook my head, we slid open his door, "We're in here dude," Mako calls out, I ducked my head under the curtains to the bathroom, "Come on Dolphin, time to wake up," I saw Haru surface and he shook the water out of his hair, "I swear do you sleep in here?" Mako chuckles, I held my hand out, "We've got to get ready and you better get out now otherwise you won't have enough time to grill and eat your mackerel," I say, his eyes widen and he jumps out of the bathtub and gets ready. Mako and I head out, I was in the kitchen already grilling some fish for him, "Thanks," Haru comes out and takes the plate of fish and the bento I made on the counter, "I swear, Since knowing you for a year I've now made lunch for you, I don't even know how long now, you're like a child," I folded the apron up and put it away, we were all in our warm, thick winter jackets, "Hurry up Haru, I told the guys we'd meet them at the station," Mako calls at the door, "Coming!" I slung my bag on, we were meant to go to Samezuka at 10:30 but I'm guessing it's gonna be a bit later than 10:30. "Nagisa, Rei! I know, I know, we suck! Sorry!" Mako calls out on behalf of me and Haru who were slowly jogging behind him, both of us tucked away in our winter jackets. 

Samezuka Gauken. "Yo, over here guys," We saw Kou raise her hand, we all ran to pool deck, "Hey is this the big farewell swim meet?" Mako asks, "Yeah," Kou nods, we all look to the side and we say stacks of puffed out guys panting and looking dead, "Seems a little excessive," I sweatdrop, we all stripped off our winter jackets, pool deck was always warm and humid, "They go out till the drop or what?!" Nagisa lights up, "Samezuka tradition, we swim the hundred metre till one of us beats the captain," I felt someone hug me from behind, "Rin," I look up at him, "Good to see you guys, glad you could make it," Rin grins, "Hey Rin! Did we miss your race?" Nagisa asks, "Nah you're good." He shakes his head, "Hate to be the nay-sayer but exhausing yourselves like this is a little irrational," Rei touches his glasses, "Yeah well rational isn't Captain Mikoshiba's MO." Rin looks as he got out of the pool, "Hey, hey, you decided to show up. Come on, dive in for old time's sake." Mikoshiba rubs his hair with his towel, "Ah, we're cool thanks." Mako says, "Yeah we're just here to observe and admire." Rei nods, "Screw that, 400 metre freestyle Iwatobi versus Samezuka all or nothing. Matsuoka, show them what we do. Anyone else not dead!" He looks over the side of the pool, "Me!" I saw Nitori jump out, "Nitori! Excellent!" Mikoshiba claps, "We're not really prepared!" Mako tries "We're moral support, really!" Rei shakes his head, I wriggle out of Rin's grip, "Pants, on. Belt, buckled." I held onto Haru's wrists, "Hey mind keeping a shirt on for the girl." Rin glares at Haru, "Speak for yourself," Haru looks at Rin who was in his tech suit and tracksuit jumper left unzipped. "Well if you can't beat em," Mako smiles, "Swim em'!" Nagisa finishes, "Tada!" Nagisa and Mako brought out their tech suits, "Why would you have your swim suits packed?!" Rei shouts, "Just a vibe I was getting from Haru last night." Mako sweatdrops, "We had an understanding!" Rei shouts, "No worries my friend, we can accomodate for you. Nitori. Now." Mikoshiba puts his hand on Rei's shoulder, "Sir! On it!" Nitori pushes Rei with him somewhere else, "Hey aren't you gonna take your scarf off? It's humid here in the pool so it's pretty much always warm even if it's snowing outside." Mikoshiba looks at me, I puff my cheeks out, "No way in hell am I taking my scarf off," I point my finger, Rin smirks, "Oh, and why's that?" He inches his fingers towards my neck, "Oh you know very well why I'm not taking it off young man!" I jab my finger at him, "Come on, lemme peek!" He tries to pry it off my neck, "RIN! STOP! YOU'VE ALREADY SEEN IT!" I screamed, he chuckles, "Come on, they're not that bad." He whispers and bites the back of my neck, "DON'T ADD MORE!" I pulled his goggled and they slapped on his forehead, I had shark indents all over my neck from last night.