The Shark and the Stingray

Chapter 18

"He leaves us no choice. We've got to follow him." Nagisa whispers as we all hide behind signs. "Ummm, what are we doing at Samezuka?" I saw the large opening, "That's it, looks good, use your hips to find your centre of balance, don't forget to paddle at the same time you exhale and remember to do the thing I taught you earlier 'kay? Rei, ready?" I saw Rin in the pool with Rei, "Yeah," Rei nods, we saw him take a few strokes of backstroke, we all gasped and our eyes widen, it only lasted a few seconds but it was beautiful, he held onto the lane rope and hacked up coughing some water from his throat, "Good job man you did it." Rin swam underwater to him, "I really did didn't I?" Rei looks at him, "Yeah! Well let's do the breaststroke next what do ya say?" Rin smiles, "Heck yeah," Rei pulls on his goggles again, "I really got to hand it to ya buddy, you've done a good job learning how to swim, you wanna hear the truth?" I heard a playful tone in Rin's voice, "I didn't expect you to make it this far." He nods, "I've been thinking about this for a while, I thought I could be like Haru be content with mastering the butterfly and nothing else. There was definitely no beauty in me flailing around so I thought that that was the best I could do, why bother, why not just quit? However, I am no quitter, how could I live with myself if I have up that easily? I'm sorry for making you train with me everyday, I'm sure it gets on your nerves." Rei looks at him, "If it's after practice I don't mind, besides, all things considered, I think I owe you." Rin looks at the water, "What?" Rei didn't hear him, "Argh, forget about it. Are we here to talk or to work? You want those guys to be surprised you've got a long way to go." Rin shakes his head, "Right." Rei nods. "Oh wow, so the reason's Rei's doing this is cause he wants to surprise us." Nagisa's eyes glisten, "Yep," Mako smiles, "Wow, and I thought my big brother was so self centred." Kou laughs, "I think I fell in love with him all over again." I blush, everyone laughs.

"Oh hurry, he's coming back now!" We hide behind the bushes, "Crap, there's not enough space!" Mako hisses, "Yuki?" I heard Rei's voice, "Oh hey Rei, what's up~" I laugh nervously, "Go! I can make up some stupid meeting with Rin to blow this over." I muttered to the four of them, they nodded and crawled away, "That's my line, what are you doing here so late?" I saw Rin walk out with his towel around his neck, his hair still obviously wet, I sweat and think of an idea, Rin was making this thing an entire joke, he hid his mouth behind his hand as he tries to stifle a laugh, "I-I'm here... for Rin... to..." I look in my bag, "Give him an apple... APPLE BUNNIES!" I shout as I thought of the perfect diversion, Rin's face took a complete 180 and his eyes shone and was completely serious, "Apple... bunnies?" Rei cocks his head, "Yes, apple bunnies, now if you'll excuse me I've got to head to his dorm, this big baby can't use a knife to save his life," I nervously laugh and lean on Rin's arm, "See ya!" I shout and pull Rin after me, "I knew you guys were watching us," He chuckles as we walk through the corridors, "Wha- How?!" I look up at him, "Let's just say shark instinct. I heard you guys, you weren't exactly being quiet. Let's just be thankful that Rei's head was underwater most of the time so he couldn't hear." He chuckles and opens his dorm door, "Oh hello Sosuke." I saw him on the top bunk, "Oh hey..." He looks at me and waits for my reply, "Yuki, Yuki Miller. Nice to meet you." I bow, Rin pulls me back up, "No need to bow to this big oaf." He chuckles, Sosuke nods and puts his headphones back in and lies down. "I can't believe you've done this for so long." I grab the washed apple from Rin, "Well we're on different teams but we're still friends, besides, seeing him leave it all out like that, makes me wanna train harder and give everything I've got." He grins, "Anyway, today's his last day, that guy's been working his tail off. Wow..." Rin opens the curtains, "Bunnies for days~" I sang as I hopped on Rin's bed and popped one in my mouth, "You know, you do so much for me, I feel bad sometimes, I feel like I don't do enough in our relationship." He hugs me tight, "What do you mean?" I say with a mouth full, "You always cheer me on during races, you go out of your way to see if I'm alright, heck, how many of these bunnies have you cut in your life?" He chuckles, "I don't mind. After all, you do the same too. I feel like all that is always repaid through you picking up the cheque on our dates." I kissed his cheek and tie his hair into that tiny ponytail, "You've got to promise I get to pay for next time though," I jab my finger between his eyes, "Nah, like you said, that's my way of repaying you," Rin shakes his head, "Who said things have to be one to one? I'll just cheer for only Haru for one round, then you'll let me pay for the cheque," I shrug and turn my nose to the sky, "Take it back, you can pay the cheque then. Just cheer for me too." He huffs, I laughed and kissed his nose, "Hey Rin, sorry to bother you but would you be willing to check my training regiment for tomorrow morning?" Momo runs into his room, I squeaked in fear as he didn't even knock and I jumped away from Rin, "Y-Yuki?!" He saw me, his gasped when he saw the plate of apple bunnies on Rin's bed, "I-I'll come back another time!" Momo jumps, "Just get on with it." Rin hugs me back to his chest, "Wait?! So did Yuki cut those up for you?" He kneels over by the bed and stares at the plate, "Why? Do you want one?" Rin's voice changed from before when he was talking to me, "Woah, yeah!" Momo sparkled, "Yahoo!" He lifts the apple bunny up like it was a deity and kissed his, "Oh man that is so good!" He pumps his fists up and down, "Can I have another one?" His fingers inched over, "Didn't you hear me? I said one." Rin took the plate away and put a slice in my mouth which I happily opened up for, "Stingy!" Momo tried to get another slice but Rin stuck his foot out stopping him, I burst out laughing, "They're just apples cut in funny shapes. Here," I held a slice out to Momo, his eyes twinkled, "W-Will you be my girlfriend?" He held my hand gently, "Momo... get out before I punch you out!" You could see the fiery aura coming from Rin, "Yep, right on that." Momo squeaked and inched out the door. 

The next day, Rei showed us at the pool the new tricks he learnt with Rin, "Holy Mackerel!" I shouted, "Wow!" Nagisa acted shocked, "Amazing job Rei!" Mako cupped his mouth, "Whoo..." Haru cheered lazily, "You four have to work on your surprised cheering techniques more..." Kou sweatdrops at our performance, we burst out laughing, "So, what do you think?" Rei surfaces, he was slow, but nonetheless, he still floated and got to point A to point B, we all smiled, "Beautiful." We grinned.

"Alright, settle down gentlemen. I'm sure everyone's wondering why I gathered you all around like this." Kou took us all to the roof, "Does it have to do with you talking like a queen?" Rei scoffs, "No lip from you today mister!" Kou snaps and points her finger between his eyes, "What is this all about?" Even I was confused, "As you know, district is right around the corner therefore I feel it's my duty to throughly inspect the type of food you're putting into your bodies!" Kou shouts, "What?!" All the boys and I were shocked, "What did I just say about lip?! Proper nutrition is an athlete's regiment!" Kou retailates.
"Makoto front and centre." She looks at him, he was up first I guess, "Woah that looks amazing!" I leant over, "Just a little something I whipped up this morning," He scratches his cheek, "Ugh, what do you have against vegetables?" Kou looks at him, "Less meat next time, 32 point deduction." She shouts, Mako gasps and shudders. Makoto Tachibana, 68 points. Reason: Not enough vegetables. 
"Alright Rei, let's see yours," She looks at him, "Prepared to be bowled over judgemental one! Feast your eyes on this! Not only have I packed this with an array of vegetables and beta keratin, I've organised them with an unwavering eye of colour theory! I defy anyone who says that this isn't a banquet worthy of a feast!" Rei sparkles and shows us his bento, "Oh it's nice, 37 point deduction." Kou says, Rei stopped proudly laughing, "37 points?! Argh!" He freaks out, "The colour wheel is not and shall it never be a diet plan. What do you have against meat? Vegetables don't build muscle, they have a role to play yes but we want protein!" She puts her hands on her hips, "Nooo!" Rei shouts in defeat. Rei Ryugazaki, 63 points. Reason: Not enough meat.
"Nagisa show me what you've go-" Before Kou could finish her sentence Nagisa jumped up, "Tada! Pretty hearty aren't they?" He puts his lunch up, "Two loaves of Iwatobi surprise bread?" She looks at them, "Oh yeah! A full drizzle of sugary goodness and so cheap it'd be dumb not to buy them! So do I win?" He winks, "Of course not!" Rei and Kou shout together, "And as if those weren't bad enough on their own this juice box makes them look like broccolini." Kou scoffs as she reads the nutrition on the side of the juice carton, "But I like them, they're good." Nagisa pouts, "Fail! 100 point deduction for crying out loud you're meant to be an athlete! A five tonne cat eats better than this!" She says as Nagisa pouts. Nagisa Hazuki, 0 points. Reason: Unthinkable.
"Last up us Haru, show it to me." Kou wags her fingers, Haru opens up his bento, "Wait, what?" Everyone looks at his box, "Why do you have a balanced meal? And since when could you cook stuff other than mackerel?" Rei looks at him, Haru looks at me, "You're staring at your 5 star meal chef." I grinned, "What?!" All of them shout, "I always walk to school with Haru and Mako, Mako already knows this but by the time we get to Haru's he's still taking a bath, I can't stand being late so I always cook his breakfast and lunch for him while he drys off and gets changed. Mum was a dietitian so I know what a balanced meal is, it's a quarter proteins, a quarter carbs and half veggies!" I grinned, "Mackerel, rice, carrots and cucumbers." I winked, "I think we've got a caterer," Kou holds my hands, "Oh no, nu-uh. Cooking for this one's already enough, the only charity I do are cutting apple bunnies for Rin." I shake my head, she sighs, "Well, Haru, 0 points deducted, your meal is perfect." She squeals. Haruka Nanase, 100 points. Reason: Beautiful.