The Shark and the Stingray

Chapter 21

"Let's huddle up, here we have your new coach, go introduce yourself Makoto." I came out of the changerooms, "What are you doing here?" I had my towel on my shoulder, "My eyes are up here Mako." I tilted his chin up slightly, he was already looking down at be because I was miles shorter than him, "O-Oh right." He blushes bright red, "Well, I uh. Hello everyone, my name's Makoto and I'm here to help you swim cause swimming's a lot of fun. Nice to meet you" He bows, "Swim coach huh?" I lightly punch his arm, he nods, "It's really nice to meet you too." They all light up, he chuckles, "You kids are lucky, if you have this guy teaching you, you'll be swimming like sailfish." I wink, "Can I have a lane to myself?" I turn to Coach Sasabe, "I've got a lane all prepared for you, funnily enough it's the one next to these kids." He looks down, I smile, "Thanks a lot. And thanks for lettingme use the pool whenever, it's been forever since I last swum a few laps." I draped my towel on the block and dove in.

"How'd I do?" Mako lifts his goggles, we were practicing exchanges for our relay, "Well we're still starting a bit late." Haru says, I nod, "Yes it doesn't seem to be working out very well." Rei nods, "I hate to be the debby downer but if we're comparing ourselves to Samezuka times, they've really got their exchanges on beat." I say, they all nod, "Let's try it one more time." Rei says, "Right." We all nod. We trained till dusk, "Hey is something the matter?" Mako asks Kou, "Oh. No. Everything's fine, I just need another set of eyes on the district tournament, Coach Sasabe's been really busy with the ISCR lately so he hasn't had time to go over them ye." Kou says, "I'd hate for him not to see 'em, and it's probably going to be dark by the time practice is over. So if you want I can drop them off on the way home." Mako offers, "Really! Wow really, thank you so much." Kou lights up. "Mako, come on." I sling my bag on my shoulder, "Are you heading to the club too?" He asks, "Yeah, I want to get a few laps in. I really do want to get back into swimming. It was my passion for so many years and for me to just drop it. I'm missing it. Who knows, maybe if I feel confident enough, I'll join the club as a member, I'll just swim in my own races." I say, "R-Really?!" Mako looks down at me shocked, I laughed, "Maybe, it's not final so don't get your hopes up yet." I grinned, "That's all I need, a maybe." He laughs and the two of us pushed open the doors, "Oh hello you two." The reception lady smiles at us, "Hello Miss." The two of us bow. "Sasabe!" I hop over to him as I pull my shoes off, "Hey, I'm sorry I couldn't come to your practices lately, I've been so busy organising these lessons for these little guys." He was helping them put floaties on, "Here, we wanted to show you our district times." Mako passes him a sheet of paper, "I can do the rest." I bend down, "Hey thanks." He says to the both of us as he grabs the sheet from Mako and I finish up strapping the little kids in, "You guys ready for your first lesson with Makoto teaching you guys how to swim?" I smiled, all the kids were ecstatic except for one, "Hey look, I promise Mako's a nice guy, he's really kind, he's the captain for our own swim club at school." I look at the little boy, he stayed silent, "Are you and Makoto girlfriend and boyfriend?" One of them ask, I laughed, "Him? Oh no, I've got another in my heart already, however he's a nice boy, I'll say that." I pulled the floaties over the last kid's arms, "Thank you miss!" They all bow, I stood up, "No worries, and the name's Yuki, I'll be in the next lane swimming too, maybe we'll see each other swimming later." I slung my bag on my shoulder, "I'm heading to the change rooms," I slap Mako's back as he crouches down to talk to the kids, "Yeah, see you soon." He waves.

"Okay! Ready when you are!" The kids chime, "Okay, always remember to do your best," Mako smiles,"I have a question, what will we be working on today?" One of them asks, "I thought we'd start with a little kicking practice, how does that sound?" He crouches down, he was in his swim instructors swimmers already, "Awesome!" They all cheer, I look at the smiling kids and I saw the same kid from last week still looking upset, they sat on the edge of the pool and began kicking their feet to familiarise themselves with the water, then they went underwater to hold their breath, "He's a good coach isn't he?" Sasabe walks over, "Yeah no kidding. I remember my first coach, my dad just chucked me into the ocean and hoped I could swim." I scratched the back of my head, he boomed with laughter, they did kickboard practice and they held on his hand while two kids swan together, "Well, I guess it's my turn to actually do some swimming, I can't just sit around all day." I put my water bottle on the edge and draped my towel on the block. I got up on the blocks and pulled my goggles down, "What will you be doing?" Sasabe asks, I turn around, "IM's my specialty. Time for me?" I ask, "You got it kid." He runs into the office and grabs a stopwatch, he looks at the clock, "Ready..." He says, I crouched down, he blew the whistle and i dove in, it began with butterfly, two laps of the 25meter pool, then backstroke, another two laps, breaststroke and finally freestyle. I always competed in the 200meter events, I slapped the wall and snapped my cap off, "Time?" I ask, Sasabe's jaw was on the ground, "And how many years have you not swim properly or competitively?" He asks, "Two, three years. How come?" He gaped and slowly turned the stopwatch around, 2 minutes 30 seconds, "Alright!" I jumped up and back flopped onto the water splashing him, "You've got potential kid." He chucks my water bottle to me as I floated back, I was like an otter, I took sips of water as I floated in the water peacefully, "Yuki, that was amazing." Mako says from the lane rope, it was the end of his lesson, little did I know a little boy was staring at me with eyes that shone.