Written by ivyandtwine on deviant art
"Mako- chan~!" you slowed to a stop as a young man with blonde hair and a wide, happy smile ran up to Makoto, instantly dragging him off toward the pool. You blinked.
"Um..." you murmured, putting a finger to your lips as you surveyed the scene before you. Two women, one with lovely burgundy hair and the obvious younger of the two, and another with brown hair and kind, brown eye, sat in fold-out chairs underneath a large umbrella. The younger girl held a clipboard and was jotting down what you assumed to be notes, occasionally shouting out something to the young men in the pool, while the brunette woman just watched with a little smile. You looked to the pool, spotted to blue-haired boys (blue!), though one was clearly a more talented swimmer, and the other still wore his red glasses. You slowly started forward, pausing at the opened gate, and resting your elbow on the warm metal. The blonde boy already had Makoto in the pool, splashing and flailing around excitedly, and it made you giggle.
And that caught everyone's attention almost instantly.
"Girl," one of the blue-haired boys, the darker bluenette (as you were now going to call them), raised a hand and pointed at you. He neither smiled or frowned at you, only blinked once, and then continued swimming like he'd never noticed you in the first place.
"Hello," you raised a hand and waved, smiling at the group. Makoto, looking a bit distressed that you'd been so awkwardly left behind, climbed from the pool and jogged over to you. You stared, not realizing that your sweet, innocent tutor was so incredibly well-toned. Hell, he was gorgeous! And those swimming pants, damn! You shook those thoughts away when he stood before you, smiling apologetically.
"I'm so sorry, _____," he said. "I didn't mean for you to be left out. Please, come over here," he led you around the pool where the two women sat. Both smiled at you. "Gou, Amakata-sensei, this is ____ ___________, my new neighbor," he introduced you, stepping back so he was slightly behind you.
"Pleasure," you said, holding out your hand to Gou first, forgetting anything and everything Makoto may have taught you that morning. The younger girl took your hand and gave it a good shake.
"Nice to meet you, ____, and please, call me Kou," she instructed, and you nodded, not wanting to cause a stir by asking why she preferred to be called by a different name.
"Pleased to meet you, _____. I'm Miho Amakata, and you may call me Amakata-sensei," the older, brunette woman took your hand then and smiled at you. She was very pretty, you thought, even shaded by her large umbrella. "You're going to be my student, aren't you?"
"Oh, yes, next week," you answered, smiling at her. She must have already gotten your paperwork and a heads up that you'd be joining her classes. You were glad to meet her then, before the first day, and that she was so nice. "Makoto has been tutoring me given that my Japanese is, err, below average," you laughed, scratching at the back of your head.
"Nonsense," Makoto spoke up then. "She did great today," he complimented you and you beamed up at him, proud to hear him praise you. Makoto smiled back at you, but he was instantly whisked away again to practice, the energetic blonde boy now more interested in asking him about you than swimming.
"Sit here, ____," Gou patted the seat next to her and you sat, thanking her. "So, that's our swim team. You know Makoto already, as I can plainly see," she winked at you. "That is Nagisa Hazuki, he's my age, and the one with the glasses is Rei Ryugazaki, our transfer athlete, as he used to be on the track team, and last is Haruka Nanase, Makoto's best friend."
"Oh," you smiled at her, but you knew you would never remember any of those names, or how to properly address anyone, or what title they should be given, and suddenly it all made your head spin. "Lovely."
