Bonding By the Poolside - Free! Iwatobi Swim Club [Makoto Tachibana]

(C1) Morning Mayhem

Late - January 2015: This was one of my first fanfictions and it is horrifically bad. Please excuse my awfulness.

A.N-

Disclaimer: I do not own Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. This is just a fan fiction based off of the anime.

Please watch and support the official release (available on Crunchyroll.com) made and produced by Kyoto Animations, Animation Do and Kouji Ohji.

By the way, words capitalise after ", and I cannot change that. If I do, it takes me a while, so it's very time-consuming. I'm sorry if it annoys you, but trust me, it annoys me too. Thanks, iPad...

I'm late! I'm late! I'm so, so late! I yelled mentally like that rabbit from Alice in Wonderland as I sprinted down the road, huffing and puffing furiously and checking my watch every three seconds. I was so focused on running, I wasn't paying attention to anything in front of me, and because of that...

*THUD!*

I ran right into someone.

The person didn't budge, but I fell down, "Ow! I-I'm sorry!" I scrambled to my feet and bowed over and over. "..." I looked up to see if my bowing did any good, but the person I saw had the most expressionless face I have ever seen. "Uh... Y-yeah, sorry again..." The boy shrugged and fixed his bluish-black hair, "It's fine." With that, he walked off.

Nice. Polite.

I cleaned the dirt off of my uniform and started running again, this time I payed attention and slowed down. I had been running for a few minutes, when...

*Thud.*

Oh, come on! Really? Just, really?

Although I swore I was running slower and paying attention, I still bumped into someone else, just softer. I bowed straight away and apologised, "I'm really sorry! I wasn't paying atten--... I didn't see you. Sorry!" The person I bumped into chuckled happily, "It's okay, I wasn't aware of my surroundings, and I'm looking for my friend, so it's my fault." I looked up and a tall, brown (slightly olive-green) haired boy who was smiling and bowing apologetically. Damn, he's cute!

I cleared my throat and brushed my uniform again. The boy made a curious face with sparkling green eyes and nodded at my uniform... I hope that's what he was nodded at. "Oh! Are you going to Iwatobi, too?" He asked before pointing at his blazer pocket, "I'm was on my way there with my friend, but he was staring at the sea, and I lost him!"

I let a small laugh out, then I cut it off when I noticed he was being serious. The boy laughed a little, looking to the beach and rubbing his chin, "Yep, that's my friend Haru for you." He laughed again. It sounds really cute, and his smile is so sweet!

Wait, his "friend"? Could he mean the serious guy I ran into first? That'd be weird. "Say... Does your friend have bluish-black hair? Doesn't seem to smile?" His eyes widened, "Y-you've seen Haru-cha- I mean, Haru? Was he swimming in the sea?" I shot a confused look his way, "Oh, haha! Uh, he has a thing for water. Ever since we were children, he never liked to be too far away. He hasn't changed one bit."

Thank you for the life story.

Well, if this guy is going to be in my school, I might as well ask his na- "By the way, I'm Tachibana Makoto. It's a pleasure meeting you!" Never mind. We shook hands and he smiled again. "Well, Tachibana-kun, I'm Ryoji Mizuki!" He laughed and and rubbed his head, "Please, you don't have to be so formal. You can just call me Makoto, all my friends do!"

Calling someone by their forename when we've only just met? With no honorific? And he said "all my friends do!" Does that mean I'm his friend? I'm honoured! Well, I'm not trying to sound creepy or anything...

I grinned happily, "In that case, you can just call me Mizuki." Makoto smiled a sweet smile and nodded. I swear, he has a smile that could make someone melt just like that. Is that an odd thing to think about someone you've just met?

"You know, we should probably start looking for this "Haru" you mentioned. Well, if he's not swimming in the sea, that is." I said jokingly. "Maybe he's gone back home? He's probably cooking mackerel right now." Makoto laughed through his nose, and I laughed back nervously. Haha ha... I don't understand. While we searched for Makoto's friend, Nanase Haruka, we found out we have a lot in common: we both likes cats and orcas, we both really care for our friends and family, both of our favourite colours are green and we enjoy swimming.

/Twenty minutes later/

So much for getting to school on time. Makoto and I finally found Nanase Haruka, who said he didn't mind me calling him Haru, as long as I dropped the '-chan' or any other honorific. Actually, he said he'd rather be called by his surname because he's embarrassed by having a girly name. I have a boyish name, so join the club, pal. Makoto told me that initially he's cold, but then you see the more caring, kinder side of him eventually.

Wow, the perfect definition of a tsundere.

P.S. When you first meet them, the surnames are said first, and then their forenames second (it's a Japanese way of adressing someone). It's being polite, like this: Tachibana Makoto (Tachibana is the surname and Makoto is his name. Friends usually call each other by their forenames, so if I was Makoto's friend, I'd call him Makoto. Or, as Nagisa calls everyone, *insert forename*-chan. In this instance, Mako-chan.)

Surnames are quite formal. So, if you meet Makoto's father, you'd be polite and say Tachibana-san (Mr. Tachibana).

It's basically like calling someone by their surname in English. So, someone called Jake Higgins (I'm not very inventive with names...) would be called Higgins Jake if you're being polite, or just Higgins. Then, if you're friendlier with them, you'd just call him by his forename - Jake.

Yay! Politeness!

P.P.S. Tsundere is a Japanese term for a person who is initially cold and mean at first, but they show their warmer, more caring side later on. Just like Haru.