Free Underwater

Chapter 11 Hall of Fame

Do not play the video until I say so!

    "Dad?" Amaya chocked as she saw the blonde haired man in front of her. Gou, Makoto, Nagisa, Rae, and Ms. A all peaked over to watch.
    "Hi Amaya, I know you probably don't want to see me right now but I,..." Mr. Mizuno was cut off by Amaya running down the stairs and throwing her arms around his neck.
    "I missed you so much." She cried, tears streamed down her cheeks. "Mom let slip what really happened." She explained.
    "She didn't hurt you did she?" Mr. Mizuno asked, grabbing Amaya's shoulders and looking her up and down. "No, no of course not, but we are calling the police."
    "We?"
    Amaya looked up at the spying members of her swim team. "Ya, once they get in your business, it's hard to keep them out of it." Amaya chuckled.
    Amaya and her dad walked up the stairs and Amaya introduced them. "This is the manager Gou, thats Makoto, our captain, he also swims backstroke, thats Rae, he swims butterfly, and that's Nagisa, he swims breast stroke, this is our coach, and this is Ms. Amikata." Amaya pointed to each member present. "Oh and down there is Haru, he swims Free." Amaya pointed down to the pools at the raven haired boy, and blushed a little bit.
    "Oh so that's the boyfriend." Mr. Mizuno grinned as Amaya's face turned beat red.
    "How did you...I mean...,what?" Amaya stammered completely baffled.
    "I stopped at the school first, and there was a poster with your guys' names and ship name. It was cute." Mr. Mizuno laughed.
    "Gou!" Amaya shouted at the pink haired girl who was grinning like a fool beside Nagisa.
    "Yes?" Gou answered but before Amaya could continue the conversation was stopped by the announcer.
    "Swimmers to your mark." He shouted.
    A whistle blew and 20 boys stepped up to the boards.
    "Hey, Rene is beside Haru again, this shall be an beautiful race!" Rae pointed down and sure enough, as the whistle blew, Rene snapped his goggles behind his head and gripped the edge of the board, he and Haru seemed to be talking.
                                                               ~~~
    "Hey Haru, since it's our last nationals swimming together, let's make a bet." Rene stated casually as both boys gripped the edge of the board. "If I win I get to kiss Amaya."
    "Wait..." Haru began to abject but the whistle blew again and they all dove into the water.
                                                                      ~~~
    "What! He dived late!" Amaya yelled as she leaned over the rail.
    "What!" Yelled Gou as she broke out her binoculars and held them to her eyes. "He's behind Rene by at least a leg length!"
"Then what are we all doing?" Shouted coach. "Let's gooooo let's go let's go Har-u!" Coach's deep voice boomed.
"Let's go, let's go let's go har-u!" Everyone else shouted.
Haru and Rene hit the turn and backward summersaulted  to swim back. Haru slowly pushed ahead until he was just in front of Rene, then....
The buzzer. Team Iwatobi and Team Simazika held there breaths, the swimmers whipped their heads out of the water, eyes locked on the board. The crowd hushed as one by one school names appeared on the board.
Team Iwatobi burst into cheers and hollers of joy and even Haru did a small fist pump as he got out of the water.
"First place for boys 100 meter freestyle goes to Iwatobi High School!" The announcer boomed.
"That's my boyfriend!" Yelled Amaya to Haru. Haru just looked up at his team and smiled, before entering the locker room.
~~~
"Sorry Rene, looks like you won't be getting a kiss from my girlfriend." Haru stated as he pulled on his Iwatobi white and blue jacket.
"Nope I guess not, but you will" Rene smiled as he tied his shoes. "Come on they're going to announce the over all winners soon." Rene and Haru walked out side by side and was greeted by friends, family and teammates.
"I'm so sorry captain." Weeped Ai as he through his arms around his captain.
Rene froze. "Iteri what the..." Rene began but was interrupted by Momo also throwing his arms around Rene and crying.
"Momo get off, you're dating my sister, you don't get to hug me." Rene blankly stated. He looked up to see Sosuke walking up as well. "I swear if you hug me too..." Rene growled.
"Relax dude, I don't do hugs." Sosuke smiled lightly, almost out of pity.
"Don't pity me." Snapped Rene.
"Of course not." Vowed Sosuke.
"Congratulations Haru!" Squealed Amaya as she through her arms around her boyfriend.
"T..thanks." Haru blushed as the rest of the team ran up to him, congratulating him.
"Congratulations son." Mr. Mizuno smacked his hand on Haru's shoulder causing him to jump.
"Thank you sir." Haru answered.
"Haru, this is my dad." Amaya smiled slightly.
Haru's blue eyes went wide in shock. "Nice to mee you Sir my name is Haruka Nanasae, I am currently dating your daughter." Haru bowed and offered his hand to the man.
"Haruka? What are you doing with a girls name son?" Mr. Mizuno laughed and shook Haru's hand.
"Well..." Haru stammered.
"I'm just messing with you. Don't be so nervous." Reassured Mr. Mizuno.
"Ladies and Gentalmen! We are now here to announce the best over all scores, along with the over all winner!" The announcer shouted through the mike. Team Iwatobi grabbed each other's hands, not one of them dared to breath.
"For freestyle boys 100 meter and 200 meter, we have Haru of Iwatobi!" The announcer shouted. Team Iwatobi said a quick congrats before hushing once more.
"For the boys 100 and 200 meter butterfly we have Sosuke of Simazika." The Simazika team burst into cheers.
"I shall win next year." Rae smiled, knowing he did quite well and beat his own best times. He just needed some more experience.
    "For boys 100 and 200 meter breast stroke we have Nagisa of Iwatobi.!" Nagisa jumped into the air.
    "Yahoooo!" Nagisa did a little happy dance before being smacked behind the head by Rae.
    "Calm down." Rae smiled. Nagisa just nodded.
    "For boys 100 and 200 meter back stroke, we have Momo of Simazika!" Once again the Simazika team erupted into cheers.
    "Hey I'm sorry man." Haru said as he placed his hand on Makoto's shoulder.
    Mokoto grinned. "Aww it's alright I let him win."
    "WHAT!" The team shouted.
    "Yep." Makoto shrugged. "I won't be here for next year to whip up on all the backstroke swimmers, I figured I'd let Momo come into his senior year with a reputation to uphold." Makoto waved at Momo who in turn have him a thumbs up. There was no question Momo knew what Makoto had done for him, and that he'd do everything in his power to live up to the faith Makoto had placed in him.
    "Now for the girls." The announcer continued. "For girls 100 and 200 meter, Amaya Mizuno everyone!" The crowed irrupted into cheers. A television crew ran up to Amaya, and began asking questions.
     "Amaya, now that your swim season at your school is over, will you go pro?" The man asked as he shoved a mike into her face.
    "No, I love swimming but going pro is not on the to do list. Now if you don't mind my team and I would like to finish hearing." Amaya glared at the man, and the crew backed off.
    The announcer finished rattling off the girl names and was finally getting to the team scores. "Now, I don't know if you noticed folks." The announcer chuckled. "But the top scores have been practically switching back and forth from Iwatobi to Simazika, it will come down to the second and third place times between these two teams. So without further ado, your new national champions are....Team Iwatobi!" The annoncer shouted and team Iwatobi squealed jumping for joy. Streamers fell from the stands and cheers echoed from the crowds as Team Iwatobi walked up on stage to receive the giant gold trophy that would be placed into the display case for years to come.
    "Team Iwatobi has also. Broken a world record for best over all team score, their names, along with a picture will be placed into the Junior National Hall of Fame."
    Again the crowds cheered, you could hear Rene along with the rest of the Simazika team shouting 'Iwatobi, Iwatobi!' Gou, Amaya, Haru, Makoto, Rae and Nagisa all took a bow, each smiling at each other. They raised the troupe high, tears of bitter sweetness fell down their cheeks. This was a day that would go down in each of their minds, as the best moment in history along with every other memory of the swim club and their friendship. Memories that were more valuable than any trophy.
Que the video

Alright readers! What did you think? Fair warning we are approaching the last chapter of this story, along with the epilogue!  But do not cry, we still got some time left!