Caught in the Act (A 'Free! Iwatboi Swim Club' Fanfic)

Chapter 13 - Just the Beginning

A/N: Happy New Year, minna! 2014 :) Hope you all enjoy this chapter! The title's pretty ironic, huh? Haha, it's just the beginning of a new year!

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            “And from Iwatobi High School: Captain Tachibana Makoto and Nanase Haruka, Haruno Megumi, Hazuki Nagisa, and Ryugazaki Rei.” The announcer introduced each high school and the members on the team. I looked around the enormous place, seeking other female members.

            Annnnnd no. But it wasn’t like this competition was just for males though. I mean, it wasn’t like this was specifically for a boys’ swim team. I was beginning to get fidgety. I hopped from foot to foot, annoying a couple of competitors nearby. They stared at me, either giving me hard stares or snickers.

            “You’ll do fine like you always do, Mei-chan,” encouraged Mako. He smiled, patting my head.

            “You’ll win first like always, and then we’ll be famous!” Nagi exclaimed, rubbing his face into my back, glomping onto me.

            “Haruno-chan! Ganbatte!” Ama-chan shouted, waving her stand from the stands. “Oh, and everyone else, ganbatte!” It was then, that the swimmers began to turn around, one by one, staring at me.

            “Haruno-chan? Wait, that Haruno Megumi? No way! I heard she died. No, baka. I heard that she moved abroad.” Flurries of explanation for my reappearance had begun to spread. I ignored them all, starting my stretches. My teammates glanced at me worriedly.

            “Mei-chan! I didn’t know that you swim! You never swam while teaching us!” I looked up from the ground to see some of the high-schoolers that I trained at Daichi’s pool.

            “I was recovering for a long time, so I couldn’t swim much. I started back up recently.” I only told him half of the truth. I was recovering for almost two years, but I still swam constantly. I did start swimming in front of other recently.

            “Oh, good luck today, Mei-chan! I won’t go easy!” The herd of them left, leaving me alone again. I took a deep breath, calming my nerves.

            “Five minutes to start! In this order: melody relay of 100m backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. Next will be the individual races of 100m and then 200m of back, breast, fly, and free. And last up will be the 200m melody.” The announcement crackled. I smiled, readier than ever to jump into the water and dominate the pool. I was prepared for this day. If I won all of my divisions, I would be a step closer to my dreams. I was entered in all of the 100m and 200m races, and I was with Mako, Haru, and Nagi in the 200m melody. Thank goodness there is a ten minute break in between each of the individual races, and a twenty minute break before switching to the last melody. I sat down on the bench with the other competitors not participating in the first relay. Mako was first in the water from our team. The backstroke swimmers were all in the water, with their hands and feet against the wall, ready for the start.

            “Go!” In seconds, Mako completed his 100m backstroke, and Nagi immediately dove into the water the moment Mako’s hand touched the wall.

Iwatobi High was second place out of eight so far. I saw Nagi’s cupped hands propelling him faster and further. I smiled, happy that he took my advice. I glanced at the timer on the wall: 0:49:06 seconds. We were still 0:05:12 seconds behind the leading school. We need Haru to make the time up if this continues…

Soon enough, it was Haru’s turn. He dove into the water, swimming like a dolphin – so graceful and beautiful. In no time, he made up for the lost time that we were lacking in, finishing in first.

“First place in the 100m melody goes to… Iwatobi High!” The crowd cheered on, excited for more. “20 minutes until the 100m individual races!” It was me against Mako against the other competitors. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in, slowly letting it out. And again. Breathe in. Breathe out. Nothing will stop me on the path to the Olympics. I opened my eyes, determined. I felt someone clap my shoulder, and I turned around to find the four of the standing behind me, encouraging me on with determined looks in their eyes. I smiled before jumping into the water with Mako in the lane next to me. We were going against more people now, with twelve others competing against me and Nagi.

“Ready. Set. Beep.” We pushed ourselves off the wall with force. I stayed steady, taking third right before I touched the wall of the 50m swim. I exerted a little more force behind my kicks and hand movements, easily overtaking first by 0:21:47 seconds; Mako came in third.

“Just as expected of Mei-chan and Mako-chan! Wahh!!” Nagi praised. The competition continued on with Iwatobi dominating the races. After so long of not swimming, feeling the thrill, the rush, I felt ecstatic.

            “And winning today’s competition is Iwatobi High! Second place goes to [school name], and third is [school name]. The judges called us over to stand on the podium with a big check and a gold trophy. Reporters came to take our pictures interviewing us. One of the younger reporters caught my eye. Hmm… he looks…familiar? Where have I seen him? His green hair stood out along with his light hazel eyes. He caught me staring at him and winked at me, lifting his hand up in sort of a wave before weaving his way out of the crowd of reporters.

            “How does it feel to be the only female on the team? You won first in every single one of the individual races, so how did you do it? What is your name?” The reporters all waited for my replies. I remembered the years of interrogations that I would have every time I won since the age of five.

            “My name is Haruno Megumi. Being the only female on this team is no different than hanging out with your friends doing what you love together, just like any other sport. I practiced and trained hard every day so that I could achieve my goal one day.” I smiled at them all as the lights flashed from their cameras. Suddenly Ama-chan pushed her way up to the foot of the podium, shouting our names.

            “Tachibana-san, Nanase-san, Hazuki-san, Ryugazaki-san, and Haruno-chan!” She pointed towards the exit. I shared a look among my friends and we all smiled, nodding our heads.

            “Gomen'nasai, min-na!” I shouted. Next thing everyone knew, the five of us had jumped off the podium, making our grand escape, laughing with Ama-chan running behind us.

            “Ah… there goes our big scoop…” The reporters muttered, turning around to find another source to follow.

            This was only just the beginning.