Open Waters | Free! Fan Fiction

6. Closer

Open Waters

Chapter Six

Closer

"Hana? Earth to Hana! Earth to Etsumi Hana!"

Hana slowly opened her eyes to satisfy the persistent voice, and jumped back into the wall once she spotted Makoto crouching down near her. She was fortunate that her head hadn't hit the grey concrete of the wall behind her.

"Jeez, Makoto, you scared me!" she exclaimed, a hand over her heart.

He smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry," he said, sounding rather sincere. "But you've been out of it for quite a while."

"Oh. Well, thanks for bringing me out of my daze."

"No problem." Makoto looked curious. "What were you thinking of?" he asked, in the most polite way possible.

Hana felt her cheeks warm up, and wished she had a the ability to control how flushed her cheeks became. "Oh, nothing much," she snorted, waving it off with her hand. "Just silly little things. Nothing major."

No. You were analysing your behaviour last night, trying to come up with an explanation for why you said that thing to Haru last night. Which is a silly thing to be thinking about, but oh well. You d never acted like that before.

She'd come to reason it was because of her little history with him. She was probably looking too heavily into it, as she always did.

Makoto didn't look convinced. Hana didn't blame him, but she'd never share her thoughts, too embarrassed to do so.

"So," she said presently, looking around. They were on the rooftop again, as it seemed to be the usual place for the boys to hang out. Hana was still in love with the views. "Where's Nagisa?"

"Right here!" a bright voice chirped. They looked up and saw Nagisa running up the stairs toward them, a white piece of paper clutched in his left hand.

"What's that?" Hana asked, indicating to the paper as Nagisa plopped himself down in front of them.

"Since everyone's on board, I picked up a new club application form." Nagisa basically shoved the form in all their faces. Hana recoiled slightly out of surprise, but that didn't last for very long and she soon recovered.

"You're fast," Makoto commented.

"It's important to get the ball rolling." Nagisa pulled out a pen and leaned forward, supporting himself on his elbows. "Let's see," he murmured. "The purpose of this club is... to train our minds and bodies through swimming and improve the school experience."

Hana whistled lowly, impressed. "That's pretty good, Nagisa."

He looked up at her, a bright smile on his face. "Thank you, Hana-chan!" He glanced back down at the form he was filling out. "There will be three members initially. Mako-chan, you can be the captain."

Makoto's head snapped up in a sharp movement, his eyes wide. "Uh, shouldn't it be Haru? He's the faster swimmer."

"This isn't about speed," Nagisa pointed out. "Different people are better at different things."

Hana sat back, thinking for a moment what Haru would be like if he was captain. She snorted and shook her head. No. Makoto was the better choice here, definitely.

She clapped her friend of the shoulder. "C'mon, Makoto. You'll be a brilliant captain, I know it. You've certainly got the aptitude for it."

Makoto rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, thanks, Hana,"