Open Waters | Free! Fan Fiction

16. Making Plans

Open Waters

Chapter Sixteen

Making Plans

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The prospect of the training camp from hell seemed to have sparked more interest than Hana had anticipated. Once Makoto had conceded that it would be a good idea to hold a training camp, Nagisa and Gou had said that they had to go and see Ama-chan about the possibility of using their club budget to pay for the camp.

Dressed in their new Iwatobi Swim Club jackets - which looked rather professional - the group headed to the staff room to propose their idea to Miss Amakata.

"So, that's five members attending," Haru muttered as they neared the staff room.

Hana noticed that Haru was looked at her as he said five, and knew she was the one being left out, probably due to an assumption of Haru's behalf that she wouldn't want to go because of her bad experience with the ocean. In response, she folded her arms. "Six," she said curtly. "I'm going as well, Haru, near the ocean or not. I want to spend time with you guys."

Haru stared at her for a moment then nodded. "All members want to go," he conceded.

They reached the staff room soon after, and approached Ama-chan with their idea. The whole time Makoto explained their idea, Hana wrung her hands together, hoping that the budget would be enough to cover this camp.

Her hopes were shattered when Miss Amakata said plainly, "The club doesn't have the money for that.

Hana sighed, closing her eyes. This is working well for us already, isn't it? Though she'd been expecting that answer, it was still gutting to hear that they couldn't go on a camp that could help them with their swimming because their club was still new and didn't have enough money.

"Then we could ask our generous advisor to pay for it!" Nagisa said hopefully.

Miss Amakata shook her head. "I'm not that generous! Besides, people only get that lucky in TV shows and manga." She folded her arms and glanced across at them. "The Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw, said it best: the book that has had the most influence on my life, is my chequebook."

Hana, along with everyone else, stared blankly at their advisor. Even she won't help us pay for this? Do we have to do everything ourselves? This is getting rather tiresome.

They tried debating, but it ended up not working too well for them. Defeated, they trudged out of the staff office and back outside. It was the end of the school day, so they made their way out of the school gates.

"That was disappointing to hear," Rei said.

"Mm," Nagisa agreed. "I was getting fired up!"

"How about we get ice cream to cheer up?" Gou suggested. "There's a convenience store not far away. And the weather's perfect for it, too."

Hana grinned, instantly on board with the idea. Ice cream was one of her favourite treats. Even when it was winter, she still ate it without second thought. Even though it was cold, she could still rug up afterward. It wasn't as though the change in weather made that big a difference in what she ate.

"Ice cream sounds good," Makoto admitted.

Nagisa nodded enthusiastically in agreement, his blonde hair flopping about everywhere in his face and becoming messed up. "Yeah, let's do it!"

"You might want to smooth down your hair, Nagisa," Hana laughed. She tapped the pocket of her blouse, hoping to find that she'd placed some spare change there. Her eyes widened when all she felt was the soft padding of material. "I don't have any spare change," she realised with a start. She sighed. She couldn't ask her friends to wait whilst she ran to thr house to swipe some money, it wouldn't be fair on them.