The Blue Shirt - Free! Iwatobi Swim Club Fanfic

~Chapter 1~

Kaito sat under the tent near the swimming pool. She kept reading the manga that she held in her hands, reading every word and every picture as fast as her eyes could see them. The wind was blowing gently, just enough so that it wasn't too windy. She found it quite enjoyable to stay upon the rooftop of the school. The view was beautiful from the rooftop, and the cherry blossom trees would sway back and forth, as if dancing with the wind itself. It was so peaceful.

"Haru-chan? Could you please try harder to improve your time?", a girl's voice asked, sounding impatient.

It was Gou-chan, one of the new friends she made at school. Well, one of the only "girl" friends at school. Her only other friends were the swimming boys in the pool.

Haru, the freestyle swimmer, Makoto, the backstroke swimmer, Nagisa, the breaststroke swimmer, and Rei, the butterfly swimmer. Ever since the first day Gou introduced her to the swimming boys, Kaito had agreed to help and watch the boys swim. She wasn't a member, because she doesn't swim much, but she wanted to help anyways.

Kaito smiled as she watched the boys swim back and forth in each of their lanes. They had already impacted her life so quickly, in such a short time. They were her most best friends in the world, as of right now. She looked back at the bright green fence that framed the roof, and stared at the cherry blossom trees once more. She wanted a closer look. Kaito put her manga away in her small backpack, and walked over to the trees.

She clutched the fence tightly. She wanted to desperately pick a cherry blossom off of that tree. It looked so beautiful. As much as she wanted it, she couldn't get it, of course. Her eyes diverted to the view from the rooftop, a higher view of the city they lived in. It wasn't much, of course, only buildings and a few big patches of grasses representing parks. But, the mountains that surrounded the back of the buildings, and the ocean framing the long side of the island are what always caught her attention. It just looked the most beautiful in this specific view and angle. Kaito smiles.

'What a beautiful life.', her mind said.

The wind blows more stronger this time, and it's becoming a little colder. Kaito turned around to walk back towards the tent, but accidentally trips over the green hose that she had apparently not seen earlier. Kaito then tripped over her own feet, and with a sudden scream, she falls into the pool, in the empty lane next to Rei's lane.

She hurriedly swims toward the surface, and coughs violently, water lodged in her lungs. She takes off her wet, black glasses and holds them in her hand until she dries them.

"Kaito-kun!", a choir of voices say her name as she coughs. Gou runs over to see if she's okay. Kaito treads water desperately, too surprised to grab the edge of the pool, which was a little too high for her reach anyway. Rei swims up behind her, and holds her up by the waist, his hand clutching the edge of the pool to hold himself up.

"Are you okay, Kaito-kun?" Rei asks softly.

Kaito nods rapidly, giving off a "not really" expression. She grabs onto Rei's shoulders, and holds onto him until Gou finally offers her hand to get out of the pool.

"T-Thanks, Rei.", she says, giving him a weak smile.

Rei just smiles back, and Gou helps Kaito out of the pool.

"Oh my gosh, Kaito-kun! You scared all of us! You're okay, right?", Gou asks worriedly.

Kaito scans the pool to see that besides Rei having concern, Nagisa and Makoto asked if Kaito was okay, and what had happened. Haru, being the expressionless and quite person he was, just kept staring at her. But, it looked like a concerned expression.

"I just didn't see the hose. I tripped over it. Sorry to worry you all, I'm fine. Just, soaking wet and cold-d.", Kaito's body shiver and teeth chatter as she says the last part of her sentence.

She clutched her shoulders to help absorb body heat, but it wasn't quite working. Her uniform was wet, which meant that her underwear and bra were wet, too. She sighed at the thought. She also hated her hair being wet, because it never came out smoothly as it dried. It always came out clumpy, and she'd have to comb it out to get her smooth, straight hair back to the way it was.

"I'll go see if there's and extra towel!", Gou said, dashing away to find another towel.

Kaito followed Gou back to the little changing room, where she didn't see a pair of green eyes still lingering on her.