Free!Dom (Free! Fanfic/ONC Entry)

Worst Nightmare

She felt like an idiot.

The latest gossip going around, of course, involved Haru dating the pop idol known as Haru-chan, but she found herself incapable of avoiding said gossip. Hearing said gossip emotionally hurt, yet she didn't say anything regarding how she felt. She couldn't openly admit how she felt when she couldn't actually admit how she felt to herself.

She didn't think things could get any worse.

"I can't believe it!" The Muranaka girl seemed easily agitated by anything which she felt threated her perceived social status in the school, yet she seemed agitated the latest gossip involved the pop idol instead of her. "Why the hell would she transfer to my school! That bitch!"

"Don't use that language at school," Isamu sighed.

"I'll use whatever language I want. I absolutely hate that bitch."

"It can't be." Of late there was one person the Muranaka girl referred to as a bitch, yet the manner in which Muranaka acted made Gou feel horrible for thinking of the pop idol in such a negative manner but wondered if Muranaka's attitude towards her rival had any kind of effect on how Gou thought of the Haru-chan, or perhaps she thought all pop idols were the way Muranaka was because of the way the girl acted.

"It's probably just a rumor that pop idol is transferring here. I mean, why would she..."

"She's dating Nanase senpai, remember?" Muranaka snapped. "He can't be that great of a guy if she's dating her."

Gou's head snapped up and she opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She wanted to defend Haru, yet the thought of his girlfriend being here agitated her. There was no confirmation regarding the rumor as true until lunch time when a few of her classmates snuck away and peeked into the classrooms and came back super excited because Haru-chan apparently made lunch for Haru.

After school she found herself muttering under her breath. "She won't be there. She won't be. She won't be."

"Hey. Did you know that Haru-chan transferred into our school?" Nagisa blurted out upon seeing her.

Rei let out a sigh. "Guess what he's been super excited about all day long."

"A certain pop idol transferring to our school?" Gou mentally cursed her luck, but she wondered if things could possibly get worse.

Things of course did; Haruna showed up with Haru.

She hated the fact Haru-chan was there, but she found herself unable to say anything regarding the matter despite wanting to say Haruna was, in fact, a distraction for the team training. Gou paced for a bit before stopping at the edge of the pool with her stopwatch while watching a few gathers around in order that they might gape at Haruna. The guys obviously wanted to ogle at Haruna, but the girls were likely fans of her music.

This became super apparent when they swooning over Haru's figure, something Gou was herself guilty of. She somehow managed to speak out loud. "I don't like Haruka senpai because of his figure. He's a person, after all."

She wrapped her arms around her and took a deep breath while getting up the courage to approach Haru-chan and ask her to leave which in turn would take the distractions away. She wasn't expecting the paparazzi to show up, particularly since she knew they weren't allowed on campus, but the lengths some would go were flooring. Amakata sensei attempted telling them to go away, but that they weren't to be on campus while Haru simply stared at the person with the camera nearest him.

Gou didn't notice the one nearby her until she turned her head slightly because of the sound of the camera going off. That particular paparazzi was more sneaky about getting into the pool area, but he wasn't in fact cautious enough as he bumped into her. She felt herself losing her balance and falling towards the water, but panic filled her mind.

She hit the water which in turn soaked her clothing. She felt herself sink, but closed her eyes tightly while holding onto the breath of air. She didn't dare open her eyes and see the water around her, but eventually, her breath started giving out. She felt the bubbles of air escape her lungs but quickly sucked in water right before someone grabbed her around her waist and pulled her towards the surface.

Whoever grabbed her lifted her slightly from the water while another person pulled her out, but Gou's eyes still didn't open up as she started coughing the water out of her lungs while her back was against the hard surface of the poolside. She heard the person who rescued her get out of the pool but heard the water around her splash as they knelt down beside her.

The light filtering through her eyelids disappeared when they leaned over her, but she felt their breath on her face. She heard Makoto's voice. "Haru, I don't think..."

Gou's eyes snapped open and saw Haru's blue eyes looking right into her own as he leaned over her, but Gou found herself sucking in a breath again. Her body refused to let go of the breath of air and instead she instinctively attempted sitting up resulting in her forehead colliding with Haru's. He flopped backward and said, "Owe."

She sat up and moved a bit away from him. She touched her forehead lightly while Haru touched his and frowned. Gou rested her bottom lip against her teeth while letting out the breath and taking one in and holding it again. Haru noticed and reached out to poke her in the cheek. "Are you alright Kou? Are you breathing?

She let the breath out and started breathing again, She saw Makoto nearby with an exasperated look, but something told her he was the other person to pull her from the pool. A female voice spoke up. "Seriously Haru? Of course, she's not alright."

Gou saw a towel held out for her and she took the towel before realizing the person giving her the towel was in fact Haru-chan. She could hear their teacher and the bodyguards asking for everyone to disperse while Makoto said something about calling her brother. She stifled back a few sobs.

Haru, of course, had to say, "Kou? Are you upset? Rin will kill us if you're upset."

Gou couldn't hold back the tears and wrapped the towel around her shoulders.

"Haru. Seriously. Sometimes you're so dense." The person speaking was, in fact, Haru-chan again. "Hey. You look like you could use some cheering up. Do you know what cheers me up? Desert."

Gou watched Haru's eyes widened and he spoke in a low tone. "Don't steal Haruna's deserts. She's scary."

This resulted in Haruna – as Haru called her – pushing him into the pool in annoyance. She normally would have found the situation amusing, but didn't.