Swimmer Boy (Book 1)

Chapter 9 ~ Worth it

"MAKOTO! MAKOTO!" I screamed out Makoto's name over and over as I tried my best to keep my head above the water. The storm was getting worse by the second and we still had yet to find Rei.

"Sakura?! Go back!" I heard Makoto yell.

"You guys!" Rei waved his arms a little bit away. I tried swimming to him but got pushed under the water by a heavy wave. I felt helpless as my body kept sinking deeper and deeper. It was weird, though. While it hurt to have no oxygen, I felt a little peaceful. They always say that drowning is peaceful.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as I started to make out a figure coming closer towards me. It was Makoto. He reached out to grab me, but immediately froze up. I knew what was happening, it was what happened to me. He was having flashbacks of that day. One of the worst days of our lives.

Suddenly another wave slammed down into the ocean, propelling Makoto onto me. I sunk deeper and hit my head hard on a rock, immediately blacking out.

~~~~~

I coughed up the horrible salt water as I felt air coming back into my body. I rubbed the water out of my eyes and tried to focus. Above me was Makoto with a horrified expression on his face. "Sakura! You almost died!" He hugged me for dear life.

"S-Sorry..." I tried to say.

"What were you thinking?!"

"I knew what would happen to you..." I said. "I just wanted to help..." Makoto shook his head and slowly pulled away from me.

"Please think more rationally next time." He said more calmly. I could do nothing as the leftover tears on his cheeks dropped onto mine. I weakly lifted my hand and put it at the base of his neck. Thinking the same thing, he slowly started leaning down towards me. When our lips were just centimeters away from touching, we heard a voice.

"There they are!" Nagisa came running. Behind him were Rei and Haru. Haru immediately came running over and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"What were you thinking?! You're just a beginner! You nearly died!" Haru was always so calm. Seeing him even the slightest bit angry always scared me.

"I just-" I was cut off as he hugged me tightly.

"Please," He whispered. "Never do that again." I couldn't bring myself to promise him that, so I just nodded.

"I'm glad you three are okay." Makoto said. "Rei, I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

"No, I put you in danger. This all was my fault." He bowed.

"You're an idiot." Haru said harshly.

"The important thing is that we're fine." I reached back to feel where I hit my head. There was a little scratch, but Haru didn't have to know about that.

"Is anyone else freezing?" Nagisa shivered.

"No kidding- oh, look." Makoto spotted a lighthouse on top of the island. It was actually a rest house. We walked in and thankfully found a flashlight. There wasn't much there; it was basically empty. The only thing we could find to eat was pineapple mackerel.

"We got lucky. It looks great." Haru said. Even in a crisis he's still crazy over fish.

"Something tells me we'll be stuck here until morning." Rei sighed.

"We should sleep." Haru said.

"What? But we're stuck on a deserted island! We should be out looking for treasure!" Nagisa protested.

"Sleep would be best, but this place doesn't look all that comfortable." Makoto said.

"Wait, I got it!" Nagisa suddenly said.

~~~~~

"Does my name have to be on three sides?" Rei asked.

"Of course, you're Rei." Nagisa answered.

"What- Nevermind." Rei shook his head.

Nagisa found a box and wrote all our names on it. Whoever it landed on had to tell an embarrassing story, a scary story, etc. Rei ended up telling us about how he lost his underwear in middle school, while Haru told us how he fell in love with a waterfall. The box finally landed on Nagisa and he expected us to guess what very specific penguin he was imitating. Makoto chuckled beside me. "You smiled." Nagisa said happily. "You've been a bit down all night." Wow, he can go from silly to serious pretty quick.

"I'm sorry." Makoto said. "I didn't mean to worry you."

"Makoto, if you don't mind me asking..." Rei spoke up. "What happened back there? You were pretty out of character."

"It's not something we're going to discuss, Rei." I grumbled.

"But I-"

"Drop the subject!" I grew defensive. The room was silent as the rain continued to beat down on the windows.

"Sakura, it's okay. But thanks anyways." Makoto smiled at me. He took a deep breath and told Rei the whole story. The story about his mentor who died in the horrible typhoon all those years ago. Since then, the ocean has terrified Makoto.

"Yet you tried to save me anyways." Rei said quietly.

"But why come to camp in the first place?" Nagisa asked. "We didn't have to."

"I wanted to swim... with you guys." Makoto answered simply. "When we swim together, it feels like there's nothing we can't do." I smiled as I heard those words. This team really does mean so much to everyone.

"Hey, the rain stopped." Nagisa pointed out. We walked outside and looked up at the sky. Above us were millions of bright stars. "Oh wait-" Below us, the water on the sand was reflecting them. It was like we were standing in a never-ending world of stars. I looked around at the team as they stared in amazement. Makoto caught my eye beside me. He smiled again, and I could tell that this camp was worth what we just went through.