First up, we have Tachibana Makoto! Let's have a big applause for him guys!
I actually wrote this last year, which means I was using my imagination as Free! S3 hadn't released last year so this is kinda AU-ish(?) anyway, enjoy!
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He has decided that he hates map. The words, the direction, and everything on it. He just hates it.
Shiina Asahi glares at the map on his hand. It's been one hour since he's trying to figure out the way to his old school to see what does it look like right now, but leaving this city for three years is enough for him to completely forget the way.
"Arghhh, this is frustrating." He grumbles as he walks again.
Asahi glues his eyes to the map, unconsciously walking to a different direction from where he supposes to take according to the map. He gives up with the map not long after that, he decides to just enjoy the view and walk with no direction. When he gets tired, he'll go back by calling his sister.
"Eh—wait for me!"
"You're so slow, we'll leave you behind!
Asahi turns his head to the left when the sound of a crowd enters his ears. His eyes turns softer when he sees students running out from their schools to hang out and he's pretty sure that some of them are running to their clubroom.
How nostalgic. He used to do the same when back then in middle school.
"What's with that creepy smile, Stupid Asahi?"
Asahi swish his head to the side, suddenly feeling annoyed when the voice he knows too well disturbs him.
"It's not creepy and don't call me 'Stupid'—"He looks at the owner of the voice, "Ikuya!"
Kirishima Ikuya glares at him; he throws his gaze to the side, earning a yell from Asahi to not ignore him.
"What are you doing here? I thought you move somewhere else." Ikuya asks.
"I'm visiting my family here." Asahi answers, "I was thinking to visit our school but I got lost. What are you doing here anyway? Didn't you move somewhere?"
"Me? I was thinking to see Makoto and Haru. I mean look at it," Ikuya points at the school's board name. "This is Iwatobi High School after all."
"You've gotta be kidding—"
"The one who lost treat us ice cream!"
"Wait a minute, Nagisa-kun!"
Asahi and Ikuya quickly avert their eyes to the same direction. Not far from the main gate, on the right side along with the line of tress, they see stairs that lead somewhere. Curious, they walk to the stairs, completely led by the voices they hear earlier.
"Come on, you have to hurry up too."
"Ah, wait for me!"
The two climb the short stairs, and when they arrive at the top, their eyes widen at the sight.
In front of them is a regular size swimming pool with shower at the side and a bench to sit on. Behind the bench, there's a door that they're pretty sure would lead to the changing room. But that's not the reason why they suddenly stop move. It is because of the two boys that stand behind the bench.
"Haru!"
"Makoto."
The owners of the names avert their eyes from each other. Each pair of the beautiful eyes widens when they see Asahi and Ikuya standing not far from them.
"Asahi, Ikuya!" Makoto is the first to recover. He puts his bag down and run to them. "Long time no see! How are you guys?" He asks as he smiles.
Asahi replies him with his own smile, "Wahahahaha! Of course I'm fine! More than that, I feel like I'll be able to feat Haru in freestyle right now!"
Makoto laughs, he then turns around to Haru so he can look at him, and Asahi immediately follows. "What do you think? Wanna go for a round—"
"Haru."
Asahi and Makoto look at Ikuya, both of them shiver run down their spine when they see his eyes turns icy. Ikuya throws his gaze to the side before looking back at Haru, laughing as if it is some kind of joke. "So you decided to continue swimming?"
* * * * *
"Who are they?" Gou asks when they finish practice. The bottles they use before has piled up on her arms.
"Shiina Asahi and Kirishima Ikuya, Mako-chan and Haru-chan friends from middle school. They used to swim relay together back then." Nagisa answers, he clung his towel around his neck after he ruffles his hair with it, making sure no water droplets will fall again. When he's sure his hair has dried, he looks at Rei, "Rei-chan, what's wrong?"
"No, it just," Rei locks his eyes on Asahi, "I feel like I've met him before." He looks at him suspiciously, but then shrugging the feeling off. "No way, right? We just met today after all." He says and went to change his clothes.
When their practice was done, Makoto and Asahi sat by side at the edge of the pool. They choose to talk somewhere else to give some time for Haru and Ikuya. The two laughs as time passes, easy conversation falls between them as they remember their old memories.
"Do you think its okay to leave them alone?" Asahi asks, suddenly unsure about leaving it to the two of them. He knows the two of them as much as Makoto does, well not Haru, but he knows what kind of person Ikuya is.
"Don't worry. It's okay." Makoto says, warm eyes looking over them. "We can leave it to them. After all, they're not kid anymore, right?"
Asahi laughs, "You know, when I moved, your eyes was one of the first things I missed."
"Eh? My eyes?"
"Yeah," Asahi closes his eyes, he remembers all the time Makoto had showed them his warm eyes. "Whenever we spend time together or having to face a problem, you always look at us with those warms eyes. So when I moved, and faced a problem for the first time in high school, I really missed you eyes. Since you always support us." He opens them again; a tint of red covers his cheeks as he looks at Makoto.
"We're in different schools right now. But I hope I can see those eyes again." He continues.
Makoto smiles at him, "I missed your laugh too, Asahi."
Asahi freezes for a while when he hears that, his face turns red in a split of second.
"Don't say things like that!"
"You were the one who started it though!"
The two stare at each other for a moment, but then burst out laughing; cheeks turn red as they hold their stomachs.
"Ahahaha—ah, Ikuya stands up!" Asahi stops laughing, he looks at Ikuya who suddenly stands up and facing Haru. They look like they were having some serious conversation. But after talking for around 2 minutes, Ikuya turns around and walks away.
"Ah, that kid, wait for me!" Asahi immediately stands up; he turns to Makoto to bid goodbyes, "See ya, Makoto!"
"See you, Asahi!" Makoto answers.
Asahi jogs lightly behind Ikuya, after he bid goodbye to Haru and get a short nod as reply.
"You guys are really close." Not long after Asahi and Ikuya disappear, Rei and Nagisa walk out of the changing room. They've completely change to their uniform.
"Of course we are. They're my precious old friends after all."
Haru stands up from his spot; he then walks to where Makoto is with Rei and Nagisa.
"Really? If that's so, I'm really curious about what kind of person they are." Nagisa says. "I wonder when we can meet them again."
"Soon," Haru breaks the question, "as long as we keep swimming, we can meet them again." He continues as he ends his sentence with a smile.
Nagisa beams with excitement, "Hey, hey, if we meet them in a relay match, do you think we can win?"
"What are talking about, Nagisa-kun?" Rei adjusts his glasses, a proud look decorate his face, and "of course we can! Right, Makoto-senpai, Haruka-senpai!"
Makoto laughs softly, his warm eyes look over Haru and his two juniors.
"Yeah, I'm sure we can."
~ If it was that good of a team, then why are you so focused on the past? That's just disrespectful to that team. It's fine if that team was the best. I also think that my old relay members from my SC were the best. But, I think we can the best team here, too!~
[Shiina Asahi to Tachibana Makoto, Nanase Haruka, & Kirishima Ikuya]