| Free! | Catch Your Breath | 1-on-1 |

Makoto knew a few things. He knew that he was in college and readily learning. He knew that Nagisa and Rei would be just fine when it came to swim club as well. He still couldn’t help but worry, so he would show up to the club after he knew school was on the afterschool activities clock and he would speak to Gou to make sure that everything really was going smoothly.

“Eh? Listen, Mako-chan! Rei-chan’s part of the festival committee, and we’re all hoping that you can come to the festival!”

“Nagisa, I’ll come, I’ll come,” Makoto chuckled at his long time friend’s enthusiasm. It was pretty natural, considering the energetic blond, and it wasn’t going to stop there.

“Hey, Mako-chan, are you stopping by today? Rei-chan might be busy, but we’re still…” Nagisa went on, explaining everything and Makoto just listened. Honestly, he missed how they all used to meet every day, but now they were on their own paths.

Still, Makoto felt the urge to check on them, even now. He’d go to check on them soon…

It happened that soon became now, a draw toward to location as he found himself travelling that way. He entered, recognizing faces through windows as he smiled at the familiarity. The pool that he had cleaned alongside the others, the pool where friendships were formed and nurtured.

Oh, how swimming had been part of his life, leading him to meet people, plenty of them, allowing him to help people, kids at that, in learning and in fun.

Speaking of that, wasn’t that girl… the one that had been one of the kid’s older sister… still going here? He remembered her, yes. Faces that familiar and kind were difficult to forget.

~~**~~

“Kazumi-chan! With you and Ryugazaki-kun working the lead of this, we should be just fine!”

“Right. Yamamoto. Ryugazaki. Do your best.”

And with that, with all the determination and vigor returning to her, Kazumi resolved that she could do these things. Kazumi was known for being a challenge taker, after all, and making sure that this part of the school festival went well, her class’s part, was no exception. She welcomed it and she embraced these days were preparations were eminent.

She took right to making sure little things were in order as well, though she was quick to turn to Rei, the other lead in this, for help. He seemed organized; he was organized. Kazumi knew she could trust him, so she gathered up her papers of layout ideas and heaved out a sigh as she thought of all the work there was before them. She hadn’t minded it, but she knew it would still be a difficult road.

“I look forward to working with you, Ryugazaki-kun,” Kazumi said, bowing her head, moving quickly to pinpoint what she wanted to be sure of. Discussing ideas? That would be a good plan of assault, wouldn’t it? She concluded that it would be so, so she whirled around and placed a clean sheet of paper down in front of Rei, along with some (rather quickly) sketched layout plans on another sheet beside it.

She smiled warmly, “We probably should know our layout before we really go headfirst, right?” She laughed, “So, here’s an example of a possibility…” She leaned over, expectantly. She was curious as to what he would display back. With his supposed stretch for perfection – which she compared to a sort of challenge seeker - she really was looking forward to working with him.

Junko shifted the two heavy boxes that were in her arms to be a little more comfortable; all the while trying not to loose her balance and drop the boxes. The school was rather hectic since many were helping in preparing their classes and the student council held no meetings at the moment, focused on helping out their classes. 

"Is this the right box?" her classmate called out, pointing to a particular box. 

"It seems so . . . " Junko replied, reading the faded out label on the box. "Just grab it in case."

Emerging from the storage room that held the decorations her class needed, Junko carefully walked back towards her school building with one of her classmates, only to pause when she noticed a figure by the pool. She studied him for a moment, noting that he wasn't a student do to the lack of uniform. Was the stranger someone's sibling or maybe some girl's college boyfriend? Either way, the person should get a visitor's pass or something. 

"Oh, who's that guy?" her classmate asked in a low voice and then letting out a little giggle, "He's kind of cute."

Cute or not, the situation should be dealt with . . . 

"Excuse me," Junko called out to the male, and her classmate let out a little squeak in surprise from Junko's sudden shout. "Do you need something?"


Rei wasn't one to volunteer for such activities in all honesty. However, by random draw, his name was picked and couldn't get out of it. Nagisa was excited for him and even tried to get him all pumped up about it . . . by flattering him. That certainly stroked Rei's ego, being told that the festival would go really well since Rei would make their class have a rather beautiful and perfect attraction. 

The glasses wearing male perked up when his female partner spoke. "Ah yes, I look forward to working with you as well." he replied a little awkwardly before looking down at the sheet of paper Kazumi placed between them, watching her sketch out her ideas. He had to admit, Kazumi seemed rather pumped for this and was quick to get into things. That'll be good, it'll make this all blow over quickly.

Fixing his glasses, Rei listened to the female's suggestions; giving a nod here and there. "We should probably do something attention grabbing . . . and possibly unique? But that part could be an opinion."

There was a prize for the winning class that had the most votes on being the best attraction. It would be a challenge to think of something original for the festival. 

"Usually, cafes seem to do rather well." Rei added, leaning back in his seat, grasping his chin lightly, and looking deep in thought. They would have to think of something that the whole student body would like as well, but then again, one can't please everybody. 

"What do you think, Yamamoto-san?"

Makoto looked over the expanse of the pool, wondering why exactly Gou or Nagisa hadn’t already showed up. He heard movement behind him, back toward the inner portions of the school grounds, and he credited this to afterschool activities. It wasn’t until a voice suddenly shouted, breaking his thoughts for a moment that he was cleared enough to piece together the rest.

Festival time, no regular club meetings for the present time.

He turned around, green eyes displaying in genuine process his embarrassment, “Ah, I was looking for a friend of mine.” He realized he neglected to get a visitor’s pass as well, “He’s not actually at the pool though.” He sighed, not quite defeated, but more so apologetic.

The tall college student took a step away from the pool, “I’m sorry,” he said. Judging by what they were doing, festival preparations were in full swing.

But… wait, there was something about the girl that had called out to him. Makoto stepped forward again, trying to place what it was, thinking back to whom he was just recalling. Then, it hit him: that one girl whose brother he taught how to swim.

“Do I know you?” He asked her, but he tried to make it quick so as to respect how busy he was. He knew here he stood out: he was a college student, no longer an Iwatobi student, and he was tall. Still, he smiled at her, trying to decide how to excuse his intrusion.

“I can help you with those, but sorry for troubling you. I can leave and get a visitor’s pass to find him, if you’d prefer that.” He was taking in account that this girl and what would probably be best.


By the luck of the draw, as Kazumi put it, she jumped on the swing of things and took hold of the situation. Kazumi had her goals oriented before her and she wasn’t just going to drop them. She wanted this festival to go well, extremely so. She wanted to win the prize, if possible, so she had to impress not only their class, but the whole school.

It couldn’t be denied that their classmates were relieved when it was Kazumi and Rei that were picked by the draw. If anyone could lead them to victory, it was those two.

“Well, Ryugazaki-kun, if we’re to do a café, then we shouldn’t just go with the standard café style… I think the café is a choice that other classes might take,” she tapped her pencil to her chin, trying to further think it through. What could work, what could work..? “For the art of the display, what ever we pick, I could help set them up.” Art club was a passion of hers anyway, aside from sports.

There was no way to really get every single person roaring, but Kazumi could try to please the majority. “Still, if you want to do a café, I’m for it too!  As long as we pick a theme that the class can agree on, that is.” Kazumi laughed as she quickly modified the layout on her paper before her. “If we’re going with a café, we’ll probably want something like this, right?”

This was progress, simply progress. Once they figured out what they wanted to do, they could really start settling jobs out within the class. “We’ll want to have a solid foundation to this…” Kazumi said, glancing about the classroom. A café would work.

Junko studied the male in front of her, surprised by his sudden question if he knew her — albeit there was something familiar about him. The dark haired female continued to analyze him, brown eyes slightly narrowed in thought as she tried to place this person. Her classmate behind her was getting a little antsy — mostly to set the heavy box that was in her arms down. To quicken that desire, the classmate decided to step into the conversation.

"Hm, it's after school anyways, Junko-chan. It wouldn't hurt to have him look for his friend while he helped us carry these boxes, would it?" 

Glancing to her classmate, Junko let out a small sigh in defeat. She couldn't believe she was allowing this and before she could even voice her agreement, Junko's classmate was already handing the box she held to the stranger's hands.

"Thank you so much for helping! I'll go lock up the storage house, hold on." the classmate said with haste, before leaving the two to do as she promised. 

A small inward sigh passed through Junko before looking back to the tall male. Finally, it clicked in her mind as to where she knew this person. 

"Ah, you were that substitute swim teacher, right?" she questioned, unsure if her memory was serving her correct recollection. 


Rei gave a slight nod of agreement to her speculation. True, other classes might have the same idea as they were sharing; so they were going to have to think of something unique. However, Rei was short on ideas as to how to make a café unique without the usual waiter, maid, or butler get up. Or maybe sticking with the usual wouldn't be that bad of an idea? 

"Maybe . . ." he paused, eyebrows furrowing in, once again, deep thought. His eyes scanned around the room, hoping for at least some inspiration. Suddenly, it hit him. "Why not a café based on a Paris theme? If you want art in it, we could have some of the art students make self portraits of the customers?" 

Then again, it probably wouldn't be a good idea, would it? He began to think of other ideas in case that was an idea they didn't agree on. They could always ask the class, as a whole, as to what they wanted. That would certainly help the two in their process of thinking of a theme. This was a class thing after all. 

"Maybe we should ask the class as to what they would want?" Rei suggested, glancing at their classmates for a moment. 

Well . . . it would also cause them a slight problem. Not everyone would agree with some ideas, along with everyone would have different ideas in mind. It was worth a shot, after all. They only have three days to prepare for the festival.

It was worth a shot, right?

Makoto would’ve been more than willing to hurry to the main office to get a visitor’s pass; he had become too accustomed to walking onto campus just to visit his old teammates, who welcomed him without making him going through the proper customs. It really would have been better to follow the rules. But, there was only slight progress – and hesitation on her part.
 
Her friend interjected, antsy as she was, and basically won his case for him. With force. It was afterschool, and Nagisa would be glad to see him. He wanted to help out here a little if he could. For old times sake.
 
He took the boxes from her friend, saying a “No problem,” and then watching as her friend then ran off. The classmate would be back, maybe? Makoto made sure his grip on the boxes in his hands was good, solid, and then faced back to her.
 
“Yes, that was me.” That had to have been where he knew her from. Was it... her brother? Right, right, her brother.
 
Makoto held the boxes and moved where she needed. He would make sure to listen to her, since he was helping and all.
 
“I’m Makoto. Tachibana Makoto.” He said. Names of people that had been vaguely mentioned weren’t the easiest to remember, so he thought to tell her. It was the polite thing to do. She was dedicated to her work, though. It was, well, interesting and nice.
 
 
“Oh! Actually, that sounds like it could work,” Kazumi nodded, looking about the room as she tapped the pencil on the desk before her. She then looked down at the paper and adjusted the sketch again, “It would look good like this if we did that. We’d have to convince art students in this class to help, but I can do that.” She was an occasional participate in art club, after all.
 
Kazumi nodded at Rei’s next comment and immediately stood up. She hurried to the front board and began sketching and mapping out the plan as it currently stood, then she faced the class again and beamed. She clapped a few times and said, “Guys, Ryugazaki-kun and I wanted to know if this idea is a good basis – or more, would you want this? Or maybe, we could do this? What do you guys think? Any ideas?”
 
Kazumi, like Rei, knew that this would not go over without some conflict.
 
“Ehh, I don’t know? Paris?”
 
“Well, I think Paris would be fun!”
 
“A café sounds great in general. I heard one of the other third year classes already shot café out of their lines.”
 
Kazumi listened to everyone’s comments, writing them down quickly though sloppily, and handed them over to Rei.
 
“It seems as though we’re a bit split on theme, but a majority seems to agree on a café!” Kazumi said. Definitive progress, now this was something that they needed.

Junko gave a small nod when he confirmed her question, pleased that she was correct. She did feel a little embarrassed when he said his name, grateful for the introduction since she couldn't remember his name—or, and she was slightly sure, she was just never told and only knew him from just being a substitute. 

"I'm Yukimura Junko," she replied politely and then added once she thought it might help a bit, "my brother is Yukimura Natsuki." Then again, he probably wouldn't remember her brother since it was just a summer time thing... 

Junko looked around Makoto, eyes narrowed slightly as she wondered what was taking her classmate so long. In the distance, she saw the said girl chatting to a group of people, laughing and all. She released a sigh before she turned and began to walk towards the school building. 

"Let's go set these down and you can look for your friend, hm?" she said over her shoulder, glancing to make sure the tall brunette male was following. 

A frown settled on her lips as she lead the way to her classroom. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Tachibana-san." Then poor male only wanted to visit friends, not help a girl with carrying a few boxes of decorations. 


Rei was quite surprised when Kazumi stood up from her seat and approached the board, drawing out the plan they currently had in mind. Like he thought, there was some conflict in the class about the idea, however, it seemed that a majority did like the idea. Perhaps because it was a rather simply and overly used idea. 

He took the paper she offered to him and scanned over her writing—though sloppy as it was. He gave a few nods, pleased that everything was working out rather well. Now, they just need to assign people roles, as to who bought what and figure out shifts for working in their French-themed café. 

"We can figure out work shifts tomorrow, create a sign up sheet for the students to fill their names in. We need to figure out what to buy and have it be within our budget." Rei said, pushing his glasses up slightly as he passed the paper back to Kazumi. 

Cupping his chin in thought, he thought about the supplies they'll need. Of course, there is leftover supplies in the schools storage room, they would need to snatch whatever they could before deciding what to buy. 

"I think we'll need most of the money to buy the food and drinks though," he thought out loud with a small sigh. There was that problem...