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Author's Note - Helloooo~, internet! Are you having a fine day? You're not? Well, it will get better!

I want to apologize for taking SO LONG to get this chapter out.. why did take so long you ask? Thanksgiving.. College.. midterms.. and finals. And now, Christmas. Uggh.. not to mention I have a portfolio to work on top of that!! JOY!

I like to thank you guys, again, for the views and fav/follows to this story. However, I still see some of you have yet to write a comment.

Like I said, I will not force you, but try to keep in mind that your thoughts and opinions are very important to me and give me inspiration and confidence. In fact, I will go as far to say that I hunger them. That's not weird, right? I mean, heh, I want more than just 'I really like it, update soon!', I want to know 'why' you like it.

I know I am stressing this, but I know some of you want to say SOMETHING, right? Riiiight~? RIGHT!

Also~, I made a few changes to the previous chapters to this story. I encourage you re-read them, that is of course if you haven't done so.

Now before you ask something like "Are you going to keep editing previous chapters? That's so tedious to re-read the chapter again!", the answer is yes. Why? Ideas keep changing and there's always the chance I might change something. I WILL inform you, though, if the edits will be important to the story in the future, just to save you all some headaches and eye-strains. Hey, I know you want this story to be good, so don't complain to much!

I give you guys episode 2.

Have fun reading and make sure to leave a review!

....

DAMMIT, I'M RHYMING AGAIN!

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WARNING
The following story is pure fanfiction and is to be taken subjectively. I am only taking in positive reviews and constructive criticism. I will not tolerate any slander, slashing, maiming and/or theft of my character and story. If there is something that you do not like in particular and/or hate the story and/or characters in general-
-leave now
You have been warned

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~~A Set Goal! Delusions, A Mouser and A Crossroad, pt. 1~~

The road through life is long and wide and diverse with many forked paths that intertwine with another. Upon that road you will cross with a variety of strange individuals. They could be a man or a woman, young or old, a rude or friendly adolescent, or small a rambunctious child that may seem wise due their innocence. Sometimes that stranger might not even be human.

The strangers' actions may help you on your path. They may say something to you that could be very significant and huge or very small and worthless. They may remain silent as they pass by or speak out loud to you to get your attention. Sometimes they may need help, or just want the attention.

You, on the other hand, may not want their help. You'll probably push them away, or simply ignore them. The only thing you can not do, and can never be done, is avoid them. Wherever you go, whether you are walking or running away. You will cross paths with someone, whether you like it or not.

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The sun has risen again over the ocean. The sun's bright rays had broken and poured through the clouds, and warms the beach's golden sands. Nearby houses and seagulls stir and prepare their daily ritual to the start of a new day.

"Haaa--argh! My arm!" A stifled yawn came from Shiro's lips, but was quickly interrupted when she absentmindedly lifted her arm, her hand to cover her mouth, briefly forgeting the stinging soreness still apparent in her muscles. "Dammit, it still hurts.." She cursed, rubbing her right arm to rid the aching pain.

Another morning Shiro has awoken bright and early to, another day she must travel to the station to go to school. Shiro was very tempted to stay in her nice warm bed today. The moment she woke up pain quickly shot from her limbs to her brain sensors. She did her very best to ignore it, but sadly her body refused to listen to her, they practically cried and begged her to stay under the fabric that warmed and dulled her sore joints. Shiro was more than welcome to comply, and buried herself under the covers and sleep for another hour, but at that moment her sibling, Hana, had come in and reminded her that she had school.

Speaking of which.. the memory of last night came to mind.

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After bidding her new friends and club members goodbye, Shiro was finally able to leave school.. but, not before she discovered a message from her brother on her phone. He was obviously worried and wondered where she was.

By the time she returned the sun had sunken halfway into the horizon. The sky had become crimson, a dark violet had just started to seep in, followed by small specks of light that began to appear and shimmer into existence. As soon as she entered her home she was welcomed with a barrage of questions that ranged from 'where were you?' to 'what did you do to my sister?!'. She had barely any time to slip off her shoes.

She managed to settle her two brothers down and answered their inquiries one by one while she ate her dinner.

"I can't believe it, our Shiro, was able to make friends, AND join a club on her very first day." Kaito stated with an incredulous smirk, as he leaned on his arms, and eyed his sister. "You sure you're our sister?"

"How many times do I have to tell you. Though, to be fair, I find it hard to believe myself." She muttered into her food before she took another bite.

"Of course it is. After four years of being out of school, I would have imagine it would have taken much longer for you to make friends, especially joining a SWIM club no less."

"I was forced."

"That didn't seem to stop you though." Hanataro smiled, a finger was raised to point to the air. "You could have said no and walked away from it, but you didn't. Why?"

Shiro sighed and leaned back into her seat "Well, after all the trouble Gou went through just to-"

"Gou?" Kaito tilted his head "You're already on a first name basis with a guy?!"

"Idiot, weren't you listening earlier. Gou is a girl, a freshman, she's the manager of the club."

"What a coincidence, another girl with a boy's name." Shiro rolled her eyes. "Anyways, I could have said no and walked away, but-' Shiro leaned her chin onto her palm, with an elbow rested upon the table. She recalled the expressions of her classmates' and friend's faces. They beamed with happiness and relief. She admits the experience overwhelmed her, not to mention their presence. It wasn't because she wanted to say 'no', but- 'I.. just couldn't."

"Interesting." Kaito said with a mouthful of dinner before he swallowed the chewed mush down. "These guys must be something special to make you say 'yes'." The eldest brother finished before he took a sip of his water.

Shiro nodded. "Yeah.. now I have to go back tomorrow and figure out what my position will be. I don't even have a team to swim with."

"Didn't you say there were girls in the swim club? You said your classmates were.. Nanase, Haruka and Tachibana, Makoto."

"I did say that, but you obviously didn't hear the part about them and the others being all boys!" Shiro stated, angered and annoyed as she looked at her brother, "Are you purposely using selective hearing to make me angry?"

"Oh, no.. I'm just making sure what you said earlier was true."

"Well, at least everything worked out in the end for you. I'm glad you were able to make friends, Shiro." Hanataro smiled at her, "I predicted you would, after all." He then smirked triumphantly.

"Hah! That's probably the only 'good' thing you could have predicted today, Hana-chan." Kaito chuckled at his brother's remark. "You're the smartest person I know, but when it comes to the weather you're not exactly what I call.. accurate."

"Hey, I've been getting pretty good at predicting the weather lately!" Hanataro retorted at his brother. "You remember a few moths ago, right? I predicted the strong winds and the river's currents so everyone was prepared on time for the rough storm."

"Oh, yes, I remember that." The older brother closed his eyes, leaned back in his seat. He remembers that day quite well, and Shiro knows very well too. A bad storm hit them a few months back. All three of them had to help with cleaning the banks and help move the provisions. "If I remember right; not only did you predict a hectic storm, but you left out the parts where there would be small lighting sparks, followed by bursts of wind that could blow a tree out from it's roots."

Hanataro flinched, he remembered that terrible memory of that horrific night. "W-well, the numbers may have been a bit off, but at least no one got hurt!"

"Yeah, except for the fact that several electric poles and trees were up rooted, power was cut off through out half the town, and the roads were flooded with water and garbage. Oh! I just remembered another thing.' Kaito leaned into his brother's side, and whispered 'The numbers being off is complete 'BS.'"

"W-what?!"

"Since when do you admit you're wrong, Hana?' Kaito shrugged as he back in his seat again, 'Don't you remember that you nearly threw a complete tantrum when your 'calculations' were off? You were practically blubbering, wailing 'These numbers are right, they're right! I know they're right, I'm not wrong!" He mocked, his hands were pressed against his face, he tried to mimic the exact saddened and embarrassed expression Hanataro had made way back when.

"I-I didn't throw a tantrum, Kai!" Kaito's brother nearly choked, his face flushed with embarrassment. "I' was not the one at fault for the weather being the way it was! I've improved since then!"

Kaito chuckled and shrugged "Hardly. You're like the weather man on tv, Hana.. Predicting today's forecast for the day, and you're only half right."

"Don't compare me to the adults on television, I'm on a completely different level!" Hanataro growled at his sibling from where he sat. Shiro wasn't the least bit surprised as Hanataro's calm demeanor was starting to crack. Hanataro was always calm, no comment or slang would phase him, even when it came when he would scold his brother or rarely her. When it comes to his personal love for math and calculations, Hanataro always stood his ground, biased to everyone else's opinions. Never to admit to himself of the mistakes he made. "I like to see one of them predict the perfect storm. I've done better than them!"

"Oh, really? What about last year in that snowstorm? You 'predicted' that the temperature wouldn't freeze the water, but it did near the coastline making it impossible for the fisherman to get to their boats. Or that one summer you tried to convince the old woman down the street to hold off on getting an air conditioner for a few days because you 'predicted' the heat wouldn't rise.."

"T-that was in the past, I-" Hanataro stuttered as he clawed at his head in pain. All of those terrible memories slowly began to crawl out of the deep hole Hana had made to bury them.

"And let's not forget that time when we were kids." Hanataro froze, eyes shrunk, oh no.. anything but THAT memory!! "Do you remember the exact words you said to me and Shiro before we went to school?"

When they were small children, Hanataro was very over-confident in himself when it came to the weather back then. So overconfident he truly believed that his calculations and hypothesis would predict the perfect weather every day. Unfortunately, each day was the exact opposite of what he had theorized.

Hanataro sighed and his head dipped his forehead just inches away from touching the surface of the table. He recalled that horrific and cringe-worthy memory "It will not rain today. We will be able to walk home in the sunshine."

"And what happened?"

".. It rained."

"It didn't just rain, it down-poured. Lucky for you I 'predicted' you were full of it and brought umbrellas for the three of us." He sighed, shaking his head. "I remembered how miserable you looked, complaining the whole way home wondering what went wrong."

"Hmph, I was just a kid back then." That's right, he was! He was still in his development stages. Those screw ups don't count. "Besides, I didn't see any indications that it would rain."

"That's because you were to busy looking at the blackboard trying to predict what the teacher was going to write for math."

"Well, at least I was focusing on my work, unlike you!"

"Well, maybe if you spent less time with your head on cloud nine, maybe you would have!"

"At least I'm trying to put some 'effort' in being helpful!"

"At least I'm honest about making a few mistakes!"

"Condescending jerk!"

"Pretentious ass!!"

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And that's how the night went on. Thankfully she was there to lightly scold her brothers and settled them down. If Shiro was never around to stop their arguments, she 'predicts' those two would kill each other, and she would be right every time.

"I really hope they don't make me swim today." She muttered as she continued to rub her arm. Now that she thinks about it; what will they be doing today? Gou told her that her and the others would talk at lunch tomorrow.

"Oh, joy.. I'll be eating with five grown men. I can only imagine the conversations we will have together." She sang sarcastically to herself in thought. "I wonder what my classmates are like? Nanase-san and Tachibana-san.. and.. there was another there. A freshman, what was his name? Rei, Ryu-something or other." Oh dear, Shiro's mind went blank, trying her best to recount the long-winded title of the other swimmer Hazuki had animatedly introduced.

"'Ryu-ji?', 'Ryu-zawa?', 'Ryu-ga-mine?' Ah, screw it! I'll just settle with Ryu-san. Easy to remember and simpler to say!" She stated proudly to herself. Shiro can recount faces, but names, ones that seemed to long to remember, on the other hand were not her strong forte. "Then there's Hazuki. He was.. animated. Chirper. Annoying. Always smiling and never seems to keep his mouth shut!" Not mention he seemed to have his.. ulterior, deviant motives. She clearly heard him say something about 'attracting members.' "He's probably a perv."

Then a random thought poped into her brain "Oh god, what if they're all like that?!" Shiro shivered in her walk, suddenly her mind went into void and her animated other pysche started to imagine the worse of her new 'friends'. A terrible habit of hers that she developed quiet some time ago. A habit that has been proven difficult to rid and avoid when faced with new people.

"Gou and my other classmates seem normal, but what if that's just a front?" The void outline of herself pondered. Never judge a book by their cover, same goes for that saying 'looks can be deceiving.' Vivid images and obscene scenarios came to mind. Gou and Hazuki would dress her in alluring and revealing swim wear the likes people would see in adult magazines, to pose. Her classmates would display posters of her all around the school.

'Iwatobi's New Member! The sexy, petite girl known as Shiro. Join now and have chance to meet the lovely lady herself!'

"What if they're all like Hazuki and use me to attract more members like he said?! All of them are complete perverts!"

--KLUNK-CLANG--

Her delusional thoughts were interrupted as Shiro stopped in her tracks when she heard what sounded like an empty can had been knocked over. She turned to her side just fast enough to notice a gray blur dash down a narrowed alley way, fenced on either side, and hid behind a few tattered discarded boxes. "Oh, you again." Shiro huffed to herself and made her over to the backstreet. She stopped midway, just to the edge of the shadow that casted over the pathway. "It's been a while, how have you been?" Shiro called out to the shadows.

There was nothing at first, but then she caught a glimpse of a small, head that peeked out from behind the boxes. A half smile formed upon her lips "I know it's you, I thought by now you would have improved in your skills." It was very dark, but she could already tell who it was. The golden gleam was a dead giveaway. "Have you been eating since last time?"

Shiro walked in a bit further. The head duck back and hid, shuffled about and hollowed boxes and trash cans echoed loudly around her. Trying to run away sneakily and failing miserably at it.

In the dark alley Shiro round another corner to a small space. A gap that was well hidden from the outside, and perfect for hiding, or so she pressumed. Inside she found a large box made into a makeshift bed. Inside it was a cushy, but rather dirtied towel. Two silver, empty dishes sat on the ground. Lastly, though it was dark, she squinted and was able to see a few dark spots on the ground. "Hmmm.. even with all that you're still having trouble living out here, huh?"

She shifted her eyes down the dark path, she knew he was still there. With a heavy sigh she went over to the bedding and crouched down over the bowls on the ground. "Well, since you're here I'll leave you a little something. It's not much, but it might help you little this morning. A bit Hana's cooking should give you some energy." Shiro spoke aloud again as she took out her lunchbox to unwrap. She took out a small portion of rice and meat and placed it in the bowl before she packed it back up. "That's all I can do for you." She got back up and walked out of the back alley. Before she left she glanced behind her. "I don't want to make this into a habit, but I'll come back after school to check on you."

With that she made her way to the street. With the pathway silent a small figure came out and made it's way towards the sweet smell of food. It purred out a 'thank you' in kindness.

Despite being distracted earlier in her mind of ridiculous scenarios, Shiro knew exactly where she was. She was in the district area, a small street that was line with colorful and decorative shops that sold a variety of items that ranged from food, ice cream, antiques and just about anything you could imagine to buy. The station wasn't to far either. She could even see the tracks and platform just ahead. Just right up the hill, around the corner, up the stairs and all she had to do was wait for the train to arrive.

"Well, craziness aside.. I'm not prepared for what might happen, even if it was outrages. I can't deal with anything awkward or silly." A light shudder spasm through her body. Shiro huffed and reached up to put her hands behind her head, her briefcase dangled and swayed back and forth. She looked up at to the sky, a light hue of blue and orange contrast still apparent in the early morning. "As much as I don't want to go, I'll just have to deal with it the best way I can. They can't all be that bad. What could go wrong?"

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"Do you swim often, Shiro-san?"

"I like to swim every morning as an exercise, to get me started for the day." Shiro politely replied to Makoto, the kind, Tachibana.

"Do you have any special training regimes? Do you keep track of your times?"

"No, I don't do that sort of thing. I swim when I feel like swimming." Shiro exasperated her answer to Rei, the technical, Ryu-san.

"Do you eat fish?"

"Not really.." Eye and mouth began to twitch as she answered Haruka, the quiet, Nanase-san next. Her irritation reached it's peak.

"I got it! How about a cheerleader, Shiro-chan?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

All five men slightly flinched and leaned back where they sat at their classmate's outburst, underneath the sun, while their new member sat in the shade of the wall behind her. It was lunch time and all five students were currently on the school's roof. Shiro was about to go off to find her own spot, but just she was about to escape the classroom Hazuki, with Ryu-san, had barged right in to invite the others to eat lunch with them on the roof.

Somehow he was able to be convinced to join them, she didn't know how it happened, but there she was, in the shadow with four grown men, eating lunch together, and asking her all sorts of ridiculous questions about her when they should be on topic about her job.

"There's no need to shout, Shiro-chan." Nagisa, the cheerful one, Hazuki laughed and smiled. "Though you would make a good cheerleader. We need moral support on our team!"

"I didn't agree to wear pompoms!"

"Heheh, relax, there's other things you can do around here." Tachibana-san, chuckled. "There's all sort of positions you could do. There's organizing and keeping track of pool equipment, cleaning the pool.. ah, how about taking care of our health?"

"Oh, like a nurse?" The golden haired freshman perked. Well, that didn't sound to bad of a job. Making sure the boys were fit and healthy. "She would need a uniform for that!" Suddenly Shiro imagined herself wearing a nurse's uniform. In Hazuki's eyes, a very revealing one.

"Uhh.. Let's try something else." Shiro quickly rejected that offer.

"A Coach?"

"That's a nice idea, Rei-chan! She can spot us and help improve our techniques."

"Do you have any experience in training, Shiro-san? You were in a swim club before, right?" Shiro's kind classmate asked her politely.

"To answer your first question, no.' She sighed 'Secondly, I was, but I left. It was a very long time ago, so I really don't remember that much back then."

"Really? Why did you leave?" Hazuki asked as he leaned in, and invaded his upper-class women's personal space. "I had reasons that are none of your business." Narrowed eyes, she muttered harshly at him.

"What do you think, Haru-chan?" Nagisa leaned back and over to Shiro's classmate. "What do you think she should do?"

Nanase-san, had been staring at Shiro oddly. He wasn't the only one either. The boys' eyes shifted back and forth between each other, almost as if they were.. inspecting her, undressing her? Hopefully that really was not the reason why they all stared at her. But the question that came out of her quiet, classmate's lips seemed to nearly confirm her previous suspicions.

"Why do you wear a green tie?"

"Why do you want to know about that?"

"Now that you mention it, why are you wearing a boy's tie, Shiro-chan?" The perky freshman asked, now curious of his friend's question and his senpai's attire. "That's part of the male's uniform?"

"It was a special order."

"You're also wearing shorts with your skirt." Hazuki pointed out. "Girls don't normally wear them with their uniform."

"I don't need to answer that. Can we stay on topic, please?"

"It is a very odd fashion sense." Ryu-san stated, with his hand cupped to his chin in thought. "Usually something like that wouldn't be allowed due to dress code. I guess depending on the person's physique there are certain exceptions?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" She leaned forward and glared at the other freshman who sat next to the annoying blond. However, she leaned back slowly and took in a deep breath. Remain calm. No reason to get upset, just boys being.. stupid boys. Air escaped slowly out her nose as she breathed out. "There's nothing odd about it, they just make me feel comfortable. Now, can we get back to-"

"What did you mean by physique?" Hazuki asked out loud in curiosity and interrupted Shiro. "Is Shiro-chan special or something?"

"Well." Rei glanced at his upper-classmate, her eyes now narrowed and her features twitched with annoyance. "Considering Hamasaki-senpai's short stature, her unusual attire combination, and other physical features. I've come to the conclusion that Hamasaki-senpai,' Ryu-san adjusted his thick red frames and stated his result with a firm look. 'looks like a boy."

'Excuse me?!'

"Yeah, I've been thinking that too." Nagisa agreed and glanced at his new member. "She does have a boy's name after all. Maybe she's trying to 'be' a boy?"

'N-no, I'm not!' Shiro subconsciously wrapped her arms around herself. This is not what she had originally assumed would happen. In fact, it's quite the opposite. They're supposed to say that she looks weird!

"If her hair were shorter, she could pull it off." Haurka, Nanase said bluntly, noting his classmate's golden-ash, thin hair. Shiro's face began to darken, her lips quivered with embarrassment, her hands rubbed her forearms up and down to ease the trembling in her skin. They're either being very perverted in their own, odd way or they're just that honest. She didn't know what they were thinking.

"Mhm, mhm, you're right, then that leaves her body."

"For someone so small she was quite fast. She is about the same height as you, Nagisa-kun." The technical freshman pointed out to his perky friend and classmate. "Yesterday was my first time seeing her. It might have been the swimsuit, but her chest looked a bit-"

"What the hell is wrong with you guys!?" Shiro shouted at them all, nearly sprung from her seat on the ground. "Who cares what I look like. How much longer are you guys gonna stall, are you even taking this seriously?!"

All four flinched back yet again at the young student's loud and angry outburst. "Eheh, sorry, Shiro-san. We're just curious is all." Makoto apologized.

"Ooh, you're very loud, Shiro-chan. You sure you don't want to be our cheer-leader?"

Shiro's face contorted into both anger and irritation. "W-why.. you.. little-" Before she could finish the door that lead to the stairs creaked open and revealed the manager of the swim club. "I'm here! Sorry, there was a long line at the cafeteria." The Matsouka girl announced, a small package lunch was tucked in her hands. "Did I miss anything?"

"We were discussing what her job was going to be for the club." Makoto, the captain of the team, told the manager. "More like a physical evaluation." Shiro muttered to herself as she crossed her arms. "We're still trying to figure out what suits her best."

"I honestly don't care.' The annoyed girl exasperated with a sigh out loud, 'T-that is, my job of course." She quickly recovered. "Whatever it is that you need me to do, I'll do what I can for the club."

"As long as you don't make me into a cheerleader."

"In that case, I could really use help for our next swim meet." Gou said happily to her friend. "I'll have to make a list.' The female freshman brought up her hand and began to count her digits. 'I need to make regimes for everyone, keeping track of there times, organize the equipment, and.."

"Hehe, looks like I'll be busy." Shiro forced a light chuckle and nodded to her friend. It sounded like a very tedious and long list of chores. "Oh yeah! There's also something else I wanted to talk to you about that." The red head nearly gasped, as she just realized a much more important fact. "I've already signed everyone up for the coming tournament. It was a few days ago before the whole trouble started. Everyone is signed up for their spots. So, that leaves you."

"Huh." Well, it was only a matter of time before she had to sign up for a competition. Though she did not suspect to be so soon. "We have time though, the tournament won't be for another month." Gou informed. "I know it's seems like short notice, since you just entered the club and all.."

"You want me to enter despite short notice, right?" The sophomore asked her friend, she glared lightly. "If you're aware of the situation then I should say no."

"W-well-"

"We really want to see you swim again, Shiro-chan!" Hazuki blurted out with energy, and invaded the space of the two women. "I never seen someone swim so fast! Well, I have, but I've never seen a girl swim that fast before."

"Really?" Shiro's hardened expression started to softened up, though only just slightly.

"It was Nagisa's idea, but we think he's right." Makoto said to his classmate. "It was our first time, but seeing you swim like that was really amazing." He complimented. "Haru wants to see you swim too, right?"

"I do, but not like yesterday." The other second classmate spoke, now more than the other day. "Huh, what do you mean?" Shiro's expression hardened again.

"You were fast, but there was something off. When I saw you swimming, it felt like there was something holding you back." Shiro tensed up, a bit surprised by her club member's blunt statement. There was seriousness in his eyes and voice.

"Well, we did pressure her into it." Makoto interjected to his friend's remark. "What he's trying to say is, he wants to see you swim, but we want to see you at your best."

"..." Shiro didn't reply as she contemplated the words Haruka had just vocalized. She was complimented, words like 'astounding', 'beautiful', and 'stunning' were very new to hear from people she has only known for a short time. Then criticized, if only just slightly. Words she has not heard for quite some time and no doubt she will hear more in the future.

"Please~, Shiro-chan." The pink-eyed Nagisa whined as he begged her, his hands folded out in prayer. "Please, swim with us."

"It's not like I am going to be swimming with you." She thought angrily to the persistent young boy in front of her. But, one glance at the others, he wasn't the only one. The others too waited patiently for her answer. It was just like yesterday. Once again she can't say no to them. "Geez, these guys are persistent."

"Fine." She sighed in defeat. Gasps of joy escaped everyone's lips and faces lit up with smiles. "Great, I'll make sure to sign you up as soon as I can!" The female freshman expressed her happiness. "That means you'll be training with us. Ah, I can't wait!" Nagisa laughed, "Speaking of which, Gou-chan, are we going to Samezuka today?"

"Mhm, I scheduled a practice for us today at Samezuka's pool. My brother will be there too."

"Brother?" Shiro's gaze shifted in surprise to her friend. "You have a brother in a swim club too?" Gou nodded at her friend. "That's right. He couldn't come yesterday because of practice, so we're making it up to him by going there."

The sophomore blinked, a brother, huh? "So, your brother.. does he have a girly name too?" She assumed, or rather predicted. If all the boys here had girly titles, then there's no doubt that Gou's brother had one as well. Sure enough, she was right.

"Mhm.. my brother's name is Rin."

"Why am I not surprised." She muttered to herself, her eyes glanced to the group of men next to her. They were now talking to each other about their other friend. "I bet this 'Rin' is probably just like these guys." She also predicted that he's more than likely like the rest of these.. 'men'. Silly and vacuous.

"You're coming with us, right, Shiro-san?" Shiro's kinder classmate asked her. "Of course she's coming with us, she's part of the club now. Besides, Rin-chan's not going to believe what happened yesterday without her." The perky club member said.

"W-wait, you're going to make me swim? Again?" Her hands grasped the thighs beneath her, slowly rubbing them up and down. And here she was hoping give her legs a break. "Well, it won't just be us. Rin-chan will want to see you swim too!"

"What makes you think that?"

"That's how we all became friends!"

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Meanwhile, at another school. In a tidied dorm with two black bunk-beds with barred steel. Two young men, students, shared. Both males were currently studying. One small student was seated, diligently writing notes in his journal, at their desk, cluttered with stacks of books and paper that stuck out, pencils, scraps and all sorts of assortments and objects that took up much space.

The other, lean and tall, was laid upon his lower bunk. One strong arm was behind his head, the other arm was up, his hand clasped a small, blue booklet titled "How To Be Successful At Competitive Swimming."

"A-cho!" The older teen sneezed loudly. He sat up, the hand behind his head came up to brush his nose. "Bless you, Rin-senpai." The smaller student said from his seat, his voice meek, but loud. "Are you getting sick?"

"No, it's nothing, Ai." The young man name Rin said to the seated student, Ai. Long, dark, crimson bangs swayed back and forth as the teen shook his head. "I'm fine." Ai nodded and both resumed their quiet work.

Cardinal eyes blinked as they continued to read the words in the small workbook.

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To Be Continued..

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PeaceLightVictory - Thank you so much for the review! Yes, I know. I need to work on my past tense, like I said I am still new to this writing gig. I will take you words to heart and improve. Thank you once again!

Ooookay.. I know some of you are probably.. angry? Since I took so long to get this chapter out. Thus, I decided to make this part 1, ehehe.

I KNOW! You guys are practically DYING to see Rin. (as am I to write him out). But, I promise, he WILL be in part 2. I have it all played out in my head.. now I just need to write it.. I just didn't want to make you guys wait any longer, but technically I still am?

Just be patient a liiiittle bit longer guys!

Again, you guys are more than welcome to think of any ideas/scenarios for the story, as long as they're appropriate.

One last thing before I go.. I don't suppose anyone knows if there any FANFIC groups on DA I can post this story to? I just need more feed back on my story, well, more like criticism.. does that sound weird? I would really appreciate it!

Till next time!

From your patient reader,

Phoenix.

:D (Big Grin) — Description

Author's Note - Helloooo~, internet! Are you having a fine day? You're not? Well, it will get better!

I want to apologize for taking SO LONG to get this chapter out.. why did take so long you ask? Thanksgiving.. College.. midterms.. and finals. And now, Christmas. Uggh.. not to mention I have a portfolio to work on top of that!! JOY!

I like to thank you guys, again, for the views and fav/follows to this story. However, I still see some of you have yet to write a comment.

Like I said, I will not force you, but try to keep in mind that your thoughts and opinions are very important to me and give me inspiration and confidence. In fact, I will go as far to say that I hunger them. That's not weird, right? I mean, heh, I want more than just 'I really like it, update soon!', I want to know 'why' you like it.

I know I am stressing this, but I know some of you want to say SOMETHING, right? Riiiight~? RIGHT!

Also~, I made a few changes to the previous chapters to this story. I encourage you re-read them, that is of course if you haven't done so.

Now before you ask something like "Are you going to keep editing previous chapters? That's so tedious to re-read the chapter again!", the answer is yes. Why? Ideas keep changing and there's always the chance I might change something. I WILL inform you, though, if the edits will be important to the story in the future, just to save you all some headaches and eye-strains. Hey, I know you want this story to be good, so don't complain to much!

I give you guys episode 2.

Have fun reading and make sure to leave a review!

....

DAMMIT, I'M RHYMING AGAIN!

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WARNING
The following story is pure fanfiction and is to be taken subjectively. I am only taking in positive reviews and constructive criticism. I will not tolerate any slander, slashing, maiming and/or theft of my character and story. If there is something that you do not like in particular and/or hate the story and/or characters in general-
-leave now
You have been warned

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~~A Set Goal! Delusions, A Mouser and A Crossroad, pt. 1~~

The road through life is long and wide and diverse with many forked paths that intertwine with another. Upon that road you will cross with a variety of strange individuals. They could be a man or a woman, young or old, a rude or friendly adolescent, or small a rambunctious child that may seem wise due their innocence. Sometimes that stranger might not even be human.

The strangers' actions may help you on your path. They may say something to you that could be very significant and huge or very small and worthless. They may remain silent as they pass by or speak out loud to you to get your attention. Sometimes they may need help, or just want the attention.

You, on the other hand, may not want their help. You'll probably push them away, or simply ignore them. The only thing you can not do, and can never be done, is avoid them. Wherever you go, whether you are walking or running away. You will cross paths with someone, whether you like it or not.

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The sun has risen again over the ocean. The sun's bright rays had broken and poured through the clouds, and warms the beach's golden sands. Nearby houses and seagulls stir and prepare their daily ritual to the start of a new day.

"Haaa--argh! My arm!" A stifled yawn came from Shiro's lips, but was quickly interrupted when she absentmindedly lifted her arm, her hand to cover her mouth, briefly forgeting the stinging soreness still apparent in her muscles. "Dammit, it still hurts.." She cursed, rubbing her right arm to rid the aching pain.

Another morning Shiro has awoken bright and early to, another day she must travel to the station to go to school. Shiro was very tempted to stay in her nice warm bed today. The moment she woke up pain quickly shot from her limbs to her brain sensors. She did her very best to ignore it, but sadly her body refused to listen to her, they practically cried and begged her to stay under the fabric that warmed and dulled her sore joints. Shiro was more than welcome to comply, and buried herself under the covers and sleep for another hour, but at that moment her sibling, Hana, had come in and reminded her that she had school.

Speaking of which.. the memory of last night came to mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After bidding her new friends and club members goodbye, Shiro was finally able to leave school.. but, not before she discovered a message from her brother on her phone. He was obviously worried and wondered where she was.

By the time she returned the sun had sunken halfway into the horizon. The sky had become crimson, a dark violet had just started to seep in, followed by small specks of light that began to appear and shimmer into existence. As soon as she entered her home she was welcomed with a barrage of questions that ranged from 'where were you?' to 'what did you do to my sister?!'. She had barely any time to slip off her shoes.

She managed to settle her two brothers down and answered their inquiries one by one while she ate her dinner.

"I can't believe it, our Shiro, was able to make friends, AND join a club on her very first day." Kaito stated with an incredulous smirk, as he leaned on his arms, and eyed his sister. "You sure you're our sister?"

"How many times do I have to tell you. Though, to be fair, I find it hard to believe myself." She muttered into her food before she took another bite.

"Of course it is. After four years of being out of school, I would have imagine it would have taken much longer for you to make friends, especially joining a SWIM club no less."

"I was forced."

"That didn't seem to stop you though." Hanataro smiled, a finger was raised to point to the air. "You could have said no and walked away from it, but you didn't. Why?"

Shiro sighed and leaned back into her seat "Well, after all the trouble Gou went through just to-"

"Gou?" Kaito tilted his head "You're already on a first name basis with a guy?!"

"Idiot, weren't you listening earlier. Gou is a girl, a freshman, she's the manager of the club."

"What a coincidence, another girl with a boy's name." Shiro rolled her eyes. "Anyways, I could have said no and walked away, but-' Shiro leaned her chin onto her palm, with an elbow rested upon the table. She recalled the expressions of her classmates' and friend's faces. They beamed with happiness and relief. She admits the experience overwhelmed her, not to mention their presence. It wasn't because she wanted to say 'no', but- 'I.. just couldn't."

"Interesting." Kaito said with a mouthful of dinner before he swallowed the chewed mush down. "These guys must be something special to make you say 'yes'." The eldest brother finished before he took a sip of his water.

Shiro nodded. "Yeah.. now I have to go back tomorrow and figure out what my position will be. I don't even have a team to swim with."

"Didn't you say there were girls in the swim club? You said your classmates were.. Nanase, Haruka and Tachibana, Makoto."

"I did say that, but you obviously didn't hear the part about them and the others being all boys!" Shiro stated, angered and annoyed as she looked at her brother, "Are you purposely using selective hearing to make me angry?"

"Oh, no.. I'm just making sure what you said earlier was true."

"Well, at least everything worked out in the end for you. I'm glad you were able to make friends, Shiro." Hanataro smiled at her, "I predicted you would, after all." He then smirked triumphantly.

"Hah! That's probably the only 'good' thing you could have predicted today, Hana-chan." Kaito chuckled at his brother's remark. "You're the smartest person I know, but when it comes to the weather you're not exactly what I call.. accurate."

"Hey, I've been getting pretty good at predicting the weather lately!" Hanataro retorted at his brother. "You remember a few moths ago, right? I predicted the strong winds and the river's currents so everyone was prepared on time for the rough storm."

"Oh, yes, I remember that." The older brother closed his eyes, leaned back in his seat. He remembers that day quite well, and Shiro knows very well too. A bad storm hit them a few months back. All three of them had to help with cleaning the banks and help move the provisions. "If I remember right; not only did you predict a hectic storm, but you left out the parts where there would be small lighting sparks, followed by bursts of wind that could blow a tree out from it's roots."

Hanataro flinched, he remembered that terrible memory of that horrific night. "W-well, the numbers may have been a bit off, but at least no one got hurt!"

"Yeah, except for the fact that several electric poles and trees were up rooted, power was cut off through out half the town, and the roads were flooded with water and garbage. Oh! I just remembered another thing.' Kaito leaned into his brother's side, and whispered 'The numbers being off is complete 'BS.'"

"W-what?!"

"Since when do you admit you're wrong, Hana?' Kaito shrugged as he back in his seat again, 'Don't you remember that you nearly threw a complete tantrum when your 'calculations' were off? You were practically blubbering, wailing 'These numbers are right, they're right! I know they're right, I'm not wrong!" He mocked, his hands were pressed against his face, he tried to mimic the exact saddened and embarrassed expression Hanataro had made way back when.

"I-I didn't throw a tantrum, Kai!" Kaito's brother nearly choked, his face flushed with embarrassment. "I' was not the one at fault for the weather being the way it was! I've improved since then!"

Kaito chuckled and shrugged "Hardly. You're like the weather man on tv, Hana.. Predicting today's forecast for the day, and you're only half right."

"Don't compare me to the adults on television, I'm on a completely different level!" Hanataro growled at his sibling from where he sat. Shiro wasn't the least bit surprised as Hanataro's calm demeanor was starting to crack. Hanataro was always calm, no comment or slang would phase him, even when it came when he would scold his brother or rarely her. When it comes to his personal love for math and calculations, Hanataro always stood his ground, biased to everyone else's opinions. Never to admit to himself of the mistakes he made. "I like to see one of them predict the perfect storm. I've done better than them!"

"Oh, really? What about last year in that snowstorm? You 'predicted' that the temperature wouldn't freeze the water, but it did near the coastline making it impossible for the fisherman to get to their boats. Or that one summer you tried to convince the old woman down the street to hold off on getting an air conditioner for a few days because you 'predicted' the heat wouldn't rise.."

"T-that was in the past, I-" Hanataro stuttered as he clawed at his head in pain. All of those terrible memories slowly began to crawl out of the deep hole Hana had made to bury them.

"And let's not forget that time when we were kids." Hanataro froze, eyes shrunk, oh no.. anything but THAT memory!! "Do you remember the exact words you said to me and Shiro before we went to school?"

When they were small children, Hanataro was very over-confident in himself when it came to the weather back then. So overconfident he truly believed that his calculations and hypothesis would predict the perfect weather every day. Unfortunately, each day was the exact opposite of what he had theorized.

Hanataro sighed and his head dipped his forehead just inches away from touching the surface of the table. He recalled that horrific and cringe-worthy memory "It will not rain today. We will be able to walk home in the sunshine."

"And what happened?"

".. It rained."

"It didn't just rain, it down-poured. Lucky for you I 'predicted' you were full of it and brought umbrellas for the three of us." He sighed, shaking his head. "I remembered how miserable you looked, complaining the whole way home wondering what went wrong."

"Hmph, I was just a kid back then." That's right, he was! He was still in his development stages. Those screw ups don't count. "Besides, I didn't see any indications that it would rain."

"That's because you were to busy looking at the blackboard trying to predict what the teacher was going to write for math."

"Well, at least I was focusing on my work, unlike you!"

"Well, maybe if you spent less time with your head on cloud nine, maybe you would have!"

"At least I'm trying to put some 'effort' in being helpful!"

"At least I'm honest about making a few mistakes!"

"Condescending jerk!"

"Pretentious ass!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that's how the night went on. Thankfully she was there to lightly scold her brothers and settled them down. If Shiro was never around to stop their arguments, she 'predicts' those two would kill each other, and she would be right every time.

"I really hope they don't make me swim today." She muttered as she continued to rub her arm. Now that she thinks about it; what will they be doing today? Gou told her that her and the others would talk at lunch tomorrow.

"Oh, joy.. I'll be eating with five grown men. I can only imagine the conversations we will have together." She sang sarcastically to herself in thought. "I wonder what my classmates are like? Nanase-san and Tachibana-san.. and.. there was another there. A freshman, what was his name? Rei, Ryu-something or other." Oh dear, Shiro's mind went blank, trying her best to recount the long-winded title of the other swimmer Hazuki had animatedly introduced.

"'Ryu-ji?', 'Ryu-zawa?', 'Ryu-ga-mine?' Ah, screw it! I'll just settle with Ryu-san. Easy to remember and simpler to say!" She stated proudly to herself. Shiro can recount faces, but names, ones that seemed to long to remember, on the other hand were not her strong forte. "Then there's Hazuki. He was.. animated. Chirper. Annoying. Always smiling and never seems to keep his mouth shut!" Not mention he seemed to have his.. ulterior, deviant motives. She clearly heard him say something about 'attracting members.' "He's probably a perv."

Then a random thought poped into her brain "Oh god, what if they're all like that?!" Shiro shivered in her walk, suddenly her mind went into void and her animated other pysche started to imagine the worse of her new 'friends'. A terrible habit of hers that she developed quiet some time ago. A habit that has been proven difficult to rid and avoid when faced with new people.

"Gou and my other classmates seem normal, but what if that's just a front?" The void outline of herself pondered. Never judge a book by their cover, same goes for that saying 'looks can be deceiving.' Vivid images and obscene scenarios came to mind. Gou and Hazuki would dress her in alluring and revealing swim wear the likes people would see in adult magazines, to pose. Her classmates would display posters of her all around the school.

'Iwatobi's New Member! The sexy, petite girl known as Shiro. Join now and have chance to meet the lovely lady herself!'

"What if they're all like Hazuki and use me to attract more members like he said?! All of them are complete perverts!"

--KLUNK-CLANG--

Her delusional thoughts were interrupted as Shiro stopped in her tracks when she heard what sounded like an empty can had been knocked over. She turned to her side just fast enough to notice a gray blur dash down a narrowed alley way, fenced on either side, and hid behind a few tattered discarded boxes. "Oh, you again." Shiro huffed to herself and made her over to the backstreet. She stopped midway, just to the edge of the shadow that casted over the pathway. "It's been a while, how have you been?" Shiro called out to the shadows.

There was nothing at first, but then she caught a glimpse of a small, head that peeked out from behind the boxes. A half smile formed upon her lips "I know it's you, I thought by now you would have improved in your skills." It was very dark, but she could already tell who it was. The golden gleam was a dead giveaway. "Have you been eating since last time?"

Shiro walked in a bit further. The head duck back and hid, shuffled about and hollowed boxes and trash cans echoed loudly around her. Trying to run away sneakily and failing miserably at it.

In the dark alley Shiro round another corner to a small space. A gap that was well hidden from the outside, and perfect for hiding, or so she pressumed. Inside she found a large box made into a makeshift bed. Inside it was a cushy, but rather dirtied towel. Two silver, empty dishes sat on the ground. Lastly, though it was dark, she squinted and was able to see a few dark spots on the ground. "Hmmm.. even with all that you're still having trouble living out here, huh?"

She shifted her eyes down the dark path, she knew he was still there. With a heavy sigh she went over to the bedding and crouched down over the bowls on the ground. "Well, since you're here I'll leave you a little something. It's not much, but it might help you little this morning. A bit Hana's cooking should give you some energy." Shiro spoke aloud again as she took out her lunchbox to unwrap. She took out a small portion of rice and meat and placed it in the bowl before she packed it back up. "That's all I can do for you." She got back up and walked out of the back alley. Before she left she glanced behind her. "I don't want to make this into a habit, but I'll come back after school to check on you."

With that she made her way to the street. With the pathway silent a small figure came out and made it's way towards the sweet smell of food. It purred out a 'thank you' in kindness.

Despite being distracted earlier in her mind of ridiculous scenarios, Shiro knew exactly where she was. She was in the district area, a small street that was line with colorful and decorative shops that sold a variety of items that ranged from food, ice cream, antiques and just about anything you could imagine to buy. The station wasn't to far either. She could even see the tracks and platform just ahead. Just right up the hill, around the corner, up the stairs and all she had to do was wait for the train to arrive.

"Well, craziness aside.. I'm not prepared for what might happen, even if it was outrages. I can't deal with anything awkward or silly." A light shudder spasm through her body. Shiro huffed and reached up to put her hands behind her head, her briefcase dangled and swayed back and forth. She looked up at to the sky, a light hue of blue and orange contrast still apparent in the early morning. "As much as I don't want to go, I'll just have to deal with it the best way I can. They can't all be that bad. What could go wrong?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Do you swim often, Shiro-san?"

"I like to swim every morning as an exercise, to get me started for the day." Shiro politely replied to Makoto, the kind, Tachibana.

"Do you have any special training regimes? Do you keep track of your times?"

"No, I don't do that sort of thing. I swim when I feel like swimming." Shiro exasperated her answer to Rei, the technical, Ryu-san.

"Do you eat fish?"

"Not really.." Eye and mouth began to twitch as she answered Haruka, the quiet, Nanase-san next. Her irritation reached it's peak.

"I got it! How about a cheerleader, Shiro-chan?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

All five men slightly flinched and leaned back where they sat at their classmate's outburst, underneath the sun, while their new member sat in the shade of the wall behind her. It was lunch time and all five students were currently on the school's roof. Shiro was about to go off to find her own spot, but just she was about to escape the classroom Hazuki, with Ryu-san, had barged right in to invite the others to eat lunch with them on the roof.

Somehow he was able to be convinced to join them, she didn't know how it happened, but there she was, in the shadow with four grown men, eating lunch together, and asking her all sorts of ridiculous questions about her when they should be on topic about her job.

"There's no need to shout, Shiro-chan." Nagisa, the cheerful one, Hazuki laughed and smiled. "Though you would make a good cheerleader. We need moral support on our team!"

"I didn't agree to wear pompoms!"

"Heheh, relax, there's other things you can do around here." Tachibana-san, chuckled. "There's all sort of positions you could do. There's organizing and keeping track of pool equipment, cleaning the pool.. ah, how about taking care of our health?"

"Oh, like a nurse?" The golden haired freshman perked. Well, that didn't sound to bad of a job. Making sure the boys were fit and healthy. "She would need a uniform for that!" Suddenly Shiro imagined herself wearing a nurse's uniform. In Hazuki's eyes, a very revealing one.

"Uhh.. Let's try something else." Shiro quickly rejected that offer.

"A Coach?"

"That's a nice idea, Rei-chan! She can spot us and help improve our techniques."

"Do you have any experience in training, Shiro-san? You were in a swim club before, right?" Shiro's kind classmate asked her politely.

"To answer your first question, no.' She sighed 'Secondly, I was, but I left. It was a very long time ago, so I really don't remember that much back then."

"Really? Why did you leave?" Hazuki asked as he leaned in, and invaded his upper-class women's personal space. "I had reasons that are none of your business." Narrowed eyes, she muttered harshly at him.

"What do you think, Haru-chan?" Nagisa leaned back and over to Shiro's classmate. "What do you think she should do?"

Nanase-san, had been staring at Shiro oddly. He wasn't the only one either. The boys' eyes shifted back and forth between each other, almost as if they were.. inspecting her, undressing her? Hopefully that really was not the reason why they all stared at her. But the question that came out of her quiet, classmate's lips seemed to nearly confirm her previous suspicions.

"Why do you wear a green tie?"

"Why do you want to know about that?"

"Now that you mention it, why are you wearing a boy's tie, Shiro-chan?" The perky freshman asked, now curious of his friend's question and his senpai's attire. "That's part of the male's uniform?"

"It was a special order."

"You're also wearing shorts with your skirt." Hazuki pointed out. "Girls don't normally wear them with their uniform."

"I don't need to answer that. Can we stay on topic, please?"

"It is a very odd fashion sense." Ryu-san stated, with his hand cupped to his chin in thought. "Usually something like that wouldn't be allowed due to dress code. I guess depending on the person's physique there are certain exceptions?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" She leaned forward and glared at the other freshman who sat next to the annoying blond. However, she leaned back slowly and took in a deep breath. Remain calm. No reason to get upset, just boys being.. stupid boys. Air escaped slowly out her nose as she breathed out. "There's nothing odd about it, they just make me feel comfortable. Now, can we get back to-"

"What did you mean by physique?" Hazuki asked out loud in curiosity and interrupted Shiro. "Is Shiro-chan special or something?"

"Well." Rei glanced at his upper-classmate, her eyes now narrowed and her features twitched with annoyance. "Considering Hamasaki-senpai's short stature, her unusual attire combination, and other physical features. I've come to the conclusion that Hamasaki-senpai,' Ryu-san adjusted his thick red frames and stated his result with a firm look. 'looks like a boy."

'Excuse me?!'

"Yeah, I've been thinking that too." Nagisa agreed and glanced at his new member. "She does have a boy's name after all. Maybe she's trying to 'be' a boy?"

'N-no, I'm not!' Shiro subconsciously wrapped her arms around herself. This is not what she had originally assumed would happen. In fact, it's quite the opposite. They're supposed to say that she looks weird!

"If her hair were shorter, she could pull it off." Haurka, Nanase said bluntly, noting his classmate's golden-ash, thin hair. Shiro's face began to darken, her lips quivered with embarrassment, her hands rubbed her forearms up and down to ease the trembling in her skin. They're either being very perverted in their own, odd way or they're just that honest. She didn't know what they were thinking.

"Mhm, mhm, you're right, then that leaves her body."

"For someone so small she was quite fast. She is about the same height as you, Nagisa-kun." The technical freshman pointed out to his perky friend and classmate. "Yesterday was my first time seeing her. It might have been the swimsuit, but her chest looked a bit-"

"What the hell is wrong with you guys!?" Shiro shouted at them all, nearly sprung from her seat on the ground. "Who cares what I look like. How much longer are you guys gonna stall, are you even taking this seriously?!"

All four flinched back yet again at the young student's loud and angry outburst. "Eheh, sorry, Shiro-san. We're just curious is all." Makoto apologized.

"Ooh, you're very loud, Shiro-chan. You sure you don't want to be our cheer-leader?"

Shiro's face contorted into both anger and irritation. "W-why.. you.. little-" Before she could finish the door that lead to the stairs creaked open and revealed the manager of the swim club. "I'm here! Sorry, there was a long line at the cafeteria." The Matsouka girl announced, a small package lunch was tucked in her hands. "Did I miss anything?"

"We were discussing what her job was going to be for the club." Makoto, the captain of the team, told the manager. "More like a physical evaluation." Shiro muttered to herself as she crossed her arms. "We're still trying to figure out what suits her best."

"I honestly don't care.' The annoyed girl exasperated with a sigh out loud, 'T-that is, my job of course." She quickly recovered. "Whatever it is that you need me to do, I'll do what I can for the club."

"As long as you don't make me into a cheerleader."

"In that case, I could really use help for our next swim meet." Gou said happily to her friend. "I'll have to make a list.' The female freshman brought up her hand and began to count her digits. 'I need to make regimes for everyone, keeping track of there times, organize the equipment, and.."

"Hehe, looks like I'll be busy." Shiro forced a light chuckle and nodded to her friend. It sounded like a very tedious and long list of chores. "Oh yeah! There's also something else I wanted to talk to you about that." The red head nearly gasped, as she just realized a much more important fact. "I've already signed everyone up for the coming tournament. It was a few days ago before the whole trouble started. Everyone is signed up for their spots. So, that leaves you."

"Huh." Well, it was only a matter of time before she had to sign up for a competition. Though she did not suspect to be so soon. "We have time though, the tournament won't be for another month." Gou informed. "I know it's seems like short notice, since you just entered the club and all.."

"You want me to enter despite short notice, right?" The sophomore asked her friend, she glared lightly. "If you're aware of the situation then I should say no."

"W-well-"

"We really want to see you swim again, Shiro-chan!" Hazuki blurted out with energy, and invaded the space of the two women. "I never seen someone swim so fast! Well, I have, but I've never seen a girl swim that fast before."

"Really?" Shiro's hardened expression started to softened up, though only just slightly.

"It was Nagisa's idea, but we think he's right." Makoto said to his classmate. "It was our first time, but seeing you swim like that was really amazing." He complimented. "Haru wants to see you swim too, right?"

"I do, but not like yesterday." The other second classmate spoke, now more than the other day. "Huh, what do you mean?" Shiro's expression hardened again.

"You were fast, but there was something off. When I saw you swimming, it felt like there was something holding you back." Shiro tensed up, a bit surprised by her club member's blunt statement. There was seriousness in his eyes and voice.

"Well, we did pressure her into it." Makoto interjected to his friend's remark. "What he's trying to say is, he wants to see you swim, but we want to see you at your best."

"..." Shiro didn't reply as she contemplated the words Haruka had just vocalized. She was complimented, words like 'astounding', 'beautiful', and 'stunning' were very new to hear from people she has only known for a short time. Then criticized, if only just slightly. Words she has not heard for quite some time and no doubt she will hear more in the future.

"Please~, Shiro-chan." The pink-eyed Nagisa whined as he begged her, his hands folded out in prayer. "Please, swim with us."

"It's not like I am going to be swimming with you." She thought angrily to the persistent young boy in front of her. But, one glance at the others, he wasn't the only one. The others too waited patiently for her answer. It was just like yesterday. Once again she can't say no to them. "Geez, these guys are persistent."

"Fine." She sighed in defeat. Gasps of joy escaped everyone's lips and faces lit up with smiles. "Great, I'll make sure to sign you up as soon as I can!" The female freshman expressed her happiness. "That means you'll be training with us. Ah, I can't wait!" Nagisa laughed, "Speaking of which, Gou-chan, are we going to Samezuka today?"

"Mhm, I scheduled a practice for us today at Samezuka's pool. My brother will be there too."

"Brother?" Shiro's gaze shifted in surprise to her friend. "You have a brother in a swim club too?" Gou nodded at her friend. "That's right. He couldn't come yesterday because of practice, so we're making it up to him by going there."

The sophomore blinked, a brother, huh? "So, your brother.. does he have a girly name too?" She assumed, or rather predicted. If all the boys here had girly titles, then there's no doubt that Gou's brother had one as well. Sure enough, she was right.

"Mhm.. my brother's name is Rin."

"Why am I not surprised." She muttered to herself, her eyes glanced to the group of men next to her. They were now talking to each other about their other friend. "I bet this 'Rin' is probably just like these guys." She also predicted that he's more than likely like the rest of these.. 'men'. Silly and vacuous.

"You're coming with us, right, Shiro-san?" Shiro's kinder classmate asked her. "Of course she's coming with us, she's part of the club now. Besides, Rin-chan's not going to believe what happened yesterday without her." The perky club member said.

"W-wait, you're going to make me swim? Again?" Her hands grasped the thighs beneath her, slowly rubbing them up and down. And here she was hoping give her legs a break. "Well, it won't just be us. Rin-chan will want to see you swim too!"

"What makes you think that?"

"That's how we all became friends!"

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Meanwhile, at another school. In a tidied dorm with two black bunk-beds with barred steel. Two young men, students, shared. Both males were currently studying. One small student was seated, diligently writing notes in his journal, at their desk, cluttered with stacks of books and paper that stuck out, pencils, scraps and all sorts of assortments and objects that took up much space.

The other, lean and tall, was laid upon his lower bunk. One strong arm was behind his head, the other arm was up, his hand clasped a small, blue booklet titled "How To Be Successful At Competitive Swimming."

"A-cho!" The older teen sneezed loudly. He sat up, the hand behind his head came up to brush his nose. "Bless you, Rin-senpai." The smaller student said from his seat, his voice meek, but loud. "Are you getting sick?"

"No, it's nothing, Ai." The young man name Rin said to the seated student, Ai. Long, dark, crimson bangs swayed back and forth as the teen shook his head. "I'm fine." Ai nodded and both resumed their quiet work.

Cardinal eyes blinked as they continued to read the words in the small workbook.

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To Be Continued..

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PeaceLightVictory - Thank you so much for the review! Yes, I know. I need to work on my past tense, like I said I am still new to this writing gig. I will take you words to heart and improve. Thank you once again!

Ooookay.. I know some of you are probably.. angry? Since I took so long to get this chapter out. Thus, I decided to make this part 1, ehehe.

I KNOW! You guys are practically DYING to see Rin. (as am I to write him out). But, I promise, he WILL be in part 2. I have it all played out in my head.. now I just need to write it.. I just didn't want to make you guys wait any longer, but technically I still am?

Just be patient a liiiittle bit longer guys!

Again, you guys are more than welcome to think of any ideas/scenarios for the story, as long as they're appropriate.

One last thing before I go.. I don't suppose anyone knows if there any FANFIC groups on DA I can post this story to? I just need more feed back on my story, well, more like criticism.. does that sound weird? I would really appreciate it!

Till next time!

From your patient reader,

Phoenix.