When Ushijima Wakatoshi walks into Shiratorizawa's gym on his first day of his final year, he surely does not expect to find a crying girl hoarding up the only peck deck machine of the institute.
She's not sobbing per se, but her face is red, her eyes are puffy and, most importantly, she's sitting on his favorite machine. Which is annoying, given that all of the other equipment is free, as expected from a 6 am morning.
He wouldn't have a problem with her crying—in his years at Shiratorizawa Academy, Wakatoshi has seen his fair share of crying people—had she chosen another spot to do it. So, he walks up to her, an annoyed frown plastered on his face at the nuisance and his muscles flexing, eager to train.
"Excuse me," he says once he's a few feet away from her, his voice echoes in the empty gym. Her then-shaking shoulders still and her head shoots upwards, eyes hopeful and unguarded.
"Yes?" Her voice is small, shaky. Wakatoshi doesn't know how long she's been crying on the peck deck machine, but, by the looks of her, he assumes she's been there a while.
"Are you planning on using this?" He says, his large hand resting on one of the metal bars. As if awakened from a deep slumber, she seems to realize just where she is and where she's sitting and her cheeks tinge with an even brighter shade of red.
"Oh," she exclaims standing up, her legs wobble unsteadily under the sudden change "I guess not."
He nods, waiting for her to move out of the way.
"I'll go." Wakatoshi wants to tell her that there's no reason for her to outright leave the gym (after all, there's plenty of machines for her to sit and wallow on) but by the time he opens his mouth to let her know, she's already gone.

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When Yuuki Kotone walks into Shiratorizawa's auditorium on the first day of her second year, she's already fully convinced that this will go down in history as the worst day of her life; and it's only 9 am.
By then, she had woken up at 5 (and everyone in their right mind knows that that is already a recipe for disaster), proceeded to haul her unwilling body to the gym—trying to fulfill a new year's resolution she herself didn't believe—and then had a full-fledged mental breakdown in the middle of a training session. As if that wasn't enough, Ushijima freaking Wakatoshi, Shiratorizawa's golden boy, had witnessed the entire scene and proceeded to expel her from the gym (or, at least, that's what it had felt to her) and now, she was about to give out a speech, that she had not prepared whatsoever for, in front of the entire student body.
"Have you asked Yamamoto-kun?" Says a voice to her right. Kotone's teammate and best friend, Kanae Tachibana, puts a comforting hand on her shoulders as they walk towards the auditorium's backstage.
In mere minutes, the entire student body will be filing in, eagerly sitting in their velvet seats for the opening ceremony. On stage, the marching band is already tuning their instruments, ready to play the school's anthem.
"I did," Kotone grimaces at the memory of almost-begging her senpai for help "he said that I need to learn to stand on my own or some bullshit of the sorts."
"He probably did it in earnest." Tries to reason Kanae, hands now rubbing soothing circles on her back.
"Yeah, but now is not the time to go all inspiring on me, I needed him to help and he refused like a jerk."
Her teammates snort around her, some sympathetic, others amused.
"Pull it together Yuuki-chan, it's just a minute-long speech." Says Ayaka Furuta, her long brown hair pulled in a tight bun at the top of her head. "Plus, it's not like anyone cares about the women's swim club."
"Yeah, Koto-chan," Risako Mononobe pipes up, the only surviving third year left in their motley little group "Everyone will probably be fast asleep by the time it'll get to us."
"Why don't you make the speech, Risako-senpai? You're the oldest anyway." Kotone pouts, her arms wrapping around herself defensively. By now, students have began sitting in their seats and she can feel the chatter grow louder and louder as they fill the auditorium. A few groups away, the captain of the men's swim club, Yamamoto Koji, smiles at her lopsidedly and Kotone fights the urge to go up to him and start a fight. Or worse, get on her knees and beg him once again to introduce both swim teams together.
"But I'm not the captain, am I Koto-chan?" Risako calls back in a sing-songy voice. Kotone can't fathom how she's not upset over it—not that she expected Risako to be, given her glassy approach to life. When their coach had appointed Kotone as the new captain just the day before, everyone had been unsurprised at the choice. Except for Kotone herself.
"What am I even supposed to say?" She whines again. Then, as if hit by sudden inspiration, she straightens her back and, in a mockingly-cheerful tone, exclaims: "We're the women's swim club! We're average at best and we're still standing simply because the school has to, somehow, justify the insane amount of money they spent to build the swimming pool! We'll never win anything, but please cheer for us! We'll work hard! Thank you for having us."
"That doesn't sound bad," Says Kanae compassionately "if you take out the part about us sucking, that is."
"Which we don't!" Chides Shizuka, another fiery second year.
"Shut up, it's starting." Interjects Ayaka, grabbing both Shizuka and Kotone by the back of their uniform like a cat with her kittens. An almost fond smile lingers on her lips as she does so.
The notes of Shiratorizawa's school anthem fill the auditorium to the brim and, despite her sour mood, Kotone can't help but feel pride at the thrilling music.
Her teammates begin to sing, all of them on various degrees of out of tune-ness—varying from mildly annoying to outright destructive—and her heart fills with love.
As she joins in the song, Kotone figures she'll be able to say something nice for her presentation speech, if they are her inspiration.

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Wakatoshi has lost count of just how many clubs have passed on the stage; each of their speeches blur together in a flurry of incoherent words of will and enthusiasm, seldom mixing with the small comments of appraisal coming from his teammates, praising the beauty of certain club members, the hotness of others.
He is completely zoned-out by the time Yamamoto-san bows to the audience and introduces the following team. Wakatoshi's teammates, on the other hand, grow even more alert, hollering between each other in excitement. He turns to look at them, an arched eyebrow silently inquiring about their interest.
"Women's Swim Club." Whispers Semi, as if that knowledge alone could be the only needed explanation.
"Bathing suits." Supplies Tendō, a Cheshire grin plastered on his face; when Wakatoshi doesn't respond, Tendō repeats it slowly, hands hovering in front of his own chest suggestively.
"I get it." Is the only thing that he says, before turning back to the stage. A girl is already giving a speech, her words not even registering in his mind.
"Not bad." Comments Kawanishi, clearly not referring to her speech. Other voices join him in approval, some going as far as to wonder how she looks in a swimsuit.
That's when Wakatoshi really looks at her, and he frowns in recognition.
Her hair isn't in a tousled braid anymore, now flowing over her shoulders in wavy raven-black locks, her eyes aren't puffy and red from crying and her voice isn't broken by silent sobs, but she's definitely the girl from the gym.
She's giving the basic, run-of-the-mill speech, talking about being honored to be representing the school and encouraging first-years to join the club, then she bows and the other club members follow suit. The student body showers them in the standard polite applause they have been cyclically offering to each club.
When the girls stand, the stage lights hit the captain's face starkly and, as she gazes at the audience, Wakatoshi can spot the same lingering look she had given him that morning. Eyes hopeful and unguarded.
Her teammates have already begun filing off of the stage when she reaches for the microphone again. Then hesitates.
"I know," she begins, then breathes in and out once "I know Shiratorizawa isn't known for our swim team."
"I didn't even know we had a swim team until I joined." Jokes Yamagata amusedly, Wakatoshi raises a hand to silence him and the entire team does so immediately.
"But I—we will do our damn hardest to make sure you will be able to satisfyingly talk about our achievements too. I want us to become something that will make each and everyone of you proud, so look forward to our year." She bows one final time and so do her teammates, now awkwardly standing at the sidelines—a couple even standing frozen on the steps of the stage. The captain takes a few steps towards them, then looks over the opposite side of the backstage and Wakatoshi can spot a teacher animatingly gesticulating to her. The girl immediately scrambles back to the microphone and her teammates halt in their steps for a second time.
"Up next, I introduce you: the men's baseball team!" Then she smiles, a striking, genuine smile and sheepishly whispers in the microphone: "Sorry, I'm new to this."

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Hi! I'm currently cross-posting this both on this side and wattpad, so if you happen to come upon this same story (just a couple chapters more further along) then you know why! Also, I'm working on an illustration of the swimmers so please look forward to that! Let me know what you think !