Chapter Text
Sho knew from the first day that Fujitani Naoki was something—someone—special. Sure, he looked a little tiny mixed with all the other people trying out for swim team, but he was calm in a way none of the other boys were.
His freestyle time had made the coach nearly drop his stopwatch. But when he got out of the water, he seemed more annoyed by the other boys trying to congratulate him by grabbing his shoulders or hitting him across the back than proud of his time.
Sho’s backstroke time had been impressive, as had Sakamoto’s breaststroke, but both of them were in the realm of “normal fast”, not like Fujitani’s new school record, broken before competition even started.
(And not like Akane’s time in butterfly either. She had nearly broken the boys fastest time, but Sho wouldn’t know that from this try out. In fact, he wouldn’t know this for two more years.)
It was the day of their first competition, third year, and Sho had yet to check the heat sheet. Since he was running a little late and needed to warm up, he decided he better get in the water first.
“But that is the best one. If you want us to win, the best swimmer should be on our relay team,” Fujitani was arguing with the coach as Sho made his way to the pool.
“What’s happening?” Sho asked Sakamoto, who was stretching using a diving board.
“Fujitani wants Saijo on our relay team.”
“What?”
Sakamoto gave him an unimpressed look. “You’re the best backstroker, I’m the best breaststroker, and Fujitani is the best freestyler. We’re on the same relay team, same as the last two years. But Fujitani is saying that he wants Saijo instead of that Arisugawa guy.”
“Oh.”
Sakamoto glared at him. “Saijo is a girl.”
“...ah.”
Shaking his head, Sakamoto climbed on the diving board and dived in.
It was true that Sho hadn’t been especially paying attention to everyone new on the swim team. Fujitani was just…
Well, he was always the one ahead of Sho. And Sakamoto, but while this was a thing that bothered Sakamoto, Sho couldn’t bring himself to mind. Sure, it was a little annoying to be swimming with the required effort and find that someone had lapped you and was touching your feet, but the way Fujitani swam was just so beautiful. Effortless.
“Are you just standing there, or can I go?” A newbie asked. Toya, if Sho was remembering correctly.
“No, go ahead.”
He drifted back to Fujitani and the coach.
“We are not mixing the genders! I already told you this!” the coach was hissing.
“Then I won’t be the anchor.”
“You’re anchor. This has been determined already.”
“Not unless Saijo is our butterfly.”
“Are you listening to me, Fujitani? I don’t care if she beat the all time record, she still can’t swim on the men’s team!”
“She did beat the all time school record. It was three seconds faster than the fastest boy. She should be allowed to swim with people who are as fast as her.”
...maybe Sho should have been paying more attention to the whole swim team, and not just Fujitani.
“Ah! Takaoka! Tell him.” Fujitani grabbed Sho’s elbow and pointed.
Startled, Sho looked down towards the coach, who was even shorter than Fujitani.
“No, tell Fujitani that we can’t just mix the genders.”
Sho took a deep breath. “With all due respect, we should have the strongest swimmer. If Fujitani says that she’s the fastest, then that’s who should be on our team,” he rushed out.
Fujitani beamed at him, and Sho could feel his heart skip a beat.