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Under normal circumstances Haru wasn’t one for dramatism, but even he couldn’t deny the enormous wave of nostalgia that washed over him as they walked through the halls of their old swim club.
“I heard that there’s a ghost in the locker rooms, can you believe that?” Nagisa asked in a faux-spooky voice, and Haru was tempted to trip him in retaliation for scaring Makoto with his antics.
Then, in one of the hallways behind them, a fourth set of footsteps joined theirs—
“Rin.” The name slipped out of his mouth like a nigh-forgotten prayer. His heartbeat quickened, a mix of the hot blood that rushed through his head whenever he saw his rival, but also dread because last time they’d seen each other—
“Rinrin, you’re back from Australia!” Nagisa ran up to him with his usual exuberance, but instead of complaining about him or even insulting him like his intimidating aura suggested, he ruffled Nagisa’s hair affectionately.
Haru blinked, Nagisa blinked.
“You never change, huh, Nagisa?”
The first to recover from the weird spell was Makoto.
“Rin! When did you come back?” He asked, his happiness over reuniting with their childhood friend trumping whatever awkwardness that lingered in the air. Instinctively Haru shifted closer.
“Just last month,” Rin replied while scratching the back of his neck. “I transferred to Samezuka Academy for my second year and had orientation yesterday.”
“Oh,” Makoto blinked. “That’s… a bit far from here, isn’t it?” It was like Makoto had expected Rin to transfer to their school if (when) he came back.
Rin shrugged. “It’s actually close to my mom’s house, so I can visit her and Gou during the weekends.” He cleared his throat. “Besides, it’s got the best swim club in the prefecture.”
“You’re already in your school’s swim club?” Nagisa’s question had a weird emphasis that made Haru frown.
Rin’s expression turned sheepish at this. “The trials were just today, actually, but I’m sure I made the times.”
“As expected of Rin-chan!” Nagisa exclaimed with stars in his eyes.
“Anyways,” Rin then turned to stare directly at Haru. “Can I talk to you for a second, alone?”
“I’m glad to see Rin’s doing fine,” Makoto said as they walked back home.
Nagisa had grabbed Rin’s arm, citing that there was “much to catch up on” and that they “took the train in the same direction, anyway”, so it was him and Makoto walking home like always.
“I was surprised,” Haru revealed after a few moments of careful consideration. When he felt Makoto’s wondering gaze, he clarified: “But I’m glad that he looks fine.”
Rin had apologized; first for how he had reacted after their race (especially because Rin’s tribulations in Australia hadn’t been Haru’s fault), then for not contacting him at all in the last three years.
“No matter what happens, or how our roads differ, I want us to keep being friends.”
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t glad that Rin had apologized, but at the same time, it was Rin. So he just shrugged his apology and said, “It’s fine.”
Makoto tilted his head, but seemed to have a good idea of the fact that something had happened between Rin and Haru that had been the cause of his anguish all these years, because there was no small amount of relief when he spoke, “I see.”
As they walked the steps where their roads split, Haru thought that maybe his second year of high school wouldn’t be so bad.
“How did you do it?”
Makoto and Haru had barely arrived at the patch of grass they’d agreed to meet Nagisa in when a girl with red hair approached them.
Makoto’s expression was that of a harassed maiden, the effect only magnified with him holding both their bentos. “Beg your pardon?”
The girl pouted, “Oniichan’s been back in Japan for almost two months and barely replies to my messages, but after meeting you last night he comes home and he’s back to normal?”
The answer suddenly dawns in Haru’s mind, “You’re Rin’s little sister.”
Rin’s sister then blinks, as if just realizing she hadn’t introduced herself. “Oh,” then, “Er, yes. Matsuoka Kou, pleased to make your acquaintance.” She bowed on reflex, and Makoto’s expression lit up.
“Oh, I think I remember you from when we were kids!” He handed Haru his bento, sat down on the grass, and made a small motion to invite Kou who accepted. Haru noticed that she hadn’t brought a bento, so he offered her some grilled mackerel and rice from his own.
“Haru-chan! Mako-chan!” Nagisa waved as he ran over to them, his cheer uninterrupted as he noticed their third companion. “Gou-chan too!”
Kou pouted. “My name’s Kou.”
“I know,” Nagisa brushed off her complaint before gesturing to the poor boy he was dragging along. “I brought Rei-chan—”
“I asked you not to call me that…”
“—anyway, he’s going to come with us for a joint training at Samezuka.”
Makoto, “Joint training?”
Kou, “Samezuka?”
Nagisa opened one of the two bentos he had brought, before handing the other one to Haru. “My sister is trying a new recipe with mackerel, and told me to ask for your feedback.” Out of the corner of his eye, Haru noticed that there were two bandaids on Nagisa’s left hand, but chose not to look at free mackerel in the fin.
Makoto shook his head, “Wait, let’s go back: what do you mean joint training?”
Nagisa started stuffing his mouth already, “Duh. We can’t swim in the pool until we repair it, so we need someplace to train until then.” He gulped down some of the soy glazed eggplant with his strawberry milk. “Rin-chan just messaged me that he’s taking care of the details, but we can go next Monday at four.”
Haru felt for the poor boy Nagisa had dragged, as not even he, who arguably knew Nagisa the best out of their group, could explain what the heck was going on.
Haru didn’t bother trying to make sense of it, either way; instead he began to eat (the soy glazed mackerel was indeed delicious) and left it to Makoto to solve the mystery.
Makoto turned to look at him briefly, then said, “But we don’t even have a swim club.”
Nagisa’s mouth opened in a perfect ‘o’ shape. “So that’s what I was forgetting!” Ignoring ‘Rei-chan’s indignant cry of ‘you told me you already formed the club and only needed a fourth member as a formality for the joint training!’, he continued, “Don’t worry, I’ll work it out with Ama-chan by the end of the day. We only need to worry about repairing the pool and going to next Monday’s joint practice,” he then turned to Kou, “do you want to be manager, Gou-chan?”
Kou sighed, probably resigned to the fact that nothing was making sense anymore. “If this is what’s helping Oniichan get better, I would love to help keep the club in shape.”
“Yay! The Iwatobi Swim club is so on!”
Apparently, ‘Ama-chan’ was Haru and Makoto’s homeroom teacher. How Nagisa knew her, and what kind of blackmail he held over her head, he didn’t want to know.
Despite the fact that his worst subject was math, Nagisa had already calculated the cost of the repair materials, and knew the necessary procedures for the pool floor repairs, so he became the club treasurer, while Makoto was captain, and they granted Rei the vice-captain rank. Makoto had originally suggested that Haru be vice-captain, but Nagisa had vouched for the integrity and leadership ability of his classmate, and honestly Haru preferred it that way, just being an ordinary club member with no other duties to the club other than swimming free.
Monday came, and the five of them hopped on the train to Samezuka. Since their camaraderie was rather new, Haru was still somewhat on the fence about Rei, who had quite the visible aversion to water, but Nagisa had begged again and again to give him a chance; and Haru had always been unable to say no to Nagisa.
“You came,” Rin was the one to receive them at the entrance of Samezuka. He avoided Nagisa when he jumped to hug him, instead ruffling his hair absent-mindedly. “Mikoshiba-buchou asked me to walk you to the pool since I was the one to ask for the practice; let’s go.”
“Rinchan-san looks like a mother,” Rei commented as he saw Rin keeping up with both Nagisa’s and Kou’s conversations at the same time, “I see now why Hazuki-kun is the way he is.”
Haru huffed, offended on Nagisa’s behalf even if he needn’t be. “Nagisa’s always been like this.”
Rei pinched his lips in consideration, but said nothing more.
Haru, Nagisa and Makoto had already worn their jammers underneath their uniform, while Rei was escorted by Rin’s friend to the locker rooms to wear Nagisa’s borrowed jammers
“You should have let him wear the speedo,” he heard Rin complain to Nagisa under his breath.
Nagisa, surprisingly insightful, shook his head. “He’s going to embarrass himself enough as it is, having you call him ‘speedo glasses’ again on top of that is sure to be traumatic and I need him to stay in the club.”
Again? Did Rei and Rin know each other before today’s practice?
Rin tsked, and flickered a finger to Nagisa’s forehead.
Rei came out of the locker room, the black-with-purple-lines jammers a perfect fit on him, but still he wore a pout on his face at having been dragged to this after declaring he would not swim.
“Don’t worry, Rei-chan, since this is the start of term, the captain’s only timing us to gauge our baseline abilities.”
Rin scoffed and said “I didn’t know you knew what ‘gauge’ meant,” to which Nagisa stuck out his tongue.
Right before Haru started his hundred meter swim, he noticed Nagisa and Rin giving Rei diving tips.
It was immediately apparent that Rei didn’t know how to swim, so Rin (at Nagisa’s suggestion) spent the rest of the joint practice teaching him the very basics, until he was able to do a very sloppy butterfly.
Haru had thought that after that embarrassing display of sinking to the bottom of the pool, Rei would be discouraged from staying at the club, but instead he had taken to following Haru around like a lost duckling during the lull times at practice.
“It’s because Haru-chan’s swimming made him fall in love,” Nagisa said when Haru not-quite complained about Rei’s zest.
Now that the pool at Iwatobi was repaired and filled, they had joint practice with Samezuka every week, each club taking turns about where practice would be held, though due to space limitations, the joint practices held at Iwatobi were smaller than the ones at Samezuka’s Olympic pool.
After prefecturals (Haru and Rin had both qualified for regionals since they had been first for their respective heats, while the rest of the Iwatobi club only qualified in the medley relay), Nagisa had suggested they go to the summer festival as a team bonding activity.
“Besides, there’s a water god we can pray to for luck in regionals. Rin-chan said Samezuka’s team is going too.”
While they waited in front of the train station for Samezuka’s team to arrive, Nagisa had taken to telling Rei the story of the relay they did together back in elementary. Haru noticed Rei’s attentive and elated expression, and absently, he wondered if maybe he should try to include him more. Their relationship had warmed up a lot compared to when Rei had just joined (even more so with Rin’s reassurance that they would continue being friends no matter if they swam in the same team or not), but Haru hadn’t taken the initiative to interact with him much when they hung out outside of the club activities.
“Look, Rin-chan wore a yukata this time!”
This time? The only festival they had gone to with Rin had been on New Year's back in elementary school, so it wouldn't make sense to wear a yukata with the cold climate. Had Nagisa and Rin hung out at another summer festival?
“RINRIIIIIIIIIIIN, OVER HEEEERE!” Rei took to scolding him for his volume, and Haru took the chance to admire Rin.
His yukata was wine-red with some blue mackerel patterns and green wakame; somehow, it matched Kou’s apple red one.
“Yo,” Rin greeted them, expertly avoiding Nagisa’s hug. Haru wanted to ask him how he could stand Nagisa’s pout whenever he was denied. “Sorry for making you wait.”
“We only just got here.” At such a clichéd courtesy catchphrase, Rei’s whole face went aflame. Nagisa’s subsequent teasing didn’t help.
“Typical Rei-chan! I bet you practiced that phrase nonstop in front of the mirror for your first date.” Rei didn’t dignify that with a reply, which was as good as an admission.
Somehow, Nagisa managed to drag Rin into an eating contest that ended in a draw, at one squid-ink yakisoba each, one squid-ink katsu curry, one squid burger, one squid skewer, one candied apple, and one kakigoori (strawberry for Nagisa and melon for Rin). In the end, Makoto and Samezuka’s captain had to help carry them to the overview from which Makoto and Haru watched the fireworks each year, and while their teams intermingled, Haru had volunteered to grab Rin and Nagisa a cup of amazake to help digest their unhealthy amount of food (thankfully, the only squid in the amazake was the printing in the paper cups).
“I feel like I’m cheating somehow, you know?” Haru stopped his climb while he was still out of view; he knew eavesdropping was bad, but his curiosity about whatever troubled Nagisa was stronger than his morals.
Rin sighed, “Yeah, I get you.”
“On one hand, it’s better: my parents aren’t nagging me about my grades, Rei-chan doesn’t feel left out, and you and Haru-chan both made it to regionals; but on the other hand, I kind of miss those challenges we faced together.”
Rin elbowed him lightly, “It just means we have more time to make more memories. Weren’t you and Gou filling out that album?”
Nagisa stuck out his tongue, but it didn’t have any heat behind it. “You’re right, and this time I’ll have a front row seat to Rin-chan dressing as a maid!”
“Why you little…” There was some shuffling, and he saw Rin grabbing Nagisa’s shoulders to give him a noogie. After a couple more seconds of play fighting, they calmed down, and Nagisa leaned his head on Rin’s shoulders.
“Thanks, Rin-chan.”
Haru waited a couple more minutes before walking in with the amazake, and thankfully neither of his friends minded that the cups were now soggy.
The bus the Iwatobi team had booked for Osaka parted at midday, while Samezuka’s school bus departed late evening, so they had the entire evening to explore the city a little before taking the train to Kyoto and meeting at a restaurant with their rival school. Or they would have, if Nagisa hadn’t wandered away from Umeda and gotten them lost for nearly two hours. As it was, they barely had time to drop their luggage at their hotel and run to the restaurant.
Even at night, Kyoto was absolutely flooding with people. Since the restaurant was closer to Samezuka’s hotel than Iwatobi’s, they had to take the subway to get there. It was a vibrant reunion, more so with Samezuka’s team captain and Nagisa growing more and more animated with the hour.
Once they went back to their hotel (with Nagisa chattering Rei’s ear off on the way), Haru turned and turned in his bed, unable to sleep. Tired of his own restlessness, he decided to go for a run.
Halfway through his run, he found Nagisa on the swingset of a playground.
“Haru-chan couldn’t sleep either,” Nagisa stated when Haru walked closer, and Nagisa’s gaze when he turned around held him captive for a second. “Did I get that right?”
Haru pursed his lips, but nodded.
Nagisa patted one of the swings near him, and Haru accepted the invitation for company. Uncomfortable with Nagisa’s silence, Haru asked, “Why couldn’t you sleep?”
Nagisa hmmed, and for the first time since the whole whirlwind of creating a swim club started, Haru noticed the eyebags his friend was sporting. “I had a nightmare about something that happened at the beach a couple of years ago; and then I was so nervous about tomorrow I couldn’t go back to sleep,” he shrugged, as if this was normal for him. “What if I mess up while diving, or while turning around at the other side of the pool, or if I am too slow and we lose?”
It was weird (and wrong) to hear Nagisa so worried. Through it all, Nagisa had been the one most sure of himself.
“No matter what happens tomorrow, we have come this far, and that should be enough. We’re here thanks to you.”
Nagisa smiled; it looked a little tired, but not dishonest in any way.
“You should thank me then, for creating the club.”
Despite himself, Haru felt a fond warmth fill his chest. “You’re right: thank you, Nagisa.”
Haru expected exuberance. He expected Nagisa to jump on top of him and hug him until the air left his lungs, fervent declarations of love and devotion that would transcend the years and the distance.
Instead, Nagisa’s small smile widened the slightest bit, warmth finally reaching his eyes.
“Thanks, Haru-chan. I needed to hear that.”
The next day, they won third place in the relay (Haru lost to Rin in his individual event), and Rin just smiled at them full of nostalgia, but then his expression turned into a smugness typical of a rival.
“Just you wait, because next year I’ll have the best relay team for Samezuka, and you’ll be eating my bubbles.”
Nagisa jumped, slinging both his arms on Haru and Makoto’s shoulders. “You better run Ai-chan to the ground, I want my rival too!” He replied with a pout.
After a snort, Rin just ruffled Nagisa’s hair. “Sure will.”
They hadn’t won anything at Nationals, but going to Tokyo had been fun (at least until they reached Shibuya and Haru was overwhelmed within the first five minutes), and they had even received praise from the school principal when coming back.
“Next year; next year we’ll surely be in the top ten schools,” Nagisa muttered under his breath in one of the buses on the way back home. For some reason, Haru believed it.
The beginning of third year was a bit of the same, with Rin’s transition into Samezuka captainship smoother than anyone (save Nagisa and Kou) expected. Since Makoto and Haru were busier with graduation plans and looking over colleges, Rei had steadily taken more of the captain duties, with Nagisa as a surprisingly helpful right-hand.
Despite the lack of new members, Haru felt at ease leaving the club to his friends.
And then nationals happened.
Rei fiddled with his glasses for the umpteenth time. He wondered if it was a stereotype, that people with glasses fiddled with them a lot.
“Do you want some strawberry bun?” Nagisa-kun offered him a bite out of the half-eaten snack.
“No, thank you,” he replied, a little more curtly than he had intended.
“What’s wrong, Rei-chan?” And of course, Nagisa-kun had already picked up on his unease.
“I’m worried about Haruka-senpai,” he admitted.
“Haru-chan? But he’s been doing great lately.”
Rei bit his lip, and took a couple of seconds to consider how he could phrase what was bothering him.
“I worry that with all the stress from the talent scouts and going to University, he might lose his ‘free’ that makes him Haruka-senpai.”
Nagisa-kun hmmm’ed, but it sounded thoughtful instead of absent-minded, and it comforted Rei that Nagisa-kun didn’t dismiss his worry outright.
“Maybe he will, but maybe he won’t, and he will adapt that ‘free’ to this new stage in his life.” Nagisa-kun then turned to look at him, “I’ve known Haru-chan since I was nine, and if not seeing each other for over four years didn’t break our friendship, I don’t think University will.” He then giggled, “Who knows, maybe Tokyo will even be good for him.”
Nagisa-kun’s explanation sounded reasonable, and wise beyond his years, wise beyond Rei’s first impression of his friend back when he had first been dragged into the swim club. He had thought that someone as carefree as Nagisa-kun would be an airhead, but even with the way his mind seemed to go for miles a minute and how hard he struggled with schoolwork, he was determined in not falling behind in his studies, his dilligence sometimes even rivaling Rei’s study schedule.
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know I’m right.”
That cockiness should be infuriating, and yet it comforted him.
Haru’s mom had insisted they get him a passport when he was nine to take him on a family vacation to Korea. He hadn’t had much reason to use it after that, what with him being a homebody, but when Rin dragged him out of his house and said they’d be taking a plane to Australia, he was glad his passport hadn’t expired yet.
The beach in Sydney looked much the same to the one in Iwatobi, and the sound of the waves leaping at the shore was just as relaxing. He was miles away from home, and yet he felt calm.
“I know I already told you that what happened back then wasn’t your fault. But I always wanted you to be the first one to listen to the whole story.”
The phrasing was odd, but Haru let Rin’s voice lull him into a trancelike state as he told him of feelings Haru never thought he would comprehend: the feeling of falling behind while his friends had their lives figured out, the desire for more, and the fear of failure.
Later that day, after dinner with Rin’s host parents, they went to a hostel.
“Hello,” Rin greeted the receptionist in English. “I have a reservation for a twin bed room under Rin Matsuoka.”
Haru frowned. Why was Rin gesticulating and emphasizing the ‘twin beds’ bit?
“Are they out of twin-beds?”
“Hm? No, I’m just making sure there was no mistake in the reservation.”
Haru’s frown deepened. “Are you saying that sharing a bed with me would be bad?”
Rin rolled his eyes, that same annoyance he expressed whenever Haru was being particularly contrarian.
“Please, like you wouldn’t complain about my girly name getting us into that situation.”
“Are you saying it wouldn’t?”
“Pot, kettle.”
The receptionist called their attention before their bickering escalated into a duel of sorts, and she gave Rin the key to their room that, thankfully, had two beds.
Haru had heard stories about jet lag, about how due to the time difference you were more likely to sleep earlier than not, and yet, he felt himself tossing and turning for what seemed like hours.
“Haru?” Haru sighed, as if he was just about to fall asleep and Rin was being a nuisance.
“Hm?”
“Do you ever think about when we first met?”
“Sometimes.”
“I was such a brat back then—”
“You still are.”
“—but I never thanked you.”
Haru frowned, and turned to look at Rin. “Thank me for what?” Haru hadn’t done anything special. He actually remembered being a brat back for the better part of Rin’s transfer to their Elementary school.
“I’m sure you get told this a lot, but your swimming captivated me. Back then I was still hurting about losing my dad, but being in the lane next to yours… it was like I was alive again, like a fire was lit anew in my chest.” In the dim glow of the lamplight between their beds, Rin’s eyes sparkled like fireflies. “You feel it too, don’t you?”
“Go to sleep.”
“Hmp. Typical.” Then he pulled the switch and the room was completely dark.
But he kept thinking about it when they landed back in Japan. Water was life, water was cool, water was comfort. But competing against Rin, it was like a flame inside his chest that propelled him like a steamboat; it was the complete opposite of water, but it wasn’t bad. No matter what the future brought, he could see himself stepping into the national stage, he could see himself swimming as a living in his future.
He could see himself swimming against Rin for the rest of his life.
They had a farewell party at Coach Sasabe’s place, with hotpot (ugh) and soft drinks. And at some point, Amakata sneaked in booze.
Nagisa was, unsurprisingly, a giggly drunk. Rei was rather poetic, thanking his senpais and friends for the last two wonderful years, during which he bloomed into a rather fine captain. Rin had a higher tolerance, but Nagisa roped him into a drinking contest, and by his fifth beer he was crying and thanking everyone for being his friends and believing in him. Haru wondered for a second if he should interrupt the conspiracy between Nitori and Momo to steal Kou’s heart at the risk of being caught by “officer Yamazaki”.
Makoto, Haru, Kou and Sousuke had the good sense to not drink alcohol (or accept spiked drinks from Nagisa), and either dragged their friends to somewhere they could sleep off the alcohol, or called relatives that could come pick them up.
While Makoto was taking care of Rei, Haru was in charge of delivering Nagisa to his oldest sister who was on her way home from work.
“Thanks for taking care of my idiot brother,” Nanako Hazuki said, bowing and making said brother (now unconscious) bow in thanks. “He’s so lucky mom and dad are doing overtime today and won’t check on him.”
“It was no problem,” then, he handed her the empty bento box from last week he kept forgetting to return to Nagisa. “I should thank you, actually. Nagisa keeps praising your cooking; your mackerel recipes are wonderful.”
Nanako raised her eyebrows. “My recipes? I mean, I think I helped him once or twice and gave him tips, but he’s been making his own bentos since he started High School.”
“Oh,” he lowered his hands as he processed Nanako’s words. “He must have been embarrassed to claim his work. He’s better about it now, but I remember him disliking ‘girly’ things as a kid.”
Nanako grimaced at that. “I can’t blame him for that. My sisters and I were a bit… cruel to him back then.”
It was weird, talking so frankly about his friend’s insecurities with his former tormentor. But nowadays Nagisa talked with so much fondness about his sisters. Besides, Haru needed an excuse to rationalize the reason Nagisa wouldn’t claim a good deed when he was the type to brag about it nonstop.
Come to think about it, Nagisa was also adamant that all club members (even Kou) get regular medical checkups, and when Kou went nuts about nutrition, Nagisa’s bentos (and by default Haru’s) always ranked highest. Haru hadn’t been this healthy since before his parents got busy with work in Middle School and he’d started to rely on rice and canned mackerel.
Maybe… Nagisa wanted to study something to do with sports nutrition?
“I don’t think he holds that against you any longer,” he pushed the bento back in her direction, “but Nagisa is also the type to forgive just so he won’t have to talk about uncomfortable things. So for his sake, I beg that you talk it out with him.”
Finally, Nanako grinned. “I will.”
University wasn’t as different as he once thought it would be. The dread of the looming timeline until he became an “ordinary person” wasn’t as bad as he had thought during Nationals. Maybe it was true that the first step was always the hardest.
Haru wondered if Rin had known somehow that Haru would choose Hidaka and that was why he had given him Mikoshiba’s number during their second year, and encouraged them to mail each other once in a while. Adulthood hadn’t tempered Mikoshiba’s zeal, and he was just as grueling a taskmaster in Hidaka than he was in Samezuka Academy. Surprisingly enough, Haru didn’t mind it now that his heart was set on swimming professionally.
One great point in Hidaka’s favor was their mackerel miso teishoku. And the foreign competitor seemed to think so too.
Albert was a good swimmer. Way faster than Haru, though the sense Haru got from competing with him wasn’t like the passionate fire he felt against Rin, but rather like a sludge that wanted to fill his lungs and choke him to death.
But at least he had Ikuya and Rin to swim with him, and save Albert from the chokehold the water also had on him.
Until Rin revealed that he would stop swimming freestyle to focus on butterfly.
“Why are you here? Don’t you have finals and the entrance exam to get ready for?”
Nagisa gripped the straps of his backpack a little too eagerly, and let himself into Haru’s apartment.
“Finals aren’t until three weeks from now, and a day trip to Tokyo never hurt anyone.” He left his backpack by Haru’s bed, and then walked into the kitchen. “Won’t Haru-chan give me asylum? Nanako-neechan already told me she ratted out my culinary abilities, so I can take over cooking today and tomorrow.”
Haru sulked, not willing to admit he missed Nagisa’s bentos.
“I know you haven’t been taking your vitamins, so take them now while I prepare breakfast.”
“Did Rin put you up to this?”
Nagisa cracked eggs in a bowl and added soy sauce and mirin before mixing. “I don’t need bribing from Rin-chan to come and care for you.”
A couple of minutes passed in uncomfortable silence. Nagisa wasn’t the type of person to read the room, he would ask the frankest questions just for the fun of it, and despite his usual flightiness he was the most stubborn member of their group when he put his mind to it; all of these qualities made for the weird mix of wanting to tell him everything and wanting to run away at the same time.
So after taking a deep breath, and because he wanted to know what damage had been done to his friend group, he asked: “Did Rin tell you about our fight?”
Nagisa had already filled the rice cooker with a cup of rice and some water by the time he answered, “He didn’t. But it was obvious because everyone was miserable.” He turned on the cooker and then went to grab a couple of blue curry packets from his backpack, the special ones that had mackerel instead of chicken, and set only one of the bags to boil on a pot. “I often joke with Rei-chan that our group is a bit like your harem, because whenever something happens to you, we all feel it.”
Resigned that this was his morning now, Haru sat in a chair near the kitchen area. “Do the first years feel that way too?”
Nagisa hissed and brought his burned thumb to his mouth. “They’re learning to.”
The rice cooker pinged not long after, and Nagisa didn’t dally in serving the tamagoyaki with a plate of white rice, half a serving of Iwatobi blue curry, a small bowl of miso and salad.
“Ryuu-chan sent me a copy of your diet menu, then I asked Natsuki-neechan, who studied nutrition, if I could change some of the meals and keep the calorie balance, et cetera; so at least for today, you won’t feel like passing out during training.”
Haru avoided his gaze and dug into his plate. It was almost like Nagisa knew he had been avoiding Makoto’s well-intentioned visits to bring bentos, only really seeing him for more than five minutes to ask without asking that he give Rin that wood carving Haru had done for Rin’s birthday just last week.
But Nagisa wasn’t asking for anything now, he was actually using his stubborn-cuteness-superpower to take care of Haru when he had been neglecting his health for months. The least he could do is lessen his friends’ worry.
“Do you ever feel… like everyone else is leaving you behind?”
“Oh, all the time.” Haru scrunched his nose a little when Nagisa’s reply sent some food flying over his clean table, but then again, he probably had no right to complain in this situation. “I couldn’t actually make it to prefecturals last year because Ai-chan won in 100m breaststroke.”
“How did you deal with that?”
Nagisa tilted his head, as if he had never been asked this particular question. “Well, High School wasn’t the end of swimming, was it, Haru-chan? University just gave you a lot more people to swim with.” He shrugged, because even if Middle School seemed to have given him wisdom, he still had a carelessness to him that was so Nagisa. “What I mean is that, we’re still pretty young. I know Olympic athletes retire at like, thirty or something, and it’s not like I’ll be competing professionally since I only plan to enter my University swim club to go bother Kin-chan but…” he turned to look directly at Haru, to make sure he drove the point home, “I think that just stepping into the world stage, getting onto that podium, going to all sorts of different countries; I think you just being here for something you’re so passionate about is amazing.”
Haru felt his ears flush at Nagisa’s earnestness, and as he thought of a way to make it up to Rin, to really apologize about the things he said and the obvious wounds he poked, he thought of a way to thank Nagisa.
“Well, for starters, you could take me to the new penguin exhibit at Ueno.”
Being talented like he was, there wasn’t much cause for Haru to really make an effort in anything. But the sight one could see with a group of beloved friends during a medley relay remained just as awe-inspiring, and as they felt the weight of the bronze medal on their necks, Haru couldn’t prevent the small grin on his face. This must be the feeling of ‘it was worth it’.
The rest of the ceremony went by in a blur, and once they met back with their friends, the first thing Haru did was hang the medal on Makoto’s neck, who blinked a little surprised but gracefully accepted Haru’s gesture for what it was.
“We should go eat something,” Ikuya mentioned, his own medal being fought over by Hiyori and Natsuya. “Wait, where did Rin go?”
“I think he forgot something in the locker rooms,” Sousuke piped up, “I’ll go look for him.”
“I’ll go,” Haru interrupted, “you’ll get lost.”
Sousuke shrugged in acquiescence, and as the rest of the group walked to the entrance, Haru made his way through the sports center until he reached the locker rooms they had been in just half an hour before.
He encountered Rin quite easily, the only problem is that he was too busy eating Nagisa’s face to really notice Haru was there. And Nagisa was just as busy, pawing at Rin’s back and exhaling little sighs in lieu of a full breath.
“Did you guys get together before or after you traveled back in time?”
The effect was instantaneous: they separated, with a synchronized yelp of “Haru/Haru-chan?!”, faces cherry-red and kiss-swollen lips. Haru only raised an eyebrow to show he was waiting for an answer.
Rin was the first one to recover, “Wait, how did you know about the time travel?”
Nagisa lightly punched his arm. “We weren’t exactly subtle, Rin-chan; Mako-chan figured it out after I got Goro-chan to volunteer at our club, and Rei-chan figured it out while delirious in the meeting right after our University entrance exam.”
“And they didn’t— they never—?!”
Nagisa tapped his chin deep in thought, “I mean Mako-chan was pretty upset during your last fight with Haru-chan, but at some point he probably thought something was different enough about your fight that you couldn’t prevent it or fix it quick enough.”
Haru hadn’t thought it was possible without alcohol, but Rin’s face went redder.
“I didn’t mean to… that wasn’t…”
“There there, Rin-chan…” Nagisa started rubbing circles on Rin's back. “And to answer your question… we literally just got together now? It was just, so weird being back and being almost four years older than everyone, Rin-chan and I grew closer without realizing.”
Haru nodded, because there really wasn’t much to it if they both were happy together. Nagisa’s face suddenly lit up in mischief, and for once, Haru didn’t feel threatened by it.
“Say, Haru-chan, do you want to hear some funny stories about Rin-chan’s emo—” his proposal was cut off by Rin’s hand on his mouth, and Haru was sure Rin’s hand wasn’t moving even with the nastiest licks.
“That’s enough, was there anything else you needed?”
“Yeah, everyone wanted to go eat something to celebrate, but I’ll tell them you’re… indisposed and will join us later.” And with that, he turned around and left them to their own devices.
He would drill them on their time travel adventure, but maybe after the victory high faded.