Chapter 8: Sakura

When you go around to the back of Iwatobi SC, there is a small garden, which could also be at gazed from the poolside. In that rear garden, crowded with various kinds of trees planted, it showed a different look with each season. Beginning the maintenances such as cleaning and watering, as well as replanting and pruning, since all of it is done by the superintendent on his own, in a certain sense, it could also be said that this rear garden was developed according to the superintendent’s tastes.

Its reputation was quite renowned that all year round, some sort of flowers blooming, it delighted the eyes of the people going to the club from beyond the gla.s.s.  Red camellias in winter. From canola blossoms to azaleas in spring. The early summer hydrangeas, inflating like soap bubbles, bellflowers follow after them. The scent of autumn’s fragrant olive was so vivid that it enveloped the poolside in it.

Now in particular, the canola blossoms’ yellow is coloring the rear garden.

Rin and Nagisa, the three of them with Haruka, were waiting for Makoto in the rear garden.

“Hey, Rin-chan. What do you wanna do with burying something like a trophy?”

Nagisa asked.

“That’s something the four of us won together, so wouldn’t it be weird if one person took it home?”

“Then, what if we had it displayed in the club?”

The trophies and shields acquired individually from the compet.i.tion can be kept individually, but if someone wishes to, getting the club to keep it safe, they could also get it to be placed in the display.

“It’s fine. It’s not something to show off to people. It’s a trophy just for us. So, we’re burying it as a proof of our friendship. Well, it’s something like a time capsule.”

“Then, will it stay buried forever?”

“No. Someday, the day will surely come when we have to remember what happened today, today’s medley relay. When that day comes, we’ll dig it up again.”

“When’s that?”

“Who knows. If it’s five years or ten years later, we’ll only know when it’s that time.”

The rear entrance’s door opening, Makoto came out. He’s holding the trophy and several gardening shovels in his hands.

“Sorry for the wait. I got the superintendent’s permission. And I borrowed shovels, too.”

Burying it arbitrarily, having it be discovered when the flowers are replanted, since they’d be in trouble if it was disposed of, they decided to get permission just in case. Temporarily taking back the trophy and shield to the club, after the commemoration photographing, they decided to listen to each of their wishes. And then, Makoto took charge of it.

“All right. Then, shall we?”

Opening the bag he had left aside, Rin took out a big, empty cookie tin from inside it.

“You’re amazing, Rin-chan. Are you always carrying that?”

Nagisa saying that, Rin is astonished.

“No way. Just today.”

“Ah, by any chance, is it the one that your little sister Kou-chan brought――”

“Yeah. This.”

“Whaaat. You should’ve left it.”

“If I take it out with that timing, it would really make me ‘luck-pusher’, wouldn’t it?”

Makoto asked while distributing the shovels.

“But hey, did you know from the start that we’ll get a trophy?”

“That goes without saying, Makoto. Surely you didn’t think that we can’t win the championship?”

Rin opens the lid of the empty tin.

“It’s not like that, but I just thought what amazing self-confidence you have.”

Makoto hands over the trophy to Rin. With a size that can be handled with one hand, there’s a relief in the shape of the starting posture in the top part, from a distance it looked like a bird spreading its wings.

When they try putting it in the cookie tin, it went into it exactly.

“Wow, it fits right in, huh?”

Nagisa is surprised.

“Of course it does. It’s the same as last year.”

Rin was also the champion in 50m b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke and free last year.

“So where did the superintendent say that we can bury it?”

While closing the lid, Rin asked Makoto.

“Around the lower part of the camellias.”

“Which ones are the camellias?”

As Makoto and Rin are taking an extensive view of the rear garden after Nagisa asked, Haruka pointed his finger.

“That’s it.”

“You’re amazing, Haru. You knew.”

Makoto admires him, raising his eight-shaped eyebrows.

“When the red flowers began to bloom, Yazaki told me.”

Holding the shovel and the tin, Rin goes towards the camellias.

“All right, let’s dig.”

As Rin sticks the shovel into the earth, Makoto and Nagisa also began to dig in the same spot. However, the earth was unexpectedly hard, they can’t dig through it as easily as they thought.

“Haru. Don’t just watch, give us a hand.”

As Rins says it, throwing aside the gardening shovel, Haruka went into the club through the rear entrance.

“Tsk, what a selfish guy.”

Reluctantly, when the three of them are digging again, Haruka came back, carrying a large shovel.

“If you do it neatly with those, night’s gonna fall.”

Sticking the shovel into the ground right after he says it, forcibly stepping on it with his feet, he began to dig with a thudding sound. The gardening shovels completely getting their turn taken, the three of them ended up just gazing at Haruka’s manner of digging.

Suddenly, Haruka’s feet that was stepping on it, stopped.  

“What happened? Haru.”

Makoto asked.

“Something’s there.”

“What is it?”

Nagisa peeks at it.

“……A box?”

With the gardening shovel, Makoto cautiously tries to dig it up.

“This is a ‘toolbox’. There was a preceding visitor, huh.”

Rin peeks at it, too. The ‘toolbox’ was in a transparent vinyl bag.

“A name…. is written on it.”

When Makoto brushes off the earth, the letters on it read ‘Matsuoka Rin’.

“Me? Ah, this, it’s what I used in kindergarten. But, why?”

As Rin is staring at the box, Haruka spoke.

“You’ll know if you try opening it.”

“……Yeah.”

Digging up the box, taking off the vinyl, Rin tries to open the lid. There were four gold medals inside it.

Nagisa peeks at it from beside Rin.

“’18th’ is written on it, huh.”

“This year is the 41st, uh, that’s 23 years ago, huh.”

“――”

As Makoto says it, Rin stands up seizing the medal and began to run to the club’s rear entrance. Opening the door and going inside, crossing through the lobby like that, he ran all the way to the break room that has the photographs of the successive generations of members displayed in it. Then, he stands in front of the oldest photograph at the very end. On the medal hanging on the neck of the boy holding the trophy and laughing, the letters read ‘18th’. He compares it with the medal in his hand. Without a doubt――.

“…..Pops.”

Tears roll down Rin’s cheek.

That box wasn’t buried 23 years ago. It’s after Rin enters elementary school that he stopped using the ‘toolbox’. And by that time, his father was gone. In other words, the other three must have buried it. The proof of a friendship sworn for eternity…. perhaps.

“……Pops.”

After muttering it again, Rin quickly wiped away the tears with his left hand.

After that, they decided to bury the cookie tin with the trophy in it beside the ‘toolbox’.

The cherry blossom had small flower buds on it. With the way they shook in the wind, it had become quite distinctly clear that they’ve already become soft. In three more days, they’ll surely start blooming. Like they were impatiently waiting for that time, the flower buds wholly took in the spring sunshine. At the base of the cherry blossom, surrounded by the bricks turned reddish-brown, multicolored flowers are blooming one step ahead.

“It hasn’t bloomed yet after all.”

Rin says it without sounding that regretful.

“That’s why Mako-chan said so. Of course it’s too early.”

Without meaning to scold him, Nagisa says it somehow funnily.

“But hey, I’m seeing it for the last time today, so I wanted to see it no matter what.”

Rin was adoringly gazing at the flower buds one by one.

“But look, the flower bed’s flowers are blooming. What kind of flower is this? Zaki-chan.”

Squatting down, Makoto stretches his hand towards the flower. The scarf stained light brown swaying in the wind, Aki also squatted down beside Makoto.

“A pansy, I think. Probably. Actually, I don’t really know either.”

Saying that, she laughs. There was one more flower that bloomed.

Nagisa squatted down beside Aki. Then, discovering the messages written on the brick, one by one, he reads them out aloud.

“’Friend’, ‘Peace’, ‘Smile, ’love’, ‘Thank you’. Hey, which one is Mako-chan’s?” [the ones in italics are originally in English]

Being asked by Nagisa, Makoto started to search for his.

“I wonder where? Uh, ah, this one.”

It was right beside Nagisa’s foot. Nagisa tries reading the letters written on the one he’s pointing his finger at.

“It’s in English. ‘I swim’. It means swimming?”

“That’s right. It means ‘I swim’.”

“Mine is next to it.”

“Eh?”

When Aki points to it, Makoto raised his eight-shaped eyebrows, seeming a little surprised.

Nagisa reads it out loud.

“It’s in English again. ‘Best’. I know this one. It means ‘best’, right?”

Aki nodding, she points her finger to the brick beside it.

“Beside mine is Nanase-kun’s.”

“’Free’. Aah, it’s free, isn’t it?”

Rin points his finger from behind.

“Mine’s beside it.”

“’For The Team’. Team……? What does it mean?”

“It means ‘for the team’, but it seems like too much of a coincidence. All four are in English, and it’s kind of lined up like a phrase.”

There were other bricks written in English, and it wasn’t strange that some were accidentally lined up either, but it obviously feels intentional.

Aki laughed mischievously.

“I lined them up. When I was carrying the bricks to Nanase-kun, after seeing the message, I thought it was amusing. But it’s really a coincidence that they ended up connecting like a phrase. It’s a little surprising.”

Folding his arms, Rin closes his eyes.

“This isn’t a coincidence. It’s fate.”

To that exaggerated way of speaking, Makoto and Nagisa look at each other and burst out laughing.

“Rin-chan, you’re like a terrible actor.”

“Hey…..!”

When Rin turned to face Nagisa to say something back to him, Aki began to read out loud everyone’s messages.

“’I Swim Best Free For The Team’.”

Aki’s voice that seemed like it’s speaking to the pansy, flows alongside the spring breeze.

Rin, who missed his chance to complain to Nagisa, taking a single breath, brought a smile to his face.

“It somehow sounds like good words.  It feels perfect for the current us.”

While bringing his face closer to the bricks, Makoto tilts his neck.

“But is this really a proper phrase?”

Rin and Aki tilted their necks, too.

“Well…….”

Suddenly, Nagisa points his finger at a yellow flower.

“Look. See, over there.”

“Eh, where?”

Makoto and Aki look in the direction that Nagisa is pointing his finger in.

“See, inside that yellow flower.”

Being told that, when the two of them bring their faces closer, there was an insect inside the flower. Its black and yellow striped abdomen can be seen. When they realized that it’s a honeybee, it was at the same time that the honeybee flew out.

“Oh!”

“Eek!”

Makoto and Aki moved away from the flower bed, reflexively jumping back. However, innocently stopping at the next flower, the honeybee starts collecting nectar again.

Looking at the two of them like little children, Nagisa laughed.

“It’s okay. You two are scaredy cats, huh? See.”

Holding out both his hands, without leaving time to hold his breath, Nagisa caught the honeybee.

While pointing his finger at the honeybee inside Nagisa’s hands, Rin says in a panic.

“O-oi, it’s a bee. That.”

“I know. Is Rin-chan scared, too?”

“No, that’s not it. Hurry up and let it loose.”

While giggling, Nagisa held out his closed hands towards Haruka’s face.

“Is Haru-chan scared, too?”

“No.”

Just expressionlessly, without even stirring, Haruka was fixedly looking at his hands. When Nagisa slowly opens his hands, the honeybee was crawling around with small movements, perhaps searching for nectar in his palms. Before long, when it moves its wings like it remembered how to, it flew away, grazing Haruka’s cheek.

After Haruka saw the bee off, he slowly moved his gaze to Rin.

“Did you get to meet your father?”

Haruka utters the same words that Sousuke did at that time.

“Aah, well yeah. What about you? Were you able to see a great sight?”

“Probably yeah.”

Makoto raises his eight-shaped eyebrows.

“I was able to see it, too. But it was kinda strange.”

Nagisa spreads a whole-faced smile.

“Me too! It was a really good feeling.”

His voice resounds, filling the vast schoolyard. Though it was Sunday, there was no one else there other than the five of them. A little while later when the flowers of the cherry blossom would bloom profusely, this schoolyard would be overflowing with the voices of new children again.  

Aki breathed in the air that smelled like spring, filling up her chest.

“But, isn’t it amazing? Winning the championship so easily. What with a new tournament record, really, it’s amazing.”

Imitating Aki, Makoto also tries breathing in the air. It faintly had the scent of salt water.

“Zaki-chan and the others, you properly got a bronze medal, didn’t you? It’s amazing.”

Nodding, Aki affirms that they’re amazing.

“You know, I might’ve come to like swimming a little more again.”

Folding his arms, Rin nods. Makoto smiles, raising his eight-shaped eyebrows. Saying that he thinks so, too, Nagisa looks at Haruka. Haruka was looking up at the sky. With a distant gaze, as if he was seeking the end of the sky.

“Rin.”

Haruka calling Rin’s name, time stopped just for a moment. Makoto and Aki look at Haru. Then, Rin, who was called by his first name, replies like he’s amused.

“What is it?”

“Are you going to pursue your father’s dream?”

“I don’t know. Not yet.”

Even if they don’t know yet, even if they can’t see the goal, they can dash with all their strength for the sake of searching for it. That’s the privilege that was bestowed upon them.

The cherry blossom’s branches made a sound. As they turn around, the wind was blowing. That wind crossing over Haruka and the others, while wearing the spring’s sunshine, it runs through the schoolyard. And when it accelerates again, it soared into the skies.

To the distant future, inviting them along.