High Speed!

Chapter 4 - Start

Chapter 4 - Start

He runs with Makkou on the sh.o.r.e while basking in the morning sun. The wind from the sea feels pleasant. The weather’s nice today, too. The temperature had risen enough to make you think that it was the beginning of summer. It’s the ideal weather for the first day of practice.

Yesterday’s pool cleaning lasted exactly until the evening, in the end, they finished with all the members covered in bubbles and soaked to the skin. Apparently, it happens every year.

That exhaustion ended up getting blown away to somewhere while he was running with Makkou.

After the walk, he leaves the house after taking a shower. Makoto was waiting at the bottom of the stone steps.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Making the expectations grow for the days that are starting anew, Makoto’s smile reflected the morning sun.

Joining up with Asahi at the school gate, after they got changed in the changing room, Nao-senpai came to them when they came out onto the poolside.

“Morning.”

Wearing a jersey, he raises his hand while smiling. He’s heard that he’s the manager as well as the trainer for the first years, but will he really not swim?

“Zaa-ssu!” [Note: Since the previous chapter, Asahi is adding –ssu near the end of his sentences as a verbal tic. It doesn’t really mean anything, but he only does it at the swim club. Here he’s shortening ‘good morning’ down to one syllable and adding it. So from here on out, I’ll mark his sentences that have a –ssu in them with a *.]

Yelling, Asahi lowers his head very deeply.

“Good morning.”

Makoto saying it, Haruka lowered his head, taking advantage of the opportunity,

“From today onwards, I’ll be teaching you a lot of stuff, so I hope we’ll get along. To begin with, bowing when you enter the poolside.”

Beside them as he’s saying so, uppercla.s.smen come out and make a bow.

“And then, bowing again before you leave to go home.”

“Is there a kami in the pool?”*

Asahi asked.

“You can think of it like that, but it’s for the sake of focusing your mind. It means that after bowing, you don’t lose focus until you bow again.”

“Hoo hoo. Basically, it’s to throw our heart and soul into practice, huh.”*

“That’s part of it, but the most important thing is to make sure we don’t injure ourselves. We’re not on soil, and it’s not a wooden floor, either. Because a pool is water and concrete. Even the smallest accident could take your life. That’s why we focus ourselves by bowing.”

“Oh, I see.”*

“Then, let’s get going.”

Nao started to walk, Haruka and the others followed after him after making a bow.

While looking at Nao from behind, Haruka felt by intuition that he’d probably be fast if he were to swim. He’s been thinking about it since yesterday, but it’s almost as if there’s no waste in his posture. Carrying himself as flexibly as a cat, there wasn’t the slightest gap. It was like he was constantly prepared to react even if a foreign enemy were to attack him.

While walking, Nao looks back at them over his shoulder.

“Since I’m also the trainer, I’ll call everyone by their first names, okay? You’re all fine with Asahi, Makoto and Haruka, right?”

“Uissu.”

“Yes.”

Asahi and Makoto answer. Haruka didn’t give a reply.

“What about Haruka?”

He was reminded to reply, but Haruka kept walking in silence. He leaves the follow-up to Makoto.

“Um, excuse me. Could you call Nanase ‘Haru’?

“Why?”

“He doesn’t really, well, like his own name……”

Nao stops and turns towards Haruka. Then, he stuck out his fair-skinned, smiling face.

“It’s the name you got from your parents, so you should treasure it, okay?”

Chills ran down Haruka’s back. He may be smiling, but his gaze is freezing cold.

“Also, say that kind of thing yourself, okay? Haruka.”

“…… Yes.”

He unwittingly replied. No, he was forced to reply. While being bewildered by a weird intimidating air, Haruka couldn’t fathom Nao.

Showing a satisfied expression upon hearing that reply, Nao started walking again. Then he stops in front of the equipment room. There was a piece of paper stuck to the door that had ‘The heart of swimming is in the little things’ written on it.

“‘The heart of swimming is in the little things.’ It’s the swim club’s motto. It means that those who neglect the minor details will never become faster. For example––”

Nao opens the equipment room’s door.

“It means that cleaning and putting things away, taking care of the equipment is also a part of being in the swim club.”

In the equipment room, there were things like kickboards, pull buoys and paddles placed on the rack in order. Underneath it, the lane marks were nicely rolled up and the muscle training items were also crammed in storage there. Nao took out the flags used for backstroke and the pool noodles from among them.

“You can freely use what’s in here. All three of you are from an SC, so I don’t think explanations are necessary, but put the ones you used back to where they belong. That’s the only rule you have to keep. Okay?”

“Yes.”

“We’re going to stretch out the flags and the marks, so bring it over.”

Pointing at the lane marks, Nao handed the flags to Haruka.

It was a short-course outdoor pool with the coat of paint peeling off here and there, and its concrete surface peeked out. It’s not a hindrance for swimming, but he’s heard that the concrete’s durability ends up dropping if the paint peels off. In that sense, it might be a good idea to repair it soon. The poolside’s concrete also giving off a dingy color, the fence surrounding it was completely covered in rust.

It’s not just the fence. Roughly most of the iron-made things were rusty.  As expected, only the handle attached to the starting block was giving off the sheen of stainless steel, but the concrete wall at its base had the marks of having been repaired. Unable to bear the load, it might have fallen off.

It seems like there’s plenty of chlorine in the pool, just by standing on the poolside, it gave off a strong smell. He understands that they’re being careful since it was the biology club’s paradise until the day before yesterday, but he gets a little worried about it being harmful to the human body. About all that chlorine and the micro-organisms that may have survived, too.

At the thought of it, Tomo’s cookies were charming. While thinking that he should’ve eaten it, Haruka stretched out the flags.

“Okay, good work.”

When they finished stretching out the flags and lane marks, Nao thanked them while smiling brightly.

“Then, let’s decide on the leader next.”

“Leader?”*

No wonder Asahi asks back. Natsuya’s supposed to be the swim club’s leader.

“Iwatobi Middle’s swim club is split into the boys’ section and the girls’ section, and we establish a ‘section’ for each year. In short, there are six ‘sections’, and each of them has its own leader. Practices are also carried out by ‘section’ units. So, the one we’re choosing now is the leader of the first year boys’ section. By the way, Natsuya is both the swim club’s leader and the third year boys’ section’s leader, it can be confusing so we call him captain. ––Asahi’s fine, right?”

“Uissu. ……Wait, for what?”*

“First year boys’ leader. Because Asahi was the first to submit the application form.”

Haruka wondered if it was alright to decide based on such a reason, but on second thought he didn’t particularly mind.

“You’re fine with…… me?”

Asahi looks at Makoto.

“I think it’s fine. You’ve got energy.”

Asahi looks at Haruka.

“I’m fine with it, too. You’re the animal caretaker representative anyways.”

“A-animal caretaker representative?”

“There’s a soft-sh.e.l.l turtle, right? In the water tank. Study the way it swims and tell us about it.”

“Aah….. Then, I’ll presume upon your kindness, ––I’ll humbly accept!”

He gave a salute to Nao.

“Even though I said leader, you won’t do anything difficult. Bringing the practice schedule that each section decided on, you just decide on the a.s.signment of the lanes.”

It seems that depending on the practice schedule, they swim together with other groups sometimes. They can only have the lane all to themselves for when they measure times, in most cases, while multiple people swim lined up in a row, they cross each other on the left and right of the same lane. Unless they do it like this, they wouldn’t be able to have all the members practice in this cramped pool.

Since it was their first day, in the sense to get them used to the water, they didn’t mind if they swam freely. Rather than the water, it’s the water’s quality that they have to get used to. While shaking off the sensation of the chlorine and micro-organisms coiling themselves around him, Haruka let his body slip into the water.

On the third day after joining the club, they held practice by focusing on the start.

“Let’s try the track start. The one where you position your feet in front and behind.”

Same as the crouching start in track and field, kicking off your leg that’s behind, you dive in with a low posture as if you were to break into a run.

“Don’t bend your knees too much. Rather than the strength, be conscious of your reaction time.”

He tells them to shorten the time from the start signal to their foot in front leaving the block to within 0.7 seconds, but he can’t tell the time down to such detail. For the time being, they all try diving in.

“Everyone, you’re too slow from when the whistle blows until you start. Your postures are stiff, there’s too much waste. Got it? First, take a deep breath then breathe it out all at once. At times like this, you breathe out everything, such as your ‘straining’, too. Try doing it.”

Being told by Nao, the three of them try doing it.

“After you breathe out, focus your attention on the spot underneath your belly b.u.t.ton. Your body’s center of gravity is there, so your body is supposed to feel like it’s steady if you focus your attention on it. Then, firmly push that center of gravity down.”

Again, the three of them try doing it.

“Ah, it’s a bit different, huh? It feels like the sole of your foot is stuck to the ground. You feel all the weight of your body on the sole of your foot. Then you move into the starting stance, still feeling that weight. Feeling the weight means that the ground is pushing back just as much, so you leap by using that counteraction.”

They try doing it, but they can’t tell if they’re doing it right or not.

“You can’t tell, huh.”

Nao said it, smiling brightly. Was he making fun of them?

“It’s fine if you can’t tell. You’ll be able to in time. But, this next thing is a bit important. After you breathe out, while thinly regulating your breathing, turn your whole body into your ears. Like that, keep your nerves focused so you’re always ready to move.”

He understands it less and less.

“I don’t get it. What is this?”*

“The basics of martial arts. It’s a method to draw out your reaction speed to maximum. All the sports players do it. Simply put, it’s ‘relaxing and concentrating’.”

Somehow, it’s not that he didn’t understand, but that he didn’t have the realization of doing it well. Makoto is also puzzled, knitting his up-slanting eyebrows.

“But, I can’t tell if I’m doing it or not.”

“It can’t be helped, huh. Then, come this way.”

Nao went to the equipment room and instructed them to bring out the training mat. Then, he took out a plastic bottle cap from his jersey’s pocket, put it on the middle of the mat and sat down before it with his legs bent beneath him.

“We’ll do ‘karuta grabbing’ now. Haruka, sit there.”

Haruka sat down with his legs bent beneath him, facing Nao so that the cap was between them.

“Keeping both hands on the mat, lightly raise your waist.”

Oh, he gets it now. It certainly is the stance for ‘karuta grabbing’.

“Makoto, blow the whistle. On its signal, the one who brushes away the cap first is the winner. Alright?”

Haruka nods. In short, it’s a test for ‘relaxing and concentrating’. Then, if you can react faster than Nao, it means that you will pa.s.s.

“Makoto, any time’s fine.”

Nao a.s.sumes his posture with a softness that reminds him of a flexible cat. Haruka’s ability to concentrate rising, energy is leisurely released from his body.

Whistle––.

The cap disappeared. Haruka’s hands are still on the mat.

“I win, huh.”

Saying it while smiling brightly, Nao goes to pick up the cap. He didn’t understand what in the world just happened.

With a ‘hahaha’, Asahi laughs.

“Nao-senpai. Haru’s the weakest among us. I’ll go up against you next.”*

Pushing Haruka out of the way, Asahi sits down.

Whistle––.

The cap flew away. Both hands down, Asahi slowly lifts his head. He was looking at Nao with a gaze like he’s looking at something of unknown origin. Did he make a face like that, too? He probably didn’t. Nao brightly laughs.

––He’s fast.

He doesn’t mean the ‘karuta grabbing’. Haruka was convinced that if Nao were to swim, he’d surely be fast. And yet, why doesn’t he swim? Why is he being the manager? What in the world–– is he.

That day, they finished just by playing ‘karuta grabbing’, but ultimately, no one had won against Nao in the end. Forget winning, they couldn’t even react.

The last day of Golden Week. Haruka and Makoto were at the Hiyori Swimming Stadium. They’re there to cheer for Nagisa. It was the first time they came here not as partic.i.p.ants.

“Be sure to come. Don’t say you’ve got club activities or something, okay? You absolutely absolutely must.”

He reminded them countless times, and luckily or unluckily, they had a day off from club activities. They say that even coming to cheer is encouraging. If Nagisa asks them to do that for him, he has no reason to decline, but it’s not like the cheering’s going to make him faster.

“It’s Nagisa’s turn soon. The 50m breast. Ah, look, he came out.”

Nagisa was where Makoto was pointing to. He’s walking towards the starting block.

“Good luck, Nagisa!”

Leaving the cheering to Makoto, he was absent-mindedly looking at Nagisa. Climbing up onto the starting block, Nagisa’s body looked noticeably delicate, he has a feeling that he’s uneasy in some way. Could it be because the other swimmers are big?

They dive in simultaneously on the short buzzer sound. Nagisa’s head surfaced slower than the other swimmers’. It seems like he didn’t make it in time to correct his start.

“Nagisa! Nagisa!”

Makoto’s shouts of encouragement were also in vain, they reached the goal in roughly the same order as they were in right after the start. He misses the cut.

There was still time until the next 100m one, so he stared without really looking at the other races. To kill time, he tries measuring the start’s timing.

Breathing out, he concentrates his mind to beneath his belly b.u.t.ton. While thinly regulating his breathing, he focuses his nerves. Then, the start––.

Haruka was able to react faster than any of the swimmers. It’s only a matter of imagination.

“Hey, these are middle schoolers now, right?”

Asked by Makoto, he looks at the member listing. There a few names of second years’ that he recognized.

“Looks like it.”

“I felt their start to be slower, though…….”

He looks at Makoto. Knitting his brows, he was making an expression like he’s puzzled. Apparently, they were thinking about the same thing.

“Haru, you try it, too. Nao-senpai’s start. Look, the next race is about to start.”

It’s the 100m b.u.t.terfly. There was a tall and lanky person. A swimmer from Sano SC that Rin had belonged to. If he remembers correctly, his name is–– Yamazaki Sousuke.

The swimmers a.s.sume their posture.

Start––.

“How was it? Haru.”

“Slow.”

“….. It really was, huh.”

Since club activities had begun, the first year boys’ section had only done ‘karuta grabbing’ and start practices, nothing else. They only single-mindedly repeated the practice to shorten their reaction time.  Thanks to it, it seems like all three of them had cleared the 0.7 seconds. This is just according to Nao’s measurement. They didn’t really realize it themselves.

“I wonder what this is.”

Makoto uneasily asks. There’s no way he’d know.

“It’s an illusion.”

“Yeah, maybe it is……”

“Let’s make sure of it in the compet.i.tion against Sano Middle.”

Next Sunday, they were going to have a compet.i.tion against Sano Middle School. As he had pledged, Haruka planned on partic.i.p.ating in five free events and two relay events. Makoto will be swimming in the short distance back and breast. By the way, Asahi is only in the 100m fly.

“Right. That’s for the best, huh?”

When Makoto finally showed a smile, somebody called out to them.

“Are you Nanase, by any chance?”

He looks at them while wondering who he is. He was a stranger. Judging by the fact that he’s wearing a jersey, it seems that he’s a swimmer from somewhere.

“I am.”

“I’m Narukawa Sakuyuki from Bandou SC. I swam in the medley relay in the previous tournament, do you remember?”

“I do.”

It’s a half lie. He remembers his name, but not his face. He was on the same team as Asahi.

“You didn’t enter this tournament, huh.”

“Because I started club activities.”

Usually, Makoto would be the one to answer. But Sakuyuki’s gaze is directed only towards Haruka. Without a single blink, a challenging look––.

“Iwatobi Middle’s swim club?”

“That’s right.”

“I heard Asahi’s doing club activities, too. Shiina Asahi––”

“He’s there.”

“Then, pa.s.s on a message. That I’m looking forward to meeting at the compet.i.tion next time.”

When Haruka doesn’t grasp the meaning of it, Sakuyuki showed a smile.

“I’m in the swim club at Sano Middle.”

It seems that he’s in both the swim club and at Bandou SC. He was satisfied.

“That guy Asahi doesn’t show his face at Bandou SC at all anymore. He always did play hooky a lot, though…… How’s he doing, did he learn how to swim?”

Not understanding the meaning of the question, he looks at Makoto. Makoto was tilting his neck to the side, too.

“Narukawa-kun, by that you mean ––”

When Makoto began to ask, the announcement informing them to convene aired.

“Gotta go. See you later.”

Leaving behind a perplexed Haruka and Makoto, Sakuyuki turned his back to them and ran off.

After the tournament was over, Haruka and Makoto were walking towards the place they had promised to meet at. They’re meeting up with Nagisa. There’s a large park around the stadium, there were a lot of families and people walking their dogs. There’s a big fountain where a path lined with plane trees ends with benches around it to enclose it. Nagisa was sitting on one of those benches, helplessly hanging his head.

He kept intently staring at his own feet even as they approached, it didn’t seem like he had noticed them at all. After a dove suddenly flies away, he finally lifts his face to the sound of its wings.

“Ah, Haru-chan, Mako-chan.”

His usual energy was gone.

“That was close, Nagisa.”

When Makoto says it, Nagisa looked down again. That method of consoling him will only have the opposite effect. Even as an empty compliment, that couldn’t be called ‘close’. He couldn’t even ask about the glimpse of the swimming he had shown in the medley relay.　As if he were a rusty machine, he was merely swimming clumsily while creaking.

“You know, I don’t know anymore, how I should swim.”

From Nagisa’s turned down face, a single teardrop fell. Putting his hand on Nagisa’s head, Haruka musses it up. The same way he always does it to Makkou.

“If you want to become faster, you just have to practice.”

Haruka said while feeling the contradiction of it coming from himself, who had never thought about wanting to swim faster. Nagisa lifts his face and Haruka takes off his hand. Nagisa was looking up at Haruka, without making a move to wipe away the tears streaming down his cheeks.

“…… That’s not it. I can’t feel strongly that I want to swim faster.”

He can’t find the words to say. The same goes for Makoto. Knitting his brows, he was just looking at Nagisa’s face.

Suddenly, hearing the footsteps of several people running up to them, he turns around. Four sixth-years from the Iwatobi Swimming Club were running towards them. Silver medals swayed triumphantly on their chests.

They had stood on the winner’s podium in second place for the medley relay.

“Nagisa!”

Kai, who had swum the b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke, shouted while running and Nagisa stood up. While the four of them were gasping for air, they come up to Nagisa.

“You, haa, don’t just go home as you please, haa.”

The silver medals shone brightly, the rays of the early summer sun glinting off of them.

“What happened? Kai-kun.”

“Why, haa, I’m, haa, moving away.”

Getting too straight to the point, he can’t follow the conversation. In fifth grade, Kai swam against Nagisa in the time trial. That Kai says he’s moving away.

“When…… when are you moving away?”

“Next week. Haa, somewhere far away.”

Riku, who swam the free, takes over after him.

“Today was the last time we swam with Kai. So, we all absolutely wanted to win and kept practicing for the relay.

Kakeru, who swam the backstroke, is next.

“But it wasn’t because Kai’s moving away that we made him a member. It’s because unlike Nagisa, he’s even. You’re absurd when you’re fast, but there are times you swim like today and you’re too uneven.”

Wataru, who swam the b.u.t.terfly, grins.

“And that’s why Kai wants Nagisa to swim the breast. In the medley relay.”

“Eh, me?”

Kai puts his hand on Nagisa’s shoulder.

“You’re the only one, no? I’m counting on you to take my place.”

Nagisa’s eyes shone for a brief moment, then he casts down his eyes again with an air of loneliness.

“If this is how it is, I wish I had talked to Kai-kun more. It’s always after everything is over that I notice. In the previous relay, I knew it was going to be the last time that I swim with everyone, but it didn’t feel real at all…… And after it, I wished I had swum a whole lot more.”

“If you have the time to think about things like that, then first of all, get rid of your unevenness. If you don’t produce results, you’ll regret it more.”

To Kai’s words, Nagisa raises his face.

“Learn to be able to swim in a stable way, no matter what the circ.u.mstances are. Put your teammates at ease.”

In Haruka’s eyes, Kai and Rin overlapped. He remembers the burden he ended up putting on Rin as he tried to cover for Haruka when he broke down in the race. That’s what the Rin at that time seemed to be saying to Haruka.

“Yeah.”

When Nagisa exaggeratedly nods, Riku yells.

“All right, then starting now, let’s have a strategy meeting for the next tournament!”

“Okay!”

Three of them replying, they all run off at once. Nagisa looked up at Haruka’s face.

“Hurry up and go. They’ll leave you behind.”

“––Yeah!”

Waving his hand to Haruka and Makoto, Nagisa ran through the path lined with plane trees with full force. It seems that Nagisa’s cheerfulness is amplifying from gaining the energy called companions. That energy strengthens Nagisa’s feelings. Then, when the feeling of wanting to swim faster rose to its limits, the true power sleeping within Nagisa awakens.

Haruka and Makoto saw them off until their figures running on the path lined with plane trees became small.

“Then, shall we go home, too?”

Nodding to Makoto’s words, when he was about to start walking, suddenly there was a voice calling Haruka.

“––Nanase.”

When he turns around, there was someone lanky standing there for who knows how long. ––It’s Yamazaki Sousuke.

“Why didn’t you enter?”

Today is the first time he talks to Sousuke. Nevertheless, he spoke to him as if they’ve known each other from before. No greetings or self-introduction, either.

He can more or less read how the conversation will unfold. Who’s faster, who wins, he’ll tell him to swim for the sake of satisfying such ridiculous pride. If he wants a taste of superiority, he should do it elsewhere.  Even without going out of his way to direct his rival spirit towards Haruka, there are a bunch of guys faster than Sousuke. For instance, he entered the 100m b.u.t.terfly and free and he missed the winner’s podium for both. This is what it’s like to go up to the next age group.

 If he stays silent, Makoto will probably reply for him sooner or later.

“Ah, we started club activities, and we haven’t been swimming at the SC much.”

That’s how it is.

“Ohh, I see. So you started club activities.”

He thinks that the way he says it is unpleasant. A scorning smile rose to the edge of his mouth.

“Is Iwatobi Middle that strong?”

Sousuke doesn’t avert his gaze from Haruka. The same as Sakuyuki earlier. Every last one of them looks at him with challenging eyes. He can’t stand to take on every single one of them. He left the rest up to Makoto.

“Last year, it looks like they were a breath away from making it to the regional tournament.”

“Not nationals, regionals? Is the environment better than at Iwatobi SC?”

“It’s a regular short-course outdoor pool…… Ah, but there’s a lot of muscle training items.”

“Then, does it have a good coach?”

“For the coach, we have a trainer in charge of us.”

“Oh, is it someone with past results? Like a past representative of j.a.pan?”

“Our third-year manager.”

Sousuke bursts out in laughter.

“Doesn’t that mean that he’s not very good at swimming so he was turned into a trainer?”

Something snapped and surged up within Haruka.

“Don’t say something so underestimating.”

“Who’s underestimating who!”

Sousuke responded to Haruka’s words. Without even trying to hide it, he bares his emotions.

“Have you guys even thought about Rin’s feelings? Have you thought about what kind of feelings he’s swimming with right now? Can you be faster with that? Did you think Rin would be satisfied with that!”

When he’s exposed by Sousuke’s strong gaze, without Haruka aiming to do so, energy is released from his body out of its own will.

“It’s not like I’m swimming for the sake of pleasing Rin in particular. I swim for myself. It has nothing to do with you.”

Sousuke pushes back that energy.

“–– Don’t screw with me!”

In a fl.u.s.ter, Makoto comes between them.

“C-calm down a bit. Both of you.”

Though he’s in a fl.u.s.ter, he’s somehow taking it easy. It might be his up-slanting eyebrows that seem good-natured that make him think that.

“It doesn’t really mean that we quit Iwatobi SC, we’ll take part in tournaments in the fall again. Practice really is tough.”

Ku. A small noise escaped from Sousuke’s mouth as he’s gritting his teeth.

“Don’t forget it. Rin’s feelings of wanting to swim with you guys. I won’t forgive you if you do something halfhearted, just to be clear.”

Turning on his heels and with his resentment exposed, Sousuke took his leave.

He thinks he resembles Rin a lot. Not his appearance or his words, but the feeling of irritation is exactly the same. The energy he released isn’t cooling down yet. He thought that it was exactly the same, right down to the feeling of the ripples noisily rising in his chest.

Taking a deep breath, Haruka looked up at the sky just once.

It’s a blue sky, he thinks. After he parted from Haruka and Makoto, Sousuke was looking up at the sky while he was walking down the path lined with plane trees. When he lets his breath out together with what has acc.u.mulated in his chest, his feelings calmed down just a little.

He wonders why he ended up getting so worked up over it. Perhaps it had irritated him that they didn’t enter? Perhaps he had felt a sense of lacking from them starting something like club activities? No, it’s not just that. He had felt resentment towards himself that with a loss against Rin, he even ended up losing the chance to repay the debt. Then he ended up overlapping Rin with Haruka.

Without knowing it, Sousuke was smiling bitterly. At best, he took it out on him for no reason. From Haruka’s point of view, what a terrible backlash it is. However, when he thinks of Rin’s feelings, he couldn’t stand to not say it after all.

He remembers Rin from that day. ––Unusually, powder snow was fluttering about.

At the start of December last year, on a day that got awfully chilly, on the way home from the Swimming Club, he was walking beside Rin while stepping on the snow that had thinly piled up.

“I decided to go to Australia from April.”

He says it in a light voice, like he’s going on a trip or something. He wasn’t surprised. He figured he’d say something like that one day. It’s just that he said it a little earlier, and going somewhere a little farther than he thought.

“…… I see, got it.”

“I’ve told you about my Pops before, right?”

“He sunk on a ship…… that story?”

 “Yeah. Pops swam when he was a child, too, and according to Grandma’s stories, it seems that he dreamed of becoming an Olympic swimmer.”

“So, in his stead, Rin is going to make that dream––”

“No, it’s not like that. It might be, but I haven’t definitely decided on it yet, I don’t even know if I have the competence for it or not. ……It’s just that, if I were to dive in in a place like that, I thought I might feel like chasing after Pops’ dream.”

He thinks it’s just like Rin. He feels envious of that Rin, who can run off with such a vague motive. Within Sousuke, there was nothing like that.

“It’s full of fast guys. For sure.”

“I’ll prove to them that there’s no talent that can surpa.s.s hard work. But before that, there’s one more thing––”

Perhaps he started to say ‘I still have left to do’, but their conversation ended there at that time. Thinking that when he wants to, he’ll probably say it again sooner or later, he didn’t urge him on. When the time comes, he’ll hear it eventually. –– And that time came three days later.

It was on a Sunday morning when Rin came over to Sousuke’s house, the sun peeking out its face for the first time in a while. It was a rare occurrence for it to snow, continuing for three days, it had created an unfamiliar, pure white sight.

“I decided to move to Grandma’s house. I’m going to Iwatobi.”

He says it with an excessively happy face. He should at least be a little more apologetic about it.

“…… I see, got it.”

He feels like there were a lot of things he wanted to say, things he wanted to ask. But he knows the words he’ll reply with to what he says, and reality won’t change by what he asks. It’s just that Sousuke should come to terms with it inside himself.

“Before I go to Australia, I wanted to swim in Iwatobi no matter what. I want to try being on the same team with those guys. Where Pops swam–– at Iwatobi SC.”

“Is it for the sake of chasing your Pops’ dream?”

“Dunno. But, maybe, if I swam a relay with those guys, I feel like I could meet Pops.”

“Why a medley relay?”

“Because when Pops was in sixth grade, he won the medley relay.”

He said it in a way like he wouldn’t understand unless he said it.

“In the next tournament, we’ll have a showdown in the medley relay, huh.”

“Nanase is free, so Rin is fly, huh.”

“I wonder if it’ll be like that. Ah, Sousuke, you swim fly, right?”

“Better than you, at that.”

Rin laughed with a face brighter than the snow reflecting the light.

The third day after the New Year began. They had their first swim of the year at Sano Swimming Club. And it was also the day that Rin was leaving. It was also because people were lively around Rin, but Sousuke didn’t talk to him at all. He didn’t know what he should say anyways and it felt like they had already talked about everything that they ought to.

After they left the Swimming Club, too, he walked with Rin in silence. Maybe Rin was thinking the same thing? He was probably thinking it. That’s why he didn’t say anything. There was no need to talk about anything.

“Later, then.”

“Okay.”

That was the end. It was still before April when that happened.

Sousuke looked up again at the blue sky that the plane trees narrowed.

He wonders how far this sky could be stretching.

He’s sure that it could stretch endlessly.

He thought–– that it could stretch.
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