High Speed!

Chapter 4: Relay

Chapter 4: Relay

A freezing wind blew on the road leading to the school today, too. On the road which everyone walked with their shoulders narrowed and their eyes cast down, only Rin was running. Pa.s.sing by the other children while breathing out white breaths, while sometimes seeming like he’d collide with them.

Unlike the road to the swimming club, the poplar-lined road was unsuitable for running. Since there are too many people when they’re heading to and from school, you can’t run as you wish. That’s why, it’s sort of pointless for Rin to run here, it could be even said that he was just bothering those around him a little.

In front of where Rin was running, a white scarf stained light brown fluttered in the breeze. Speeding up a little, when Rin caught up to that scarf, he stopped his feet while gasping out white breaths.

“’Morning, Yazaki-san.”

Having turned around, a smile was blooming on Aki’s face again today. He thinks that perhaps she had been walking with a smile on her face all along.

“’Morning, Matsuoka-kun. Did you run here?”

“Yeah, well, it’s kind of like training.”

To show off, he breathes out white puffs of breath again.

“Oh, that’s amazing. But it’s dangerous to run in a place like this, you know.”

Rin gulped down the white puffs of breath he was breathing out.

“Yeah, well, I pay attention while I’m running.”

Aki’s scarf fluttering in the wind, it grazed Rin’s cheek. The scarf with filth staining it that wouldn’t come out even after washing……. Rin doesn’t know why Haruka went so far as climbing down the embankment to pick this scarf up. He had no intention of asking by now. Just like he had no intention of pursuing why Makoto was trembling.

That’s why Rin didn’t think of asking Aki why she’s wearing this white scarf stained light brown, either.

“Hey, sorry for asking you to do something unreasonable yesterday.”

As Rin says that, Aki tilted her head to the side a bit.

“No, that’s not so. I think Nanase-kun should swim in the relay, too.”

“Ohh? Why?”

To Rin’s straightforward question, Aki slightly lowered her eyes, still smiling.  And then, she slowly raised her gaze and stared off into the distance.

“Nanase-kun can do anything on his own. Studying and exercise, he’s even skilled at drawing. Really, he just ends up being able to do anything, right? So, everyone relies on him, but he rarely relies on anyone else voluntarily, doesn’t he?

He thinks it’s certainly like that. Although he had just changed schools, it was exactly the impression Rin had of Haruka. Even though he doesn’t seek out relations out of his own accord, it’s not like he’s being isolated. Rather, he’s someone whom the cla.s.s depends on. And when he’s relied on, he showed that he always lived up to the expectations. In that strange balance, Haruka is supported by those around him.

“I think Nanase-kun’s a kind person. That’s why he doesn’t say the things he wants to, and tries not to worry others so much. I’m sure he doesn’t like hurting others and brushing them aside. But I don’t think it’s very good to think about that too much. I think it would be better if Nanase-kun became more a.s.sertive.”

Aki turns towards Rin with a look that seemed to ask what he thinks about it. Frankly speaking, he hadn’t even thought about going along with Haruka’s personality. He couldn’t imagine it as an ‘it will turn out somehow’ kind of personality, but what Rin holds interest in is only Haruka and his own feeling of wanting to swim in the relay.

“I thought the same thing, too. That guy seriously lacks a sense of humor. He should follow my example a little, yeah?”

Joking a little, he holds the conversation together as he sees fit. Aki laughed a little at Rin’s words.

“That’s for sure. It would be just right if you added it up and split it between you two, huh?”

“By that, you mean I get too carried away?”

Aki’s meaningful smile confirmed those words.

“It’s not like that. But still, I kind of want to see Nanase-kun trying his best with everyone.”

Aki looks up at the sky. On that sky, the cirrus clouds that were indeed winter-like flowed like a painting drawn in pastel crayons.

 

Haruka climbed down on the stone steps just as Makoto climbed down, too.

“Hey, I wasn’t late, was I?”

“Let’s go.”

Haruka and Makoto started running side by side, breathing out white puffs of breath.

When they reach the vicinity of Mutsukibashi, Nagisa was waiting for them. In response to Nagisa waving his hand, Haruka shows the palm of his right hand a little. Nagisa’s glance going past Haruka and Makoto, he widely waved at that person, too. He knows even without looking. That it’s Rin, at least. The footsteps drawing nearer gradually grow louder, he lined up beside them before they approach the bridge.

“Yo.”

To Rin’s voice calling out, Haruka replied by fleetingly showing him his palm. From what he sees, it couldn’t be interpreted as anything other than he’s saying to go to the other side.

Nagisa runs lined up beside Haruka.

“Nanase-kun. Today, I’ll properly keep up for sure.”

“If took a break over there, then it won’t become much of a training.”

“Then, starting tomorrow I’ll wait while stepping in place.”

If he was serious or if he was joking, that sort of thing is so typical of Nagisa that it almost makes him laugh. Behind him, Makoto and Rin burst into laughter instead of Haruka. When they see Nagisa looking confused, it appears he was being serious about it.

“Though I said stepping in place, I meant stepping in place really-really fast.”

The laughter of the two behind them grows louder. Rin’s feet getting tangled for a moment, it looked like he was going to lose his balance.

“I’m gonna leave you behind if you chatter.”

Haruka sped up a little. Was the wind blowing again today on Mutsukibashi? Haruka had forgotten about that until they finished crossing the bridge.

Nagisa earnestly keeps up. If he stays at this speed, he might not be able to keep running beside him anymore. That’s how it happened yesterday. Nagisa’s breathing getting harder, as he sees him fall behind by a step, Haruka slightly cast his eyes down.

—— So this is as far as he can go.

 A sigh mingles inside a long breath. And then, Haruka’s feet slow down just a little.

“Oh.”

Rin said in a tiny voice. “Nanase sure is kind.” Getting a feeling that he heard him say something like that, Haruka clicked his tongue in his mind. Nagisa keeps up while wearing a pained expression. It appears to be that he’s even lost the energy to chatter already.

 

When they reach Iwatobi SC, Nagisa was struggling with his hard breathing.

“Well done, you tried your best.”

Rin lightly pats Nagisa on the back. Nagisa tried to say something, but he just kept voicelessly breathing out. And yet, by the time he changed and appeared on the poolside, he had completely returned to being the usual Nagisa.

“Matsuoka-kun. Are you practicing for the relay today?”

“Yep.”

Rin gives him a half-interested, half-indifferent reply. Even for practicing, they don’t have all the members yet. And besides, that has nothing to do with Nagisa.

“The fifth graders have their time trial today, you know. So then, if, and I mean if, I place first at the bure, will you let me be a member for the medley relay?”

Rin looks hard at Nagisa’s face. He tried to find in which part of him was all that self-confidence, the basis for it in that delicate body.

——Am I wrong? Is Nagisa different from what I thought him to be?

He’s supposed to be nothing more than a cute presence, like a little brother.  He hadn’t once felt even an atom of anything like a burning fighting spirit coming from him.

But once he tried considering it, he has only seen Nagisa for a month. Besides, when Rin was a fifth grader, he had even greater confidence in himself and was even cheekier. Even when he was chosen as a representative instead of the sixth graders, he thought of it as natural.

“Fine then. But only if you place first, of course.”

He thinks he had ended up making quite a light promise. Though, he a.s.sumed that the possibility of it is probably almost none.

“Hooray! Hey did you hear that, Nanase-kun? I’ll absolutely try my best for sure.”

“Yeah, good luck.”

Even that appropriate reply seemed to become an encouragement for Nagisa. He’s innocently delighted since before he’s even swum it. Believing that he’s thinking too much about it after all, when Rin smiled from its infectiousness too, Makoto worriedly whispered to him.

“Hey Matsuoka-kun, are you sure? Making a promise like that.”

“It’s nothing to worry about. Anyways, if he comes in first, it means he has plenty of fighting power we can expect from him.”

Rin thought that he’ll make sure of Nagisa’s true nature hiding inside him. He wanted to know if there truly was a heart hot enough to burn packed away in such a flimsy chest. If he wanted to swim in the medley relay, they’d be in trouble if he didn’t have at least that much.

“That’s not it, I meant about Haru. It seems like Nagisa’s under the impression that he’s a member.”

“Just the opposite. No offense to Nagisa, but it’s a tiny plan to get Nanase to be in the medley relay.”

It’s a faint hope, but the first condition of all is to reach the goal in first place. From what Rin saw, it didn’t seem like Haruka is alienating Nagisa to that extent. How long can he insist that he won’t swim to Nagisa, who was so delighted to become a member? He thought that if he were to feel somewhat resistant to disappointing Nagisa, that there could be a possibility in that. Like how he loosened his pace for Nagisa’s sake.

It was a tiny plan that waited for a miracle, with feelings that even resembled a prayer.

 

The fifth graders’ time trial is carried out using the 25m pool’s short lane. Their time will be measured on 50m, following the system of backstroke, b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke, b.u.t.terfly and free in that order, competing in groups of eight.

Makoto received “I’ll think about it” as a reply from Haruka. However, he thinks that there’s still a little distance until it means “I’ll swim”. It’s not that Nagisa wants to swim in the relay, he wants to swim with Haruka. Since Haruka is in the swimming club, Nagisa joined, too. Since Haruka runs, Nagisa runs with him, too. Since Haruka will be in the relay, Nagisa wants to swim in the relay, too.  That’s what it seemed like in Makoto’s eyes, it wasn’t based on having asked Nagisa about it. For the order of things, they should’ve properly made Haruka a member before they considered Nagisa’s case, after all——, while thinking about things like that, as Makoto is viewing the fifth graders’ time trial, Nagisa stood on top of the starting block. The second event of b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke is about to begin. He wonders just how much energy could possibly be in that body, which appears to be so delicate even compared to the other fifth graders?

Setting his toes at the edge of the starting block, Nagisa bends down. And then putting his hands at the edge of the starting block, he waits for the signal.

“On your mark.”

——Silence——

The whistle sounded. The eight of them dive in all at once. Nagisa’s landing point is closer than the other swimmers’. One pull, one kick. He’s in third place when his head emerged from the water. He’s about two heads behind the top position. Though it can’t be called a good position, without seeming to be in a hurry, it didn’t feel like he was exerting his strength. Rather, he’s swimming with more leisurely strokes than usual.

Even if it’s the same b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke, everyone has their differing rhythms and styles. Those like Nagisa, who paddle a lot of water with huge strokes. Those who aim to speed up by doing many more rotations. If there are those who make their powerfulness felt, there are also those who cut through the water with sharpness of a knife.

Around having pa.s.sed the 20m mark, drawing closer to the swimmer in front bit by bit, though he lines up with second place, they pulled apart again at the turn. Even so, when he lines up with the second place swimmer again, perhaps because that swimmer started to be hasty, it subtly broke their rhythm. And then, they trailingly fall back to third in that state.

In the remaining 10m, coming up again bit by bit, the difference between Nagisa and the top position almost completely disappeared.  At the moment it seemed like the outcome would depend on the difference of the touch, the opponent superior in height being advantageous, Nagisa’s hand stretched out just before the goal. And as his hand touches the surface of the wall, the outcome was decided.

Lifting his head from the surface of the water, Nagisa looks around nervously. Informed of the time and ranking, his expression completely changed.  Raising his right fist as high as he can, he expresses his joy while jumping up in the water.

When Makoto gives him a round of applause, he reciprocated it with a huge wave of his hand.

“You’re amazing, Nagisa! You did it!”

Makoto showing him a thumbs up, Nagisa imitated it, too. With his arms folded, his mouth hanging half open, Rin almost went into a state of shock.

“He really……. did it.”

Those were the words that finally came out.

Upon hearing the sound of someone diving in, when Makoto turns around, Haruka was swimming. Did he start swimming after seeing Nagisa’s time trial? Or did that timing happen just by accident? He probably wouldn’t tell him even if he asked, but supposing that perhaps he was worried about Nagisa, that was something Haruka hadn’t done before. It’s possible that something is subtly changing within Haruka.

Unable to hold down what was welling up in his chest, Makoto dived into the lane beside Haruka.
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