Chapter 2: Water

Looking down on the small fishing harbor, atop a slightly elevated mountain was Misagozaki Shrine. Halfway up the stone steps on the road approaching the shrine, there is a single torii [Shinto shrine archway] with a chouzuya [hand-washing pavilion] placed beside it, at the top of the stone steps await two toriis with the shrine grounds behind them. Right at the back of the grounds, the view from Misagozaki Shrine as the sea spread out with the diffused sunlight reflecting off of it, was so magnificent that poets had written poems about it since ancient times. Since there are few plains, the port city’s village is small, the houses are built so crowded together that their walls are close enough to touch. Surrounded by the sea and the mountain from every direction, since there was only one road that served as a means of communication with the outside, the village of Iwatobi formed a solitary island on land. The village not only covered the plains, but also reached the slope of the mountain and until the woodland paths, the stone steps leading to Misagozaki Shrine were held between houses lined up on both sides.

Although the shrine burdened with history had a faded blue color, its magnificent appearance was overflowing with dignity, various refined ceremonies were held there. When autumn comes, there is a lively festival where they run down the flight of stone steps with the portable shrine taken from the main shrine without stopping, after they go a lap around the port, they go with it into the sea as it is. Even though it’s supposed to be a festival to show their grat.i.tude for the abundant harvest, why is that they go into the sea, the only way to answer is because it’s a fishing village after all.  This shrine overlooking the port is inevitably burdened with the duty of watching over the safety of fishing. That’s why all the fishermen clap their hands in prayer on their boats when they go out to sea. In other words, Misagozaki Shrine rules over the blessing of abundant harvests and safe big catches, at times it even takes care of easy childbirth and academic accomplishment, it’s a shrine that worships an appreciated yet busy G.o.d.

Haruka’s house was at the halfway point of the stone steps leading to Misagozaki Shrine, breaking off to the left of the single torii where the chouzuya is. That’s why, no matter where he went, he always had to go up and down the flight of stone steps. There were other streets, but the haphazardly built flood of houses made it complicated, since it became like a thin maze, so it was certainly faster to descend on the shrine’s stone steps than to navigate through them. So he left his bicycle at the bottom of the steps.

He goes to the swimming club by bicycle after getting home. After getting home from school, Haruka squeezed the necessary things into his bag and immediately opened the front door again. After he’s reached the bottom of the steps, he looks up at Makoto’s house. Makoto’s house is on the other side of the ones holding the steps between them, the stairs leading to the entrance reached down to where the shrine’s stone steps descended.

In most cases, with this timing he joined up with Makoto’s smiling face, but he seemed to be late today. It’s not like they especially made a promise and it’s not like he needed to wait for him either. Makoto has a younger brother and sister who go to kindergarten, he often had to take them by hand. Straddling the bike as it is, he put his foot on the pedal. He could catch up on the way and they were going to see each other at the swimming club anyways. Rather than getting irritated while waiting, it put both of them at ease if he just quickly went on his way.

Haruka looked up at the stairs leading to Makoto’s house just one more time, then put his strength into the pedal.

It takes about 10 minutes to reach the swimming club. On the way, it crosses a cla.s.s A river called Shiwagawa. In the winter, the wind always blew through alongside the river. Going across the large bridge called Mutsukibashi that spans across it, running beside the embankment for a short while, the sound of the waves can be heard instantly. At the bay port, the white fishing boats anchoring close together, it indicated that that’s where the fishing village is. While taking a sidelong glance at the many white masts shaking on the waves, after having pa.s.sed through the harbor is Iwatobi SC.

After having pa.s.sed through Iwatobi’s village, Haruka approached Mutsukibashi. As he begins to cross the bridge, the wind blows him to the side, he instinctively grimaces. It blew a lot stronger today. Shaken by the strong wind, when he reached the middle of the bridge, Yazaki Aki’s figure looked small, listlessly standing still. For some reason, she stopped her bike and she seemed to be peering down at the river’s surface.

In the same cla.s.s, she goes to Iwatobi SC. That’s their common point with Haruka.

When he got closer, he could clearly see Aki’s troubled expression. Should I pa.s.s by silently? Or would it be better to say something? A little hesitantly, he turned around but it didn’t seem like Makoto was coming yet.

—— What am I hesitating over such a boring thing for? Why am I counting on Makoto?

When he was clicking his tongue at himself in his mind, Aki noticed Haruka and faced him with a depressed smile.

“Ah, Nanase-kun.”

“Hey. What happened?”

Grasping the breaks, he stops in front of Aki.

“Yeah, my scarf…”

Saying that, Aki glances down at the river. Beyond that glance was a washed away white scarf, drifting. For a cla.s.s A river, Shiwagawa was a fairly wide one. The scarf flowed to a place where you couldn’t possibly reach it even after crossing the bridge and going down to the embankment.

“It’s impossible. No choice but to give it up.”

Did that sound cold? It bothers me a little after saying it, but in reality there’s nothing to be done.

“Yeah… …”

Even if she understands that it’s impossible, maybe she can’t accept it. Aki kept looking at the drifting scarf. Haruka looked away from Aki’s expression that was unlike her usual self and stepped on the pedal.

“I’m going ahead.”

“Okay.”

Before Aki had replied, Haruka started pedaling. Feeling it on his back that Aki’s figure was getting distant, he crosses over Mutsukibashi. Hurrying along the embankment beside the river, the drifting white scarf kept appearing and disappearing at the edge of his vision. Haruka looked away from the river and rode his bicycle towards Iwatobi SC.

Makoto arrived in the changing room when Haruka was putting on his goggles.

“Sorry, Haru. As I was leaving, the goldfish bowl was dirty, so I cleaned it a little. That’s why I was late.”

—— You could’ve done that after you got home.

While he was looking at Makoto with eyes like that as he started to change, suddenly, a thought about Aki pa.s.sed through a corner of his mind. Was Aki still there when Makoto crossed the bridge?

“Earlier, on the bridge…”

He began to say, but thinking that it doesn’t matter, he stopped.

“What? What happened with the bridge?”

“No, never mind.”

“Speaking of which, I met up with Zaki-chan where I crossed the bridge. She didn’t seem too well.”

He called her with a nickname, ‘Zaki’. It’s like he combined ‘Yazaki’ and ‘Aki’. Makoto calls her with ‘-chan’ added to it.

“Apparently, she dropped her scarf.”

“Ah, I see. The bridge’s wind sure is strong.”

—— Did he know?

He said that she dropped it, but he didn’t say that the wind was strong. She could’ve lost it by dropping it on the way, rather, that would be natural. So that means Makoto was pretending that he didn’t hear it from Aki. Perhaps she could’ve also told him that Haruka acted cold towards her. Because of that, is he … … planning to scold Haruka?

Either way, it’s a boring matter. He didn’t intend to continue the conversation any longer.

“I’m going ahead.”

“Okay.”

Haruka left the changing room.

“I’m Matsuoka Rin. I came from Sano SC. It’s a girlish name but I’m properly a man. Nice to meet you.”

As expected, that’s enough. It’s nothing to be surprised over a second time. This was the only swimming club in the area. There was no longer a reason to be concerned with what Rin was doing. It’s fine as long as they like him. He was sorry for the trouble.

“Oh no, the coincidences are piling up, huh. Even being in the same swimming club, after transferring schools.”

He didn’t have to deal with this foolishness. Leaving the rest up to Makoto, he dives into the pool.

Creating a rift in the water with his fingertips, he slips into it. From arms to head, chest, stomach, then feet. He doesn’t use all his force, nor does he surrender himself. Accepted by the water, then accepting it. They both accept each other’s existence. You don’t exclude each other. You don’t become one body. While being of different qualities from the start, a relation continues without denying each other. That’s what swimming meant to Haruka.

When he’s in the water, he’s released from the troublesome things. The ripples that rose in his heart, he feels them quietly calming down. Rin, Aki, the scarf, the wind. It’s not like he ends up forgetting about them, but he’s released from them for just a little while.

After swimming 1000m forward crawl, he raised his head. As if he was waiting for it, Makoto’s hand reached for him from the poolside.

“Good job.” 

He doesn’t swim in a way that’s tiring. Rather, Makoto is the one short of breath. Perhaps he just swam 1000m, too. What’s more, with all his possible strength.

It’s been like that since a long time ago. When Makoto swims, he never eases up. His way of swimming never seems like it’s flowing. He’s never asked why, nor has he thought of asking.

“What about him?”

As Makoto pulled him up by the hand, he asked about Rin.

“He’s swimming. Look, over there.”

In the lane on the end, he was repeating strokes to check the water’s sensation. After he confirmed that, Haruka started walking.

“I’ll do the short lane from the other side, so measure my time for me.”

He didn’t care about the time. He just wanted to be a little bit farther away from Rin. He was sorry for getting caught up in the trouble. More than himself, he didn’t want Makoto getting involved. If Makoto were to get involved, eventually it would surely happen to Haruka, too. He could affirm that much.

Not even minding that Makoto opened both his arms and wore an amazed expression, Haruka kept walking towards the pool with the short lane.

After easily finishing a 1000m swim in forward crawl, when Rin raised his head, a boy with big round eyes like a small animal’s was peering at him from above. With eyes that looked like he was searching for a water strider or a crayfish, he looked down on Rin without even blinking.

“What?”

He peers back at him from below.

“Matsuoka-kun, are you Nanase-kun’s friend?”

He stares straight at him.

“Rather than friends, I guess we’re rivals.”

“What’s a rival? Is it putting on airs while boasting?”

Not a single blink.

“It means that we compete against each other.”

Looking away as he spoke, he got up on the poolside. Staring at each other for so long, it felt like they were peeking into the depth of their eyes.

“Who’s faster, you or Nanase-kun?”

“I’d say I am at 50m, Nanase at 100m.”

When Rin stood up, so did the boy. He thinks he has a pretty delicate build. He’s probably a 4th grader.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why is it that you’re fast at 50m, but slow at 100m? Ah, I know. You can only swim 50m, huh. Is it because you run out of breath? Should I teach you?”

“No thanks! I can properly swim 100m and I don’t run out of breath either.”

“Hehe, the best I’ve ever swum is 500m, you know. Because of that, I’ve been in the swimming race course since January. Bure is the one I’m best at, ah, bure is the b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke. I’m the only one in my cla.s.s who can swim 500m, you know.”

“By cla.s.s, you mean at school?”

“Yeah, 5th grade 3rd cla.s.s.”

What a boastful talk he’s caught up in. Rin took off his goggles and looked around for Haruka and Makoto.

“Hey, Matsuoka-kun, which one is your best?”

“All of them.”

“By all of the them, you mean even batta?”

b.u.t.terfly is the last one they learn out of the 4 types of swimming. If they just got to the swimming race course, they probably don’t know how to swim it well enough yet.

“Batta and bakku and free and bure. Also, I’m the best of the best at dog paddle.”

Where could they have disappeared off to, he can’t find Haruka nor Makoto.

“That’s amazing. You can swim konme, then.”

“I can.”

He’s been doing individual medley since 3rd grade. It’s nothing to boast about. It’s starting to get pretty annoying. He’s at his limit for being stared at with big round eyes, too.

“I’m Hazuki Nagisa. Hey Matsuoka-kun, take a look at my batta. Somehow, I can’t go straight ahead with it.”

“Your elbow curves. You can’t keep a high elbow. You’re not using your back.”

There’s Makoto. He’s keeping time at the short line. Then, Haruka is the one swimming.

“Eeh, you haven’t even seen it yet, don’t just say things on the spot.”

“You’re so noisy. Even without seeing it, that’s about… …”

Nagisa’s eyes became teary.

“Don’t say I’m being noisy. Take a proper look.”

With tears still in his eyes, he kept looking straight at Rin. It’d be bothersome to make him cry in a place like this.

“Al-alright. I’ll look at it.”

Suddenly, Nagisa switched to a huge smile on his face.

“Really? Then, I’ll swim here.”

After he put on his goggles, he dove into the lane that Rin was swimming in earlier. First of all, it would be better if he relearned the dive from the basics. It couldn’t even be called a b.u.t.terfly. It was just as he had pointed it out previously. This is probably what swimming ‘batta’ is like. It would be better to call it gra.s.s hopper instead of b.u.t.terfly. In a sense, it’s a new way of swimming.

He felt a shiver. Will he have to take a look at it for him every time? Will he always have to tag along with the big round eyed kid until he learns how to properly swim? He couldn’t help but feel like that’s how it’ll end up.

As for the bad feeling he had up until now, while recalling that there was almost a 100% chance that he was right on the mark, Rin gazed at Nagisa’s gra.s.shopper without really looking at it.

“Right, that’s all for today. You’ve sure gotten a lot better.”

When Rin said that, while he was harshly breathing in the water, a joyful look surfaced on Nagisa’s face.

“Really? I’ve gotten better?”

—— Yeah, you got better. At the ‘gra.s.shopper swim’, that is.

“Hurry on out. I’ll show you something good.”

“What is it, what is it?”

Nagisa climbed up onto the poolside, his eyes filled with curiosity.

“This way, this way.”

Beckoning to him, Rin jogged towards the short lane pool.

“Where are you going, Matsuoka-kun?”

“Earlier, you asked which one of us was faster, me or Nanase, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll show you right now.”

Rin says it amusedly.

Running up to Makoto, he noticed Rin and turned around to face him.

“Ah, Matsuoka-kun.”

He’s holding a stopwatch in his hand. Haruka is swimming in the short lane. He’s doing elegant forward crawl strokes over and over again.

“How many meters now?”

“Eh, the 50m turn… …”

Haruka turns around with a quick turn. When Rin puts on his goggles, the rubber makes a sound as he snaps it while standing onto the starting block, he leapt into the lane beside him as he was.

Raising a splash, he cuts through the water with a dolphin kick. He starts doing strokes as he surfaces. At that point, there’s a half body distance between him and Haruka.

—— He sure is swimming carefreely. C’mon, just try and catch up!

Fiercely gaining on Haruka, they were completely lined up at 20m. Then, they made the quick turn at the same time. Rin stretches forward. He surfaces from the dolphin. He starts stroking. He feels Haruka’s fingertips near his back. 

Approaching the remaining 15m, Haruka’s swimming changed. It’s not because his turnaround got faster.  Nor is it because he’s putting in more strength. However, Rin knew that.

He feels it. The tremendous spirit, like a cl.u.s.ter of energy.

—— There it is! C’mon. C’mon. Come closer!

Haruka bites at his shoulder, capturing Rin’s head. 5m left.

—— I’m getting overtaken. I’m getting overtaken. Like I’d let him overtake me!

His head lines up. Then, he touches the wall. Raising his head from the water, Rin shouts out to Makoto.

“Who is it!”

Nagisa was also there beside Makoto. They both pointed at Haruka at the same time. Haruka climbs out onto the poolside, his breathing undisturbed. It looked like it’ll take a little longer for Rin to recover. The pressure to gain on Haruka inflicted a huge damage on him.

“So, Nanase’s 100, how many seconds?”

Haruka took the stopwatch from Makoto, then gave it back to him. Then he walked away like that.

Makoto answered Rin after looking at the stopwatch.

“It got reset.”

Nagisa followed Haruka as he walked away.

“Nanase-kun, that was awesome. You looked so cool. Hey, hey, next time, teach me how to swim free.”

Listening to Nagisa’s voice getting farther away, Rin sunk his head in the water.

—— He really is fast.

Rin murmured in the water, unable to hold back the excited feeling he was getting.

Throwing his bag on his shoulder, Haruka left the changing rooms and went into the lobby. The floor gave his feet a pleasantly cold feeling, making him realize that it was still winter. He thought about what happened earlier as he walked. Why did he end up getting so worked up over it?

He knew right away that it was Rin, just before he lined up for the turn. They swim in tournaments many times. He knows by the sensation of the ripples in the water. Besides, there’s no one else in this club who challenges people to contests like that. The instant he knew, suddenly something started to boil. When he thought that the guy who senses the water more than he does is right in front of him, his body got hotter. Something hot flowed throughout his body. He couldn’t keep the feeling down.

Even after he climbed up on the poolside, like an incomplete combustion had happened, he kept smoldering. When he thought that such a thing was in his body, he felt irritated and lost his motivation to swim. If he swam, it felt like he was being revived. Then, when he thought of the likes of Rin stirring up his emotions, he felt unpleasant about himself. Deeply regretting that he got provoked and completely joined in on it, Haruka left the pool behind.

Casually looking up at the break room’s wall, it was decorated with the photos of the previous generations of members, lined up in a row. It’s the group photo they take every year at the end of March. Though he knew that the photos were displayed, he never really felt like paying attention to them until now. Haruka was on two of them. He’s standing near the end, with a bored expression.

Looking at them again, he realized that there were a lot of them. The oldest one was from 23 years ago, compared to now, there were considerably few people on it. The boy in the middle was laughing, holding a trophy. He could read out ‘18th Tournament’ on the medal hanging from their necks. It wasn’t the only photo like that. On every photo, they were all laughing as they held a trophy or a shield.

This year, will they make me look like that, too? Thinking of that, he got a little fed up with it.

Going outside, the wind suddenly struck his cheeks.

—— So it was still blowing.

Making a face like that, Haruka headed towards the bicycle racks.

“Wow, the wind sure is strong.” 

Makoto came from behind. He’s the kind of guy who says whatever comes to his mind. Sometimes, he even says what Haruka’s thinking instead of him. He’s a meddlesome guy.

“Ah, what a swim that was.”

Talking like he was an old man leaving the onsen, Rin came out of the club and started walking in a different direction than Haruka and Makoto. Seeing him, Makoto called out.

“Matsuoka-kun, the bicycle racks are this way.”

“Nah, I don’t have a bicycle yet.”

“In that case, how about you get on behind me? I’ll take you home.”

He’s saying something unnecessary again. It’d be better to just leave him alone.

Haruka kept walking, not caring about Makoto.

“It’s fine. It’s not that far away. See you tomorrow.”

Saying it loud enough for Haruka to hear, Rin walked off in the opposite direction from the bicycle racks.

Quickly riding their bicycles through the fishing harbor, Haruka and Makoto came out at the Shiwagawa embankment. To cross Mutsukibashi, this was the only path they could take. Without even realizing it, Haruka looked at the water’s surface. However, the scarf was nowhere to be found anymore. Maybe it sank, or maybe it floated to the sea.

Just before crossing the bridge, running while breathing out white puffs of air, Rin caught up to them. His backpack roughly fixed over his training wear, he rhythmically kicked at the ground in white running shoes. His preparation for running was flawless. It’s probably not just today, maybe he plans on commuting by running every day.

Haruka took his eyes off of Rin, clicking his tongue in his mind. And when he pa.s.sed him, he stepped a little bit harder on the pedal.

He hears Makoto’s voice from behind.

“How many kilometers to your house?”

“3 and a b………”

The wind s.n.a.t.c.hed away Rin’s voice.