High Speed!

Chapter 6: Team

Chapter 6: Team

Some kind of sprouts slowly started to grow in the graduation project’s flower bed. The girls had sown the seeds, but it seems like it was a secret from the boys as to what kind of seeds they were. Like Makoto said, perhaps they’re flowers that’ll bloom by the time of the graduation ceremony. It can’t possibly be in time for it, though.

He looks up at the cherry blossom tree. There aren’t any flower buds on it yet. It didn’t seem like Rin’s wish of wanting to swim in the pool with cherry blossom petals dancing in it would come true, either.

When he looks down at his feet, the light brown ground stretched out. He wonders if the cherry blossom’s roots spread deep down underneath the ground. How does it feel to have something like a flower bed planted over its roots that took many years to spread? If he was the cherry blossom, how would he feel?

After considering that, a bitter smile surfaced. If he were the cherry blossom, he surely wouldn’t feel anything. Something like a flower bed wouldn’t catch his attention. He wouldn’t be bewildered by or shunning it. As long as he could spread his large branches towards the sky, he wouldn’t wish for anything else.

When he thinks about how he was the only one fussing over it, if the cherry blossom in question didn’t even worry about it, he ended up smiling a little.

“Are you so happy that the buds came out? Haru.”

Before he knew it, Rin and Makoto were standing right beside him.

“Not really.”

He didn’t intend to explain to Rin what he was thinking about. Nevertheless, denying it is bothersome, too. So, he replied like that.

“The graduation is soon, huh.”

Makoto says it like he’s deeply moved, while looking up at the cherry blossom.

“It really is. A farewell to the school filled with memories, too.”

Like a terrible actor, Rin spoke out at random. He won’t be nice enough to reply to every little thing. Like Makoto would.

“Still, it’s only been two months. Shouldn’t you go to the graduation ceremony at your old school?”

Rin’s smile suddenly turns cold. Dropping his gaze on the flower bed, he stares at the little sprouts.

“I’ve properly bid farewell to Sano Elementary.”

With a performance that was a little bit better for a terrible actor, he creates an expression that holds grief in it.

“Sorry. I said something unnecessary.”

Makoto reacts again. Even if it wasn’t acting, though it wasn’t something to worry so much about, either.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s in the past now. I’m a part of Iwatobi Elementary now, too.”

“That’s right. We’ll graduate together, right?”

 After going as far as saying that, Makoto’s smile clouded over a little. His glance facing Rin, looking like he’s trying to say something, he hesitates.

“What?”

To Makoto’s glance, Rin asks back.

“Yeah, I was concerned a little. You didn’t come to yesterday’s orientation, did you?’

It’s about the middle school orientation. There were explanations about the uniform, textbooks, club activities and so on. However, Rin wasn’t there.

Rin looks up at the cherry blossom that doesn’t have its flower buds yet. The sunlight piercing through between the branches made him narrow his eyes.

“It’s because, I’m not going to middle school here.”

Haruka turns his gaze towards Rin. Unable to judge whether it’s a joke or he’s being serious, he attempted to read the true meaning from Rin’s expression. However, just by the sunlight filtering through the trees creating patterns on Rin’s face as he’s looking up at the cherry blossom’s branches or the sky, he couldn’t read out anything. Facing the cherry blossom, Haruka decided to wait for Makoto’s words. In such cases, what Haruka wants to ask, Makoto asks for him instead.

“What do you mean by that? Why didn’t you say anything? We’re on the same team. Aren’t we friends?”

He didn’t ask where he’s going and what he’s intending to do. Perhaps being on the same team is more important than anything else to Makoto. So, he only reproached him in the question of feelings, namely why he didn’t say anything.

It’s something Haruka can’t say at all. Things like ‘team’ or ‘friends’. Accepting those very easily, Makoto ends up putting it into words. To the point that Haruka becomes embarra.s.sed over what Makoto asks.

“I wasn’t keeping it a secret. The destination was decided yesterday.”

“Yesterday?”

He can’t fathom the conversation at all. Things like ‘yesterday’ and ‘destination’. To begin with, they don’t discuss any of the crucial things, like why is he changing schools, why is he attempting to involve Haruka and Makoto, why is he so obsessed with the relay. 

Hiding his face slightly that seemed to be made radiant, Rin spoke in a mutter.

“I’m going to Australia.”

“By Australia, you mean overseas?”

Makoto asks something stupid. Of course it’s overseas. There’s no such place in j.a.pan. And then, from the flow of the conversation, it doesn’t seem like he’s going on a trip.

“I handed in the application for studying abroad to several schools, but yesterday, the receiving side was finally settled.”

Makoto was bewildered. With his mouth opened a little like he was attempting to say something, he tenses. Surely, countless words are going back and forth in his head.

“I transferred here after it was decided that I’m going to Australia. I thought I’d tell everyone where I’m going once it had been properly settled. I didn’t want to cause trouble for everyone, upsetting them halfway through.”

—— What a selfish guy.

Haruka grinded his molars, feeling such an anger that he couldn’t hold back. He already upset them enough and he keeps causing trouble.

“……Sorry.”

Rin muttered in a small voice, perhaps he had guessed Haruka’s feelings.

The wind that clearly had the scent of spring in it coils around Haruka. He thought that he wanted to hurry up and swim. He thought that he wanted to hurry up and shake off this sickly sweet wind. Then, he thought that he wanted to hurry up and be released from the ties of this incomprehensible guy.

From the countless words going back and forth in his head, Makoto finally found a short question.

“Why are you going to Australia?”

“To study swimming.”

He returned a minimum necessary response to the short question.

As he stood face to face with the cherry blossom, Haruka asked Rin.

“What do you want to do?”

It was a voice that seemed to lose, even to the wind that was and wasn’t there.

“I want to become….. an Olympic swimmer.”

He can’t smile. He can become whatever he wants. But that’s not what Haruka wanted to hear. It’s always like that. Hiding things about himself, he always says selfish things. And now, too, while saying very self-centered things in front of Haruka——, he stood under the cherry blossom.

Raising his eight-shaped eyebrows, with his eyes widened, Makoto blinked once, like he remembered something.

“When are you going?”

“The day…. after the tournament.”

“Then, we don’t have any days left of swimming together.”

Makoto looks at Haruka. Even while he realizes that he’s being watched, he stayed silent, facing the cherry blossom.

—— How does Haru feel? What are his true feelings?

Getting a feeling that that’s what Makoto’s look is asking, he couldn’t directly look at him. Feeling an anger with no outlet, trapping it inside his chest, at last he could suppress the impulse to run away from here. He wants to hurry up and slip his body into the water. The water will release Haruka from the unnecessary ties.

——I want to hurry up and escape into the water.

Haruka’s pulse jumped higher. The blood throughout his body flows rapidly. The area around his temples heating up, his palms start to sweat.

——Was I……. running away?

Perhaps he wanted to escape into the water. Seeking to feel at ease, averting his eyes from the real world, perhaps he wanted to escape into the water for the sake of hiding his true feelings.

Without becoming one body or repressing it with force, they were supposed to mutually recognize each other’s existence. Feeling sufficiency from that recognition, perhaps he was only depending on it. Perhaps he was swimming for the sake of that.

He wanted to deny it. He strongly wanted to deny it. However, the more he thought about it, the more it heavily weighed down on Haruka as the undeniable truth.

He doesn’t know what he should do anymore. The moment he realized that he was depending on the water, his self that should have been standing tall, it seemed like it was about to crumble down. While his two feet become thinner and more brittle, seeming like they’ll break, they finally supported Haruka.

—— That can’t be!

They’re the feet that ran, dove and swam until now. They couldn’t be that weak. While thinking that, he couldn’t hold back the faint trembling of his feet.

He looks at Makoto. He was still asking Haruka a question.

——What are your true feelings?

Before, Makoto had told Haruka that he’s running away from the water. Exposing himself like that, if he were to honestly admit it, perhaps he could feel at ease a little.

The lukewarm spring breeze wraps up Haruka. It didn’t have the harshness of winter anymore. Neither blowing through strongly, nor being freezing. There’s no need to endure it. He should be honest. That’s what it whispered to Haruka.

He won’t be tempted by something like that. No matter when and where, he always wants to be himself. He wants to keep being his strong self. Clenching his teeth, he’ll stand by himself. He mustn’t run away from here. There’s no way he could approve of his weak self. He has to keep being strong. To the end, he has to be himself.

Makoto’s eyes ask him again.

—— How does Haru feel?

He doesn’t answer. He can’t answer. Where Rin is going, what he’s becoming, is an unrelated matter to him. It can’t change the fact that he’s standing in front him, on the same team. And, he didn’t intend to change his feelings that had decided to swim in the relay, either. So he’ll swim. He’ll swim it. Under no circ.u.mstances will he run away. For the sake of continuing to be his strong self.

“……Fine.”

Haruka’s voice drifts about, riding the spring-like wind.

“Haru?”

Furrowing his eight-shaped eyebrows, Makoto anxiously looked at Haruka.

“In the next tournament.”

That’s all Haruka said, turning his gaze towards Rin. His eyes widening, Rin turns to face Haruka from the front.

“Are you sure? You’ll narrow it down to just the relay?”

His voice quickly leaks out from the tip of his mouth. What an endlessly cunning guy. Words that must still compensate should’ve been necessary. That ending up decoding his heart like it saw through it, Haruka lost the following words. Feeling irritated from Rin making an expression like he knows everything, he tightly grinds his molars once.

However, he won’t run away anymore. That’s what he decided. Not from the relay, not from Rin, and not from himself, either——. Therefore, he didn’t intend to back out of it now.

“Will you really swim in the relay only?”

Rin pressures the boring idea.

“That’s what I intended to say.”

While turning back to the cherry blossom, he said so spluttering it out.

Rin’s happy expression stopping at the edge of his vision, it irritates Haruka again.

“Alright! Well then, I’ll show Haru a sight he’s never seen before?”

“A sight he’s never seen before……?”

“Yeah, an extraordinary sight that can’t be seen unless it’s the four of us!”

Before they knew it, the sun had changed its angle a little. Piercing through the complicatedly twisting branches, a strong light shines on Haruka’s face. He doesn’t look up the way Rin does, he just narrows his eyes a little.

Makoto stared at Haruka like a child who had gotten lost. He believes to have answered Makoto’s question. All he has to do now is think about it on his own. He didn’t want to force him or have expectations for him like Rin. Makoto should think about it for himself, find an answer and act according to it. Not because he’s thrusting him away or to make him coldhearted. He just thinks that as long as it’s what Makoto has decided, it will be the most correct choice.

“……Haru.”

Like the dead leaves fluttering about in the wind, Makoto speaks in a helpless voice.

“Could I see it, too? That sight.”

It’s something he should ask from Rin. What he wants to show, or what he himself wants to see, Haruka himself doesn’t know.

“I want to see it, too, Rin. I want to swim with everyone.”

While a smile shows on his face, Rin b.u.mps his fist on Makoto’s shoulder.

“You called me Rin for the first time. It’s all right, if it’s us, surely.”

Makoto nods, raising his eight-shaped eyebrows.

They heard a small bird’s chirping voice coming from somewhere. Perhaps it’s that bird, soaring while drawing a trail on the clear sky. As if it’s aiming for the goal that’s in the endless distance.

 

“Well then.”

While snapping his goggles into place, Rin stood onto the starting block with light steps.

Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa haven’t arrived yet. The last cla.s.s ending in the morning, splitting into two groups to prepare the graduation ceremony and to do the big cleaning from the afternoon, they could go home depending on when they finished the work. Haruka and Makoto were in the graduation ceremony preparation group, it seemed like it’s still taking them some time. As for Nagisa, he probably has afternoon cla.s.ses as usual.

So, this means that he finally got time to swim alone.

While looking at the clock’s hand to match his timing, Rin kicked off from the starting block. Dolphin kick from landing on the water. Then, stroke. It’s not b.u.t.terfly. It’s forward crawl.

There’s something that has always been bothering him. At the tournaments where he was matched against Haruka, he never once won on 100m. Since Haruka only entered free on the long lane, there were times when he didn’t swim with Rin, they generally competed in the two events of 50m and 100m. Sometimes he won on 50m, but no matter what, he couldn’t win at 100m.

It was exactly a year ago when he first swam with Haruka. Since he didn’t think that he would lose in the city tournament, when he was overtaken, to be honest, he got hasty. From that point on, he was far from catching up no matter how much he swam, he just kept on being separated.

Thanks to the pressure of Haruka’s energy gaining on him and the restlessness after being overtaken, when he reached the goal, he had completely exhausted his physical strength. In any case, climbing out of the pool at last, afterwards, he ended up lying down without taking off his goggles.

He lost to Makoto in b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke, too, but it wasn’t like this. This is a first. That pressure and restlessness. His swimming was flawless. In fact, he even produced a good time. But even so, he lost. Simultaneously as the question of ‘why’ ran around in his head, the irritation he felt towards something he couldn’t understand swirled in his chest.

—— d.a.m.n it. Haa. He’s fast. Haa. Who is it?

While stretching out his arms and legs, among his interrupted breathing, that’s what he muttered.

Rin’s time goes up with each tournament. However, Haruka’s went even higher. By the time Rin catches up to the previous time, Haruka advances even more ahead. He always harbored in his chest the feeling that’s more than anxiety and restlessness, that he won’t be able to catch up for all eternity at this rate. For the sake of freely concentrating on the relay as well, he at least wanted to catch up to Haruka’s previous time.  

His turn is sharp, small and powerful.

He diligently checks the form and timing. The point that becomes a problem is nowhere to be found. Even so, when he looks at the clock after reaching the goal, of course he was late. He knows that it’s not in the difference of physique and muscle strength. Rather, Rin’s faster at the start and turn. Given that, all that’s left is the rolling or the ‘feet flexibility’.

This was the most troublesome. The ideal ‘feet flexibility’ can’t be defined. A full length rolling from the arm’s stroke and to the handling of the back, all of it operating well together is connected to the first ideal ‘feet flexibility’. Therefore, no matter how much you think about just your feet, you’ll never be able to swim faster, and a precise answer can’t possibly exist, either. Trying it out, finding it, getting used to it, making it your thing is the only way. Supposing that Haruka has obtained that ideal ‘feet flexibility’, if that’s the case——, the restlessness wells up again as he thinks about that. Or could Haruka’s swimming be the ideal form that Rin is seeking? It’s not the current Haruka. It’s the Haruka from before.

While thinking about this and that, Rin climbed onto the poolside.

“Well then.”

Getting up on the starting block again while snapping his goggles into place, he looked at the clock. Matching the timing, he dives in. It seemed like he could do about thirty more. If his physical strength can hold out, that is.

 

After practice ended, Gou stood at Iwatobi SC’s exit, holding a large paper bag. She’s Rin’s little sister.

“Gou……!”

“Ah, Onii-chan.”

She turns towards him with a carefree smile. She’s a fifth grader, one year below. Turning around to the sound of the automatic door, Haruka and the others were just coming out, too. Noticing Kou, to show his curiosity in his usual fashion, Nagisa goes over to her.

“Hey, who are you? Rin-chan’s friend?”

Before Rin answers, Kou gushes out.

“Onii-chan, you’re ‘Rin-chan’ here, too.”

“Wh-what are you saying? Actually, why are you here!?”

Without replying to Rin’s question, Gou quickly bowed her head towards Haruka and the others.

“I’m Matsuoka Gou. My older brother is always taking care of me.”

Haruka turns his eyes towards Makoto. Meaning ‘I’ll leave the rest to you’.

“h.e.l.lo. I’m Tachibana Makoto. This is Hazuki Nagisa, this is Nanase Haruka.”

Nagisa smiles at her with a ‘nice to meet you’, Haruka awkwardly nods his head in greeting.

“Ah, I heard. You’re swimming in the relay the day after tomorrow, right? I heard about it. He always said ‘Nanase’s fast, Nanase’s fast’ after a tournament.”

“O-oi, Gou! Mind your own business!”

Embarra.s.sed, he couldn’t show his face to Haruka.

“But, I’m glad. That you’re swimming together. It was worth it to change his resident’s card to Grandma’s house and come here. Mom was worried. He suggested changing schools on his own all of a sudden.”

“That’s enough out of you, shut up!”

Before she could tell any more unnecessary things, when he attempted to quickly drive her away, the meddlesome Makoto asked Gou.

“Did you come here for something?”

“Yeah. I brought this.”

He saw a fleeting glimpse of the paper bag’s contents that Gou holds out. Realizing that it’s a tin of cookies, Rin frets.

“Idiot, you shouldn’t have brought that here!”

Rin hid it with his body so that the others wouldn’t see.

“But, you’re using it here, right?”

“That’s true, I asked Mom to take it Grandma’s house. I didn’t hear about you coming.”

“But, Mom told me to bring it since you’re using it here anyways——“

“There’s no point in bringing it here now, is there? I’ll bring it on Sunday.”

“But it’ll be more baggage——“

“It’s fine. More baggage or whatever. In any case, take it back to Grandma’s house!”

“Hey, what’s that?”

When he turns around, Nagisa was attempting to peek into it, making his big round eyes sparkle.

“It’s nothing. It has nothing to do with you!”

He pushes Nagisa back.

“Sunday’s the day of the tournament, right? Are you using it for the match?”

Surprisingly, he’s sharp when it comes to something like this.

“I’m not using it, it’s not related.”

“Then, after the match? For the commemoration photographing?”

“Wrong, I said it’s not related.”

“After the photographing? Ah, I got it!”

“Got wh-what?”

“Is it something to eat? After the tournament, you’re holding a ‘tried-our-best party’. What could it be? If it’s three days before it, rice cookies or cookies maybe?”

He was shocked. He didn’t guess right, but he’s close.

“Onii-chan, are you holding a ‘tried-our-best party’? Can I come, too?”

“I’m not! I mean, either way, you have to go home today.”

“I’m with Mom at Grandma’s place until Sunday.”

“What about school?”

“The graduation ceremony is tomorrow at Sano Elementary, too. Since the fifth graders are only in half of it, I’m taking a break. So Mom and I are going to see the graduation ceremony. The tournament after it, too.”

“It’s fine. You don’t have to come and see.”

“There’s school on Monday, seeing you off——“

“I’m going home.”

Haruka starts running after saying it. After lightly waving his hand to Gou, Makoto started running too.

“Bye.”

After waving his hand at Gou, Nagisa runs after them, too.

“See you later.”

 Turning has back to Gou while feeling relieved, Rin ran after them, too. Joining up with the three of them, when they were about to pa.s.s through the fishing harbor, Gou shouted after them in a large voice.

“Onii-chaan, there’s ‘su-ki-ya-ki’ tonight.”

Makoto letting out a puff, Nagisa saying ‘how nice’, they’re envious. Casting his eyes down, Rin dropped his speed and took just three steps back.

He didn’t want to talk to anyone anymore. Rin was keenly taught the lesson that one’s family is so embarra.s.sing.
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