While Rin was taking a shower, he called out to the shower room next to him.

“Nanase, what’ll you do?”

“About what?”

“About Nagisa. He really did come in first.”

“Sure looks like it.”

Haruka’s mumbling voice is almost drowned out by the shower’s noise. Feeling a lack in the response that didn’t seem admiring, Rin raised his voice, a little irritated.

“So, what are you gonna do?”

Instead of a reply, he heard the sound of the shower curtain opening. Blowing out a large breath through his nose, Rin washed his hair like he was trying to tear it off.

When Haruka entered the changing rooms, Makoto and Nagisa were already there.

“Nanase-kun, you saw me.”

Nagisa runs up to him with such energy that it seems like he’s about to jump at him. 

“Yeah, I saw.”

To that reply, Nagisa shows a full smile.

“That’s the first time I came in first, you know.”

“I see.”

It’s an ordinary answer, seeming half-interested and half-indifferent. But it’s clear from that smile that it’s enough for Nagisa.

When he finds Rin coming out of the shower room, he asked the main question without delay.

“So, it’s about the promise, Matsuoka-kun.”

Modestly stopping his words, Nagisa looks up at Rin with big round eyes. Even without knowing the context of conversation, the mention of a promise with Nagisa, it could only be one thing.

“I did promise. Nagisa’s a member for the medley relay, too.”

As soon as Rin finishes speaking, Nagisa turns around to face Haruka.

“I did it! I’m on the same team as Nanase-kun!”

“You sure are.”

Haruka’s nonchalant reply grazes by Rin and Makoto’s ears. Since he said it so readily, it came close to pa.s.sing unheard. Makoto looks at Haruka, his eyes widening. 

“Haru, just now―”

“Nanase, that true?”

Rin’s words overlap with Makoto’s.  They couldn’t help but ask again.

“Are you really going to swim in the medley relay?”

“Well, I intend to.”

To Haruka’s blunt response, Rin can’t hide his delight.

“We did it, we did it, Tachibana!”

Facing Makoto with his fists clenched in triumph, he shouted out more enthusiastically than Nagisa.

“Yeah!”

“All right, starting today, we’re a team. From tomorrow, we’ll train real hard!”

Makoto and Nagisa nod. Haruka was drying his head with a towel.

“Oh yeah, let’s call each other by name from now on. We’ll feel more like comrades that way. As such, Nanase is Haru.”

Haruka’s hand, that he’s drying his head with, stops for a moment. Hidden by the towel, his face can’t be seen. But he went back to drying his head right away.

“As for Tachibana, Makoto.”

“There’s nothing different about it.”

Makoto laughed amusedly, raising his eight-shaped eyebrows.

“Hey, what about me?”

“As for Nagisa, it’s fine to stick with Nagisa, the same as before. And, call me leader.”

“Huh?”

Nagisa raised his voice, sounding displeased.

“You’re wrong. There’s no such name as ‘leader’, is there?”

Makoto laughing, Rin puts both his hands on his waist, amazed.

“Listen here, the ‘leader’ is the greatest person on the team, taking care of everyone, they’re kind of like a manager.”

“Really? Still, ‘leader’ is weird. Wouldn’t ‘Rinrin’ be okay?”

“Ah….”

Rin stiffens up, his mouth dropping. Makoto laughs, clutching his stomach. Drying his head, Haruka’s back shook a little. Nagisa points at Makoto and Haruka.

“And so, Mako-chan and Haru-chan.”

Makoto’s laughter stopping, Haruka’s towel fell to the floor.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow. The relay is teamwork, after all, right? We have to try our best together. Let’s practice a lot.”

There was an atmosphere like no other in the changing rooms, only Nagisa’s voice resounded, with a cheerfulness that is remindful of spring.

“’Morning, Nanase-kun.”

Entering the cla.s.sroom, Aki’s cheerful voice leapt into his ears.

“Hey.”

For now, he just gives a minimum reply.

“I heard you’re doing the relay.”

He takes an extensive view of the cla.s.sroom.  Makoto isn’t there yet. Rin has his textbook and notebooks out, feigning ignorance. He determined the source of the information to be Rin.

“For the time being.”

He was stubbornly trying to show that it wasn’t certain, but it didn’t seem like Aki caught on to it.

“I’m glad. I really thought that it would be nice if Nanase-kun would swim in the relay. But it bothered me a little that I couldn’t say it well at the time.”

It’s nothing to be worried about. Around him, there are meddlesome guys whom even others would call unpleasant. While thinking that, he mentioned something else.

“What about your team?”

“Yeah, it’s going well. Only little by little, but we shorten our time every day.”

That’s what it means to be in the relay. You can’t swim for just your own sake. Victory or defeat, responsibility, teamwork, he becomes influenced by such things. All the things that Haruka had avoided were packed into that.

Until now, he swam while seeking a place in the water where he could be released from his ties. However, swimming in the relay means that he’ll be creating ties in that water.

“I want to see it soon, Nanase-kun swimming together with everyone. I think that Nanase-kun’s team will surely come in first place. Since everybody’s fast.”

“It’s not my team.”

Once he cuts his words short, he draws in a deep breath. And then, he lifted his voice so Rin could hear it.

“Rinrin’s the leader.”

Rin’s shoulders jump. All eyes in the cla.s.s concentrating on Rin, after a moment of silence, they laughed. Aki couldn’t keep herself from bursting out either.

Standing up, Rin comes over to where Haruka is, while squaring his shoulders. When they thought that he was intending to vent his worked up feelings at Haruka, regaining his composure just by taking a deep breath, he spoke in a voice that only Haruka and Aki could hear.

“Look, at my previous school, they always called me ‘Rin-chan’ and teased me with it. I changed schools because I detested it, so please, drop that. If I’m called ‘Rinrin’, I might end up changing schools again.”

That is something Haruka didn’t know. He wasn’t even interested in what Rin was like at his previous school. In the first place, the story itself about getting teased is suspicious.

“I’m sorry.”

Aki apologized instead of Haruka.

“Nah, why are you apologizing, Yazaki-san?”

“Because I laughed, too. I had no idea that you were teased.”

“Oh, I see. I’m shy, so I didn’t answer to it. Then the teasing steadily got worse, until it became real serious.”

“Oh, really?”

Aki asked with an earnest expression. Even though there’s no way a shy guy would call himself shy. Going past being suspicious, it could only be thought of as aiming for a laugh.  But he’s not so good-natured as to laugh over something like this.

When he thought that he couldn’t go along with this stupidity anymore, Makoto entered the cla.s.sroom with his good timing.

“’Morning, Haru. Zaki-chan. And, uh, Rinrin, was it?”

“Hey, you shouldn’t say that.”

Sooner than Rin, Aki said it to Makoto with an earnest expression.

“Eh, really? But I thought we decided on ‘Rinrin’ yesterday.”

“Apparently, he was teased at his previous school because of the name.”

“Teased? Who?”

“Matsuoka-kun, obviously.”

The good-natured Makoto laughs, raising his eight-shaped eyebrows.

“You shouldn’t laugh.”

Since Aki says it so earnestly, Makoto somehow managed to suppress his laughter.

“Sorry, sorry. But there’s no one here who would tease you over that, so you can relax.”

When Makoto said that, the bell rang, like the gong signaling the end of the boring match.

When March came, as the sunlight grew warmer, small buds beginning to sprout on all kinds of trees, the birds’ chirping became energetic little by little. The wind blows again today on Mutsukibashi. But before they noticed it, the wind had lost its intense coldness. Haruka and Makoto’s breaths aren’t white anymore. Turning into vapor that held its temperature transparently, it blends into the wind. From behind Haruka, Nagisa joined up with them at almost the same time as Rin catches up.

“I’m not resting, you know. I stepped in place all along.”

Nagisa’s breathing is pretty rough. Rin’s breath overlaps with his.

“You say the same thing every day.”

“Because I keep stepping in place all along every day.”

“That’s why you don’t really need to say it every day.”

Rin was sort of irritated today. To the point that he picks a fight with Nagisa’s childish words.

“Rinrin, you say the same thing every day, too. Such as, we’re a team……”

Before Nagisa finishes speaking, Rin talks over him.

“Listen here, Nagisa. My name is ‘Rin.’ Not ‘Rinrin’, you know.”

“Eh, really? That complicated character isn’t read as ‘Rinrin’? But, oh well, whatever.”

“What?”

“It can stay as ‘Rinrin’, right?”

He was seeking Haruka’s consent, not Rin’s.

“Sure.”

“Haru, you.” [you = omae, used in a derogatory sense. it’d be kind of like ‘d.a.m.n it, haru’]

Makoto steps in front of Rin, who looks like he’s about to snap at Haruka.

“You shouldn’t, Nagisa. If you call him ‘Rinrin’, he might end up changing schools again.”

“Alright then, ‘Rin-chan’ is fine. Sheesh, you sure are selfish.”

As Rin is about to say something to Nagisa, Haruka speeds up.

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

Makoto lightly patted Nagisa on the back.”

“Nagisa, don’t fall behind.”

The four hot breaths ran through, like the wind on the embankment alongside the river approaching the spring.

Even Nagisa’s breathing, that was still rough in the changing rooms in the beginning, by now it had completely settled down. Perhaps he’s gotten used to running. As Haruka is thinking about that, Rin, who had finished changing before him, suddenly raised his voice, putting both his hands on his waist.

“Listen up, everyone.”

—— We can hear you without being so loud. What are you getting so fired up for?

Without saying anything, Haruka complained through his eyes. But it didn’t seem like Rin caught on to it. He lifts his voice again.

“I think we all know that the tournament is near. Therefore, I think we should try and change how we practice a little.”

Makoto listens while putting on his cap.

“Change it how?”

“I’m thinking a practice schedule focused on the medley relay, or like, let’s narrow down our practice to just the medley relay.”

“Hooray!”

Nagisa was delighted, throwing up both his hands in no time. Since becoming a member, Nagisa had wanted to do relay practice one way or another. Perhaps it could be summed up as it’s just what he’s been wishing for.

In contrast, Makoto shows an uneasy expression.

“What’ll we do about the other practices?”

“We won’t.”

“’We won’t’……?”

“I want to concentrate just on the medley relay practice.”

Rin’s hot glance coils around the bewildered Makoto.

“But, unless we practice, we won’t be able to swim properly in the tournament.”

“As for the other races——”

Cutting his words short, Rin looks at Makoto. Then, he looks at Haruka.

“No partic.i.p.ating.”

A silence occupying the air of the changing rooms, its density grew heavier. In that air, Haruka’s words, that aren’t yelled nor are they criticizing, hang in midair like as if he’s talking to himself.

“Who decided that?”

“It’s not decided yet. We’re deciding it now. I won’t be in any contest other than the medley relay. So that’s why I was thinking of wanting everyone to do the same. Unless we do, unless we do that much, I don’t think we can win.”

Haruka closing the locker’s door like he’s striking it, a sound resounded that made his ears hurt.

“Beat who? How many seconds do they swim? Why do I have to follow your lead?”

“Haru!”

Makoto steps in between them. Haruka thought that it’s good timing. He doesn’t intend to argue with Rin any further, on the other hand, he didn’t intend to follow Rin’s method, either. Being dragged into it and sticking with his opinion, both were troublesome. Acting by his own intentions——, it’s enough if he conveyed just that. So, Makoto’s interruption was good timing.

He quickly wants to go to a place where Rin’s heat doesn’t reach. He quickly wants to sink his body in the water.

As he silently turns to the side, Makoto asked a question.

“Haru, we’re in the relay together as a team. No matter what happens, that won’t change, right?”

He doesn’t intend to abandon them. It’s not that he decided on it with half-hearted feelings. That’s why he intended to see it through to the end. That feeling hasn’t changed, nor did he intend to change it.

As he silently turns to the side without replying, Makoto breathed out a small breath and faced Rin.

“Why are you so obsessed with the relay? If you have a reason for it, then tell us.”

Rin’s firm att.i.tude didn’t break. Keeping his hands on his waist, he looks at Haruka, past Makoto. Perhaps he was prepared for an opposing opinion. For this reason, he aims to show the strength of his intention with a firm att.i.tude.

“I don’t intend to force you all, but if we really plan on winning the relay, we have to do at least that much. If I do it at all, I definitely want to be the champion. That’s my reason.”

Winning and being the champion, those words that aren’t a reason for Haruka to act on, spew out of Rin’s mouth.

——I don’t swim for the sake of things like that.

Then, what do you swim for? Not wanting to be asked that, Haruka remained silent. Makoto shows a confused expression, pulling close his eight-shaped eyebrows.

“Wait a bit. I want to be the champion, too, but only practicing for the relay seems a little……. I want to be in the bure and I intend on being in free, too.”

At the previous tournament, Makoto was in the 100m b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke and became the champion. Rin is the champion at both b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke and free at 50m. However, Rin is saying to concentrate on the medley relay, to the extent of throwing aside the contests that they’re contenders in. It would be weirder to not be confused by such an incomprehensible suggestion.

“Can we get a little time to think about it? And, for the time being, can we practice as usual today?”

As Makoto says that, lowering his hands from his waist, Rin went back to his usual smile.

Alongside an exhaled breath, the heat it carried dispersing, it disappears into the changing rooms.

“Sorry, suddenly suggesting something like that. Of course, it’s your personal freedom as to what you do, it’s not something I can complain about. However, for now, I want you to at least understand that that’s how I feel about it.”

As Makoto nods, Nagisa, who was silent until then, looked up at Rin.

“I’ll do the medley relay practice with Rin-chan. And I’ll only be in the medley relay, too!”

Rin smiles broadly.  Whatever the reason, Nagisa accepted Rin’s selfish suggestion.

“Thanks, Nagisa. But, my practice is pretty strict.”

“It’s okay. Because I’m the best among the fifth graders.”

From Nagisa saying that while sticking out his chest, Rin gets fired up.  

“Alright, then, let’s practice at once!”

The rubber of his goggles making a sound as Rin snaps it, Nagisa imitated that.

“Yeah!”

While looking at the backs of the two heading to the pool, Haruka felt like he’s gotten lost in a thick fog. What happened earlier, it’s as if it can’t be seen. He thought that he’s sorry for being swallowed in it. And yet, he’s already ended up being totally soaked. The more he thinks about how it can’t be swept away, the fog’s thick density just kept growing.