'Doctor Matsuoka called to A&E for consultations!' – the nurse stood in the treshholds of the medical room.

'Hm?' the physician looked at her over the journal he was reading. He brushed his slightly too long, red bangs. 'What now, all of sudden?'

' There is a patient down there, in the emergency room. Heart failure, he fainted during the swimming tournament..'.

' Swimming tournament?' murmured Rin. He closed his medical journal and with strange, somehow scary flash in his eyes he put his cup away. Sousuke Yamazaki, sitting on the couch in front of TV, gave him a quick, curious look.

'This is going to be good' he murdered him with his gaze. He rose from his swivel chair and left the room, putting on his coat on the way. The nurse looked at him with bewilderment. Then she fixed her eyes on the other physician, silently begging for some sort of explanation.

'You're new here, huh?' asked Sousuke in friendly, calm manner, as usual. Slightly frightened girl nodded. Yamazaki focused on changing channels in the TV with a remore control.

'Doctor Matsuoka has some… issues with professional swimmers' – he explained. – 'He's sort of a bully towards tchem and he never loses his chance to blow some steam off. Interesting spectacle, very entertaining. Highly recommended by Sousuke Yamazaki, the best neurosurgeon around here'.

The nurse only shrugged and backed off, leaving the best neurosurgeon around here alone with the TV.

'Where is your coach?' heart surgeon, Rin Matsuoka looked angrily at three young swimmers hunched on plastic chairs in the waiting room.

Friends of the patient, there were no doubts about it. They were all well-built and they were wearing jackets with the name of the team imprinted on them (Iwatobi something, Rin didn't even bother to look). None of them was willing to answer. Tall, dark-haired boy only shrugged and fixed his eyes on the floor. Small, fair-haired boy, the thinnest of them all, was looking round, clearly fascinated with hospital environment: white corridors and the presence of medical staff.

'I don't suppose it's such a difficult question. Where is your coach?'

' Well, acually..' tall, green-eyed swimmer looked at the physcian sheepishly. 'We are kind of… training by ourselves.. I mean, we have an official supervisor from our university, but it's just so.. you know, she has no idea about swimming, she doesn't swim herself, so… '

Rin covered his face with one hand.

'You are training all by yourselves?' – he repeated in low, resigned voice. ' Splendid. Ok… so who's the captain here?'

There was a silence again. Team members were looking at each other, unsure how to respond. Curious nurses observed the scene from their nurse station. Even Sousuke appeared in the door of medical room to listen for a while. Then the green-eyed guy rose his hand. Rin estimated him with just one look. Tall, broad-shouldered. With a face too nice for a team leader.

' You?' he asked, just to make sure.

'Makoto Tahibana' confirmed the student.'Captain of Iwa…'

' I know, I can read'– answered Rin, looking at his jacket with blank expression. ; Thr captain, hm?' he narrowed his eyes. 'Then, I guess I should fucking congratulate you for your amazing captain-ing. Controlling the team, responsibility, all that.. You put a swimmer with advanced heart failure in a race. You allowed him to jump into the fucking water and swim, not even thinking about the fact that he can for example drown or.. '

'I..' the boy averted his eyes. ' I didn't want to… I didn't know that he…

'Hey' the smallest of the team members stood on his feet, looking at the physician angrily. 'Calm down a little, will you?'

Rin ignored him. He grabbed the jacket of the team leader and pushed him against the wall.

' You trained with those brats' he hissed. 'You managed them, you kept your eyes on them. Did you really miss the obvious signs that something is wrong? Didn't you pay attention?'

'He didn't say a word…he didn't mention that he feels ill or anything.. besides, this tournament…

' Because you see' third swimmer also stood from his chair. He corrected his glasses with impatient, hasty gesture. ' It was a very important tournament… There are only four of us, they want to close our club, but if we had won…'

' The swimmer didn't tell you he feels weak, because he wanted to be in the most important tournament?'asked Rin with a wry smile. He gave Makoto heavy look. ' What a surprise. And what did you expect, genius? You expected him to act like any normal, logically thinking human and admitt that he is ill and, oh no, fail his teammates? You should've noticed it, as their captain! It's your task, since the coach doesn't give a fuck! Observe, do you understand the meaning of this world? Fatigue, shallow breth…'

' Well, he had some sort of cold lately and after that he was a little bit…'

' Weigh gain, ankle-swelling' enumerated Rin,rising his voice.' You don't need to become a medicial doctor to notice it. You just need to think, goddamnit! You just need to be a good captain that cares for their teammembers and not a moron who worries only about the closing of the club and focuses on pushing his colleagues to their limits and forcing them to swim in some stupid tournament nobody cares for but him! Are you aware that you have probably killed your friend?

Makoto's green eyes widened. His face, too nice for a captain, contorded in pain, as if punched by a fist. As if Rin hit him, not only held him by his jacket. And he deserved that, thought the heart surgeon. Live and learn, stupid brat.

' Anyway' the dark-haired swimmer adjusted his glasses again. It was some sort of tic, he did it whenever he was about to speak. ' Would you tell us ho wis he? We are worried, we've been waiting here for…'

' Are you family? ' asked Rin in a very matter-of-fact voice. He let go of Makoto and allowed him to sit on the plastic hair and bury his face in his hands.' Any of you?'

' No, not really' admitted the boy with the glasses, assuming the role of the speaker of the group. ' But I believe that as his teammembers we have a right to…'

'You don't have a shit of a right. His parents are on the way, maybe they would be willing to feed your curiosity. But personally I wouldn't count on that. I figure that they wouldn't be very excited having you within their eyesight.'

He ignored further pleadings and negotiation attempts. He turned back and moved to his office, slamming the door behind him. He had to prepare for rather unpleasant conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Nanase.

'Rin Matsuoka, great destroyer of youthfull hopes and dreams' jested Sousuke, entering the room in which the swimmer rested, unconcious and conntected to all kinds of equipment. Rin didn't answer. He stood there, focusing entirely on the heart rate graph on one of the screens. Sousuke stood next to him, also looking at the lines. They did't look very optimistic. He knew that Rin isn't just killing time. He was on the watch, waiting for any problems to come. 'That kid you yelled at on the corridor bursted into tears and run away from the ward the moment you finally left him alone'

' Horrible'

'Well, you know, his mate fainted and almost drowned himself during the tournament, it is sort of stressing itself. You could have been nicer'

' I could' admitted Rin.' But I wasn't'.

'Why?'

' No idea' answered the heart surgeon, still focused on the screen. ' Maybe on a whim. Mayve because of his face. Maybe I just don't like poor, irresponsible team leaders. Maybe stupid, kid tournaments are annoying because everybody treat them as the most important thing in life and suddenly everyone is ready to neglect their own health and get themselves into A&E only to start and not to fail their friends'/

' You are bitter' noticed Sousuke. Rin shrugged.

' And it has nothing to do with Australia?' interrogated neurosurgeon. Red haired doctor gave him a look of very surprised dragon.

'Why do you assume that it has anything to to with Australia?'

' You left there to become a professional swimmer and swim during the Olympic Games. You came back after many years as a extraordinary heart surgeon, with deeply rooted hate for competitive swimming. Look me in the eye and tell me that nothing happened there.'

'Nothing happened there' answered indifferently Rin, with eyes still fixed on the screen.

' So why did you attack the poor kid all of sudden? –kept asking Sousuke. – Like.. for real. Why?

'I don't know ' Rin shook his head to get rid of hair going into his eyes. ' Maybe I was kind of hoping that he will break down and make some suicidal attempt, or at least jump in front of the car in really clumsy way' he said through his teeth.'Had he succeeded, we'd have a donor'.

Sousuke looked at him suspiciously.

'Rin, don't even joke like that. You know that even if…

'The family would give consent' said Rin, definitelly convinced about that. ' They are teammates after all.'

The lights of an ambulance parking in front of the hospital was getting into the room, despite the window shades.