"I'm quitting the swim team."

That was over a week ago. Makoto Tachibana notice since her best friend Haruka Nanase's announcement he has been less than cheery than he usually is. She tries to cheer him up by having the twins play with him to no avail. It was almost the beginning of the New Year and Makoto still could not cheer Haruka up. She wanted to cry for being so useless. What kind of person was she if she couldn't even help the one person she truly cares for?

"I'll be back soon, Haru" Makoto said as she buttoned up her jacket. Haruka just gave a slight nod before Makoto exited the house.

Walking down the steps Makoto quickly wiped the tears that were forming. She was a former swimmer; she had to be strong for Haruka. Yet, she wanted to say more, but what else is there to say?

Seeing her mom waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, Makoto quicken her pace to greet her as they both walked towards the hair salon.

Being part of the swim team Makoto's hair is exposed to chlorine water which greatly damages her hair. So every month and a half, Makoto goes to the hair salon to have the damaged hair trimmed.

As the beautician cut her hair, Makoto thought back to when Haruka started acting weird. She was absent that day so she doesn't know if her classmates said anything to him. But to make Haru quit the swim team; Makoto doubted anyone from their class could do that. The only other person who could bring such emotions to Haruka was Rin, but he was in Australia leaving Makoto back to square one.

"There. All done, Miss."

"Haruka Nanase get out of the tub! Makoto's back!"

Haruka just sighed and slowly got out of the tub. Since leaving the swim team Haruka spent most of his time in the bathtub when he is by himself. He feels bad for making Makoto worry, but he still couldn't bring himself to open up yet. The wound was still fresh. After getting dressed he walked downstairs, only to stop midway to see someone else in Makoto's usual spot.

The person's back was facing Haruka, though he was still able to distinguish the person is female. He quietly approached her taking note of her hair length. Her hair was barely passing her jaw line. The sunset shaded her hair light brown with the winter air flowing right through it.

Without noticing Haruka accidently stepped on one of the cat toys Makoto brought for the strays. The girl quickly turned her head at the sound of the noise. The first thing he noticed was her emerald eyes which held such warmth whenever they looked at him and then her nose which was covered with freckles from her time in the sun during swim practice. Finally, her lips which were small yet a bit plumped as they started to part to say those same familiar words, "Hello, Haru-chan."

"Here you go."

"Thank you Haru-chan" as Makoto took the cup of tea from his hands as she made space for him to sit down next to her on the engawa.

They sat there sipping tea until the sunset, it was there when Haruka finally decided to break the silence.

"So why did you cut your hair?"

Makoto tugged the loose ends of her now shorten hair, face flushed. "I dozed off and didn't pay attention to the stylist. Why does it look bad?" she asked giving Haruka an uneasy smile.

Haruka felt his heart beat go faster and quickly looked away. "It looks fine."

Makoto notice Haruka trying to avoid showing his emotions, but she saw in his eyes a sense of relief. There wasn't as much light but it was better than nothing. Makoto couldn't help but to giggle.

She placed her head at the crook of his neck whispering, "Thanks. It really means a lot coming from you."

*engawa is the long hallway outside of the house that's outside of the garden

I don't own the show or characters from Free! they belong to Kyoto Animation

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