Things were fine or so Rin insisted before all of this happened or at least before she caught sight of what was really underneath the thinly veiled mask that he wore.

Gou was used to iffy days with her brother, balancing any past hurts, any issues together, hiding them as they hung out.

They'd made sure to meet up at least once a month though on freer schedules they met up at least once a week usually whenever competitions and swim meets wound down.

She had been just politely asking what they were to eat for lunch as the she had gotten hungry and suggested a seafood place that she'd tried with the boys on her team when he'd lost it.

He'd yelled about mackerel and how much he hated it, didn't want to eat it, and kept on going from everything that could be wrong with it.

Gou sighed; she'd never even mentioned mackerel to him though she'd tried some of the mackerel there since she'd went with Haru and the other guys and thus knew that they did have great mackerel, "Rin? They have good mackerel." She watched him, saw how his shoulders were already beginning to slump.

"I know, I know." He muttered, shifting, and she wondered if Aiichiro really had been giving him strange looks lately, and whether he'd just crumbled under his new responsibility for the team or whether he really did look up and find far too many issues with his time.

"Is something bothering you?" She figured that she probably sounding strange considering that he'd just yelled problems at her ranging from mackerel to guys on his swim team to everything else in between.

"Y-Yes." He warily admitting, shifting, not at all telling her what it was.

Gou knew Rin's mood swings like the back of her hand and so stepped closer, knowing that he'd probably been pushing himself too hard again just like any other time when something was bothering him internally that he never wanted to admit to.

Her arms wrapped tightly around him as she felt the first beginnings of tears materializing onto her shirt, "Is it Haru?" It usually was though she knew better than to be this blunt with him, it came out before she could catch herself.

"I-I... I've been thinking about him like when we were kids and when I swim or when I'm in class. Just forget it." Rin grumbled against her shoulder.

"Is it just like when we were kids?" Gou knew of her own feelings, of old crushes, and how she'd dealt with him, but knew that Rin was not the same as she was in this regard.

"Sort of... But I-I think of other things too." He trailed off, and she just hugged him tighter; it didn't really matter that her shirt was getting soaked in his tears at all.

"Do you think of how blue his eyes are like ocean waves?" She tried though hated the way he stiffened in her arms at first before hugging her tighter.

He didn't give her a verbal answer.

"Do you dream that you're eating mackerel with him, that you can taste mackerel on your tongue?" She wasn't really a romantic like her brother, but she could try to catch the descriptions that probably ran a muck in his veins and mind right now.

"N-No." She doubted the way he said that, but then again, he could be honest about that part.

"Do you still see him swim in your mind and watch him whenever he touches the water as if he were your lifeline? Do you wish that you can lean over the divider of the pool and kiss him after races?" She was on a roll or at least felt like it with how easily the questions formed in her mind now and came off of her tongue.

Rin pulled off of her shoulder and looked into her eyes; his red eyes still held tears and even she could see the longing there.

Gou sighed and shifted, "You should tell him how you feel." She didn't know Haru half as well as she knew her brother, but she knew that he often handled things better than anyone though sometimes with Rin, he barely handled anything all that well. He cared for him at least in some way.

"I just can't. I don't like men this way." Rin told her, and she pulled back completely from him.

"Suit yourself." She shrugged and walked away from him towards that little shop though he wiped his tears away and followed, and she heard his silent answer to her; he'd tell him probably the next time he saw him.

She grinned; hopefully they could work out their issues one of these days.