The preview for episode 9 showed that our lovely boys went for a squid festival (as Nagisa had said) and perhaps a promise made between Makoto, Haru and Rin when they were kids by a tree. This fanfic will be using that as the setting. Pairing will be RinHaru (and perhaps a hint of more c:)

And I'd like to say sorry in advance first for any errors made regarding the way they act or call each other's names and perhaps some grammar.

I mean, I have bad memory and not exactly enough information to write a good fanfic yet orzz

"Rei-chan, Rei-chan! Over here!" Nagisa waved both his hands frantically. Rei came running to his swim club members with a guilty look on his face.

"Sorry, I somehow got lost somewhere on the way!" by the time he was facing the three, he was panting for breath. He surely ran all the way to the shrine…

"Geez, Rei-chan! That's why I said you should've come with me!" Nagisa folded his arms and sulked kiddingly.

"N-Nagisa, why are you in a yukata…?"

Nagisa was wearing a turquoise colored yukata with different colored large polka dots on it. It made him look more girly than he already was and that somehow made Rei feel embarrassed.

"That's what a festival is about, you know? What's the point if you're not wearing a yukata? It's all about the mood!" Nagisa argued as his eyes glistened.

"Now, now, Nagisa…" Makoto chuckled. It was a nostalgic atmosphere. They had not been at a festival since elementary school. And the last time they came…

Makoto took a peek at Haruka from the corner of his eyes. His eyes were fixated at something in the distance. Makoto followed his gaze.

Ah… he slightly gasped to himself when he realised what Haruka was looking at so intensely.

"So, what should we do first?" Nagisa's cheerful tone snapped everyone back from their illusions to reality. They are here, after all, to have fun.

"Ahhhh! Look! It's a game about sea animals! I bet they sell stuff about penguins too! Rei-chan, Rei-chan, quickly!" just like that, Nagisa dragged Rei away, squeezing through the crowd and soon out of sight, leaving Makoto and Haruka alone. For no particular reason, Makoto felt awkward.

"Uhmm, so," he began and cracked his voice. Ack! He thought but pushed himself to finish the sentence. "Is there any booth you'd like to visit, Haru? It has been a while since we came to a festival after all…"

Haruka didn't speak for a moment and seemed to be deep in thought. Makoto waited until he finally decided and spoke up. "I'll… go to that place."

Makoto's eyes widened briefly which then revealed kindness as he smiled softly. "I'll find Nagisa and Rei. You brought your cellphone this time, right? I'll contact you later, Haru." Haruka nodded slightly in reply. "Thank you, Makoto."

"Matsuoka-senpai…? Where are you going at this time of the night?" Nitori rubbed his eyes sleepily as he heard the sounds of the dorm room door lock click. "Ah… Nitori. Sorry for waking you up. Go back to sleep. I'm just going out for a jog since the weather's good…"

Liar. Nitori frowned. You're obviously going somewhere else, dressed like that. But he didn't say anything. It was like what his captain said; he definitely had his own reasons for doing the things he does. "… Be back soon, okay?"

"… Yeah." Even though he replied, Rin's mind was obviously already no longer fixed on this conversation.

He won't look at me straight, was what Nitori thought when Rin shut the door behind him and begun his 'jog'.

Rin looked up at the huge tree. More memories hit him hard in the face. He couldn't escape it.

He was trapped like a bird in a cage.

Suddenly, he began regretting his words to Haruka the day of the competition.

I'll never swim with you again.

Ever.

Was it too harsh?

He recalled the look on his face and the one on Haruka's.

But it was the right choice, Rin repeated to himself over and over again. For the sake of my dad's dream.

"… Rin?"

Rin flinched. That voice…! He turned face-to-face with a look of loathing plastered on his face.

Haruka didn't know what kind of face to make. He just called out Rin's name out of pure reflex.

He saw him twitch, then turned around to face him.

"… Haru." Rin was obviously showing that he did not want to see Haruka. Or at least, that's what he tried to make it look like. Haruka didn't forget Rin's face before he swam the relay. He wanted to know – what did it mean. Perhaps, his answer will also be Haruka's answer to why he swims.

"Rin. I have a question –"

"Why are you here?"

What?

A strong gust of wind blew and the leaves on the huge tree rustled noisily, at the same time blowing the boys' hair to their faces, hiding their expressions from each other. After a moment, it calmed.

Haruka's eyes widened in shock. It was that expression again – what is it?

"… Why?" it came out as a whisper.

"Rin, why do you make a face as though you're going to cry?"

Tsk…!

Rin's mask shattered as feelings overwhelmed in him. He couldn't hold it in anymore.

I need to get away.

And he broke into a run. Away from everything. All I need now – is to concentrate in swimming! Nothing else matters! That's right, nothing else –

"Rin!" Haruka grabbed onto his arm. Ah, that's right… Haruka had always been good at catching. He just had a way. That frustrated Rin. He felt himself finally explode and begun spurting out words he didn't even know he thought of. Wait, no, it's words he didn't want to admit.

"Why!? I won, didn't I? So why!? It doesn't feel that way at all! When I saw that guy – it pisses me off so much! Someone like that… doesn't deserve to be swimming with you guys!"

Haruka immediately realised that Rin was talking about Rei. He gritted his teeth.

"That should my question!"

Rin winced. Haruka wasn't the type to get angry.

"You were the one who left! You challenged me and you won—and you said things like that –! So what kind of nonsense are you babbling about with that kind of expression now!?"

His voice broke down. Haruka's grip on Rin tightened as he felt him shiver and slid down on the ground. Haruka heard a stifled sob from the fallen Rin.

"Idiot! Don't say things like that now! I won't know what to do… don't confuse me any further!"

"Haru-chan? And… is that… Rin-chan?" both of them jumped as they heard Nagisa's voice, followed by footsteps Haruka assumed to be Rei's. Rin rubbed his eyes and stood up. "…" silently, he just walked away as if none of that happened just now.

"Wait, Rin!" Haruka shouted after him without any sign of reply from him.

"Rin-chan?" Nagisa blinked blankly and roughly understood the situation. He brought a bright smile on his face and clattered on his geta to Haruka's side. "Haru-chan, Haru-chan! Did you know? Just now, Rei-chan tried to answer questions about penguins and got them all wrong! He's actually more dumb than I thought!" Rei flustered at that. "N-Nagisa! You didn't have to tell Haruka-senpai something like that!"

"What's the harm?" Nagisa turned his head away with pouty lips. "Nee, Haru-chan! Where's Mako-chan?"

Haruka finally seemed to regain his senses. "Ah, oh, that… I'll contact him. Let's go." He ushered the two away and back to the crowd, taking one last look back in the direction Rin left.

Rin…

OKKAAYYYYYYY! That's that. I don't know how but it turned out the way it did and I didn't bother to improve it cos this is the 'original', meaning my first thoughts of what's gonna happen. Just that it turned out to be more dramatic than I had thought –

I'm glad you actually picked this up and read this till the end /o/

Thank you for being a fan of Free! c:

Do note that I don't own Free! in any way and this is purely fictional!