Author's note: Hello readers! I am excited to publish my first Free! story ever. This takes place at the very end of Free! Eternal Summer, but before Makoto and Haru go off to college. There will be some obvious divergences from the anime's epilogue/concluding scenes. I won't say anymore and spoil my own story!

Also, this is not a romance story. If you ship Haru/Makoto, you'll be happy with how much they interact, but my goal isn't to make them a couple or anything like that. They're my Brotp. That being said, if you read this with a shipping lens, you may see romance while others see deep friendship.

Aaaaand that's it. I'll update the next chapter in about one week. Enjoy!

Chapter One: Beneath the Surface

All Haru wanted was to swim. Really, that wasn't much to ask. The only reason that he was out in the warm sun running across a sandy beach was for that reason. Well, he supposed there was another reason as well: He was participating in a triathlon.

This normally wasn't Haru's idea of fun, but he was participating to support a friend. Rin organized a huge triathlon as a fundraiser for future students at Samezuka. He said it was the least he could do, since the school gave him so much. Hours after the start of that triathlon, Haru was finally close to the final leg of it: the swimming portion.

While running, Haru kept his eyes to the ocean. There it is. There it is. This running portion was taking too long. It was fortunate that the ocean was just coming into sight for him now; if they had run all those miles by the ocean, he wouldn't have been able to restrain himself. Even now, his legs threatened to redirect him to the ocean. But if he jumped in now, then he was disqualified from the triathlon. He didn't care much about the race itself, but for Rin's sake, he would restrain himself. And besides that, Makoto was running the race next to him; abandoning him would have invoked anger from Rin as well.

The ocean was to his left. Makoto was at his right. Their day hadn't gone without its ups and downs; they had been together from the start with riding bikes (one of them having a flat tire), running the wrong direction due to confusing signs, and now, the greatest tragedy of all—not being able to jump into that ocean right away.

Haru sped up, his feet firmly pounding the sand into submission. Makoto began to disappear from his side. "Makoto," he panted. Keep up; as soon as I hit the water, there's no stopping me. There was also an unspoken rule in the triathlon that when you started the swimming portion, you were supposed to have someone with you. Swimming alone in the ocean, even while it was daytime, was dangerous.

Makoto took the hint and picked up his pace. It was obvious how excited Haru was to jump into the ocean. He waited all day for this opportunity; Haru didn't want anything slowing him down, including his partner.

Fifty feet to the checkpoint.

They had to get in the water as soon as they hit the checkpoint. They had to swim fast and hard to make it to their next checkpoint on the island before the sun completely set. Then they would stay overnight on the island and take off to the next at the start of dawn. It was a longer section than usual for the swimming portion of the triathlon, but considering how it was mostly swimmers who were doing this, it made sense to put the most stock into that section.

Twenty feet to the checkpoint.

Makoto was lagging again. "Makoto!" Haru scolded. He didn't exert so much energy in this race just to be disqualified in the ocean segment. If the coastguard caught them in the water after unset, they were out of the triathlon immediately. They would be brought back to the shore and they'd have to face Rin with shame.

Speaking of Rin, there he was at the starting point.

The red-head stepped up. He was dressed in a tracksuit with his swimsuit undeniably underneath it. He was watching out over everyone in the ocean and making sure nobody drowned. "There you two are," Rin scoffed. "If it was anyone else, I wouldn't even let them in the water at this point. Think you can make it to the island?"

"We will," Haru said. He grasped the back of his shirt and pulled it over the top of his head with vigor. Makoto did the same, without the vigor.

"I see," Rin frowned. "Makoto, will you?"

"Hm?" he hummed blankly. "Of course."

Haru should have seen something wrong. Rin obviously picked up on something that he wasn't if he asked Makoto that kind of question. But Haru's gaze was locked on the ocean. He slid to a stop in the sand and began to pull at his shoes. Rin said some more words to Makoto. Makoto said some words back. Haru was already sprinting into the water when he heard the protests of Rin and Makoto.

"Oi, Haru!" Rin hollered in a scolding tone.

"Haru," Makoto called in a more dismayed way.

Haru dove under the surface of the waves while the latter ran into the water after him. The saltiness of the ocean somehow pleased him more than the chlorine pools at schools. The motion of the water-the water pounding back against him in the form of waves, fit perfectly with his philosophy. The water is alive. And he was alive and able to surround himself with that life.

He broke the surface and took in his first breath. The island that was their destination was two miles out. By his estimation, it would take about an hour to reach it with the waves getting as strong as they were. The ocean became even more alive at night. His respect for the ocean would never die. It was a healthy kind of respect; he knew what the ocean was capable of. Why, when he and Makoto were kids—

Haru surfaced once again and stayed there. Makoto. He glanced over his shoulder and saw him swimming free; it wasn't like backstroke worked well in the ocean. He was swimming hard and fast, just like Haru mentally ordered him to do before they hit the ocean. But he could finally see why Rin had been so concerned on shore. Makoto wasn't enjoying this at all. I thought he overcame his fear of the ocean, Haru thought then. "Oy, Makoto-" he called to his friend as he suddenly stopped pushing forward.

The brunet didn't bother giving a response; he simply swam on ahead towards their destination with all of his might.

…Okay, Haru decided. He followed along, purposefully lagging behind Makoto as he pondered the whole day with the power of hindsight. Makoto was the kind of person who put his own feelings on hold for the sake of others; he often covered up his emotions with the head tilt and smile that so many girls fell for. It was people like Haru, Nagisa, Rei, Rin, and even Gou who saw through that upbeat appearance. But today, Haru didn't see through it. He didn't know he was supposed to be paying attention for anything; he was so sure that Makoto was over his fear of the sea…

Haru almost hoped that the sun would set more quickly—that the coast guard would sweep in immediately and order them out of the water. Screw the humiliation from not swimming to the island fast enough; he was already humiliated because he failed to pick up on all the subtle signs that Makoto dropped all day. He had purposefully slowed down during the running section, especially when they were close to the ocean. He arrived at the very last moment that afternoon for the triathlon. He hadn't spoken more than necessary. I should have seen it.

The sun didn't set any slower than usual. If anything, it took longer. The entire swim took longer than it should have. Yet eventually, they were at the island. The water became shallow enough for them to walk when they came to their scenic destination. Haru walked forward, knowing that running would only result in more water being kicked up and not affect his speed much.

Makoto also walked to the shore without turning back. As soon as he was out of the water completely, he fell forward and landed on his hands and knees.

"Makoto!" Haru called in worry. He closed the remaining distance between them and knelt down next to Makoto. Naturally, he was panting from the intense swimming that they had just done. It was a miracle they made it to the island just as the sun fell over the crest of the horizon. But kneeling down next to Makoto, he could see the look in his friend's eyes that he was trying to mask: terror.

"Sorry," Makoto apologized between breaths. He faked a smile as he stared down at the sand. "I guess I haven't been training enough for endurance, huh?"

Haru angrily rose to his feet. No. Don't you dare try to hide your fear. You don't have to do that. He selfishly felt the urge to harass Makoto—to make him break down and reveal whatever was bothering him. The logical side of him realized that their day wasn't over yet; they still had to find their shelter for the night. Rin told us how it would work. He said there would be a station with maps right around here, and our spot would be marked on the map. And there would be food and warm clothes there… He looked over to the left, away from Makoto as he searched for the maps. The stand was there, but it was empty. That doesn't make sense. There were definitely supposed to be enough maps for everyone.

He had no choice but to ignore Makoto's current state and focus on the greater need. "All the maps are gone."

Makoto picked up his head, also scanning the area. "Huh?"

Haru shut his eyes as he tried to remember. Rin had shown them a map earlier which part of the island they'd be on. The only reason he brought it out was because they asked if Rei and Nagisa were on the same island as them. Unfortunately they weren't. Or maybe it wasn't so unfortunate; Makoto was less likely to be vulnerable with everyone surrounding him. "…It's towards the northern part of the island," Haru recalled. "Let's go, Makoto."

It was normal for Makoto to offer his hand to Haru when the latter got out of the pool, but the reverse never happened before. As Haru stretched out his hand for Makoto, he realized how weird of a gesture it was. Makoto did too. He looked from Haru's hand to his face in surprise, saw the confusion, and cracked a smile. "This is weird," Makoto said as he accepted Haru's hand. He rose to his feet as the sand stuck to his wet shins.

Haru released Makoto's hand more quickly than Makoto ever released his. It really was weird to be on the opposite side of things. Some thoughts threatened to creep into his head, but again, he knew that finding their shelter was most important.

"Let's go."

*…*…*…*…*…*

A boy held a set of binoculars to his eyes. "They made it after all."

"I'm not surprised. They are faster than us."

"But you don't have to admit it!" A cooling breath. "Still, did you see how he collapsed on shore? He's unnerved. I thought he was over his fear of the ocean."

"Apparently not. That's good for us though."

"Obviously." He lowered the binoculars. "Let's go. We'll have to move fast to beat them to their campsite and do our damage."

*…*…*…*…*…*

By the time they reached the campsite, Makoto began to calm down. He wasn't overly worked up when they landed on the shore; he still had enough restraint to not go into panic mode. Haru was both pleased and angered by Makoto's restraint; he shouldn't have felt the need to hide anything, but at the same time, Haru didn't like to see him panicked.

"That's it, huh?" Makoto asked as they surveyed the scene together.

Up ahead was an abandoned beach-house. The terrain sat lower here and was probably more prone to flooding than other parts of the island, hence the scaffolding that lifted the home an extra story off the ground. There, sitting under the shadow of the scaffolding, were two backpacks filled with towels, dry clothes, and food. It would absolutely be enough to get them through the night.

Firewood was the only thing missing, but there were plenty of woods surrounding the abandoned house that they could use to give themselves light and heat.

But… Haru looked over at Makoto. If the ocean hadn't unnerved him enough, the house finished the job. Makoto was a scardey-cat; haunted houses were terrifying for him. Going into the dark woods was an even worse decision though; the only light that they had was that from the moon, and that wasn't even bright. "Stay here," Haru said. "I'll be right back with firewood."

Makoto blinked in surprise. "I'm fine," he said. "I'll help with the firewood."

"Somebody needs to sort out the supplies," he responded calmly. "I'll be right back." Before Makoto could protest anymore, Haru went into the woods. It was a mistake on his part.

Makoto watched him for a few moments, but then did as he was told and went towards the house. Haru wasn't fooling him; Makoto knew that his friend was trying to protect him, but in his mind, he shouldn't have needed protection in the first place though. If only he wasn't so worried about the ocean. If only he didn't care so much about shadows and creepiness at night. If only there wasn't that creaking of the old house that would keep him awake all night…

Makoto shivered from the coldness of his thoughts. This was no time to be so negative. He had a simple task to do: unpacking their backpacks and setting up the camp. There was no way that Rin expected them to stay inside such a creepy building, right? There had to be a tent or something in the backpacks…He walked over to them and began to unpack, starting to quietly hum a happy song to distract himself. Haru was already worried; there was no need to worry him anymore.

It took a few minutes, but he gathered the clothes, blankets, pillows and matches in a line. There was no tent, but there were plenty of blankets to keep them warm. And there were no rain clouds in the sky. It would actually be a pleasant night to look up at the stars.

Makoto shut his eyes briefly, hearing only the silence. There were no crickets in the forest, no night owls hooting, no foxes awake. It was complete, and utter silence until the home's wind chimes suddenly began ringing like crazy.

He briefly yelped as his eyes burst open. There's no wind. There was absolutely no wind that could have made the chimes go. The house is haunted. Oh… He quickly rose to his feet and looked at the forest. Haru wasn't back yet. He definitely should have been back by now. And the forest is haunted to. Haru's… Makoto glanced briefly at the house behind him. Which was worse: Being alone outside the haunted house, or being in the haunted forest with Haru?

It wasn't hard to decide. Makoto ran into the forest without hesitation.

Meanwhile in the forest, Haru gathered the last of the twigs. Why couldn't Rin and his school have just left wood by their campsite instead of scattering it through the woods? Rin even said that all the members of his swim club worked hard at chopping enough woods for all the competitors. Why not just finish the job and put it by the campsite?

A faint noise travelled in the still air. "Haru."

Haru stopped walking, afraid that any twig he stepped on would stop him from hearing the call. It wasn't just his imagination, was it? He heard something just now…

Just a fraction louder. "Haru."

"Makoto," Haru called back. That was definitely Makoto who was calling out to him.

"Haru?"

If he had any hands free, he would have lifted his hands to his face. "What are you doing in here, Makoto?" he said louder than usual.

"I…"

He sighed. "Forget it. Just go back out. I'm coming."

"I don't think that I…know the way."

It sounded like he was going to burst into tears. Had that even happened before? Haru could only tell because he knew what Makoto sounded like when he was normal. This wasn't normal at all. He was panicking. "Alright. I'm coming to you. Start talking so I can follow your voice."

"Heh? What should I talk about."

Tell me why you're still freaked out about the ocean, Haru silently prompted. No, that wasn't a good idea. Makoto was freaked out enough without that being brought to the surface. "Tokyo," he prompted. "What classes did you sign up for so far?"

Makoto began to ramble about his classes. Some math, some English, history, and just one on coaching. How strange it was that schools made you take so many classes there held no relevance to your job. It was meant to make you a well-rounded person, probably. Haru said it was to steal their money, but Makoto was too kind to agree with him. By the time they got into the cost of textbooks, Haru found him.

Haru stared at Makoto for a few moments with only pieces of moonlight shining through the trees to enable that task. "Let's go," he finally said.

"Thanks," Makoto said as he followed.

It didn't take long for them to come out of the forest, but when they did, Makoto was spooked again. "Huh?"

"What?"

"The stuff that I set out…It's…" There wasn't nearly as much stuff as before. He had set out two sets of clothes—one for himself and another for Haru. Same for blankets and pillows. Only the items that would have been his were taken. He fought the urge to panic. Ghosts don't steal clothes and bedspreads. But maybe an animal would to make a nest or something?

It was Haru who noticed what Makoto didn't: the front door that had previously been shut and locked was now on broken hinges as if it were kicked in. It was clear to him now: somebody was pulling a prank. They thought it was funny, but they didn't know how wound up Makoto already was from facing the ocean. Haru furrowed his eyebrows and walked towards the house. "Stay here," he said calmly to Makoto.

Makoto briefly trailed after Haru. "What? Why-?" He didn't bother finishing the question; he noticed then how the door was busted open. He gasped, unsure of what was going on. Somebody was here with them? Who? And why would they take half of their supplies?

"Makoto," Haru repeated. "Watch the door. Make sure nobody comes out."

At first, he was relieved he didn't have to go into the dark house. Then he was horrified. "But Haru, you can't-" I can't let you go in alone. If there is someone in there, then…what? Maybe it was some native of the island who desperately needed shelter and warmth and food. He swallowed, feeling misplaced compassion for the thief. "Forget it, let's just-"

"Watch the door," Haru repeated. He knelt down by their stuff and grabbed a flashlight. "I'll be back out with your stuff."

"Oy, Haru…"

Haru completely ignored him and stormed into the house. Makoto was stunned. Haru was acting really strange. Even Makoto couldn't fully comprehend his actions. It was because of his kindness; he was too quick to trust people and believe in their goodness. Haru knew otherwise. He knew that people took advantage of Makoto and his kindness. Even he did it every once in a while. He took too much and didn't give at all. Today, that was going to change.

While Makoto took his place at the top of the steps directly in front of the open door, Haru wandered through the dark house with only a flashlight as his guide. He had his suspicions about the entire day. First it was a flat tire on Makoto's bike. Then it was fake signs on the running route to lead them astray. Then the map being stolen, and now it was stuff being taken. All of it lined up somehow. I made an enemy somewhere, Haru thought, ducking past a tattered curtain that blocked a doorway. Sorry to drag you into this, Makoto. Haru secluded himself from reality as much as possible; he tuned out nearly everything except for the water and his friends. It probably irritated somebody who was now pulling these mean pranks. They stole the clothes thinking that they were Haru's. The bike was almost his. Everything fit too perfectly.

Haru completed a round downstairs and wound up in the hall. A rickety set of stairs directed him upstairs. Makoto had the door guarded out front. There were no other entrances or exits; the windows had been boarded shut to protect the home from storms. The thief was absolutely upstairs. Haru stepped quickly up the stairs with flashlight in hand. The scene that greeted him was that of a typical abandoned house: an empty hallway with nothing but cobwebs and insects. Dust coated the wooden floor in all but a select few places.

Footprints guided the way to a bedroom to the left. He pointed the flashlight that way and started over without fear. It never occurred to him that whoever this person was would be strong enough to overpower him with a surprise attack.

When he wandered into the bedroom, he noticed a stack of clothes, pillows, and blankets in the back right corner. He subconsciously started towards the pile and then was stopped by an arm that closed itself around his neck. He stumbled backwards with the person's strong chokehold, his hands immediately wandering up to take hold of that arm and remove it. Whoever picked this fight was stupid; he could hold his breath for a very, very long time. Until the moment he lost consciousness, he would fight back.

The arm around his neck was too tight. It was absolutely too muscular to belong to the average high school student. This person was an athlete—maybe a wrestler. I may be out of my league. He purposefully shoved the person back against the wall to force them into loosening their grip. It didn't work. He leaned forward and then shoved him back again and again, using his own body weight as his weapon. Finally, it worked. The arm loosened enough for Haru to grab hold of it and swing the person around to be in front of him. All he needed was to land one solid punch and the thief would be knocked out.

Right before he was about to throw a punch, Haru was horrified to see another figure step out of the room's closet and make a break for the doorway. There's two of them?! He lost his grip on his attacker's arm and was suddenly tackled. He's running! The second person was running down the stairs, towards Makoto.

Makoto was already directly in the doorway of the house because he heard banging in the upstairs of the house. At first, he thought the figure running down the stairs was Haru. "Haru-" He started to say in relief. Just as the person collided with him, Makoto realized that this wasn't Haru. This was the thief. And he was in trouble.

The figure crashed into him and had enough momentum to knock him completely backwards. Makoto grunted roughly when he fell down the stairs and hit his head on one of the wooden stairs. It cracked beneath his weight as he and the thief flipped over one another and completely switched positions at the bottom of the stairs. Even when Makoto was on top and propped up with his arms above opponent, he was in a complete daze. What…? He didn't have time to ponder it; a fist came flying at his face and knocked him over to the side. Pain radiated from his right cheek as he landed on his side in the sand. Darkness briefly surrounded him. It was only relieved when he heard a voice.

"Makoto. Oy! Makoto!" He grunted and opened his eyes. He was still lying on his side, as he had been since the punch. He couldn't have blacked out for more than a few seconds, yet Haru was kneeling down right in front of him. "Pull it together."

Makoto slowly began to sit up, feeling either drool or blood on his chin as he looked up at his best friend. "Haru…ka?" he gurgled. "What happened?"

Haru danced blurrily in Makoto's sight. "There were two of them," he said.

"Two? Of who?" Makoto wiped his fist at his chin and pulled it away. It had been blood.

"Whoever stole your stuff. I got into a fight with one of them. The other one bolted and…" Haru paused. "You don't remember?"

"I think I remember…Somebody came bolting down the stairs and ran into me. I hit my head on the way down the stairs and then he punched me." At the remembrance of the stairs, Makoto lifted his hand to the back of his head. Either his hair was still wet from the swim, or he had actually hit his head hard enough to make it bleed. He winced briefly in pain and shut his eyes.

"Makoto."

"I'm okay," he winced, putting on a small smile as he held his head. "I was just surprised, that's all. But…"

"But?" Haru prompted.

"…I don't know. I couldn't see his face, but he somehow seemed familiar."

*…*…*…*…*…*

The two large boys scrambled to the beach-house that they were told to camp at. They breathlessly collapsed under the scaffolding. "That was not part of the plan!"

"Shut up," the other panted. "Did you have a better idea?"

"We shouldn't have fought them! This isn't even about fighting. It's about making him suffer…"

"I don't care about that anymore. I'm glad you got a chance to punch him."

"Well I'm not. Let's forget this whole thing and just finish the relay tomorrow."

"You do that if you want. I'm finishing this."