In the end, there really was nothing else he could have done with his life.
The day Haruka Nanase graduated high school was the happiest day of his life. He remembered standing by the school swimming pool, throwing away his tie and simply smiling at his reflection in the water. Life was going to be wonderful after this, he thought to himself. He would go to fitness school alongside his two best friends and learn about his own body in ways he never thought possible. He would become a fitness expert and spend the rest of his life in constant movement. That was the dream. He would be able to make a living by running, stretching and swimming, what else could he have asked for?
The first few months at university had been wonderful. Sharing a dorm with Makoto had suited him just fine, after all, they had been friends since forever and no one understood him better. Nagisa had introduced them to his roommate shortly after, a tall, bespectacled freshman by the name of Rei pursuing a diploma in nutrition. They had become inseparable by the end of their first semester, sharing dreams of starting their own fitness club (with a spa, as demanded by Rei) and they would live happily ever after. Yes, that was definitely the dream. Those were the happiest years of his life.
But as those years went by, he realised their dreams really were nothing more than dreams. For starters, they were all broke by the time they graduated, and the fact that they were fresh out of school didn't make it any easier for them to find jobs in the city. It was Nagisa who provided the only solution to their problems, as one of his uncles owned a fitness club in a small provincial town in the south.
And that's how they all ended up working seven days a week as personal trainers at Iwatobi Fitness Club.
Here's the thing - it wasn't a bad gig at all. Sure, working hours were a bitch. They opened at 7 but only one of them was expected to arrive at that time to help with prepping the swimming pool, so they took it in turns while the rest arrived at 9. Then they all had basic duties to fulfil. Twenty-five hours a week of floor supervising, which was a lot. Personal training sessions were one hour each, they were in charge of designing a one-on-one training program for their clients and if they managed to sell more than 10 private sessions to a member, of if they had more than 3 sessions per day, then their floor supervising hours would be reduced to 15 weekly for as long as the sessions lasted. Of course none of them had ever managed as much. Floor supervising hours would accumulate and they would have to make up for them during their day off in order to fill their quota. They got an hour off at lunch and another at dinner, then the club would finally close down at 9.
Rei usually handled the morning yoga and spinning classes while Nagisa took over the dance lessons at night. Makoto was in charge of the boxing ring and usually supervised the weightlifting section as long as he wasn't training a member, in which case Haruka would take over. Haru generally supervised the swimming pool during peak hours, which was easily the most appealing aspect of his job to him. Unfortunately, that did not count as floor supervising, which meant he still had to spend at least 3 hours a day by the machines, and he'd still need to make up for the missing hours during his days off. And after the club closed down, they were all allowed to remain there for as long as they wanted and train to their heart's content.
Which had initially suited them well enough, but after the first 2 months they realised they were all too tired by the end of the day to do some extra training of their own. All except Haruka who would usually go back to the swimming pool and soak there until midnight.
During their first few months at Iwatobi they had all crashed at Nagisa's uncle's place - a tiny two bedroom apartment with an even tinier bathroom, which evidently, suited none. Once again, Nagisa was the one to provide a solution to their problems, convincing his grandmother (with help of his uncle) to let him use the old house by the hill where she had grown up in, and now served as a giant warehouse to keep years of accumulated junk from all her children. They held a garage sale and cleaned the place they now called home, it was a tiny two bedroom house on top of a hill and it smelled like mildew, but they didn't have to pay rent and, as months went by, it started looking more like home than their dorms at the university ever did. And Haruka loved it more than he let the others know.
The money wasn't bad either, they all had a basic salary and commissions from every private training session they managed to sell. Sure, they were clearly understaffed and they would sometimes find themselves doing more office hours than they initially expected - once they even had to take over cleaning duties for over a week when the janitor had his tonsils removed - but the general atmosphere, Haruka thought, was fantastic, clean and relatively quiet, he air smelled of disinfectant and deodorant and the people were friendly yet focused in their own business. It really was the only thing he ever pictured himself doing in his adult life.
Until the day he arrived.
"Haru, are you even listening to me?" Makoto said Monday morning as they walked to the club.
In all honesty, Haru hadn't been listening at all. He had been worried about Kojima-san's bad ankle for the past few weeks, hoping the new routine he had designed for her would help her with her weight loss without putting too much strain on her ankle.
"Hmm?"
Makoto laughed heartily as he gently patted his friend on the back. "She'll be fine," he added as he adjusted his sunglasses. "I was just saying Sasabe's all worried about the new guy, wants us to make sure he's extra comfortable, apparently he's transferred all the way from Australia. He's Japanese though, so no worries about the language."
"Oh," Haru said blankly.
"Yeah," Makoto continued, "I heard he's really sought-after, can't imagine what brought him to Iwatobi but Sasabe was shy of doing backflips when he hired him. We really could use another hand at the club don't you think? Haru?"
Haruka had stopped as a particularly large cloud cleared away from the sun and the ocean caught its light. Makoto sighed and smiled as he put a hand over his friend's shoulder, gently directing him towards the club entrance.
"It'll be warm enough to swim in no time."
"My name is Rin Matsuoka, it's nice to meet you all."
They had called the entire staff to a meeting early Monday morning in order to introduce the new personal trainer, the aforementioned Rin Matsuoka, who politely bowed before them. Haruka could feel Nagisa's entire body positively shaking with enthusiasm to his right, and hear Rei's concerned tongue-clicking to his left. He took one glance at the man before him and he could not understand, for the life of him, what was so special about him. He had longish red hair tied back in a sloppy ponytail, he was wearing a black tracksuit with red stripes and his posture was definitely too lax for a fitness trainer. Sparing not another thought on his new colleague, he turned his gaze towards the window hoping to catch a glimpse of the ocean.
"It's nice meeting you, Matsuoka-san-" Makoto was the first to speak.
"Please, call me Rin," the redheaded interrupted with a wave of his hand.
"Oh, alright, Rin. I'm Makoto Tachibana, please call me Makoto. These guys are Nagisa Hazuki, Haruka Nanase and Rei Ryugazaki, we are the four full time employed trainers at the club." They all bowed as their names were mentioned and Rin acknowledged each with a nod.
"Over here we have Yunemura-san and Miyasaka-san, they are in charge of the front desk," he said as he motioned to two young guys wearing suits. "And well, you know coach Sasabe of course, our manager."
"It's great having you here, my boy!" Sasabe took a step forwards and clapped a heavy hand over Rin's back who let out a bark-like laugh as he scratched the back of his head.
"It's cool, thanks for having me," he said in the most unaffected tone Haruka had ever heard, and he found it extremely annoying.
It took about two more seconds of relative calm before Nagisa outright squealed and launched himself forwards, positively trapping Rin in a tight hug around the waist before lifting him three feet off the ground with his hidden bear-like strength.
"Rin-chan!" he beamed, "I'm Nagisa, I do boot camp, zumba and aerobics! What do you do?"
"Nagisa-kun," Rei said quietly, "please don't scare him off just yet, we're severely understaffed at the moment."
Rin laughed heartily as he put an arm around Nagisa's shoulder, rubbing his knuckles over his blonde locks. "Feisty one, I see," he replied. "I do weightlifting, endurance, judo, boxing, cross fit, and swimming," he added as he counted them off with his fingers. "And you should see me dancing," he said with a wink.
Nagisa's delighted laughter rang throughout the entire club as he jumped up and down. "Amazing!"
Annoying, thought Haruka.
"Rin here has got two years' experience working at Gold's Gym in Sydney, but he's been in Iwatobi for a few months already," said a beaming Sasabe. "And not only has he decided to join our team, which we are completely thrilled about, but he's also sold memberships to some of his regulars here at Iwatobi, which I'm even more thrilled about!" he said as he let out a loud chuckle. "You bunch of misfits should do well by learning a thing or two from this young man right here!"
Haruka's eyebrow twitched but nobody seemed to notice. He turned his head towards the redhead, admittedly catching everyone's attention and he bowed curtly.
"Excuse me," he said as he walked away.
Rin seemed to be the only one caught off guard by Haruka's behaviour, raising both eyebrows and crossing his arms over his chest, chuckling incredulously.
"That's Haru," said Makoto, as if that explained the whole thing. "Let's go downstairs to introduce you to the cleaning staff."
"Right."
Kojima-san arrived at 10 am. She had been swimming with Haruka for the past six months right after her ankle surgery, and she had made an impressive recovery. It had only been a couple of weeks since he decided to change up her routine, adding a bit of walking and strength exercises, which initially had worked like magic, until the pain came back, so now she was a bit skeptic about working out with weights, wishing she'd just be able to return to the pool. Truth be told, Haruka wasn't particularly fond of coaching Kojima-san in the swimming pool, he was never really good at it, losing patience quickly and wanting to be done with it all just so he could have some time alone to soak on his own. However, being a professional, he managed.
"I just don't understand why we can't just go swimming," she'd said that same morning as they walked upstairs to the cardio area.
"We need to strengthen your ankle, even if it's little by little," answered Haruka politely. "We are going to try something different today, don't worry. I won't have you running marathons just yet," he added pleasantly.
Kojima-san laughed heartily as she leaned onto Haruka's arm while walking up the last few steps.
"Just don't tell my son, he's been most insistent I return to the pool. Frankly, what I really want is for the weather to be warm enough for a picnic at the beach, with lots of ice-cream," she said childishly, making Haruka smile in spite of himself.
"Then Rei will have my head," he replied, thinking of the gluten-free diet Rei had prescribed.
"Oh, that man," she chuckled. "At my age, you need to enjoy the little things as much as you can." Haruka nodded pointedly, silently letting her know he agreed.
"And you, my dear, when are you going to find yourself a nice girl and enjoy those little things?" she asked mischievously as she patted his arm. "I've told you about my niece Harue, haven't I? Lovely young girl, just started a new job in advertising. You two would make a sweet couple."
Haruka blew air out his nose in amusement. She had mentioned her at least a dozen times before, and just as if she had been speaking a different language, he nodded and politely replied with a curt nod.
"Oh, boys these days," she added dismissively.
As they reached the second floor landing they were met with Nagisa's raucous laughter and a sight Haruka had only seen a few times in his life. A young guy with impossibly silver hair, probably around 18 or 19 years old, was planking on 6 inch steppers - fingers and toes grabbing onto the steppers as if his life depended on it, which probably did, since he also had to balance a whole Rin Matsuoka on his back.
"Ten seconds, Nitori! Anyone can do anything for ten goddamn seconds!" yelled the redhead as he balanced himself over his student's back, knees and palms digging into the kid underneath. Nitori let out a raw scream, digging strength from somewhere deep within.
"Do NOT bend your knees!" Rin yelled, "Your knees belong to me and you are not allowed to bend them! Think! Think Nitori! Do you want to be WEAK? Do you? Well, do you?!"
Haru heard a feeble 'no' coming from the kid but then again, he wasn't sure if he heard him or he just assumed it by the way the kid scrunched up his face and mouthed something that looked like 'no.'
"Oh my," Kojima-san interjected, covering her mouth with her free hand.
"Five! Four! Th- NO! Do NOT bend your knees!" yelled the redhead, as the silver haired teen tumbled over and his knees hit the floor. Rin's hands and feet were on the ground before Nitori's entire body collapsed over the mat, effectively avoiding hurting the teen with his added weight, but as he stood up and hovered over the kid, he looked absolutely livid.
"Get up," he commanded, ignoring Nagisa's laughter-turned-gasp and Nitori's slight whimpering. "Get up, you weakling."
As the kid got on his feet, Rin started walking a slow circle around him, eyeing him as if he were looking at rotten fish. Haruka's eyebrow twitched and he felt a sudden rush of anger wash over him, an overwhelming wave of adrenaline that screamed 'protect' and resounded all over his brain. Unnecessary, his mind screamed. Cruel.
Nitori was beginning to catch his breath and to everyone's surprise, met Rin's eyes the moment he stood before him, holding his gaze as if he were defying him, his chest heaving with something that had nothing to do with physical exhaustion.
"You're angry," said Rin, it wasn't a question. "You're not tired. You're angry. You're disappointed," his tone cold. "You know you're weak. I know you're weak. Now they know you're weak," he added as he gestured around to Nagisa, Haruka and Kojima-san. Nitori closed his eyes and bit his lower lip. Haruka's blood ran colder by the second until a firm hold around his arm forced him to open his eyes he didn't realise he'd closed. Kojima-san patted him reassuringly on the arm, meeting his eyes with a look.
"Feel it, feel that anger. Take it in you. Push it into your veins. Concentrate," he added, almost like a whisper. "That burn, that heat, take it. Pump it into your weak body and feel the strength fill you up until you can't take it, then get back in plank position and show me what you can do!" he finished by yelling at the top of his voice, getting the attention of everyone at the gym who hadn't been paying attention. "You owe me five seconds of raw strength!" and Haruka thought that last screech was positively the most annoying thing he'd heard his entire life, making a mental note that apparently, his new colleague sucked at math.
Another pat on his arm got him out of his reverie as Kojima-san pulled him away towards the stretching area.
"I think my time started a good two minutes ago, Haru-chan," she said pleasantly. Haruka took a second to regain his mind and nodded, and even though he knew Kojima-san didn't need the support of his arm anymore, they both knew he did.
"That's right! Until you bleed!" Rin's screams faded into the background, mixed with the sounds of weights, treadmills and Haruka's own will to block him out as he walked Kojima-san to the mat-padded area on the other side of the floor.
Haruka had spent a good three days planning Kojima-san's session for the day. He had spent a whole day working out the perfect way to strengthen her muscles with only a couple of dumbbells and a stepper, then spent two more days slaying over which stretching exercises would optimise her routine and prep her for her cardio without putting too much stress anywhere below her waist. She was his most loyal and oldest client, and admittedly, he had taken a liking to her, reminded him of his late grandmother. He even had a nightmare last tuesday about the routine going wrong, Kojima-san's son mourning over his mother's corpse, squashed under a giant massage roller - I told you she should have gone back to the swimming pool - he screamed, pointing an accusatory finger at him. He'd calculated every single detail as he rode away his concerns the following morning, making sure that nothing, nothing, would go wrong.
And yet, as he coached Kojima-san through a series of particularly stressing stretching exercises, he cursed himself for not taking into consideration external factors.
"Get your boney ass back on the treadmill and do NOT grip the handles!" Matsuoka's voice rang throughout the walls.
"Are you fucking with me, or is that supposed to be a jab?"
"Your sister called, she wants her lipstick back, oh, is that blood? I'm sorry, I couldn't tell over all the whining!"
By the time Kojima-san's time was up, Haruka was sweating profusely and his hands balled into fists instinctively with every passing minute. He hadn't been completely focused on his client and that was unacceptable in all standards. Grudgingly, he flipped open his binder and handed a pen to Kojima-san for her to sign her name, 25 sessions done, 5 more to go.
The entire floor had gone pleasantly quiet as apparently, Rin's own session with his client had started only a few minutes before Haru's, and was now finished. He'd spotted them sprawled over the stretching mats just a few minutes after Kojima-san had waved him goodbye.
"Makoto," he unconsciously screened the floor for his best friend, hoping to find him by the boxing ring and just feed off his soothing energy. There he was, in the midst of a session - they must have gone overtime - with a new member eager to train. He turned on his heels hoping to see Rei, or at least Nagisa, on their posts by the cardio machines, maybe they had already started their floor supervising hours, but no luck. Nobody around to offer any sort of distraction whatsoever from the pressing matter of Bullying Matsuoka roaming around his turf and disrupting his peace of mind. Nothing, but the office.
Haru stifled a groan as he cracked his neck and headed towards the cramped little office, readying himself to spend the next hour or so in front of a computer screen and filling up about a ton of files he had put off working on.
As he reached the office, he unlocked his personal drawer, hand hovering over a bottle of Aspirine before changing his mind and grabbing a packet of mints that he always kept for specially tiring sessions since they tended to remind him of chewing ice. Somehow that worked on him just as well without making him feel sluggish.
"Yo," a not-entirely unfamiliar voice called from the doorway.
Haruka spared him a second's glance before decidedly looking away and typing his password on the keyboard as he munched on his gum, hoping the intruder would just take the hint.
But no luck.
Rin Matsuoka positively strutted into the office as if he had been a guest of honour at an award ceremony, taking a seat on the Pilates ball that had been mysteriously placed in the office (Nagisa's doing, Haru was sure) and rolling his back until he was completely arched over it.
"You're Haru, right?"
Silence. You're annoying.
"You don't talk much, do you?"
Typing. You're talking again.
"S'okay if you're shy and all but I don't bite, you know?"
Typing, insistently. Annoying. You don't exist.
"Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof," Rin said tentatively.
Haru rolled his eyes and sighed in despair, hoping Makoto would just miraculously walk into the office.
Rin rolled back into a sitting position and took a deep breath, raising a finger over his face.
"You know, you-"
"Matsuoka-senpai," the completely unfamiliar voice caught Haruka off guard, forcing his gaze towards the doorway where a freshly showered Nitori stood, one hand behind his back and the other scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"Nitori," Rin got on his feet like a spring.
At that moment, Haruka took a deep breath, readying himself to take the kid's side at a second's notice and finally put this condescending bastard in his place, when suddenly the kid took a deep bow before his new colleague, cheeks flushed and hands fisted into tiny little balls.
"Thank you," he said as steadily as he could muster, although his entire frame was slightly shaking, and Haru couldn't blame him, if his workout had been as hard as he had heard. "For everything."
Taking him entirely by surprise, Haru recoiled momentarily before reminding himself he wasn't supposed to be a part of this conversation, and turned his head back to the computer screen.
Laugher. Good willed, honest laughter rang throughout the office as Rin took a few steps towards the doorway and clapped a hand over Nitori's back.
"You," said Rin "are a monster, and one day you will give your family a run for their money. And kick my ass on the way."
Nitori giggled sheepishly, massaging his sore shoulders.
"See you next week, Matsuoka-senpai. Congratulations on the new job!" he beamed as he waved a hand and walked away.
Rin waved back for a good five seconds, sighing audibly once Nitori was out of sight and turning on his heels to face a seemingly uninterested Haruka, who was typing a bit too loudly for his own liking.
"That's Nitori," he explained unnecessarily.
"Oh," replied Haruka nonchalantly.
"Yeah," Rin said as he stretched his arms over his head, sitting back down on the Pilates ball. "He's a fury, isn't he?"
Haruka ignored the question as he began typing in his floor supervising hours of the past month.
"You really don't talk much, do you?" he asked as he stifled a chuckle.
"No," Haru replied acidly.
"Touchy," Rin said in a sing-song voice. "I don't' mind. The less you talk, the more you listen."
Haru gritted his teeth, hoping he had gone for the Aspirin instead of the mint.
"Tell you what," said Rin as he stood up for the second time. "Let's go for a swim after we close down. I heard you're a mean swimmer. We'll race, if you win, I promise I'll stop bugging you on purpose for an entire week, and in the off-chance that I lose, you'll… um, you'll tell me your favourite ice-cream flavour, how's that?"
He'd had enough. Twice he had typed in the wrong numbers as he listened to Matsuoka rambling on about god-knows-what and never had he, except a few nights of drunken experimentation on campus, wished Makoto had been there from the beginning. Haruka wheeled the chair around to face his new colleague and looked him straight in the eye.
"I only swim free," he deadpanned.
Rin didn't even flinch, instead he raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, a gesture Haruka had witnessed already twice on the same day. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Haruka took a deep breath and was about to go out of his way and answer his question when a worked-up Miyasaka-san from the front desk hurriedly knocked on the door as he regained his breath. Seriously, Haru thought, the front desk is downstairs.
"Nanase-san," he hesitated as he looked at Rin, evidently trying to remember his name "I'm sorry, Matsuoka-san, yes? We have a potential new member downstairs, she's asking about the facilities and wants to take a look at the gym," he paused, "I think."
Haruka stood up from his chair and took two steps forward.
"What do you mean 'you think'?" he asked.
"Well, she…" he hesitated for a second, face growing paler by the second, "she doesn't speak much Japanese. I can't speak English and I've got Yunemura stalling her while, well, Ryugazaki speaks decent English doesn't he?" he asked almost frantically.
Shit. Haruka wasn't exactly a talkative person, but he damn well knew how to sell a membership to a new customer. As long as it was in Japanese. He hadn't exactly thrived in his English lessons in the past, neither had Makoto or Nagisa, Rei fortunately had managed to coach them enough to pass their final examinations, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"I'll handle it," Rin suddenly spoke from the side, hands in his pockets and as comfortable as if he had been deciding which movie to watch on his day off.
"M-Matsuoka-san, you speak English?" asked Miyasaka incredulously, making Rin roll his eyes.
"Dude," Rin replied, emphasising the first syllable, waving his arms around as if it was the most evident thing in the world.
"Oh- oh, right! Australia… yes, yes! That'll do, please come with me," Miyasaka replied, relief evidently washing over his features and completely forgetting that Haruka was also in the room. They walked away leaving a dumbfounded and obviously disturbed Haru standing in the middle of the office, the computer beeping unpleasantly as an 'incorrect password' sign flashed over the screen.
"He's not that bad, Haru-chan," Makoto's laughter rang like cool rain on a hot summer day as they walked back home after an exhausting day at work.
Haru gave him a look before pointedly turning his gaze back towards the ocean.
"He's annoying," he added for good measure.
Makoto's laugher died after a few seconds and then took a deep breath, sighing contentedly.
"He sold ten sessions today," he almost whispered, his tone bordering in admiration. "Sasabe said he's buying him champagne for dinner."
"He speaks English," Haru said dismissively.
"So does Rei, and he's never managed as much."
Silence reigned for a few minutes as they reached the road that led to the hilltop where their little house was located.
"I'm just saying, don't make him out to be as bad as he seems. Sure, he's loud and a little bit cocky, but he's got a stack of recommendation letters that would even make you gasp and alright, his methods are a bit foreign but well, let's see how it all unfurls, it's only his first day."
Haruka sighed, stepping up his pace and hoping Nagisa didn't make a mess in the bathroom. A long bath was exactly what he needed.
"Rei's closing today," Haruka asked without actually having to ask the question.
"Yup, he's showing Rin how to do it for next time," Makoto replied.
"Ready to go?" asked Rei as he adjusted the strap on his backpack.
Rin stood by the already covered swimming pool, gazing at the surface as if he was expecting something to break the plastic bubble wrap surface. He sighed inaudibly and turned around, smiling broadly.
"Yeah."