Haru continued to notice the way his fellow teammates would look at Kei. Their eyes would scan her entire frame several times as she would stand in front of him and have a conversation. Haru didn't understand why his teammates would look at her in that way when she was clearly in a relationship with him. Almost every time this happened he wanted to go over to the individual and punch them in the face, but he's not a violent person.

As Haru got out of the pool he noticed the boys whispering near him and he saw Kei had waited for him off to the side. He grabbed his towel and walked over to her.

"What're you doing here?" He asked.

"Your coach asked me to come in to pick up your new diet schedule." She explained.

"Why do you have to pick it up?"

"Because last time you threw it away in the garbage before you got home, so you could have mackerel." She sighed as she recalled the incident. Getting Haru to eat something that wasn't mackerel was like feeding a stubborn child.

"Well I won't do it again, so you can go home." He calmly said.

"Well your coach already went to go grab it for me, so it's okay. How's practice going today anyways?" She asked.

"It's okay. I think I can cut off some more time though." He answered.

"Well I think you're doing great." She encouraged him as she smiled up at him.

"Here you go, Kei." Haru's coach had reached the couple and handed the piece of paper to Kei.

"Thank you. Now I can head home." She smiled at the two men and waved goodbye as she took her leave.


Haru was changing back into his clothes in the locker room before leaving to head home to Kei. He overheard some of his teammates talking about his significant other on the other side of the lockers.

"She's pretty hot, huh?"

"Honestly, I wouldn't mind going home to her everyday."

"Nanase doesn't know how lucky he is man."

"Ya, and the things that those two can do too!"

"I know. Maybe she's not satisfied, you know?"

Haru slammed his locker door shut as he heard their words. He felt as though they were disrespecting the woman that he loved and he felt this need to tell them off. He silently walked around the lockers and came in contact with the two boys who were talking about Kei. They both swallowed the lumps in their throat as they looked at Haru.

"Nanase-"

"Don't talk about Kei." Haru simply said.

"We're sorry-"

"Don't talk to her and don't look at her. Don't talk to me either. Show some respect." Haru stared at the two boys for several seconds to see if they understood what he was saying. They silently nodded their heads in unison and Haru then took that opportunity to leave.


Kei lightly hummed as she placed Haru's dinner in front of him. She sat across from him and smiled. He was about to start eating, but he paused and looked at Kei.

"Kei?"

"Hm?"

"Can you not come to my practices anymore?" Kei was surprised by his request. Had she done something to upset Haru in anyway? Had she overstepped her boundary?

"Why?"

"Just don't come anymore."

"Only if you tell me why." She looked at him with a straight face as she waited.

"You're so troublesome." He commented. She didn't respond. "Okay, it's because I don't like the way some of the guys look at you."

"Look at me?" The information almost seemed foreign to Kei as she looked at Haru.

"They look at you in a inappropriate way whenever you come to my practices and I don't want them looking at you like that, so don't come." That's when Kei realized what he was saying.

"Haru…it's okay."

"No it's not. They should respect you." She placed her hand on the table and waited for Haru to take it, but he didn't catch on.

"Hold my hand." She instructed.

"Why?"

"Because that's what you're supposed to do when I put my hand out like this, now hold it." He silently took her hand in his as her tone changed back to being sweet and gentle.

"Haru, I know they look at me like that, but girls look at you like that too, but as long as they don't come near you then that's okay."

"Huh?"

"You're obviously very good looking, so other girls will look at you and want to talk to you, but that's all they're allowed to do – look. They can look, but they can't touch, so your teammates can look as much as they want, but I don't care because I'm not looking at them. I only have eyes for you, Haru."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Okay, do what you want then." He said. She sighed at his simple answer.

"Were you jealous?" Kei began to tease Haru from across the table. He shook his head.

"I'm not jealous. I'm protective."