"Rei-kun!"

Rei winced at the sound even before he registered it as being his name. It was precisely thirty-two minutes past eight in the morning and he was not yet ready for such loud noises, not even slightly. He hesitated just before the school gate, restraining eye-twitches, and reluctantly turned to see who had made such a distressingly loud noise so early.

"…Makoto-kun."

He stood expectantly as his fellow swim team member ran the last few meters towards him, regarding him impassively; as much as he enjoyed his company, he was still quietly being unamused by the shouting, and wanted his friend to know it. He waited for some follow up to his name being called silently while the brunette boy caught his breath, one eyebrow slightly cocked.

"Hey, where were you at practise last night? The inter-school relay finals are only a week away!"

Rei glanced away from Makoto's face guiltily, but tried not to let too much of it show as he pretended to ponder the ground. "…Oh. I have a test this morning, so I had to go to a cram session instead, sorry. Don't sweat it, though, I'll take a couple hours after school and practise."

"Eh." Makoto let it slide reasonably easily; he knew Rei wasn't really one to slack off, and was happy to take his words for it. "As long as you do. But I got more important questions!"

Rei's already raised eyebrow edged a little closer to his hairline, and he looked briefly back up at his friend before back to the mosaic concrete. "Oh?"

"Yeah, uh… Do you know any other good swimmers who might wanna volunteer for the swim team? Just for next week's finals?" Rei could hear the slight anxiety and awkwardness in Makoto's voice, and it bothered him. He couldn't help but feel perhaps he was skirting around something else.

"Why do we need another swimmer? We have a full team and we've all been practising with each other for months. Sticking in a newbie now is a horrible idea, we'll have to rethink everything."

Makoto nodded fervent agreement, emitting a small, nervous laugh as he trailed the tip of his shoe through the cracks in the concrete, creating a thin beige stone-dust line along the base of the material. "Ehe, I know, right….?! Really… Sucks…"

"Get to your point, Makoto-kun, please, I can't handle the tension here. Why do we need a new swimmer? Did something happen to one of the others?"

Makoto stared pointedly at his foot for a few more moments before seeming to be able to string a sentence together in his mind which was suitable to present to Rei. It wasn't that he was scared of the boy, as such, just that….well, he had something of an imposing manner. That, and he was kind of a scaredy-cat, and didn't like to be the bearer of bad news. Not that he'd admit to being a chicken, but – anyway.

"Yeah, kinda… It's Nagisa-kun, he had an accident at training last night."

"Baka."

Makoto hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should continue, nervously observing Rei's face to see just how much sincerity had been behind the interjection. "…It, uh, it was pretty serious, he…"

Even staring slightly away from the taller male as he was, he noticed Rei's eyes flick up to him at this point, suddenly a little more alert, but no less piercing. "…he's gonna be off the team for ages…so, um… we need a replacement. For a while."

Rei made a soft sound of clear disapproval. "You said we needed someone just for next week's tournament." he stated quietly, turning his gaze properly to his friend.

"Yeah, I… It doesn't sound quite as bad that way. But… Yeah, it's sorta, um-"

By this point, a little more of Rei's friend instinct was kicking in, and the more he thought beyond his irritation at the impractical timing, the more concerned he started to feel for the apparently damaged little blond. It didn't help how much Makoto seemed to be avoiding mentioning the actual injury, whatever it was. "What did he actually do?"

Makoto made a face, and winced, playing awkwardly with the straps of his school bag. "Uh… Well, he was making a dive, and he overstretched and moved way too suddenly, and…he…kinda fractured his pelvis, but, y'know-"

Rei's eyes widened. "I don't know where you're going with that, Makoto-kun, you can't downplay something like that, I get why you said it was serious now…!" He cussed quietly, staring at the ground again for a second before he could look back up at the brunette, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose a bit. "…Damn… Is he okay…? I don't even understand how he managed to do that though, I mean… bones are strong, and if he was only diving…?"

Makoto's nose wrinkled distastefully. "I think the paramedic called it an avulsion fracture? Basically because he moved too quickly I think a bit of muscle kinda tore a bit of his hip bone or something…? I…" He paused politely as he noticed Rei seeming to shrivel slightly at the thought. "Apparently it happens to sportsmen quite a lot, but… Yeah, while it's not as serious as if he'd fractured the whole thing in a car accident or something, it's still gonna have him out of action for a while."

Rei shook his head slowly, disbelieving. "…I'm guessing he's gonna need therapy and stuff?"

"I called up after they'd taken him to the hospital last night and they said he'll need crutches for a while, and he'll have to limit activity quite a lot, and yeah… since he did it pretty bad, they're gonna do some hydrotherapy with him, he'll need that for a few months probably." Makoto sighed heavily, seeming to droop slightly where he stood. "But…what really sucks is that his muscles are gonna waste so bad since he can't use them, he's…practically gonna have to learn to swim again before he comes back, since he needs his legs so much considering he does breaststroke…"

Rei's heart sank. "…That's bad."

The two boys stood in silence for a few moments, ignoring the people slowly filtering past them and into the school, both hanging their heads as they thought about their unfortunate companion – neither would admit to thinking it, but Nagisa was definitely the baby of the team, and nobody liked to know he was suffering in any way. Rei raised his head after a further couple of seconds, looking grim. "…Is it hurting him a lot?"

Makoto nodded miserably. "Haru-kun had to jump in and get him because he didn't want to move his legs because it hurt too bad," he recounted sadly. "He was really struggling to stand up, too, poor kid… I feel really bad for him… I mean, he'll be better soon, but…"

In unison, they both sighed, attentions returning to the floor, unremarkable as it was.

"… I'll go see him this afternoon, cheer him up. I bet he's pretty mad at himself, right?" Rei asked, not needing Makoto's answer to know that yes, the boy was undoubtedly angry about what he'd done. He hated anything which put him out of the pool and competitive swimming, and for a period of weeks or perhaps even months…he could only imagine how sore he must be.

Makoto nodded. "Yeah, do, he'd appreciate it… But… Anyway, I should really get going now, I'll see you at lunch, 'kay?" The brunette waved awkwardly, already moving off towards his classroom, and Rei aimed a half-hearted wave back, also slowly turning to head for homeroom, hands digging deep into his trouser pockets in a thoroughly dejected way. What a wonderful start to his day… Still, it could be worse; he could be poor Nagisa-kun. Despite himself, and despite the test hurtling his way in the next hour, he thought more and more of what he was going to say to the boy as he trailed along the corridors – he was going to be distraught. He knew that Nagisa idolised him, and for that very reason he somehow felt that if anyone would brighten him up, it would probably have to be him, Rei. The question was…how?