Chapter Two

Rin

"Haru-chan, let's start a swim club!"

Haru picked through his bento, procuring a piece of mackerel to shove into his mouth. Nagisa leaned closer, trying to grab his attention, but Haru only chewed slowly and stared over the building's edge.

It wasn't the first time Nagisa had suggested it, and Haru had simply stopped answering. Rin mindlessly poked the sticky rice in his own box. Reading Haru's expression was difficult under normal circumstances, but became nigh impossible after exploring the old swim club. After Haru had walked home that night Nagisa tried to wrestle information from Rin, but he denied knowing anything. He didn't know much, anyway.

Haru and Makoto had a history long before he transferred to Iwatobi—he had understood right away that nothing would come between them, least of all an overeager transfer student. But they had accepted him, Makoto specifically; he was more welcoming and better with talking to people. Haru was a silent entity beside him, allowing Makoto to make decisions for him. It was inevitable—fate, Rin claimed in his youth—that they swam together. Their team was unbeatable. They would race together forever.

But then Makoto left.

"Rin-chaaaan?" Rin snapped back to the present as Nagisa poked him in the arm.

"What?"

"Don't you want to start a swim club? It would be great! We could all be together again."

Nagisa had been pestering Haru for days; Haru was the one they had to wear down. Of course Rin wanted to swim; he hadn't swam competitively in years. But to start a club from scratch was a pain in the ass, and the three of them couldn't do it alone.

"Big brother!"

Gou had the worst timing, but now Rin delighted in the interruption. She plunked down and grabbed her brother's arm.

"Is there something you want," Rin asked, "or are you just here to bother me?"

"Aw, Rin-chan," Nagisa said, "leave Gou-chan alone!"

She narrowed her eyes and whipped her head toward him, nearly smacking Rin in the face with her ponytail. "It's Kou." Rin had forgotten about this new development of hers, but he didn't care. He didn't go around convincing everyone he had a different, more masculine, name. "I've been so happy to see you guys together again," she was saying.

It was an easy catch, and Nagisa took the bait. "But these guys don't want to swim with me!"

"Nagisa," Rin said, "that's—"

"Why not?" Gou interrupted, punching her brother in the arm.

Maybe Haru finally decided that a swim club was a good idea, but it was more likely that he grew weary of the pestering. And Nagisa continued to pester them—the old Iwatobi pool needed an overhaul, which he jumped into full-force. They worked after school every day. Haru half-heartedly pulled weeds and repainted the old, peeling pool, but the simple fact he offered his physical labor at all was proof that he, too, wanted to swim again. With them.

"Ama-chan says you need a fourth member," Gou said, hovering as the boys worked. Rin had talked their homeroom teacher into being faculty advisor, even though Ama-chan wasn't helping in the slightest.

Rin shoved a garbage bag into Gou's hands. "If you're going to hang around, keep yourself busy." He pushed a fistful of weeds into the bag, and Gou nearly toppled forward with the force.

"I am busy," she huffed, following her brother around the pool's perimeter. "I'm trying to help you."

"Yeah, well, unless you know any guys who want to swim, you're not helping." He shoved more weeds into the bag. "And you better not know any guys."

"Brother, please." She rolled her eyes. "Wait, I can join! I'll be your manager."

"No."

Nagisa's head popped up from within the pool, where he was scraping off old paint. "That's a great idea!" he said, throwing up his hands in victory. "With four members, we'll be official!"

Rin's glare threw daggers at Nagisa. "Managers don't swim."

"Come on, Rin-chan," Nagisa whined, bouncing on his toes. They could only see his head bobbing up and down, a mess of blond hair flopping over his forehead. Gou turned pleading eyes to her brother, and he reluctantly yielded. As Gou gave Nagisa a high-five Rin scanned the length of the empty pool, his gaze resting on Haru. He had stopped painting, tilting his head slightly to the conversation, but quickly returned to his work. Rin couldn't be completely certain, but there may have been a ghost of a smile.

"Your first job, then," Rin said, inclining his head to his sister, "is finding us another swimmer." But Gou and Nagisa were already busy plotting. Rin sighed. Having his sister on the team wasn't part of the plan, especially with her newly-developed interest in muscular anatomy.

Besides, partway through weed-pulling, he had received a text message. He didn't read it right away—the last thing he wanted was Gou meddling—but as soon as they were cleaning up for the night he checked his phone nonchalantly, like he wasn't utterly perplexed and anxious over the message's sender:

Need to talk to you. Please meet me at the SC? –M

He leaned against the chain-link fence as the others packed up supplies, trying to scheme a way that he wouldn't be followed. Nagisa wasn't a problem, as he lived in the opposite direction, but Gou would insist on walking together . . .

"Haru." He approached the pool's edge as Haru climbed out. "Walk my sister home. I have some stuff to do."

"Huh?" She hurried over, gripping his forearm with both hands. "What kind of stuff?"

"Stuff," he said, jerking away. "It's none of your concern."

Fine, he texted back. Be there in 15.

Haru didn't question it. Gou would inevitably ask later, but he didn't think of that as he packed to leave. He clapped Haru on the shoulder in silent gratitude before making his way to the former home of the Iwatobi Swim Club.

The building's demolition had begun, its exterior walls torn down to reveal its skeletal system. Why do I always end up here at night? Rin thought, stepping over the caution tape. Makoto would be too scared to go inside the building; it didn't take a genius to figure out he'd be in the same location Rin had last seen him, as if he hadn't moved at all. He stepped through crumbling concrete and overgrown weeds to a patch of dirt that had hardly changed in five years, save for the small crater that once housed the time capsule. Sitting beside it was the man who had called him to the decrepit yard, his white suit-like uniform standing out against the darkness like a paradox.

"I'm surprised," Rin said, standing over Makoto. "I thought you'd pick a place a little less eerie. Maybe with some lighting."

"This is the only place that felt right." When Makoto looked up Rin was again jarred by that empty look, the once-bright eyes and forced smile. "Please, sit with me."

Makoto was getting visibly nervous the longer Rin stood there, and he couldn't stand watching him sink further into himself. Reluctantly, he sat on the hard-packed dirt.

"Why'd you call me?" Rin asked, sitting cross-legged. "Why not Haru?"

Makoto hugged his knees and stared into the hole between them, as if it would provide an answer. "You don't know what happened?"

He didn't know much after the elementary school relay. Haru had mentioned seeing Makoto once at the swim club, years ago, and Rin had been offended that he hadn't been invited. Rin had been angry, he remembered now; no matter how much time he spent with Haru nothing could compare to his bond with Makoto. He was glad, even, when Makoto had gone back to Australia without calling him.

Immature brat.

Rin shook his head.

But Makoto switched topics. "I want to apologize for the other day. I was so surprised to hear that the swim club was being torn down, and I had to dig up our time capsule before it was lost forever. I . . . I couldn't lose it. It was so special to us."

Was. They had all thought of that time capsule when learning of the swim club's fate; they weren't as far-removed from its significance as Makoto thought.

"I've been thinking about it a lot," he continued. "I guess I should've called you guys, and we should've dug it up together. Like you said we would."

Rin offered a half-smile. "How romantic."

Makoto repositioned himself, sitting cross-legged and slipping his hands into his jacket pockets. "You understand, right? You're the only one who would. That relay . . . it meant so much to us."

Rin had no desire to talk about it. To discuss the relay was to erase the past five years, to ignore the development of his friendship with Haru in Makoto's absence. "Yeah," he said, hating how easily he agreed. "But things change, Makoto. We grew up. Sorry you weren't here to grow up with us."

Makoto whimpered like a disobedient puppy. If he had expected sympathy, he shouldn't have called him. Rin almost regretted being so harsh.

"Do you want the trophy?" Makoto asked. "It's at my parents' house, but—"

"No." He cut him off. "I don't give a damn about the trophy. You're right—you should've called. And the old you would have." He leaned in closer, lowering his voice. "I don't know what's happened to you, but I won't be a part of your pity party. Haru told me you were here that time at Christmas. Would it have killed you to talk to the rest of us? Do you know how happy Nagisa would've been to see you?"

He wanted answers. He wanted Makoto to look at him like a man, but he only stared into the darkness of the hole. Rin grabbed his chin and jerked it up, forcing Makoto to meet his eyes.

"Rin . . ." He didn't even try to fight back, which only pissed him off more. "You wouldn't understand, Rin."

"Obviously." Rin stood up hastily, brushing dirt from the back of his pants. "You should've contacted Haru tonight instead of me. Maybe he would've cared."

Makoto rubbed his jaw. Even in the dim moonlight, Rin could see the red marks of his fingertips. "I couldn't."

Rin wanted to lash out, to hear his own voice echo in the empty yard. He wanted to kick dirt in his face. But he only snarled and shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "Whatever. If you're ever in the mood to explain yourself, I guess you can call."

Rin hoped that Makoto would protest as he marched toward the exit. But as he stepped over the caution tape he could still see him there, now standing, staring into the emptiness of the time capsule's hole. The moon had risen over the half-demolished building and now illuminated him, his white suit a shining beacon in the darkness, like it beckoned Rin to return home. But he turned away from the swim club, hopefully for the last time.