"Haru, come on! We'll be late. Leave your mackerel and let's go" Makoto whined, wrapping his arm around Haruka's waist dragging his away from the fridge.
"Nagisa, help me!" Nagisa walked into the kitchen followed closely by Rei. Rei and Nagisa grabbed Haruka's arms and together successfully dragged Haruka out of his house.
"We have your breakfast here, Haru. Now let's hurry!" Rei handed Haruka a white lunch box filled with grilled Mackerel and puffy white rice. Happy with the presence of mackerel, Haruka walked down the road eating his breakfast. As they walked down the road, Haruka's eyes were drawn to the ocean.
"Beautiful isn't it. The ocean doesn't lose its beauty, no matter how much time passes." A voice spoke out. Haruka's eyes were drawn to a purple haired boy stood near the barrier. The boy turned his head towards the four of them, his red eyes focusing on Haruka.
"Yeah." Haruka answered, his face not showing any emotion. Makoto, Rei and Nagisa looked between Haruka and the purple haired boy.
"Sorry, I'm being rude. My name's Rin Matsuoka. You?" Makoto realized Haruka wouldn't be answering any time soon, he cleared his throat before answering.
"I'm Makoto Tachibana, this is Rei Ryugazaki, Nagisa Hazuki and Haruka Nanase." Makoto pointed out each person as he spoke.
"So you're Haruka Nanase. I've heard a lot about you. Is it true you're the fastest swimmer?" Rin looked at Haruka, eyebrow raised. Haruka shrugged, he couldn't be bothered to answer him. He just wanted to swim.
"Cool. Hey Haruka-chan, want to go for a swim?" Rin's question caught Haruka's attention. Haruka's crystal blue eyes focused on Rin's ruby red eyes.
"Stop with the –chan. And I only swim Free." For a moment, Haruka expected him to protest, but Rin nodded.
"Ok, so want to swim?" Rin repeated his question. Haruka didn't miss a beat before he had thrown his shirt off and began walking to the ocean.
"Haru, we need to go to school. We don't have time to swim." Rei pointed out, reaching out to pull Haruka towards school. Nagisa caught his arm, Makoto shaking his head.
"Don't Rei. Nothing comes between Haru and the water. He'll catch up with us." Makoto pointed out as Nagisa and Rei continued walking away. Makoto called out to Haruka, informing him they were going to school. And with that, Haruka and Rin were left alone at the beach.
"So Haruka, how long you been swimming for?" Rin asked breaking the silence that almost smothered them.
"Are we going to swim or talk?" Haruka asked, looking out to the ocean then to Rin.
"We can do both." Rin rushed into the water, sending large ripples and splashes of water across the water's surface. Haruka closely followed, diving under the water once he was out deep enough. The deep blue ocean filled Haruka's vision, stealing his thoughts from him. Time slipped away from him as he stared into the endless deep blue. He snapped out of his dream-like state when his lungs began to burn. Swiftly Haruka swam up, breaking the oceans calm and still surface. Gulping down lungful's of fresh air, Haruka looked around for Rin. Sure enough, Rin swam over to him, concern and anger spread across his face.
"Haruka, are you ok! You've been under the water for ages. Did something drag you down?" Rin pressed, fussing over Haruka.
"I'm fine. I do that sometimes. Easy to forget the time when I'm down there, you know." Haruka brushed the questions away. Something about his questions turned the little red lights in Haruka's mind on. Not to mention he was acting weird when he came back up from the water.
Haruka gazed at the sky one finale time before heading back to shore. He'd have to go to school or the others would have a go at him, for sure.
-0-0-0-
Rin watched as Haruka swam back to shore. There was defiantly something different about him. No normal human could survive as long as he did underwater without coming back up for air. When Haruka disappeared underwater, Rin suspected Seijuro had come for him. But he didn't feel his presence so he then thought he had sent one of his underlings to acquirer Haruka, but that wasn't Seijuro's way. He'd come for the kid sooner or later. He'd have to do something soon if he wanted to stop Seijuro. And it required Haruka.
Rin waited until Haruka had left the beach before he came back to shore. Dispelling the water from his body, he dressed himself then left in search of Haruka's home. At first, Rin didn't think he would ever get close to finding it, but one question to two women meant he had Haruka's address. He considered breaking in to wait for Haruka to return, but went against the idea. Haruka probably won't trust him afterwards. And he needed Haruka to trust him when it came to the important details. Sighing, Rin sat on his door step and waited for Haruka to come home.
He debated finding Haruka's school and talking to him there, the town was small. Narrowing down the search to only two schools, giving him a 50-50 chance of finding the right school. Some of what he was going to say would shock the boy and he didn't want him to make a scene or arouse suspicion.
No it was better to wait until he got home to talk to him.
But waiting had ever been Rin's strong point. Soon enough, Rin's eyes became heavy as he fell into a deep sleep. Right on Haruka's door step.