A/N: Hello, I do hope you like this chapter and story and will continue reading.
Disclaimer: I do not own Free! Eternal Summer nor do I want to. If I did the story would be horrible.
Chapter Four: Promises and Nutrition
Rin's POV
I remembered racing to the pool when we promised to race using Butterfly. Sousuke won of course. When I left he still didn't know what he wanted me to do. With how hostile he is to Haru I wonder if he'd ask me to have Haruka leave me alone.
Haru already seems to be doing that though. Nitori told me what he thinks of Sousuke's stroke, that it's good. I won't disagree with him there.
"He's faster when he's practicing though" I frowned arms crossed. He's going to hurt his shoulder if he keeps this up.
"Captain!" one of the swimmers yelled making us look over to the swimmers. "Momo said he was going to swim seriously and look how fast he is!" the swimmer yelled.
'He'll hit the wall' and I was right. "Knew it, he'll get better" I smirked walking away. "He won't be picked for the relay at this rate.
He doesn't stand a chance" Sousuke said pessimistically. "How far he'll get is up to him Sousuke, wait a little bit more" I told him. I know Nitori will get better. He's determined to get in the relay race.
"Natural talent doesn't trump hard work" I smiled knowing it's true. Nitori works harder than anyone I know to get on the team. I know he'll do this. I just have to believe in him and he must do the same with himself.
Haruka's POV
"There's only one reason I called you all here today" Gou announced before Rei asked what it was. It must be our bentos. It is lunch time right now.
I don't think I'll pass since my food doesn't have a lot of variety. All it is is Herring Sardines, sliced strawberries and kiwis, shredded turkey and broccoli.
A Strawberry-Kiwi smoothie to of course. My bento was dark blue with red maple leaves.
"Lets see yours Haruka-senpai" Gou said making me sigh. I handed it to her when she opened it. "With your limited palette this is adequate for you" she said handing it back to me.
"79 points" she said making me nod. I went into eating my food before everyone else was checked. "Haruka-senpai is the only one who got more than 70 points" Gou said. "How is that possible?
He doesn't even have any rice in his bento" Nagisa complained. "Haruka-senpai can't eat a lot of the food we can so he has lower standards in this test" Gou explained. "He's getting special treatment!" Nagisa cried. He was upset because he was banned from buying cafeteria bread.
"Then you must make us 100-point bentos" Nagisa declared. "I strongly request that you do this as well" Rei agreed pushing up his glasses. I would not have requested such a thing but it's their taste buds they have to worry about.
So long as I diversify my meal I'll be fine when it comes to these exams. Everyone was clapping in awe of Gou's determination but I was only eating my food.
Rin's POV
"Here's a list of colors you can try everyone. I got an opinion from an expert with art, design, and fashion" I told them before explaining the rest.
"You have one hour to pick out a swimsuit that suits you. You don't have to follow the sheets but be adventurous when it comes to choices. You don't have to make the decision right away but you can if you want.
Make sure it's appropriate of course. We'll meet back here when time is up to make a final decision and buy them" I told the team. "I didn't mean to drag you along to" I told Nitori and Sousuke. It was the other five that needed new swimsuits.
"It's fine" Nitori told me happily. "I've been meaning to get a new one anyway" Sousuke answered. He sounded happy, I'm glad. I heard my sister's name before I realized it was Momotaro.
When he started to creep her out talking about an 8-inch Stag Beetle I wrapped my arm around his neck. "Can I not leave you alone for five minutes?" I asked annoyed. I don't care if someone goes after my sister so long as they genuinely like her and don't annoy her, or me. "C-Can't breathe" lies.
I'm not even holding him that tight. "So you all came to buy swimsuits?" she asked when I explained it to her. "And you came to look for protein powder, am I right?" I asked remembering Haruka telling me she was making bentos for them.
"Ah well…" Momo interrupted her asking which swimsuit she thought would fit him. "You should ask Haruka-senpai that Momotaro.
He's better at that" she told him before I butted in. "Momo!" I growled annoyed with his passes just as Gou's overwhelmed.
"Yes sir!" he exclaimed and I was surprised no one turned to see what it was about. "How about this Momo-kun?" Nitori asked. I wrapped my arm around his neck dragging him with me.
I grabbed a white spedo with red-orange, purple, and yellow lines* from the rack. "Haruka said this color scheme would fit you. With your rough-edged swimming style the shape should fit" I told him before he nodded. "It's thin and light" I explained when he asked why.
I heard Gou giggle in the background before Nitori asked why Haruka would know. "I asked him which colors would fit you, Sousuke, Momotaro, myself, and the others" I smiled. "Really? What colors fit me?" he asked making me smile at the ecstatic boy.
"Silver, ice blue, and white" I told him. He nodded making me tilt my head in confusion. "This is good but I wanted something a bit flashier" I frowned at this because he still cares more for looks.
"You need to stop caring about looks so much Momotaro. It won't help you win races.
It would be better for you to be a model than a swimmer" I told the boy. "That sounds interesting" the boy said making me sigh.
"So long hours, wearing what others tell you, posing for unknown periods of time. That sounds fun to you?" I asked making him deflate. "Good, now get changed" I told him thrusting the swimsuit into his chest.
I went outside when we were done with everything. Apparently everyone liked the color scheme Haruka chose for them. Even Momotaro did after he tried it on. We went back to the dorms but I stayed with Sousuke sitting on the steps outside.
Momotaro and Nitori seem to be getting along a lot better now. *Clang* I turned at the noise seeing Sousuke at the vending machine. "Soda again?" I asked standing up. "I might as well get a drink to" I said going over.
Seeing that the soda was gone I went to buy an apple seltzer instead. I wasn't going to play rock-paper-scissors for it. I feel like that's what he wants me to do.
"Why didn't you want to buy soda? Did Haruka-kun get you hooked on something else?" Sousuke asked.
He was frowning before I sat down. "No, I feel like you wanted me to get a soda.
I was thirsty so I got something else instead" I told him easily as I sat down. "Do you remember the last time we did this? The promise from back then?" he asked.
I nodded knowing what promise he's talking about. I got water in my eye that time so my eyes were stinging a little bit. He said I was crying over the loss but I wasn't. "We made a promise that whoever lost had to do one thing the winner asked.
It was a stupid promise" and I wondered why you didn't invoke it when you came back. "You left for Australia before I could decide what to ask for" he commented. I nodded since I remember that day well. I was annoyed that he forgot about it because I didn't.
"To commemorate our reunion ask me to do something" I told him. I want to know if it has anything to do with Haruka. I don't think he'll ask me to do anything about Haruka but maybe he already did that to him?
He asked me to trade bunks with him making my shoulders sag in annoyance. "We settled that already.
Pick something else. Is that really what you want the five-year-promise to be?" I asked disappointed and annoyed.
"Get me another drink" he said making me frown. "Take this seriously Sousuke" leaning forward in annoyance. He started snickering before asking for more time to think it over.
He had five years, why does he need more time? Did he already talk to Haru and that's why he'll only text me? Does it really have nothing to do with Haruka? He laid back, hands behind his head.
I sighed before I brought the bottle to my lips. "Why didn't you call me in the past five years?" Sousuke asked making me freeze. I turned to him shocked at the question I don't really know the answer to. "Did something happen in Australia?" the question confused me but I feel like he's close.
"After a while your letters stopped coming. I thought you must've hit a wall or something" Sousuke explained to me. "I never talked about it when we met again because of that.
Now though… I want to know what happened" his eyes looked vulnerable. They were shaking from emotion and something I couldn't place.
I put the bottle down before I told him it wasn't a big deal. "It was like you imagined.
When I was studying abroad I hit a wall, stumbled, and couldn't get back up. That's all there is to it really. I did think about quitting but… I was saved" I looked at the clouds as they passed by.
"By my friends, by Haru" I remembered them so well from back then. I remembered how Makoto loved kids and protecting people. How Nagisa loved the space beyond earth's atmosphere, the idea of life in other places besides the one we know. How Rei loved science and experiments.
I remembered how Haruka couldn't eat much besides mackerel and a few other things. How he loved art and swimming, how free spirited he was. "Your friends again?" Sousuke asked. I didn't hear the sadness and slight anger in his tone not thinking Sousuke had a mean bone in his body.
"Of course! When I swam with them they showed me a sight I never saw before. The sight they showed me made me want to swim again. That's why this time, I swim for the sake of the friends that saved me" standing up I sipped my drink.
Sousuke is included in the friends I swim for. He may not be someone who saved me but he's still someone I can't swim without.
"For my sake and the sake of my dreams as well of course" I smiled looking at the sky. "You were always a romantic, swimming maniac weren't you" I took offense to that.
"Be quiet" I told him putting my bottle down. I dug my knee into his shin careful not to hit the carbon-glass bottle. I don't want my drink to spill.
Haruka's POV
"You made all of this Gou-chan?" Nagisa asked. I stood up going over to the group. Sipping my pink drink I looked at the beautiful food Gou made. Hopefully it tastes good to them.
"It looks delicious" Makoto said making me nod. I went back to my corner to eat my three giant tiger prawns and one large scrambled egg with broccoli bits. I also had a fruit salad with only strawberries and kiwis. 1.459mg of omega-3s is what my lunch contains.
It's not a lot but it's enough. Gou was happy that they thought it looked delicious. "I'm glad I went to the city store to buy ingredients then.
I even saw Rin and Yamazaki when I was there" Gou cheered. "They were buying swimsuits right?" I asked making them turn to me.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Gou asked making me shrug. I was wondering why Rin asked if I was good with color scheme and if I would tell him that for eight people.
Nagisa gave a rice ball to Makoto and threw one to me. "Nagisa! Haruka-senpai can't eat rice" Gou reminded. She took the rice ball from me making me smile gratefully.
"Somethings odd about that though. Why would you be shopping for ingredients in a store that sells swimsuits?" Rei asked. That is true. "It was protein powder that I loaded into the food.
It should have a lot of nutritional value this way" Gou told them. I smiled since I was right. Rei and Makoto were the only ones who didn't like it while Nagisa was happy about the cocoa that was in the rice ball.
Rei was helping me warm-up as Makoto talked to Gou about the food. "I liked the food! What other flavors are there?" Nagisa asked happily.
"Strawberry and banana" Gou answered garnering two opposite reactions. "Strawberry!" "Not again" Nagisa was happy and Makoto was despairing.
"Yamazaki-san is Rin's friend from before he transferred to Iwatobi, is that right?" Rei asked. "Yes, he is" I answered since he was asking me. "Why didn't he just swim the relay with Yamazaki-san then?" he asked.
"They did swim a relay race together at the Swim Club. The relay didn't go well for them though" Gou answered. I was glad she answered because I didn't want to. "That confuses me even more" Rei sighed making me stand.
I did my own stretches as he spoke but didn't pay much attention. "…To transfer schools and leave your best friend?" he sounds like Nagisa. Makoto told him that and elaborated saying that Nagisa asked the same thing. The two got into a lot of arguments because Sousuke was more theory-based.
They were too similar to each other. Opposites attract and similarities repel. Like magnets I suppose.
'In fact, even now, I think he understands me better than anyone else'
What he said hurt, like a knife in my heart. I liked Rin, even back then, and it hurt to see him so sad, so disappointed.
Rin's POV
Momotaro was getting slower, many thought the one time was just a fluke. That doesn't sound right to me.
"He has potential, if only he could tap into it" I frowned when Sousuke stood next to me. "Even if that's true, potential is meaningless if you can't use it" he commented. True, very true, but what is up with him?
Sousuke walked away and I was confused. He's been odd since yesterday. Since I mentioned why I'm swimming, why I'm racing. Does he think he's not included in the people I swim for?
That my Iwatobi friends mean more to me than him? That's very stupid but I guess Haruka means more to me than Sousuke. He's someone I swim for but Haru's the person I live for. I've liked Haru as more than a friend for a while, I just don't know when that started.
Haruka's POV
"This is a list of the amount of protein and vitamins for swimmers!" Rei exclaimed slamming a printed sheet on the table. "I left out aesthetic value in my consideration, I deeply regret that decision. I allowed myself to be guided purely by the philosophies of nutritional science" Rei explained.
I looked at the sheet that he gave each of us and noticed it was something I could experiment with. My family has a café that has been passed down in my family for generations. I learned to cook and bake from my grandparents.
"Wouldn't it be tough to cook all of this ourselves?" Nagisa asked making me frown. "We'll have to rely on this" Gou said making the others scream.
They didn't want to have anything to do with that. I'm guessing she held up a bag/bottle of protein powder or something.
"I can make something for each of you with these" I told them easily. They were surprised when I said this. "Haru-chan's up for the challenge!" Nagisa exclaimed and I nodded slowly scowling a bit at the honorific.
"You can't make nothing but what you normally have, alright?" Gou warned. I nodded rolling my eyes at her. The doorbell rang so I got up to answer. I walked in with Sasabe who apologized for being late.
"Here's a little gift for all of you" Sasabe said putting a pizza on the table. I took out my grilled Gemfish and egg eating that instead. "Ungrateful brat!" Sasabe yelled making me shrug. "Just ignore what he eats, he can't eat pizza" Gou told him.
When the pizza was finished Sasabe apologized for not being able to coach us lately. I don't know why he would be apologizing for that. "Is this a training regimen?" I looked up to see he was holding the packet Gou gave us.
"Yeah, I made it to help the practice along. I asked my brother for some pointers though" Gou explained.
"It's really good!" "A true work of perfection" Sasabe and Rei praised. Rei and Gou continued talking about how perfectly it was done but I didn't pay much attention.
Nagisa complained that the regimen was hard but it's not that bad. "Will we really be able to complete that?" Rei complained. I do agree that it seems hard for most people, I might even burn off my omega-3s.
Sasabe said we could do it telling us not to 'wuss out' and what not. I sipped my strawberry milk as he continued. He said we were way past how we were last year and we would make it to nationals this year. Everyone was excited about that but I wasn't.
Rin's POV
"You don't have to jog with me Sousuke" I told my friend. I don't know why he is so late at night. I should've been quieter when I left. "To keep in shape I need to do this once in a while Rin" he answered making me sigh.
"If you say so Sousuke" I told him. *Splash* We stopped jogging when we heard the splash in the pool. Walking over to the window we saw Nitori.
He's practicing this late? That's dedication to the sport.
"Ai might really make it onto the relay team!" I smiled glad to see him working so hard. "Which one's more important to you…" this surprised me.
"Your dream or the relay?" what is with that? "There's no contest Sousuke! They're both important to me" I told him confused towards his attitude. Why does he even have to ask?!
"If you're serious about competing at the international level you can't keep thinking about friends and relays and what not. You should use all the time you have for yourself, no one and nothing else" Sousuke said. "Use every second of every minute to train hard. If you obsess over the relay your dreams will slip by you" he elaborated.
"There's no time to play this 'best buddies' thing" he finished. "You're wrong Sousuke" I told him before continuing. "When I was young, and now even, it was because I had friends wo saved and supported me that I've come this far. I am who I am because of them.
My dream is important to me of course, but swimming with friends is the source of my strength. Even if you try to tell me I'm being naive I'll show you I can have both" I told him determinedly. "My dream and a relay with my friends.
I'll swim with the greatest team I can and make it a reality" I finished. I saw him make a fist so I knew that he was determined to make what he was about to say reality.
"Then I want you to count me in with one of those friends" he told me. I was confused because he already is my friend.
Does he mean my friend that I want to make a relay team with? "I want to swim the relay with you" I was shocked. We were never good at relays with each other.
"But you said relays were…" I remembered Sousuke said something bad about my dad. He was being a jerk then so I yelled at him. We were forced to sit out where I told him never to make fun my dad again. He apologized before I asked him why he swam like he did in the relay.
He told me something that angered me. That swimming is an individual sport. I yelled at him that relay isn't an individual sport and that he was stupid for thinking it was. That was the last day we swam in a relay together.
He was a jerk that day but I didn't want to stop teaming up for relays. I wanted to continue swimming with him in them. His idea of swimming made me not like him for a while.
"I'm different from back then, back then that was the very most I could do" Sousuke told me. "If I swim the relay with you I figured I might understand something" like I did.
"I don't know what it would be but I want to try to find it anyway" is his swimming bad? That's not it his form is very good, professional even.
"Is that not enough?! You promised you'd give me anything I asked for!" I can't tell if I should be scared or pitiful. He's never yelled at me like this before and the underlying tone of voice he's using.
"I can't do that Sousuke. It would be unfair to the people who are doing their best to get better times. I'm not the one who decides but the best times decided who gets on the team" I explained. "I see" he sounded sad before I looked up.
"I appreciate the passion in your heart however" clenching the fabric above mine. "I hold the records for both freestyle and butterfly at Samezuka. Win one of the spots with your own power" I told him. He seemed to have taken that wrong.
"So if I beat you I can swim butterfly in the medley relay? Let's have a throwdown" he told me. Regardless of the wrong context I agreed to the challenge.
When Nitori went to sleep we changed and were by the pool. "We're swimming 100 meters of butterfly" I explained loudly when we got ready.
"Let's go!" I frowned. We dived when the second hand hit twelve.
I watched Sousuke as I watched the wall. He has power, he swims without hesitation, that's good. That's how you should do it.
I pushed off the wall a little earlier than him. "Yes!" Sousuke yelled when we reached the wall. He got there less than a second earlier than me. "You finally showed me what you're capable of Sousuke" I smiled solemnly.
"It isn't just your heart but your strength is true as well. I've found my resolve so thank you, Sousuke" I smiled happily. We changed and went to bed after that before morning arose. When it did we headed to the pool for a meeting with the club.
"It's nearly time to submit the entries for the prefecturals. Because of that though I am changing how the entrants are chosen for the relay this year" I announced. They were all shocked and Nitori and Momotaro are probably worried.
"Normally it's the four people with the fastest times but it's changing. This year your times don't matter and if you prefer to focus on individual events you don't have to participate.
I'll pick the relay team out of those who want to enter it" I announced. "It goes without saying you'll be chosen because of both will and speed.
It's probably wrong of me to suggest this as your captain because the best way is by those with the fastest times. I want you to understand what relays mean to me. I want to swim a relay with teammates who want to be there.
If it was anything else it would feel meaningless even if we won. Anyone who really wants to compete in the relay step forward" I told my club members. "We're going to start from there" I smiled. I know Sousuke, Nitori, and Momotaro will step forward but will anyone else.
A/N: Hello, I finished writing this at 11:52 A.M. on November 20, 2017.
*The lines are like what Rin chose for him originally
I do hope you like this chapter and story and will continue reading.