Ever since his mother's move from the family house, Haruka's parents had called their son every Sunday to inquire about his week, hoping to find him in good health, and to receive news of accomplishments befitting an exceptionally smart young man like himself. While they were always gratified in the former, the latter had rarely brought them more than disappointment. Haruka's collection of awards had not grown since his abrupt decision to quit the Iwatobi Swimming Club at age thirteen, and he had engaged in nothing notable or even different in the years that followed. Close to his seventeenth birthday with little but former childhood glory to recommend him to the world, they would have settled for any scrap of good news, a few scattered somethings instead of Haruka's constant answer of Nothing, the usual, everything is fine.

Little did they know that their son had been carefully censoring himself since their phone call on the day of the opening ceremony. Afraid of his parents' reaction to his faculty summons and too conflicted about Tachibana's appearance, not to mention Rin's reappearance, Haruka held his breath and said Nothing as usual. There really was nothing to impart of his first school week to his faraway elders except grievances and afflictions, which were better off buried in some frostbitten cavern of his heart. Until…

"Have you and your friends made any progress on the pool?" asked his mother over the phone two weeks after the establishment of the Iwatobi Swim Club, of which Haruka had spoken little in their previous call except for mentioning the other members, and what they were required to do in order to have anywhere to practice.

"Yeah, we cleared out the weed," replied Haruka, pinching the phone between his ear and shoulder as he fiddled with his dinner on the stove. "We might finish work by the end of next week."

"That's wonderful, Haruka! You will finally have somewhere to swim with your friends, maybe even enter a tournament after all these years… of course, you won't be able to swim until June, I hope you realize that. Spring is much too cold to swim outdoors."

Haruka's face scrunched up in an annoyed pout.

"You sound just like Tachibana," he said, glaring absently at his dinner as he scraped the sides of the pot and gave his rice a rough stir. There was a pause at the end of the line.

"Tachibana? Tachibana who?"

The spatula clanked hard against the pot. Haruka bit his lip, glad nobody could see the way his cheeks colored in… in what? Embarrassment? Guilt?

"Haruka?"

"…Just a guy from class."

"Oh? You've never mentioned him before, Haruka. Is he your friend? Is he in the swim club?"

Haru lowered his eyes, one hand tightening on the handle of the pot.

"No. No, he's not."

"Well, he sounds very sensible at any rate," said his mother to break the silence. "Don't swim in the pool until June. They probably won't fill it until then anyway."

"I won't. …Good night."

"Good night, Haruka. Please take care of yourself."

"I will," said Haru, then quickly pressed End Call, his eyes drifting to the pot again. He fished a pair of chopsticks out of the drawer and began plucking clump after clump of rice straight out of the pot, scolding himself for his carelessness as he wondered, if only faintly and with more unease than hope, whether Tachibana ever mentioned him to his family at home. Haruka prayed he did not. After all… what was there to even say about him..?

Nanase Haruka, a guy with a girly name. Still unable to take care of himself. Eats and cooks mackerel. A garbage man in his free time… and always, "always like this."

His name is Nanase Haruka. Finally I'm not the only guy with a girly name..! He didn't bring any lunch, so I gave him some of mine. I'll have some, thank you. No.. he doesn't seem to have any friends in class. Nobody came over to his desk during breaks, nobody at all. It's weird because he looked like he was feeling unwell, but nobody asked him if he was alright or if he needed anything. I don't get it. The girls told me he's a genius, and a reliable guy. He sounds like a good person, but it looks like nobody really cares about him.. It's kind of sad, but.. if he really is lonely in class… perhaps he won't mind if I talk to him sometimes…

Ama-chan-sensei came over to Nanase-kun's desk and told him he was expected at the Faculty Office. I'm not sure why though, she didn't say. Nanase-kun brought lunch today. I'm glad.. I worried at first that maybe he couldn't afford lunch..! He brought mackerel. I asked him if he wanted to have lunch together, but he was in a hurry. Maybe some other time. I sat next to him in Art class today and you should have seen him draw! He's really talented.

No… we didn't really speak today. Please excuse me…

No. I think.. I think I embarrassed Nanase-kun. It's no good.. Perhaps I'd better leave him alone. Please excuse me.. . .

You will never believe what happened! Haru, Nanase-kun I mean, he gave me fish and rice for the sandwich I gave him on Monday! I told him he didn't have to give me anything, but he insisted. It was really good! …I saw his friends too, two first-years. I ran into them on Wednesday. At the, the Faculty Office, when.. ah, it's not important anymore. Haru, Nanase-kun, I think he's nicer than the others give him credit for. I hope we can be friends..!

Guess what! They formed a swim club! Haru, I mean, and his two friends, the first-years. There's a pool they need to fix, though. I guess it's around here somewhere, I'll go up to the roof tomorrow and take a look, maybe it's nearby. Haru started working on it and his hands were all green by sixth period. …Mom? Do we have any spare rubber gloves at home..?

I saw the pool today! Yeah, it's on school grounds, not too far from the building. Haru was there gathering weed and trash during lunch time. I think I'll keep the gloves in my desk, just in case. I've never seen Haru so excited about anything before. It must mean a lot to him… I hope he'll get to swim with his friends soon. I guess that would be in June at the earliest, though… It's too cold to swim outdoors in spring.

And on went Makoto from day to day, week to week, always bringing home some small but nonetheless interesting trivia of Nanase "Haru" Haruka, and speaking of him with greater warmth and enthusiasm than any attempt at friendship had ever given him cause before. Fortunately for him, he could not have asked for more attentive listeners than his parents and little siblings. While Makoto tackled every year with renewed optimism, the four of them awaited each new start with dread that the beloved son or brother might once again find himself rejected and alone, unable to connect to others who had little need of someone whose affections and attachment ran deeper than any feelings he had ever managed to excite. Each time he found himself among new peers, Makoto always opened up with ease, but when his own gaze pierced through mere cracks in others with fond readiness, ready to advise and fuss, the shells around him clamped shut and he was pushed away, or worse, kept at a short distance where he felt neither needed nor unwanted: a lukewarm, wretched stalemate where he was fine as long as he wasn't too much.

The first few days were always spent in wait. Navigating a new environment and mapping the temperament of others required silence and patience, which came quite easily to an observer like Makoto. It was the nature of his first conflicts, his peers' initial reactions to his overbearing ways and gestures that were critical and truly decided what sort of year lay before him: sitting quietly so he would not be sanctioned, or clinging desperately to every shred of interaction in the hopes that his persistence might be rewarded. He hardly knew which version pained him or his family more. They were in alternation like the seasons, and just like the seasons themselves, Makoto's relationships never truly altered once their pace was set. In a way, he seemed the reverse of his neighbor in class: while Nanase Haruka sat by his window staring idly at a world he wanted nothing to do with, Tachibana Makoto was desperately chasing a world that wanted nothing to do with him.

And so when he retired to his room too soon that first Wednesday, his family began to suspect that Nanase Haruka's shell had closed despite Makoto's every attempt to show him kindness. Makoto braced himself and left with a brave smile the next morning, but when he arrived and hurried off to his room again, the twins put aside tomorrow's project to draw Onii-chan something cheerful for his bulletin board, while his mother abandoned her dinner plans to run to the shops and get everything for a last-minute green curry. Come evening, Makoto wiped his eyes, thanked them, and ate as much as his lack of appetite allowed. There was nothing he would not have done for those who loved him so much, so the next morning, when his siblings' arts and crafts project fell apart the moment they tried to carry it downstairs, Makoto stayed behind of his own volition and helped them fix it at the cost of arriving late to first period. Punctuality could hardly matter when your little brother was in tears and your little sister begged you for help. Nobody needed him at school, but everyone had need of him at home.

Once he dropped off his siblings and their reassembled project (carried carefully by Onii-chan all the way to keep it intact), he hugged them and ran off to school with thundering steps as the twins waved after him with scrunched up faces, wishing Onii-chan didn't have to go. He was to pick them up after school that day, and they were fully prepared to love him senseless should he betray any sign of sadness… but then were profoundly and pleasantly surprised when Onii-chan ran to them with his brightest smile, and the plastic container he was given by "Haru." The twins squealed with delight, hugged and kissed him, then begged for some of the fish because it smelled delicious. His parents, too, sighed in relief once Makoto came home and talked a great deal with rekindled cheerfulness. They soon agreed to send Haruka some mochi as a token of their thanks, and on Monday evening, Makoto was presented with an unopened packet of brand new rubber gloves by his mother, along with the kind promise of something extra for every lunch thereafter if it might help "Haru" become the close friend her son had been wanting for so long.

The process was slow but steady, and Makoto seemed a little happier every day. He might not have been able to spend as much time with Haru as he would have liked, but the extra lunches and those rubber gloves ensured that he still played an indirect yet consequential part in the Iwatobi Swim Club's efforts. That much was enough to keep Makoto's spirits soaring high, and just as the last week of April had begun, he found himself in the happy position of being able to inform his family at dinner that going by Haru's words and what he had seen from the roof, all restoration work had been completed on the pool.

"That's wonderful news," said his mother as she put the finishing touches on their dessert. "Sounds like they will soon get to swim again."

"Yeah, though I suppose they still have a lot of work to do," replied Makoto with a smile.

"Onii-chan, when are you going to bring Haru over?" asked Ran.

"Bring him over, Onii-chan! We want to see him!" pleaded Ren, both of them positively dying by now to get a glimpse of their older brother's only friend, whom they looked on as a potential playmate for anything from board games to playing house. The twins tended to bicker about who would get to play whom in the latter, but of one thing they were certain: "Haru" would be allowed to do anything he liked short of marrying Onii-chan, who had long been reserved by both siblings with equally fervent claims to Makoto as the only perfect person in the world. Their older brother chuckled fondly, not knowing half of the plans revolving around him and his favorite classmate.

"It's not that easy, else I would have brought him over already, but I'll do that the moment Haru tells me he wants to come," promised Makoto.

"Aaaah! That's mine!" whined Ren the next moment, beaten to the last piece of ham by his sister while he was busy paying attention to Onii-chan. "Don't take it!"

"You never finish your food," snapped Ran, turning her head sharply in a manner that reminded Makoto of Haru.

"I always eat my ham!" pleaded her brother, almost in tears by the time Makoto moved in to break up the argument.

"Come on! Stop fighting," he chided them, his words followed by sheepish silence. "Here," he said to Ren next, plucking up some meat from his own plate. "You can have some of mine."

The moment he gave either of them anything, the other of course had to be included, so Ran immediately begged him, "Onii-chan, I want some too!"

"There you go," said Makoto, letting her have his last bit of ham. Their father chuckled.

"Say, Makoto," he turned to his son, "You never did tell us if they were just water-enthusiasts or competitive swimmers."

"I honestly don't know," replied Makoto, scratching his chin in thought. "But I suppose they must have been swimming competitively before if they are going through so much trouble to fix the pool…"

"It is the only place they would be able to swim unless you count the ocean," mused his father. "While they were younger and it was open, they might have gone to the Iwatobi Swimming Club in town. Remember that place? You had your swimming lessons there when you were six. The newspaper says it's going to be torn down by the end of this week."

"Really..?"

"Here, look," his father said, showing him the short announcement on page four. "They started this afternoon. If they work hard enough, it'll be gone in a day or two."

The thought gave Makoto pause. The Swimming Club held no pleasant memories to him, none that he could immediately recall, but the idea of a younger Haru who might have gone there tugged at tender strings. He took a deep breath, his face strangely solemn as he said,

"I think I will go for a walk and see it one more time."

"Alright," replied his father. "Don't be late."

"Can we come?" asked Ran, perking up. Makoto shook his head. The twins booed in chorus.

"This is something I would like to do on my own," he said gently as he tugged on his jacket, then passed through the front door without another sound.

The Swimming Club was some twenty minutes away so Makoto went on foot, shivering in the evening wind, and feeling colder yet when he saw how pitiful the building looked, its sides already torn open by heavy machinery that were parked side by side their defenseless prey. The solitary demise of the once happy structure rendered him speechless and still. Did Haru really swim here when he was younger? Makoto could not be sure, but something deep inside told him he did. Was Haru happy here? Those swimming lessons seemed like they were ages ago…

"Hurts, right?"

Makoto reeled around as an older voice called out to him not too far away. His eyes fell on a pizza delivery scooter, its driver staring up at the Swimming Club with his helmet still strapped into place.

"It's not easy to watch your memories being destroyed. Were you a member of this club? Well, you can't go against the times. It's sad," mused the man uninterrupted while Makoto searched for an appropriate response.

"I wasn't a member of the Swimming Club myself," he said at last to be truthful, "but I did learn how to swim here, and I think my friend used to come here a long time ago."

"Did he? I was a coach here once," replied the man. "They called me Coach 'Demon' Sasabe. What's your friend's name? I might have known him."

"Haru.. Nanase Haruka."

"Oh, Haruka!" laughed the man. "Ah, I remember him. He used to come all the time when he was younger. He had quite a group forming around him while he was still in grade school. Do you know the others, too? Rin and the rest?"

"I think some of them go to our school," replied Makoto, feeling a little more at ease. "I've never spoken to the first-years who now run the swim club at school with Haru, but I've seen them around. One is short and blond, and the other has blue hair and wears glasses."

"That's them, Hazuki Nagisa and Ryuugazaki Rei. Ha ha, Rei was my favorite. I had never seen a kid before who sank to the bottom of the pool like a brick whenever he was swimming anything except butterfly. Butterfly, of all things! An advanced stroke, he wasn't going to start that until later, but that was what I ended up having to teach him so he could stay afloat at all. I bet it's still the only stroke he swims. And Nagisa, he was tiny compared to them, but the biggest braggart you've ever seen! You couldn't shut him up once he got going! A good kid, though. He worked his butt off trying to keep up with them. Do you know Rin, too? Matsuoka Rin? He and Haruka were great rivals."

"No… I guess he doesn't go to Iwatobi High School with everyone else."

"From what I've heard, he's come back from Australia, and goes to school somewhere around here. He went to study abroad when he was twelve, and I've only seen him once since then, later that year. Has Haruka never mentioned it? I was closing down this place for the end of the year when they showed up that one time. Apparently, they ran into each other while Rin was back home for the winter."

"You said they were rivals… did they have a race, then?"

"Haruka hasn't talked about it at all, huh? It must be a painful memory. They did race, and Haruka won easily. Rin was pretty upset about it. Can't blame him. He went to a swimming school abroad and it didn't make a difference… He was so distraught, he said he was going to quit swimming for good. That was the last time I've seen either of them swim. Haruka quit the club soon afterwards, and he hasn't attended any tournaments since."

Makoto fell silent, his shoulders hunched under the weight of Sasabe's words. Was that why they didn't form a swim club at school until now, when the pool was right there all along? Did the others even know what happened, and how it might have affected Haru? Would it make a difference now that they were going to swim again? What if they ended up running into Rin at tournaments?

What then? Will you be alright, Haru…?

"Is something wrong?" asked Sasabe. Tachibana lifted his head and turned back to him, forcing a light smile.

"No… It was nice meeting you. I'm Makoto by the way, Tachibana Makoto."

"Nice talking to you, Makoto. Tell those boys to take good care of themselves. And to practice hard! They are talented kids. Doesn't make sense to let that talent go to waste."

"I will. Goodbye."

"Goodbye," said Sasabe, and a minute later, he and his pizza delivery scooter disappeared around the corner. Makoto was now free to go, but he stood there a moment longer, turning his head to look at that sad, crumbling building one more time. He no longer saw some distant relic of his past, but a place where Haru used to be happy, until another boy lashed out and clawed him in the heart.

Is that why you push everyone away, Haru..? thought Makoto with a sharp pang in his chest, and locked within the walls of his small bathroom, Haruka's heart gave a sudden, painful leap. He lowered his head and curled his fingers to give the smiling dolphin figure in his tub a flick on the nose, and lying in bed at his newly assigned Samezuka dorm room, Rin's face twitched as though he had been stung.

Captain Mikoshiba's conquest had been successful. When he stated his terms, including the room Matsuoka was expected to share with another member at the "swimmers only" dorm, Rin pleasantly surprised him by silent acceptance of every condition laid before him, perfectly ready now to start training in earnest, to put the memory of Nanase Haruka behind him once and for all.

Makoto decided to keep his discovery to himself, letting Haru continue what his friend supposed was self-healing in the form of heading over to the pool every day, to finish up so the club could finally open its doors. Everyone was still busy cleaning up the changing rooms and doing some last-minute sweeping of the pool's bottom, but on Friday morning, Haruka received his invitation from Amakata-sensei to come to the pool after school (and only then) for the private opening ceremony of the Iwatobi Swim Club.

Having grown quite used to talking by now, he graciously shared the news with Tachibana.

"Is everything ready, then?" asked the guy, smiling widely. Haruka hummed. "Will there be a grand opening?"

"No," replied Haru, recalling his advisor's words. "Just the five of us after school."

"I see. Haru.."

"Hm?"

"Congratulations!" said Tachibana, flashing him one of those warm, affectionate smiles. Haruka paused, unsure if he felt accomplished so much as tired and impatient to get in the water that still wasn't there. The thought pulled his mouth into a frown.

"Maybe they will fill the pool for the occasion… though it would still be too cold to swim," mused Tachibana as though he could guess Haru's thoughts, causing him to color and turn his head. Tachibana laughed. Haruka had been turning his head quite often these days, and sometimes wondered if Tachibana could see through him the way he could decipher poetry, casually reading between the flat lines of his eyebrows or the corners of his lips.

When it was finally time for Haruka to leave, he stayed behind just a moment longer, letting everyone else hurry home for the weekend. It was easier that way.

"Tachibana," he said to the guy, still refusing to call him Makoto out of stubborn hope that somehow they might eventually revert to last name basis, the way guys with girly names ought to properly call one another.

"Yes, Haru?"

His chances were almost in the negatives at this point, however. Haru pursed his lips.

"I won't need the rubber gloves anymore," he said quietly, pointing to Tachibana's desk. The other looked up at him with his eyebrows slightly raised, but then broke into a smile that told Haruka he was understood and his intentions appreciated.

"Good. I'm glad," replied Tachibana in a soothing voice. At his words, tension slowly left Haruka's shoulders, his arms hanging loosely by his sides. "Now hurry up, or you'll be late for the ceremony! I'll see you on Monday."

Haruka nodded, pulling his backpack over his shoulder on his way to the door.

"And Haru..!"

He skidded to a halt in the doorway, glancing back with a small frown. Tachibana cocked his head again.

"Have a good weekend!"

Haruka's lips twitched and he stared back at him, no longer looking quite so annoyed. He hummed and a moment later he was gone, running for the pool as Tachibana gathered his things to head up to the roof.

Fifteen minutes later, Amakata Miho handed out drinks to the four of them gathering around her: Haruka, Nagisa, Rei, and Kou. Once everyone received their plastic cups full of ice tea, they raised them to the sky with excited smiles, or in Haru's case, something resembling anticipation.

"Okay. Here's to the establishment of the new swim club!" said Amakata-sensei as they clinked their cups together.

"Cheers!" said everyone, even Haru in a quiet voice before he took a sip of tea.

"It's not warm enough to start swimming," explained Amakata-sensei with a gesture towards the pool, "but we filled the pool as a test run."

Haruka dared not look before, more inclined to listen to his mother's pessimism than Tachibana's gentle optimism, but the moment Amakata-sensei gave him reason to turn his head, his eyes sparked at the serene rippling of the surface, what was undeniably clear, gorgeous water. How did Tachibana know…?

"All that's left is to toss these in together," continued their advisor, handing out one purifying tablet per person so they could gather by the sides of the pool, throwing or flicking their respective tablets into the water.

"There!" cried Nagisa, turning to Rei with a grin. "The swim club is finally ready to go!"

"The pool looks so beautiful now…" sighed Rei with a content smile. "Even if the temperature is not optimal yet for sw—aaAAHH, H-Haruka-senpai! What are you doing?!"

With no one around to pay attention to him at all times in the presence of water, Haru had since begun tossing his clothes aside. Kou's eyes widened as nothing remained but bare skin and a swimsuit (for pessimism be damned, there was still a glimmer of hope within Haruka), her hands clasped together in delight.

"I can't get enough of those triceps!" she sighed, completely absorbed in the view. Rei glared at her in stern disapproval, but whatever he tried to say was drowned out in a splash as Haru dove in, draping himself across the surface like one would roll onto smooth, soft grass.

"Haruka-senpai, the temperature is not optimal!" Rei shouted in vain.

"Oh dear," said Nagisa, sounding no more worried than if Haruka had simply stuck his hand into the water instead of diving in. "I don't see a problem, though. He looks comfortable enough."

"Hah. That's true…" spoke Kou, looking amused until she studied him a little more carefully. "Wait! His lips are turning purple!"

"Haruka-senpai, as vice-captain I must insist you leave the pool at once!" shrieked Rei, to which Haru merely turned to his stomach and slithered further inward.

"Go, Haru-chan!" Nagisa spurred him, laughing harder when Kou ran off and reappeared with a cleaning net, which proved no help in fishing Haruka out of the water. Some distance away, stuck helplessly on the roof, Tachibana too was completely exasperated by their futile attempts to catch the renegade swimmer.

"Haruuu, what are you doing?!" he cried over the railing, quite forgetting that nobody could hear him over there and anyone might hear him on the roof. "Get out of the pool, it's too cold to swim in April! And what are you all standing around for, get him out of there already! Augh.. he's going to catch a cold… Haruuu..!"

TO BE CONTINUED…