Once practice was over, the swim club split into two groups as usual: Makoto and Haru headed towards the bay, and the first-years to their respective trains at Iwatobi Station. However, while the second-years walked away in silence, Haru tongue tied and Makoto too mindful of him to speak, Kou soon engaged her companions in discussion about the possibility of enlisting Coach Sasabe's help before the regional tournament.

"If he accepted our invitation to prefecturals and said he would come to watch us at regionals, then he must be interested! This is our chance!" she told Nagisa and Rei, who tried to voice their doubts about Sasabe's commitment to the swim club, what with having his hands full with pizza delivery, to no avail. Kou held her ground to the last, insisting they had to at least try, until the vice-captain saw reason and finally gave their manager permission to proceed.

Her business now happily concluded, Kou promised them she would make arrangements as soon as possible, then boarded her train in improved spirits. After her brother had ignored all her texts about the swim club, regionals, and the possibility of the two of them meeting up on Saturday, Kou desperately needed a distraction, and pursuing her freshly revived goal of securing a proper instructor for the swim club was just what the doctor ordered.

As her train pulled out of the station, she waved to Nagisa and Rei all smiles, the boys returning the gesture with matching enthusiasm until Kou and the train blurred into the distance. Only then did Nagisa's wave turn into a long, stiff stretch of his arms, and his grin into an obscenely huge yawn. A moment later, he let his tired knees buckle at last, plopping down on the bench behind him like a sack of potatoes.

"Aaah, I'm so pooped," he moaned, pressing his back against the wood. Rei shook his head softly, but soon perched himself next to Nagisa. "Practice was so hard today..!"

"And it's going to get even harder if Kou-san really does manage to persuade Sasabe-sensei to coach us," replied Rei, fixing his glasses with a push. "Well, at least Haruka-senpai seems sufficiently motivated, and Makoto-san is doing much better than before…" he carried on, his faraway voice evaporating into thoughtful silence.

Nagisa stayed quiet for a moment, waiting for him to continue, but when Rei didn't, Nagisa rolled his head over to him with diminishing patience.

"What are you thinking about, Rei-chan?" he nudged his friend, his brow quirked. Rei shifted in his seat, but he showed Nagisa a small smile nonetheless.

"I was thinking about Makoto-san, and how much he has improved in every way," he replied, looking into the distance. "Not just in terms of his technique or his ability to stay calm in the water, though that is certainly a huge improvement, but rather.. I feel that he is beginning to grow more comfortable around us, and acting more like his true self than before."

"His true self?" blinked Nagisa. Rei nodded, his expression guarded.

"He used to be very secretive and tense, understandably, and the tournament was obviously a stressful experience for him, but recently I noticed how Makoto-san has a natural disposition to regard and promote the interests of others, and kindly provide where he perceives a need."

"Like taking care of Haru-chan?" asked Nagisa in a cheeky tone, dotting his sentence with a wink. Rei made a face.

"Nagisa-kun… I wasn't even thinking about Haruka-senpai."

"You weren't?" stared Nagisa, obviously caught off guard. Rei fixed his glasses with a smirk.

"Haven't you noticed that during the tournament, Makoto-san spoke up at least twice in my favor without any of us soliciting his input?"

"Ah, that's right," replied Nagisa, poking a finger at his chin. "You mean telling us to let you pick lunch and take your certificates home?"

"Precisely. In both cases, you and the others were talking over me—"

"Sorry, Rei-chan…" mumbled Nagisa, eyes wide and lips twitching into a small, apologetic smile. Rei's shone a little brighter in reply.

"Apology accepted," he said in a warm tone. "But, what I was trying to say is that Makoto-san was listening to us, noticed my interests were being ignored, and attempted to remedy the situation by suggesting a well-reasoned alternative that would be acceptable to all of us. I suppose that, as an older brother to much younger siblings, he is very adept at reading cues and figuring out solutions to arising problems… and from what I can tell, this is a very natural tendency for him. I first thought about it on the night Makoto-san sent us home instead of letting us wait for Haruka-senpai in the cold, and stressed the importance of Kou-san's safety. I thought his thoughtfulness was very admirable, and providing for others suits him very well as a person, so I think that we should foster these natural tendencies so Makoto-san could feel more comfortable among us. He is the only club member with no special rank, so perhaps letting him act as a voice of reason in times of indecision would make him feel more appreciated as a teammate…"

"Yup! See, I told you Mako-chan was nice from the beginning," replied Nagisa with his arms folded over his chest, obviously proud of himself for being an excellent judge of character. Rei shot him a sheepish look.

"You did, Nagisa-kun…" he replied, looking away. Nagisa gave him a playful nudge.

"Then, while you're at it, you could also admit that Mako-chan takes good care of Haru-chan, too!" he said with another wink.

Rei's nostrils flared indignantly as he drew a sharp breath, then blew it out in a sigh.

"Fine," he huffed, "I will not deny that I've noticed how often Makoto-san interjects or acts on Haruka-senpai's behalf, and how Haruka-senpai seems to allow these unsolicited kindnesses despite his distant nature. He even volunteered to help Makoto-san improve his acceleration, and devoted a great deal of attention to him.. but I cannot shake the feeling that it was partly to distract himself from what happened at the tournament…"

"You mean losing to Rin-chan?" asked Nagisa as their train glided onto the platform. The two of them now gathered their backpacks, then climbed aboard to find some empty seats.

"Yes… I mean, I'm glad Haruka-senpai is serious about our training, but I wish it were because he's enthusiastic rather than upset," explained Rei as they squeezed past a group of students to find two unclaimed seats on the side. They sank down in relief, schoolbags propped on their feet. Nagisa dropped his head on Rei's shoulder out of habit.

"Yeah…" he sighed, his gaze falling to Rei's knees. "Maybe Haru-chan could use a break to take his mind off swimming."

Rei's brow creased as he cupped his chin in thought.

"I agree, but with the regional tournament coming up, I don't think we have the luxury of missing even a single day of practice if we want to stand a chance of advancing to nationals."

"True… I wish there was more time," moped Nagisa. "The relay will be right after my birthday, so I can't even celebrate that..!"

"I'm really sorry, Nagisa-kun," said Rei, giving him a tender look. "But please don't despair! I'm certain once the regional tournament is over, all of us will be free to spend the night celebrating our accomplishments and honoring your birthday."

"That would be nice..!" breathed Nagisa, his eyes twinkling at the thought of eating a large, handsome birthday cake surrounded by friends. And speaking of friends…

"But we have important matters to attend to first!" he said, lifting his head from Rei's shoulder. "If we want to swim a relay, we have to make sure Haru-chan feels good enough to swim with us, so now the question is, is there anything we can do to take Haru-chan's mind off swimming and help him unwind, even if it's only for one night?"

"Hmm… do you mean something like an outing?" asked Rei. Nagisa nodded fervently. "Well, let me see… ah, I think I've overheard our classmates mentioning something about an upcoming festival this weekend? I believe it was Wakamatsu-kun who brought it up."

Having only a vague recollection of the particulars, Rei did not expect Nagisa to have any idea what their classmates were talking about, but Nagisa's eyes lit up instantly.

"Rei-chan, you're a genius!" he cried, his words smearing Rei's cheeks a light pink. "I almost forgot! Wakamatsu-kun must have been talking about Hachiman-sama's Festival!"

"Hachiman-sama's…?"

"Fes-ti-val, Rei-chan! I think I saw some posters around town, but my sisters said they wanted to go, so I forgot all about it and was gonna spend the weekend doing something else," he explained, not noticing how little sense he made to a boy who adored his older sibling, and would have gladly spent time at a festival with him. "But now you made me remember! Oh, Rei-chan, this'll be perfect! I can just tell everyone I'm going with the swim club, and if we take Haru-chan, he will soon forget all about Rin-chan because of all the food and festival games! It's perfect, I tell you!"

"Yes, yes, but Nagisa-kun, how are we going to entice Haruka-senpai to come?" muttered Rei, who began to regret having mentioned the festival, and already mourning the dent it would make in his wallet. "He's rather reluctant when it comes to socializing with others…"

"Simple," replied Nagisa, his voice dropping to a whisper. "We'll lure him in with Mako-chan."

"Eh? What do you mean?" blurted Rei, his voice instinctively hushed to match Nagisa's, whose chin brushed against Rei's shoulder as he leaned closer to say,

"All we have to do is go to Haru-chan's house, tell him Mako-chan is coming with us, and then he'll want to tag along for sure..!"

Rei gave him a glare.

"That sounds dishonest, Nagisa-kun, and besides, why are you so certain it would work at all? I still say you are delusional about the two of them."

Nagisa puffed his cheeks indignantly.

"I know what I'm saying, Rei-chan, and I'm saying this would definitely work."

"But, Nagisa-kun, we haven't even invited Makoto-san yet…"

"To nab Haru-chan, it'll be enough if we just say we have, and I bet if we did the same thing to Mako-chan, then they would both end up coming because of each other..!" breathed Nagisa, his eyes gleaming in excitement. Rei gave him a flat look.

"Nagisa-kun…"

"Yes, Rei-chan?"

"Why are we whispering?" asked Rei, finally raising his voice and straightening his shoulders. "We're on a noise-polluted train, and no one is here to eavesdrop on us."

Nagisa shrugged his shoulders.

"It seemed appropriate for hatching a plot."

"Hatching a plot…" repeated Rei, his eye twitching. "No, no, no and no, Nagisa-kun, you can just forget about your ridiculous idea right now! As vice-captain, I hereby exercise my right to veto this entire scheme!"

"But Rei-chaaaan…!" whined Nagisa, nudging his head repeatedly against his friend's arm, but no amount of burrowing worked on Rei, who had grown quite used to the sensation.

"I said no and that's final!" replied Rei, folding his arms rigidly together as he turned his head archly to the side. Nagisa peered up at him.

"Rei-chan.."

Rei turned back just enough to shoot him a glare.

"What is it now..?"

Nagisa batted his eyelashes, his face innocence itself.

"I bet you one thousand yen it'll work."

Rei's brow twitched. He narrowed his eyes in thought.

"So you are that confident in your ridiculous idea?"

"I am!" replied Nagisa, his eyes sparking fiercely. Rei's heart jumped in excitement.

"Fine…" he murmured, the urge to lower his voice just like Nagisa did earlier returning as he succumbed to the thrill of a new challenge. "I will allow this.. strange experiment, but I have two conditions."

"Fire away," Nagisa whispered back with a grin. Rei cleared his throat, though he kept his voice to a bare minimum.

"First of all, the four of us must go together, or there is no point in attending the festival. If your experiment fails with either party, it will be your duty to persuade them to come."

"It'll work, so sure, whatever!" replied Nagisa. "And your second condition?"

Rei pursed his lips. He adjusted his glasses with a single finger.

"As vice-captain, I insist we all wear yukata to the festival to look like a uniform group, so in summary, you will have to persuade Makoto-san and Haruka-senpai to come with us in appropriate festival wear, or I won't pay you a sen."

Nagisa licked his lip as if savoring Rei's words, but after a moment's consideration, he nodded with a wide grin.

"Alright, yukata for everybody! This'll be the easiest one thousand yen I've ever earned!" he replied in a sweet tone, causing Rei to scoff and turn his head in embarrassment at the memory of losing his previous bet. At least in hindsight, Nagisa-kun was merely lucky there. Rei argued for an attentive and nurturing female classmate, and he argued for a pushy, no-nonsense guy who wasn't afraid of Haruka-senpai's standoffish demeanor – and in the end, they were both wrong.


Just like Rei and Nagisa, the captain of the Samezuka swim team had also set his sights on Hachiman-sama's Festival, for several convenient reasons. Firstly, the festival was dedicated to the god of water, so to Seijuurou's mind, it was only common sense to pay their respects before regionals, and pray for victory to strengthen team morale. The second reason, tying conveniently into the first one, was that after so much arduous training, his men were in desperate need of entertainment and society, which a festival could surely supply in abundance. And thirdly, though by no means lastly, he received a text on Monday from Kou-san, who inquired about her brother, and the possibility of his coming to Hachiman-sama's Festival. Unable to let the opportunity pass, Seijuurou promised her at once that he and his entire swim team would attend the festival without fail. If nothing else could have convinced him that Iwatobi Bay was a desirable destination on Saturday evening, the sweet promise of waiting upon Kou-san worked wonders on Seijuurou every time, so come Tuesday afternoon, he announced to his team that they would visit the shrine on Saturday evening, no excuses, and no exceptions. Including you, Matsuoka.

To most of the Samezuka swimmers, the captain's announcement was a cause for joy. Aiichiro in particular was in raptures at the idea of attending a festival, but Rin could just barely keep himself from making sour faces. Although Mikoshiba mentioned no other cause for going than visiting the shrine, Rin was almost certain his meddlesome sister somehow had her hand in the sudden compulsory event. Since his suspicion could not be refuted without asking either her or the captain, the thought continued to haunt Rin for the rest of the week, all the way to his last hour of practice on Saturday afternoon.

By the end of his final lap that fateful day, Rin was heaving in earnest as he pulled off his swimming cap. His entire week had been nothing but school and practice, exerting himself as much as he could to empty his head and keep unwanted thoughts at bay, but now the captain was going to force him into dawdling aimlessly around Iwatobi Bay, eating junk food and watching grown men wrestle squid, making fools of themselves. What a waste…

He hoisted himself out of the water, then headed to the showers, planning to take so long the others might be all gone by the time he finished. He was out of luck, however. After soaking himself and massaging his scalp for what seemed like ages, he still found Nitori in the locker room, where Aiichiro had been dabbing himself dry little by little just to have a reason for staying behind.

"Senpai, you've been swimming very well," he greeted Rin the moment he came into view. Rin sighed.

"I guess," he replied, his tone quiet as he opened his own locker to pull out his tracksuit. A few feet away, Aiichiro finally found himself dry enough to dress, so he soon produced an entire stack from the lockers: his chosen attire for the festival.

"You posted a personal best during the group stage, so it looks like your decision to focus on the one-hundred meter freestyle paid off," he spoke again, hoping to engage his senpai, but Rin seemed too engrossed in straightening the sleeves of his jacket to answer. Aiichiro closed his eyes. "I wasn't able to make it to the final," he added with a bittersweet smile.

"Yeah, too bad," replied Rin.

Aiichiro's smile lost its bitterness.

"But Senpai, you have to do your best!" he said at once, turning around with a determined expression. "I'll do everything I can to support you!"

He was hoping for a hum or at least a nod, but Rin merely stared off into space like he hadn't even heard him. Nitori watched him worried.

"Huh? Senpai?"

Rin's mouth opened, but no reply came. Instead he pursed his lips, then turned away from Nitori and left the lockers for the end of the row, where he sat down to dry his hair. Aiichiro hurried after him, one foot still missing a sock.

"Is something wrong?"

"Not really."

Rin now busied himself with a bottle, sipping slowly at its contents. Nitori furrowed his brow.

"You were so happy about beating Nanase-san," he risked to say, his eyes fixed on Rin's face. His senpai lowered the bottle.

"Yeah…"

Nitori's face brightened.

"Then you can move on now!" he said with a happy grin, but Rin flinched at the words, his hand dragging the towel downwards to hide his face. Nitori leaned closer. A moment later, the door of the locker room swung open.

"Hey, hurry up," barked Mikoshiba from the doorway. "We're leaving in fifteen minutes!"

"Y-Yes!" cried Nitori, straightening at once, then hurrying back for his missing sock.

Rin frowned. Seijuurou quirked his brow.

"You too, Matsuoka," he added, his tone steely. Rin tensed, but said nothing, glad for only one thing: that Haru had never been in the habit of attending festivals. As long as Haru wasn't there, things would be fine.


As for the Iwatobi Swim Club, their last week of school was spent rather cheerfully, especially for the upper management. Having learned from Makoto, who had succeeded twice without fail, Kou convinced Ama-chan to stay behind after practice, then dialed Pizza Boy to order a large pepperoni pizza, leaving precise instructions about the location of the Faculty Office and their delivery person of choice. Within half an hour, which was spent clearing Amakata Miho's desk and getting some napkins from the cafeteria, the unsuspecting victim was staring pitifully at the two ladies, who awaited him with their arms folded.

"Good day, Sasabe-san," chirped Ama-chan.

"Glad you could join us," said Kou, her fingers steepled beneath her chin.

"You gotta be kidding me," muttered Sasabe, but it was no use. Having fallen for the trick a third time, they detained him with kind force until he agreed to free up as much time next week as he could, and take the swim club under his wing at last.

Meanwhile, Nagisa and Rei spent their days preparing for Hachiman-sama's Festival. Both checked, then aired out their yukatas, Nagisa arranged to leave separately from his sisters, and Rei gathered information on upcoming events just to have a few enticements up his sleeve, should Haruka-senpai prove difficult to convince. Intent as he was on winning the bet, he could not bring himself to jeopardize their outing too much, so all he allowed himself and Nagisa to do for the sake of their plans was tell Haru and Makoto that they should be on standby for the weekend just in case Coach Sasabe might volunteer to train everyone, internally grateful that Kou had offered them such a handy excuse.

They were in luck. Haruka acknowledged the possibility with a shrug, and since his friend had no objections, Makoto found himself simply unable to mention any of his own. He forced a smile, told the vice-captain he would be available, then informed his parents and siblings when he came home that he might not be able to attend Hachiman-sama's Festival at all.


Finally, the fated day arrived. As usual, practice lasted from late morning till early afternoon, after which the vice-captain kindly advised Makoto and Haru to go home and spend the rest of their day "on standby." Nagisa hardly knew how he managed to keep saying it with a straight face, but it didn't matter anymore. Once Haruka hummed and Makoto nodded in silence, everyone went their respective ways, some more enthusiastically than others.

Having successfully survived the week without dropping any spoilers, Nagisa and Rei continued to bide their time for a few hours longer, until it was time to don their yukatas and join forces at last. They met up by Rei's apartment, then boarded the earliest train to Iwatobi, to put Operation: Double Bind into action.

As Haruka lived further up the stone stairs, Makoto was to be their first victim, and Nagisa found himself cracking his knuckles in anticipation as Rei rang the bell by the Tachibana gate. He briefly wondered who would open the door for them, then started dreading the possibility of having to deceive an adult, but they were in luck. After a few moments, Makoto was the one to greet them, standing there in slippers, a shirt, and sweatpants.

"Good evening, Nagisa, Rei.." he stammered at the sight of their sharp, colorful yukatas complete with matching kinchakus hanging from their obis. Staring at them, Makoto felt terribly underdressed. "What are you doing here?"

Rei adjusted his glasses before clasping his hands together behind his back. Nagisa nodded to him, then turned to Makoto with an eager grin.

"We have come to pick you up, Mako-chan!" he replied cheerfully. Makoto balked.

"Eh? Pick me up?"

"Mh-mm! Tonight is the first night of Hachiman-sama's Festival, so let's go, Mako-chan!"

"O—oh, the festival," mumbled Makoto, scratching his cheek with a finger. "I've heard about it and wondered if we might go, but I wasn't sure if anyone else wanted to…"

Rei's eyes widened.

"You were going to suggest it to us, Makoto-san?" he asked, his tone laden with guilt at the thought that they had severed all attempts at the root with their ridiculous demands to put everyone on standby. Makoto blinked, then lowered his eyes with an awkward smile.

"I confess I thought about it," he explained, "but then you told us to be on standby, and Haru said he would rather stay at home anyway, so in the end, I decided not to say anything."

Nagisa took a wary glance at Rei, who straightened his shoulders with a smirk of I told you so. Nagisa dissolved into nervous laughter.

"Na—aaah, on the contrary, Mako-chan!" he blurted, his face contorted into an uneasy grin. "It was just a clever ruse! We are also on our way to pick up Haru-chan!"

"Eh?!" cried Makoto. Nagisa nodded so fiercely, the folds of his yukata jumped with every bang of his head.

"Haru-chan is coming with us, so hurry up and put on your yukata, Mako-chan!"

"My yukata?!" blurted Makoto. Rei gave him a barely perceivable nod as Nagisa held out his hands to the sides to showcase his yukata.

"Yes, your yukata, Mako-chan! We are all going in yukata, even Haru-chan, so hurry up and put on your yukata, okay?"

For one moment, Makoto found himself wondering about Haru and what his yukata might look like. The thought brought some color to his face.

"R-Right, I'll get dressed," he stammered, growing more and more confused by the minute. "Will you wait for me or should I just head to the festival when I'm done?"

"We will come back for you once we picked up Haru-chan!" replied Nagisa. "Now hurry, Mako-chaaan!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" cried Makoto as he slammed the gate shut and ran off, soon disappearing inside his house. Rei gave Nagisa a dirty look, but the culprit merely grinned and gave him a thumbs up, tipping his finger downwards right after.

"One down, one to go," he chirped. Rei scoffed.

"It's only because you rushed him," he muttered with narrowed eyes. Nagisa pretended not to hear him. After such a successful attack, he all but danced up the stone stairs towards Haruka's house, leaving Rei no choice but to follow and observe.


As the two of them headed up the stone steps, Makoto stormed up the stairs to his room, unaware that his siblings and mother poked their heads into the hallway, astonished at his sudden retreat without a syllable said about who had rung the doorbell and what they wanted. Makoto closed the door behind him, then hurried to his wardrobe, where his yukata waited on a hanger in the far back. Makoto sighed in relief when he at last pulled it out. He pressed it to his chest in front of the built-in mirror to take a look… then let out a shriek so loud the house shook in its wake.

There was a flurry of footsteps up the staircase and the twins came barging in, followed closely by Makoto's mother.

"What's wrong, Makoto?" she called out as she climbed the final steps, then stuck her head inside Makoto's room, where the twins stood with their hands pressed firmly to their mouths not to laugh. Makoto turned around pale-faced, the garment dangling from his grasp.

"Mom, I've outgrown my yukata..!" he whined, holding out the yukata he was bought when he turned fourteen, just a few months before another growth spurt rendered his entire wardrobe useless. Its sleeves no longer covered Makoto's arm, while the waist looked cinched against his torso. The twins burst out in laughter. Their mother, more tactful, managed to smother hers.

"Oh my… we should have bought you a new one for the summer," she said, her tone appropriately apologetic. Makoto let out a groan.

"What do I do now?" he begged her. "It was Nagisa and Rei, and they insisted I come to the festival in a yukata or I'll stick out like a sore thumb!"

"What's wrong?" asked his father from the doorway, having left his work behind to see what the commotion was about.

"Onii-chan's too big for his yukata," replied Ren, pointing to his brother with a finger. Makoto's shoulders slumped.

"The swim club's coming to pick me up for the festival, and they insisted I wear a yukata," he explained, his face scrunched up in panic. "They were telling me all week to stay on standby for training so I thought nobody was going to go, but apparently everyone agreed to.. even Haru…"

"So the only one they didn't tell was you?" asked his mother, her tone incredulous. Makoto nodded with a heavy heart.

"It seems so… maybe they just wanted to surprise me, but still…" he sighed as he lowered the yukata, wringing the fabric subconsciously until it bunched into clumps in his hands. "If they had told me in advance, I could have bought a new yukata. Without one.. maybe it's better I don't go."

The twins no longer laughed or smiled. Instead they peered awkwardly at their mother, who in turn shot a look at Makoto's father. He cupped his chin in thought, then looked up again to flash his son a soothing smile.

"Well, if you've outgrown your yukata, then there's only one thing to do. I will lend you mine for the night," he said, his eyes searching Makoto's. "We are about the same height, so I think it will fit you just fine."

Makoto perked up almost instantly.

"Really? Is that okay?" he blurted wide-eyed, some color returning to his cheeks. His father hummed with a smile.

"Since it seemed like you wouldn't be able to go at all, we decided to wait until tomorrow, and now I have some leftover work to take care of, so I will definitely not need it tonight."

"Thank you!" cried Makoto, who put down his old yukata to follow his father to the master bedroom, where he was entrusted with an entire ensemble for the night: a soft cotton juban, a juniper green yukata with thin vertical stripes, a black obi, a kinchaku just big enough for his wallet and keys, and his father's geta for appropriate footwear. His father humbly retired while his son changed clothes, only stopping on the way to his home office to receive a thank you kiss from his wife, who had left Makoto's room with the twins to put away Makoto's too-small yukata until Ren would be old enough to claim it for himself.

Back in the master bedroom, Makoto dressed up, cleaned his face in the bathroom, then put on some cologne for good measure. By the time he finally emerged, all his essentials put into the kinchaku for safekeeping, his mother and the twins were waiting for him in the hallway to say goodbye.

"How do I look?" asked Makoto, turning around to show off the yukata with his father's handheld fan tucked into the back. The twins gasped in delight.

"Onii-chan looks so pretty!" said Ran. Ren nodded in agreement.

Makoto colored and let out an awkward laugh in reply, while his mother stepped over to him with a smile, pulling her son's head downwards to comb a few rogue spikes into their proper place on top of Makoto's head.

"Now you're ready," she said as she hugged him. "Enjoy yourself, alright?"

"And bring back souvenirs!" chimed in Ran and Ren.

"Now, now," said Makoto with a smile, "you are going tomorrow so we'll buy something nice then, okay?"

"Awww.." whined the twins, but they cheered up when Makoto reached out to ruffle their hair on his way to the door.

"Fine, we'll buy things tomorrow!"

"Take care, Onii-chan!"

"I will! Please tell dad I'm really thankful!" replied Makoto, and with a small bow, he opened the front door and stepped out, heading to the gate with a lighter heart. Even if they didn't invite him beforehand, what did it matter now? At least they didn't completely forget about him, and now they were all going to Hachiman-sama's…


"…Festival?" mumbled Haruka in the doorway, standing barefoot in nothing but a shirt and shorts, having clearly intended to stay inside. Nagisa and Rei nodded with innocent grins on their faces, Rei once again drawing back to let Nagisa handle business.

"Yup, tonight is the night of Hachiman-sama's Festival, so let's go, Haru-chan!"

Haruka's face stiffened. He instinctively took a step backwards at the sudden attack on his privacy, finding it as offensive as their constant visits had been at the beginning of the trimester, when Nagisa and Rei seemed to hang around him constantly…

"I don't want to go," he replied at once, drawing further back. "Didn't you tell me like ten times to stay on standby for training?"

Nagisa swallowed. At his own words slapped back in his face, beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and if Haru resisted for long, Nagisa would surely be drenched by the time they got to the bay.

"But, but Haru-chan, don't you want to hang out with us?" he whined, his eyes as large and wide as a puppy dog's. Haruka frowned. "Everyone's waiting for you to go, including Mako-chan!"

Haru let out a sound not unlike a surprised hiccup. He stared at Nagisa in shock.

"Makoto..?" he blurted with tinged cheeks, his tone lower and softer than before. Rei squinted at him, but Nagisa cracked a cheerful grin as he wiped his brow.

"Yup! Mako-chan is putting on his yukata right now and he'll be waiting for us by the gate!" he giggled nervously, fanning himself in short bursts. Haru's cheeks grew a little warmer at the thought of Makoto clad in yukata. Nagisa's face softened.

"Well, Haru-chan?" he asked gently, his heartbeat slowing down from its former frantic beat. "Shall we all go to the festival with Mako-chan?"

"In yukata," muttered Rei flatly in the back.

"In yukata," agreed Nagisa in a feather-light tone.

"In yukata…" Haru repeated after them as though he were talking in his sleep, his fingers curled into loose fists by his side. "..Okay. I'll get dressed."

Rei stared at him mortified. He hoped Haruka would put up some last-minute struggle, but the captain seemed calm, and apparently persuaded that donning a yukata to join them for Makoto's sake was his only possible course of action in this matter. A moment later, Haru pulled the door shut. It was only then that Nagisa turned to Rei, his face beaming in a triumphant grin.

Rei glared at him.

Nagisa lifted a hand towards him, wiggling his fingers expectantly.

Rei pursed his lips.

Nagisa batted his lashes.

Rei let out an exasperated growl as he dug into his kinchaku for his wallet, yanking out a one thousand yen bill and all but slapping it into Nagisa's waiting hand.

"Thank you, Rei-chan.." chirped Nagisa as he folded the bill, then gingerly tucked it away by his chest, straight down the folds of his dotted yukata. Rei reached for his fan to hold it over his face, his ears burning behind it.

"You are diabolical," he whispered from behind his cover. Nagisa pretended it was a compliment.


While the two of them waited by the front door, Haruka hurried into the bathroom to examine his face. He had taken a bath about an hour ago, but found his face looked rather sickly in the light, so he washed them with soap, rubbing his cheeks vigorously as if trying to blot out unwelcome thoughts, in particular the question of why Makoto didn't tell him he was going to the festival. Didn't I tell him, no more secrets… Haru thought to himself bitterly, but it was no use. He promised to go in yukata, so he left the bathroom for his room upstairs, where the wardrobe hopefully held his yukata in the far back. He poked around for a while, then finally lifted it out, peeling it off its hanger.

He pulled it on in front of the mirror. The fabric snagged on his shoulder.

"Oh," sighed Haruka, staring flatly at his reflection, where the yukata dangled about his knees like a short, indecent summer dress. How could he forget? He had last worn it when he was thirteen, forced to go with his parents to a festival much like the one he was going to attend now. After that night, Haru stuffed his yukata into the very back of the wardrobe, where it lay unchanged over the years as Haruka's boyish figure stretched into a young man's taller form. His shoulders sagged until his yukata slipped to the ground. Haru heaved another sigh.

Unlike Makoto, however, he did not panic. Next to his room was his parents' old bedroom, complete with a larger wardrobe that held all the clothes they refused to take with them when they moved away. There Haru found his father's old yukata, navy blue with thin horizontal stripes, and a black obi around its waist. Haru went back to his own room to try it on, breathing through his mouth all the while to avoid the smell of lavender that protected their clothes from moths. Though the garment reached a little lower than necessary, the emergency replacement felt every bit as comfortable as Haru could reasonably hope. Next, he put on the entire ensemble, checking himself again in the bathroom to see if his complexion improved, and once he dabbed on enough cologne to mask the scent of lavender, Haru braced himself to reunite with Nagisa and Rei.

Outside, the former greeted him with a grin, while the latter did his best to look appreciative.

"Ah, you look good, Haru-chan!" said Nagisa, positively beaming at him. Haru turned his head at the praise, looking strangely bitter. Rei's brow creased.

"Perhaps a little austere, but I suppose that's simply your personal taste," he said at last, a little disappointed that Haru's yukata was not as colorful or as elaborately patterned as their own. Haru merely shrugged his shoulders. Nagisa gave Rei a look before he tugged on his sleeve.

"Well, shall we go and get Mako-chan?"

At his words, Haru's head turned back to them a little too quickly. Rei squinted at him, still refusing to believe Nagisa out of sheer stubbornness.

"Let's go!" cheered Nagisa, his mood in high heaven at having become one thousand yens richer. Haru simply sighed, then followed the two of them to the stone stairs, glimpsing a dark figure down by the gate before they even reached the single torii.

"Here we are, Mako-chan!" Nagisa called out. Makoto lifted his head, breaking into a hapless smile when he finally spotted Haru behind Nagisa and Rei. Haru colored and turned his head, one hand drawing his yukata a little tighter around his chest.

"Have you been waiting long?" asked Nagisa when they reached Makoto, who cocked his head to the side with good-natured looks.

"No, I've just arrived outside."

"Wow! Good one, Mako-chan!" cried Nagisa, thoroughly impressed. "Rei-chan, Haru-chan, take note," he continued with a wag of his finger, "if you arrive early for a date, this is what you have to say."

"Yes, yes," Rei hushed him. Nagisa now feasted his eyes on Makoto's yukata.

"Oooh, you look very manly, Mako-chan!" he said, giving Makoto a thorough look all over. Makoto laughed. Rei gave him a small, awkward smile.

"Again, the fabric is a little austere…" he mumbled, his eyes flitting from Haruka to Makoto. Nagisa followed his eyes, then gasped in realization.

"Ah, they match!" he said, pointing from Haru to Makoto. "They are different colors and the stripes go different ways, but they kind of match if you squint your eyes," he explained with a grin. Haruka paled. Makoto flushed crimson.

"Ah, haha, I guess you're right… I hope this is okay," he stammered, unable to look at any of them. Haru turned his head again, his eyes falling on a tuft of grass by the steps.

"It's fine," he mumbled. "You look fine."

Quiet as he was, Makoto flashed him a grateful smile.

"I'm so glad… this is not my own yukata, you see," he blurted in relief. "My dad lent me his because I've outgrown mine…"

Haruka whipped his head up, staring at Makoto in shock.

"…I borrowed mine too," he said, eyes wide. "This is my father's yukata."

"Eh? You too?!" blinked Makoto, his eyes sliding down the folds. Haru clenched the hem of his yukata a little tighter. Nagisa laughed.

"That explains it!" he said cheerfully. "They match because they are boring old fatherly yukatas!"

"You have zero tact, Nagisa-kun," muttered Rei, clearing his throat loudly to get their attention. "Well, shall we head down to the festival? It has come to my attention that this festival is dedicated to the god of water, so with our captain's permission, we should pay our respects at the shrine first."

Haru nodded, his eyes carefully averted. Makoto smiled.

"Alright!" cried Nagisa. "Let's gooo!"


Under Mikoshiba Seijuurou's leadership, the Samezuka swim team gathered in front of the school building, then proceeded to the station to catch the first evening train to Iwatobi town. The moment they shuffled on board in search of empty seats, Aiichiro immediately secured two for his senpai and himself, receiving nothing but a grunt that he did his best to interpret as a thank you, even if nothing about Rin's stiff posture or the way he glared down his reflection in the window suggested so.

After their short but painfully uncomfortable conversation in the locker room, Rin was glad to escape Nitori, only to return to him irritated and morose, tense as a cornered animal with gashes all over him that his nosy kouhai might dig his fingers into any minute. In all of Samezuka, Rin feared Nitori the most, whose kind, optimistic, and unwittingly earnest remarks cut him deepest. No matter how much, and in what ways Rin chose to keep him at bay, Nitori continued to show him warm, genuine enthusiasm that Rin felt completely unable to reciprocate… and now they were to spend a whole evening together, drifting from street to street at a stupid festival full of loud kids, asinine festival games, and obnoxiously red candy apples.

Rin's face darkened at the thought. Long ago, his father once bought him and his sister a single candy apple at the festival, joking that they should share it because the two of them made up a single apple. That was the first time Rin felt resentment towards his name. Rin. Gou. Ringo, or 'apple' in Japanese. Probably because Toraichi just knew they would turn out to be redheads like their mother. What a terrible joke.

Rin clenched his jaw. His whole existence seemed like a terrible joke sometimes.

Fortunately for him, Nitori seemed to have forgotten the locker room conversation altogether. From what Rin could catch among the dusty cobwebs of his mind, all Nitori talked about was the food and games he was looking forward to. The more Rin listened to him, the more he sank into lukewarm apathy. Fine, he told himself, fine. Let Nitori have his way. If things turned unbearable, Rin could just leave him behind, like always.

That thought, and the idea that Haru was probably cooped up at his house all alone were Rin's only comforts during the train ride, which mercifully could not outlast his threadbare patience. At the next stop, they got off the train, and Nitori joined his side a moment later, the two of them heading out of Iwatobi Station.

It was Aiichiro's first visit to Iwatobi, and his grin widened in glee at the sight of lanterns hung upon the fronts of buildings down the length of several streets, children gathering to play, and couples clad in handsome yukatas. Aiichiro sighed.

"I'm a fan of yukata," he said to Rin, his eyes jumping from pattern to lovely pattern on a group of young women nearby. "I wish I had brought mine with me, but I forgot. Maybe next time..!"

Rin made no reply, his gaze lingering on a group of kids nearby.

"Senpai, I believe you're familiar with this area," risked Nitori.

"I guess," replied Rin, still staring at the children, who were now loudly discussing how much money they got from their parents, and what they should spend it on. Rin could hear them talk of candy apples. His eyes dulled at once, hands clenching by his sides.

"Senpai? Everyone's heading to the shrine," he heard Nitori say. Rin bit his lip.

"Fine. Let's go."

He then turned away from Nitori, the latter struggling to keep up with him as Rin hurried after the others, soon falling into stride behind Uozumi and Minami. They marched on in silence. Nitori wrung his hands nervously, glancing to his senpai every now and again in the hopes of an opening, a single word or a small sideways glance he could latch onto, but Rin pretended not to notice, wishing every step of the way that he could simply disappear.


Note: While I was taking drabble requests on Tumblr, some of which I posted on this account, I received a prompt whose end result was a rough, improvised draft for the conversation between Nagisa and Rei at the beginning of this chapter, so I decided to include it here. Enjoy!

Reigisa and Concilliabule - A secret meeting of people who are hatching a plot.

"The summer festival would be just the thing for Haru-chan to unwind, don't you think, Rei-chan?" whispers Nagisa.

"Yes, I agree," replies Rei, his tone hushed. "But Nagisa-kun, how are we going to entice Haruka-senpai? He's rather reluctant when it comes to socials…"

"Simple," murmurs Nagisa. "We'll lure him with Mako-chan."

"Eh?"

"We'll tell him Mako-chan is coming and then he'll want to tag along..!"

"But we haven't invited Makoto-san yet…"

"It'll be enough to say we did, trust me..!"

"Nagisa-kun…"

"Yes, Rei-chan?"

"Why are we whispering? We're in my room."

Nagisa shrugs. "It seemed appropriate for hatching a plot."