'I'm sorry'
Those words ringed on your head every time you thought of high school, you knew that it was impossible that he liked you back since you hardly had the courage to go near him. He definitely didn't even remember your name when you asked his best friend, Makoto (who was one of your friends when you were taking up a course in a university; he was your classmate in one subject).
Right now, even after finishing your course, you were still confused about your dreams and plans in life.
Then one day, Makoto sent you an email of this local orphanage In Iwatobi, who was looking for volunteers on caring for the children and with little encouragement from him, you decided to volunteer. Your job there wasn't easy; you were assigned with a partner to take care of 8 babies and the orphanage has given you permission to name the 8 unclaimed babies from the hospital. Your partner only stayed for a month and stopped coming to help which left you alone with 8 babies (and it took you a lot of patience to get over this) but something inside you let you stay and you realized that you stayed with the orphanage for almost 6 years (and the orphanage started paying you for your continued effort).
The 8 children are already almost 6 years old but you were unhappy that not everyone wants to adopt a child and even with all the advertisement around the walls of the orphanage, there seemed to be fewer visitors every year. You wanted to children to be adopted but at the same time, you wanted to spend most of your time with them because they have started calling you 'mama' ever since.
Surely, your life was happy just caring and teaching these children every day.
.
It was just an ordinary Wednesday, it was a day where the children get to borrow the large television and watch live shows from a sports channel. You always wondered why the children enjoyed watching live shows about swimming (but the children also definitely loved the movie 'Frozen' and would watch it over and over again on the DVD player) as you clicked the remote to the sports channel.
"I want to swim like that!" said Megumi, who was jumping and pointing at a freestyle swimmer.
"Megumi, I can't see!" Satoshi complained while tugging your shirt. "Mama, Megumi is not letting me see!"
"Satoshi, Megumi just wants to show me what she likes." You patted the boy's head as he huffed.
"But Mama… I also like to swim like that…" Satoshi sighed and looked at you with determined eyes.
"I know… All of you want to swim like that." You smiled but deep inside you were unhappy that you can't let these children achieve their dream, other than encouraging them.
.
One of the managers in the orphanage called that later that lunch time, where you were eating lunch with the children.
"[Last name], a sponsor is coming by later today to look at the children, make sure that the children would meet him and give a short gratitude for his continued support." The manager said and you nodded in response.
"Who's coming?" Seto asked curious.
"A sponsor, it's his first time meeting all of you, so be nice and say a loud 'THANK YOU!' to him when he arrives!" You smiled and the children replied in unison, 'OKAY!'
.
When the sponsor finally arrived, you blinked your eyes several times to recognize the familiar face in front of you.
"H-Hi..." You slowly held up your hand in front of him as a polite 'shake hands' gesture that were usually seen on western movies but you couldn't really keep much focus because you realize it was your old classmate in front of you and those words whispered in your head again which was;
'I'm sorry.'
"N-Nanase-san." You said softly allowing him to hear it.
"Y-You know my name?" He paused to look at you. He didn't seem to be familiar with you and you thank the great iwatobi-chan that he didn't remember your confession back in high school.
"U-Uh…" You stuttered still feeling very nostalgic but you were interrupted with the loud voices of the children: 'THANK YOU FOR SPONSORING US!' followed with a bow from all of them. When you turn to look at your classmate, he gave a soft smile and bowed back in return.
"Thank you for the warm welcome." he said warmly to the children until Megumi stepped up to look at him closely.
"Y-You…You're the swimming man! The one on the television!" Megumi said as she hugged your classmate by surprise and when Megumi hugged him, you snapped back to reality and you quickly introduced him to the children.
"This is Megumi, Mikuru, Minami and Miyu. The boys at the back are named "Seto, Satoshi, Souichi and Syu."
…
He paused after listening to you and started to turn to Megumi. "So you see me on the Television too…?" He said with a small smile.
'W-Wait, so that was really him on the Television? you thought.
"H-Huh? S-So that's you?! N-Nanase H-Haruka?!" You blinked again. You remembered hearing the stories of Makoto telling you that Nanase started to travel around the world since he wanted to become a professional swimmer.
"Yes. That's why my manager told me to sponsor this orphanage to let the children watch the sports channel." He turned to look at you and you looked at him remembering that the children really enjoyed watching him on television.
"I-I'm glad you came by!" You bowed to him and the children started going around Nanase to able to greet and hug their 'idol'.
After a few hours, Nanase had to go back home to his old house in Iwatobi and you and the children bid him farewell.
"Thank you for coming!" You all waved to him until he left.
.
That night, when the children were sound asleep, you gave them a goodnight kiss and headed back to your room (which is just beside the room of the children).
You recalled the events that happened today:
- He didn't talk much but he talked to the children more.
- He said that he's a professional swimmer.
- He has an apartment in Australia.
- He went on a hiatus so that he can visit his hometown.
- You realize that you and Nanase are completely different people.
'It's been 5 years huh…' You rubbed your eyes as you lay in bed and slowly, you fell asleep.
