Chapter 3: Remembering

After the school's over, Haru, Makoto, and Tomoya walked and arrived at Iwatobi SC. When the three walked in the corridor holding their bag with swimsuit in it, they stopped when a different sight greeted them.

"Oh." The different sight was a photo of the relay team which consists Haru, Makoto, Rin, and Nagisa. Rin slung an arm around Haru's shoulder while grinning widely and holding the trophy, Nagisa was on Rin's left – raising a hand up and another hand on Rin's arm, Haru looked away from the camera with his expressionless face, and Makoto put a hand on Haru's arm and holding a piece sign. Even though Tomoya wasn't the part of the team, she's in the photo too – standing between Haru and Makoto posing piece sign like Makoto and holding Haru's hand.

"They put the picture from that time." Makoto said.

Haru's blue eyes focused on Rin's figure who stood beside him in the photo. The black-haired boy frowned before looking away.

"I wonder what Rin is doing…" Makoto wondered.

"Don't know." Haru said rather coldly, surprising Makoto and Tomoya. The boy walked away, not sparing the two a glance. Makoto and Tomoya looked at each other before Makoto pointed out at another picture.

"Ah! It's you, Tomo-chan!"

Tomoya looked at where Makoto was pointing and blinked.

"You're right…" she muttered while walking closer to inspect the picture.

The picture consists her who held a trophy and a medal was circling her neck. Rin, like always, slung an arm around her shoulder while grinning, Haru held her hand and looked away from the camera, Makoto stood behind her and put a hand on her head, and Nagisa was in front of her almost covering her figure. Thank goodness, she's taller than the bubbly blonde boy.

"At that time, Tomo-chan won the regionals, right?" Makoto said. "In butterfly stroke."

Tomoya nodded while curling up a small smile.

"Come on, let's go to the pool." The brunette then said and started to walk towards the changing room. Tomoya followed her childhood friend – after giving the picture of Haru's team a last glance and letting her smile drop for a second.

"Haru-chan! Mako-chan! Tomo-chan!" Nagisa called out in excitement while running towards his friends who walked out of changing room.

"Nagisa, it's dangerous to run!" Makoto scolded the young boy with blonde hair and magenta eyes.

"Ah! Sorry!" he apologized after a giggle and then jumped on Tomoya, hugging the girl's waist. Tomoya startled at first but hugged Nagisa back and ruffled his hair.

"Hey! What's middle school like?" Nagisa asked curiously, not letting go of Tomoya while turning to look at Haru and Makoto. "Is it fun?"

"We can't tell after just one day." Makoto said when Nagisa looked at him.

"It's normal." Haruka said.

"I still don't know." Tomoya added.

"Oh…" Nagisa responded and moving away from Tomoya. The blonde looked at the floor sadly. "I wish I were in the same grade as you three."

"You'll be a middle schooler next year too, Nagisa…" Makoto soothed the young boy.

"But! I can't be in a relay with you guys this year!" Nagisa exclaimed. "And Rin-chan isn't here, either, also Tomo-chan didn't do relay…"

Hearing that, Makoto also felt the sadness Nagisa infected them while Haruka looked unpleased with it. Topic about Rin clearly was something sensitive to him. On the other hand, Tomoya had the same reaction as Makoto – although the topic wasn't about Rin.

"That's right…" Makoto muttered and Haru walked away from the three towards the starting block. He put on his googles and swimming cap before stepping on to the block, bending down to make a start stance, and jumped into the pool with a splash.

"Hey, Haruka! You're just diving in again!" Coach Sasabe's voice boomed as he scolded the young boy. Makoto and Tomoya just looked at him from the sidelines with sad look on their faces. The dark chocolate-haired girl looked down as she felt negative emotions began to build pressure in her chest.

And the expression she wore didn't escape Makoto's eyesight.

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"I'm home." Haru said as he slides the door open and stepped inside his house. By the time he got home, the sky was already painted with orange and shades of amber.

"Welcome back. You were at school pretty late, huh?" his mother greeted him from the kitchen. Haru sat down on the wooden floor to shrugged off his shoes.

"How were your classes?" his mother asked.

"Normal." Haru answered.

"Really? Come back downstairs after you've changed. Dinner is ready."

"Okay."

The black-haired boy walked towards the stairs and climbed up towards his room on the second floor of the house. He slid his bedroom door open and turning on the lights. Haru walked towards his study desk and placed his bag for Iwatobi SC on the carpeted floor before he placed his school back on his desk.

He moved towards the wardrobe to pick out his clothes and began to discard his gakuran top. Suddenly, his school back lost its balance and dropped on Haru's desk–spilling its content which were mainly text books. Haru looked at it and his blue orbs focusing itself on a piece of paper that rested upon a text book.

It's a club registration form.

He frowned at the sight while his memory played certain dialogue he had with someone.

And that someone was none other than Matsuoka Rin himself.

"I'm not going to go to middle school here."

Haru remembered how he, Makoto, and Tomoya were surprised about the news. They were gazing at the leafless sakura tree in winter time not too long ago and then suddenly Rin sputtered out that words.

"I'm going to Australia." Rin announced confidently, not looking away to look at his friends' expression. "I'm going to become an Olympic swimmer!"

Haru snapped out from his daydream as he gritted his teeth and walked towards his desk to shove the contents of his school back to its place.

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On the other hand, Makoto's currently playing with his siblings in the living room. The twins, Ran and Ren, clung onto his bent arms while he swung them around in circles.

"Air trapeze!" he called it.

The twins were laughing and squealing in glee while their parents watched the scene with smiles and chuckles.

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"Ikuya, how's school?"

Kirishima Ikuya, the boy with dark sea green hair and a pair of amber eyes, looked up. The question stopped him from taking a bite of his dinner. The boy then looked down before turning his head to not look at his mother.

"I don't know yet." He said with irritation implied in his tone.

"Oh, I see."

Ikuya took his final bite of food before standing up after he put his chopsticks on his bowl. "Thanks for dinner."

"Eh? You're done eating already?" his mother asked as he walked towards the door and slide it open.

"Yeah." With that, Ikuya left the dining room without sparing a glance for both his mother and an older boy with unruly brown hair and the same amber eyes Ikuya has. As his mother sighed and look down in sadness, the older boy or Ikuya's older brother, could only look at her by stopping his dinner for a second before mimicking his mother's expression.

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Meanwhile, Asahi stood in front of the mirror in his bathroom while looking at some sort of white cream on his finger. His face clearly showed excitement and glee; clearly, he's been planning to use it.

The hallway was empty and dark, the source of light was only from the bathroom. An older girl, Asahi's sister, trotted downstairs while letting out a yawn. When she saw the bathroom's lights on, she decided to check it by dragging her feet to it–sleep still clung to her.

"Asahi, what're you doing…"

The voice startled the poor boy who immediately turned to face his sister with flustered face and newly tidied hair–his piece of work using hair gel which made his sister soon burst into laughing fit.

"Don't laugh, sis!" he yelled in embarrassment.

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"So, how's school?"

Tomoya swallowed her blackcurrant jello before she answered her mother's question.

"Still adapting, I guess…" she answered unsurely. Currently she and her mother were watching TV in the living room, occupying a maroon-colored sofa. Both of them decided to wait for a certain sports event in a sports channel while eating dessert after dinner.

"I see, what class are you in?" Mrs Otohaku asked again.

"Class 1, I'm in the same class with Haru."

"How about Makoto?"

"Mako-chan's in Class 2. It's right beside my class."

"It's good then! At least your friends aren't that far from you–look! It's dad!" her mother's sudden exclaim made Tomoya immediately snapped her head towards the TV and focusing her turquoise orbs on it.

It's a volleyball match–an international one–with Team Japan leading and taking the game. Players were running around the court; jumping, diving, and setting volleyball. But, among the players, the girl's gaze focused on a man with dark chocolate hair and wore red and black uniform with number 18 on it.

"Looks like he got everything under control out there than here." Her mother joked and Tomoya laughed.

The camera was focusing on her dad, who jumped to spike a ball that was directed towards him. The ball rocketed to the opposing court with such speed and power that other players couldn't receive it.

"Another point by Otohaku! Japan's team rule the court!" the commentator exclaimed.

With that, the camera switched the view of the court to showed the commentator about how well the game was and how Japan was going to move forward to the next match.

"When will dad come back home?" the dark chocolate-haired girl asked, eyes gluing on her mother who finished her share of jello.

"Maybe in a few weeks," Mrs. Otohaku began to clean up empty plastic jello cups. "Oh, yes, the day after tomorrow I'll– "

"Coach the national team, right?" Tomoya finished. Mrs. Otohaku smiled softly at her but guilt shone from her turquoise-colored orbs.

"No, I'm participating in a tournament or two." Mrs. Otohaku added and left her work from cleaning the cups to sat beside Tomoya. She patted the girl's head.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be by your side." Mrs. Otohaku apologized. "This is your first few days of experiencing middle school and I'm going to leave you already."

"It's okay, you know! I can take care of myself," Tomoya said while grinning mischievously. "Besides, I can make dinner better than you, mom!"

"Are you challenging me?" Mrs. Otohaku smirked at the words and Tomoya curled up her own smirk.

"Oh, yes I do."

"Then after me and dad are home, we're going to have a cooking showdown!" Mrs. Otohaku declared. "With dad as the judge like always!"

"You're on!"