In the middle of spring break, in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, two men in the middle of their thirties could be seen running through town appearing to be in a hurry. They were heading towards a specific location, the gigantic swimming stadium in the center of Tokyo.

"Oh crap!" the taller one of them said. "We're late!"

The other looked at his watch. "We've still got five minutes before their race starts!"

The first one said nothing. He just picked up the speed and ran the last few meters to the swimming stadium. The other followed and the two entered, quickly making their way to the tribune. By that time, both were completely out of breath.

"Mako-chan! Kisu-chan!" A blonde boy stood up from the front row and called out their names as he saw them. He had been keeping an eye on the entrance for the past 15 minutes, hoping that the two men would make it.

"We're sorry, Nagisa," Tachibana Makoto answered as he and the other, Shigino Kisumi, headed down towards the blonde, Hazuki Nagisa, and the bluenette next to him, Ryugazaki Rei.

"You just barely made it," Rei said as the two men reached him and Nagisa. "Their race is about to start. They just finished announcing it as you entered."

"Which event is it?" Kisumi asked and sat down on the other side of Rei.

"Males' freestyle," Nagisa answered. "That's the only thing Haru-chan has ever agreed to swim,"

Kisumi leaned forward to try and see if he could spot the two swimmers down by the starting blocks. His purple eyes were continuously scanning the place, however, without finding what they were looking for.

"Where are they?" he asked, eyeing Makoto through the corner of his eye.

"By the fourth and fifth lane," Makoto answered, directing Kisumi's attention towards the middle of the pool. "Haru is by the fourth and Rin is by the fifth," he explained further.

Kisumi looked directly up at Makoto with amazement. "How can you tell them apart at this distance? With their caps on, all the swimmers look the same to me."

Makoto smiled with a hint of insecurity. "I'm not sure," he confessed. "Maybe because I adopted them and therefore see myself as their parent? I can do the same with Rei and Nagisa."

"Take your marks!"

By the sound of those words, everyone stopped talking and a deafening silence was the only thing that could be heard in the stadium as the swimmers did as they were told.

"Ready!"

Everyone watched as the swimmers prepared themselves. Makoto found that he was arguing with himself about whom he wanted to win. He ended up deciding to cheer for both of them as loud as he could, though to cheer for both Rin and Haru at the same time did seem a bit confusing to everyone else. More than once, Makoto had been asked whom he cheered for by curious spectators who couldn't keep to themselves.

"Go!"

The sound that marked the start was heard and all the swimmers jumped up. The two in the middle about a second before everyone else, and at the same time their bodies sunk into the water and they began the stroke of the front crawl.

Both of those in the middle were working really hard. It was easy to tell they were both aiming for first place, and judging from the distance between them and the next one, the only one who could keep them from first place was the other.

One of the two was racing to win and beat the other yet another time, the other was racing because he didn't want to listen to the first one bragging about winning the next entire week, or until he was actually beaten.

They entered the turn and swam back. The one in the fifth lane was a bit ahead of the one in the fourth, due to his kick, but the one in the fourth lane was a tiny bit faster in his stroke.

"They are both so talented," Makoto heard one talent scout mumble to another.

"Tell me about it, I've had them on my rater for a while now," the second talent scout answered.

"How come you haven't asked them yet?" the first asked.

"They say they have already decided where they're gonna go after high school," the second one answered.

At that moment the conversation between the two talent scouts was interrupted by the loud cheers from the spectators. The swimmers in the fourth and fifth lane had both finished, by a 0.2 seconds' difference. The one in the fifth lane had won and was grinning widely, showing all the pointed teeth.

"Way to go, Rin-chan!" Nagisa yelled, stepping up on the chair and jumping up and down until Rei got up as well and pulled him down.

"Stop doing that, Nagisa-kun, you might fall," he said.

Nagisa pouted for a bit, but everyone knew it was just an act. He loved it when Rei was forced to show how much he actually cared, especially because the older one always pretended not to care.

"We should meet up with them," Makoto suggested and Kisumi nodded.

"You lead the way," he said.

Makoto nodded and did as told. He led the way to where the family usually met up after a race. Rin and Haruka were already there, but they weren't alone.

"I'm telling you, if you go to my collage you can make all your dreams come true," the man said. "And that even within the borders of Japan."

"I told you, we've already decided!" Rin exclaimed loudly. He'd clearly lost all his patience with the man a long time ago.

"You keep saying that, but Nanase never says a word," the man turned his attention to Haruka.

"I only swim free," Haruka answered.

"And you can still do th-" The man was cut off when Haruka held up a hand to show that he wasn't done talking yet.

"That means I don't let anyone else decide where I'm going after this. I have already decided to follow Rin on his path," he said. His voice was kept calm as usual, but Makoto could see that he was just as annoyed as Rin was.

"Rin-chan! Haru-chan!" Nagisa ran up to Rin and Haruka and wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders, squeezing them tightly.

"We should get going," Rin said. "Our family is here." he turned his back on the talent scout and so did Haruka, Nagisa was still in between them. "Great timing," Rin whispered to Nagisa. "I was just about to lose it for a second."

The talent scout wasn't giving up though. "Excuse me," he spoke to Kisumi. "Are you their parent by any chance?"

Kisumi smiled. "Nah, I'm just the supportive friend of the family who is tagging along." He nodded at Makoto. "That's their father," he said.

The talent scout turned to Makoto. "Do you know what Nanase and Matsuoka have planned for their futures?" he asked.

Makoto smiled and nodded. "I've known for about two years now," he said.

"Won't you rather have them swimming back here in Japan?" the man asked.

Makoto shrugged. "If Australia is where they want to go, then I have no reason to stop them from going there," he said. "Sure I think it's far, but if they're happy with their decision, then so am I."

"That kind of model parent that everybody dreams of," the scout mumbled with an irritated and defeated expression. "I should've known." He then left. He had used up everything he had to have Rin and Haruka enrolled in his collage next year, but it had had no effect at all.

"Well," Makoto said looking at the two boys. "As I said, it's not that I mind you going to Australia or anything, I'm not going to stand in your way either, but when someone comes to offer you something, at least be polite when declining the offer." He then smiled, changing from the 'trying to be strict parent' to the very nice parent, whom he originally was. "With that being said, I ordered pizza for the night. We're going to pick it up on our way home, unfortunately Kisumi's car broke down so we have to go by train."

"I don't mind, some fresh air should do us good," Rin said and then looked at Haruka.

"Yeah," the black-haired teen answered.

Here it is! The long-awaited sequel of Free Parenting. Just a fair warning. I attempted to watch the ES dub while writing this in order to grasp the characters again, but personally, I believe it only brought them even further off. I hope you'll forgive me for this.

This story is also uploaded on AO3

Also, this chapter might differ a tiny bit from the rest of the story, seeing as I have gotten a new editor recently. She edited the first chapter, but she found the story too long and asked if she could leave it. I told her it was alright.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story. I'll publish daily as I always do and see you tomorrow.

Jackie.