"What do you think that interview is gonna be about?" Rin asked once Haruka finally returned from the shower after swimming practice. Rin was already done drying himself off and half-dressed by the time.
"How would I know?" Haruka asked before opening the locker where he kept his stuff. He took the towel and dried his body at such a speed that Rin knew he was still wet.
"You know you need to dry yourself off better," he said as Haruka put away the towel again and grabbed a fresh pair of swimming trunks.
There was no response to his state, but Rin had already figured as much. Only Makoto could confront Haruka about something and maybe get a reaction out of him.
"But seriously Haru, why would they interview us in the first place? We aren't even related to him," he said.
"I don't know, maybe because we live with him?" Haruka answered slightly irritated while getting himself dressed.
Rin slipped his shirt over his head. "That is a reason I suppose… I've never been interviewed before,"
"We could've been," Haruka stated, causing Rin to look at him.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"If we hadn't run from the police that day or turned ourselves in," Haruka answered.
Rin took a moment to realize what Haruka was actually talking about. His face turned strangely serious when he finally did. "You're right," he simply said before allowing himself to sit down on the bench. He was done getting dressed and now only waiting for Haruka.
They were both silent as Haruka finished getting dressed. They then picked up their bags and left the place, still in silence.
There weren't many people outside. Haruka and Rin looked at each other. None of them remembered Kisumi's directions from that same morning. They had been in such a hurry that they had only heard half of them anyway.
"Text Makoto," Haruka demanded.
"No you do it," Rin said. "I don't even know what to write anyway,"
Haruka sighed and got his phone out of his pocket and send Makoto a quick text, asking for the directions for where they were to meet. He got a reply within five minutes with the directions and could thereby lead the way to where they would, hopefully, find Kisumi.
They reached the right building within 10 minutes. The doors in the building opened and Kisumi stepped outside just as they reached the door.
"There you are, just in time," he said and smiled at both Rin and Haruka. "Come on and hurry, the shooting will start in five minutes," he said before dragging both of them inside with him.
They went inside the building and got into an elevator. Kisumi hit a bottom that appeared to get them to the 2nd floor of the building. Kisumi then led them outside and down a hallway, then turned right and went down another and then into one of the many rooms located on the floor.
"Hello!" he said while waving at everyone in the room. Rin and Haruka looked around the room as a few waved back. Makoto was one of them. He was sitting in a corner with Rei and Nagisa. Rei was busy correcting something about Nagisa's outfit while Nagisa attempted to shrug it off.
By a table, with lots of make-up on, a man stood. He was dressed in a suit and looked pretty strict. Next to him was a woman with curly blonde hair, held in a ponytail. She held a camera in hand and was clearly focused on cleaning the lens.
Another woman sat with a laptop and a block of paper. Her hair was short and she was dressed in tight clothes. She had a pen in her hand. Haruka guessed she had to be the journalist who would interview them later on.
Another man, wearing a black suit, was leaning against one of the other walls in the room. He wasn't doing anything but he answered Kisumi's wave with a relaxed smile.
"It won't be long now," he said after checking his watch. "You're just on time".
Makoto looked at Rin and Haruka, his gaze ended up focused on Haruka's, still, very damp hair. A slightly exhausted expression appeared on his face.
"Haru," he stood up and opened Haruka's bag to get the towel from in there. "It's not healthy to walk around outside with your hair like that," he said before placing the towel on Haruka's head.
"I tried saying the same thing," Rin mumbled.
Haruka moved the towel around on his head for about two seconds before removing it.
The man by the table full of make-up walked up to them. "Actually, it might be better if both of you had your hair dried completely," he said. Before anyone could react he had dragged Rin and Haruka to the table and started drying their hair with a hairdryer.
While the guy was at it with Rin's and Haruka's hair, Kisumi decided to introduce the strangers. The man, styling their hair was a stylist, the woman with the camera was the photographer, the woman with the block was, as Haruka had correctly assumed, the journalist, and the man in the black suit was Kisumi's manager for a little while longer. His name was Kobayashi Rin.
They didn't get time for anything else because as soon as the stylist was done, it was time to line up for that picture they needed.
"Shigino-san and Tachibana-san stand in the back," the photographer instructed. "Matsuoka-kun, stand to Shigino-san's left, Nanase-kun, half in front of Shigino-san and Matsuoka-kun, and Ryugazaki-san… stand next to Tachibana-san to the right," she then waited until the mentioned ones had gotten into position.
"What about me?" Nagisa asked.
"Hazuki-kun…" the photographer looked at the others while trying to find a place where Nagisa could be. There weren't many. "Hazuki-kun… you might just be short enough, stand in the very front, between Nanase-kun and Ryugazaki-san," she said.
Nagisa stood there and the photographer nodded her head with a smile. "Just perfect," she said. "Now try looking natural," she said. She continued on instructing them to look as naturally as possible. Kisumi was good at it, and Rin wasn't bad either, she also gave Haruka an approving smile and amused by Nagisa. She wasn't too satisfied with Rei and Makoto, claiming they were a little too stiff.
Finally the picture was taken and the manager, Kobayashi walked up to them with a bright smile on his face. "That was actually great!" he said.
"Thanks, Rin-san," Kisumi answered.
Kobayashi looked at Rin and Haruka. "I was wondering though, why were both of you so damp when you arrived?" he asked.
"We're swimming," Rin answered. "We'd just finished practice when we got here,"
"Are you good at it?" Kobayashi asked.
"We've been chosen for an international event so I'd say we are," Rin said.
"I see," Kobayashi had a thoughtful look on his face and Haruka picked up on that. He couldn't seem to read it though.
"Kobayashi-san, why do you ask?" he questioned.
Kobayashi smiled. "I was just wondering… have the two of you ever considered modelling as a career?" he asked, catching both Rin and Haruka off guard. "I mean you have the body-type for it, and a natural talent to go along with it. You'd both become very successful if you followed that path," he said.
Rin and Haruka exchanged one look. None of them had ever considered modelling before. The thought had never crossed their mind in the slightest.
"Thank you," Rin said. "But Haru and I are already set on swimming on an international level," he explained.
"That's just too bad," Kobayashi smiled. "Well, if you ever change your mind just give me a call and we can make some arrangements," he said before handing both Rin and Haruka a small white card, holding both his name and phone number.
All Haruka cared about when it came to that card was the fact that Kobayashi's and Rin's first names were spelled with the same kanji.