Story 1, Part 1: Careers
A month after Rin had left for Australia, Haru engaged in his own training to become an Olympic Swimmer alongside the red haired teen.
It was going swimmingly[pun intended ^-^] until Haru's parents came home from their time away. Being the businessman that he was, Haru's father didn't approve of his only son's career choice.
Of course, his wife agreed with her husband even though she knew about her son's love for water and swimming she didn't think that he should make a career of it, so that night, they sat down with Haru and talked with him.
"Haruka, I know that you like to swim but we want better for you." His mother told him as the small family sat at the kitchen table conversing.
"Swimming is better for me," Haru said calmly, not showing any expression as he usually did.
"We meant for your future son. You can't just swim forever. I know that you've just graduated high school and your liking for something fun to do but you should think about your career." His father said folding his hands together in a businesslike manner out of habit.
"This is my future," Haru said again, getting annoyed that his parents were being so persistent.
"You can't make a living from swimming Haruka," his mother insisted, giving her husband a side glance silently asking him if they should give him the news.
Her husband nodded and they turned to Haru with a serious look.
"Look, son, your mother and I are only looking out for you and we only want you to succeed in our best interests." His father said and Haru looked at them disinterestedly.
"What your father means Haruka, is that we signed you up for a prestigious cooking school to hone your skills. We want you to become a chef." His mother said and his father nodded.
Haru frowned and vaguely wondered if he had heard his parents wrong.
"I want to swim," he said and his mother sighed while his father shook his head.
"Haruka I know that you like to swim but we already paid and signed you up for this school. We can't back out now." His mother insisted.
"Then tell them I'm not going and to refund you the money. I want to swim." Haruka said stubbornly, not budging from his decision one bit.
"Haruka! It's not possible! You can't make a living out of just swimming. We want you to do something better. If you don't stop now we'll just have to forcefully pull you out!" His father said raising his voice and slammed his hand loudly on the table. Haru's ocean blue eyes widen in shock because his father had never yelled at him like that or slammed the table like that either. It unnerved him a little, but he kept a passive expression.
"...I don't want to be a chef, I want to keep swimming. Why can't you both understand that!" Haruka asked shaking his head once his father had calmed down and muttered a quiet apology.
"Haruka we told you, swimming is all fun and games but you cannot make a living from swimming. We know that we aren't around much and we just want you to have a stable life. Your father and I are just worried about you." His mother tried her best to explain the situation to her son as simply as she could.
"I've been fine on my own," Haru said stubbornly, and his parents sighed.
"You don't work and the money you get is the money that we send you. Please, Haruka consider this. It will be a better opportunity for you. Once we know that you're living a stable life we can feel more at ease." His mother said and his father nodded his agreement to what his wife was telling their son.
"...I still want to swim." Haru muttered lowly under his breath, annoyed that his parents won't understand that it's all he wants and needs.
"Preparations have already been made at the school, and they don't offer refunds, you have no other choice then to go or that will be a million dollars tuition you're throwing down the drain son." His father said, in his business man voice again.
Haru studied his parents with ocean blue eyes and wondered what he should do to get them to change their mind; on the other hand however, he couldn't just let his parents waste all that money on him like that, but swimming...he promised Rin that they would race each other during the Olympic and aim for the gold medal.
"...I don't want to quit swimming." Haru said defiantly and his parents sighed.
"We're not telling you that you have to quit. We are telling you that you can't pursue a career as a swimmer. You can swim all you like but you have to go to this culinary school." His mother sighed, this was more difficult than she had originally thought it would be.
"I don't want to!" Haru shouted, finally at his limit. He listened to them talk and they wouldn't even bother to consider his side of it nor his feelings for swimming so he abruptly stood up and stomped out of the dining room and holed himself up in his room making sure to slam the door loudly and ignoring his parents calling him.
They couldn't do that, not when he finally found what he was looking for. When he had finally found his dream. Most importantly, did that mean that he'd have to break his promise with Rin? That he couldn't swim alongside Rin anymore?
How would Rin react to this news he wondered, and was terrified of the answer. He had gone through so much to get Rin to swim again and now he had to quit swimming by force, he hated that, a lot.
Rin...what do I do? Haruka thought to himself as he curled up under his blanket and closed his eyes.
One thing for sure he probably shouldn't talk about his situation with Rin just yet. The teen had his own training and studies to worry about all the way in Australia after all. Haru thought that maybe he could sneak out and talk to Makoto about it but he realized that Makoto was still in Tokyo studying so he decided to tell Makoto first when he went back to Tokyo for school and his own training.
A few days later, Makoto greeted Haru at the train station in Tokyo, and his cheerful smile faded slightly when he notice that his best friend since childhood looked a little more subdued than usual.
"Haru? What's wrong? Something happened with your parents back home?" He asked, giving Haru a worried look.
Haru remained quiet, but gave a slight grunt. He still had no luck changing his parents' mind about their decision.
"Let's go somewhere less crowded to talk," Makoto said softly and Haruka gave a small nod and followed the tall sand brown haired teen.
"Were your parents against your career choice?" Makoto asked Haru once they had settled down in a small ramen shop.
Haru gave another nod, "they want me to become a chef. They told me that they want to send me to an elite cooking school and I can't become a swimmer." He finally poured out his troubles, "I don't want to." Haru finished and Makoto nodded slowly.
"Have you told your parents how much swimming means to you?" He asked, mind going through multiple solutions.
Haruka nodded with a hum of affirmation, "they know, but they keep telling me that swimming is not a legit career choice."
"I see, so your parents want you to have a more stable job," Makoto murmured, easily understanding Haru without much needed explanations.
"They won't listen to me, and they can't get the million dollars they spent on getting me into that school back either," Haru interjected and Makoto widened his bright lime green eyes.
"A million what now? Haru...if you don't go, are you saying they'll lose a million dollars?" Makoto asked the ocean blue eyed teen, shocked.
Haru nodded again and Makoto was beginning to think that finding a way to let Haru achieve his dream of swimming in the national pool was impossible.
"What do we do then?" Makoto groaned into his palm as Haru shrug.
"I was hoping you'd come up with something," Haru said and Makoto shook his head.
"Maybe Nagisa and Rei can help us." He suggested and Haru blinked, meaning that he agreed. He'd take all the help he can get in this. He didn't want his parents to lose money but he didn't want to quit on his dream either. It meant a lot to him and to a certain emotional redhead that he knew would cry if he caught word of what was going on. If he were to stop and become a chef, he wondered if Rin would forgive him for it. He didn't want to find out, he couldn't tell Rin he decided.
A/N: Hooray chapter 2! Aww poor Haru all he wanted to do was swim.
Wonder what schemes Nagisa and Rei will come up with along with Gou. :)
Thank you for reading and see you again next chapter!