"Haru-chan! Mako-chan!"
"Rei! Nagisa!" Makoto exclaimed. He laughed as Nagisa tackled them both.
"Haruka-senpai!" Rei greeted. It's so good to see you. And you too, of course, Makoto-senpai! Things have been terribly lonely without you both."
"Well, at least I'm here," Nagisa beamed.
"Yes, I suppose that provides some comfort…"
"Aww, come on Rei-chan! You know you love me!" Rei opened his mouth to retort but paused when he heard a knock at the door.
"I wonder who that is?" he mused. He strode up to the door, then opened it to reveal Rin and Sousuke.
"Rin-san! And Sousuke-san too!"
"Yo!" Rin grinned
"Hey…" Sousuke muttered. He let out a grunt of surprise when Nagisa slammed an arm around himself and Rin, who chuckled.
"I haven't seen you guys in forever!" he squealed.
"Jeez," Sousuke sighed.
"Hey, Rin. Sousuke," Haru greeted.
"Good to see you again, Haru," Rin grinned. Sousuke turned away, seemingly disgruntled by the show of affection. "You too, Makoto."
"Yeah!" Makoto laughed.
"And here I thought you guys would be excited to see your old manager. But apparently onii-chan and Sousuke-kun are more important."
"Gou-chan!"
Gou smiled at them, but her reply to their excitement was cut off by a resounding "GOOUUUU-SAAAN!"
"Aaaaand, that must be Momo," Rin sighed. His suspicions were confirmed when a head of bright red hair appeared in the doorway, accompanied by a pair of star-struck eyes.
"Jeez, Momo-kun…"
Sousuke grinned at these words, issued from a rather dissatisfied Nitori.
"Hey, Ai," he called. "How've you been?"
"Aw, Yamazaki-senpai!" Momo howled. "Why didn't you say hello to me too?"
"Because you're a pain in the ass." He chuckled at the flurry of chaos which poured from Momo's mouth at these words, then clapped both him and Ai on the back. "Relax. I'm just messing with you. It's good to see you both."
"Then that should be everyone," Haru mused. His gaze breezed about the room, then halted when he caught Ai waving to him out of the corner of his eye.
"Hello, Nanase-san. Makoto-san. Nice to see you again!"
"Yeah, you too," Haru replied. He lifted his gaze so Sousuke.
"Hey, Sousuke."
"Hmm?"
"Did you find Rin okay?"
"Oh, yeah, I did. But never mind that. What were you and Makoto doing on a reality tv show?"
"A reality tv show?!" Ai yelped.
"No way!" Momo gasped in agreement.
Nagisa giggled. "Oh yeah, we saw that!"
"We did indeed," Rei said, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "In fact, I recorded the last episode just yesterday! Let me put it on…"
"Ah, don't worry about that, Rei!" Makoto said sheepishly.
Haru frowned when Gou giggled in the corner. He didn't like the sound of that…
"So Rin…" Sousuke said.
"Yeah?"
"I did some digging…and I managed to track down an injury rehab centre. I hear it's pretty good…and I think I might give it another shot."
Rin stared at him in shock. "Does that mean..?"
"Yeah. I still want to swim on a world stage…" He smiled. "I still want to swim with you, Rin."
For a moment, Rin was too dumbfounded to move. Then, his face split into a massive grin. "Sousuke! This is great!" He threw an arm around Sousuke's shoulders, who flushed lightly.
"Yeah, yeah…"
"So where is it? This rehab centre of yours."
"Oh that…" He grinned slyly. "It's in Australia."
Rin blinked.
"Eh?"
"The rehab centre. It's in Australia. About a ten-minute drive from your place in fact." He stretched his shoulder casually. "Guess I'll have to stay pretty close by."
Rin's eyes widened and shimmered. Sousuke frowned. "What?" he asked.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT IT THE FIRST PLACE, YOU DUMMY?!"
Sousuke chuckled, then offered him a sideways glance with soft eyes.
"I just wanted to see the look on your face," he said. Rin grinned stupidly, small tears nestled at the corners of his eyes. "Yeah, that look," Sousuke smiled.
"Shut up," Rin retorted, laughing.
Haru gazed on the scene, a small smile flitting at his lips.
"EHH?!"
Haru frowned. It was Nagisa. "What is it?" he asked. His eyes widened when they fell upon the paused picture on the television screen.
Obviously, the people taking pictures of planes at the airport weren't just taking pictures of planes because there, for all to see, was an image of him and Makoto…kissing.
Makoto laughed nervously. "Surprise?" he offered. Nagisa and Rei glared at him and he swallowed. "Um…we can explain…"
"Oh, I'd say it's very self-explanatory," Rei remarked.
"How come you guys didn't say anything to us?" Nagisa wailed, exasperated.
"Wait you guys didn't know?" Gou twittered innocently. Haru rolled his eyes — of course she'd seen this episode before anyone else.
"YOU TOLD GOU-CHAN BEFORE YOU TOLD US?!" Nagisa howled.
"No, it's not like that," Makoto said quickly. "We didn't tell anyone!"
"But"-
"You can't say you didn't see it coming." Haru turned around to see Rin smiling softly at him.
"Rin…"
Rin hesitated, then grinned. "It's about time if you ask me!"
Sousuke smiled behind him at these words.
Ai and Momo were too dumbfounded to say anything at all and for a while, there was silence…
…which abruptly came to an end as Rei burst into tears. Haru stared at him in shock.
"Oh, don't cry Rei-chan," Nagisa said worriedly. "Don't worry, you won't be alone forever!"
"I'M NOT CRYING ABOUT THAT, YOU DUMMY!" Rei snapped. "I'm crying because….IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!" he howled.
"Rei!' Makoto yelped.
As Makoto tried desperately to comfort him, Haru gazed at the room full before him.
The picture of a smiling Aika and Sayuri on his shelf. Nagisa's concerned face, Rei bawling his eyes out, Rin staring at Sousuke with both a brilliant smile and a blush on his face…even Momo hitting shamelessly on Gou (while a disgruntled Ai looked on) had its own emotions and memories attached to it.
And of course, he thought, his eyes flickering briefly to the side, Makoto. He sighed, realising that he was happy to be here.
The ocean is alive, he thought.
Once you touch its waves, it will immediately bare its fangs and attack. It is vast and empty.
But there's nothing to fear. The water accepts you as you accept it. The water holds you. It carries you.
And even if it carries you far away, far from all that is familiar… the water will always connect you to those close to you.
The ocean will never let you sink. As long as the ocean carries you…you will always be bound together.
His features softened.
All of us, he thought…we will always be…
His eyes met Makoto's and they smiled softly at each other.
…Water Bound.