I don't own Free!

"Matsuoka, Rin?"

"Here."

He kept his eyes directly on the desk in front of him. He could feel people's eyes on him, but he wasn't going to look at them. At any of them. Especially not-

"Nanase, Haruka?"

Rin's hands balled into fists. Fuck him. Fuck them all.

"Here."

I know you're here. And I wish you weren't, Rin thought.

"Tachibana, Makoto?"

You as well. Fuck you. Rin dared look up from the desk. A shy girl at the front of the class was looking at him nervously. He glared at her and she blushed and looked back to the teacher.

"So, class," Miss Amakata said, putting down the register. "Today we'll be doing some creative writing about friendship, about the emotions and the concept."

There were some groans around the classroom. Rin glared at her now, but she didn't look at him. She asked the shy girl to give paper out. Rin snatched a piece off her and she scuttled away.

He stared at the blank sheet of paper. A quiet voice in his head spoke up - no, Rin, don't do this. You'll be in trouble on your second day… but he was so angry now he couldn't help himself.

"Let's read some out, shall we? Nanami, you first."

A girl called Nanami started reading out something about how she loves spending time with her girlfriends and how she knew they'd always be there for her. Rin felt angrier with every word she said.

"An excellent piece, Nanami. Let's see… Rin?"

People turned and muttered to each other. Rin ignored them all and began to read.

"I don't have any friends." He announced. There was a chorus of quiet laughter and rude remarks. "I don't have any friends because I don't fucking need any." The buzz of noise stopped, and was replaced by a silence. Kids were staring at him, open-mouthed, looking from him to Miss Amakata like they were watching a game of tennis. "They fuck you over and let you deal with it. They say they'll always be there with you and then… and then they fucking leave you."

Miss Amakata's mouth was wide open with shock. Rin felt a sudden rush of pride.

"Ri- Matsuoka… Detention. After school." She hesitated, shaking her head. "Stand outside the classroom, I'll come and speak to you in a minute." Rin packed his things away and pushed his desk away from him. He didn't look at any of his classmates on his way out, but knew they were all watching him.

Miss Amakata came out after a few minutes. "Matsu- Rin," she started. She's trying to be friendly, Rin knew. "Why…"

She didn't have to finish her question. "Because it's true." Rin snapped. She stepped back.

"But why did you feel the need to use such vulgar-"

"YOU FUCKING ASKED ME!" Rin yelled. In his mind he saw Haru and Makoto and Nagisa laughing at him, which just made him angrier. "YOU asked me to read my work, so I did! And then I get reprimanded for it?"

Her expression of shock turned to one of anger. "MR MATSUOKA! Don't you dare yell me! That's not how things work at this school!"

Rin didn't have anything else to say, and thinking about his ex-friends made him hurt too much to talk anyway, so he just scowled at her. There was a silence that dragged on for what seemed like hours.

Finally, Miss Amakata sighed. "Something's clearly troubling you." Rin stayed silent. "It's almost break. You can come back into class if you behave." Rin crossed his arms. I don't want to stay in this fucking class, he thought, but this wasn't a good start to his new school life. What would Dad have said?

Thinking about his father filled Rin with grief. His vision became blurry. Miss Amakata mistook his silence for agreement. "Come on, then," she said gently.

The classroom was utterly silent, except for the sound of pens scratching onto paper – which stopped when Rin entered.

He looked up just for a second, to scowl at the idiots, when he saw Haru.

It seemed like every muscle in his body tensed up. His heart was pumping adrenaline instead of blood.

"Don't worry. I know how it feels to be alone."

"Really?"

"Really. I don't like people that much. They're annoying, aren't they? But you're different."

"I don't like people either. And… thank you, I suppose."

"We can be friends, right?"

Miss Amakata tapped his arm. "Back to your desk, please," she whispered.

He held his head up high, blinking to clear his vision, and walked over to the desk. A girl whispered something to her friend so he 'accidently' stood on her foot.

The bell rang almost as soon as he sat down.