I don't own Free!
"You saw Rin earlier?"
They were in a secluded area behind the school. Makoto was leaning back against the wall, smoking a cigarette. Haru looked into the window.
"Yes. And he looked angry. I could almost read his mind." Haru's eyed widened. "I'm going to kill Haru when I get the chance."
"I doubt he's going to go that far," Makoto reassured him.
"He will. He's tried before."
"He wasn't trying to kill you. He was just antagonising you. There's a difference."
"There really wasn't. He would have killed me if Coach Sasabe hadn't told him to put the pool noodle down."
Makoto sighed. "He won't dare touch you. He'll just glare at you passive-aggressively. You know how he is."
"Have you seen his teeth? He's going to rip me apart."
Just then, Rin walked into view.
"SEE?!" Haru hissed.
Rin turned his head slowly. He stared at both of them.
"Please don't." Haru said quietly.
"Please don't fucking what?" Rin yelled.
"You're going to kill me."
"What the-"
"Hey," Makoto said, stepping towards Rin. He threw the cigarette on the floor. "Why did you come back?"
Rin was silent.
"To kill us," Haru said. Makoto turned and smiled at him reassuringly.
"He's not going to kill anybody," Makoto said, more to Rin than Haru, still smiling.
"How do you know?" Rin spat.
"Because if you do, you'll be in a lot of trouble."
"What, you gonna tell on me to the teachers?" Rin mocked.
"Not teachers, no. But I know people."
Rin was quiet again, frowning.
The bell rang again.
"See you in class then, Rin," Makoto said.
"Idiot. Why did you say that?" Haru asked. The classroom was noisy with students gossiping and laughing, so no-one was listening to them.
"Say what?" Makoto asked. He looked at Rin and saw he still looked perplexed.
"I know people. You're going to get arrested. And then-"
"I won't get arrested; he doesn't even understand yet. And if he decides to tell anyone he'll be dead before he gets the chance."
Haru sighed. "You don't get it, do you?" he said condescendingly, shaking his head.
Makoto shrugged and laughed. "You know best, I suppose," he smiled. "I won't give him any more hints."
"Good." Haru said. He stared at Rin.
"I wonder why he came back?" said Makoto, reading Haru's expression. "Apart from 'to kill us.'"
They were both quiet. Rin had just left to go to Australia without a word. They had assumed he'd gone forever.
"A better question is what happened to his teeth," said someone at the desk next to them. They turned to see who it was.
"I know him. He used to live next door to me," said the boy. He had brown hair and warm eyes. He was smiling at them.
Haru looked at him suspiciously. "Did he tell you why he was leaving?" he asked.
The boy shrugged. "He said something about his parents wanting to take him out of your swim club."
"That's not very nice," said Makoto.
"I agree. So what are your names then? I'm Chikato."
"Don't tell him," muttered Haru.
"Didn't you hear in the register?" Makoto asked.
Chikato frowned, trying to remember.
"Oh, well," he said.
The bell rung for lunch.
"See you later," Chikato said.
"How does he know we went to the same swim club as Rin?" Haru asked when they got outside.
Makoto stared at him. "Hm… Rin must have told him. But then how come he doesn't know our names?"
"Hey, Mako-chan, Haru-chan," they heard Nagisa.
"Hey, Nagisa." Makoto replied.
"Have you seen Rin today?"
"Obviously." Haru said, looking at Rei who was behind the blond. Rei shuffled his feet uncomfortably.
"He's pretty angry, isn't he?" Nagisa asked.
"Yeah. Do you know why?" Makoto asked Nagisa.
"I don't know. I spoke to him yesterday and it seemed like he wanted to get away as soon as possible!"
"Makoto," Haru said, tapping his arm to get his attention and then pointing at two people. Makoto looked and saw Rin and Chikato talking.
"Who is the brown haired boy?" asked Rei.
"We should follow them after school." Haru said.
Rei gasped. "That's stalking!" he said.
"No, it's finding out useful information," said Makoto.
Rei looked at Nagisa. "Are all of your friends like this?" he asked apprehensively.
"No, just the ones from swim club!" Nagisa said, grinning.