Rin zipped his bag and looked up to see how far the other two were. He, Haruka and Nagisa had just finished their first practice after spring break. It had been nice to return. The swimming club had been closed throughout the entire break. This also meant that Haruka had taken up the bathtub for about an hour at least once a day in all this time.
Nagisa was still drying himself. He had a lot of trouble remembering to dry himself everywhere, so Rei had told him to dry himself twice, just to be sure he was completely dry. And because Rei was so dear to Nagisa, the younger happily did this to please him. But he still refused to study.
Haruka was still in the showers. He had been late getting out of the pool too. It wasn't like Rin didn't understand, Haruka had missed the water a lot after all. It was just so annoying.
"Haru, we're leaving without you if you don't hurry," Rin said halfheartedly. It wasn't like he didn't intend to leave Haruka behind. He'd done it before when he found the other was too slow, but he knew that Haruka couldn't care less about it.
"Are we gonna leave Haru-chan behind?" Nagisa asked as he dried his hair for the third time.
"If he doesn't hurry. You've already done that twice," Rin informed Nagisa.
Nagisa blinked, slightly confused but then he seemed to remember and smiled. "Then I guess I'm done, thanks Rin-chan," he said before packing the towel away and taking out his clothes.
Haruka came out of the showers and grabbed his own towel. He dried himself off with careless movements. If Rin had to take a guess it seemed like Haruka didn't want to be dry at all. He wondered why the black-haired hadn't been born in the water.
Rin sat down on one of the benches and put on his shoes. This was the last thing he needed to do before he was ready to leave. Haruka started putting on his clothes and Nagisa did the same.
Haruka was done first. He finished tying his shoes when Nagisa was still in the middle of pulling his shirt over his head. That was somewhat a benefit for Haruka. He would always be slow to get out of the water but he was always quick when it came to getting dressed, and undressed for that matter.
"Now it's you we might leave behind," Rin teased Nagisa as he picked up his bag and prepared to stand.
"That's so mean, Rin-chan!" Nagisa whined. He sat down to tie his shoes quickly. "Haru-chan, you won't leave me, right?" he asked, worriedly.
"Only if you can't keep up," Haruka answered.
"We're going," Rin kept on teasing as he prepared to leave the room. Haruka followed him.
"You're mean!" Nagisa yelled as he clumsily finished tying his shoes and hurried up after the others as quickly as his legs could carry him.
Rin and Haruka had barely heard the door close behind them before Nagisa was out of the room with them and they started making their way out of the swimming club. The plan was that they would run home together, but before they could get out, they were stopped.
"Isn't that Hazuki Nagisa?" a woman asked. "Oh, and Matsuoka Rin and Nanase Haruka are there too!" she smiled as all three boys turned their heads at the mention of their names.
"How do you know us?" Rin asked.
"My daughter swam with Hazuki-kun for until three years ago," the woman said. "Suzuki Asuka," the woman said, looking at Nagisa, half expecting him to remember.
"Asu-cha-… no, Suzuki-san!" Nagisa smiled. He did remember her. "She quit once she could swim, but why are you here now?" he asked.
"My son is swimming now," the woman said.
"That doesn't explain how you remember me and Haru," Rin told the woman who nodded.
"I ran into Tachibana-san outside the orphanage one day and ended up talking to him and a friend of mine. It was when he said he wouldn't adopt more children that you, Matsuoka-kun, came out and told him to do it anyway," the woman explained.
Rin looked surprised at first, then a bit embarrassed by it.
Haruka noticed Nagisa's shoelaces. They had become untied from him running those few steps. He really hadn't had time to do them properly. Therefore Haruka now knelt down in front of Nagisa to tie them for him because he clearly hadn't noticed.
"What are you doing, Haru-chan?" Nagisa asked.
"Your shoes weren't tied properly," Haruka answered as he finished tying one of Nagisa's shoes.
Nagisa smiled, surprised but happy too. "Thank you Haru-chan!" he exclaimed.
"Anyways," the woman spoke to Rin seeing as the other two were more concentrated about one another. "I'm kind of curious about how things have been going. It is no secret that you, Nanase-kun and Hazuki-kun are called troublemakers all the way through town. Have you caused too much trouble for Tachibana-san?" she asked.
Rin shook his head. "Not what I know of. And what about Rei?" he asked.
The woman smiled. "I had Hazuki-kun and Ryugazaki-kun over for dinner about a year before they were adopted. Ryugazaki is a proper child with good manners and a sense of what to do and what not to do," she said. "I'm not worried about him. He is a good child." She went back to the subject she had questioned before. "What has been going down since you were adopted, it's been almost two years now if I'm not mistaken?"
"Haru, Rei, Nagisa and I have learned to get along and treat each other like siblings. We also get well along with Makoto's family, his parents and siblings. Haru and I have learned to argue a bit less, at least Makoto said we are arguing less," Rin explained, causing the woman to smile.
"What about Hazuki-kun and Ryugazaki-kun?" she asked.
Rin shook his head while thinking. "I don't remember how they were before, but Nagisa doesn't seem to be as bad a troublemaker as the rumors made him out to be." He smiled as he gave his answer.
"Rin," Haruka placed a hand on Rin's shoulder to claim his attention, once Rin looked at him he spoke. "We should go," he said.
"I'm talking, Haru," Rin said.
"Haru-chan's right," Nagisa said. "If we don't get home in time for dinner, Mako-chan will be worried about where we are."
Rin saw their point then and nodded. "Okay, then let's go home." He turned to the woman. "It was nice talking to you," he said politely.
"Likewise, Matsuoka-kun. Send my regards to Tachibana-san," she said.
"Bye," Nagisa waved as he almost pushed Rin and Haruka out of the swimming club with one hand while waving at the woman with the other. "Say hi to Asu-chan for me!"
They all ran home, Nagisa and Rin were talking until about half way when Haruka had gained a large lead and was far ahead of them. Then Rin cut the conversation and started sprinting to catch up with Haruka. He absolutely couldn't stand loosing, especially not to his twin.
Nagisa could only do his absolute best to keep up with the two older boys, but he still came home last, like always.
"There you are!" Makoto sounded relieved as the three barged through the door and into the house. They were well aware that they had come home a bit late compared to what was normal.
"We ran into someone who wanted to talk," Rin said.
"Who?" Makoto asked, not like it was any of his business, or so he believed, but he was a bit curious.
"Suzuki-san," Nagisa said. "The mother of Suzuki Asuka who quit swimming three years ago," he explained, hoping to trigger Makoto's memory. It worked.
"Suzuki…" he said thoughtfully. "Of course she wanted to talk. She has played a part in our story after all."
"So she said," Rin answered while he and the others were taking off their shoes and started heading inside towards the living room where their dinner was all set.
Makoto smiled. "She must've been surprised," he said. "You've changed so much since she last saw you. You've all grown a lot. And Rei too," he added.