"Your record is ten seconds faster! Great job, Kai-chan!" Nagisa cheered. Both he and Rei then hoisted me out of the pool. According to Kou, I should start calling my club mates by their first names already since I was already part of the team.

"Good job today, Kai-chan," Kou said, handing me a towel and a bottle of water. She eyed Nagisa and Rei who were prepping to do another lap on the pool. Once they dived on the pool, she pulled me to the side and whispered, "What's going on with you and Haru-senpai?"

"Nothing," I shrugged, forcing myself to keep a passive face and not to blush.

"Really?" Kou tilted her head in confusion. "With you making him his bento every other day and you using that weird bird he always sculpts on your cellphone, people would think you guys are dating."

I couldn't help it by then. Under the warm spring sun, my face just burst into an angry blush. Of course, it didn't go unnoticed by Kou. To save myself from further embarrassment, I drank from my water bottle and pretended to wipe my face to hide my blush.

"Nakahara-san," Kou waited for me to look her in the eye, and when I did she asked, "do you like Haru-senpai?"

"What? No!" I lied, my voice louder than how I intended it to be. "I'm just doing these things as thanks. As thanks..." I mumbled the last part.

Who am I kidding? Even a blind man can see I'm completely infatuated with the peculiar hydromaniac.

This weekend Dad just sent me money. He said that I should buy clothes that I would want to bring to Australia where he'll take me to spend the entire summer. Of course, I squealed in delight at the splendid news, and of course, Mum grumbled her disapproval before rushing off to work.

For once I felt fine. No voices. No panicking. And it was not because of the money, vacation, or new clothes. No indeed.

It was because when I went to the mall to do my shopping I happened to bump into Haru.

"Haru-kun!" I gave him a smile in greeting. "What brings you here?" At first, I chose this mall because it had less people today — the mall on the next street was doing an anniversary sale so people went there rather than here — which decreases my chances of panicking in a crowd, but now, I don't think I'll ever panic now. I just felt so relaxed around Haru.

"Oi, Haru!" Tachibana called out from the distance with some other guy trailing behind him. "Don't just leave us without telling us!" Then he caught sight of me. "Oh, Nakahara-san, doing some shopping too?" he asked. "Haru wanted to buy some new swimming trunks, then we bumped into Rin."

"Yeah," I shrugged. "I was planning to buy a new swim suit." I looked to the new guy who looked extremely bored around us. My heart clenched in panic, thinking that I might be making him uncomfortable. I took a deep breath and willed myself to calm down.

"Oh right, Rin, this is the new member of the swim club, Nakahara Kai-san," Tachibana introduced me to "Rin." "Nakahara-san, this is Matsuoka Rin. We were in the same swim team when we were children. He was also the captain of the Samezuka swim club."

Oh, this guy is Matsuoka Kou's brother? Now that Tachibana mentioned it, he did bear a lot of similarities to his sister. Well, except the muscles and his weird shark-like teeth.

I bowed slightly in greeting, "Nice to meet you, Matsuoka-san. I'm Nakahara Kai."

"Same," Matsuoka said coolly. "Just call me Rin. We'll probably be seeing each other often now that you're part of the Iwatobi Swim Club now. It's about time they got a girl to join too. I worry about Gou always hanging around the other guys."

I laughed lightly. "Well, Kou is pretty much still the same when I got in," I shrugged. "Muscles..." I mumbled, but making sure that Rin would still hear, which he did and laughed at it.

"Can we just go to the sports shop?" Haru asked, sounding quite exasparated.

My heart clenched again. I didn't mean to make Haru annoyed, but then again, he seemed excited to buy his new swimming trunks since that was so connected to his beloved water. "Well, don't let me keep you," I said, smiling slightly to cover my rising panic. "I have to go buy my stuff too. See you guys later then."

I finished buying my bikini set for Australia and some new goggles for the swim club. Since it was almost lunch time, I decided to go to a fast food restaurant inside the mall. I hope not to run into Kou here in the mall, or else she'll give me a mouthful about eating healthy...

When I got to the restaurant, seems like I wasn't the only one who didn't care about eating healthy. In the line were Haru and the rest he was with earlier. As usual, Haru almost made a fuss at the counter because all he wanted was some mackerel, so Makoto had to step up and fix Haru's dilemma.

Once I got my food, I was offered to sit that their table. I sat at the empty seat beside Rin and faced Makoto. I suddenly felt really awkward being the only girl in this table. Then again, I was in a sports team that had guys always show off their toned torsos.

Most of the talking were done by Makoto, Rin, and me. Haru decided to stay silent and stare at the outside from the glass window, making me feel on edge. We mostly talked about how I got into the team, which ended with us laughing at Nagisa's reasoning and my name. Makoto filled up the details of my need of a sports club because of my scholarship and being an ex-volleyball player, but thankfully, he didn't spill anything of my condition.

But all that time, Haru never spoke a word.

And that was just enough to send me over the cliff.

"Kai-san, are you alright?" Rin asked, seeing me grip the edge of the table so tightly.

"Yeah, give me just a second," I said, shutting my eyes tightly and desperately trying to control my breathing before I start feeling sick from being over-oxygenated.

I failed.

You failed again? Why do you always fail? You are such a failure. You can't even breathe right!

I tried to look at Rin and Makoto with a straight face. "Listen, I, uhhh, I have to go," I grabbed my shopping bag and rushed out of the restaurant.

I was a few steps away from the restaurant when my legs gave up on me. I tripped and fell on the cold tiled floor, attracting unwanted eyes on me. I shut my eyes and tried to do all I can to shut the voices out. When it was too much for me to bear, I began sobbing, which only worsened my breathing.

Suddenly, I was lifted up off the floor. Still gasping for air, I opened my eyes to see Haru, looking straight forward as he carried me out of the mall at a fast-paced walk. I buried my face in his chest, trying to hide myself from the people who were staring at us.

Haru brought me to a nearby playground where no one was around. He sat me on a swing and left to buy me some water. By that time, my anxiety attack had stopped, and I was now only in a light fit of sobs. Sobs of shame.

"Here," Haru said and handed me the water. He then sat on the swing beside me and said nothing more.

I nodded at him in thanks and took a sip out of the bottle. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair then tugged at the ends. For the next half hour, it was just us in the swings. No words were exchanged, just pure silence, yet I was so comforted by his presence.

"I think I'm good now," I stood up and almost fell again because of my wobbly legs.

"I'll walk you home."

"No, don't worry about it," I politely decline his offer. "I have some cash. I'll take a cab home."

"I'll walk you home," Haru repeated in a firmer tone this time. He grabbed my shopping bag, which I didn't even realise that he brought along since my fall in the mall. Then he stuck out his elbow to me in an awkward position.

Did he want me to take his arm? Well, my legs are still weak.

"Thanks," I said and grabbed his arm. During our walk to my house, I was sporting another angry blush from the looks of people. I clearly knew what those looks meant.

Haru and I were being mistaken as a couple.

Once I got home, my legs were back to their normal strength, so I let go of Haru's arm and took my shopping bag from him. I heaved another sigh and ran my fingers through my hair again. "I keep owing you," I said.

"It's fine."

No, it's not. I can't keep depending on you, Haru. I'm already starting to feel so comfortable with you.

Those words were what I wanted to say, yet what I actually said was...

"I promise to bring you another mackerel bento this Monday," I said, blushing and avoiding his eyes. "As thanks, of course," I added, failing miserably to stop fidgeting where I stood. I peeked up through my lashes to look at him.

Haru was giving me one of his soft smiles. "I'll look forward to it," he said. "See you at school then." Then he began walking away.

I looked at his retreating figure for a few seconds more. My heart clenched again and sped up. But this time...

It was the good kind of feeling.

Hoooly mother of pies. It's about 2 a.m. when I finished this chapter. I wanted to post something before I go back to school this week. Also I only wanted it to be at least a thousand words long only, but you guys get five hundred extra words for being so nice with the feedback and stuff. Although I'd appreciate more feedback — ahem, REVIEWS, ahem — for more motivation. Oh well, not really complaining. I know you guys are reading. (￣ｰ￣) *wink wink*

Feedback are greatly appreciated, loves! ヽ(〃＾▽＾〃)ﾉ