Our routine began once again with Mako picking me up in the morning before walking to Haru's. It was as if nothing had happened. I would skip school with them whenever Ama-sensei allowed them to practice. I would run back to Daichi-sensei's indoor pool every day after school to train the students. Saturday mornings, I would be there coaching the high-schoolers. Sunday mornings, I would be scrubbing the place clean with help from Haru, Mako, Nagi, and Rei.
"Who knows where the convenience store is?" I suddenly asked Sunday morning, after we had finished cleaning the pool.
"You still don't know where it is, Mei-chan?" Nagi's surprised voice echoed. I chuckled, still floating on my back.
"I don't do the shopping at my house. Aki-nii does the work."
"Wahh, so lucky! Ne, Haru-chan has to do all the work too! He lives alone!" I glanced over at Haru who seemed pretty content on ignoring our conversations.
"Um, Mei-chan?" Mako shyly asked, "If you want, I could walk you over there later."
"So… explain to me again why the three of you are here too?" I asked, craning my head around to see Nagi, Rei, and Haru trailing not so secretly behind me and Mako.
"I need to buy more mackerel," Haru muttered.
"I need milk! Milk tastes the best after a hot bath!" Nagi exclaimed.
"…" We were all waiting for Rei's excuse. "I just don't want to go home yet." I rolled my eyes. Mako pointed towards a store coming up in our view. "That's the convenience store. It's not too far from the pool." We walked into the store. I grabbed a basket and headed towards the meat section with Haru next to me. He made a beeline for the mackerels, grabbing two packets in his hand, inspecting them. I walked along the aisle, looking for chicken. Finally spotting the one that I wanted on the top shelf, I stood on my tip-toes, reaching for it. Only the bar of the shelves holding their cold, fresh meat stood in between me and my goal. I guess me stretching for the chicken was a funny sight, because I heard someone chuckle as they grabbed the chicken for me.
"You should've asked someone for help, you know." A familiar voice commented, placing the chicken in my basket. I looked up and found who the voice belonged to.
"Rin-chan!"
He smiled cheerfully, patting my head. "How are you feeling now?"
"Good! How is your shoulder?" I asked.
"It's fine. The bruise is gone now." He looked around, "Ne, are you alone?" I shook my head.
"Mhmm Hmm. Haru-chan and the others are here. Mako-chan showed me the way…here." I was surprised to see his normally gentle eyes turn to something cold and hard. Rin grabbed onto my shoulders, shaking me a bit.
"Take me to them." He demanded. My eyes widened. Rin realized what he was doing, quickly releasing me. He ran a hand through his hair, looking at me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that, Megumi-chan." I smiled at him.
"I wasn't scared, just surprised. I'll take you to them, Rin-chan." I held out my hand for him and he took it. I lead him to the mackerel section, where Haru was bound to still be.
I didn't know at that time about their rivalry. I didn't know that they didn't like each other anymore. But it was already too late for I had created a storm.
"Look who I ran into, min-na!" Haru looked up from the two mackerels in his hand, his eyes narrowing. Mako's jaw dropped down. Nagi's eyes sparkled brightly. Rei just stared.
Their eyes all travelled down to my occupied hand, which was in Rin's hold. Haru's blue eyes became stormy.
"Let her go, Rin."
Rin scoffed. "What if I don't want to, Haru? What are you going to do?"
Confused, I looked back and forth between them. So I tugged on Rin's hand, getting his attention.
"Ne Rin-chan, what's going on?" Other than fearing that my heart would fail, my other biggest fear was of fights. Fights could lead to something nasty, such as death. Rin flashed a smile at me, but it wasn't the gentle smile that I was used to. I gripped his hand, a bit frightened. Mako held out his hand, "Mei-chan, come over here." Haru and Rin continued to stare at each other, not making a move. I glanced at Rin, noting his distracted look. I released my grip on his hand and held it out for Mako to grab. I stood beside Makoto, feeling his strong and protective aura surround me.
"I want you to race me tomorrow, Haru. At the old pool. Be there at 9pm." He spun around on his heels and left. Mako squeezed my hand reassuringly. Haru placed a mackerel back in the pile with the others and headed for the cash register, ready to pay. We all followed him.
On the way home with Makoto and Haru, it was silent. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Haru said, "I won't tell you to stay away from Rin, but be careful of him. He's not the Rin you think you know, Mei." He stopped walking, causing me to almost run into his back.
"I don't know what happened between you two, but leave me out of it. I just met Rin at the hospital anyways." I snapped. I grabbed my grocery bag from Mako and walked ahead of them, not waiting for either one.
"Mei! You're home late! I sent you to the convenience store. Did you get lost? Are you hurt?" Aki quickly inspected me, satisfied that I was alright. I handed him the grocery bags and made my way up into my room.
Rin and Haru… Haru and Rin… what in the world happened between them? I want to ask, but I can't. I turned around grabbing a pillow, squeezing it close to my body. On the other hand, Mako's hand was different to Rin's. Mako's was big and warm, kind of like a fluffy panda. My face flushed a bit. I quickly sat up and smacked my cheeks. What am I saying? I need to go for a swim!
I stood on the 10m tall diving board. I leapt into the air, performing my usual twists. I landed in the water, staying under the surface before swimming forward. When I resurfaced, I heard someone clapping. Startled, I whirled around to find the person standing at the edge of the pool.
"Who's there?" I demanded.
"Rin."
"Rin-chan?! How did you get in here?"
"The window. I saw you practicing, and I decided to come watch you, Megumi-chan." He smiled mischievously. "I don't have to worry about you anymore, eh? It seems like you are doing better than what Hiroshi-sensei said."
"Of course!" I huffed. "I have to keep practicing to make up for the two weeks I've been out, you know." He began to take his shirt off. Ehh?! Ehh?! I quickly covered my eyes, embarrassed to see someone that I didn't even know that well begin to strip. I slowly peeked through my fingers, catching a glimpse of his chiselled abs. Wow… gorgeous. Wait, what?! No, they're definitely not that impressive, pshh. I have seen half-naked guys for quite a long time.
"Come on, let's race a little." Rin dove into the water and swam over to me. I couldn't help myself – I had to accept his challenge.
"100m Breaststroke?" He nodded his head as we both climbed out of the water. Standing on the small platform, we stood in ready positions. We glanced at each other and nodded.
Ready, set… go!
We lunged into the cool water, with only one goal in my mind: beat Rin. That proved to be a little more challenging. I only made it 0:52:10 seconds faster than him. Catching my breath, I grinned at him.
"Good race, Rin-chan!" He half-smiled, pushing his hair out of his face.
"If you trained Haru, then he'll be faster than me too." He had a faraway look in his eyes, before snapping his attention back on to me. "Ne, Megumi-chan, do you think you can train me?"
"Join Daichi-sensei's club. Well, it has to be school affiliated. Which school are you in?" I informed him.
"Samezuka Academy. I'm a second year there. So I have to join their swim team? Well, I was already thinking about it. Guess I'll have to officially join. Can't you give me private lessons?"
"Well, I can't give you private private lessons, but I can teach you since I run my own training class in my onii-san's facility. If no one goes there, then I can give you somewhat of a private lesson. But Haru and the others go there, so you'll have to behave."
"Yes, ma'am!" He playfully saluted.
