I'm not dead! My trip was great and I have been really busy since I got back but I finally managed to get this done! Thank you everyone for your kind words! I appreciate every review, favorite and follow especially considering how long it has taken for me to update this monster of a fic.

"Ouch!" Seijuro let out a curse as he stubbed his toe on the raised concrete step. He hopped on one foot, attempting rather unsuccessfully to rub the pain out of the other one. Wearing sandals had been a really, really bad decision.

"Shhh!" Gou's hiss came from somewhere in the dark behind him. "Don't shout so loud! You're going to get us caught!"

"I didn't mean to!" His own swim team's pool, a path he walked every day, and he was the one who was running into things. Granted he normally didn't walk around here in the dark. He had thought about bringing a flashlight but that uncharacteristic bit of light would have attracted too much attention and Gou would have been against it besides. Their phones, those cheap things, hardly produced enough light to be of any use either.

"There." With a bit of struggle he finally managed to get the key into the lock and the door to open. "This way."

Inside the pool was a glint of silver and blue, and Seijuro was relieved to find the moonlight streaming in through the windows overhead provided enough luminescence that he could see well enough. It eliminated any need to turn on any artificial light, a light that could cause some poor hapless security guard or janitor to come in to investigate, and Seijuro would be stuck trying to think up a good story as to why he had broken into his very own swim team's pool in the middle of the night. Giving the excuse of I was trying to flirt with a girl may or may not get him into more trouble. Besides the moonlight would make things more romantic!

Or he thought so anyway. The movies always made it seem like it did. Then again all he had been watching lately had been horror movies. Not exactly a good source to pick up romantic ques.

"Well, this is it." He turned to Gou, who was busy staring wide eyed at the pool. "Do you need to change first?"

Unlike him Gou had come dressed normally. He had simply worn his speedo underneath his clothes, not seeing any reason to bring anything else, while Gou had brought along a bag so big it looked like she had used it in a bank heist.

"Uh, yes." She glanced around herself. "Where should I do that?"

He showed her to the bathroom. The locker room, that stinky testosterone riddled place, was not exactly something he wanted her seeing, or smelling for that matter. The last thing he needed was for his attempt at a romantic venture to be spoiled by his date receiving a bad case of athletes foot or gangrene. The bathroom wasn't much better but at least it wasn't quite as trafficked as the locker room.

Once she had closed the door, Seijuro wasted no time in stripping down and slipping into the water. It was a little colder than usual but not bad, and he swam around a bit to warm up. With only himself there the pool seemed much bigger than usual, devoid of all the usual activity and people he was used to seeing when swimming. If he lay still enough and closed his eyes he could imagine the normal sounds he heard during their practice everyday. The splash of a swimmer diving, the sharp blowing whistle, the drip of water as swimmers climbed out, the chatter and shouting of team mates giving advice or encouragement or heckling. Maybe that was one of the best things Seijuro liked about swimming. It could be a one man sport or a team sport. If you didn't like one style you could just try another. Swimming could be whatever you wanted it to be. You made it your own and that, Seijuro felt, had a way of bringing joy to everybody.

Well almost everybody. There were a few rare exceptions. Like Matsuoka.

Seijuro ran his hands over his face. The last thing he wanted to think about right now was Matsuoka –at least not that Matsuoka - nor the heavy decision that was presently hanging over his head. The practices the last two days hadn't gone any better for the red head. Seijuro might have said Matsuoka was off but lately it had become Matsuoka's typical state. The promising swimmer and incredible talent he had shown at the first race had all but vanished, and his floundering could cause the whole relay team to sink. Seijuro had not missed the less than discreet sign Nakagawa had given him today after Matsuoka's disappointing run. The other boy had pointed multiple times at his stop watch. Implying they were running out of time.

Seijiro grit his teeth. He knew that he was running out of time. In more ways than one he was…

"Is the water cold?"

The sudden words made him look up. Above him stood Gou, leaning halfway over with her hands braced above her knees and her hair falling about her shoulders, and despite the fact Seijuro had seen her in a swimsuit before but this was very, very different. For one they hadn't just narrowly escaped drowning, and secondly she wasn't wearing anything else like she had been the last two times he had seen her in a swimsuit. Not a pair of shorts or a jacket. Just a swimsuit, and while Seijuro normally didn't associate swim wear with anything sexual — he spent the majority of his time in one surrounded by other guys wearing the exact same thing – he seemed to be having a hard time not doing that now. A hard time indeed.

Shit. Was the water cold? No, no he needed it to be three times colder.

"I-it's great!" His voice squeaked. He coughed. "I-I mean it's not that cold." In fact it was warm. Unusually warm. Too warm. Or maybe that had nothing to do with the water and just Seijuro himself.

Gou frowned down at the silvered water. "I don't know. It looks cold."

"It's not cold, trust me! Once you get in it won't be so bad!" If his whole plan got ruined because she thought the water was too cold he was going to sink to the bottom of the pool and just stay there. Even if it meant giving up the second round of the competition maybe he'd at least win most time spent underwater or something. "Y-you should get in!" he encouraged her.

She considered for a brief moment and then straightened. "Where do I…"

She was looking for a ladder, not wanting to dive into a strange pool she had never been in before in the dark. He extended a hand instead. "Here."

She accepted the offer, and whilst holding onto his hand she maneuvered to the edge, sitting down with her legs dangling over the side before sliding fully in. Seijuro turned his face away from the splash. "It's cold," she complained petulantly. She still had a hold of his hand.

"It isn't bad. Once you start moving around you'll warm up."

He kicked off from the side encouragingly and, after a moment of huddling by the pool's side, Gou followed. He swam backwards, keeping her in his sight and her hand in his. Spending so much time in the water and being quite adapt at backstroke to boot, it was easy for him to swim in this unusual fashion. Not so much for Gou and as they got into deeper water she began to struggle.

Seijuro couldn't help but poke fun at her, laughingly saying, "I thought you said you knew how to swim!"

"I do!" She bobbed like a cork caught in a drain. Her legs kicked furiously in an effort to keep her head above water. "It's just…been a long time. W-well, besides that one escapade in the ocean anyway."

Escapade in the ocean. That was painting it in a pretty positive light. "Here." He tugged her towards him. "Hold onto me."

She did so. She swam forward until she was close enough to grasp his shoulder. She clung to him and Seijuro's heart tripped all over itself like a kid wearing shoes for the first time. He had half expected her to decline the offer or say 'I don't need something like that' like she typically did whenever he offered her something like that, certainly not accept his offer with such complacently.

Had a crack appeared in the egg or was it just Seijuro's imagination?

Whatever the case…He wrapped his arms loosely around her to keep her in place and kicked backwards, his movements fluid and powerful, but smooth enough to not disturb the water or jostle Gou too much. "There." His back bumped against the pool wall. They had made it to the opposite side of the pool, and he raised an arm to lay along the pool edge to keep them stationary. The other arm he kept around Gou and beneath the water her body was nearly aligned with his. Compounded with the fact neither one of them was particularly wearing much made their position all the more intimate and sensual.

At least this side of the pool is dark. Not too dark that Seijuro couldn't see anything but dark enough to hide…certain things beneath the surface. He was sort of regretting wearing a speedo now.

He focused on the water to try and distract himself, watching it move with their steady breathing. The moonlight illuminated them just enough that he could see the beads of water that clung to Gou's skin, the radiance turning them into rainbow opals. He was so close he could even see the droplets that clung to her eyelashes, though for her part she seemed to be looking anywhere than directly at him.

"This is nice," he said.

Gou grunted. "It's cold."

He laughed. "It isn't that bad." He paused. "You can get out if you like."

She didn't respond right away and he could see her mouth working, as if she had suddenly realized she had a mistake and was desperately trying to backtrack. "N-no," she said, "it's alright. I mean I can tolerate it for a few more minutes."

"Alright." He chuckled.

"The pool really is beautiful though at night," she commented. "You guys sure got a nicer one than we did."

"Did we?" He hadn't realized it before now but he had never seen Iwatobi's pool. He had been so busy with his own swim team he hadn't thought to go look at theirs. "Is yours not as good as this?"

She shook her head. "Not at all. It's a lot smaller, and it's outside. The hosts must like you guys a lot more."

"Well...being a championship school did have its perks." The name Samezuka alone made the host country, and others, want to impress them because they suspected they would be one of the schools to win. A small unknown school like Iwatobi was sure to get the sharp end of the stick when it came to that.

"Speaking of Iwatobi," said Seijuro, a thought suddenly striking him. "Did anyone ask where you had gone the night of the play?"

None of the fours boys had texted or called Gou that night, but the four had likely assumed everything was fine since Gou hadn't said anything to them. They were sure to have been curious as to where she had disappeared to.

"They did," Gou confirmed Seijur's suspicion. "Makoto asked me the next day and Nagisa of course automatically assumed I had gone somewhere with you, especially since they noticed you were missing too."

Seijuro could only imagine what sort of things had spawned in Nagisa's imagination upon seeing that. "Did they ask about Matsuoka?"

"No. I think they just assumed he had left on his own. They didn't ask me anyway."

"Really?" That was surprising. Or maybe with the tension going on between Iwatobi and Matsuoka they had felt it was best not to ask. "What'd you tell them?"

Not the truth, he suspected. Gou was the type who would hide what had happened so as not to cause further rifts between her swim team and her brother. Besides, none of the boys had shown up at Samezuka's pool to accost Matsuoka, which Seijuro had no doubt they would have done if they knew what had occurred. Makoto seemed like the most likely candidate to do so at first glance but Seijuro couldn't help but imagine it'd be Rei who would ultimately initiate such a confrontation with Matsuoka. The other three Iwatobi members, for whatever reason, appeared much more hesitant in approaching their old friend, while Rei didn't seem to hold such qualms. For all Seijuro knew the other boy might have already called out Matsuoka. That might help explain some of Matsuoka's tumult attitude recently anyway.

"I didn't tell them much," said Gou. "I just told them we had gone window shopping together."

Seijuro wasn't sure what to say to this. For some reason hearing Gou had not only declined to dispute the Iwatobi boys' assumption of her being with him, but had also confirmed it on top of which made him beyond happy. As though it made her being with him, and only him, not unusual at all, an occurrence that was natural and expected. And maybe it was.

"I figured it was the easiest thing to tell them without causing a lot of questions," Gou continued. "Not that it stopped Nagisa from insinuating we were doing naughty things in the changing room, and Rei kept wanting to know what sort of outfits I had looked at to determine if they were beautiful or not."

"W-what'd you tell him?" Seijuro was having a hard time getting the words out through his laughter.

She made a face. "I can't remember. I think I yelled at them for wasting valuable practice time and to get in the pool."

"O-oh," said Seijuro, trying to hide his amusement.

"Those two are the worst." Gou shook herself as if ridding herself of some unsavory thought. "I'm sorry about the other night."

"This again?" Seijuro couldn't help but chuckle. Gou was really hung up on apologizing about that, wasn't she? He found it remarkably adorable for some reason. "Like I said before you have nothing to apologize for. You can't be held responsible for your brother's actions."

"No, I don't mean about that. Not about what happened at the play," she said. "I mean what happened afterwards. When I told you about my brother…and my dad…" She looked away. A hand darted up to tuck a strand of hair self-consciously behind her ear.

Seijuro waited silently, unsure what she was getting at. Was she trying to say she regretted telling him something so personal? He didn't like to think that was it. He didn't want her regretting something like that. He wanted for her to be able to tell him anything and to never regret doing so.

"Telling you something like that was unfair," she resumed after a long moment. "Laying a burden like that on you was really selfish of me to do. I'm truly sorry for doing so."

Oh so that's what it was. He closed his eyes, a stray chuckle escaping. When he raised his hand and placed it atop her head she stiffened, but if it was because of the cold water trailing down her neck or something else he wasn't sure. "Don't be ridiculous," he told her. "You don't have to apologize for that at all. Telling me something like that…I'm actually glad you did so. I'm happy to have heard it."

Gou, in the midst of patting down her newly wet hair, tilted her head sharply, eyebrows drawing down into a V. "W-what, why? Why would you possibly be happy about something like that?"

"Because…" He rubbed the back of his head. How was he supposed to respond to this? He had the words, or more accurately the feelings, built in his head but speaking them aloud was totally different. The words only became clunky and tangled together trying to voice them aloud.

"It was something that was troubling you, right?" he said carefully. "If talking about those sorts of troubling things makes you feel better then I'll gladly listen. I want you to tell me. If it makes you feel better I want you to be able to tell me anything that was burdening you." A beat. "I want you to be able to lay all your burdens on me."

There was no immediate response. Only the sounds of their breath between them. Then slowly Gou turned her face away. A hand rose to her mouth, and Seijuro thought the worse until he felt the tremors in her body give her away.

"Y-you're laughing!"

She spluttered with stifled laughter, her mirth bubbling out of her like liquid from a cauldron. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She waved a hand. "I don't mean to laugh but that…that was just so…so…" She wiped away a tear. "S-so lame!"

Seijuro's mouth fell open. That had not been the reaction he had wanted from his little confession at all. "Oh jeez." He aimed a petulant glare at the wall, his cheeks growing so hot they might burst into flames. Here he was trying to be all romantic and she was laughing at him! That was what he got for taking romantic advice from horror movies. This sucked.

His sulk only made her laugh all the harder and Seijuro closed his eyes, the embarrassed heat running like wildfire up his skin.

"D-don't be upset! I'm sorry for laughing!" she said, as she continued laughing.

He snorted, which only elicited another giggle. He felt her lean forward and then against his cheek her lips pressed. "Thank you anyway," she said quietly, her words punctuated by a stray giggle. "I do appreciate it, really."

Seijuro's face twitched, caught in a spasm as he fought to try and stop the smile from forming. He still wanted to be annoyed, damn it. But how could he be? She was too cute and she had kissed him. How could anyone possibly stay mad after that?

When he leaned towards her she met him halfway, face tilting up as if she were expecting something else, but Seijuro only leaned his forehead against her own. She held still and against his face he could feel her breath. He wanted to kiss her, a lot, but on the other hand he didn't want to get distracted. If he kissed her and she ended up truly kissing him back he might lose sight of what he had planned this whole thing for. He'd end up wanting to do nothing but kiss her.

Becoming physically entwined with Gou when she wasn't aware of what he wanted was unfair not only to her but him as well. For all he knew he might be deceiving himself into believing something that wasn't actually there, and she might believe he was trying to deceive or trick her by initiating something far further than he already had and only then telling her what he truly wanted. He didn't want that. Neither case.

If they were going to move forward then he had to tell her how he truly felt. He was running out of time. It was now or never.

He opened his mouth. "Gou, I—"

A large clattering sound rang out across the pool space. The loud noise caused them to jump apart and Gou ducked down, covering her head with her arms like the ceiling were about to collapse on them. "What was that?" she hissed.

Seijuro's mouth was unusually dry. He swallowed, trying to coax moisture, heart yammering in his chest like a sledgehammer battering against his rib cage. That sound had most definitely come from the front entrance. He listened, ears straining.

And then, faintly from the front, a voice. Male from the sounds of it. And definitely here.

Gou crouched further down in the water. Her eyes were so wide Seijuro could see the whites as she stared morbidly at the front entrance. "Could it be my bro-broth—" She couldn't even finish the sentence.

Matsuoka? Seijuro had a hard time believing that. The only reason Matsuoka would have to come to the pool was if he had found about Seijuro's and Gou's little escapade. But Seijuro hadn't told anyone, and he didn't think Gou had either. But whatever the case someone was here. There was no question about that. But who it was and why they had come to the pool in the middle of the night he didn't know. No choice but to find out.

He lifted himself out of the pool. "Stay here."

Gou nodded mutely, shrinking down further till only her head were above the water. The darkness at least would help hide her and if she had to she could duck beneath the surface. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that though.

Seijuro headed to the front. His shoulders were so incredibly tight it was almost painful and he shook his arm to try and loosen them, startled when he noticed he had curled his hand into a fist.

If it was in fact Matsuoka at the door…Well, the last thing Seijuro would be concerned about then was taking him off the relay. They both had a competition in just a few days. Getting into a physical altercation, which Seijuro had no doubt Matsuoka would do if he caught them like this, was the last thing either of them needed right before they got thrown into a crucial race. Not to mention Matsuoka's already shaky mental state. Seeing something like this could really send him over the edge.

He came to the door. He paused there, listening. On the other side he could hear someone talking and also struggling with the lock. They were trying to open it. Somehow thinking that someone was trying to break into the pool he was in charge of made him feel quite affronted, and that was enough to conquer any misgiving he had about opening the door. He grabbed the knob and thrust it open. Only to find—

"N-Noro?"

"O-oh, h-hi, Captain!" The other boy danced backwards. "I-I didn't realize you were here!" He suddenly seemed to realize the piece of metal he held in his hand, the instrument he must have been trying to use to unlock the door, and he quickly hid it behind his back, giving a laugh that was way too conspicuous.

"What the hell are you doing here?" A giggle caught Seijuro's attention and he looked up. Down the hall he could faintly see several girls. Girls that looked like they had just come from the bar. Well, that explains things a bit. "What are you trying to do breaking into the pool in the middle of the night?"

"O-oh that?" Noro fidgeted. "Uhhhh, well you see, I-I was… umm trying to flirt with a girl?" He gave an exaggerated shrug with both arms in an almost hopeless gesture, like he just possibly couldn't stop these sort of things from happening, smile abashed but still tilted with mischief.

"…Oh." Well, that certainly sounded familiar. Seijuro couldn't exactly fault him for that now, could he? Although Noro choosing tonight of all times was extremely, incredibly aggravating.

"I was just going to use the pool for a bit. I was planning on impressing her with it and my sweet swimming skills!" Noro turned to the side to demonstrate these supposedly 'sweet skills' in the air. "I didn't realize you were already here though. Looks like you beat me to it."

Good thing Seijuro had too. It would have been absolutely terrible to bring Gou here only to stumble in on Noro and a bunch of girls possibly doing some very unsavory things. Gou would have been absolutely traumatized and Seijuro might have blown a gasket. The swim team swam in that pool everyday for God's sake, and they were only supposed to be swimming in water. Speaking of which…

"What were you planning to swim in exactly?" It didn't look like the boy had any swimming gear with him at all...

"Oh, you know." Noro waved his hand vaguely.

On second thought Seijuro didn't want to know. He closed his eyes and counted slowly to ten.

"By the way, who's in there with you?"

Seijuro opened his eyes to find Noro standing on tip toes to peer over his shoulder.

"You're not alone, are you?"

Seijuro stiffened. Shit. Guess it wasn't as dark as he had thought on the other side of the pool, and now lying and saying no one was there with him would only make Noro that much more curious however. "Don't worry about it, Noro."

Noro blinked hard, as he wasn't sure of what he was seeing. "Is that a girl?"

"Never mind, Noro."

"Is that—" His eyes widened. "That's the girl from—"

"Drop it, Noro."

That finally did register. The other boy dropped back. "Sorry, Captain." He hiccupped. "You should have told me you were here with a girl. I would have gone elsewhere if I had known—"

"You shouldn't be breaking into the pool regardless! Especially not our pool for that!" Seijuro exclaimed. "Not to mention we have a competition coming up! What are you doing drinking?!"

Noro laughed, though he at least had the decency to look somewhat ashamed. "Call it one last thrill before the end, right? I can't help but try and relax before a competition, you know? Otherwise I just end up being all wound up and that's no fun for anyone! Just look at Matsuoka! Guy is so on edge he can't even enjoy swimming anymore. Who would ever want that?"

So even Noro had noticed. Seijuro pressed his teeth together.

"Anyway." Noro hiccupped again. "Since you're using the pool I guess I should head home then—"

"You had better!" Seijuro warned. "Go home – alone - and go to sleep immediately! If you aren't on time tomorrow I'm kicking you off the swim team!"

Noro laughed at the empty threat. Seijuro had never kicked off anyone before, much less a good swimmer. "Of course, Captain!" He turned and headed down the hall, waving cheerfully. "I'll see you tomorrow. Good luck with your swimming!" He threw him a wink over his shoulder.

Seijuro's hand curled into a fist. If he had a shoe on him he might have been tempted to throw it. That guy…Noro's drunken escapades were going to get him into trouble one of these days. Then again he hadn't gotten married while drunk. Unlike somebody.

Grumbling under his breath, Seijuro closed the door and headed back to where Gou was. She was still huddled against the wall of the pool when he got there, eyes still huge. "W-was it my brother?"

He shook his head. "No, just some drunken idiot causing trouble. Everything's fine."

His assurances did nothing to stop her from being nervous however. She bit her lip, gaze going back to the front door like she expected someone to walk through it any minute, and Seijuro wasn't sure if it was the cold that was making her shiver.

He sighed. There was no helping it. Now wasn't the right time to talk about things. He couldn't drop something like that into her lap while she was this freaked on. "Come on." He bent down to offer her a hand. "Let's get out of here."

"That was close." Gou glanced behind herself for the tenth time as they made their way down the darkened streets. Despite knowing there was no one there she couldn't stop checking. "Too close." She shivered against the wind. She hadn't spent enough time to properly dry off before leaving, only throwing on her normal clothes over her bathing suit to get out of there quicker and now all her clothes were wet along with her hair.

"That was a terrible idea," she continued, "going to the pool. If brother had caught us…" She shuddered. If her brother had been there it would have been terrible. Beyond terrible. Devastating. He likely wouldn't have killed her, not after what happened the other night, but he would have never, ever forgiven her.

And that was way worse.

"It wasn't him though," said Seijuro as they came up to the front door. "Matsuoka wouldn't show up at the pool that late. Everything's okay, no harm was done."

Gou waited tensely for him to unlock the door and almost darted through it like a scared rabbit with a fox at its tail. "Everything is not okay,"she protested. "If anyone had caught us it would have been horrible. If they had seen us and told my brother…" Her hand's tightened on her bag. "That was way too close. We can't let anyone know about this. Absolutely no one can know about this…this mistake!"

"Mistake?"

"The marriage."

Seijuro didn't respond to this. He closed the door, encasing them in the darkness of the house.

"Just a few more days." Gou dropped her bag to the ground like a wet sack full of clothes and clenched her hands in front of her chest. "Just a few more days and we'll be back in Japan. Just a few more days and we'll be back in Japan where we can forget this whole thing ever happened!" She exhaled loudly. "Thank goodness!"

From the corner of her eye she thought she saw Seijuro give an odd twitch. "Once we get back to Japan," he said slowly, "then what?"

"We'll get a divorce," said Gou right away, "and then pretend this never happened."

"Act like nothing happened?" Seijuro's words were strangely measured. "At all?"

What was going on with him? He had been acting weirdly ever since they had left the pool. "Of course! It was just a big mistake. I intend to forget everything."

"Everything?"

The way he said that made her look over. He was still standing by the closed door and in the shadows she was unable to see his face clearly. Where were these questions coming from all of a sudden, she wondered? "Well, yeah." She shrugged a shoulder. "Why would I want to remember anything?"

His mouth hardened. Even in the dim light she could see that, and she blinked as there was a strange shifting in his eyes the likes of it she had never seen before. He moved away from the door, and when he walked towards her she tilted her head up to keep his face in sight, but he only passed by her on his way to the couch.

"Seijuro?" She turned to keep him in sight. "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing." He sat down. Even his posture looked wrong. "Nothing's wrong."

By his tone there was definitely something wrong. What was going on? Where was this coming from all of a sudden? This was exactly what they had agreed upon when they had first discovered their little mistake after all. Nothing had happened to change that. Had it?

"Seijuro?" She said his name slowly.

"It's nothing."

"It's clearly not nothing." Was he angry? She couldn't tell. He was certainly not happy, that was for sure, but why? "What are you upset about?"

He didn't respond to this. His gaze was fixed sideways on the wall, as if he were unsure if he should answer or not.

Gou remembered what he had told her at the pool. If she could place all her burdens onto him then shouldn't he be able to do the same? Strangely she kind of wanted him to. "Please tell me," she said softly.

That seemed to get him. His mouth twitched. He sighed like he were giving in to something he didn't want to. He leaned back and ran a hand over his face, pausing over his eyes and keeping the appendage there. "Is it really so bad," he said, "being married to me?"

For a good fifteen seconds Gou couldn't move. She could barely breathe or blink, much less speak or think. She could scarcely believe what she was hearing. Had he…was he…was he saying he wanted to stay married? She struggled to get her brain and clay tongue working. "I don't…A-are you…"

She couldn't even form a complete sentence. Her whole thought process felt scattered like it had been struck blind side by a truck.

Seijuro sighed. He dropped his hand limply back down to the couch. "You should go to bed," he told her. "You have to get up early tomorrow, don't you?"

He was right. She did. But…she didn't want to leave things like this either. She tried to think of something, anything, to say but the words wouldn't come. What could she say to that?

Eventually she gave in and headed for the bedroom. It was no good trying to talk about things when she had no words to give.

Tomorrow. She would fix it tomorrow. Tomorrow they would talk for sure.

Even if she had utterly no idea what she was going to say.

For a long moment Seijuro remained sitting on the couch as the light from the bedroom went out. He listened to the sound of Gou getting into bed, the soft creak of the mattress as she settled onto it, and he continued sitting there even as the darkness settled around him. He stared at the table top in front of him despite that he couldn't see it anymore.

Finally after a long while he reached into his pocket. He pulled out his phone. The phone Gou had gotten him. He pushed that thought aside. It didn't matter now. Maybe never had.

He flipped the phone open. He punched in a number and held it to his ear.

He had to get up early but there was no way he was going to be able to sleep. Not now. He was too on edge. Too tangled and strung out. Too…He didn't know what.

He couldn't sleep.

But there was something else he could do.

"Thanks again for meeting me." Seijuro leaned over to peer down the stairs as he heard the footsteps approaching. "Sorry to make you come out here so late."

"Oh, no, it's not a problem at all." Makoto stepped up onto the deck. He shivered, hunching down into his jacket against the wind. Despite it being summer the high elevation of the observation deck made the ocean wind all that more prominent. "I figured you wouldn't call me so late if it weren't something important."

Seijuro peered over his shoulder. "Nanase?"

"Oh, don't worry, he's not here. He was asleep when I left. Otherwise I'm not sure how I would have been able to make it out here without having to explain where I was going in the middle of the night." He laughed a mixture of embarrassment and delight. "I don't think he'll wake up any time soon. He was uhhh…p-pretty worn out...from earlier." There was a hint of red on Makoto's cheeks.

Seijuro really didn't want to know. "From practice?" he suggested.

Makoto latched onto that. "Yes, from practice." He coughed. "A-anyway what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"It's about Matsuoka."

Makoto raised his eyebrows. "Rin?"

"And Nanase."

Makoto's lips parted, but he said nothing, waiting for Seijuro to continue.

Seijuro leaned back against the railing. "I figured if I tried to go to Nanase he wouldn't tell me. Nor Matsuoka. He's the type who'll deny being sick even when he's bleeding from the mouth. Nanase too. Talking about his feelings is likely like pulling teeth with him."

Makoto looked vaguely amused at this.

"And anyway you're the swim team captain besides. I felt it would be more appropriate to ask you. One captain to another sort of thing." Seijuro fixed his gaze on the teenager opposite him. "What exactly happened between Matsuoka and Nanase?"

For a long moment Makoto didn't respond. His gaze lowered to the wood underneath their feet. "So you noticed it too, huh?" The words were soft. He chewed his lip. He glanced to the ocean, as if searching for answers in the moon lit waters. He sighed. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt to tell you. What happened is in the past, and you are Rin's swim team captain after all. You have a bit of a right to know." He rubbed the back of his head. "Although, to be honest with you I don't know everything that occurred. I've…only been told some of it. But I can tell you what I do know."

Seijuro nodded. "Of course. Whatever you can tell me would be appreciated."

He listened silently as Makoto reiterated the story to him. The ill-fated meeting between Haru and Rin during the winter of their first middle school year. The poisonous race that followed, with Haru beating Rin in a tremendous victory, a victory that only came to corrupt and corrode the two boys in their own separate ways. Haru had quit swimming, believing his gift to be nothing but an ill-concealed trap to hurt others, and Rin had fled back to another country, leaving nothing but noxious silence and hostile actions in his wake. When they had met again, years later, it was only to reopen old wounds that had never managed to heal over in the first place. The two of them were locked in a bitter, savage war with each other. Their battlefield just happened to be inside a pool.

Under different circumstances Seijuro might have thought Matsuoka had acted childishly. But this was racing. If you didn't win, what was the point? Seijuro didn't hold grudges; if he didn't win it was simply because he wasn't fast enough. But for someone as fiery and temperamental as Matsuoka, who had grasped for victory like a dying man, being so soundly and utterly beaten by someone who never batted an eye about trying to win, that was sure to spark a downslide of self-incrimination.

But to quit swimming completely over something like? That Seijuro didn't understand. Makoto's story explained the rivalry between Matsuoka and Haru, but there still had to be more to it.

He mulled that over for a minute before he pushed himself off the railing. "Thanks for telling me all this, Makoto."

"Of course. Sorry I couldn't have been of more help. If I knew everything…" He trailed off. If Makoto knew everything he would try to help. But he couldn't. One cannot battle in a war they have no stake in.

"Don't apologize, you've been of more help than you realize." In more ways than one. Makoto had always done the best he could to help Gou and him. Seijuro knew how much Gou had come to rely on the other boy and now Seijuro understood why. Makoto was someone Seijuro had truly come to respect. He was a far better captain than he realized.

"What are you planning to do?"

Seijuro frowned. "I'm not sure yet," he admitted. "I'll still need to think about it." He shook himself. "But thank you again for meeting me out here so late."

He headed for the stairs, but ere he was hardly down one level when Makoto called out to him.

"Seijuro."

The unusual name made him stop. Makoto calling him by his first name? He had never done that before. Then again Seijuro had used Makoto's first name earlier without even thinking about it. Funny how that sort of stuff just slipped out without his noticing.

"I'm glad it was you." Makoto was leaning over the railing, green eyes urgent, almost compassionate. "I'm glad it was you who married Gou."

Oh. The corner of Seijuro's mouth upturned. He closed his eyes. The universe, he decided, could be a really funny place sometimes.

He gave Makoto a wider smile in response then continued to make his way down the stairs. He was glad it was dark. He wouldn't want Makoto, perceptive as he was, to see what was really behind his smile.

He couldn't understand it. Why Makoto thought he was such a good guy. He was a pretty selfish human being, maybe even a terrible one. He liked to be in charge and he liked winning. Even if that meant having to crush someone else's dreams or feelings in order to do so.

He's always been a pretty selfish human being. He had wanted Gou. Maybe that was why, while completely drunk and obliterated, he had married her.

He stopped. Under the darkness of the unlit beach he rubbed his forehead. Before he hadn't know why he had gotten married.

But now he felt like he was starting to get an idea why he had.

The end!

Okay just kidding, this is still a comedy, right? Right? Eh-heh.

Only a few chapters left!