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Before that time in middle school, he didn't care about anything except swimming. Swimming was his favorite passtime, the love of his life. At least... That's what Haruka Nanase thought.
In middle school, at the swim club, a random kid dove into the water after Haru was halfway to the other side. As the kid approached, Haru sped up in the water. It was the first time he'd ever done that. It was a new sensation. He wanted to race? This was new.
Their feet landed on the other side and they both pushed off to continue their lap. Every time his opponent gained on him, Haru automatically sped up to reach the finish line faster.
It never showed on his face, but his heart was pounding. That was exhilarating.
He pulled off his swim cap and goggles before shaking the water out of his hair and accepting his best friend's help out of the pool. His friends Makoto and Nagisa praised him, but he didn't really care. He just liked to swim.
His opponent popped out of the water just then. His name was Rin, right? He asked about Haru's time. Really? Who cares? He didn't care about his time. Haru told him that.
"That's what they said, too." Rin responded with a huge grin on his face. Haru's heartbeat sped up, not that anyone could tell. Rin got out of the water and continued, "Hey, Nanase, you wanna enter a relay with me at the next tournament?"
"I only do freestyle." Haru responded simply.
It was only a few weeks later when Rin dropped a bomb on his friends.
"I'm not going to middle school here." Rin said. Haru's heart plummeted to his stomach and he turned to look at his friend.
"What do you mean?" Makoto asked.
"I'm going to Australia." Rin responded.
"You're going to a different country?" Makoto questioned further.
"Yeah, it's a school just for swimming." Rin said. Haru had to turn away as moisture threatened to fill his eyes.
"What are you trying to do?" Haru asked quietly.
"I'll be an Olympic swimmer." Rin said proudly. Haru clenched his fists at his sides. He liked his other friends too, but Rin was different from them. He couldn't imagine Rin leaving, but he was going to anyway. And Haru couldn't stop it.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Makoto exclaimed, "What about the relay?"
"I'll swim in the relay." Rin responded. "I'm leaving the day after the tournament, so that'll be the last time we swim together."
Haru could feel Makoto turning to look at him. As close as they were, Mako knew how much Rin meant to Haru. He even seemed to be okay not being number one in Haru's life.
"I only swim freestyle." Haru said quietly, mostly to himself, but Rin heard him.
"You have to do the relay." Rin said. "This'll be our last chance. Swim with me, Nanase." Rin turned to look at Haru. After a brief silence with no indication Haru would respond, Rin continued, "If you swim with me, I'll show you a sigh you've never seen before." He exclaimed proudly with a big grin on his face. How could Haru pass that up?
Right after their conversation ended, Rin and Makoto had to run home. Haru just crouched down in front of the barren cherry blossom tree in front of their school. Silent tears streaked down his face. What was he gonna do without Rin? Would Rin even miss him? Would they ever meet up again? These thoughts swirled in his mind, and he lost track of time. His dad had to pick him up from his spot in front of the cherry blossom tree and take him home. That night, Haru cried himself to sleep.
They swam in the relay together and won. Rin wrapped an arm around Haru's neck and grinned.
"I can't believe we won!" Nagisa exclaimed
"Of course we won! You had me and Haru on your team!" Rin responded.
"I just wanted to swim." Haru said.
"Aww, you know you wanted to win too." Rin said, puckering his lips on the word 'too'.
Their picture was taken, but with Rin's arm around his shoulder, Haru couldn't look at the camera with a straight face. He was so close, and yet so far. Rin was leaving the next day. Haru wouldn't see him again for a long time, if ever. His heart sank. He was going to miss Rin, not that he'd ever admit it.
The trophy they won was put in a time capsule. It was Rin's idea. "We'll put it in a time capsule and dig it up when we're older." Rin said. He looked at Haru with that wide grin and continued, "Like in a storybook!" Haru had to look away, he felt his face heating up.
Right after that, Rin had left. Haru felt empty without him around. Makoto and Nagisa were both happy people, but Rin always had more life to him.
He was happy to run into Rin when he came back later that year for New Year's, but Rin didn't look like his usual self. They decided to have a race and went to their old swim club. It was lucky they got there before it had been closed up. They were allowed inside to have their race.
It was a close race, as always, but in the end Haru won. When they were out of the pool, Rin dropped to his knees and began to cry. It broke Haru's heart. He tried to comfort Rin, but Rin got up and walked away from him, dropping his goggles on the ground on his way out. It was a silent way of saying he'd never swim again. It was also... a rejection of Haru and their friendship.
Haru tried to follow him, but all Rin had said was that he quit swimming and ran away before Haru could catch up.
If that's what happened when winning a race, Haru wanted no part of it. He was done swimming against other people. He was done with competitions. He'd just swim for himself.
Haru clenched his fists and let the tears fall on his way out of the swimming club. Suddenly, nothing mattered to him anymore.