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The water is so strong. Why did this storm have to appear?
Rei has to fight the strong, churning current of the ocean to keep his head above the water. He clings to his float, but it slips from his hands and disappears. Rain beats down on the ocean, the sky thick with dark grey storm clouds.
Without his float, Rei’s arms flail uselessly. He kicks frantically, but his legs are heavy and the current too strong. He gets pulled underwater and he splutters, water pouring into his mouth. He can’t breathe.
When he resurfaces, Rei coughs up water and tries to heave in another breath, his lungs burning.
He’s sinking, his legs barely moving and his arms going limp. Rei inhales and takes in a huge amount of water, choking and spluttering desperately. His head pounds, his vision flickering. Is he drowning?
He thinks he hears a voice, but he might be imagining it. And as Rei sinks beneath the water, his last thought is of Nagisa, his wonderful boyfriend, before everything goes dark.
---
All three of his friends are in the water. Rei and Makoto went in first (he still doesn’t know why they went out into the ocean at night), and Haru went rushing in when he heard Makoto screaming. And now Nagisa is stood here in just his shorts, watching Haru run into the water. And as he thinks about Rei, his boyfriend, a person who can’t swim properly, out there in the choppy water, Nagisa barely has to hesitate before hurtling in after Haru.
He and Haru swim together, struggling without goggles or a swimsuit, and Nagisa can’t believe how strong the current is. But they soon find Makoto, who is gasping for breath and struggling to keep his face above the water. Haru darts forwards and wraps his arms around Makoto, saving his friend from drowning.
“I’ll go get Rei!” Nagisa says, having to yell over the roar of the rain and churning water.
Haru nods and starts to help Makoto back to the shore, and Nagisa swims further out into the stormy ocean. He has to find Rei. He has to.
His heart races, his lungs burn and there is so much salt water in his eyes he can barely keep them open. But Nagisa powers on. He has to keep going. He has to save Rei.
As he swims, something hits him in the head. Flinching, Nagisa fumbles for the object, feeling sopping foam beneath his freezing fingers. It is Rei’s paddle board! So Rei must be quite close… but without his, can he even keep above the water?
“Rei?!” Nagisa yells, so exhausted his muscles begin to cramp. “Rei!”
And then his hand collides with something under the water. Something large and hard. Nagisa dives down beneath the choppy surface, and his hand touches hair. Panic surging in his chest, Nagisa reaches out and heaves the thing back to the surface.
It is Rei. His boyfriend is unconscious, sodden with water, freezing cold and disturbingly limp.
He was under the water. Is he even…?
He wants to try and talk to Rei, but he can’t do this here. So even though he’s so scared and tired, Nagisa swims back to the shore with the limp, heavy Rei in his arms. When he finally reaches the beach, his legs give way. Sand coating his wet skin, Nagisa drags Rei out of the water.
He’s so limp. Coughing, Nagisa wipes his stinging eyes and rolls Rei onto his back. He leans down to rest his ear against Rei’s chest and listens… he can’t feel a heartbeat.
Shit.
His stomach churning, Nagisa hovers his face over Rei’s slightly open mouth, trying to feel his breath against his cheek. But there’s nothing.
Oh shit.
“Rei?” he says, shaking his shoulders.
Rei isn’t breathing. Rei isn’t breathing. Rei isn’t breathing.
What should he do?
Tears prickling in his sore eyes, Nagisa tries to remember the first aid classes he took in junior high. And as he wishes and wishes this will work, he pinches Rei’s nose, tilts his head back and blows a rescue breath into his mouth. He does it again, and again, and again, and again.
With all five breaths done, he tries to do this chest compressions. Tears running down his face, Nagisa positions his hands against Rei’s breast bone and starts to press down. He does it so hard there is a crack and Nagisa nearly vomits, realising he just broke a rib. But he keeps going. He has to keep going.
He has to save Rei.
---
He nearly drowned. Makoto’s throat and lungs still hurt from hacking up water, but he’s alive. Haru helps him walk as they try to locate Nagisa and Rei, both of them hoping so much that they can find their friends.
It’s freezing cold and Makoto shivers, wanting so much to be back in bed in his tent, Rei beside him with Haru and Nagisa in the tent next door, warm and comfortable and safe. Anything would be better than this, freezing cold in the middle of a storm in just his swimsuit, wondering if his friends are…
“There they are,” Haru says, nudging his arm.
Makoto drags himself out of his thoughts and looks ahead. In the distance, he sees two figures, one lying and one kneeling. And it can only be them.
“Let’s go then!” he says, and he grabs Haru by the arm and they hurtle across the sand.
But as they get closer, Makoto realises what is going on. Nagisa is… he’s doing CPR.
"Oh no..." he whispers.
Haru says nothing, but runs faster, dragging Makoto behind him. As they get closer still, Makoto can hear Nagisa crying. But he’s never heard anyone cry like this. Nagisa’s sobs are sobs of total agony, and hearing his friend cry like this rips his heart into pieces.
“Nagisa!” Haru calls, and Nagisa looks up.
“Mako! Haru!” he yells, out of breathing and his voice hitching with sobs. “I… Rei… he’s n-not breathing!”
“Let me take over,” Haru says, dropping to his knees on Rei’s other side. “Mako, look after Nagisa.”
And Haru starts to perform far more skilled CPR than Nagisa, pushing his hands against Rei’s bruising chest.
Makoto crouches down beside Nagisa and wraps his arms around his friend. Nagisa sobs and sobs, clinging to Makoto as he watches Haru try to resuscitate Rei.
“Nagisa, how long have… you been doing this?” he asks, carefully rubbing his friend’s back; Nagisa is freezing too.
Nagisa sniffs, scrubbing at his face. “Uh… I dunno. An… an hour, maybe.”
Makoto’s eyes widen. He looks at Haru, who stops doing the CPR and slowly sits up.
Nagisa looks at them. “What? Haru, why did you stop?”
Haru sighs, closing his eyes. Makoto realises that he’s trying not to cry.
“Nagisa, he’s been like this for over an hour. We’re not going to be able to save him,” Haru says.
Nagisa stares at him. And then he pushes away from Makoto and grabs Haru by the shoulders.
“No, you’re wrong!” he cries, voice cracking. “We need to keep going. We… we can save him. Haru…” His voice gets weaker, his bottom lip wobbling. “Haru, save him…”
And Nagisa breaks again. He presses his face into Haru’s shoulder and sobs pitifully. Makoto comes over and hugs him, rubbing his hair. Even Haru starts to rub Nagisa’s back, and Makoto knows he isn’t the only one crying too.
He turns his head and looks at Rei. His friend is dead. Nagisa’s boyfriend is dead. Their teammate is dead.
Rei is dead.
He couldn’t save him.
What are they going to do now?