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"Onii-chan! Over here!"
Rin looked past the crowd and headed over to his younger sister, waving enthusiastically next to the taiyaki stand. He sighed as he saw her in a simple, deep red yukata. White and rose-coloured flowers dotted over the fabric and tied together with a orchid obi. It wasn't that Rin was opposing Gou dressing up, because no one was more beautiful than his sister, but the problem was…
"Oh! Gou-kun! You look beautiful!"
"Gou-san! You're so pretty!"
Rin latched onto the back of the younger Mikoshiba brother's yukata, stopping him from rushing over to Gou. He grumbled under his breath, preferably if he could he wouldn't let anyone get close to his sister but he knew that Gou was more comfortable with the former captain.
Dammit Mikoshiba.
"Ah…Rin-Senpai," Nitori tugged on Rin's sleeve. "Momo can't breathe…"
"Oh."
Momo bent over, hands on his knees and stared incredulously at his captain. "Senpai, why?"
"Nothing really."
"Nothing!?"
Sousuke chuckled, "Let's go, the others are waiting."
The end of the Regionals brought the Iwatobi squid festival once more. The Iwatobi swim club didn't qualify in their individual races but in the relay they managed to barely qualify to the Nationals. Of course Samezuka qualified as well.
But at the cost of their butterfly swimmer.
Rin stared at Sousuke in front of him, fixating his gaze on the right shoulder. Oh, he yelled and screamed at Sousuke for hiding something this big from him - and if anyone said he cried in the process he'll punch them - but the two finally consoled and actually talked about the future. At least for Rin, Sousuke didn't have any regrets. It'll be a while before the two can swim together again, but better then never.
Rin also talked to Haru again after the race and apologized (awkwardly) and the red-head accepted the fact that he couldn't push Haru. Like Makoto said, Haru was thinking things in his own way, silently and albeit slowly, but he was thinking. Rin will never understand Haru with his sayings (because who the heck writes 'free' on their career forms?), but he somewhat understood what he said about Sousuke.
"The water accepts him now."
Rin raised an eyebrow, "What?"
Exasperated eyes stared back, "Yamazaki. He finally accepted the water and now the water accepts him."
"As always I don't understand you and your water fetish."
Rin snapped out of his thoughts when Gou called out to him.
"Onii-chan, what do you think of this yukata?" Gou gave a small twirl, smiling up at her brother.
"Gou-san, it really suits you!"
Rin's fist flew out before he could stop it and he brought Momo down for a noogie. "She asked me, not you!"
"S-senpai, it hurts!"
"Geez." Rin released Momo. Ruffling his head, he answered Gou with a small smile. "Yeah, it looks good on you."
Gou grinned, "Yours also looks good on you too, Onii-chan. As expected, no one can beat Onii-chan's muscles."
Rin himself wore a simple light olive-brown yukata, it was still hot in Iwatobi so he had opened the yukata neck a bit wider and rolled up the sleeves. The others had also dressed up, as per request of the smallest Iwatobi swimmer.
Nitori wore a deep magenta yukata, Sousuke a dark verdant yukata, and the Mikoshiba brothers wore the typical working fisherman outfit, the older a dark blue and the younger a lighter blue. The twisted white headband completed the look.
"Kou-san, are the others not here yet?" Nitori asked.
"They should be here soon," Gou replied, scanning the crowd. She smiled and waved a hand, "There they are! Makoto-senpai, over here!"
Makoto waved back to let her know he saw them, and turned his head to speak to the others. The Iwatobi group broke through the crowd and walked over to the waiting Samezuka club and Gou. Rin raised an eyebrow at the tight grip Makoto had on Haru's forearm. He thinks he understand the reason why the group was a bit tardy.
"Sorry we're late…we had a little trouble getting here."
Rin snorted. "I bet."
"Yay! Everyone's wearing a yukata!" Nagisa bounced around, glancing over everyone. He himself wore a teal yukata with red and white dots over it, if Rin didn't know Nagisa was a boy he could've mistaken the other as a girl. Rei wore a dark grey yukata with a light-grey plaid-like pattern over it. Makoto's was a dark blue with stripes running vertically down and Haru's was a purple with ragged stripes of a lighter purple shade going vertically down as well.
Rei, ever polite, thanked the Samezuka swimmers for agreeing to Nagisa's request.
"It's no problem, Rei." Rin replied.
"Oh! Ai-chan that looks great on you!"
"Please stop calling me Ai-chan…"
"Oh Onii-chan, let's go over there!"
"The rifle game huh? Haru, wanna make this a competition?"
"This again?"
"Gou-kun! If there's anything you want me to win for you let me know!"
"Same with me, Gou-san!"
"If anyone is going to win anything for Gou, it's me!"
Everyone rushed forward to the game section at the festival, clamouring in giggles and laughter. Rin competing against Haru at shooting, the Mikoshiba brothers trying to fish as much goldfish as possible for Gou and Rei, Nagisa, and Ai throwing rings. Makoto hung back, laughing softly and fondly gazing at his friends. The brunet spoke his thoughts out loud, "Some things never change do they?"
"Not sure if that's a good thing or not."
Makoto nearly jumped, the forgot about Sousuke. "Sometimes it's good. Shall we go?"
"Not going to play?"
"I'm more here for the food then games." Makoto admitted.
"Mako-chan! Sou-chan! Don't linger in the back and come join us!" Nagisa's voice cut through the air. Ai and Rei were still throwing rings behind him, trying to win the watermelon.
Sousuke raised an eyebrow, not used to how Nagisa instantly thinks everyone is his friend. "Sou-chan…?"
"Nagisa, it's rude to suddenly call someone by their first name." Makoto lightly reprimanded the breaststroke swimmer. "Sorry about that Yamazaki-kun."
"Ehhh…" Nagisa whined, he butted his head against Makoto's arm and rubbed. "But he's Rin-chan's friend so he's our friend too!"
"Nagisa…"
Sousuke shrugged, "It's fine, I don't mind."
"Yay!" Nagisa threw his hands up in joy. "Come on you two, why don't you play a game too? Everyone else is going to be playing for a while, so might as well play before we're getting food."
Makoto nodded, "Hmm, what should we play?"
"Oh my, if it isn't Makoto-chan?" An elderly voice came from behind Makoto. A kind-looking woman walked up to the group.
"Obaa-san." Makoto exclaimed, smiling brightly. "How are you doing?"
"Wonderful, it's been a while since I attended the festival."
"That's good to hear."
"If you have time, come by the karuta booth. I would like to have a rematch with you."
Nagisa latched onto Makoto's arm, "Eh Mako-chan you can play karuta?"
"Ohoho, Makoto-chan is quite the player. He can beat almost all us old folks." The elderly woman laughed, she hugged Makoto goodbye and made him promise to play at least one match.
"I wanna see Mako-chan play karuta!" Nagisa began dragging Makoto to the mentioned booth, Sousuke tagging along because he had nothing else to do.
"Nagisa don't pull! What about Rei and Nitori-kun?"
"They're still throwing rings, let's go let's go!"
"Nagisa, my arm!"
-----
"Naniwa Bay, now the flower blooms, but for winter…"
Th speaker sang out, ready to read the poem to allow the players to grab the card they need. Nagisa and Sousuke watched from the side as Makoto played against the woman who brought them here and couldn't refuse to play others once they saw Makoto came.
"Here comes spring, now the flower blooms…"
Sousuke had to admit, he thought it would be boring to watch two people slap cards, but there was something captivating the way the two players focus on the cards, tension building up and releasing in a sudden burst. Well, if Sousuke had to say which player he focused on, it would be Makoto. The normally gentle-looking giant looked very concentrated on the cards below him, the same concentration when he was swimming. His body folded into a seiza, looking relaxed but from what Sousuke saw before in previous matches he would spring forward like a cheetah for the card.
"Mako-chan looks different." Nagisa commented, leaning excitedly forward while holding onto Sousuke's arm for balance. "Very cool."
Sousuke grunted, he gently pried Nagisa's grip from his arm. His shoulder was feeling a lot better but just in case if Nagisa got too excited he didn't want to strain it. He moved to the shorter male's other side, this way at least if Nagisa got too grabby it's on his other arm.
Applause and cheers broke out when Makoto slapped the card faster than his opponent's hand and won the game. Makoto laughed and bowed to his opponent and reader before claiming he should leave and let others play.
"I'm sorry for playing so long," Makoto said to Nagisa and Sousuke.
Nagisa hugged Makoto. "It's fine Mako-chan! You looked very cool playing karuta!"
"It was interesting to watch." Sousuke added.
"Yamazaki-kun, you still haven't played anything yet." Makoto pointed out, brows furrowing in worry.
Nagisa also chirped out, "Sou-chan, what do you want to play?"
Sousuke shrugged, "Honestly, I'd rather eat than play."
"Let's find the others and grab food." Makoto suggested, he looked around. One thing good about his height was that he could scan above the heads of the crowd. He pointed at the others near the shooting stall. "Look, they're over there."
They headed towards the other group. Rei and Nitori finally got their watermelon as the former was holding it in his arms and Gou was holding two new plushies, a narwhal and a sea otter.
"Alright!" Rin shouted, throwing a fist into the air. "I won!"
"Che."
"Here Gou," Rin thrust the shark plush in his sister's arms, he grabbed the other two animals with two fingers, as if they were dirty. "You can have this one and I'll throw these two away."
"Onii-chan, thank you!"
"Oi, Matsuoka, I won that for Gou-kun fair and square."
"Rin-senpai!" Momo whined, "Don't throw it away!"
"Um, everyone, Ryuugazaki-kun won a watermelon to share later."
"Eh, Rei-chan you didn't win anything for me?"
"Nagisa-kun, this watermelon is for everyone!"
"Makoto."
"Hm? Oh, it's over there Haru-chan."
Rin sighed as he watched Haru and Makoto walk over to the mackerel stand. "Sometimes I wish I could do that but at the same time it's kind of weird how Makoto can just do that."
"Jealous?" Sousuke asked. It was the first time he saw the two childhood friends communicating almost telepathically and he couldn't helped but to feel impressed. Nanase had just looked blankly but Tachibana was able to decipher his look.
"Not jealous…it's just that it would be easier to communicate with Haru."
"Hmm."
"Where were you guys?" Rin asked as he and Sousuke lined up for yakisoba. The Mikoshiba brothers went to get okonomiyaki while Rei and Gou went to secure seats later for fireworks. Nagisa and Ai went to get shaved ice.
"Tachibana went playing karuta, Hazuki and I went with him."
Rin paid for six yakisoba to share with the others, "Huh, didn't know Makoto could play karuta."
Sousuke carried half of the food, "He mentioned he used to play it with a friend he had who was a fisherman when he was little."
Rin stilled for a second before continue walking, "I see."
"Rin?"
"It's nothing. Just remembering something from the past."
The two met up with Gou and Rei, Rin purposely sitting on the sea otter and narwhale plushie before Gou punching him in the arm and grabbed them from his reach. He did stop grumbling when Gou place the shark on top of the top, making it look like it was eating the otter and narwhal. They chose a good spot, it was on one of the fishing docks so the crowd wasn't too close to them and they had more room.
"It's pretty close to the ocean…" Rin murmured.
"It was the only spot that could fit all of us." Gou replied.
Makoto, carrying a small bag, and Haru came back with an assortment of fish. The former pausing a bit, looking a bit lost while staring at the ocean, but shook his head and gave a gentle smile at Rei's and Gou's look, he nudged Haru's shoulder with his own to prompt the latter to walk over. Sousuke heard him whisper something to Nanase, something reassuringly as the tension dropped from Nanase's shoulders.
"I'm surprised it's not all mackerel, Haruka-senpai." Gou commented, relieved.
Haru grunted, obviously displeased. "Makoto insisted on buying squid."
Makoto settled down near Sousuke with Haru next to him. "This is the Iwatobi squid festival. We should be eating some squid, Haru-chan."
"Lay off the '-chan'."
Makoto laughed, he held up one of the stick of squid and offered it to the taller male. "Here, Yamazaki-kun. You never tried Iwatobi squid right?"
Sousuke accepted the squid, "Thanks."
"We brought desert!"
Nagisa and Nitori brought back the most colourful looking shaved ice Sousuke had ever seen. Behind the two, the Mikoshiba brothers brought back okonomiyaki.
"Eat up Gou-kun!"
"Gou-san, do you like shrimp?"
"Oi." Rin grumbled, "Don't forget about the rest of us."
The food was placed in the middle and everyone formed a circled around it. Nagisa dared everyone to try 'Iwatobi-chan's special shaved ice' which the Mikoshiba duo did, resulting in them to rush to the washroom.
Rei held the shaved ice with a look of dread. "Nagisa-kun…what was in that shaved ice?"
"Eh? Cream, gumdrops, konpeito, chocolate cream, strawberry cream…"
"Ah." Rin smacked a fist into his palm. "If I remember correctly, Mikoshiba-buchou is allergic to strawberry."
Nitori sighed, "So is Momo."
"I hope the two of them are fine…" Makoto wrung his hands in worry, "The fireworks are starting soon."
"Leave it Makoto," Rin said. "Those two dug their own grave."
Haru coughed into his fist, "Sis-con."
"Onii-chan look!" Gou said loudly before Rin blew a fuse. People nearby were lighting lanterns and releasing it into the waters. The number of lanterns left a pretty trail of lights on the ocean, gently floating away into the horizon. "I forgot about that custom."
Nitori asked curiously, "What custom is that, Matsuoka-san?"
"Floating lanterns, it's a way to commemorate the dead." Gou answered, a hint of nostalgia in her voice. "It's like a little way for us to send our message for the deceased."
Rin leaned back on his hands, his voice also had a tinge of melancholy to it. "Haven't done that in a while…"
"Would you like to?" Makoto said suddenly, he rummaged around in the bag he carried earlier and showed the Matsuoka siblings paper lanterns. "I saw them when Haru and I were getting food and I thought it would be nice to do it this year. Last year I forgot too."
"Thank you Makoto-senpai!"
"Thanks Makoto."
Makoto gave the pair a lantern. Luckily he bought enough to give one to Rei and Nagisa, Nitori and Sousuke, himself and Haru and one for the Mikoshiba brothers. Everyone got to work setting up the lanterns and writing their message, Sousuke letting Nitori do most of the work, he wasn't good at folding paper. Rin and Gou took their time folding the latern and writing their message, they helped out the Nitori-Sousuke pair as the two were new to the custom. Haru drew a small goldfish on his and Makoto's while Rei and Nagisa finished last. Nagisa, to the surprise of others, took his time to diligently folding and making sure there were no mistakes. Using matches they lit all the lanterns.
"Is it fine to not wait for Mikoshiba-buchou and Momo?" Nitori asked worriedly.
"It's fine." Rin said. "They can do theirs later."
Rin steadied Gou as she lowered the lantern to the water. both red-heads bowed their heads in prayer once it floated away to the distance. The others followed suit, three other lanterns floating and joining the other festival-goers'.
Rei checked his watch, "The fireworks should be starting soon."
"I wonder where those two are."
"Meh, leave them."
"Rin-chan, you're kinda mean."
A cough, "Sis-con."
"Haru, I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
"Now now, let's enjoy the fireworks."
"Listen to Tachibana, Rin."
"Tch."
"Onii-chan, look!" Gou pointed upwards.
The fireworks started, illuminating everyone's faces with a myriad of colours. The swimmers and manager stared up at the show, clapping and applauding at the various colours and shapes the fireworks made in the sky. Once the fireworks ended, they cleared up their garbage and headed back towards the stalls.
Rin grinned, "Hey, we're not going to lose at the Nationals. Get ready, you guys."
The Iwatobi club members smiled back, Haru speaking up for all of them. "That's our line."
----
Omake
"Nii-chan, we're lost aren't we?"
"Nonsense! Everyone is over there!"
"...We passed by that place already."
"That way then!"