Peace and Friendship (Discontinued) (Free! Iwatobi Swim Club Fanfiction)

Faker

"Are you? Well? You just flipped out then came back in here smiling. I know you are faking this happiness. You don't want anyone to know what you are feeling... Rin-sempai! Just answer me!!", Aiichirou yells. It catches everyone off guard. Makoto leads the twins out of the room quickly as his parents came to pick them up. Haruka is panting as he holds his aching sides. He cracked a rib with the impact. Mei is sitting there wondering what is going on. She was out a lot so she has no idea what is happening.

Aiichirou screams. "Rin-sempai!!!!! I can't take this! I have admired you since you arrived here! I looked up to you! I had thought, within the past year, I had gotten closer to you. You would tell me anything, or so I had thought I would have gotten help if I known this!"

"Aii... I... I..."

"No Sempai! You need to realize the feelings of Mei! She was the reason you became like this! So she should be the one you should tell everything to!"

Mei's eyes widen. She becomes mortified as she realizes what Aiichirou had said. She was the reason, Rin was in the hospital? She had thought it was because of her cousin, Sousuke. Not herself!

"Wait... what do you mean... it was because of me?", Mei mutters. Rin looks at Mei's rejected looking face. He can tell that she is wondering what she did wrong. But Rin knows she didn't do anything wrong. But he doesn't know how to tell her! All of this, is to much for him... and obviously he can't explain this to Mei.

"Mei...", Haruka says while still clutching his side. "You need to know... Rin was very depressed because of what he had done to you."

"Depressed?", Mei says with a very hurt tone.

Rin turns his head away. He is angry at Aii for making it sound like Mei forced him to be like this... No. It was his own fault. He did this to himself. He had a choice... Help Mei recover, or isolate himself. He chose the wrong decision. Rin sighs.

"I... didn't want this to happen... If I had been considerate, and known that you wanted to make friends with me soon, none of this would have happened... But, I did act cocky when I had to tell the principal everything. However, I was... jealous... that is the reason why I hurt you... You were such good friends with Makoto and Haru, that I became jealous of your closeness... I felt as if I was being replaced. After what happened, I realized how I affected Haru and Makoto... and how badly I hurt you Mei. I wanted to be away from everyone in this world. I went to the basement in Samezuka after my suspension, and starved. I wouldn't eat, or sleep. Nothing.. I hurt myself in vain. It was terrible. I threw up so much, that I felt like I could feel by bones through my skin, I could pass out any second from exhaustion..... I returned a week or so later, and Sousuke showed up. His strikes wouldn't have hurt me as bad if I had my guard up. Now I'm stuck here, with a glass eye... and no strength left..."

The room is silent. No one has anything to say. It all comes like a fastball to Mei. Not knowing anything that was going on around her, left her in a pit of despair. Not knowing what to say, she lays back down and turns herself away from everyone, towards the door. Haruka drags his feet over to Mei and kneels down. He pushes the pain aside and worries about Mei. Her eyes are filled with tears. Haruka pats her head and ruffles her hair. He tries to cheer her up, but with no success.

Aiichirou is sort of satisfied with Rin's explanation. He decides to leave the hospital with high hopes that Rin will get better. But, the truth is, he forgot about the letter completely. It sits on the nightstand next to Rin's bed, crumpled up.

Makoto leans against the far wall across from Rin. He is looking out the window, wondering what he will do now...

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A/N: I apologize for the short chapter....