The plane landing on the runways of Japan, the trio were welcomed back with a familiar green-eyed male.
"Haru! Kiyoko! Rin!' they heard as the three of them turned heads.
"Makoto!' Rin said as held Kiyoko's hand as they walked to him, "You came all this way to meet us?"
"you must be turned after your trip," Mako said as Kiyoko observed Haru about to speak but kept mute.
"Haru... welcome back," Mako welcomed as Haru looked away.
"Thanks,"
"Let's go," Mako announced, "Everyone is waiting,"
---
The four figures stood as they gazed at the national arena where the races would be held.
"We all got here to start preparing for nationals," Mako said as Kiyoko and Rin exchange looks.
"I'm going to go meet up with my team," Rin said
"Good luck,' Kiyoko kissed Rin as he Rin smiled as he unwrapped his arms from her waist.
"You too, see ya," he waved off
"Rin," Haru said as he halted, "Thank you,"
"You bet!" Rin chuckled
---
"Hey!" Mako called out as the three walked towards their underclassmen.
"Haru-chan! Kiyoko-chan!" Nagisa beamed
"Senpais," Rei said
"Nagisa, Rei," Haru said
"Welcome back," Nagisa embraced
"I'm so glad you made it home safely!" Rei added
"Jeez, Rei-chan was so worried about you two, you know," Nagisa revealed
"Nagisa-Kun!"
"I'm sorry I made you worry," Haru apologised
"It's fine,"
"More importantly, please rest up for our race in two days," Rei said, "After that, we need to make some adjustments to prepare for the tournament!"
"Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, Koko," Haru began, "There's something I'd like to tell you..."
Haru crouched down as he lingered his fingers in the stream as the four of them stood behind him.
"I used to never care about winning or losing. I only swam because I wanted to. If I worried about those things, my swimming would lose its meaning. That's what I thought. Rin has a dream of swimming on the world level. Koko I finally found you swim to inspire. Both of you are about to dive into the world of competitive swimming to fulfil your purpose or dream. So should I really go into that world just because I want to swim? Go into the world of wins and losses? That's not right,"
"I'm not Rin, and certainly not you Koko. I don't have those strong feelings towards swimming like you guys. That's why I wasn't able to respond to the things you said to me. I couldn't believe that a dream was something I could find just by looking. But then Rin and Koko showed all these different sights, I realized how big the world really is. And then, I found it... I want to swim in that world," he confessed getting up, "I want to keep on swimming. So I'm going to start caring about times and winning. For the sake of my dream,"
"So this trip really did end up being a special one for you Haru,' Mako said.
"Nothing Australia can't do... besides have a white Christmas," Kiyoko smiled.
"I'm really glad for you, Haru-chan!" Nagisa said
"If that's the dream you've found for yourself, Haruka-senpai, we will definitely cheer you in as hard as we can!" Rei added.
"thank you, all of you... especially Koko," he turned to the ocean-eyed girl.
"what do you mean?" she said blankly.
"That day at regionals, you really put things into perspective for me. The journey, thank you,"
"no problem," she said nonchalantly
---
"Its the night before nationals, so order absolutely anything you want, it's my treat!" Miss Akamata exclaimed as all of the seated at a nice restaurant smiled.
"Wow, that's really generous Sensei!" Gou said
"Are you sure sensei?" Kiyoko asked
"yes, yes!'
"In that case..." Nagisa then rambled on with dishes as with every dish Miss Akamata itched.
"Stop! Hazuki-Kun, why don't we go with what that for now huh?" Miss Akamata interjected, "but without the lobster," snatching the menu from him.
"Nagisa-Kun you really are merciless," Rei sighed
"You need to stop spending money," Kiyoko added looking at her menu at the seafood dishes.
"Is there something different about Nanase-Kun?" Miss Akamata whispered to the two girls, "Until recently, things were kind of strained between all of them,"
"It seems he found something in Australia with Kiyoko-chan and my brother," Gou said
"found something?"
"His dream," Kiyoko smiled
"I'm glad," Miss Akamata softened her eyes.
"I would like to say something," Kiyoko said as everyone stopped turning to her
"What is it Kiyoko-chan?" Nagisa questioned
"I've made a decision, I've signed a contract with the Australian national team," Kiyoko proclaimed as their eyes widened
"That's amazing Kiyoko-chan!" Nagisa beamed
"There was no doubt there," Mako added
"naturally,"
---
The five figures walked down the harbour as the heavenly blanket was sugar-coated by a few tiny diamonds and a celestial white shape in the sky. Summer's hot air was now cooled down by night's abyss.
"What a great meal!" Nagisa exclaimed
"Didn't you overeat a bit, Nagisa?" Mako said
"you should be careful you might sink instead tomorrow," Kiyoko joked.
"I'm fine! I'm a growing boy after all!"
"that's true," Haru agreed
"Honestly we're swimming in the national tournament!" Rei crossed his arms, "We need to stay focused!"
"Studious as ever," Kiyoko smiled as Nagisa gasped as leaned onto the railing.
"The ocean is glowing!"Nagisa exclaimed as they all stood in amazement. Tokyo's night was nothing less of the bustling and never-ending but the view from them was a mixture of liveliness and serenity.
"it's totally different from the ocean back in Iwatobi," Mako said.
"It's quite remote back there," Kiyoko said
"It's finally happening tomorrow..." Haru said
"Yeah,"
"if you think back to when we first started the swim club, it's pretty amazing that we made it this far. We couldn't even use our pool in the beginning,"
"that's right! Everything started with us fixing up the pool. Back then all Haru cared about was getting to swim. Remember when we went to the hardware store and you started stripping in front of the swim tanks?"Nagisa chuckled
"unbelievable,' Rei shuddered
"Oh! Remember when Nagisa just went up to Kiyoko on the train to join, you scared her so much that she moved to the other carriage," Mako laughed
"yep, I guess I've become a little less introverted with you guys," Kiyoko chortled, "then Rei came, you were originally on the track team,"
"Yeah, back then it made no sense to me. But then Nagisa invited me to join, and I became fascinated with Haruka-senpai's swimming... then I saw Kiyoko's old videos in the Olympics. But I couldn't keep up with you all. At our training camp, I even had to be rescued by Makoto-senpai. It's because of all of you that I learnt how fun swimming and the relay can be, and managed to come this far," Rei expressed
"yeah,"
"It's all thanks to Nagisa suggesting that we form a swim club in the first place,' Haru said
''You don't have to mention that again, Haru chan,"
"I think you've worked really hard Nagisa,"
"No Rei-chan is much more amazing!" Nagisa said, "you went from a sinking anchor to being to swim butterfly! Even though your goggles slipped off, you still swam the best you could,"
"that was amazing Rei, now you can swim all the strokes," Kiyoko acknowledged.
"I'm not! It was really all thanks to Rin-san-,'
"That's right, it was thanks to Rin-chan!' Nagisa said
"You know?'
"We secretly followed you and saw Rin teaching you," Mako admitted
"You should have told me," he huffed, "I'm sincerely grateful to Rin-san,"
"I'm grateful for Rin as well," Kiyoko sighed smiling as she gazed down at the water feeling the wind blow her hair behind her, "He's the light in my life, always so cheerful, caring, loving. He's my first everything, my first love, my first true friend before you guys, the first someone who made me feel truly happy. When he told me he wanted to go onto the world stage I was unsure of his actions but when he told me about his dad's story it truly warmed my heart and me look at all the support I was getting for granted,"
"I'm grateful for Rin too," Haru said, 'It was because we met again, raced again, and misunderstand each other I lost sight of myself for once in a while. But that's what finally made me realise how you guys felt. It was why I wanted to try swimming the relay with you all. That was the first relay I swam with you together,'
"after this... you guys will be gone," Rei sniffled as Kiyoko frowned.
"This is the last time we swim together," Nagisa cried as the two underclassmen wailed.
"This won't be the end,' Kiyoko shook her head, "Either way... We'll be connected to the end by the water,"
---
Kiyoko felt the jitters as she stood one the starting block for her last event, the one hundred metre butterfly. Her team placed sixth in nationals made her swirl with joy, she had placed first for her other events but something else was radiating off her for her last event.
"On your marks"
Kiyoko formed her slender and flexible diving stance as from the corner of her eye she looked at the gun.
Beep!
"Go, Kiyoko!"
Kiyoko had a perfect start as she raced down the lane, her strong kicks propelling her in the water as soon something else sparked her on the last fifty metres. The waters became darker as her arms extended, her legs kicked faster as she only grew closer to the other end of the wall.
"She's way ahead of them," Nagisa gasped
"I think-," Nitori said as Kiyoko's tempo changed on the last twenty-five metres, something phenomenal her breathing was closed, she didn't pop up allowing her to streamline to become faster. As she slammed her fingers onto the wall she instantly ripped off her caps and goggles as she looked at the board.
Nothing was there.
"What's going on?' she said as the stadium was all nothing but silence.
'Kiyoko Araki in lane five has not only but placed first placed but she may have broken a world record, please stand by as the officials notify and relook at the race,' The announcer said as Kiyoko's eyes widened as she looked to Samezuka to see Rin eagerly awaiting the results.
'Congratulations Kiyoko Araki Brochet, for breaking the world record for the one hundred metre butterfly by two milliseconds'