Bonded By Love

The Open Turn of Destiny!

All day, the team and I kept getting praises for making it to nationals. It was a little overwhelming being in the spotlight. Me, Haru, and Makoto were on our way to the swim club when a voice called out.

“Tachibana! Nanase! Kirishima!”

We turned around to see the guys from the baseball team.

“Nice going, swim club!”

“Go win at Nationals, too!”

“Thank you. We'll give it our all.” Makoto thanked.

“I'm not swimming just to win.” Haru mumbled.

I nudged his arm. “Haru…”

“No way, Nanase. You should be swimming to win. Swimming's a sport, after all. Or maybe the secret to winning is indifference?” He said.

“Maybe we should try it, too…”

Haru continued walking ahead, leaving us behind.

Once we got to the pool, we started practicing. It was much easier for me now that I only had to focus on one style. Coach Sasabe showed up, which meant he was going to work us to death. We kept practicing until the sun was starting to set.

“Demon coach Goro really is tough…” Nagisa whined.

“He was even more spirited than usual today.” Rei added.

“But it's good for us.” Makoto stated.

“We should bring a gift over to SC Returns to thank him.” Kou suggested.

“No protein powder, okay.” Rei said.

“We should bring him an Iwatobi cream bread!”

Haru stood up.

“Haru? What is it?” I asked.

“I'm going to swim a little longer.” He answered.

“Haruka-senpai. Um…”

“That's our Haru-chan! You sure are fired up!” Nagisa purposefully interrupted Rei.

“Got it. Then, we'll go on ahead.” Makoto said.

I watched as he headed into the pool again. ‘Should I stay with him? No…knowing him, he's probably going to ignore me.’

______________

The next few days have been a cycle of school, swim club or art club, then home. Haru's been staying late at the club, so I've been walking home with Makoto some days or by myself.

Me and Makoto we're going home for the day. When we turned around the corner, we saw Haru standing there.

“Huh? Haru?” Makoto questioned.

Haru looked back and saw us there.

“It's been a while since the three of us walked home together.” I stated.