Bonded By Love

Eternal Blue of Setting Off!

"Sorry that I have to quit the swim club, too..." Makoto apologized to the two.

"It's not your fault. Take care of your little brother and sister." Ikuya reassured him.

Airi looked down and gripped the ends of her skirt. 'Yeah right...you only quit the swim club because Haru left...you can't fool me Makoto.'

"I will, thanks. But I really am sorry. For the team to break up even though it's almost time for the tournament...Asahi left suddenly, too...and Haru. Really, I wonder what happened to him. I thought I understood Haru, but maybe I didn't understand him at all..." Makoto said sadly.

It was shocking news for everyone when Haru suddenly left the swim club with no explanation. Haru didn't want to talk about it, not even to his two best friends.

Ikuya casually glanced at Airi, who was in front of him, and then Makoto, who was next to him, before looking straight ahead. "Makoto, me and Airi...are going to America with Aniki after all."

Makoto looked at Airi in shock. "What?"

"I want to swim more and more. I want to be faster. I didn't expect to like swimming competitively this much, either." Ikuya admitted.

"Ikuya...Airi...but why? Why are you leaving too? Are you really going to leave us behind? Leave Haru behind in this state? You can't leave..." He pleaded.

Airi looked away, refusing to make eye contact with him. "I'm sorry...but I have to. We've tried everything to get Haru to talk to us. He simply refuses to explain himself."

'I can't leave Ikuya alone. Haru has you to look after him, at least.'

"Tell Haru...I will definitely...see you at a swim meet-"

~

I snapped opened my eyes. 'Was I daydreaming? Why was I thinking of....? I've been thinking about Ikuya a lot lately...I wonder why? I hope nothing bad has happened to him.'

I casually glanced at my surroundings. We were all in Haru's place, trying to brainstorm ideas for Rin's surprise party.

"And so, I would like to start the meeting to throw a surprise party for Rin-san before he leaves for Australia. In the past, we received the very wonderful surprise of a pool full of cherry blossoms from Rin-san. So we would like to return the favor with an even more wonderful surprise. However, Airi-senpai, Haruka-senpai, and Makoto-senpai will-"

"Your introduction is too long, Rei-chan!" Nagisa cut off Rei.

"So anyway, let's talk about ideas for the surprise party together!" Kou announced.

Nagisa raised his hand. "I have one! How about having fireworks go off the moment Rin-chan enters the pool?"

"That's way above our budget." Rei shot down his idea.

"Besides, you can't light up fireworks inside a building. It's dangerous." I also had to disagree with Nagisa.

"Then, what if everyone does a muscle dance by his pillow when he wakes up in the morning?" Kou suggested.

"What the heck's a muscle dance?"

Makoto brought his hand up to his chin to do a thinking motion. "Hmm, if possible, it'd be better to do something with a pool..."

"Then, let's carry Rin-chan to the pool while he's sleeping!" Nagisa suggested.

"And then do the muscle dance there!" Kou added on.