Four years ago
"Why did you want to come to my house again, Haru?" Rin asked Haru.
"You've already been to my house, so now I wanna see yours." Haru told him. "This makes us even."
"What do you mean by even?" Rin asked.
The two kept walking until they stopped in front of a two-story house.
"Well, this is my home." Rin said.
"Hm." Haru looked up at the house with her usual expressionless face. "It looks bigger than I originally thought." She remarked in monotone.
The young swimmers walked through the front down, taking off their shoes at the entrance way.
"Mom, I'm home!" Rin announced. "And I brought a friend."
"I'm in the kitchen!" Ryoko's voice called out.
Walking into the kitchen, the two saw Ryoko, beautiful woman with long, waist-length red hair with split bangs that reached to her chest and orange eyes.
"Hi, honey." Ryoko greeted her son. "How was practice today?" She asked.
"It was good." Rin told her. "I almost beat my personal best." He said, grinning.
Ryoko smiled as she rubbed Rin's head. "That's my little shark." She remarked and kissed his head. She looked over and saw Haru. "Hello there." She said greeted with a warm and kind smile.
Haru was taken back by her smile. "H-Hello..." She said back softly, a light red hue on her face.
"Who's your friend, Rin?" Ryoko asked her son as she looked at him.
"This is Haru, she's in the swim club with me." Rin explained.
"Haru?" Ryoko repeated the name. "You mean that person you're always going on about, and saying how good she is at swimming?" She questioned.
"Mom..." Rin said as his face started to turn red.
"Oh." Ryoko said, grinning mischievously as she understood why her son was getting embarrassed. She turned to Haru. "It's nice to meet you, Haru-chan. My name is Ryoko."
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Matsuoka." Haru said.
"You don't have to be so formal, just call me Ryoko." Ryoko told her.
"Okay, Ryoko..." Haru said.
"Ne, Haru-chan..." Ryoko started to say. "Would you be, by any chance, Rin's girlfriend?" She asked.
"No, she's not!" Rin immediately yelled. "She's just a girl who's a friend and a teammate, that's all!"
"Mmhm, whatever you say, sweetie." Ryoko retorted with a knowing look on her face. "Just so you know, I was your age when I got interested in people of the opposite gender." She told him while nodding her head.
"Mom!" Rin whined, his face as red as his hair.
Haru just stood there and watched the mother and son pair.
'Is this how a mother and her child normally interact with each other?' She thought to herself.
"Mom, me and Haru are going to go up to my room." Rin told his mother.
"Okay, have fun, you two." Ryoko said, smiling, as the two young swimmers climbed up the stairs.
...
"Your room is much more nicer than I thought." Haru commented when they reached Rin's room.
"Just what did you expect to find when you came over here?" Rin asked.
