Things Change (A Free! Eternal Summer fanfiction)

Meeting up again

Everything has changed

It was the day after graduation. Makoto stood outside the Frankfurt Airport, in Germany. The wind ruffling his light brown hair. A few months before college graduation Haru, Rin and him had planned to meet up in Germany and backpack around Europe. They had tried to get the others to come but they either didn't have the time, or didn't have the money. So it ended up being just the three. Although he was actually quite glad the three of them were there, in Europe. He had honestly though it would not happen at all. Rin had taken multiple other language courses including Italian, Spanish, German, and French. He speaks all of them fluently, including English and Japanese. Makoto had to admit. Rin was a pretty impressive guy. And considering he knew all the languages it would be a little easier to navigate Europe. The fact that Haru even took time to meet up with them for an entire 3 weeks just impressed him. He was so lost in thought that he didn't see Rin walk out of the airport and come up behind him. Rin smirked and tapped his shoulder making him jump.
"Arigato, Makoto."
"Oi Rin! You scared me! You can't just do that I've never been to this country!" I said still shaking a little.
"Calm down Makoto no one in Germany is going to try to kill you." He said rolling his eyes.
"You don't know that, there could be Nazi's!" He did a literal face palm rolling his eyes.
"We were on the Nazi side in the war stupid. If anything they would kill the American tourists. But there are no Nazi's anymore anyway. In fact even wearing a swasstica in Germany is illegal."
"Well excuse me Mister Geography teache- He was interrupted by a light tap on his shoulder and a quiet,
"Arigato, Makoto, Rin." I perked up at the sound of the voice.
"Haru!" I said turning around and smiling at him.
"Yo, Mermaid." Rin said crossing his arms, leaning against a wall.
"Shut it Shark Week." Haru said glaring at him.
"I told you to stop calling me Mermaid like 30 years ago."
"Haru were all 20," Makoto said tilting his head and smiling.
"I know it was a figure of speech." He said smiling slightly.
"Anyway, why don't we get to our hotel. People in the airport are starting to stare." Rin interrupted, chuckling.
"I'll hail a cab." He said walking to the edge of the street, leaving the two in silence. I turned to Haru who was watching a younger boy greet his grandparents.
"I missed you Haru-Chan," I said teasing him with the nicknames Nagisa had given us.
"I missed you too Mako-Chan," he said cracking the first smile I had seen on his face in a long time.
"Hey losers! I got a cab hurry up!"

After figuring out the Euro currency (thank god Haru had a traveling book in his back pack to help them out) they paid the cab driver and walked into their hotel. Rin had agreed to pay for the hotels, Haru would pay for the food, and Makoto agreed to pay for anything else such as transportation and activities. Rin walked up to the front desk and got their room key. Although right before he turned to meet back up with them the front desk clerk stopped him.
"Your last name is Matsuoka?" She said in German with some trouble pronouncing his last name. He stopped to take a moment to find the right words in the right language that were all jumbled in his head.
"Yes it is, why? have you heard of it?" He said in his best German raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"You swam in the Japanese nationals, correct?"
"Actually yes, I did." He said laughing a little. "I'm surprised you even recognized me."
"Yes, yes! You are Rin Matsuoka. I thought you looked familiar! And those boys you are with. They were in nationals too?"
"Yes all three of us were, that's Haruka Nanase and Makoto Tachibana."
"That's amazing! You three were incredible! My husband, he is Japanese, we watch the swimming tournaments each year with family. I thought you three looked familiar. Would you mind if you and the others could pose for a picture? My husband would love it!"
"Sure but let me check with the other two first." he said smiling at her, "I'll be right back". He walked back over with wide eyes. "Guys that girl knows who we are."
"Huh what do you mean?" Makoto asked tilting his head.
"Her husband is Japanese and they watched the swimming nationals, she wants to get a picture of us." He said chuckling a bit. "But I said I would check with you guys first, if you don't want too."
"Do they have a pool?" Haru asked blankly.
"Yeah it's on the third floor."
"Okay this hotel is acceptable. I will pose for a picture since they have a pool." Haru said looking determined. Rin rolled rolled eyes.
"Is that a yes then?"
"Sure". They walked over and Rin told her they agreed and she looked excited. They posed for the picture with Rin in the middle with his arms around the others backs grinning, Haru looking away (like always), and Makoto giving a peace sign and smiling. She giggled as she took the picture.
"Thank you so much, I hope I wasn't a bother."
"No it was our pleasure." Rin said smiling.
"Oh haha uhm here's your room key." She said handing it to Rin.
"Have a lovely stay!"
"Thank you mrs...Anya." He said reading her name tag and pulling the other two along with him into the elevator.
"I hope I didn't mess up any of my German when I was talking to her." He sighed.
"We had no idea what either of you were saying the entire time." Makoto said chuckling.
"That was obvious." He said smiling. "Hey look we're on the same floor as the pool." Rin exclaimed pressing the button to floor 3. Haru suddenly jolted up pressing the button to close the door over and over again.
"Hurry hurry hurry." He muttered tapping his foot impatiently for the elevator to reach the floor with a pool.
"In German its Schnell." Rin said matter-of-factly.
"Schnell Schnell Schnell." Haru repeated giving Rin a dirty look. Rin rolled his eyes.
"You haven't changed a bit."

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For those who actually read this I'm going to be truthful when I say, this story is a pure trap. Read on if you want. I will update as soon as possible but this will probably be a short story (5 chappies at the most although I will make them as long as possible!) be warned though, you may need tissues for certain parts!