Divine Madness [Free!] [2]

🌸 Chapter 3 🌸

"It's pretty late," Heisuke said as she walked down the stone steps with Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa, looking up at the darkening skies. "We should've left for the Swimming Club a bit earlier," The sky was dyed a deep purple hue in the distance.

"Hei-Chan's right," Makoto agreed with the pink-haired girl. He was holding onto a shovel that they were going to use to dig up the trophy. "But Nagisa had to go back home..."

"Sorry!" Nagisa apologised immediately, rubbing the back of his blond head sheepishly. He had not asked for permission from home and he had not brought clothes. So, he had to rush back and forth from his house.

"It's alright," Heisuke said hurriedly before the youngest of their little group started to go crazy once more. They had already wasted a lot of time as it is, and Nagisa's apologies took centuries to end.

"Let's go," Haruka pitched in flatly as he walked ahead of them. Heisuke shook her head at him and moved to match her pace with the older boy, stuffing her hands into her pockets.

The four of them were going to make their pilgrimage on foot. It was not like that they had not gone to the Swimming Club on foot, but usually it was the boys who ran all the way down while Heisuke rode her bicycle. But now they were all older and it weighed strangely on Heisuke's heart. She wished for those old days to come by.

Heisuke gazed off toward the direction of the sea as they walked by the port, the moon reflecting feebly on the waves. At the bay port, Heisuke could clearly see the white fishing boats that were anchored close together, as if children huddled close during winter, playing with their marbles on the sandy beach, or families huddled under the Kotatsu at their homes.

There were still a few white masts gliding over the dark waves off in the distance, the few strayed individuals out in the world. It reminded her awfully of herself, Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa as they strayed out of their homes to make this little journey so late.

It didn't take them long to arrive at the class A river called Shiwagawa and the large Mutsukibashi river that stretched over it. Though it was barely cold anymore, the wind continued to blow through the river and fluttered through their hair, filling their nostrils with the scent of the salty sea. The sound of the crashing waves was clear and crisp.

"Remember when Aki-Chan once dropped her scarf in the river?" Heisuke mused out loud as they made their way over Mutsukibashi. "And Haru-Kun fainted..." Haruka looked away and Makoto hummed.

Heisuke still remembered that day like it was yesterday. It was the day when everything had gone wrong. Haruka had got annoyed with her, she had fallen off of the stairs for the first time and Haruka had fallen into the river. She didn't know why she jumped into the river that day, but she knew that she had been scared.

It wasn't clear to her whether she had been scared of the water or scared for Haruka in that water. Heisuke shuddered to herself and dug her hands further into her pockets. Makoto and Rin had rushed to help her. Rin had even picked her out of the water. She let out a low breath, wondering where he was.

"It was really scary," Makoto said and Heisuke wasn't sure whether he was admitting that or if he was telling it to Nagisa, who had not been there. "But luckily Haru only got a bit sick,"

"And now Haru-Kun should know not to do strange things when he's sick," Heisuke said pointedly to improve the damp atmosphere she had created. "Right, Haru-Kun?"

"Hmm?" Haruka said as he looked toward the girl, whose pink hair was fluttering in the spring wind. "Yeah..." Heisuke met her eyes with his blue ones and the two of them looked away. She bit her lip.