The Shark and the Stingray

Chapter 13

"Oh there you guys are!" Sasabe saw the boys, "Are we feeling good this morning?" I asked them, "Yeah!" "Absolutely!" "You bet we are," Nagisa, Rei and Mako reply, we were at the regional pool, Haru and I look around, "Guess Rin's not here yet huh? I need to go find him and tell him something quickly, but hey, don't worry, he'll come." I grinned at Haru, "I know," He smiles, "Something happen yesterday with my brother I should know about?" Kou asks Rei, "No, we just vowed to do our best today, a gentlemen's agreement if you like," He looks at her, "Hey everyone, we've got seats for the whole group," Hanamura came up to us, she came to cheer the boys on, "Oh thank you Hana!" Kou smiles, "Alright let's do it!" Coach puts his fists on his hips, "If we win this today, we go to nationals," Mako looks at the pool, "You think we can do it?" Nagisa mutters, "Get it out of your heads! It's not time to think about that crap! quick worrying how it'll all play out swim for yourselves, swim for each other, for the hell of it! Whether you win or lose the point is to be free! Now get out there and have fun God damn it!" Coach shouts at us, we all wince at the loud voice but we all smiled and looked at each other.

"Congratulations, you've all worked really hard to this day, that's why you're here, so let this be your moment to shine," An announcement was going on, every swimmer lined up on pool deck in rows based off teams, "So which one's your brother? Show me," Hanamura scans the boys, "Down there, with the Samezuka team," She point, I saw Rin and my heart dropped, the look on his face was so sad. "Next is the mens 100 metre freestyle," We saw Rin go up, "There he is, lane four," I stood up with Kou near the rails, "Let's go big brother!" She shouts, "You can do it Shark!" I shout, the buzzer went off, "Crap, he dove late," Mako leans forward, "It's fine, he still has the turn," Haru says, "Rin..." I saw him, he was miles behind, something was wrong, he was last to touch the wall, he took his cap and goggles off and was coughing and panting, "Big brother..." Kou looks at him, we saw him try to get out of the pool but he tried and his arm gave out under him, he tried again but he fell back into the water, my eyes widen and I ran down to pool deck, "Yuki!" Mako calls out for me. "SHUT UP!" I heard Rin's voice and a vending machine was hit, I ran over to the sound, "Please sir get a hold of yourself, you can't be like this, they'll ban you from competing you've got to get it together!" I heard Nitori, "I DON'T NEED TO DO A DAMN THING! YOU THINK ANY OF THIS MATTERS ANYMORE! IT'S OBVIOUS I COULDN'T GET ANY BETTER, THAT'S WHY I WAS TAKEN OFF THE RELAY I GIVE UP, I QUIT YEARS AGO AND I SHOULD HAVE STAYED QUIT!" I saw him kick a mesh bin, rubbish flew out everywhere, I slowly walked forwards, "Matsuoka, wait!" Nitori tries to reach out to him, I walked ahead of Rin and slowly began to put the rubbish back into the bin, "And here I was about to say how proud of you I was," I smiled sadly, Rin's eyes widen, "I came down to say how much you've grown, Rin, I know I haven't swum with you forever, but I do know I've swam with you for six years. And I can't even tell you how much better you've gotten, you said you quit, never in my life have I seen you quit and never do I want to see that. When someone says the word swim, the first thing that comes to mind is you Rin. To me, the word swimming is you Rin. SO STOP SAYING YOU'RE GOING TO JUST GIVE UP LIKE THAT!" I thump his chest, "You've gotten so far, are you really going to just leave it all behind? If it wasn't for swimming, think of all the friends you've made, we met through swimming, it's what brought us together. Now if you say you want to just drop the water, it feels like you're dropping me and betraying me in some ways." I let my hands drop, "Yuki," I hear him mutter, "Just take a breath, after all, have you ever seen a Shark stop swimming? I don't think I have," I punched his chest lightly and I looked up, tears pooled in my eyes, "Yuki." His breath hitches, "Rin," We both looked up and saw Rei, "It has to be said, watching you interact frustrates me to no end, if you want to swim, by all means do it. I've already talked to the rest of the boys, it's what needs to be done," Rei touches his glasses, we gasp, "Just don't let me down alright," I felt my voice crack and I left without saying another word, Rin kept calling out for me, "Come on Rin, you need to get ready," Rei says, he grits his teeth but follows Rei.