Clouded Distance
Chapter Thirty
Always Connected

Before anyone knew it, there was just one more day to Nationals. Hana woke up that morning, feeling like Nationals was staring at her in the face. Even though she wouldn't be racing, she still felt the nerves. She had seen just how much effort her friends had been putting into their training recently, and wanted to see those efforts be rewarded.

Hana spent most of the day with Gou, since everyone else was busy practicing. She hadn't been able to spend much time with her friend recently, and was glad just to spend a day with her, even if they were just seated in the stands. They talked endlessly and animatedly about a good many things. Gou questioned her about Haru a number of times, which made Hana's cheeks burn every time, much to her friend's amusement.

Then the day was over and night was falling, and Miss Amakata was taking them out for dinner. Hana's jaw dropped when she saw where they'd be eating that night; it was a far nicer place than she'd expected to be eating at.

They were directed to a table situated outside, with a gorgeous view over the city. Hana smiled and shook her seat next to Haru, moving her chair a little closer to him. She wanted to make up for the time they'd lost over the past few weeks, and any opportunity they were given was one she was going to take.

"It's the night before nationals, so order absolutely anything you want! It'll be my treat!" Miss Amakata said, as they pulled out their menus.

"Wow, Sensei!" Gou exclaimed, as Hana's eyes widened at the generous offer. "That's really generous!"

Nagisa grabbed the menu and scanned it over. "In that case, let's get the potato salad, seafood salad, fish and chips, roast beef, onion soup, Yorshire pudding, spaghetti, arrabbiata pasta, pasta pescatore, jellied eels, spicy french fries, cheese omelet, porcini cream risotto, egg-topped lobster, grilled lobster, lobsters in -"

"Stop!" Miss Amakata cried. She marched over to Nagisa and snatched the menu from his hands. "Hazuki-kun, why don't we go with that for now? But without the lobster."

"What?" Nagisa moaned.

Hana chuckled, but was relieved that Miss Amakata had stopped their friend from saying much more. Just listening to him rattle off all that food had started to make her feel sick, and they hadn't even eaten anything yet. She picked up a menu and started to look it over, trying to find something that she might be interested in eating that day. 

"Nagisa-kun, you're truly merciless," Rei said blankly.

Haru frowned as he read the menu over. "Is there misco mackerel?"

"They definitely wouldn't have that here," Makoto said with a laugh, while Hana rolled her eyes and hit Haru playfully on the shoulder. It's like his diet consists only of mackerel!

"They do have mackerel meuniere, though!" Rei said, pointing it out on the menu.

"How about salt grilled?"

"I told you, they won't have that here!"

"How about this?" Rei said hurriedly.

"What is it?" Nagisa asked, leaning over to see what Rei was pointing to. 

"It's s seafood risotto."

Hana wrinkled her nose. "I'll never be able to agree with your love of seafood," she muttered. She looked back at the pasta options, sitting back quietly while the others debated over what they should order.

Eventually, they were all able to settle on a menu that they were all satisfied with, and somehow managed to convince Haru to order something other than mackerel for a change. Hana laughed and joined in the conversations, continuing to relax more and more as the night went on.

It had been a while since they were all able to hang out like this: talking about anything without a care in the world, laughing and joking and teasing each other. Hana could feel the weight of the last few weeks rolling off her shoulders as she engaged once more in the normal, vibrant atmosphere of her group of friends.

Everything was back to how it had been before, and she couldn't be any happier about it.

*        *        *

When they finished their meal, Haru, Makoto, Nagisa and Rei decided to go for a quick walk. They offered for Hana and Gou to come, but they both declined. There was something else Hana wanted to do. She knew she most likely wouldn't have much time to do it tomorrow with Nationals.

She walked back to the hotel with Gou, both of them chatting the entire way. She had wanted to ask Gou something straight away, but became lost in the conversation.

"By the way, that's a gorgeous necklace, Hana," Gou said presently, nodding at the necklace Haru had given her. "I haven't seen it before."

Hana smiled and looked down, fingering the charm in her hand. She had only taken it off once since Haru had given it to her, and that had been so she could shower that morning. Even then, she'd put it back on as soon as she had dried off. 

"Thanks," she murmured. "Haru bought it for me in Australia, to mark our one-year anniversary."

Gou gasped, her eyes widening. "That's so cute!" she exclaimed. "He really has good taste though. It's just so pretty."

"It is," she said wistfully. The talk of Australia reminded her of what she originally had meant to ask Gou. "Hey Gou," she said. "Do you know where your brother is?"

Gou was surprised, but nonetheless named the hotel Samezuka was staying at, as well as the room Rin was in. With a smile and a call of thanks, Hana wandered off in the direction of the hotel.

She took only a few wrong turns before she ended up in the hotel lobby. Remembering what Gou said, Hana headed up to the fifth floor and navigated to the room Rin was saying in.

She found it soon enough, and knocked on the door. "Rin," she called. "Can I come in?"

She was waiting for a reply to be called back, but the door opened in her face, revealing Rin. He smiled warmly at her. "Hana. Of course."

Hana smiled back and stepped into the room. It was similarly styled to her own hotel room, but was slightly bigger. There were two beds in the room and possessions were placed neatly about, so Hana guessed Sousuke was  sharing the room with Rin. He must have gone out for a moment, for Rin was the only one in the room besides Hana.

"What is it?" Rin asked, closing the door behind him.

"It's nothing bad, I promise," Hana said with a laugh. She then flushed. "Rin... I just wanted to say thank you, for everything," she murmured. "For listening to me, being there for me, and bringing Haru back..." She looked up at him, trying her best to expressing her words and the tone of her voice just how grateful she was to him, for everything. "Seriously, I can't thank you enough. You're a really great friend."

Rin smiled, and Hana couldn't resist walking forward and hugging him, something he returned. "It's no problem. I'm glad you're doing better."

"But Australia?" she chuckled, stepping back. "I thought that was just a little bit extreme."

He shrugged. "Perhaps, but it was worth it. Besides, I'm leaving Japan after school, and swimming there."

The words sent a shock through Hana's body, and she choked. "You what?" she all but screeched, after she'd recovered. She flinched, hoping that she hadn't disturbed or scared anyone in nearly rooms."Sorry," she murmured. "I just... you're leaving?"

Rin... leaving Japan, and going to Australia? Not that I blame him, since the swimming over there is top-notch, but still... Its not Japan. Her eyes widened. We're barely going to be able to see him anymore, are we? Sure, they could call and text or communicate on social media, but it was nothing like seeing each other face-to-face.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Damn," she whispered. She shook her head, trying to imagine what it would be like without Rin in Japan. The thought wasn't a particularly pleasant one. "I'm really going to miss you, Rin."

"I'll miss you, too. But this is where my future's taking me.

Hana nodded mutely, then stepped forward for another hug. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, trying to make the most of this moment, since she knew that there wouldn't be very many in the future.

"We'll still be connected though, won't we?" she asked, voice slightly muffled.

"For sure," he responded.

And Hana believed them. They might all be walking different paths, but they were still friends. They'd make it work, somehow.  She knew they would.

*        *        *

When Hana returned to her hotel room, it was late. Gou was already curled up under her blankets, fast asleep. Hana quietly tiptoed into the room and got dressed into the pyjamas, then settled down on the bed. She wasn't exactly tired yet, so she grabbed a book and started to read, waiting for her eyes to start drooping.

Just as she could feel sleep begin to catch up to her, there was a knock at the door. "Hana. It's me," Haru called.

"Haru," she whispered. She closed her book and ran on tiptoe to the door, opening it as quietly as she could. "What are you doing here?"

"We just arrived back from our walk. I wanted to check up on you."

She chuckled. "I'm fine. But I won't lie, I'm glad you're here." She glanced back quickly to reassure herself that they hadn't woken Gou up yet, and saw that her red-haired friend was still snoring. "Let's take this outside, Gou's asleep."

Haru nodded and they stepped into the corridor. Hana softly closed the door behind her. A yawn escaped her lips and she stretched out, leaning her weight against the wall. Tiredness was really starting to creep up on her. She hoped that Haru didn't want to talk for too long - she didn't want to fall asleep in front of him.

Haru stepped closer to her. Hana smiled and rested her head on Haru's shoulder. "So Nationals are tomorrow, huh?" she mused. She blinked heavily, trying to fight back her tiredness. "How you feeling?"

"I don't know."

She groaned softly. "Haru."

"Its not like that," he said. "It's our last relay as a team."

"Oh. Yeah." The full meaning of his words hit her at once. Tomorrow, Haru and Makoto wouldn't be joining Nagisa and Rei for practice.

"It's the last time you'll ever swim together." She rubbed her forehead. "Damn. It's all happening so fast, isn't it? We'll be graduating and in college before we know it."

She couldn't believe it. At the beginning of the year, exams and university had still felt so far away. Now almost the entire year had disappeared before her eyes, and the end of high school was glaring at her. She'd soon be retiring from the writing club, too, and would be focusing only on her studies to take her exams.

Haru took her hand. "There's still time to go," he said, "We'll still see them during our breaks. And we can still see them after school as well."

"You're right," she murmured. "And it's not like we'll lose contact with Gou, Nagisa and Rei when we leave school, either. We'll always have each other."

"Yeah. We will."

Silence briefly fell between them. Hana smiled softly as closed her eyes, taking in everything about that moment.

"You'll own it tomorrow," she whispered, squeezing his hand. "You've worked so hard... I'm sure you'll do brilliantly."

And they did. When Hana watched the relay the next day, she thought her screams and cries could be heard all the way back in Iwatobi when her friends raced their hearts out, and all their efforts placed them first in their heat, and sixth place overall.

Sixth place out of all of Japan. Hana had tears in her eyes. She couldn't stay in the stands, she just couldn't. So she ran, sprinting out of the pool and making her way to the locker area, her spirit soaring and her heart

And she found them; her friends, still grouped together, still with the biggest grins on their faces like they couldn't believe what they had just accomplished.

Soon Hana was there amongst them, her cries being added to those of her friends as she hugged them all, flinging her arms around all of them in turn, laughing and calling congratulations to them the entire time.

And then she was in front of Haru, and she jumped into his arms, burying her face in his chest and squeezing him tightly to her. "You do it," she whispered, voice muffled by his shirt and her tears. "Haru... I'm so..." she trailed off, lost for words, but when she looked up at him her expression said it all.

And when they kissed, Hana couldn't imagine anything better.

-------------------------------------------------------------
so... there we go, everyone. there's only one more chapter to go and then the epilogue...