Clouded Distance

Chapter Nine

Iwatobi SC Returns

True to their word, after they all finished practice, the swim club members helped Sasabe put the posters advertising the swim club's return.

Before they put the first poster up, Rei was adamant that they fixed the English. It was bothering him to no end, and refused to put one poster with the incorrectly spelt English up.

There weren't many ways that they could fix the poster, and the best they could do was stick the corrections over the top. The posters didn't look the best once that had happened, but at least there was no longer any embarrassment over incorrect English.

They split up into small teams to get more posters put up quicker. Hana went around Haru, and Nagisa paired with Makoto. Rei and Gou opted to go around town on their own. They arranged to meet by the steps by the beach when they'd finished.

The sky was coloured gold as the sun set. Haru and Hana ambled around their area of town, finding places to put up the posters. They got permission from a few shopkeepers to put the posters up on their windows. 

They were done much faster than Hana had expected. With a smile at Haru, she and him walked back to the beach, talking the entire way.

Despite how quickly they seemed to have finished, they were the last to arrive.  With a small roll of her eyes, she and Haru tok their seat on the steps beside their friends. 

"Done at last!" Hana exclaimed in celebration, as she collapsed on the steps. She stretched her arms out and lay back on the concrete. She frowned. It hadn't been her best decision; the edge of the step was digging into her back.

Nagisa grinned. "Now we just need an exciting main event!"

The suggestions started folding at once, so much that Hana wondered if people had been thinking things over while putting the numerous posters up. Ideas certainly hadn't graced her for this particular event and her mind remained annoyingly blank.

"How about a doggy paddle contest?" Gou suggested.

"That sounds like fun!"

"Then how about a contest for the most beautiful form in the butterfly stroke?" Rei suggested. "We can call it, 'the Butterfly of Beauty!'"

Hana muffled a light chuckle behind her hand.

"Or we can have a muscle contest as well..." Gou mused. A dreamy expression was on her face as she spoke.

Hana outright laughed at this, though she clamped her mouth shut almost as soon as she did so. Oh, Rei, Gou.

"Would you get over the muscles already?!" Rei exclaimed. Gou was unfazed by his sudden exclamation.

Makoto chuckled, and looked across at the only one of them who had remained silent this far. "What about you, Haru? Any ideas?"

Hana propped herself up on her elbows and looked across at him, interested in what Haru might have to say.

A small pause, and then Haru looked up at them all. "How about a relay?" he suggested quietly.

Everyone's reactions were instantaneous.

"Are you serious, Haru?" Makoto asked.

"That would definitely be exciting!"

"Let's do it, Haruka-senpai!"

"It would make a great showpiece for the tournament!" Gou added.

Hana didn't say anything, but instead sent a smile of approval Haru's way. She couldn't help but reflect that this time last year, Haru still would've been adamant against swimming in a relay. Now, he was the one suggesting that they swim one for the main event.

She couldn't help but smile.

"So we need opponents to swim against, right?" Rei mused.

The answer to that was blindingly obvious.

"Samezuka," Hana piped up at once, a grin on her face. "Rin's the captain - I'm just about certain he'd be willing."

Gou nodded, already taking her phone out. "I'll call him now!"

They watched as Gou quickly punched in Rin's number, and set it to voice mail. The ocean breeze continued to play with their hair as they waited for a total of four rings for Rin to accept their call.

"Gou? What is it?" Rin asked, his voice crackling to life on the other end of the phoneline.

Gou leaned in a little closer to the speaker. "Oh, we were going to ask if you'd be interested in Splash Fest!?"

"Splash Fest?" Rin questioned. He sounded a little dubious.

Nagisa nodded eagerly. He leaned in a little closer to the phone, so much that Gou had to lean back a little. "In Iwatobi SC..."

"Returns!" Rei finished.

A small silence.

"Uh, I don't follow you," Rin muttered.

Hana chuckled to herself. Nagisa and Rei weren't doing the best job of explaining the situation. Wanting to clear things up for Rin, she opened her mouth to speak. However, Makoto beat her to it.

"Hello, Rin?' Makoto brought the phone a little closer to him as he spoke.

"Is that you, Makoto?" Rin sounded relieved. Of course he would be. Makoto is really a reliable person.

"Yeah, actually..." Makoto quickly explained what Splash Fest was, and how they wanted to organise a relay event and have Samezuka as their opponents.

There was a small silence as Rin digested the information. "So you're saying you want us to be your opponents?" he asked.

"You think you could?"

He sighed. "You guys..."

Rei, Nagisa and Gou leaned in a little closer. "Please?" they begged.

There was a small silence on the other end of the phone. Hana crossed her fingers. iPod he says yes, or this idea is basically going to go down the drain.

Eventually, Rin relented. "Alright. I'll see if I can find people who are willing."

Hana grinned, and joined in the others as they voiced their appreciation.

She couldn't help but think Sasabe would be more than willing to accept their idea. He'd probably be as excited about it as they were.

*          *          *

A few days had passed since then. For Hana, those days had revolved around school, and both her clubs. She had managed to find time for herself, of course, but it had been less time than she had once in the past. Training as a swimmer took up more time than she thought. It was definitely more exhausting than just being a manager.

The day of the opening of Sasabe's swim club, Hana yawned and stretched out, standing just outside her house. She was tired, having staying up a little later than usual to brainstorm ideas for her short story. She'd come up with an idea that she'd really liked, and was going to write out her draft for it later on.

Despite being tired and having a fairly late night, Hana had told herself that today, she would be joining Haru and Makoto on their morning run. She had missed too many of them.

Hana had forgotten how cold it was in the early morning. The sky was still dark, the sun not having risen yet. The chilly sea breeze would've made her freeze if she hadn't been wearing her light sports jumper. Hana told herself that she'd warm up soon enough once she started running and she got her blood pumping.

Hana looked down at her watch and shook her head. Haru probably had already passed her. She'd have to meet the two of them at Makoto's. After one more yawn, Hana proceeded down the narrow lane at a light jog.

Fortunately, it wasn't too far to Makoto's, and fortunately the two of them hadn't left yet. It looked as though Hana had caught them just as they were about to leave.

"Looks who's joining us," Makoto joked, as he looked up and spotted her coming down.

Hana rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh, shut up." She quickly stretched out her calf muscles once last time before standing upright. She had learned the hard way that it was better to stretch before running - the first time they had gone running, she'd let it slip her mind, and ended up waking up the next day feeling stiff and sore all over. Once she'd finished, she looked up at the other two. "Ready?"

"We were waiting on you."

Hana chuckled, and the three of them set down the path at a light jog. 

During the winter, Hana's breath had turned into little water droplets in the air, creating a white cloud of fog. The ground had sometimes been wet with puddles all over the place as they ran, which they would sometimes step in and cause their socks to become soaked. Things had warmed up a little since then. Hana's breath was no longer a white cloud in front of her, and the ground was dry.

Hana definitely preferred running at this time of year in comparision to the winter.

"Want to run along the beach today?" Makoto asked presently, as they turned the corner.

Hana nodded. "Sounds like a good idea," she voiced, between deeply inhalations of air. One thing hadn't changed about running, and that was the way her lungs started to burn a little tbe further they ran, and how she had to start gasping for breath. She was going alright for the moment, but knew that eventually she'd start to struggle.

"Want to increase our distance in preparation for the tournament?" Haru questioned them.

Hana bobbed her head. "Okay," she agreed, almost laughing as she spoke perfectly in time with Makoto.

They set off on their desired course. It was strange, to hear how their footsteps echoed so loudly against the pavement in the empty morning. They ran with the beach to their left. The waves lightly crashed against the sand, the tang if salt heavy in the air. Hana felt her breathing rate begin to increase, though it was bearable for a moment.

For the moment, that was. Hana wasn't exactly sure what her limit was. She hadn't been running in so long.

"Hey, Haru, Hana," Makoto said momentarily.

"What?" Haru responded. Hana looked across at her friend as he spoke, curious as to what he was about to say.

"What are you going to do?"

Hana went blank. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Makoto looked across at them. "The thing Rin mentioned."

Ah. That. Hana shrugged as best she could while running. "I don't know. Writing, most likely. What kind, I don't yet know."

Haru didn't appear to be too fazed by the question. "As long as I can swim, I don't care," he muttered.

Makoto eyed them both, and then laughed. "That's just like you, Haru."

The ran the rest of the way in silence. Hana didn't think she'd be able to talks if someone spoke to her, anyway. She was placing too much focus on keeping her breathing as even as possible as they ran.

Due to her numerous absences over the weeks - particularly since school had started once more - Hana found herself falling a little behind Makoto and Haru, but didn't let that discourage her. Her breathing became ragged, but she told herself to just put one foot after the other.

The distance was longer than Hana expected, and she was sure at one point that she wasn't going to make it back home with her lungs still functioning properly.

But, in the end, they did, even if Hana was left gasping for breath. Sweat streamed down her face and her neck. Hana wiped her forehead with her hand, breathing deeply. She rested her hands on her knees for support. All she wanted to do was collapse on the ground, but knew that wasn't the best thing for her to do.

"You alright there, Hana?" Makoto asked.

"Huh? Fine. I just - need to - get my breath back." Hana clasped her hands behind her head, trying to make it just that little bit easier to breathe.

Hana remembered that that day was the opening of Iwatobi SC Returns. She chuckled to herself, relieved that she wasn't actually swimming for once. She probably would've been too tired to by the time her event came around.

They stayed for a few more minutes, enough for Hana to be able to breathe normally again. She quickly said goodbye to Makoto and joined Haru as they walked up the hill to their respective homes.

Hana's house came first. She paused just shy of the doorway, and sent a wry smile Haru's way. "I'd give you a hug, but I'm sweaty and gross," she laughed.

"Same goes for me." Haru nodded at her. "I'll see you as we leave for the opening, then."

"You bet." Hana sent one last grin his way before she disappeared back inside her house, closing the door behind her.

*          *          *

After showering and getting something to eat, Hana spent the rest of the day switching between homework, writing and doing her own thing. She ended up reading a fair bit, just wanting some time to herself and relax.

When it was time to go, she stepped outside and waited for Haru so they could walk down to Makoto's together. Haru wasn't too long. After greeting him with a quick embrace, they headed dow to their friend's house. 

When they arrived, two excited voices greeted them. "Haru-chan, Hana-chan!"

Hana beamed as Makoto left with his little siblings; the twins, Ren and Ran. Ran was being carried by her older brother, while Ren ran out to greet them. She was definitely fond of the two.

"Sorry for the wait."

"Are Ren and Ran coming too?" Haru asked.

"They said they wanted to be in the kickboard race."

"You should swim with us too, Haru-chan, Hana-chan!"

Hana quickly sent a glare Haru's way. "Don't you dare -"

"I only swim freestyle."

Hana sighed, exasperated. She had to clench the fabric of her jumper so she wouldn't face palm.

"Then I'll swim freestyle, too!" Ran exclaimed.

Ren frowned. "No fair, I will too!"

Hana rolled her eyes, lightly pushing Haru. "I told you not to."

The swim club was within walking distance of their homes, but it still wasn't an entirely ideal distance fort he younger Ren and Ran. Ran was already on her brother's shoulders. Hana offered to take Ren. At first, she was surprised by his weight, but she quickly adjusted and was able to walk the rest of the way quite comfortably. Haru offered to take him numerous times, but Hana declined each time with a smile on her face.

The twins wanted to walk the rest of the way once they got closer to the swim club. Hana was surprised by how much lighter she felt when aren't additional weight was no longer on her back. They met Rei and Nagisa just outside the building, Ren and Ran looking excited to see the other two.

Gou and Miss Amakata were waiting for them inside.

"Here's today's program," Gou said, handing each of them one the few programs she carried in her arms.

Hana smiled as she received hers. "Thank you." She opened the program and scanned the list of events. Her eyes widened a little as she took note of all the events planned.

"Looks like lots of events are planned," Makoto murmured, voicing Hana's thoughts.

Nagisa looked excited. "I can't wait!"

Hana looked over the program once more. The relay's the last event. Her eyes flicked up a little as she scanned the inside of the building. I wonder where Rin is? Gou would've mentioned if they had already arrived.

"You liar! You said you were taking me someplace with lots of cute girls!"

Hana blinked, and turned in the direction of the loud, unfamiliar voice. It had caught her attention quickly; she now wanted to know who it was.

And what's this thing about cute girls? The swim club isn't exactly the first place you'd think of...

Hana's eyes widened a fraction as the speaker came into view, but it wasn't what she'd been expecting. The owner of the voice was a short red-haired boy, being dragged along by none other that Rin, who was looking fairly unimpressed. Nitori walked behind them.

"Quit whining!" Rin muttered to the boy. He jerked his head in the direction of a few little girls. "See? Cute girls!"

Hana almost burst out laughing. That's how Rin managed to bring this kid along? She presumed that he was a part of Samezuka's relay team - or rather, he'd been tricked to be a part their team.

The boy wasn't impressed. "Nii-chan, I've been tricked!" he wailed.

Rin sighed and cast a look back over his shoulder. He frowned, looking a little confused. "Where'd Sousuke go, anyway?" he muttered.

Nitori too looked around. "Huh? He was just here..."

Sousuke? Hana didn't know the name.

Rin shook his head, appearing exasperated. "Damn, if it's not one thing, it's another."

"Let go!"

"Hey, quit flailing!"

Gou turned around, and grinned to see Rin. She quickly handed her programs to Hana, who gasped under the sudden weight burden. It wasn't that heavy at all, but it had caught her by surprise. "You're late, Oni-chan!" she called, running to approach the gathered members from Samezuka.

Rin smiled at his younger sister. "Hey, Gou," he greeted. 

"Wait a second." The unknown boy stepped forward to Gou. His eyes were unusually wide, and shining a little. "You're... cute!" His cheeks turned rather red.

Hana watched the exchange take place, an amused smile on her face. She remembered all to well how last year, Seijuro had said the exact same thing. She hadn't heard it in person, but Gou had told her.

Gosh, this guy's like a mini Seijuro. But... definitely more energetic... She reflected this last part with a light laugh before she frowned.

Hang on... I can definitely pick out some similarities in looks between him and Seijuro... and he did say Nii-chan, which means he has an older brother...

Before she could think any more of it, the others were approaching the group. Hana shook herself of her thoughts and joined them.

Makoto smiled. "Rin, and all of you, thanks for coming."

Rin smiled. "Sure."

"I've been looking forward to it!" Nitori said.

"Really?" A look of relief crossed Makoto's face. "I'm glad to hear it."

Gou scuttled forward, handing out a program to each person who had just entered. "Here are programs for all of you."

"Thank you very much."

As Hana took her program, a movement by the doorway caught her eye. She looked up, and spotted a boy she didn't know walk through the door. She bit her lip. He was much, much taller than her; the tallest out of everyone gathered. He had a very intimidating presence.

Hana glanced around, trying to see if anyone there knew who this guy was.

And she didn't notice much else, other than the way Haru's eyes narrowed when he saw him.