-Iwatobi Station-Day before Tournament-

"Alright, I taught you everything I know -and some things I made up-, so go out there and swim like there's no tomorrow!" Coach Sasabe exclaimed.

"I don't know what's more embarrassing, the banner or Coach's gusto." Rei pointed out.

Makoto chuckled softly, and Haru's eyes widened as he noticed something on the banner that Gou and her friend were holding up as a farewell for the Iwatobi team. "That drawing..." He murmured.

"Nice! How's feel to have your artwork look all professional?" Nagisa questioned, clinging onto Haru's arm as he too noticed Haru's drawing of the Iwatobi mascot.

"I never imagined it would be used for something like this." Haru stated, glancing at Y/N as she clung onto his other arm.

"Have fun. We'll be heading out to meet you first thing in the morning." Miss Amakata told them.

"Be sure to get some rest at the hotel. We don't need you exhausted before the tournament." Gou informed the group seriously.

"I believe the Roman general Caesar said it best, 'if we cross, we shall wreck tragedy upon the world, and if we do not-'"

"Hey, look, the bus." Nagisa cut off Miss Amakata's quotation as the vehicle made a stop.

"Alright, guess we're off." Makoto sighed in exasperation.

___Quick Time Skip___

On the bus, Y/N sat on the seating across the aisle from Haru and Makoto, Rei and Nagisa sitting behind them. She had earbuds plugged into her ear as she listened to whatever music Nagisa had on his phone.Some of it was very questionable, especially one which sounded like Nagisa had sung it himself. [*impersonating Thugisa* Ayo, listen to my new mixtape!]

She perked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned to see Nagisa waving a chocolate pocky stick in her face.

"Here you go, N/N!" He cheerfully exclaimed, a pink tint covering his cheeks as Y/N opened her mouth and he put the breadstick between her lips.

As the mermaid munched on the food, her eyes sparkled at how overly sweet it was, while it seemed Rei and Makoto were not too fond of it.

Eventually the bus stopped and the group ate ramen at a small restaurant, and then went into a gift shop to look around.

It didn't take much longer for them to get back into the bus, and they were able to make it to the city just after the sun set.

Y/N looked around the city in awe, as it was a lot different than Iwatobi, which was more like a home town. The neon lights caught her off guard, and she would have to cover her ears each time a car whizzed past the sidewalk or blared its horn.

At some point she had begun to cross the street, only to have Nagisa pull her back and point out the no crossing sign to her. Which, Makoto had to explain to her as they continued their search for their hotel.

Walking up to the desk, Y/N had shifted clinging onto Makoto to back to clinging onto Haru. It seemed to be the one thing that she enjoyed doing, as it helped her stay grounded and remember that she was in fact here with these boys and not dreaming.

"So, it looks like the school was only able to pay for two rooms for us. And, each room only has two beds." Makoto said as he returned to the other four swimmers, who were looking around the hotel lobby while he checked in like the responsible teen mom that he was.

Y/N didn't understand why the males had suddenly become flustered, even Haru had a tint of pink on his cheeks. "Alright? Well, then who will I be sleeping with?" The mermaid questioned, seeming oblivious.

"Don't say it so innocently like that!" Rei exclaimed, covering the lower part of his mouth with the back of his hand.

Y/N blinked, before her eyes widened in realization and her cheeks seemed to become as red as theirs. "G-geez, I didn't think you guys were such perverts! I thought I would be able to trust you, but now I'd rather sleep on that sofa over there!" She exclaimed, pointing to a random sofa in the lobby.

"Don't say that, Y/N!" Makoto, flusteredly, scolded her.

-4 hours later-

After the team ate dinner, the group decided to go and check out the pool that they would be competing in.

"It's closed." Y/N pouted as she placed her hands onto the red ropes that surrounded the outside of the large building.

"Well, it is sort of late." Mikoto pointed out, placing a hand on top of her head in a comforting gesture. "We'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see it." He sighed.

"Not quite. We might still be able to see it." Haru insisted, causing the others to glance at each other questionably.

____Quick Time Skip___

"Hurry, you gotta check this out!" Nagisa laughed as he grabbed Y/N's hand and ran with her up the last couple of steps.

"Don't run around in the dark, it's dangerous!" Rei scolded as he rushed after the two, Haru and Makoto a bit in the back as they attempted to keep up with the others.

"Woah..." Y/N gasped as the five of them got to the railing and were able to oversee the shining lights that cast over the pool that they would be swimming in the next day. Though, her gaze was also on the millions of neon lights that were produced from the skyscraper buildings. "It's beautiful." She murmured, the closing thing to this perhaps being the underwater city that she lived in.

"I was going to say the same thing." Rei agreed, and Y/N turned her head to look at the four males beside her. "To think we would be able to swim in such beauty..."

"Man, and I thought I was pumped before!" Nagisa exclaimed.

Y/N smiled as she stared at them and their happy expressions.

If only things could stay like this. She thought, gripping at the key pendant that lied over her heart, nine gems were blue.

-Night-

Y/N had her hands on the railing as she stared out at the windmills. Her (E/C) eyes were closed as the wind blew her (H/L) hair around her head.

"What are you doing here?" Hearing a voice, the female tensed up, before she glanced over her shoulder. "Ah, that's right, you don't talk. You do shout, though, don't you?" The male questioned, walking up beside her.

"I don't understand it myself. It just happened." Y/N told him in a soft tone, her voice just barely above her whisper, which surprised her for only a moment. Certainly, weirder things have happened to her than being able to magically talk to someone. "Shouldn't you be sleeping? You have a relay to swim tomorrow." She told him, much like a scolding mother.

"Yeah. But I'm sure I should be saying the same to you." Rin stated, leaning his back against the railing and crossing his arms over his chest. "Niitori said you will be participating in the one-hundred butterfly." He told her.

"Oh~ So you're asking about me now?" Y/N questioned with a cheeky grin, which caused the red head's cheeks to turn a light pink.

"No, he was going on and on about you for the past week, actually." He told her, not seeming to care that this information might kill the poor awkward teen from embarrassment.

"When we visited you the other day, I managed to slip the guy at the front desk my number to give to Niitori. I thought it was very rude the way I left him the last time I saw him and wanted to apologize." Y/N explained to him.

"Ah, yes, he mentioned you were the one who ran off on him at the districts." Rin nodded his head. "So, why are you out here at this time of night, princess?" He questioned.

Y/N tensed up at the 'nickname', before she scoffed. "I couldn't sleep." She told him.

"Are you nervous that you might lose or something?" Rin curiously asked her.

"Nightmares." Y/N simply told him, though no clue as to why she had. Perhaps it was because she was actually able to. "And what about you? You look a 'man on a mission', as they say in the movies." She said.

Rin raised an eyebrow, before he sighed and glanced at the windmills. "I'm meeting with Ryugazaki." He told her.

"What?" Y/N looked shocked, and also concerned. She hoped that this was not some way for the two to get into a fight without the others knowing, after all, that could get the two kicked out she had learned.

"I want to answer his second question, about what I feel for Haru. The truth is, I don't know what I feel about him, but I was intent on beating him at swimming. As well, it's not because he beat me that I wanted to quit swimming." He informed, looking a bit lost in thought.

"Why are you telling this to me?" Y/N asked, causing the male's eyes to widen as he glanced at her. As if he had forgotten, for a moment, that he had just told her.

"You wanted to know just as badly as your boyfriend, right?" He questioned, making Y/N's cheeks inflame.

"Tako-kun is not my boyfriend." She insisted, much to Rin's sudden amusement.

"Are you sure? You were hanging onto him quite closely, and you even have a cute pet name for him." He pointed out, almost mockingly teasing her.

Y/N puffed out her cheeks. "We're just friends." She insisted, before shaking her head. "If it's not because of Haru, then why were you so insistent on quitting?" She asked him.

Rin, surprised at the change of subject, sighed and placed his hands on the railing. "I was practicing everyday in Australia, participated in every tournament, but I could never swim the way I wanted to. I wondered why I was falling behind. Whenever I came back, I never cared to get into touch with any of the others, why would I? I had given up on swimming completely then." He told her.

Before he could continue his explanation, though, he glanced over her shoulder to see the megane approaching from a distance. "I'll be keeping my eye on you, L/N, so do your best, and don't let down your team." He told her.

Y/N blinked, before she smiled in determination and nodded her head. "I wouldn't loose even if I had to go up against you." She told him, before she went down the opposite trail, seeming oblivious to the arrival of Rei.

-6 years ago-

"Y/N, you made it." The blue eyed boy said, a bit startled when seeing the (H/C) mermaid sitting on their promised meeting spot. "How is your mother?" He asked as he sat on the rock, his legs still under the water.

Y/N rubbed at her red eyes, as if that would make them change to their usual bright (E/C), but alas, and she ended up closing her eyes as she forced herself to smile. "Awa-sensei says that she'll start getting better soon." She told him.

The young Haru nodded his head, though his monotonous expression that he usually wore told her that he didn't believe what she had told him. "Here." Changing the topic, the male handed her a plastic bag, which had a pen and notepad inside of it. "We were supposed to write our favorite phrase on these bricks near a cherry tree at school for graduating elementary. I thought you would like to put something there, too." He told her.

"But...this isn't a brick. It's paper." Y/N pointed out, sounding confused.

"I'll write whatever you want me to on a brick tomorrow." Haru told her. "I'll put it right next to mine."

Y/N blinked, before that certain sparkle in her (E/C) gaze showed up, just as Haru had hoped it would. "Alright!" She agreed, opening the bag and pulling out the contents. She tapped the pen against her cheek, before she smiled softly and scribbled the phrase down and slipped it back into the bag and handing it to Haru.

"Listen to your heart." The young male murmured what she had written.

"It's what my mother tells me and my siblings." Y/N informed him. "She says that's how she knew her and Daddy were meant to be together. Will you write it, for her?" She questioned, looking at Haru hopefully.

The boy looked at the female, before he nodded his head. "Alright." He agreed.

-Present-Day of Tournament-

"Haru! Let's hurry and get going!" Nagisa called out as himself and the other three waited on the male

The team had stopped at a nearby pool for a quick practice, and were ready to go to the tournament. Haru, on the other hand, had knelt beside a Sakura tree and began to doodle into the dirt.

"What on earth is he doing?" Rei questioned with a quizzical expression.

Nagisa suddenly grinned and turned to Makoto. "Hey! That looks a lot like the cherry tree in middle school!" The blond announced.

"Oh, yeah." Makoto's eyes widened in realization. "Wow, it's been a while." He muttered, as Y/N watched Haru with a gentle expression.