And so, the race against the clock began. All five of them split up, and began their search for Rin, with little time to spare before the relay began.

"Rin!" Rosalya yelled, louder than she ever had in her life before. Her only hope was that he was still in the building "C'mon, c'mon, don't do this to me…" she scanned her surroundings inside the building, but to no avail, so she went outside, to the entrance. She stopped for just five seconds to catch her breath, her watch ticking everytime she inhaled "RIN!" she forced her vocal chords to put more effort into her yelling, even though she was sure that would crush her voice.

Where could he be? Just where on earth…

The tree!

She increased her speed.

C'mon, please be there, please be there…

And he was, but he wasn't alone.

"You know the reason I swim, I understand!" Haru exclaimed as Rin grabbed him by the collar of his shirt furiously. Rosa couldn't bring herself to say anything, partially because she had no voice left, and partially because she didn't know what to say to calm them down. She had never witnessed a fight like that in her life before, she was paralyzed "It isn't about me! I get who I really swim for!"

"I told you to shut up!" the other guy aimed a fist at Haru's face, but he grabbed it before it made contact.

Rin's momentum made them both fall on the floor, the maroon haired on top of Haru. He hit the back of Haru's head against the floor, but he persisted and managed to roll around towards the tree, enough to make sure Rin was on top of him and could see…what exactly?

And when Rin looked down towards the floor, Rosa remembered.

The words she had written earlier that day.

For the Team and Promise.

Rin's eyes looked to the side, to find his best friend with tears in her eyes and her hands on her chest. The emotions she felt while watching that scene unfold were putting too much pressure on her already beaten up and mistreated heart.

And just like that, his rage was gone. All that was left now was heartache.

"This tree…" Haru spoke up, looking at the girl some meters away from them, and then back was Rin, whose eyes were hidden behind his hair "Look at it. Just like the one back in middle school. That's why you came here, isn't it?"

Rin breathed out tiredly, finally releasing his grip on Haru. He was exhausted; mentally, physically and emotionally.

"I…" he began, and his broken voice was enough to make the tears Rosalya had been trying her best to hold back roll down her cheeks "It was supposed to be free...We were…" he paused, trying to voice his troubled thoughts "All I ever wanted out of this was to swim with my friends" tears welled up his eyes and fell down one by one, softly hitting the pavement below them "To swim with you" he looked at Rosa, who could feel his pain as if it was her own "With the two of you"

Ignoring her running nose and blurry eyes, the girl sprinted towards Rin, knelt down in front of him, and wrapped her arms around him, wanting nothing more than to provide some comfort, which he desperately needed.

"You still can" Rosa said in her neck softly, almost in a whisper "You still can, Rin, it's not too late. It's never too late"

After some seconds of silence, he wrapped his arms around her as well, and brought her closer to him, burying his head in her neck, trying to convey all his untold feelings for the girl in that hug.

And she felt them. She truly did.


"Oh, there they are!"

They heard Makoto's voice, and they broke apart to look at him, only to find that Nagisa and Rei were there with him as well, smiling gently.

"Hey, Rin!" Nagisa replied, cheerful as ever, which made the girl let out a watery laugh.

No matter what happened, he would always stay the same.

"You guys, I…" he began as he stood up, but was cut off

"It has to be said" Rei spoke up sternly "The way you interact frustrates me to no end. If you wanna swim, by all means just do it!" Rosa couldn't help chuckling, still on the floor. She felt she had little to no strength to stand up.

Rin then seemed to realize the girl was still sitting down, and quickly, without hesitation, helped her up. Her legs almost failed her on the way up, but he grabbed her arm just in time.

"You need to stop falling down like that" he muttered, averting his gaze.

"Oh, are you worried about me by any chance?" she teased.

"Shut up…" he replied in a low voice, but Rosa could see a ghost of a smile on his face.

Just like old times.

"Oof, we made it!" Rosalya exclaimed, reaching the bleachers and immediately sitting down to catch her breath "We made it, it's fine" she felt she had been running for the past two days non-stop, when it had barely been half and hour.

A lot had happened in half an hour.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Miss Amakata sighed in relief when she saw Haru approaching the man with the list of all the teams competing in the relay.

"Where on earth were the five of you?" Sasabe questioned sternly.

"It's a long story" she replied simply "Let's leave it for another time" she added, as Makoto got into the pool and prepared to start.

And as soon as he dove in, the cheering started. Rosa scanned the boys lining up in order, and spotted Rin just behind Nagisa. His gaze went to the bleachers, more specifically to her, and she winked at him in encouragement, to which he smiled before looking back ahead.

"Nagisa!" Makoto yelled, and the named boy was quickly on the water.

Rosa watched in amazement as her teammates swam one by one, pumped up as if it was their first time on the water.

If one looked at them, they wouldn't be able to tell that just thirty minutes earlier they had all been having a crisis in the middle of the hallway.

There was none of that now, it was just a group of friends having the time of their lives while swimming together, not caring about the competition (eventhough they were winning) and making the best time; they were back in elementary, that day on the summer tournament, when their souls got bound forever.

Each one of them had a fixed position in the team, and each of them contributed something to it; Haru was the quiet type, but whose convictions were very strong; without his willingness to swim with the rest, they wouldn't even be there right now.

Mako was their reflective and kind team captain, who always made sure to encourage them to keep improving.

Nagisa was always ready to cheer anyone up, the group would certainly be too quiet without him.

Rei was the brains and wits, who had insight into many things that the others might miss.

And, of course, then there was Rin.

He was the loyal and determined guy, the one who wanted his team, whatever it may be, to be the best that they can be, and who inspired all of them to train and work hard in order to become those perfect competitors.

Their group wouldn't be complete without one of them, the void Rin left behind was very present in their training and hangouts; she was sure that she wasn't the only one who felt it. Whenever Haru slipped in an unintentional funny comment, Rei said something about beauty or Gou and Nagisa argued, she often found herself wondering 'what would Rin say in this situation?'.

When Nagisa told Rei and her to become spies, would he have casted them his deluxe unamused glance? Would he have laughed at Haru's unfortunate cold? Would he have encouraged her to teach Rei butterfly? Would he have sat with her that time on the island and say exactly what she needed to hear?

Maybe she'd never know any of that, but she was certain of one thing.

Seeing him back with them felt just right.

"They've taken third place over some of the best schools of the region!" Sasabe exclaimed, pulling Rosalya out of her thoughts.

"Amazing!" Miss A exclaimed.

"That's a personal best!" Gou added.

"And now we pass it over to…" Sasabe started, but Rosa cut him off.

"Go, Rin!" she yelled with the little voice she had left, jumping from her seat.

"What?!" Gou, Miss A and Sasabe exclaimed at the same time, and in fact, when they looked at the line, they saw Rin on the platform, ready to dive in.

"I told them to swim free, but this is taking things too far" the man stated in disbelief.

"His dive was several degrees off, but I guess it will do" Rei announced his presence from besides Rosa.

"Oh, hey, Rei, good of you to join us" Rosa replied like it was the most normal thing in the world to see him sitting there on the relay, while she patted his knee.

"Just what in the hell are you doing up here?" Coach demanded, still having no idea of what was going on.

"Like I said, long story" Rosalya replied "For now, we have to cheer Rin on"

"Gou, if you would" Rei motioned for the girl to do her thing, and it began.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go, Rin!" she exclaimed, and the others chanted along. Rosa's eyes followed Rin's every move; the times she had seen him swimming since she came back were never like this, he was more energetic, more worked up, more happy. The Rin she had seen just a couple hours ago trying to lift himself up from the pool was not this Rin. This Rin was more alive, more alive than he had ever been in the past four years.

"C'mon, Haru!" Rosa encouraged, straining her vocal chords; they hurt, but it was worth it.

It was worth it, because they won.

She rushed into the building and downstairs towards the pool, arriving at it even before everyone left to prepare the next race. She probably wasn't allowed to do that, but what the hell. They were already disqualified anyway, there was no way the judges would allow them to win after swimming with someone from a rival team.

"Guys!" she yelled, calling their attention, and when they saw her approaching them, their faces lit up, not minding at all the confused glances the rest of teams were giving them upon seeing the girl there "What took you so long?!" she questioned, immediately jumping into Rin's arms, who hugged back just as tightly "You're such an idiot" she added good heartedly, "This could have happened sooner if you had swallowed your pride and faced yourself" it was a bit scolding in a way, but Rin knew she was right.

But of course, he didn't say it out loud.

"Can I talk to you later?" he questioned in her ear. A shiver ran up her spine and her heart swelled; she nodded before breaking apart.

"That was amazing, you were amazing" the girl stated, looking at the rest.

"Rosa, are you crying?" Nagisa asked upon seeing a couple tears falling from her eyes. She hadn't realized until he pointed it out.

"Of course I'm crying, you idiots!" she replied, smiling through her tears "Ugh, come here" she opened her arms wide, and they all jumped in to have another group hug.

"You guys are the best!" Rin exclaimed, and Rosa could tell he was also crying.

"It's good to have you back!" Mako replied with a broken voice.

Okay, everyone was crying.

After the many hardships they endured, it was only natural that it was their first reaction. The emotion of swimming a relay together again and getting Rin back only added to their blend of already messy feelings.

"Yeah, it only took all my free time and sanity" Rosalya replied good-heartedly, knowing none of them would get offended, because they all knew how glad she was to have her best friend back, even her best friend himself.

The guys chuckled upon hearing that, and Rosa was glad to finally hear a genuine laugh coming from Rin after so much time.

"It's been way too long!"


"You boys were trained by Rosalya for four months, and swam the relay of your lives, only to be disqualified" Miss Amakata scolded later that day, once the tournament was over .

"Of course we were disqualified" Rosalya replied, she had participated in enough tournaments to know that competition between teams and rivals was something of extreme importance.

"It was an obvious outcome" added Sasabe, backing the girl up.

"Well, I most certainly could've done without the judges scolding at us, thank you very much" the faculty advisor kept ranting "They said that they've never heard of a case like this before"

"We're very sorry, ma'am" the five of them bowed and apologized remorsefully, but to be honest, Rosalya couldn't care less that they were disqualified. She was just extremely happy about having Rin back.

Miss A sighed.

"It's alright" she finally stated, making the friends look at her curiously upon hearing her words, she was giving them a playful wink "You are young, if you're going to pull crazy stunts like this, now's the time to do it"

"I guess" Sasabe chimed in "But what exactly were you trying to prove?" they exchanged glances, before Rei spoke up.

"Not a thing" he replied "It needed to be done"

"We may be on different sides…" Nagisa started.

"But we're still teammates" Makoto added.

"Friends too" Rosalya replied "Especially friends. Always were, always will be"

"That's just how it is" Haru finished with a smile, and a moment of silence followed.

"Well, I'm thoroughly confused" Miss A announced, making everyone chuckle.

"I can't believe it's over" Nagisa breathed out once it was just the five of them left. Miss A, Sasabe and Gou had already left.

"I wonder if we'll do this again next year" Makoto admitted, as they all stared at the sun sinking, and dyeing everything around them pastel.

"Excuse me, but we certainly better" Rei stated firmly, folding his arms "I yet to unveil my dazzling butterfly technique for the whole world to see"

"And I still have some races to win" Rosalya added "So yes, we will be back"

"That's the spirit!" Nagisa exclaimed with a chuckle.

"Yeah, we will" Haru added with a smile, and the girl opened her eyes wide as she remembered something.

"Wait, what time is it?" she questioned, looking at her friends besides her worriedly.

"Uhm…" Makoto took out his cellphone to see "Around 5:30 PM"

"I gotta rush!" she quickly stated, beginning to run away. She hoped he was still there.

"Wait, where are you going?!" she heard Nagisa yelling behind her, but she didn't stop in her tracks.

"I'll meet you back at the hotel!" was her reply, before increasing her pace.


"Rin!"

The maroon haired heard a familiar voice calling for him after being told by the captain of the Samezuka team that he wasn't going to be kicked out as he thought, and he turned around to find Rosalya running towards him.

They needed to talk about a lot of things. He especially had a lot he wanted to say to the girl.

"Sorry, I'm late, we had to sit through Miss Amakata's scolding" she added with a small smile, coming to a stop in front of him, and the other Samezuka guys who were also there, behind Rin, watching the whole thing.

"We'll wait for you back at the hotel" Seijuro spoke up from behind, and despite how embarrassed Rin was that everyone there seemed to know the business he had with this girl, he nodded "Don't get into too much trouble" he added with a wink, and the other boy had no idea what he meant by that.

"I'll get him back to you safe and sound" Rosa said with a smile.

"I'm counting on it" the captain said, before ushering all the guys inside the bus. Once it disappeared from sight, Rin and Rosa exchanged glances.

"Wanna take a walk with me?" the girl asked, placing her hands behind her back. Rin nodded, and they both made their way down the street. The sun had set, and some stars could already be seen in the dark sky.

"I'm proud of you, you know?" she commented, earning her a curious stare from Rin.

"What for?" he asked, placing his hand in his pockets.

"You finally got rid of the mask" she replied "And showed what you truly wanted. It must have taken a lot of courage for you to do it after everything that's happened, but I'm glad you did. You even made me cry"

"You're such a baby" he teased with a smile.

But what his friend said was true.

For so long he had been so focused on achieving his goal, that he ended up detaching himself from everyone. His family. His former teammates, and even Rosalya herself. And it was damaging not only him but everyone else around him. He just couldn't take it anymore. He missed his old life, his friends, his family. Everything.

"It's the first time in years you say that to me" Rosa commented with a huge grin "I really missed it"

"You're weird" Rin replied, happy himself. It was good to be able to talk to her like that again.

Even though he tried not to think of anyone when he was training, especially during the last year, Rosa always ended up appearing in his head even if he didn't want to. She was like the fly that was constantly flying around you. Even when he tried to push her away, he always came back to her. In his mind. In his heart. He would never be able to get rid of her.

And, frankly, he didn't want to.

"Hey, Rin?" the girl spoke up softly after some minutes, making the boy look at her curiously

"You know, we never actually...Spoke about the past two nights" Rin didn't say anything, but he knew what she was talking about. He meant to speak with her about it too, but he didn't know how to bring it up.

Thankfully, Rosa did. He didn't want that day to end without clearing things up between them.

"When I talked to you at the dorm" she began, taking a deep breath, giving herself enough time to gather her thoughts and figure out how to put what she felt into words "And I said what I said" she didn't specify, but she didn't need to "I was being honest, but I never meant for you to find out that way. In fact, I never meant for you to find out at all" she made a pause "I guess...What I'm trying to say, is that I don't want my words to jeopardize our friendship, especially now and especially if you don't feel the same way" she finally stated, while Rin remained quiet "Just...don't give much thought to it, alright?" she didn't know how he felt towards her, and now that their relation was rekindled, she'd hate to lose it all over again.

It was true he had kissed her that one time, but...she still wasn't sure, and she wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

"It might be too late for that" he admitted, making the girl turn to look at him curiously as she stopped in her tracks; he did the same "I tried, I really tried to ignore it, but ever since we were kids, I...always thought of you" she looked at him surprised upon hearing that "When I left for Australia, when I wasn't talking to you even if it had been just five minutes since we ended the call...and when I came back. Especially when I came back" she opened her eyes wide upon hearing that.

He thought of her? Even after seemingly not wanting to have anything to do with her, he thought of her?

"You did?"

"Of course I did" he replied "When I kissed you last night...I know it was wrong of me to do that, but I couldn't control it, and I stopped myself in time, but...I wanted more"

The girl didn't know what to reply to that, but she was sure she had a slight tint on her cheeks, and all she hoped was that the sun camouflaged it.

But when she forced herself to look at him, she saw he was also blushing; he wasn't very good at expressing himself, so she was sure it was taking him a lot to try and get his point across without sounding like a mess.

"And I also know that it's not fair for me to say that, especially after everythingI put you through these months" the girl remained quiet, since it seemed he had more to say "For the past five years, you were always there for me, and I...I was being an idiot. I couldn't see it, I couldn't see what was right in front of me, I couldn't even be there when you needed me" Rosa casted her glance downward, knowing he was talking about Luke.

"I never expected anything in return, Rin" she replied softly, shaking her head "I did what I did because I care about you, more than I care about anyone else. It wasn't a mere promise, it went beyond that. I'm not mad at you, I never was" he bit his lip upon hearing that, and she took another deep breath "And...after last night...I was also left wanting more" she finally admitted, and it took her a lot of courage and willpower to say something like that out-loud. His eyes opened wide upon hearing that.

"Rosa…"

"And I want to give this a shot" she stated firmly, and Rin looked at her surprised, but not bothered.

After what he had put her through, he would have never thought she'd want to actually date him, but he didn't mind if she did.

"I don't know what this that we have is going to be, but I want to find out" she added with even more conviction "That is, if you'd be willing as well"

"Are you really asking me that?" Rin replied with a boyish grin that made her heart swell "I've liked you since we were kids, Rosalya, I want this as much as you" the girl smiled slightly upon hearing that.

"Then, let's make sure every second counts" she added, before leaning up and locking their lips together.

It was soft and tender, maybe even a bit shy. Rosalya had never initiated a kiss before. In fact, she hadn't even had her first kiss until Rin that night, so she wasn't sure what to do, but she knew that he didn't have a clear idea either. It was a first for both of them and that comforted her. They were going to figure out this relationship thing together.

When they broke apart for air, Rosa took a look at Rin's face and chuckled softly, not wanting to ruin the moment they just shared.

"What?" he questioned with a frown "What's so funny?" the girl just reached for his hair and grabbed a white petal from its strands. Upon seeing it, all he could do was chuckle along with her.

The girl placed it on her palm, and blew it away, a benevolent breeze carrying it away to the stars.

Then, a strong but gentle wind picked up, and a flurry of petals began dancing around them.

Looking over her shoulder, the girl realized that they were underneath a lilac tree. Staring back at Rin, she found him staring at the petals falling down in awe, but when he felt her gaze on him, he admired her back.

"I know it's not a pool" she began, placing her hands behind her back "Or cherry blossoms, but it's something" as a response, Rin wrapped his arms around her and bent down.

"It's perfect" he breathed out, before sealing their lips in another kiss.

And this time, he didn't hold back.

His hands travelled down her back, and she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. The kiss deepened, the whirlwind of emotions fueling their passion for each other.

He had been waiting years for that moment to come, sometimes even thinking it would never arrive. But now, as he held the girl in his arms, and felt her tugging at his hair, pulling them even closer, he knew it was real.

And underneath the moonlight, standing by the lilac tree, as the temperature rose, he made a silent promise. A promise of a brighter tomorrow, and the dawn of a new beginning.

And as long as Rosalya was with him, he had nothing to fear.


December 12th, 2020

A/N:

Hi everyone! So, as you might have seen, I deleted all chapters belonging to season 2. I wasn't actually planning to comment on it and wait, but thanks to the kind person who left a review asking what happened, I was reminded of the fact that fanfiction notifies followers of the story whenever changes are made, even if they're small. Many of you are probably confused about it, so I'm here to clear it up a little bit!

I have deleted season 2 chapters because I want to completely reinvent my approach to it, since I feel like my original one wasn't being written well and not many interesting things were happening, which made it difficult for me to keep on writing.

I don't want to say much because I don't want to give anyone any hopes of it being published soon, and then make you feel disappointed if it takes long, or if something else happens. Just know that I'm working on a few things ;), and it will be for the better of this story! When I publish it, it will be on a different book and I will let you know about it in an author's note like this!

That's all I wanted to say! Stay safe and take care everyone 3

April 12th, 2021

Finally, the sequel's been published! Check it out on my profile 3