”Mmmm…” came a barely inaudible hum as the dolphin is immersed in the dynamic rhythm of the song. Petite earbuds in place on each ear as he flipped through the magazine.
– He could almost hear the Jaws theme playing in the background of his mind as he closed in on the distracted dolphin, then he leaned over the raven’s shoulders just barely, before he let out a loud ‘BOO’ so it would be louder than whatever he was listening to.
It had only been a few days, but it was quite apparent in Nitori’s eyes as he watched—day after day, the changes happening to his senpai. All the times he wished to speak up but were blatantly suppressed. Where the line he couldn’t cross was unnoticeable, and even though each day he’d willing support Rin, he couldn’t help but feel off. Encouraging him to eat or how he watched as he passed by all the times he should be eating. And, it only worsened as that day was approaching.
Nitori side-glanced at Rin before he left that morning. He sighed as he got ready for that day’s preparations. Time seemed to pass by fast, and before he knew it, Nitori found himself beside his other teammates at the pool, waiting on their last member. Whatever it was, the young teen had let Rin be for the meantime as he got ready and headed out before him. His mind a bit clouded on how to approach the situation that was soon to be inevitable. Everyone was bound to notice, and if they didn’t, Nitori just assumed they were all blind.
His eyes shifted to the water, looking at his reflection before turning to see Rin meeting up with everyone. Instantly, he noticed that Rin’s sister had approached him and overhearing what she asked, he assumed this was his chance.
Not trying to intrude, Nitori waited a moment until Gou stepped aside. He peeked over to Rin from the side of him and turned to stand in front of him. “Are you ready for today, Senpai?” It wasn’t what he wanted to start off with, but he couldn’t seem to find the right words yet. He tried again, “Your body looks different—”
Oh, really, Nitori. Straight to the point like that. It doesn’t even feel like casual talk. He mentally sighed but let it be as he eyed down Rin, taking notice more of his body change. He figured it was different by just how his normal clothing looked on him nowadays, but seeing him in just his trunks was when it really hit him that Rin definitely wasn’t his usual self anymore. Hopefully, he’d find some way to get Rin to talk about this.
✗【☣】 ➝ Rin heard the familiar voice speak and his attention turned away from his sister to the other male, blinking a few times before he was about to answer to the first question about being ready. He was ready as ever, but didn’t get the time to say so before the statement rolled off the shorter one’s tongue, causing Rin to raise an eyebrow and look down at his body.
"Well– I guess all my training has caused my body to get thinner in the end? I don’t know, but it looks good, doesn’t it?“ he joked with a grin before he turned to look around him, realizing that he had to get ready. "I’ll talk to you guys after I’ve won the race, eh?” he said before he waved and was off to get ready.
——————–
When his race was called – 100m freestyle – he grinned to himself before he got in position, pulling his goggles on before pulling the strap and letting it slap against the back of his head like he always did, then he counted down the seconds in his head, licked his lips, and dived in. His fingers hit the water first, then his body automatically moved.
However, as soon as he had started kicking and pulling his body forward, he felt some kind of pain in his body, as if it was suddenly not ready for the sudden motion. His breathing was hard to keep steady on a normal pace, and most of the time he was running on empty air.
When he stopped thinking about himself, he noticed how far behind he was, even before the turn. This caused him to hurry, push his body beyond the limit, and it was like he’d sink and drown right there. Then he did the turn, but the kick was barely anything, and he lost grip on his swimming, causing him to swallow some water and gasp loudly, stopping to cough and regain some strength. He watched as the other swimmers reached their goals, and he felt a hit of disappointment hit him. He was really embarrassed now, and slowly made his way to the closest ladder to just get up. However, as he tried to pull himself up, he fell right back into the water. His strength was gone, and he groaned, gasping silently in attempt to regain more strength.
Then he tried again, only to keep falling until he pushed himself so much he finally got up, but collapsed on the ground gasping silently, pulling the cap and goggles off and slamming it against the ground under his palm.
He tried to get up, but there was still no strength in him, and he only slipped on nothing and fell right back down, arms eventually giving up on keeping him up in any way, his body lying there as he panted, trying to understand what happened…
He was so tired, but managed to finally get up and make his way towards the wardrobes, looking like he was about to fall every time he took another step.
Makoto shooked his head. “No! I need to tend to you first and next time, Don’t run off like that…” He sighed as he lead Rin to the living room, pushing him down to sit on the sofa. “Now… Show me what bruises you got… I-I’ll try and tend to them all… Okay?”
✗【☣】 ➝ Stubborn. Makoto had always been stubborn about these kind of things. Too kind, that was what he was, but Rin saw no way to get out of the situation, and maybe Makoto wanted to talk about it all, so he let out a defeated sigh before he tried to find the worst wounds, ending up pointing to his shoulder, nose and right side of his hip. The other bruises were barely anything at all, and he could take it.
Rin’s voice boomed at him harshly. Even though he used it every time he talked to Haruka, he just couldn’t get used to it. He couldn’t let the old Rin go. He didn’t want to forget the cheery, happy, little shark who wanted to swim in a relay, and the smile on his face as they won. How could he forget something like that, only to embrace a painful truth?
The reason never seemed to occur to him, and didn’t seem like it would in the near future either. All he knew was that Rin and him had something that could never break. Or rather; Haru had some sort of connection to Rin that could never break.
The dolphin dropped his eyes to the ground, showing a slight change of expression, his thoughts resuming to the relay. So Rin didn’t know himself, huh? Or was that just something he was saying so he could hide the truth with lies? Both of them were reasonable theories, but Haru had no way of choosing right form wrong. “Are you sure you don’t know? I’m mean, you wouldn’t just be kicked of the team without a reason” He tried asking carefully, not wanting Rin to get more snappy.
✗【☣】 ➝ Rin huffed a little, shaking his head at the other one as he looked down at his feet. Haruka seemed to be more forward now than he was before. He used to be a lot more quiet, and would never keep asking about things like this, but Rin wouldn’t know what had happened to make the dolphin more like this – no, the only thing he knew was that all of it had happened without him around, and it felt like he had just missed the last train to his home, and that he could never return. It felt empty, and it was tearing at him like nothing else.
A hand reached up to cover his face, a groan escaping him before he shook his head again and pushed himself forward to pass the other one. He stopped right next to him, muttering his answer;
“I told you, I don’t fucking know.” It wasn’t harsh, it was easy to see through, as if Rin had given up on masking his voice with harshness. He assumed Haruka would just stay behind, watch him walk away as he took step after step, feeling how his shaky legs carried him just barely towards to hotel he was staying at. He’d have to tell his team something. Why had he gone out this late? Why did he look so messed up? More detailed questions went through his head, but it stopped at his leader’s face. The face that didn’t grin and boost him up anymore.. it was the face of utter disappointment and irritation and it ate away Rin’s self esteem, just like a pair of cerulean eyes did just now.
NB!! On a mini hiatus. 
