S1E12 Distant Free!

Distant Free! (遥かなるフリー！ Haruka naru Furii!) is the twelfth and final episode of season one of the Free! anime series. It aired on September 25, 2013.

Synopsis
Rin Matsuoka places badly in his 100m event and runs off in an outburst, telling Aiichiro Nitori that he is quitting swimming. Haruka Nanase and the others overhear Rin say he was taken out of the relay which prompts Rei Ryugazaki to tell everyone about his conversation with Rin, stating his belief that what Rin wanted was not to win, but to swim with everyone again. Rin is eventually found by Haruka who manages to convince him to admit his feelings about swimming. Rei lets Rin take his place in the relay, allowing him to swim with his friends once more. The Iwatobi High School Swim Club places first, but is disqualified. Still, it doesn't matter as they feel proud for doing what they thought was the right thing to do. Afterwards, both Iwatobi and the Samezuka Swimming Clubs begin joint training and it is seen that Rin's relationship with his old friends has greatly improved. The series ends with a message "See you next summer!"

Characters
List of characters in order of appearance: