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The Day Before
This brief prelude to the novel showcases the inner thoughts of four major characters: Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa and Rin on the first day of the Spring Semester. Haruka and Makoto are entering their second year at Iwatobi High School and Nagisa his first year as a transfer student. Rin has returned from studying swimming abroad in Australia in order to enter his second year of high school at Samezuka Academy, a powerhouse for high school swimmers, yet he's already decided to give up on swimming without telling anyone.

That morning, Makoto awakens from an odd dream in which he sees Haru and Rin swimming off together, with himself unable to keep up, leaving him feeling anxious. Neither Haru nor himself have swum competitively since the end of their first year of middle school, but he can't shake the image. He waits for Haru to meet him at the bottom of the stairs while playing with a stray kitten that reminds of Haru's similar ambivalent nature. He remembers that Haru's grandmother once said, "at 10 you're a prodigy, at 15 you're a genius, and once you pass 20 you're a normal person," and takes it to mean that his ability to know what Haru is thinking without Haru saying a word is beginning to disappear, further increasing his worries. When Haru fails to show, Makoto goes to his home and enters, heading to the bath where he expects to find his friend soaking in a lukewarm tub while wearing his swimsuit. Haru, however, is nowhere to be found.

Haru awakens feeling perturbed without knowing why. He awakens very early and after drinking a glass of water, dons his swimsuit and soaks in a warm tub - a ritual he undertakes to calm his feelings. Except today, it does nothing to do so, so he leaves the tub, dresses and goes for a run until he finds himself standing by the fence outside the Iwatobi Elementary School near the pool and the sakura tree his class planted long ago. The ground is covered in sakura petals and he makes out the outline of the letter "F" buried within the petals. He thinks of the words, "Free" and "For the Team" and is reminded of Rin and the way he looked the last time he saw him during winter of their first year in middle school. Haru wonders if Rin is back. When he uncovers the rest of the word, he knows it was Rin who wrote the profanity in the petals. Haru skips school, unwilling to face anyone, but especially Makoto, that day because he doesn't understand his feelings or the outrage he is feeling.

Nagisa awakens excited to be starting his first year at Iwatobi High School after spending middle school away from his former swim teammates, Haruka and Makoto. He recalls the wonderful time they had in elementary school, swimming in a relay together with Rin and wonders what it might cost to take a vacation in Australia, where he believes Rin is studying. His older sister, Aki, is curious about his thoughts, but Nagisa is scattered and in a hurry, rushing off to the train station and too busy to notice the boy he passes wearing red glasses and the same Iwatobi High School uniform. After all, if Rin could suddenly transfer to Iwatobi Elementary School, maybe he could transfer to Iwatobi High School, as well.

Rin, meanwhile, is unpacking in silence at Samezuka Academy. He hasn't told anyone that he's back except his mother and younger sister Gou, neither or whom realize that he's given up on swimming despite his attending a school known as a powerhouse for developing competitive swimmers. And yet, the day before, he'd gone to visit Iwatobi Elementary School to look at the pool and sakura tree and thinking about the way Haru had made fun of his sentimentality at graduation, he scuffed an obscenity into the petals.

That evening, Makoto notices the window of Haru's bedroom is dark, with the curtain drawn, yet he knows Haru is home. In retrospect, he knows this is the day Haru's life begins to move forward but at the time, he can only dwell on his disturbing dream and the feelings that won't go away.

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