TV Animation Free! Novelize/Episodes

The Day Before
''Synopsis: Haruka and Makoto are entering their second year at Iwatobi High School, having given up competitive swimming after their first year of middle school. Nagisa enters as a first year as a transfer student from the middle school his parents chose for him, also having given up swimming. Meanwhile, 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 too has 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.

Episode 1: The Person You Wait For
Haru remembers how happy Rin used to be; used to be before their race during winter break as first-years in middle school. Haru, the boy who simply loved the water, won and Rin, the boy who wanted to go pro, lost. Rin couldn't handle it and quit swimming altogether, filling Haru with such guilt that he gave up swimming with his middle school team without explanation to anyone. He thinks back on that time wondering if it was fate that brought them together back then, and again at the old Iwatobi SC pool where the much changed Rin had challenged him to race again. Except, Haru doesn't really want to race. "At 10 you’re a prodigy, at 15 a genius. And then, once you pass 20, you’re a normal person." Haru really wants to be left alone so he doesn't have to think or feel the emotions that haunt him.

His friends, Makoto and Nagisa, agree that Rin has changed and not for the better. Nagisa wonders if change is inevitable while Haru ponders the fact that he although he didn't share the story of his run-in with Rin with Makoto, his childhood best friend has the eerie ability to tell what he's thinking even when he doesn't say anything. It's a blessing and a curse, but Haru relies on it nonetheless.

Being early evening, the boys go to Makoto's house where Nagisa plays video games with Ren and Ran, his childlike antics making him a fun playmate. Haru finds himself becoming anxious, the feeling of the swimsuit he wears beneath his clothing pushing his thoughts towards water - calming, soothing water. Following his instincts, he heads to the train station and takes it to a stop where he locates a older family spa where he sinks, alone, into the lukewarm pool he had discovered the day before when he skipped the first day of school.

He isn't alone for long. Makoto and Nagisa, worried about him, have followed and join him in the water. Haru is annoyed and sinks down, but the feeling of sharing water with comrades sparks memories of feelings from long ago - good feelings. Makoto notices and. He likesshocksinks down, the feeling of shared water is annoyed, at first, with Nagisa's chatter but when Makoto notices Haru's changed attitude, Haru doesn't balk. While drying off, they see a sign saying that the spa is closing down and they are all disappointed.

During their long walk back to Iwatobi, Haru compares the starry sky to the bottom of the ocean covered with bioluminescent plankton.