S1E09 Hesitant Loosen Up!

Hesitant Loosen Up! (迷いのルーズンアップ！ Mayoi no Ruuzun Appu!) is the ninth episode of the Free! anime series. It aired on September 4, 2013.

Synopsis
The Iwatobi Swim Club wins the relay and qualifies for regionals, much to the anger of a spectating Rin. Iwatobi High School congratulates the team and urges them to aim for nationals.

The team later goes to a summer festival where Rin Matsuoka is spotted. Nagisa Hazuki, Rei Ryugazaki, and Makoto Tachibana work together to keep Haruka Nanase from finding out that Rin is there, with Nagisa and Makoto occupying Haruka's attention and Rei trailing Rin to keep Haruka away from Rin. Haruka finds out anyway but tells the team that he's fine and that he wants to swim with them.

Rin is frustrated about Iwatobi's success. He tells Seijuro Mikoshiba that they need to talk.

Later, much to their surprise, Gou Matsuoka tells the team that Rin will be swimming against them in the Samezuka Academy relay at regionals.

Characters
List of characters in order of appearance: