HS2C07: Limit

'Synopsis: At his first inter-school competition, Haruka Nanase faces competition from within and without.

A competition between the swim clubs of Iwatobi Junior High School and Sano Junior High School is at hand. Haruka, Makoto Tachibana and Aki Yazaki are walking towards Sano from the train station with the rest of the team. Along the way, they converse about Shouta Yazaki's behavior of the previous day. Haruka, in particular, is curious about why Shouta isn't with them. Aki explains that he's been barred from club activities because he swam in the dangerous Musogawa River, which is forbidden.

Shouta's unstated reasoning is obvious: strengthening in order to prove he's a better swimmer than Haruka, even though Aki denies this. Haruka now knows that Shouta and he will have to compete again and he ponders Shouta's fixation as much as own.

After the Iwatobi Junior High School Swim Club is greeted by the captain of the Sano Junior High School Swim Club, the one-on-one matches begin. The winning school is determined by points earned by the races won by the individual swimmers. It's an amicable atmosphere, but Iwatobi is usually the winner.

Among Sano's students is tall and lanky Sosuke Yamazaki, who stares at Haruka before approaching with Sakuyuki Narukawa and Kisumi Shigino. Sosuke reveals that he only just joined the swim club and will be participating in the 100m free. Sakuyuki addresses Asahi about his lack of attendance at community swim club, which Asahi ignores. When Sakuyuki presses about Asahi's inability to swim free, Asahi responds, "Shut up" in a heated fashion.

In trying to ease the tension, Makoto asks Kisumi what he knows about Rin Matsuoka. Kisumi and Sosuke agree that Rin gets carried away easily, is a bit irritating, self-centered and hates to lose. Haruka silently agrees with them. Makoto presses for more and the boys add that he cries easily, speaks his mind, is a show-off and hates being called "Rin-chan." That sums up their assessment. Then the races begin.

Haruka is signed up for five freestyle events and two relay events, which puts a good deal of stress on him. He wins the 50m and 200m races, but begins to feel both the difference and the burden of swimming biaxial. Brute force swimming won't work and he isn't used to the biaxial style yet. It's disconcerting.

Next is Asahi and Sakuyuki's 100m butterfly race. They race evenly until the final 20m, when Kisumi's voice is heard calling out Asahi's name over and over, spurring him onward. Asahi wins the race making his inability with freestyle even more confusing. Haruka thinks back to Asahi's words: "It's your fault!" still uncertain of their meaning.

Haruka loses the 400m, feeling sluggish in the water. Makoto wins the 100m backstroke race and Haruka notices that he has improved his technique. He also notices Ikuya Kirishima in the audience, looking at himself with an angry expression; but why? It must be because he doesn't know that Haruka must swim all the freestyle events as a condition for only swimming freestye. It's a misunderstanding that Satomi Nii must also share.

Now, although he is thoroughly tired and emotionally spent, Haruka participates in the 1500m free. His technique suffers and he grows slower with every turn. He can't feel the water, his muscles and lungs scream for oxygen and it is by sheer will that he doesn't drown. The third-year who wins helps him out of the pool with undue kindness and Haruka feels humiliated. Natsuya Kirishima excuses him from the relays because of his poor swimming, but says he must swim the 100m free because "others" are asking to swim with him. The "others" turns out to be Sosuke watching from a distance.

Haruka's performance in that last race is a lacklustre loss. He climbs out of the pool without Makoto's assist and they go to the changing room. There, Sosuke confronts Haruka because he swam without giving it his all, which Sosuke finds insulting. Not getting a response, he hands Haruka an envelope. Therein, Haruka finds a letter from Rin who writes about his life in Australia and his frustrations there, as well as Haruka being his motivation. Makoto, who has read along with Haruka, says, "We can't let ourselves lose, either, huh." Haruka nods.

At the train station, Kisumi spies a nearby basketball court and waxes nostalgic about competition, but especially Rin and Sosuke's competitiveness. Then he reveals that when Rin transferred to Iwatobi, he said it was to swim with some fast guys. Kisumi can not imagine transferring schools for that reason, except for basketball. It's one of Kisumi's fixations, causing Haruka to question his motive: is it winning, having fun or getting a special feeling? And what about his own fixation?

That, too, is something to ponder.