User:Luxartisan/sandbox

'Synopsis: Haruka faces doubts in competition. Sousuke challenges. Makoto is supportive. Kisumi is nostalgic.

A competition between Iwatobi and Sano Junior High Schools is at hand. Haruka, Makoto and Aki are walking towards Sano with the rest of the team. Along the way, they converse about Shouta'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 Musogawa River, which is forbidden.

Shouta's reasoning is obvious to all: strengthening in order to beat Haruka in another match race, even though Aki denies this. Haruka now knows that they will have to compete again and he ponders Shouta's fixation as much as own.

After being greeted by the captain of the Sano Swimming 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 members is tall and lanky Sosuke Yamazaki, who stares at Haruka. He reveals that he only just joined the club and will be participating in the 100 free. Sakuyuki Narukawa, another Sano member, 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 trying to ease the tension, Makoto asks Kisumi about Rin. 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, for unknown reasons, and the boys add that he cries easily, speaks his mind and is always showing off and hates being called "Rin-chan." That sums up their assessment.

Haruka is signed up for five free 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.

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 free ever more confusing. Haruka thinks back to Asahi's words: "It's your fault!"

Haruka doesn't take the 400m, feeling sluggish in the water. Makoto wins the 100m backstroke race and Haruka is aware that he has improved his technique. He also notices Ikuya in the audience, looking at him with an angry expression, but why? It must be because he didn't know that Haruka only swims free and this is a condition for that concession. It's a misunderstanding that Satomi must also possess.

Although he is tired, Haruka now 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 sink. The third-year who wins helps him out of the pool with undue kindness and Haruka feels humiliated. Natsuya excuses him from the first relay, but says he must swim the 100m free because "others" are asking to swim with him. The "others" turn out to be Sosuke.

His performance in that last race is a lacklustre loss and he climbs out of the pool without Makoto's assist. In the changing room, Sosuke confronts Haruka but gets no answer. Seeing he won't be getting a response, he finally hands Haruka an envelope from Rin.

Haruka reads about Rin's life in Australia and Rin's frustrations there, as well as Haru 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 waxes nostalgic about Rin and Sosuke's competitiveness. Then he reveals that when Rin transferred to Iwatobi it was to swim with some fast guys. Kisumi can't imagine transferring schools for that reason, except for basketball. It's one of Kisumi's fixations but, Haruka wonders, why. Is it winning, having fun or getting a special feeling? What about his own fixation? It's something to ponder, indeed.

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ENGLISH VA LIST FOR YUME

Main

 * Haruka Nanase (CV: Nobunaga Shimazaki (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English) )
 * Makoto Tachibana (CV: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English) )
 * Rin Matsuoka (CV: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese) )
 * Ikuya Kirishima (CV: Koki Uchiyama (Japanese), Lee George (English) )
 * Asahi Shiina (CV: Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Japanese), Christopher Llewyn Ramirez (English) )
 * Nagisa Hazuki (CV: Tsubasa Yonaga (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English) )
 * Rei Ryugazaki (CV: Daisuke Hirakawa (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum (English) )
 * Hiyori Tono (CV: Ryohei Kimura (Japanese), Jason Liebrecht (English) )
 * Sosuke Yamazaki (CV: Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese), Ian Sinclair (English) )
 * Natsuya Kirishima (CV: Kenji Nojima (Japanese), Ricco Fajardo (English) )
 * Nao Serizawa (CV: Satoshi Hino (Japanese), Oscar Seung (English) )
 * Aiichiro Nitori (CV: Kouki Miyata (Japanese), Josh Grelle (English) )
 * Momotaro Mikoshiba (CV: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese), Jerry Jewell (English) )

Supporting

 * Kisumi Shigino (CV: Chihiro Suzuki (Japanese), Eric Vale (English) )
 * Gou Matsuoka (CV: Akeno Watanabe (Japanese), Jamie Marchi (English) )
 * Romio Hayahune (CV: Atsushi Abe (Japanese), Parker Gray (English) )
 * Shizuru Isurugi (CV: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Japanese), Alejandro Saab (English) )
 * Ayumu Kunikida (CV: Ryo Hirohashi (Japanese), Apphia Yu (English) )
 * Seijuro Mikoshiba (CV: Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese), Robert McCollum (English) )
 * Mikhail Makarovich Nitori (CV: Hidenobu Kiuchi (Japanese), Phil Parsons (English) )
 * Ryuji Azuma (CV: Takeshi Kusao (Japanese), Brandon Potter (English) )
 * Albert Volandel (CV: Jeff Manning (Japanese), Daman Mills (English) )
 * Kaede Kinjou (CV:Daisuke Ono] (Japanese) )