TV Animation Free! Novelize/Episode 07: Nitori no Ichiban Nagai Yoru



Nitori no Ichiban Nagai Yoru (似鳥の一番長い夜 lit. Nitori's Longest Night)

'Synopsis: Aiichiro Nitori dwells on what he considers an odd hobby for a boy to have: keeping a diary. After relaying the details of how it began and why it continues, he tells the tale about the night his diary got lost under Rin Matsuoka's desk, right where senpai might discover it. Ai's anxiety regarding this possibility becomes the catalyst for a conversation with someone he admires very much.'

Ai's diary habit begins in elementary school as a summer assignment. It's a busy break and he prepares not a brief commentary, like the rest of his classmates, but five volumes of pictures and words. Praised by his teacher, he's told to keep up the habit even as he gets older because he'll appreciate it later on in life.

Not understanding but trusting the advice, Ai does so and finds he enjoys jotting down his feelings each day. He tends, however, to re-read many times an entry about a swimming tournament when he saw four boys from the Iwatobi Swimming Club win a medley relay. It's a beautiful sight to see how they work together to create "a perfect line." Ai hopes that, one day, he will be a part of such a team, sharing friendship and happiness just like the Iwatobi team did on that day.

That tournament is when he first sees Matsuoka-senpai. When the two become roommates, Ai believes it's fate. Ever since, his diary entries are always about Matsuoka-senpai. Always, about everything, the first entry being his feelings about how they would decide which bunk each of them would take as roommatses. Ai obsesses while his senpai simply plops down on the bottom bunk and solves the issue.

Ai's jottings proclaim that Matsuoka-senpai has the perfect male form and while he looks and acts tough, he's actually sweet on the inside. He's fluent in English and is at the top of his class in other subjects. But the best thing about senpai is that he can swim in any event he chooses while Ai feels limited to events nobody else wants to swim because he is simply average.

Now, Ai searches for his diary before Matsuoka-senpai returns to the dorm. The diary is just a notebook with the word DIARY emblazoned on the front. Picking up a similar-looking notebook laying on their side-by-side desks, Ai realizes that he's not staring at his own handwriting, but his senpai's. Where is his diary? A frantic search through the jumble of Ai's desk reveals nothing and he is frantic until spying it beneath senpai's desk.

Matsuoka-senpai enters the room preventing the book's retrieval and Ai is forced to block the ginger's view while figuring out a way to get him out of the room before he sees the book and finds out that Ai not only keeps a diary, but writes about his senpai daily. His tactic is to talk...endlessly...while blocking senpai's view of the book. Ai goes on and on until his nerves prompt him to admit that he feels inadequate as a swimmer. Matsuoka-senpai glares at him. Ai is mortified but senpai says, "You have stamina," then gives his kohai tips for improvement.

Finally, Matsuoka-senpai says, "The morning of the tournament, I'm going to see my dad." Ai misinterprets this statement and grows agitated until senpai reveals he's simply visiting his father's grave. They go for a walk during which Rin tells Ai about his father's passing and how he is determined to fulfill the dream his father could not of becoming a world-class swimmer. There's only one thing senpai must do...beat Haruka Nanase, a swimming phenom who claims his only goal is to feel the water. Senpai's frustration is obvious.

Ai doesn't understand, but is pleased to have gotten to know Matsuoka-senpai better. He's also reminded of the medley relay in which senpai participated, wondering what senpai remembers about that time. He's certain he'll show the oft-read diary entry to him one day and when he does, he's sure senpai will slip back in time to the feelings of that very special day.