S2E07 Crouching Start of Revenge!/Plot

At Iwatobi SC Returns, Gou Matsuoka puts up the photograph of her father. Meanwhile, the Iwatobi High School Swim Club is having a meal with Miho Amakata and Goro Sasabe, discussing the day's performances while waiting in anticipation for tomorrow’s relay against Rin Matsuoka’s team. Rei Ryugazaki is worried, but Haruka Nanase reassures him, saying that a relay is carried out by a team of four.

At Samezuka Academy, Rin makes a tough choice in replacing Takuya Uozumi with Momotaro Mikoshiba due to the latter's better performance. Resigned, Takuya orders Momotaro to win for him, too. Aiichiro Nitori is sitting on the dorm's outside steps by himself when Sosuke Yamazaki sees him and approaches. Aiichiro bemoans the fact that he has been surpassed by a first-year, exclaiming that he just wants to swim with Rin since changing his mind about relay, adding that this is his last chance to do so. Sosuke replies in the negative and encourages him to not crush his potential before even trying. Nitori smiles and returns to his dorm to a sleeping Momotaro. Despite this, Nitori climbs up to the top bunk and tells the sleeping figure to win and make it to the regionals. As Aiichiro retreats to his bunk, Momotaro opens his eyes, having heard every word.

At Iwatobi SC Returns, everyone departs. As Makoto Tachibana and Haruka are walking home, he asks Haruka what he would do if he gets scouted. Haruka remains indifferent and says that it does not matter, reiterating that he swims because he chooses to do so. He then asks if anything is bothering Makoto, but Makoto brushes it off.

The next day, both teams are preparing for the relay. Seeing Aiichiro, Momotaro tells him that he is going to try his best in the relay. As said relay is about to start, Sosuke looks over at Haruka and thinks to himself that even though Haruka "saved" Rin, he is still not going to acknowledge him. The first leg of the race is the backstroke, but Makoto's reaction time is off and Momotaro takes the lead. Nagisa is up next, but Makoto comments that Nagisa's extending arms are not working this time. Rei is unable to catch up and Sosuke widens the gap. Then comes freestyle. Rin makes the turn before Haruka and finishes first, leading his team to victory. Yet, despite Iwatobi's loss, they advance.

At Iwatobi High School, a banner congratulates the team, but Rei is frustrated that they lost to Samezuka despite qualifying for regionals. Haruka suggests they practice. Gou points out that although they all qualified for regionals, their individual times barely made the cut; only Haruka sits at the top of his category in freestyle. Iwatobi must improve. Just then, Miho runs in and announces with excitement that Haruka has received a call from a scout. Haruka does not seem interested. Rei and Nagisa discuss Haruka's future as they travel home on the train. Nagisa tells Rei that Haruka wrote "Free" as his career choice on a questionnaire. What it means is anyone's guess.

At Samezuka, Rin and Aiichiro discuss the calls Rin has gotten from scouts, too, including one from the same university that scouted Sosuke. He questions Sosuke about his sudden bad attidute and the fact that he lost momentum during the relay. Taking their talk outside, Rin asks how Sosuke feels having swum the relay, wondering if he found that for which he was searching. Sosuke replies that he still does not know, angering Rin, who grabs him by the front of his shirt. Rin demands to know if Sosuke was taking the relay seriously. Sosuke retorts that he takes it so seriously that he can not pretend that he understands Rin's feelings about it. He expresses his absolute desire to swim more, saying "I don't want to stop, but this is not enough." Rin says he should continue swimming until he finds his answer.

More calls come in for Haruka, but he remains unconcerned. Gou asks Makoto about his post-graduation plans and Makoto says he might go to community college which surprises her. The team and Gou visit a shrine and get fortunes. Makoto and Haruka get "best luck," but Rei only gets "half luck." As he waits at the bottom of the temple stairs with Haruka, Rei tells him that he really admires the way he swims. He continues, saying that he thinks it is fine for Haruka to “remain free” as it can mean many things, the truest form being having a “free heart that can't bound by anything," and no matter what choices Haruka makes, as long as he remains himself, he will always be free. A moment of silence ensues, causing Rei to get flustered and apologize for his outburst.

At practice, Haruka presents his regimen, focusing on relay exchanges. He also tells them that what he really wants is simply to swim with them, making the others happy. Meanwhile, Sosuke skips practice and Gou accidentally sees him heading to the train station for unknown reasons.