S2E07 Crouching Start of Revenge!/Plot

At Iwatobi Swimming Club, Gou has hanged up the picture of her father. The team is having a meal together with Miho and Goro, discussing about their performance today and waiting in anticipating for tomorrow’s official relay against Rin’s team. Rei is worried, but Haru reassures him, saying that a relay is carried out by a team of four.

At Samezuka Academy, Rin makes a tough choice to replace Uozumi with Momotaro due to the latter’s better performance. Resigned, Uozumi orders Momotaro to win for him too. Nitori is sitting on the stairs by himself. When Sosuke passes him, Nitori comments that he has been surpassed by a first year. Nitori exclaims that he really wants to swim with Rin as he has changed his views about the relay, adding that this is his last chance to swim with Rin. However, Sosuke replies that it is not true, and tells him not to crush his potential before even trying, adding that it is probably what Rin would say. Nitori smiles and returns to his dorm to a sleeping Momotaro. Despite this, Nitori tells him to win and make it to the regionals. Momotaro turns, startling Nitori. As Nitori retreats back to his bunk, Momotaro opens his eyes, having heard every word.

At Iwatobi Swimming Club, everyone departs. As Makoto and Haru are walking home, he asks Haru what he would do if he gets scouted. However, Haru remains indifferent and says that it does not matter, reiterating that he swims because he wants to. There seems to be something bothering Makoto but he says that it is nothing.

The next day, both teams are preparing for the relay. Seeing Nitori, Momotaro tells him that he is going to try his best in the relay, surprising Nitori. The relay is about to start. Looking over at Haru, Sosuke thinks to himself that even though Haru saved Rin, he is still not going to acknowledge him. The backstroke leg starts first. However, Makoto’s reaction time was off and Momotaro takes the lead. Nagisa is up next but Makoto comments that Nagisa’s extending hand is not working this time. Rei is unable to catch up and Sosuke widens the gap. However, Rin notices something. It is time for the freestyle. Rin makes the turn before Haru and finishes first, leading his team to victory. Despite Iwatobi’s loss, they have made it through the prelims.

At Iwatobi High School, Rei is frustrated that they lost to Samezuka even though they qualified for the finals. Haru tells them to head for practise. Gou informs them that even though all of them qualify for their individual relay, only Haru’s timing is better than Samezuka’s. Miho runs in excitedly and announces that Haru got a call from a scout. However, he does not seem interested.

Rin has gotten a lot of calls from scouts too, including one from the same university that scouted Sosuke. He questions Sosuke about what is wrong as he noticed that he lost momentum during the relay. Taking their talk outside, Rin asks Sosuke how he felt after having swam the relay, wondering if he found what he was looking for. Sosuke replies that he does not know, angering Rin, who grabs him by the front of his shirt. Rin demands to know if Sosuke was not taking the relay seriously. However, Sosuke retorts that swimming with Rin is not something that he does not take seriously. In fact, it is because he takes it so seriously that he cannot pretends that he has just understood it. Sosuke expresses his desire to swim more, saying that “this is not enough.” Rin then tells him to continue swimming until he finds his answer.

There has been more calls for Haru, but he remains unconcerned. Makoto shares that he probably is going to apply to a local university after graduation. Later, Rei tells Haru that he really loves the way he swim. He continues saying that he thinks it is fine for Haru to “remain free” as it can mean many things, with the truest form being having a “free heart that can’t bounded by anything.” No matter what choices Haru makes, as long as he remains himself, he will always be free. A moment of silence ensues, causing Rei to get flustered and he apologises for his outburst.