Free!Fic: Synchronized Hearts Chap2

Chapter Two

Mai grumbled to herself stepping inside her home from outside. After she departed from the group at lunch, she discovered that Hamaka didn't in fact get up at all to go to class as Maiko had been informed by his teacher. In her arms, she held a binder that contained what homework and notes he missed during his classes that a student was kind enough to copy for him. Mai carefully slipped off her shoes, and looked towards their sitting room, hearing a sneeze. An awfully fake sounding sneeze.

She started into the room, spotting her brother sitting at the table lazily, with a blanket covering him. Hamaka looked up as Mai entered, suddenly straightening his posture. “Oh, it's just you.” He removed the blanket, and placed it beside him. He then pulled out a pizza box from under the table, “How was school?”

Upon entering, their dog Mikkie, a black lab, darted to her side to be pet. “It was fine, I have your homework,” Maiko said, dropping the binder in front of him on the table with a loud thud. “Mom and Dad aren't going to believe you when you tell them you're 'sick'.”

Hamaka simply shrugged. “A guy can try,” He watched his sister sit down, then looked down, flipping through the binder in front of him. He frowned and said, “How'd you manage getting me the notes?”

“I didn't,” Mai started, staring at him. “I guess your teacher felt sorry for you, and got one of your classmates to do it. I wouldn't expect the same thing to happen again.” She observed the navy-haired boy with a small frown. “What stopped you from going today anyway? You already missed yesterday.”

“Yesterday wasn't important, and today's only the second day,” Hamaka stated. Mai sighed heavily placing her head on the table. “What's bothering you, Maiko?”

Mai mumbled something inaudible into her arms. Her lavender eyes slowly peered from behind them, chin on the table. “Nothing, it was just a long day.” Hamaka rose a brow in question. “The day went like it does any other day, except the boys ran into one of their old friends from their grade school, and swim team. Do you remember someone by the name of Nagisa Hazuki?”

“Nope.” Hamaka said. “But aren't new friends always a good thing? He couldn't have been that bad could he?”

“No...” Mai said thinking.

Nagisa walked home with them that day to head to Haru's place. From there they were going to head out that evening to go over to the old abandoned Swim Club building. Mai had been pretty quiet on the way home, thinking about the building and thinking about missing Dance Club that day. Nagisa's presence admittedly didn't help either, seeing as she didn't know him at all.

“He's...child-like. You'll understand when you meet him, if you ever go to school.” Mai commented, giving Hamaka a look. “He did mention though...did you know about the old swim club being torn down later this year? They're going over there tonight to dig up something they buried as children.”

Hamaka sat up, looking at Maiko carefully. “I heard. I just thought you had too, but you just didn't want to talk about it. How does it make you feel?”

“I don't know,” Mai thought looking at the ceiling. She sighed lightly, patting Mikkie on the head as he whined at her side. “It's in the past right? Should I care about it?”

Hamaka shrugged again, his expression softening. “It's up to you Mai. You can care about it if you want to, or you don't have to. The choice is yours to figure out.” He took a slice of pizza, and held it out. “Want one?”

Mai sat up and sighed lightly, though a smile appearing. “No, thank you.” She looked at her brother as he proceeded to eat the slice. “Thanks, Hama.”

***

At lunch the next day, the six of them sat on the grass outside. Haru ended up taking a nap and ignored them for the first half, while Makoto and Nagisa conversed about the happenings of the night before with concern, explaining it to Tay, Mel and Maiko.

Their fun little dig of an old artifact turned into a run in with their final swim team member Rin, who came back to Japan without telling anyone. It resulted in Rin challenging Haru to a race in a pool that had no water. From the sounds of it, this Rin guy had really changed. Maiko personally didn't see the problem as everyone changes, especially when they go somewhere new, but maybe she just wasn't sensitive enough to the subject.

Haru then woke up and proceeded to come up with explanations that explained Rin's attitude that weren't possible at all. He seemed sort of sad, from what Maiko picked up, and it seemed like Tay had picked it up as well as she kept a closer eye on him than normal while he had been taking a nap.

Makoto then began to do some gestures their old club did, but everyone was either uninterested, tired, or not paying attention. Then Nagisa and Haru couldn't remember what he was talking about.

“I give up,” Makoto sighed sitting back down on the grass.

Mel smiled, nudging Tay in the side so she wasn't caught staring at Haru. “Sorry, we just don't know what you're talking about, and Mai is off in her own world today.”

Maiko slowly turned to face Mel. “Ehh, just because I'm quiet doesn't mean I'm not listening...” She said stubbornly, which caused Tay and Mel to giggle.

Nagisa crossed his arms, “It's just hard to believe that guy was Rin, he's changed so much.”

Mel rose a brow. “Why is it so hard to believe that was actually your friend, Rin?” She argued, looking between the boys, their expressions saddening.

“It has been years since you last saw him, people do change you know...” Tay said softly, glancing at Haru for a second. “What does this guy look like, maybe he goes to our school,” Tay suggested. Haru opened his eyes glancing at her, while Makoto and Nagisa turned to one another.

“It is possible he transferred here if he's back,” Makoto said.

Nagisa suddenly rose his arm into the air, pointing up. “Let's look at all the lockers, and see if we can find Rin's name!” He turned to the girls. “Wanna help?”

“Not really, I don't want to get charged for stalking,” Mel retorted, which caused Nagisa to pout. He then turned to Tay and Maiko.

“I have to work later, I can't stick around here too late, so no.” Mai said simply. Plus she had to head to Dance Club today seeing as she missed it the day before.

“Ahhh fine, Haru, Makoto and I will go and look then!” Nagisa said happily.

After school ended and the girls clubs were done, they met up at their lockers and started to head home. The girls chatted about what they did during their time after school, the first years that joined so far, and the stuff they wanted to do this year in their specific clubs. Tay was in Art Club doing various projects, Mel was in Home Economics, while Mai's Dance Club specialized in various styles of Dance.

Maiko really liked Contemporary Dance though. It gave her endless creative freedom to put together routines that could tell a story, or even just allowed her to be graceful, and practice fluid movements. It was also fun doing it solo or as a duo, she liked both a lot. The only problem with duo routines, or even group routines, was that you had to put a lot of trust in your partner, or the other people, that they won't let you get hurt. For Mai, that was often difficult to do.

Breaking the silence, Tay spoke up. “I am a little worried about Haru, he seemed really down today...”

Mai hadn't noticed Haru acting much different, still quiet as usual, sad at lunch maybe, but she didn't go out of her way to thoroughly observe him either. “It's not just Haru, it seems all three of them are upset about their run in with that Rin guy.” Mai replied. She had noticed Makoto and Nagisa acting sadder than normal, and she had only just met Nagisa.

“After everything they told us about him, I was surprised to hear how much he changed,” Mel added in.

The guy was in a foreign country, could it be that implausible? She didn't know the guy, so maybe it was as strange, or upsetting, as the boys made it seem. The four of them had spent a lot of time together from the sounds of it.

Tay suddenly stopped, and looked at Mai and Mel pleadingly. “I think I am going to stop by and check on Haru. Will you guys come with me?”

Mai wasn't so sure how much Haru would enjoy the three of them stopping by, but seeing as Tay didn't want to go on her own, understandably so, Maiko wasn't really opposed to it. She'd just keep quiet, and then head home when it was time to start getting ready for her shift at work that evening. “Yeah, no problem.”

Maiko smiled lightly, exhaling softly seeing Tay's face brightening up. With a spring in her step she hurriedly started up the lengthy trek uphill to where Haru's house was. At the very top, near the shrine. Sometimes when Mai went on her runs, as a change of pace from running along near the ocean she'd run up the hill instead, often with her dog as her partner. She'd go until she reached the top where Haru and Makoto lived. Occasionally, she'd even run over to the shrine, but she preferred the scenic route along the ocean. Mikkie especially loved running into the water and along the sand. She always knew when to come back when told, no fuss involved, Mai was thankful for that.

Once the three made it to the top, they started up the stone steps that led to Haru's home. However, before approaching the house, they could hear the faint sound of talking. Turning to where the gazebo was, they noticed Makoto and Nagisa underneath it speaking to a red-headed girl.

“Who's that with Makoto and Nagisa?” Mai questioned in case one of the other two happened to know. The girl wore her hair in a ponytail, and had on one of their uniforms so Mai knew she at least went to their school. However, she had never noticed her before.

“I don't know but...” Tay made a face indicating she was thinking. “She was up on the roof with us yesterday eating lunch. She's a first year.”

That would explain why Mai never noticed her. The only first and third years she payed any attention to were the ones in her club, and her brother who was in third year, but he never showed up to school as it was. Mai didn't really want to impose if it was something important, and it seemed like Tay and Mel had the same thoughts. However, curiosity did get the best of them, and they proceeded to inch closer and closer in a futile attempt to get an idea of what was going on.

Then it happened. As they moved even closer, the girls bumped into one another, and Tay, who wasn't paying full attention tripped over one of them, and landed with a thud on the ground, an audible ow escaping her lips. As expected, before anyone could say anything else, it seemed Makoto had noticed them once Tay had fallen, he seemed to chuckle slightly to himself, and began calling the girls over. Nagisa, and the girl, were both now looking in their direction, as the three of them started to approach the gazebo.

“It looks like we all had the same idea,” Mel began, though she rose a brow questionably at the red-headed girl with them. “Who's your friend?”

Realizing the girls weren't yet acquainted with the other girl, Makoto looked at the girl to Tay, Mel, and Maiko. “Oh, this is Rin's sister, Gou Matsuo-”

“I told you to call me Kou!” Gou retorted, interrupting Makoto, and making him jump in the process. She suddenly stood up and turned to the girls, bowing gracefully as if nothing happened. “It's nice to meet you.”

Once the girls hesitantly introduced themselves, Makoto continued, “What are you doing at Haru's place?”

Gou paused for a moment, looking a little embarrassed for being caught. “I wanted to ask him about my brother,” She said thoughtfully.

“So, Rin is really back?”

Gou then proceeded to explain that Rin had been back for a month now, and was attending the prestigious swim academy, Samezuka. From the way it sounded to Mai, it seemed like the guy hadn't even said much to his own family about why he came back all of a sudden. If he had, there wouldn't be much reason for his younger sister to show up at Haru's doorstep. The entire thing was just becoming more and more bizarre as the day went on, and Maiko hadn't even met the guy. She was pretty sure she had no interest in it from how it looked like this was going to turn out.

Tay kept looking at Haru's house, now looking like she was even more concerned than she had been walking up to visit him. Makoto seemed to pick up on this, smiling a little, turning to Gou. “We'll talk to Haru for you, and see if he knows anything.”

Gou stood up again from where she was sitting and bowed. “Thank You,” She turned to the girls and smiled. “It was nice to meet you!” And started past them, quickly disappearing from sight.

Nagisa suddenly turned to Makoto and said, “We should visit Rin!”

“It doesn't seem like he wants to see you,” Mel pointed out.

Makoto seemed stuck in the middle. He smiled and said, “Let's go ask Haru, we should tell him what we found out from Gou,” Mako glanced at Tay and said, “And we can check on him.”

Tay face brightened up, while Maiko sighed to herself. If everyone else was with Tay, there was no need for Mai to stick around. She still needed to grab a bite to eat, and get ready for work. Besides what difference would it make if she went to visit Haru with them anyway? Almost instantly Nagisa started discussing the possibility of convincing Haru to go to Samezuka Academy, which Mai really wasn't interested in taking part in even if she didn't work.

“I'm going to pass, I have to work tonight. Besides, I don't really feel like getting chased out of Samezuka. I already did my run this morning,” Maiko cooed, her words laced with a hint of sarcasm. Playful sarcasm of course.

“You think that could happen?” Nagisa gaped, looking between all of them worriedly.

Makoto's face fell ever so slightly, looking down at Mai. “If you have to...” Almost like it never happened, he smiled again. “We'll catch you up on what happens later.”

Maiko, not picking up that anything in Mako's face had changed even briefly, nodded. “Sure, don't get into too much trouble,” She winked then turned and started to head back down the path that led to the stone steps.

Somehow she had a sinking suspicion that saying that was going to have the opposite effect.