High Speed! Chapter Eight [[COMPLETE]]

[frecklegirl]

So, I'm picking up where sunnyskies left off and translating the last two chapters of High Speed. Feel free to read Chapter Six and earlier chapters, and Chapter Seven.
--seira

If you went around the back of Iwatobi SC, there was a little garden visible from the poolside. In that back garden were several types of closely planted trees and bushes, appearing different each season. It fell on the head coach of the club to do all the trimming, watering, transplanting, pruning and other caretaking duties, so that it had become something of a hobby for the head coach.

The club members enjoyed looking out the window at it as they arrived and left, seeing what kind of flowers were blooming depending on the season. In winter it was red camellias. In spring, it went from rape blossoms to azaleas. The hydrangeas from early summer popped out like bubbles, chased after by the bellflowers. In the fall, the bright smell of the fragrant olive blossoms was carried out all the way over to the pool.

Right now the yellow rape blossoms were coloring the back garden most prominently.

Rin and Nagisa, along with Haruka, were waiting for Makoto in the back garden.

“Hey Rin-chan, why are we burying the trophy?” Nagisa asked.

“That’s because it’s something the four of us won, so it would be weird if only one of us took it home.”

“But couldn’t we leave it in the club’s display case?”

The trophies and plaques won individually at competitions could be taken home, or if desired could be entrusted to the club and placed in the display case.

“No way. It’s not something we want to show off to others. It only belongs to us. That’s why we’re going to bury it as proof of our friendship. I guess it’s like a time capsule.”

“So it’s gonna stay buried forever?”

“No. Someday, the day’s going to come when we need to remember today and the medley relay. When that day comes, we’ll dig it back up.”

“When will that be?”

“Who knows. Five or ten years later, who can say.”

The rear exit door opened and Makoto came out. He carried the trophy and several gardening spades.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I got the head coach’s permission. And he lent me these spades.”

It wouldn’t do to get caught digging around uprooting flowers without permission, so they had decided to obtain it beforehand. For the moment they had brought the trophy back to the club and taken a commemorative photo, then each of them had said what they wanted to do with it. After that Makoto had gone to get it.

“Okay, let’s get going.”

Rin opened the bag he had brought and took out a big empty cookie tin.

“Wow, Rin-chan. Do you always carry that thing around?” Nagisa asked, stunning Rin.

“Of course not. Only today.”

“Oh, is that what your sister Gou-chan brought you?”

“Yeah.”

“I seee. I’m glad she did.”

“If I’d shown you guys what it was then, you would have thought I really was pushing my luck.”

“But did you know we’d win the trophy from the start?” Makoto asked as he passed out the spades.

“Of course I did, Makoto. Don’t tell me you thought we couldn’t win?”

Rin opened the lid of the tin.

“No, I just think you had an awful lot of confidence.”

Makoto passed Rin the trophy. It was about the size that could be handled one-handed, and at the top there was a relief in the shape of the starting posture, and you could see a bird with wings outstretched in the distance.

He put it in the empty tin, and it just fit.

“Wow, it fits perfectly!” Nagisa said, looking surprised.

“Well, yeah. It’s the exact same size as last year’s awards.”

Rin had won the breaststroke and freestyle 50-meter races last year.

“Where did the coach say to bury it?” Rin asked Makoto as he closed the lid.

“Under the camellias.”

“Which ones are those?” Nagisa asked, which made Rin and Makoto survey the back garden, until Haruka pointed and said, “There.”

“Wow, Haru-chan, you know!”

Makoto raised his upturned eyebrows in admiration.

“Yazaki said it when the red flowers started to bloom.”

Rin headed for the camellias, spade and tin in hand.

“Okay, let’s dig.”

Rin’s spade hit the earth, and Nagisa and Makoto began digging in the same spot. But the ground was unexpectedly hard, and they couldn’t make progress as well as they’d thought.

“Haru. Stop watching us and help,” Rin said. At that, Haruka tossed his spade aside and went into the club via the rear entrance.

“Ugh, what a selfish guy.”

With no choice, the three of them dug away until Haruka came back with a giant shovel.

“It’ll get dark if you just keep chipping away at it like that.” At that, he stuck the shovel in the ground, pushed it down with his foot, and began to dig. Crunch crunch. Gardening spades rendered entirely useless, the other three just watched Haruka dig away.

Then his digging feet suddenly stopped.

“Haru, what’s wrong?” Makoto asked.

“I hit something.”

“What is it?” Nagisa peeked in.

“...A box?”

Makoto used the gardening spade to dig it out carefully.

“It’s a school supply box. Someone’s been here.”

Rin peeked in too. The supply box was wrapped in a clear plastic bag.

“There’s a name... written on it.”

When Makoto brushed away the dirt, the name “Rin Matsuoka” could be read.

“Me? Oh, this is the one I used when I was in preschool. But why?”

As Rin looked at the box, Haruka said, “You’ll find out if you open it.”

“...Yeah.”

Rin dug out the box, took off the bag, and opened the lid. There were four gold medals inside.

Nagisa peeked over from next to Rin.

“This year was the 41^st, so this was, hmm, 23 years ago.”

“...”

At Makoto’s words, Rin stood up with the medals in hand and ran off toward the club’s back entrance. Opening the door and going in, he ran to the break room where the photos of past members decorated the lobby. Then he stood in front of the oldest photo on the farthest edge. He could read the numerals “18^th” on the medal hanging around the neck of the smiling boy holding the trophy. He compared it to the medal in his hand. There could be no mistake...

“...Dad.”

Tears fell down his cheeks.

That box hadn’t been buried 23 years ago. Rin had stopped using that supply box when he started elementary school. His father had died before then. That meant the other three had buried it. It was proof that they had stayed friends forever...

“...Dad,” Rin murmured again, and wiped his tears away with his left arm.

After that, the empty cookie tin was buried next to the supply box.

 

There were tiny buds on the cherry blossom tree. You could tell by touching them that they would be weakened again by a strong wind. In another three days, they would be in bloom. As if they were impatiently awaiting that time, the buds were absorbing the rays of spring with every part of them. At the base of the tree, brightly colored flowers were blooming one step ahead, surrounded by reddish-brown bricks.

“Yeah, it’s not in bloom yet,” Rin said, not sounding entirely disappointed.

“That’s what Mako-chan said. Of course it’s not yet,” Nagisa said, somewhat puzzled and not scolding.

“But today is my last look at it, so I really kinda wanted to see it in bloom.”

Rin gazed at each bud lovingly.

“But the flowers in the flowerbed are blooming, look. Zaki-chan, what flower is that?”

Makoto crouched down and reached out to the flowers. Slightly brown scarf fluttering in the wind, Aki crouched down next to Makoto too.

“I think these are pansies. Maybe. I don’t really know, actually,” she said and smiled. One flower had already bloomed.

Nagisa crouched down on Aki’s other side. Then he discovered the messages written on the bricks and began to read them aloud one by one.

“‘Friendship,’ ‘Peace,’ ‘Smile,’ ‘love,’ ‘Thank you.’ Hey, Mako-chan, which one is yours?”

Prodded by Nagisa, Makoto began to search for his.

“Where is it? Umm, oh, there it is.”

It was right by Nagisa’s feet. Nagisa read the text written on the brick Makoto pointed to.

“It’s in English. ‘I Swim.’ Does that mean swim?”

“Yeah. ‘I swim.’”

“Mine’s next to it.”

“Huh?”

Aki pointed, and Makoto’s upturned eyebrows raised a little in surprise.

Nagisa read it aloud. “English again. ‘Best.’ I know this one. It means ‘the best.’”

Aki nodded and pointed to the brick next to it. “Nanase-kun’s is on the other side.”

“‘Free.’ Oh, like freestyle.”

Rin pointed from behind him. “Mine’s next to that.”

“‘For The Team.’ The team...? What does that mean?”

“It means ‘For the team,’ but it looks like it’s too much of a coincidence. All four of ours are in English, and they look like a sentence all lined up.”

Other bricks were written in English and it wasn’t odd to see them placed here and there, but this felt clear and deliberate.

Aki grinned mischievously. “I lined them up this way. When I saw the messages as Nanase-kun was handing the bricks to me, I thought it would be fun. But it’s really a coincidence that they link up to make a sentence. I’m kinda surprised.”

Rin folded his arms and closed his eyes.

“This isn’t a coincidence. It’s fate.”

At that dramatic proclamation, Makoto and Nagisa looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“Rin-chan, you’re like some cheesy actor.”

“What...!” When Rin whipped his head around to say something back to Nagisa, Aki started to read everyone’s messages out loud.

“‘I Swim Best Free For The Team.’”

Aki’s voice, which sounded as if she were addressing the pansies, was laced with the spring wind.

Rin gave up on his retort to Nagisa, drew in a breath, and smiled.

“It sounds pretty good. Perfect for us.”

Makoto tilted his head as he looked closer at the bricks.

“But does this really make an actual sentence?”

Rin and Aki tilted their heads too.

“Hmmm...”

Suddenly, Nagisa pointed to a yellow flower.

“Look over there.”

“Huh? Where?”

Makoto and Aki looked where Nagisa was pointing.

“There, inside that yellow flower.”

At that the two of them looked closer, and saw that a bug was inside the flower. A black-and-yellow striped torso was visible. As soon as they realized it was a bee, the bee flew out of the flower.

“Ah!”

“Eeek!”

Makoto and Aki jumped back and away from the flowerbed by reflex. But the bee appeared unaware and stopped at the next flower, beginning to collect honey.

Nagisa laughed at them the way you would at small children.

“It's fine. You're both scaredy-cats. Look.”

Nagisa reached out both hands, and in an instant had the bee captured in them.

Pointing at the bee in Nagisa’s hands, Rin said in a panicked tone, “H-Hey, that’s a bee, you know!”

“I know. Are you scared too, Rin-chan?”

“No, I’m not. Hurry up and let it go.”

Giggling, Nagisa turned to Haruka and showed him his closed hands.

“Is Haru-chan scared too?”

“No.”

Haruka just stared at Nagisa’s hands expressionlessly, without moving a muscle. Nagisa opened his hands slowly, and the bee was crawling in circles – small movements, as if it was looking for honey. Then it seemed to remember and moved its wings, grazing Haruka’s cheek as it flew off.

After watching the bee fly off, Haruka slowly turned his gaze to Rin.

“Did you get to see your dad?”

Haruka was talking about what Sousuke had said back then.

“Yeah, kind of. What about you? You saw a pretty good sight, didn’t you?”

“Maybe.”

Makoto raised his upturned eyebrows.

“I saw it too. It was kind of strange, though.”

Nagisa lavished them with a full, wide smile.

“I did too! I was in a great mood.”

Their voices echoed all over the spacious school grounds. It was Sunday, and no one else was around. In a little bit the cherry blossoms would bloom and wither, and the voices of new children would spill out over these grounds.

Aki breathed spring-scented air deep into her lungs.

 “But it’s really something, that you won so easily. And you made a new competition record too – really awesome.”

Imitating Aki, Makoto also breathed the air in. It smelled faintly salty.

“Your group won bronze solidly, too, Zaki-chan. That’s great.”

Aki nodded, to show him her affirmation that her team had been good too.

“I might have come to like swimming even better.”

Rin nodded, arms folded. Makoto smiled, upturned eyebrows raised. Nagisa said he felt the same, looking at Haruka. Haruka looked up at the sky. It was a far-off gaze, like he wanted to find the ends of the heavens.

“Rin.”

Haruka said Rin’s first name. Time stopped for a second. Makoto and Aki looked at Haruka. Then Rin, called by his given name, answered in a slightly ruffled tone.

“What is it?”

“Are you going after your dad’s dream?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Even if he didn’t know yet, even if he couldn’t see the goal yet, he could run swiftly with all his power to search for it. That was the privilege that had been afforded to them.

The cherry branches made a noise. When they turned to look, it had been the wind. That wind blew over their heads, infused with the rays of spring, and out of the school grounds. Then it picked up speed again and went off to whirl about in the sky.

As if it were inviting them to the faraway future.