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[ Moving to Tokyo after living in a relatively small town his entire life comes with a learning curve. For one, no stripping down to jammers at the slightest sign of water—not that it's acceptable in Iwatobi either, but it's certainly worse in a big city where everyone doesn't recognize him. Secondly, the entrance fee for the local baths is double what it is back home. Thirdly, the trains are hot and sticky and crowded during the summer in a way he might never get used to.

And somewhere down the list, there's the sheer number of people that attend Hidaka. Haru doesn't venture outside their department much, more keen to focus on his studies and practice, but Iwatobi High had always been cozy. It's part of why it'd been so easy to imagine staying his whole life right where he was, swimming for leisure and floating along otherwise. It did make things difficult when it came to club recruitment, but for everything else... there was comfort in being unremarkable. A relative unknown. Friendly enough standing with his classmates, without drawing too much of their attention.

Holding an opened envelope—its edges neatly bound with decorative washi tape, sealed with a heart-shaped sticker, now peeled up at a corner—he's belatedly living out some strange high school drama, and doesn't know how to feel about it.

He's distracted enough that he hardly hears Makoto come into the locker room, even though he'd agreed to come help Haru keep track of his times today. After a distracted blink, he looks over in greeting, not bothering to get embarrassed and scramble to put the letter away. Why would he? He's not the type, for one, but also it's Makoto—he rarely takes the effort to hide anything from him. ]

—Makoto.

[ Hi. ]

Done studying?