"First training, then uniform" Rosa stated a couple of weeks after the joint practice, snatching the sports magazine from Nagisa's hand and leaving it on a table nearby, ignoring his disappointed gaze.

He had brought it in hopes of being able to discuss what their uniform for the tournament would be, since they obviously needed one to differentiate from the rest of the schools "This is your new training regimen" she added, holding a piece of paper in her hands and shaking it in front of their faces "The weather is getting warmer, which means you can officially hit the pool and not get a cold because of it" she added the last part looking sharply at Haru, while the rest just chuckled.

"Did you make this, Rosa?" Nagisa questioned, taking the paper from her hands and looking at it.

"Yeah, it's my old training regimen from my time in England" she replied with a nod "I modified it taking into account that Rei can't swim"

"It's very complete" the orange haired observed.

"Only the best for my team" she replied proudly.

"Rei!" Gou called, taking out a small notepad and pen from her bag.

"Yes, what is it?" he said calmly.

"Given the short amount of time we have before the tournament, if we want a chance at victory, you need to master swimming within one week" she said firmly, and Rosa nodded to back her up.

"One week?" Rei asked, and immediately bursted into laughter, but the girls were as serious as ever "That's conceptually impossible!" he added with another chuckle.

"With that attitude of course it is!" Rosa stated sharply, placing both hands on her hips. Nagisa and Makoto backed away a little bit, recognizing that position as the trigger for what they liked to call 'coach mode'. It involved a whole lot of scolding and screaming, which they weren't huge fans of and wanted their ears to be as far away as possible from "You're not getting into any tournaments like this, so stop lazing around and get to swimming!" she added, almost in a yell. The only person who didn't seem to be affected by it was Gou, who had her arms folded and stern expression on her face "This regimen has to be completed today!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Rei said militarily, before going off to the lockers to put on his swimsuit (Or rather, the one Nagisa lent him).

After two days of hopeless effort to teach Rei how to swim backstroke and breaststroke, the members of Iwatobi Swim Club were gathered at Rosa's house on a rainy day.

"Hear, hear!" Nagisa announced in an antique manner, hitting the table as if he were in court "The first ever let's-find-out-why-Rei-sucks-at-swimming meeting is called to order! Any ideas?"

"The water doesn't like him" Haru suggested, as Rosa placed five cups of tea in front of them.

"He's very unfortunate" added Nagisa.

"That can't be the real reason" Makoto sighed, and Rosa had to agree.

"Maybe he's just not athletic" offered Gou.

"He was in the track team, that's not it" the black haired girl said, taking a seat at the head of the table.

"He has earned several gold medals!" Nagisa backed her up.

"So you have a lot of brain power" Mako tried to make Rei feel better.

"Do you like mackerel?"

"What even is this conversation?" Rosa questioned tiredly, as everyone kept offering reasons why Rei couldn't swim, none of them making sense. And he had enough of it as well.

"Nothing of what you are saying has anything to do with it!" he exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table furiously "The problem is clearly with my instructors. If I had a proper coach, I would have caught up with all of you by now!"

"You have Rosa" Nagisa commented, and he then seemed to realize something "Hey, maybe that's it! Rosa, you have to teach Rei how to swim!" he added, looking at said girl, who opened her eyes wide.

"I..." she began, but Rei cut her off.

"You can swim?" he questioned, not having heard of that before. Ever since he began training with them, never once had he seen Rosa get into the pool.

"I can, but I don't anymore" she replied, shaking her head remorsefully. Rei was curious as to why, but it seemed a bit of a sensitive topic so he didn't pry any further "I'm sorry" she added, casting her gaze down to her cup.

She couldn't, she just couldn't. What she had done when Rei fell into the pool was in the spur of a moment, she wasn't thinking, all she wanted was to save him. But it was different saving someone than swimming with someone, she wasn't ready to do it. Not now. Not yet. Her brother's passing was still very present in her mind and heart.

"It's alright, Rosa" she felt Mako's kind voice, and his warm hand on her shoulder "You're doing more than enough" he added, bringing a smile to Rosa's face as she looked up at him "Maybe we could ask Coach Sasabe?" he added, gazing at the rest of their friends.

"Hey, that might work!" Nagisa agreed.

"The answer was here all along!" Rei exclaimed the next day at practice.

The previous night they had invited Coach Sasabe over to Rosa's to ask him if he could train Rei, but he brought a box of pizza as a consolation gift, since his schedule was way too packed for it.

So now, here they were, and Rei apparently knew what was wrong with him.

"I know the reason I can't swim!"

"For real?"

"So you've really figured it out?"

"Well, don't leave us in suspense. Please, do say!" Rosa exclaimed dramatically, doing even more exaggerated hand motions.

"All these days of brainstorming, and it was right under our noses!" he went on "The answer is the speedo!" he added, gesturing to his bright yellow swimsuit "That's the problem, I can't believe it took so long for me to realize it!"

"Isn't that the swimsuit I let you borrow?" Nagisa questioned, as they all approached their friend "Aren't you being too harsh?"

"I'm not!" he insisted "Given the differences in our builds, the obvious answer is that this treacherous piece of cloth is not apt for my body!"

"So all we should do is go shopping" Rosa commented, folding her arms as Rei laughed triumphantly "Easy enough"

"Hey, is there a reason why Miss A didn't tag along with us? We could really use her expertise" Makoto commented the next day, as the five of them were on a train to the mall.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot that she used to work for a swimsuit designer in Tokyo" Gou replied, and Rosa held back her chuckle. Miss A was so embarrassed of her past as a swimsuit model.

After seeing the woman for the first time, she sounded familiar, and when she looked her up on the internet, it turned out that she used to be a model. Rosa didn't mention it to her because she didn't look quite pleased about it now, and she also didn't tell the guys because Miss A obviously didn't want anyone to find out.

"I asked her if she wanted to come, but she gave me a bunch of excuses" Nagisa replied, leaning against the seat.

"At least she was kind enough to give us excuses" Rei added, as they arrived at the mall and got off the train. The mall was huge, it had several stories and it was packed despite it being early afternoon. There were a couple of shopping centres in Brighton, but she didn't go much to them by herself, she went mostly with Joy to amuse her. But, somehow, she always ended up adding a new item of clothing to her collection. Her best friend's constant nagging probably had something to do with it.

"There's just so much variety to choose from!" Gou commented, as she scanned the rack. Rei was saying a bunch of things only he understood as they walked around the area.

Rosa decided that maybe now was a good time to talk to Gou about Rin, seeing how immersed the boys were in their shopping. They would be there for at least a few hours.

"Hey, Gou, can I ask you something?" she spoke up, sitting on a bench nearby in front of some changing rooms as Rei and Haru got in to try on swimsuits.

"Yeah, sure" replied the girl, taking a seat next to her "What is it?"

"When Rin came back for holidays..." she spoke up, making the girl look at her curiously "What did he do?" she added. Maybe she knew what Rin had been up to, living in the same house and all. Maybe he mentioned if he was going to some place in particular, or if he was going to see the guys.

"I honestly have no idea" replied Gou, shaking her head. Rin was out of the house for a long time, but he never mentioned where he was going or what he did when he came back.

She frowned, trying to think of something, anything that could help Rosa figure out what was going on with Rin, even if it was a little thing that didn't seem too important. She was sure her friend would appreciate it anyway.

"Hey, Mako, let's go try some as well!" Nagisa urged his friend, pushing him away from the spot where he had been standing, and towards the several rows of swimsuits. Rosa followed them with a small smile as Gou sat quietly.

And then, it came to her.

"Well, there was this one time that he came home late" she said, and Rosa turned to look at her expectantly "And...He seemed upset over something" she added "He didn't come out from his room all day, and he was in a bad mood" Rosa arched her eyebrows upon hearing that. It definitely meant something "I have no idea why he was like that and when I asked, he didn't tell me"

She didn't usually talk to Rin so much, but she couldn't help asking if something was wrong. He just snapped at her without giving her a proper answer. He obviously didn't want to talk about it, so Gou didn't insist, but she had always been curious.

"Does that help?" she asked, and Rosa smiled.

"It does" she nodded in assurance. Now she knew that something definitely happened, because the way the girl described how Rin was acting sounded like him everytime he was upset. Rosa had seen that many times "Thanks, Gou"

"Sure" she replied with a sweet smile, as they both turned to look at the guys once more. Gou's face immediately lit up as their friend came out one by one from the changing rooms, trying on different speedos and showing off their muscles. Rosa couldn't help chuckling.

The problem was, that it went on for forty five minutes at least, and Gou quickly got bored.

"I'm going to get a drink" she decided after Rei tried on an extravagant butterfly patterned swimsuit; she had seen enough.

"Good idea, it doesn't seem like we're leaving anytime soon" Rosa smiled, though she was actually having a lot of fun watching the guys try on the outrageous speedos. It was laugh after laugh after laugh. She had really missed that.

It also reminded her of the first time Luke got a swimsuit.

She had accompanied him to the mall, and she paid for a flowered-pattern speedo. It was her gift to him, so when he swam he would remember her. It was the swimsuit he was wearing...That day. She felt her heart clenching at the image of her little brother, but she did her best to shake it off.

"Aren't you coming?" the young girl's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"I'll stay here, someone has to give the boys advice on style" she chuckled "And since Miss A is not here, I'm second best" her friend nodded with a smile.

"I'll bring you one as well" Gou announced, before going off.

And as soon as she was gone, her mind immediately drifted off to Rin. She couldn't help it. The same images replayed over and over again, Coach Sasabe's words about Rin and Haru's competition, Rin's letter, Gou's words, Rin's attitude...The majority of her thoughts were occupied by her best friend, because he was still her best friend even if she wasn't his anymore.

She didn't know when, but, suddenly, there was only one of the dressing rooms occupied. Scanning the area, she saw the guys were some metres away, and Nagisa was trying to get Rei to buy another speedo. She chuckled slightly, as the curtain of the dressing room slid open.

When she turned to look at it, she found the very own boy she had been thinking about standing right in front of her.

"Rosa..." Rin breathed out, not expecting to see her there.

"Hey, Rin" she greeted, cheerful as ever "Are you also here on a shopping spree?" she added, taking notice of the black speedo he was wearing.

"Kind of..." he replied, and out of the corner of his eye he spotted the other four guys far away. She was alone, it was the perfect opportunity "Hey, got a minute?" he asked "I need to talk to you"

Rosa's face lit up upon hearing that. Finally he was the one to take the initiative.

"Me too" she replied, standing up "I've been sitting here for an hour, and it doesn't seem like we're leaving anytime soon, so I have all the time in the world"