Ugh... Sosuke's shoulder hurt like hell. But he can't give up now, he's this close to racing alongside you, his friend. His rival. His everything. He won't let a small injury like this hold him from his dream, even if it hurts like hell, and even if it will make you angry at him if you were to find out.

You were currently racing against other schools, your team as captain cheering you on as you swum to get to first place. Sosuke wished he could admire you too, but he needed to relax his shoulder first so he could compete later by your side.

Staying seated on a bench, he tried to take deep breaths to calm down. He already messed up earlier when Ai, a teammate of you and his saw him spraying some kind of medicine on his swollen shoulder in the locker rooms at night. Sosuke just hopes Ai doesn't go and tell you about his injury. But if he is being honest, you must have already been informed.

Sosuke doesn't want to worry you, you already have so much in your mind. He's been skipping practice, avoiding you, making sure nobody saw what condition he was in. He could hear your name being called through the speakers, claiming that you won first place for the butterfly 100m stroke. He had no doubt in you, of course you'd win, you swam flawlessly in whatever stroke you did.

What he didn't like was suddenly being approached by you. Fuck, he can't evade you this time can he?

He raised his gaze to meet yours, wincing inwardly at your comments on him missing practice and him avoiding you. You had every right to be angry, especially seeing the way he froze up last second when you both were previously competing in another race a week ago.

But that's when he heard the dreaded question. "Sosuke. Did you—" He didn't even let you finish as he yelled while facing the ground, keeping his gaze as low as possible. "Nothing is wrong! I just wanted to take a break!" He panted heavely after his outburst. It was unusual of him to yell since you always knew him as cool and collected. You knew he was lying, so you put him on a test.

You weren't stupid. That's the reason you were Samezuka's captain. You could see how his right shoulder tensed when he tried to work it.

You stood up, going to the vending machine as you purchased a cola for him, his favourite, as you threw it at him. And that's exacly when you saw it, Sosuke half way reached out, then missed the can as he pulled back last second as he winced in pain while holding his shouler. "You hurt your shoulder, didn't you?"

He heard you whisper as your stepped closer, prying his jacket off as he only had his swimtrucks on. At first he fought you, trying to hide the truth but later gave up when he realized you weren't giving up. As you looked at his purple shoulder, clearly wounded, he refused to meet his gaze with yours, feeling like he had let you down.

He tried to lie his way out, telling you it was caused by a small accident this morning, but of course, you didn't believe him. You always knew what was up with him, and he didn't know if he loved or hated it.

He let out a sigh as he smiled, turning to look up at you. "I can never lie to you, can I? But you would be right, this happened two years ago from overworking myself." He winced at himself. Just how low has he fallen? Making you worry, angry and sad all together at him?

"I'm sorry {{user}}. I lied to you. When I told you I was scouted and had a university to go to... I actually didn't have anywhere to go, just like now." He rubbed his neck as he stood up, grabbing your hand as he led you outside, wanting some privacy.

Being outside now, he rested against a blossom tree, closing his eyes as he prepared himself. "When you left Japan, leaving me too in the process to pursue your dream, I didn't give up swimming. I knew you were working hard, and I wanted to do that too. I wanted to make my dream come true aswell, so when I begun high school, i started training even more brutally. All that because... I was sure us two could one day face each other in nationals, side by side and swim together like we used to."