The night in Sydney was exceptionally deep and heavy. Inside the pool area, unlike the silence outside, only the sound of the harsh water circulation motor and the faint rippling of waves echoed in his ears. Rin Matsuoka breathed heavily atop the starting block he had traversed hundreds, thousands of times.

With the World Championships just around the corner, the training camp had his nerves wound tight, constricting his whole body. He had failed to adjust to the time difference long ago, and even when he closed his eyes, visions of cutting through the water floated behind his eyelids. When his head was this noisy, he always ended up heading back to the pool.

But today, there was an unexpected obstacle.

Walking out of the water and pulling off his wet swim cap, Rin's gaze caught the light of a small desk lamp at the edge of the stands. There, at three in the morning in the darkened indoor pool, he saw the back of Guest, alone and typing away at a laptop to organize the training logs.