#Also it's been maybe 2-3 years? Haruka's been a pretty close character to me due to how I relate to him(somehow)

[carrottyshark]

Happy Birthday Haruka!

I made a mini comic below too featuring my persona of the sort (SHAMELESS ADVERTISING) because it's my birthday 2 days after!

I don't know anything when it comes to speech bubbles and fonts

Actually, anything about doing comics in general

[macbetha]

Predictions for Free! Season 3: NatsuNao + Getting the High Speed! Starting Days gang back together

So hi! Happy Season 3! This is basically just one giant hot mess of a conspiracy theory, but these are my predictions on what might happen in Natsuya and Nao’s characters in Free! Season 3, following their arcs from Starting Days through what was mentioned of them in Bonds, Promises, and Take Your Marks. There aren’t many summaries of the movies available to read yet - I have watched Starting Days, but as far as the other movies, there are only a few written summaries at this time, so if I get something wrong or something was misinterpreted or I miss a big plot point, I’m very sorry! I tried really hard to get as much accurate information as possible and put it all together.  Again, this is all just personal speculation with a dash of hopes and dreams for what’s to come in Free!, primarily for NatsuNao. All good fun and hype. But be warned, there are major spoilers ahead for the movies if you haven’t seen them or read summaries yet! 

1. Where are they now?

Note: This is all under the assumption that Season 3 will be a forwarding timeline, as in, it won’t be new scenes from previous episodes in which it’s revealed that the Starting Days crew was present at several races and we just didn’t see them. I’m assuming Season 3 will be forward-moving, since in the poster, Haruka seems to be wearing a jacket that is very similar to the Japanese national swimming team. Plus, Take Your Marks ended with the message “See You Next Stage,” which I assumed to mean “next stage of life.” College, professional swimming, that sort of thing. 

So, this question of where are Natsuya and Nao now was pretty much answered in Take Your Marks - Natsuya and his swimming team are at the onsen where Rin, Sousuke, Nitori, and Momotarou are visiting, and the apartment Haruka rents in Tokyo previously belonged to Nao. I’m predicting that NatsuNao’s current situations will lead them back to the Iwatobi boys maybe in the form of:

 Haruka finding something of Nao’s left in the apartment.  - In Take Your Marks, Nao accidentally leaves his cell phone at the Shigino Real Estate agency - him picking it up was his big reveal, but neither Haruka and Makoto were not present. What’s the significance of having Nao be the previous tenant if Haruka isn’t going to find out about it some other way?

Haruka could hear about Nao’s reputation as a coach from the neighbors. - Also in Take Your Marks, while exploring the exterior of the apartment, Haruka and Makoto are approached by a young boy who asks if they know the swimming coach who lives in the apartment. The coach’s name is not given, but if someone’s occupation is widely known, their name is (obviously) sure to follow.

The young boy lets the audience know that Nao is still a swimming coach, which is a very important bit of information and leads to:

2. How have they changed as individuals and together since Starting Days?

So, as of Take Your Marks, we know that Natsuya is still a swim captain and Nao is still coaching. Let’s reflect on Nao’s choice first, going back to at the end of Starting Days, when he was suddenly put in the hospital near the end of the movie. 

(Also, this is probably just exciting to me, but notice those flowers by Nao’s bedside?)

 I WONDER WHO GAVE THEM TO HIM *EYES EMOJI*

Anyway, in this scene in Starting Days, Nao is in the hospital for retinal detachment. 

He reveals to Haruka, Makoto, Ikuya and Asahi that Natsuya forced him into swimming “in the beginning,” but he really got into it in the end. In his own quiet way, for a brief pause, he honestly seems devastated that he will not be able to swim in middle school anymore due to retinal detachment, yet he quickly reassures the team that he will be able to swim again in high school.  Even when Nao is in the hospital, about to have major surgery, he’s still thinking about swimming, as we can tell by the book he’s reading when the boys barge into his hospital room. 

Let’s take a second to realize just how scared Nao probably was, getting surgery. On his eye. And what’s the comfort he turns to? Swimming. Not the physical aspect of it, but by reading about it to improve his coaching. Swimming clearly means a lot to him, which is a strong indicator why he continued coaching in his later teen years. Now, in theory, Nao is telling the truth to the team when he says he’ll continue swimming in high school - he should only be out of the water for maybe four weeks after retinal surgery, so obviously, that’s not years.  HOWEVER, apparently, without rapid surgical intervention (within 8 - 15 days), the retina could have permanent problems. Nao tells the boys that he started noticing changes in his vision last fall, and he admits that ignoring his weakening vision is what forced him to have surgery. Since he waited too long for the procedure, there’s a possibility he could have some sort of cataract with rapid progression. Another surgery could be required 1-2 years down the road after this one at the end of Starting Days. 

Nao is wearing glasses in the credits of Starting Days:

And he’s still wearing them when he’s older.

That could, presumably, be the “injury” Natsuya tells Sousuke that a “friend” of his has when they talk at the onsen in Take Your Marks. It’d be a little odd that they spent so much screen-time on Nao’s eye damage in Starting Days, only for him to have another injury preventing him from swimming in Take Your Marks? Unlikely.  Also, I’m fully aware I’m reaching way too far here, but notice in both versions of Natsuya and Nao as older boys, Natsuya stands on Nao’s right side? You know, the side his bad eye is on? 

Yes, I know, reaching, but let me live ok

This is a good transition into how Natsuya has perhaps changed since Starting Days. 

Honestly, it doesn’t seem like much has changed at this point - he’s still a swim captain. BUT that choice in itself results in a change between him and Nao. 

According to the summaries I’ve read, at the onsen in Take Your Marks, Natsuya notices Sousuke wearing a shoulder brace and asks him if it’s a swimming injury. Sousuke confirms this, which leads Natsuya to having a sudden heart-to-heart with Sousuke. 

He tells Sousuke something along the lines that he has a close friend who suffered an injury, and that he prays his friend can recover and swim with Natsuya in the future. This goes back to one of the last things Natsuya says to Nao in Starting Days:

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

This conversation at the onsen was crucially supposed to happen specifically between Natsuya and Sousuke because it’s a parallel with the scene where Rin confronts Sousuke about his injury at the end of Eternal Summer.

This is when Rin said: "Where did you get the idea that your shoulder can't be fixed? You’re closing the door on your dreams before you even try.”

“I'll be waiting for you.”

So, Natsuya’s choice to continue swimming when Nao cannot leads to my next question.

3. What if they have drifted apart?

I don’t mean they’re not speaking - I’ve heard that in the intro of Take Your Marks, Natsuya and Nao are seen at a cafe together. I’m not saying this one thing of Nao not being able to swim has driven them apart completely, given how close they were in Starting Days. 

It will be interesting to see if their dynamic has changed, since it seems like Nao can’t swim due to his injury. Even if we didn’t really see him swimming in Starting Days, the fact that he doesn’t have a choice but to stop has obviously left Natsuya grieving for him, so I’m sure it’s effected Nao as well. Will this effect how they act around each other? Or how they feel about one another? Will Nao feel insignificant as a coach because he can’t get in the water, or will Natsuya consistently make sure Nao feels loved and appreciated, given that swimming is not an option for him? Another thing that might have made them drift apart: the awesome @livruka reminded me that there’s talk that in Take Your Marks, it’s mentioned that Natsuya and Ikuya went to America, most likely to study and train. So was Nao left behind, alone in that Tokyo apartment and dealing with his injury on his own?  Though, Natsuya has been hopeful of Nao’s return to the water since the first surgery - in Starting Days, Nao says he can never stop teaching, and Natsuya says that’s fine, but he needs to return to swimming with him soon.

Nao pauses, then laughs, and it honestly sounded sad to me. Then he says, “When I can.” I think Nao knew his days of swimming might be jeopardized, but he didn’t tell Natsuya that. Kind of like how Sousuke didn’t tell Rin the extent of his shoulder injury. Could that drive a rift between Nao and Natsuya? I doubt it. I mean, it seems like Natsuya realizes in Take Your Marks that Nao won’t be able to swim with him for a while - he’s just praying that one day they’ll be back in the water together again. Nao might have tried to hide how bad his eye was when they were younger, and he might have even been able to swim in high school for a time before his eye got increasingly worse, but I’m sure that he and Natsuya have a level understanding of the situation now. Natsuya might be a little more earnest and hopeful about the injury getting better, but I think Nao would be more accepting of the situation, given his personality is very go with the flow, as devastating as the injury surely is. But, as a side note, I really enjoyed this parallel between Nao and Makoto: in Starting Days, Nao says he started swimming for Natsuya, so it makes sense why Nao knowingly questions Makoto about only swimming because Haruka is there. 

Nao says, “Makoto, do you like swimming?”

Makoto’s all like, “Yes!” 

Nao gives him that why the fuck you lyin~ smile and says, “It’s not just because Haruka is here?”

I’m not saying that link could mean anything for Nao’s future or Makoto’s, other than both of them being coaches - I just thought that was interesting. 

4. How will Natsuya and Nao be reunited with Haruka, Makoto, and Asahi? Ikuya and Natsuya still talk to one another when they’re older, since I believe there was a scene in Promises where Ikuya missed a phone call from Natsuya and intended to return it (his roommate, Hiyori, teases him about it, which could indicate that Ikuya talks about Natsuya fondly, and often). Itseems like their relationship has continued to improve since the end of Starting Days.

Plus, I believe they have another phone scene together in Bonds, in which Ikuya promises Natsuya that he’ll be the strongest swimmer. At first, this led me to believe that Ikuya would be the one to reunite everyone - maybe Natsuya and Nao would come to see him swim against Haruka, which could still happen, but Ikuya already had a chance to reunite with Haruka and Makoto - he had several chances, actually. In Bonds, Sousuke saw Ikuya swimming at the Nationals Stadium. In Promises, Ikuya’s roommate, Hiyori, comments that Ikuya didn’t go to the Awards Ceremony at Nationals, and he missed the opportunity to see his friends from Iwatobi. Ikuya responds with silence, then leaves to return a phone call from Natsuya. Also in Promises, it’s revealed that Ikuya and Asahi were in the crowd (separately, I’m assuming) when Haruka stood up in the pool at regionals. So I could dare to assume that not only did Ikuya avoid Haruka and Makoto, but Asahi as well.  I don’t think Natsuya and Nao will see Ikuya swimming and just happen to see Haruka, Makoto, or Asahi at the same race - there was already an opportunity for this to happen as well. In Bonds, Sousuke recognized Ikuya as a swimmer in the Nationals Stadium, which he explained to Rin in Promises. So Sousuke remembered Ikuya after years, but he didn’t notice Nao or Natsuya cheering for him? He didn’t seem to know Natsuya at the onsen, so this further discredits the theory of Ikuya being the one to get the gang back together. However, I think Ikuya still has a strong relationship with Nao and Natsuya, and I’m sure they both still care for him greatly. I’m excited to see the three of them in Season 3! 

So if Ikuya isn’t going to reunite Natsuya and Nao with the group, who will?

5. Enter: Asahi Shiina

I think Asahi could be the one to reunite everyone from Starting Days. In Take Your Marks, Kisumi and Asahi are texting about meeting up, so they’ve kept in touch over the years. I think Asahi would also make an effort to stay in touch with Nao, given that they had a strong friendship when they were younger.

So even if Ikuya avoids Asahi, Asahi might still be talking with Nao, who is still in contact with Natsuya and thus, keeps up with Ikuya. BUT WAIT, I SEE YOU, LOOPHOLE!!!!! So, okay, yeah, sure, Asahi might still be in contact with Nao and get back with Natsuya and Ikuya, but how will everyone reunite with Haruka and Makoto? 6. Enter: Kisumi Shigino

Asahi and Kisumi still text and make an effort to see each other. Kisumi helps Makoto and Haruka find Haruka an apartment because they’re his friends - he and Asahi LOVE THEIR FRIENDS ok guys. If they don’t organize some way for everyone to reunite, then they’ll all show up in one place at the same time, which will probably be one race where most of the characters are competing. But that’s not to say Kisumi and Asahi won’t have a hand in stirring up something to get the gang back together. Either way, any way this goes, I am very excited to see what will happen in summer of 2018~ Thanks for reading!