#but if my scenario is totally off-the-mark then it miiiight become a fic eventually

[caffernnn]

I normally look forward to your analysis posts because they’re insightful and I always feel like I learn something new about the characters involved, but I have to say that this is one of your best ones to date in my opinion. Not only was it cohesive, but it ticked off boxes I didn’t even know I needed. I usually find new things to bounce off of, but this time I don’t have anything to add lol. In an effort to at least add something to this ask though, who do you think will be the members on the relay team in fs pt.2? I think most people expect it to be Rin, Haru, and Ikuya. I’m curious who will end up doing backstroke if the other three will be apart of it. There aren’t really that many characters that specialize in it and that are also going the pro route. I’ve seen speculations for Sousuke, Natsuya, and Kinjou, which make sense but I wish Makoto could join considering his relationship with Haru and relays.

Thank you so so much for the kind words 💚💚 Getting back into analysis talk has been fun and it’s so cool that other people are interested in talking about the series and the characters in the same way!!

As far as a relay lineup is concerned, I’m still not sure exactly where I stand, with the little context given so far. There have been enough nods to a team lineup happening in some capacity, but I wonder how it’ll all play out, or first get introduced. A scenario I’ve talked about with some people over messages is the idea of an official “Team Japan” relay team being put together, but it’s still more of a work-in-progress, meaning that we’ll watch it be created and possibly changed throughout FS2. My thoughts in that sort of scenario were Rin and Ikuya, and the other two spots left open (like, the freestyle and backstroke could be taken up by other side characters on the team, although the initial plan was to have Haru involved??). From there, assuming Haru is isolating and hasn’t had whatever moment is needed to make him consider trying out a relay, my thoughts were Rin, Ikuya, Sousuke, and Makoto in an unofficial capacity. The idea with this one is us getting to see Rin and Ikuya working on their main strokes (like they both wanted to) but also doing some fun training by practicing transitions and doing mock races with Makoto and Sousuke. If Haru was able to see that from the sidelines somehow (maybe briefly reconnecting with Makoto after his collapsing incident and tagging along to watch one of his training sessions from the sidelines?? Completely speculative but I’m just thinkin!!), see his friends work together and trust each other in the water, and come to some tentative realizations that that’s something he’s been missing, that’s something he’s been trying to sacrifice and has been suffering more than he thought because of it… it’d be a good opportunity for Haru to finally admit that he doesn’t like this path, admit how stuck he’s been feeling (like he didn’t have a choice; he was given a lose-lose ultimatum of hardening himself through isolation to be successful/stronger or remaining the same and losing everyone eventually still by being weak/disappointing), and let his friends help him make some important choices/changes.

So, unofficially, I could see Haru watching a practice run with Ikuya (breast), Makoto (back), Rin (butterfly), Sousuke (free), OR the same thing with Rin and Sousuke flipped. Although I think there should be a conversation between Rin and Haru to resolve stuff after their fight (because the core issue has been left to fester for way too many years), I can totally see the resolution on-screen happening by Rin swimming freestyle in a practice run where he knows Haru is watching; a gesture similar to when Haru tried out the IM to reach Ikuya.

Either way, if we’re going to see Haru on any sort of relay lineup, it’ll have to happen after he starts to reconnect with his friends. Like, it’d be on-brand for the series to have a relay race be the saving grace for him, plus Haru having a moment in the water where he has revelations and/or feels whole again, but I can’t see him agreeing to a relay race and swimming in one in an official capacity without some sort of preamble first (and how rich would it be, for Rin and Ikuya making these gestures through swimming like Haru did for both of them, for Sousuke to show Haru that he was able to make choices after his own sort of burnout and bounce back, for Makoto to be involved in pulling Haru out from the darkness once again like “see, we all get to enjoy this together because of you, and we’ll find a way to show you that we aren’t saying this out of expectations, but gratitude”)

I’d love to hear other theories or possible scenarios from anyone who has thought more about the relay lineup. Seeing some talk about lineups with Kaede or Rei have been particularly interesting, and even if they end up not being linked to a relay lineup, both of them could have really impactful interactions with Haru in FS2, if given the chance. More on that later, maybe 😌