This is Swimming in Ohno Satoshi's POV.

If I remember correctly, it was a hot summer day like any other until...

"Hey Ohno, where are you going?" One of my senpai asked.

"I'm going out for a short walk." I said as I left the room.

I was tired of work here. I wanted to do something else that I actually enjoyed doing. Like what? Baking... Art... Things like that I guess?

I was walking around the building aimlessly not noticing a girl crying until we bumped into each other. I was surprised. I didn't know what to do and I panicked a bit. When I noticed, she started to cry again.

How did she get here? What am I supposed to do?

Without myself knowing, I was holding her hand and walking back to the room I came from.

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"Hey Ohno! You're late!" One chuckled.

I felt her hand tighten.

Another noticed my reaction to the little girl and questioned, "Hey, who is she? What happened?"

I paused for a moment to process it a bit and replied, "I don't know. She was lost but I just couldn't leave her alone crying."

My friend crouched and shot questions at her. I stopped him.

I pulled out a chair and sat on it. I patted my knees to signal that it was okay to sit on my lap. She tried her best to climb on. That was when I noticed her tiger doll. I let out a small sigh and giggled seeing her nodding herself off to sleep.

I wish I had an imouto (younger sister) like her. It'd be nice.

She was small. I'm guessing she was about 3 years old.

I noticed myself whispering to her, "You should come visit us when you can. We'll play with you and have fun together."

She gave a small smile as she dropped a tear. I gently hugged her. That was when the door suddenly opened. Johnny-san... My heart started to race a bit not knowing what to do.

He was talking to someone on the phone. "Please calm down. I think I found her."

I was shocked to hear those words. I knew he was talking about the girl I was holding. He ended that call and smiled at me. I took a glance at her.

To where will you be heading?

I handed him the girl and he left. I bit my bottom lip. The moment I did, I felt a hand on my shoulder as if to comfort me. But then, the next summer, she came again, holding the same doll she was holding the last time she came to visit.

Does she remember me?

I was nervous. She walked up to me and put her arms around one of my legs. I think she was trying to thank me. I patted her. She showed me her tiger doll and I laughed. Soon, I heard someone running this way. A woman. I think that was her mother.

She said, "Sorry, my daughter always walks off somewhere every time we come visit this place. But it's rare to see her showing her doll as if to brag to someone. You must be very lucky. But we must get going." She smiled and waved as she left with her.

The little girl turned and waved with her doll. I smiled at the scenery and waved my hand. But that smile soon turned into a frown. Tai-chan... The nickname I called her by in my heart. The nickname I thought I'd never be able to call her by...

She came again the week after. I asked for her name but she wouldn't say. She probably didn't understand what I was saying... Or at least that’s what I thought... So I said the nickname I called her by in my heart. And when I did, she held my hand and smiled like never before. Seeing her smile made me smile along. I walked her to the same room we went to the year before. She hid herself the moment I opened the door to the room. I looked around for quite a while until I gave up. She was behind me this whole time, following me around the room.

She climbed on to my lap. She seemed to be enjoying herself here since she was swinging her legs. I wanted to take a picture.

Days like that passed every summer until...

~Two months before Arashi’s debut~

She came to visit us like usual with her tiger and lion doll.

"Tai-chan, we’re finally making our début. Thank you for visiting us every summer. I know you won’t be able to see us doing our live performance in Hawaii, but I just want to thank you most. You’re leaving before your birthday comes right? Here... I’ll give you this..." I said as I took my necklace off. It had a key on it. "This necklace is my treasure. I’ve spent my whole life with it. You know what this means? It has all my memories. You can do whatever you want to do with it. Just make sure it's always with you so that I’ll always be with you. And I'll be able to celebrate your birthday with you this year even if we are far apart." I put the necklace around her neck. She looked at it with glittering eyes. I smiled and sighed in relief. I gave her a gentle hug. "Will you write letters to me?"

I looked at her and she smiled brightly at me as if she thought it wasn't allowed. She closed her eyes with the same smile. I went closer to her face, but stopped and bit my lips. I held her in my arms, embracing her again.

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Not even for a moment, have I ever thought about what could happen to her.

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Tai-chan... Tai-chan... I opened my eyes with tears rolling down my face. She hasn't visited since then. And not a single letter came. I even asked my manager and Johnny-san. It couldn't be that she forgot our promise. That's impossible.

I got out of bed and got ready for work.

I have another long day at work.

I got to the green room with the other Arashi members.

We were chatting and having fun in the room as always until Johnny-san entered with a lady. For a moment, I thought I recognized her. A very nervous and awkward girl who didn't like and wasn't accustomed to being around people. Yes. She resembled Tai-chan.

The members were shooting questions at her the moment Johnny-san left.

I tried welcoming her to the table by holding her hand gently, but that made her too stiff and nervous leading her to lose her balance. My arms were around her waist. She pushed me away but Matsumoto Jun covered for me.

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VS Arashi finished with our victory. We haven't been winning for the past few weeks. It was as if Reena-chan was our lucky charm.

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As soon as we were all relaxed in our room, the leader of NEWS, Koyama Keiichiro entered looking for someone. It was Reena-chan. They were cousins. They appeared to be close, not just by blood, but she still wouldn't utter a single word.

There was this feeling in me when they held hands. Was that... Jealousy? But I don't even know if she's actually Tai-chan... A tear dropped.

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I spent the rest of the day thinking about Reena-chan and Tai-chan. My heart ached.

Tai-chan... Where are you? Are you Reena-chan? Why haven't you come? Why haven't you visited the past 15 years? Why haven't you sent any mail? Do you know how much I missed and still miss you? Why? ... What happened?

My tears wouldn't stop falling out of my eyes thinking about the two. So many things about them overlapped. I left my house for a short walk to refresh my mind.

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As I was nearing the playground, I heard squeaks from the swings. I looked at the source of the sound. It was Nino. I walked towards him and sat on the swing next to him.

"What brings you here this late? Do you come here often?" I asked.

"It's more like what brings YOU here Riida. I come here occasionally for fresh air."

"My mind was just filled with different thoughts that have been bothering me the whole day. But I prefer not to talk so much about it. Not until I'm fully convinced."

"Whatever you say Riida." He chuckled and gave a smirk. "You're thinking about Reena-chan right? What do you think of her?"

That guess was expected from our group's magician.

"She's..." I looked up at the empty sky.

I wish I could see the stars in the sky but it was Tokyo. There was no way that I could see the sparkling lights in the dark sky here.

I spoke after a long pause, "She's different. She's not like any other girl or lady I've met in my life. She's unique. She doesn't talk to any of us or any celebrities like our fans do. She treats us like any other human being. She treats us how she would treat any other person she meets. I know I still don't know her well enough to be saying this, but I think it's not that she's afraid of people or anything. I think it's just that she's afraid of what people are going to do to her or how they would see and think of her. But once she gets to know the person, she'll probably open up more. She'll be more trusting. She probably sees everyone in general as the same because of how the people she met treated her. Which is probably the reason why that she doesn't have much confidence in herself. She looks at other people carefully and acts according to the situation. She doesn't know who to trust aside from her cousin and Johnny-san. She must have been through a lot when she was younger. Everything about her is different from an average female. She doesn't talk much and is introverted... It's like she lives in a different dimension. But I think that's what makes her unique. But at the same time, she is like any other human being. She has feelings. She gets nervous. Even if it's fake, she smiles. She probably doesn't know for herself, but she has so many emotions that she shows to those she is able to trust, like laughter and happiness. She can be clumsy, but thinks about other people even if we can't see it. She puts others before herself." I smiled thinking about her. "She tries her best. I think she's in the middle of trying to change herself and the situation she is in. I guess you can say that there's something special in her."

"You know Riida... That's pretty interesting. I've never considered looking at anyone that way. Me, I just had this weird feeling when I saw her. I felt this mixed feeling of happiness and sadness from her. She was probably glad that she was able to meet us, but at the same time, she was hurt from something. She was probably accusing herself of something that occurred in the past and holding on to that thought ever since that happened."

There was a long silence in between. I felt my heart beating hard.

Am I worried? I feel sorrow. I want to make everything clear. I want to know everything. If Reena-chan is Tai-chan. Why Tai-chan hasn't been sending letters. Why she hasn't been visiting. What happened to her since then? Has my feelings changed for her over the years? How did she really feel about me? How does she feel about me now? Did it change?

I knew way less than I thought I did about her...

"Riida..." He said to break the silence. "What are you thinking? How are you feeling? You're probably over thinking. You must be tired. You should get some sleep for today. "

"Well... As I said before, I still don't want to talk too much about it until I'm completely convinced. But I guess I'll go back and get some rest. It was nice meeting you here." I stood up and left waving at him.

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I went to bed and fell asleep the moment I got home.

My worries... My sorrow... My thoughts... My feelings... My everything... Can it reach her? But most importantly... Can my voice be heard from such a distant place? I'm lonely without you...