Application ~ City of Ariel

[takenwithhim]

Application

→ OOC
□ Name: StarSeed
□ Age: 27
□ Contact:
» Email: star69seed@gmail.com
□ Journal:
» http://star-seed.dreamwidth.org/ (personal journal).
» http://takenwithhim.dreamwidth.org/ (reserved journal).
□ Do you play anyone in Ariel?: Riku (Kingdom Hearts)
□ Is this a re-application of a dropped character?: No.

→ IC
□ Name: Sōsuke Yamazaki
□ Journal: http://takenwithhim.dreamwidth.org/
□ Series: Free! Eternal Summer
□ Canon point: End of Episode 5
□ Age: 17-18
□ Gender: Male

□ History: Sōsuke joined Sano Elementary in the 3rd grade, where he met Rin Matsuoka, who invited, then forced, him to join the swimming team. Continuing this dynamic, Rin coercing Sōsuke into learning the butterfly stroke, the stroke Rin himself was best at. Sōsuke treated this new boy's enthusiastic dragging around with annoyance, but because Rin was faster than him and wasn't saying anything to mislead or insult him, Sōsuke let him teach him. This period kicked off Sōsuke's competitive spirit and his deep bond with Rin.

Over the year, Sōsuke's natural athleticism and determination along with Rin's support saw him develop into a powerful swimmer in his own right, enough to become an even match for Rin himself. However, because Sōsuke received much of his coaching and inspiration from Rin, he picked up and copied many of Rin's swimming traits (timing of breaths, arm movements, etc). At one point, this was pointed out to the two of them, but Sōsuke simply couldn't seem to shake it since it had become too ingrained in him. Their relationship throughout the rest of their time at Sano would wax and wane between competitive rivals and best friends.

Sōsuke remained with Rin all the way until their 6th year, keeping the same dynamic as best friends and competitive rivals. Sōsuke never stopped encouraging Rin to pursue his dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer and grew very protective of Rin in the process. However, the growth of this bond began to cause problems between the two boys because they “understood each other too well.” Sōsuke was more theoretical than Rin was when it came to swimming and this caused quarrels to erupt between them rather often. Most of the time, they could settle these arguments amicably, but over time that started to take something out of Rin's competitive spirit. What had once been a half-baked childish competition between them grew into a full blown rivalry by the time of their 6th year, the year two very important events happened between Sōsuke and Rin.

The first happened one summer afternoon as they stopped at an ice cream vendor on their way to swimming practice. Both went for the same ice cream and immediately had one of their trademark “throwdowns,” an impromptu game of janken (rock-paper-scissor), with the winner getting the ice cream.Rin won and Sōsuke pouted that if the competition had been butterfly, he would have won. In consolation, or upping the challenge, Rin offered to let the next race be done with butterfly. Agreeing, Sōsuke suggested the prize for the next race was a promise that the loser had to do any one thing the winner wanted. Rin agreed and they sealed the promise it with another trademark: their fist bump, before racing to the gym. The race ended with Sōsuke as the winner, however, he was unable to come up with an answer when Rin asked him what he wanted and in the end asked for some more time to think about his answer.

The second event happened during a swim practice, where Sōsuke made a remark towards relays that Rin found insulting towards his late father. A physical fight almost erupted between the two and both boys were forced into a time out. Sōsuke apologized, as he didn't mean for the comment to insult Rin's father, but Rin was still confused as to why Sōsuke swam the way he did. Sōsuke admitted that, for him, swimming was really an individual sport, stating that once a person dove into the water, they were alone. He continued, saying that being friends didn't make a person any faster in the water, prompting Rin to yell at him, protesting that a relay was about the team and asking why Sōsuke didn't understand that. Despite Rin's frustrated confusion, Sōsuke stated they simply thought too differently about the issue and that they were better off never teaming up again. For him, Sōsuke's reason for swimming was himself; thus his responsibility lay only with himself. This answer silenced Rin for a long time, even after Sōsuke left.

Neither of these events were reconciled, however, because during their 6th year in middle school, Rin transferred to Iwatobi to swim relays with Haruka, Makoto, and Nagisa. Though Sōsuke was half-shocked that Rin would suddenly uproot himself for new friends, he merely offered a quiet “I understand” and allowed Rin to go on without protest. After Rin's departure for Iwatobi, Sōsuke was left alone, though he at least once swam at the Iwatobi Swim Club at some point. Rin's new teammates learned of Sōsuke through Rin's stories about him, where Rin sometimes compared Sōsuke to an alter ego, or family member, rather than just a friend.

Sōsuke and Rin reunited when Rin came back to tell Sōsuke that he was leaving for a school in Austrailia. Once more, Sōsuke offered his quiet understanding and saw him off at the train station. Rin brought up the promise they had made, asking Sōsuke what he wanted. Sōsuke, surprised, said he'd forgotten about it and that he'd have an answer for him the next time they saw each other. With one final fist bump, the best friends parted ways.

Sōsuke wouldn't see Rin again for five years.

He and Rin communicated through letters for a while, until Rin's letters stopped coming. Despite his concern, Sōsuke figured Rin must have hit a wall, emotionally and athletically, but made no effort to contact him. At one point during his middle school years, Sōsuke crossed paths with Haruka and Makoto during a race at Sano and delivered one of Rin's letters to Haruka. Sōsuke went on to graduate elementary school and middle school and took his place in Tokitsu High School for his 10th and 11th years. He kept up with his competitive swimming, as Tokitsu was known for having one of the best swim teams in the country, and Sōsuke himself, before his 12th year, was ranked in the top ten butterfly swimmers in the nation.

During his 11th year in Tokitsu, Sōsuke was privy to Rin's return to Japan and followed Rin's exploits. He watched the regionals competition that both Iwatobi High and Samezuka Academy competed in and witnessed Rin's failing performance in the competition. Sōsuke also watched as the Iwatobi competitors made a last-minute, illegal move in order to allow Rin to swim together with his friends and cement the bond between them again. Despite Iwatobi being disqualified from the competition for their actions, the event fostered a stronger friendship between Iwatobi and Samezuka. After regionals, Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei returned to Iwatobi and Rin returned to Samezuka.

One summer later, Sōsuke arrived in Samezuka as a 12th year student. After checking on the rebuilt Iwatobi Swim Club, Sōsuke officially started at Samezuka and was formally introduced to the rest of the class. Sōsuke silently scanned the entire classroom until he found Rin and the two shared a moment of surprised recognition before Sōsuke gave his best friend a smile.

The two reunited elsewhere in the school after class, greeting each other with a secret handshake and a laugh over the nostalgic moment. After Rin asked what Sōsuke was doing in Samezuka, Sōsuke said that he wanted to enjoy his last year as a high school swimmer in his hometown and subsequently revealed that he'd been scouted, prompting Rin's stunned congratulations. Later, Sōsuke was introduced to Samezuka's swim team, which Rin now headed up as captain. Initially intimidating Aichiro Nitori, Rin's past-year roommate and breaststroke-swimming teammate, Sōsuke warmed up to the young man's enthusiastic greeting. After briefly mentioning a passing knowledge of Haruka, Sōsuke took his dive.

Elsewhere, the Iwatobi swim team was trying to drum up motivation around town for the Iwatobi Swim Club re-opening event, “Splash Fest.” Unable to find suitable competition for the local event's relay race, the Iwatobi swim team (Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei) turned to Rin to see if Samezuka would agree for a quick relay team to be their competition. Despite Rin's initial exasperation over the request, Sōsuke, knowing Rin would help his friends regardless, volunteered to be on the team as well, though his help came with a caveat: Sōsuke would swim the freestyle portion of the relay event. Ai also joined the team, but the prospective fourth member had to drop out the morning of. Though Sōsuke offered to swim the missing leg of the relay, Rin didn't approve of that perfunctory approach and subsequently nigh shanghaied Momotarou Mikoshiba, the graduated Captain Mikoshiba's younger brother and a talented backstroke swimmer in his own right, for their team.

Once at the swim club, however, as Rin caught up with his friends, Sōsuke delaying his entrance to the building long enough that he could approach silently and lock eyes with Haruka in a rather ominous stare down. After briefly reuniting with Gou Matsuoka, Rin's younger sister and the Iwatobi swim team's manager, Sōsuke departed with his team to enjoy the events of the “Splash Fest” and get ready for the relay.

As Haruka took a moment alone to get a drink from the vending machine, Sōsuke's appeared behind him. The two exchanged a curt greeting and ominous reminiscence of last year's regionals competition, before Sōsuke mock-nonchalantly lambasted the relay event between Haruka and Rin and their friends as idiocy and accused them of dragging Rin into it. At Haruka's question, Sōsuke dropped his facade and physically intimidated the other swimmer against the vending machine, before angrily threatening him to never get in Rin's way again.

The relay race between Iwatobi (Team Dolphin) and Samezuka (Team Shark) kicked off, culminating in Haruka and Sōsuke matching speed and strokes in the final leg. Despite having Haruka unnerved by his presence even in the water, Sōsuke just barely lost the win for his team. Amid the cheers of the audience and the chatter of their two teams, Sōsuke turned a final, cold glance over his shoulder at Haruka before departing for Samezuka.

As the school year continued, Sōsuke became noticeably apathetic in his swimming practices and critical of his own teammates. He was aware of Rin's nightly lessons with Rei to help the latter improve his swimming talent, even though Rei was from a different school, prompting Rin to defend his choice from Sōsuke at one point. The two began to have slight disagreements in opinions of their teammates' performances and futures, but nevertheless continued to practice together. On one particular outing, Sōsuke finally brought up the promise from five years ago, though was still unable to give Rin an answer as to what he wanted. Instead, Sōsuke asked Rin about why he stopped receiving letters from him while he was in Australia, which prompted a conversation about Rin's rejuvenated swimming passion because of his friends' support.

That night, Sōsuke joined Rin during his routine jogging. They happened upon Ai, who was hard at work practicing his swimming after hours. While Rin admired Ai's efforts, Sōsuke asked Rin which was more important to him, the relay or his dream. Rin professed both of those being important to him. For the first time since rejoining, their ideals found themselves clashing once again. Sōsuke held fast to his beliefs the success came at the sacrifice of everything but yourself and he reprimanded Rin for thinking he could have his friends and still chase after his dream. Rin denied Sōsuke's warning, remembering his own almost-lost friendships and dreams because of that ideology, and vowed to prove him wrong by achieving his goals without sacrificing his friends.

Faced with Rin's defense and his own crumbling ideas, Sōsuke asked Rin to consider him a friend. Realizing he was missing something from his life, Sōsuke broke his stoicism and begged Rin to let him swim on the relay team with him, even claiming that doing so would finally fulfill that five-year-old promise between them, so that he could both understand and find that something. However, Rin denied him, since relay placements were decided by swimmer's time placements. Since Rin held the time records for freestyle and butterfly at Samezuka, Sōsuke would have to best him to be considered for a spot.

Sōsuke immediately challenged Rin to a throwdown, not with janken, but with butterfly. Wanting to see Sōsuke earn his place under his own power and will, Rin agreed. The five-year old race began again, and this time, finally swimming with all his power without any hesitation, Sōsuke finished first, leaving him exuberant over both his victory and his reclaimed passion.

With Sōsuke's success, Rin admitted his own resolve was firmed and thanked his friend. The following day, Rin re-did the rules for how Samezuka would decide on its relay team members, replacing the “fastest-time only” requirements with a new method that took into consideration the passion of those who wanted to swim the relay first, and then used “fastest-time only” requirements to select from that group. Sōsuke was among Samezuka's swim team, listening as Rin opened the floor to anyone who wanted to swim the relay. All he had to do now, was step forward.


□ Appearance: Sōsuke is a tall, twelfth year high school student, standing at six foot one inch and weighing one hundred sixty-eight pounds. His hair is onyx hued with hints of brown in certain lighting, and grows in soft spikes. Sōsuke styles it close cropped in the back, with slight sideburns, and longer bangs in the front. The entire style of his hair is lightly swept towards the left side, with the left side of his bangs being a little longer than his right. His eyes are a vibrant teal color and a little drooped in angle, giving him a tired or bored appearance more often than not. While they are generally impassive, Sōsuke’s eyes can to be very expressive when he wants them to be. He has dark, strong eyebrows, a V-shaped jaw and chin, and his skin color is tanner than the rest of the main cast. His voice is deeper than others, but still youthful, and generally calm and quiet. Overall, Sōsuke’s features are a little on the hard side, but he still maintains a very good-looking appearance.

When it comes to his figure, Sōsuke was once commented on as having a “perfect body” for an athlete, a fitting description for a nationally ranked swimmer. Sōsuke possesses broad shoulders and a V-shaped torso with a narrow waist and deep chest, but retains an athletically lithe figure all around. Like most swimmers, he has powerful arms and legs, similar sculpture on his torso, and possesses a defined musculature. It's also notable that, due to his sport, it's assumed that he shaves (or waxes) his body hair to reduce drag in the water, giving him a rather smooth touch and appearance. Because of his height, eyes, expression, and size, Sōsuke comes off as having a physically intimidating body, which he's not above using to his benefit.

At school, Sōsuke wears Samezuka's black-lined white uniform. Outside, Sōsuke prefers dressing street casual, such as button-down over shirts, open-neck t-shirts, hoodie sweaters, high-collared jackets, workout pants or slacks, sneakers, and sometimes baseball caps. When it comes to swimming, Sōsuke wears traditional legskin-style jammers, black swimming caps, and gray goggles, the latter of which he wears around his shoulder when he's not swimming . He prefers the “full” style of swimsuit that covers from his hips to his ankles. His swimsuits tend to either have white, gray, and brown “shark fin” designs or simple teal stripe markings trailing along the length of his outer legs and thighs.

Finally, Sōsuke does have a peculiar posture when he stands or walks. He prefers to keep his hands in his pockets whenever he can, seen in almost all of his appearances when he's standing and walking, and often tends to lean forward a little when approaching people, though he does stand straight-backed when officially being introduced to others, such as his introduction to his new class and is new swim team. These two aspects probably serve to heighten both his intimidation aspect (the leaning forward) and the unruffled air he prefers to hold onto (the hands in the pocket). The entirety of Sōsuke’s appearance is an extension of his personality and serves him well in both keeping out the people he wants out and drawing in the people he wants in.


□ Personality: Since his first appearance, Sōsuke has become one of the driving factors in the entire series’ plot and a key component in the relationship web between the other characters. Sōsuke's has a very multifaceted character, as layered as deep waters. Initially, Sōsuke comes off as an intimidating individual with a cold-looking exterior. However, this imposing atmosphere lifts when he reaches a comfortable level around people, revealing a caring personality that is friendlier than he looks. He possesses a rather insightful ability at reading other people's emotions, particularly if he is close to them and, while selectively shown, he's very passionate about the things he values. On the counter side, Sōsuke can be overprotective of his friends and what he finds important, to the point of becoming ruthless, judgmental, and even aggressively threatening. Internally, Sōsuke deals with issues of loneliness, apathy, and a fear of losing the things that are important to him. Basically, Sōsuke can be considered a “big brother” type character who's a bit immature and has his own inner conflicts, but is loyal to those he cares about.

The primary, defining aspect of Sōsuke's character is the first thing someone notices about him: his intimidating personality. With his tall height, broad shoulders, piercing eyes, and serious expression, he physically sets this intimidation upon anyone he meets. This is seen clearly when, in the second episode, Ai approaches him in greeting and Sōsuke merely looks down at him, to the point that Ai physically flinches after looking back up at him. To further this intimidation, Sōsuke is generally seen in almost all his interactions with a scowl or frown on his lips and a narrowed gaze that appears either bored or piercing. This intimidation works two ways, depending on whether Sōsuke is actively engaged with someone or not. Generally Sōsuke ignores people he's not interested in. When he's introduced to the rest of his class (having just transferred to Samezuka from Tokyo), he seems to be gazing “down” at them with a frown, rather than “out” to them like someone eager to see who his new classmates were.

While this suggests he possesses an arrogant personality (and there is some testament to this), it actually reflects Sōsuke's cautious streak. He prefers to find some kind of “comfort level” in a new situation. In both the above cases, Sōsuke retains his callous manner until he finds such an element. During his class introduction, Sōsuke offers no reaction to being introduced, until he notices Rin in the same class. Rin, being his best friend from childhood, was that element of “comfort” in the new class. Seeing Rin promptss both a visual and audible reaction of surprise from Sōsuke, and once Rin catches his eye, Sōsuke's stoicism turns into a smile. Similarly, Sōsuke only offers Ai a kind smile and return welcome after he silently found that “comfort level” in knowing Ai was both teammate and friend to Rin. He prefers to take in his new surroundings and make a judgment call before making any initial emotional reactions; it usually takes a few seconds of silence to stare a newcomer down before deciding on his next action. This works well in keeping him from having to deal with people he doesn't want to, as he's not an “approachable type” in the first place, and ultimately helps Sōsuke sort out whether something or someone new is worth his time and energy to open up to.

Once he opens up to someone, however, Sōsuke is actually very friendly. Usually he only reveals this side to people he's is on good terms with (friends, closer teammates, etc). Particularly with Rin, Sōsuke shares a number of mannerisms that reflect his warmer personality. While reuniting with Rin at school (outside of class at least), the two quickly launch into a secret handshake just between them, showing how deep friendship and memories go between them goes even after a five-year separation. He has a good laugh with Rin afterward before the two catch up on what happened to them over the break. Time does little to wear down strong relationships for Sōsuke and he carries things over from his and Rin's childhood friendship even as adults. Two very important examples of this are the regular fist bump between the two of them when they're in agreement over something or when they want to show support to each other's decisions and their eagerness to have a throwdown (game of janken) over any sort of issue that needs to be decided (mostly childish “who gets what” issues, such as the last ice cream or the bottom bunk bed).

While he doesn't act as informally friendly towards other characters, Sōsuke isn't above fostering this feeling to others. A prime example is Sōsuke's reunion with Gou, Rin's sister. Since she's a past friend of his, he doesn't even give her an intimidation look, but instantly returns her greeting with a smile and greeting of his own before asking her how she'd been. When she points out that he hadn't kept in touch with her or Rin over the years they'd been apart, he offers her a contrite smile and apologizes, showing that, when it comes to people he cares about, he's willing to admit to his mistakes (though that's not to say he does it all the time). Additionally, after intimidating Ai in their introduction, Sōsuke recognizes his personality had put Ai out of his comfort zone and thus offers his gratitude in a kinder way that would pacify the younger boy, evident by the way Ai breaks into a huge smile afterward and pounces on him with compliments and questions.

Sōsuke doesn't mind having fun with his friends and he's not above teasing them if he feels like it. As he and Rin are catching up, Sōsuke's expression turns downcast as he reveals his future plans, prompting Rin's concern over whether Sōsuke would stop swimming. For a moment, Sōsuke keeps his silence, but then smiles and reveals that he'd been scouted already. Completely pulling Rin's leg for the hell of it. He also likes to needle Rin on occasion, such as suggesting he knew why Rin was “so taken” with Haruka and later on reminiscing audibly that Rin was always a “romantic swimming maniac,” both instances prompting Rin's surprise and teenage annoyance. On a darker side however, particularly with the former example, it's notable that Sōsuke can be, frankly, a rather excellent bullshitter if he wants, and indicates a convincing ability to lie if it suits his needs. There are times when Sōsuke fails to be amused (or at least externally show it) when others, conversely, are. For example, when Momotarou's antics at his swimming practice prompt Rin's surprise and subsequent amusement, Sōsuke doesn't appear to share Rin's humor. So it's probable that Sōsuke has a streak where he isn’t one for nonsense unless he’s the one being nonsensical.

Nonsense aside, Sōsuke is very supportive of the people he cares about, offering assistance and advice when he can. When Rin is invited by the Iwatobi swim club to participate in the reopening event's relay race, Sōsuke volunteers to be a part of Rin's relay team without hesitation, even though it's just a local, non-academic event. He's willing to go along with Rin taking their team's first year students to the store to pick out new swimsuits, something Rin apologized for “dragging” him into (though Sōsuke notes he'd been thinking of buying a new suit anyways). On the other hand, he's not one to demand his assistance or advice be taken if it's refused. When Rin protests Sōsuke's offer of swimming the second leg of the relay race after their backstroke swimmer dropped out, and instead finds Momotarou to fill in the role, Sōsuke does nothing to impede his decision and goes along with it. Additionally, after witnessing Rin's late-night training with Rei to assist the latter develop his swimming skills, Sōsuke is initially wary of the reasons behind it (since Rin and Rei are on two different teams), but after Rin reaffirms his reasons for helping, Sōsuke admits he'd glad for Rin's decision. These events reveal that Sōsuke is quick to help his friends if he can, even if it comes at a sacrifice (his time, effort, and sometimes even comfort). His friends' happiness and goals are important to him and he'll do what he can to make sure they get there, revealing extreme loyalty to those people.

However, this loyalty and support reaches a fault when it comes to particularly close friendships, such as his relationship with Rin. Sōsuke protective nature can fuel a very aggressive attitude towards people who he thinks are getting in the way of his friends' or his own goals. Sōsuke's aggression is entirely exemplified in his relationship with Haruka, whom he sees as interfering with Rin's goals of becoming an Olympic swimmer. This comes to a head in Sōsuke's forced encounter with Haruka at the vending machine. Harkening back to his ability to parse his own emotions, Sōsuke originally greets Haruka with a nonchalant way, though this quickly dove into a mock-casual derision of Haru and his friend's decision during regionals to include Rin on their relay team, knowing it was against the rules and potentially career-damaging to Rin personally. Dropping all casual pretense and solemnly professing he never would have made Rin do something like that, Sōsuke physically corners Haru against the vending machine and verbally threatens him, “don't ever get in Rin's way again.”

Sōsuke has no issue with using his body to further this aggression. He's used his imposing size to invade Haruka's personal pace and he's made numerous uses of his eyes to further unnerve Haruka, locking gazes with him in an ominous stare as he enters the Iwatobi Swim Club, glaring fiercely at him throughout his intimidating threat, and later on boring his eyes into Haruka's back while swimming with him during the relay race. These examples show he sometimes prefers to let his physical threats back up his verbal ones, as he's hasn't spoken to Haruka since the interaction and is confident that his warning was both heard and, as far as he's concerned, would be obeyed. Sōsuke hasn't revealed this side of himself to anyone but Haruka, but it's clear that he holds his friendships to be extremely important him and will protect those friendships, even allowing his friends’ goals to supersede his own if he feels the need for it.

Backing up his aggression, Sōsuke's ruthlessness is shown in both his planning and opinions. He agrees to help Rin with the relay race, but on the caveat that he be allowed to swim the freestyle leg of the race. Knowing that's Haruka's specialty, he deliberately set up his chance to intimidate the other swimmer, both out of and in the water (the latter which is notably Haruka's comfort zone). His warning unnerves Haru enough that when they swam against each other, Haruka's uncharacteristic glance over his shoulder reveals not the bright light he normally sees water as, but rather dark waters through which Sōsuke pursues him with a predatory gaze. Even after the race ends and the two teams are making to leave, Sōsuke once again glares at Haruka over his shoulder, showing that he's more than willing to keep the pressure on people he holds grudges against.

Having such dynamic personality traits requires a very calm and collected attitude from Sōsuke between times. Sōsuke really doesn't let things bother him, remains in control of his emotions, and prevents them from driving his actions without his consent. This unflappable nature is seen throughout all of his interactions, as he's currently never raised his voice or appeared to be truly startled. A direct example is Momotarou and his usual rambunctious behavior in the swimsuit store. After charging at Gou and professing his normal crush-fueled, enthusiastic greeting, Rin gets irked enough to clothesline the young man and drag him off while Ai attempts to pacify Rin's aggravation and Momotarou's excitement. But Sōsuke is relatively nonplussed over the entire event and just stands by watching.

Preferring to keep his own thoughts inside, Sōsuke comes across as someone who doesn't waste his words. Most of the things he says are stated as facts rather than questions and he rarely second-guesses his own decisions, at least to any vocally-noticeable degree. Even his threat towards Haru is notable, as he makes no second threat, but merely gives a one-line ultimatum and departs, calmly expecting his warning to be heeded.

This calmness also leaks into Sōsuke's athleticism, particularly his self-confidence in himself. He's always been athletically gifted and emotionally collected. From attending Tokitsu, nationally known for its prestigious swimming team, to transferring to Samezuka, an all boy's boarding school known for its powerhouse swim team, Sōsuke trusts in his own skills to get him where he wants to go. In his first practice with his new team at Samezuka, he warms up for his training session without any show of nervousness or hesitance. Additionally, his request to be allowed to swim the freestyle leg of the relay, despite Rin and him knowing that the butterfly style is Sōsuke's strong point and freestyle is Haruka's specialty, shows his confidence in his own power. It isn't until he and Rin butted heads over their swimming philosophies that Sōsuke showed any real signs of struggle when it came to his confidence in himself.

While there hasn't been any in-depth development on the matter, there's no harm in presuming that Sōsuke is capable of taking care of himself, since Samezuka is boarding school style with dormitories and Sōsuke seems to have no problem being self-sustaining. While his domestic life and situation with his parents is unknown, he's moved at least three times during his life, and is now transferred into a new school for his final year, living in the dormitories similar to his other teammates. Though Samezuka possesses a cafeteria, Sōsuke remains “on his own” to a degree that is usually reserved for college students and boarding school students, and thus his more mature, calmer outlook towards life is a testament of his self-reliance.

Because of his calm nature and trust in himself, Sōsuke is rather direct when dealing with people. When asked about his reason for returning to Samezuka, Sōsuke gave a vague answer, prompting Rin to actively grouch at him that it's not like Sōsuke to be obscure like that. He tends not to dawdle around topics, isn't afraid to tell people the truth, and doesn't run away from touchy topics. When Sōsuke is preparing to swim during practice, he bluntly explains to Rin and Ai about his brief past with Haruka, despite Rin's attempt to waive the topic (“he's [Sōsuke's] got nothing to do with Haru”) seconds before.

Ironically, because of this bluntness, Sōsuke isn't very good at being vague, as each person he's tried to be unclear to has seen through it and called him out on it (Rin during the “why are you at Samezuka” conversation and Haru during the intimidation scene when Haru sees past Sōsuke's false nonchalance). When exposed, Sōsuke tends to either falls back on his quiet nature and stubbornness to keep his secrets to himself or drops all vague pretense and goes straight for what he's really feeling.

Sometimes, however, this direct nature can lead to critical comments. Given Sōsuke's talent at swimming, he has a keen eye towards the skill and performance of other swimmers. As he reviewed Ai's swimming efforts, he states that, given Ai's current timing, he wouldn't stand a chance at getting picked for the relay team. Similarly, when noting Momotarou's failing current performance despite his initially-amazing presentation, he remarks that even if potential is there, it was worthless if the swimmer couldn't use it. These remarks, while logical, contrasted the more supportive comments from other swimmers on the team, and Rin appeared less than pleased with them.

Conversely, Sōsuke's direct nature helps feeds into his empathic understanding of other people's emotions, though mostly this reserves itself for people he's close to. Sōsuke has a very profound understanding of his best friend's mind and feelings; even through Rin expressed outward annoyance towards Iwatobi Swim Club's request that Samezuka be their racing competition, Sōsuke merely notes that, despite Rin's complaints, “you'll do it for them.” When he and Rin become roommates for their final year, he remembers audibly that Rin prefers the bottom bunk (something Rin remembers Sōsuke does too), showing that he keeps a good memory of his friend's preferences and personalities. On several points, it's been referenced that Sōsuke is the one person who understands Rin the most, and he's shown in many instances that he can see through Rin's normally-abrasive outer shell and comment on what he's really thinking inside.

As people get closer to Sōsuke, he tends to become more considerate of their feelings and insightful to their opinions. After reuniting with Gou, Sōsuke at one point reprimands Rin for not seeing his sister more often. He connects with Gou's feelings, telling Rin that she “sounds lonely” and refers to her brother as cold at times. Sōsuke cares a lot about the feelings of his friends, as he tries to rekindle some of the sibling affection between Rin and Gou because he knows it will be good for them both. It also recalls his direct nature, as he never once tries to mince words or pad the message, merely confronting Rin straight up about the issue. Sōsuke can come off as tactless sometimes, but he genuinely wants to support his friends, even if he has to occasionally put things starkly.

Interestingly, in seeming contrast to his direct personality, Sōsuke tends to have a mysterious or dramatic streak. At times, he seemingly vanishes or appears without many people noticing. After inquiring to Coach Sasabe about the newly-reopened Iwatobi Swim Club, Sōsuke disappears less than halfway through the man's answer, so silently that Sasabe never heard him leave. Later, as Rin and the rest of his team enter the Iwatobi swim club for the relay event, Sōsuke vanishes once again, even though, according to Ai, he was “just here.” Sōsuke reappears a few minutes later, but no one except for Haru realized he'd returned until Gou saw him a called his name. Since Sōsuke is well aware of his intimidating appearance and what adding that flair of mystery to himself will do, behaving like this can either grant him an upper hand in an antagonistic event or simply reaffirm his more direct focus on getting and achieving his goals rather than dilly-dallying.

Tying in with his intrigue, Sōsuke exhibits a preference for shadowing people. As Rin is talking to Makoto on the phone about the relay, Sōsuke is seen further down the hallway, leaning against the wall, far enough away to give Rin his privacy, but close enough he can keep him within sight. He also doesn't “just happen upon” Haruka when he threatens him, but rather follows him until they have an opportune moment alone. When it comes to things important to him (either positively or negatively), Sōsuke tries to keep tabs on them to make sure what he feels right happens. For example, he was aware of Rin's assistance in Rei's private training, something Rei himself tried to keep from his own friends. A complex range of motives drive Sōsuke to this extreme, ranging anywhere from friendship to protection to obsession to simple observation.

Hinted through these actions, Sōsuke has a bit of a “rebel” streak. Physically, it's seen in some manner in which he dresses, considering he leaves his school jacket open when not in class, unlike many of the other students, and doesn't mind using high collars and baseball caps to hide his appearance. In the instance of suggesting his replacement of their dropout backstroke swimmer rather than worry about finding a replacement, Sōsuke rationalizes his offer by saying that since the medley relay is just for local event, they “don't need to stick to the rules that strictly.” This notion suggests that he doesn't mind disobeying or bending the rules if it won't explicitly get him or his friends into trouble. Additionally, his intimidating and physical threat towards Haru right before a race strengthens this sort of “rebellion,” as such an action is mostly frowned on, if not illegal, in sporting events.

These darker traits not only stem from Sōsuke protective nature, but also from his internal competitive spirit. Starting as a child after Rin forced him to join the swim team and learn the butterfly, Sōsuke's natural talent grew alongside Rin's spurring to the point where he rivaled Rin. The two boys would often have impromptu swimming competitions to decide things, reflecting their friendship and joy at competing with each other. Sōsuke competitive spirit reached even outside the pool, manifesting itself into “throwdowns” (games of janken, Japanese rock-paper-scissor) with Rin over various things. They've had janken matches over the last ice cream as children, another over which of them got the bottom bunk in their dorm room, and another one to decide who'd get the last soda, the latter two as adults, showing their competition didn't dwindle with age or separation. Sometimes, the two are in sync enough that neither has to offer the challenge; both simultaneously realize a throwdown has to happen and go for it.

Apart from the more childish nature of his competitory spirit, Sōsuke pushes the same idea into his swimming. Even after Rin left for Austrailia, Sōsuke continued to swim competitively, strengthening himself until he was accepted at Tokitsu's nationally-renowned swim team and later on placed in the top ten in the nation in his preferred style, the butterfly. At his introduction to the Samezuka team, the manager himself instructed the entire team to “learn what you can from him” before handing Sōsuke over to Rin. This competition does have its darker edges, as he used his skills at swimming to pressure Haruka in the water to capitalize on the threat he had given him earlier. It's notable that he appears to be “competing” with Haruka for the right as Rin's best friend, considering his protective nature of Rin's well-being and his goals and his determination to keep Haruka from getting in Rin's way again.

As with all strengths, Sōsuke has a notable weakness when it comes to his remarkable skill and his competitive nature: when he has reached a plateau (either no longer having any worthy rivals or achieving whatever goal he sought), he becomes complacent and apathetic towards his own sport. Rin notes this at one point when Ai commented on Sōsuke's power and Rin replied that Sōsuke was much faster when he actually tried. Traces of Sōsuke's apathy begin to leak out in his approach towards swimming and he develops a dry and hash attitude with a calm, borderline casual, focus when he's practicing. When he asked to swim the freestyle leg of the relay, his only explanation as to why was that he “just feels like swimming freestyle,” an answer that confused and concerned Rin. For someone like Rin who values each stroke individually, this indifferent notion from a nationally-ranked swimmer was unexpected and worrisome.

Sōsuke's apathy doesn't just harm himself, but also erodes his thoughts towards his teammates. When Rin acknowledges his teammates shortcomings, he usually pads these acknowledgments with words of encouragement. Conversely, Sōsuke's remarks towards his teammates lack any real encouragement or support, merely pointing out their flaws and their lack of progress in a factual way. Granted, he doesn't offer these comments in an acidic or outright insulting manner, but he notably doesn't tell these swimmers his opinions to their faces, preferring to offer the comments to Rin on the sidelines. Given Sōsuke's prestige and the fact many of the other swimmer's were encouraged to look up to him as a role model, his apathy runs a risk of helping neither him or his team.

However, Sōsuke's apathy isn't permanent and he can rebound from his falls, but it often takes his friends to pull him out of his ruts (and usually a rather harsh reality check for him to realize it in the first place). When Sōsuke and Rin finally had a poignant heart-to-heart talk about Rin's decision to have both his friends and his Olympic dreams, Sōsuke realizes his desire to once again swim the relay in order to find what he'd lost. Initially Sōsuke tried to convince Rin to let him join the relay team on merit, emotions, and friendship alone, but Rin, seeing the passion locked behind Sōsuke's ingrown indifference, refused him. Cornerned, Sōsuke to demand a throwdown race in the pool to try and earn a place on the relay team by beating Rin's time, but to more importantly vindicate his own decision. As he swam, Sōsuke finally burned through his apathy and swam for real with all his power, once again having a goal to swim for. This event marked a change in Sōsuke's ideology and his subsequent victory finally reignited the competitive passion in his heart for his sport.

There's a saying that goes, “it's lonely at the top” and this quote ties together Sōsuke's apathy with his final, and probably most cornerstone element of his character. Sōsuke, like all characters, has internal conflicts, and his revolve around the notion of loneliness and individuality. Sōsuke is more theory-based than Rin and the two often got into arguments over it as children, since it affected how the two of them swam together. In their childhood, this almost culminated into a physical fight at one point. A relay-related comment from Sōsuke ignited Rin's ire and the two were put in timeout for fighting. There, Rin quietly demanded to know why Sōsuke swam the way he did that day. Sōsuke revealed that for him, swimming was an individual sport and “When you dive in the water, you're alone.” Denying that things like “friends” and “feeling all buddy-buddy” would make a person faster, he told Rin that the two of them thought too differently on the matter and from then on, held it best that he and Rin no longer swim on the same team. According to Sōsuke, he swam for himself and was responsible only for himself.

Sōsuke's intimidating appearance and cold exterior support this loner personality trait. He knows what he's capable of, knows oftentimes what others are capable of (or supposes he does), and thus doesn't feel the need to bother himself with people and things that will drag him down. His friendship with Rin is notably the only strong friendship he's ever seen as having, and it's telling that when he denied Rin and he's future together as teammates, a short while later, Rin left for Iwatobi. For Sōsuke, being strong enough to win for himself is the most important thing.

Within his words, we find out that Sōsuke had led a very lonely existence after Rin left him. His comments to Rin, though disguised as his “advice” to Rin's success, in truth just reflected what Sōsuke had went through himself. In his pursuit of his own dream and international competition, Sōsuke dropped away things like friends and relays, stripping himself of anything external so that all his time could be devoted to improving himself, using every second of every minute to train hard. Denouncing things like relays (and by proxy, Rin's friends, something Sōsuke knew by now) as “obsessions” that would steal Rin's dream from his grip, Sōsuke once again repeated to Rin, and to himself, that when in pursuit of a dream, there was no time to “play at this 'being buddies' thing.” Even as an adult, Sōsuke still held onto the individuality and loner ideology he had grown up with.

There are other elements that support Sōsuke's mindset as being alone most of the time. Sōsuke has moved at least three times already in his still-young life and constant relocation can diminish a person's desire to create emotional attachments to new people and places, as the pain of being taken away from those attachments can take its toll. Supporting this suggestion is the fact that Sōsuke, in his efforts to protect Rin from losing his dream, completely uprooted himself from his life in Tokyo and changed schools, dropping behind his own Tokitsu swim team, any friends he may have had their, and whatever academics he was involved in without any revealed issue. This kind of self-sacrificing behavior, despite being honorable, is very self-destructive, as each uprooting leaves pieces behind.

Additionally, Rin's departure from Sōsuke's life no doubt left a huge hole in his heart, as he lost his best friend, the person who understood him the most. Once Rin dropped out of communication with him, Sōsuke was left to his own devices. Even though he was on a swim team in Tokitsu, it's not revealed if he had any friends there. This is noticeable after his race at the Iwatobi Swim Club. Unlike Haru, who let Makoto offer his hand and help him out of the pool, Sōsuke doesn't wait for anyone to help him out of the pool, but simply takes the rung and hauls himself out without any real hesitation. This action, as well as his seeming surprise when Rin throws him a towel after his race, support the idea that he doesn't expect (and thus doesn't wait) for anyone to help him because he is used to going at his own life alone.

After hearing Sōsuke's reiteration of his lifestyle, Rin completely refuted his best friend. Denying his need to drop everything, Rin professed that he could and would have both his dream and his friends, regardless of what Sōsuke thought of him for it. Hearing this, Sōsuke buckled and asked to be one of Rin's friends to, one of “those friends” who supported Rin and who Rin professed earlier to be swimming for. Sōsuke realized that he was missing something from his life, and that swimming a relay with Rin was the only way he could understand and find the something he was missing, whatever that “something” was.

This sense of loss is a large piece of Sōsuke's character and points towards his unhappiness and fear of continuing to be alone. If he had been fine with his life, he wouldn't have basically pleaded with Rin to let him swim on the relay, wouldn't have driven the point home so hard he almost broke down, and wouldn't have finally cashed in on a five-year-old promise to claim that position. He'd flared up his reasons for going at his life his own way, but Rin's defenses left him at a loss with his own way. Without knowing a way beyond his own, Sōsuke tried to find another, and Rin's was the only way he could see to go.

Rin is Sōsuke's best friend and it's possible he's the only “best friend” Sōsuke's ever had. Because of how close there are, with Sōsuke's swimming passion completely born and nurtured through Rin, he is extremely protective of him, because he doesn't want to be alone again. This mindset is one of the reasons that his aggression towards Haruka is so intense. As imposing as it it, his aggression is desperate and blind, covering up Sōsuke's fear. Sōsuke and Rin deep friendship had Sōsuke so firmly believing Haru is a threat to Rin that he doesn't try to question or inquire anyone (notably not even Rin himself) about what happened last year during the relay (where Rin's inclusion on the team's relay was to re-bond his, Haru, and the team's friendship, something Rin himself desperately wanted). Instead, Sōsuke makes a rather large assumption on his own that Haru's actions were detrimental to Rin and reacts in a manner that he saw most fitting for his own ideas.

This kind of reaction is usually a response generated by fear, fear of losing something important, which causes a person to lash out at whoever they feel is responsible for wanting to take away the thing they value most. Sōsuke's response is also a classic example of jealousy, and seeing Rin spending so much time and attention on someone else, when Sōsuke used to be the sole recipient of that attention, caused him to combine his protection of Rin's dream with his protection of his own heart, and go after Haruka to keep both Rin and himself safe from pain again. Sōsuke's desire to be on of Rin's friends, on the same level as Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei, gives testament to either of these emotions, as he fears being left alone once again and is jealous that his best friend had found other friends.

Sōsuke has internal issues, just like all the other members of his cast, and he's only just now starting to see how his life has negatively affected him. Though it may take a lot more for him to finally find freedom and maturity, that is the main focus of the second season of Free!. His character is very complex and many more layers and developments will be coming out over time. While he has many good points, and several bad points, Sōsuke is still young and growing, and has earned his spot as one of the main characters of the series.


□ Abilities/Powers: Apart from his incredible skill as a swimmer and his interesting “ability” to appear and disappear without much notice, Sōsuke is just a normal human male. Sōsuke is an incredibly talented swimmer and specializes in the butterfly stroke and the freestyle stroke, swimming strokes that utilize muscles all over the entire body. It's already a given that he is a gifted athlete and his abilities are reaching towards perfection, as he has already been scouted by a university by his twelfth high school year. This is in addition to already having been a member of Tokitsu High School in Tokyo, whose swim team is considered one of the best in the country. Personally, Sōsuke is also an accomplished competitor, having placed in the top ten in the butterfly stroke in the entire country. He's appropriately very fast in the water and his mind is considerably sharp at noticing things to improve, as Rin notes that Sōsuke raises his upper body “unusually high” above the water's surface to reduce the water resistance during his stroke's recovery, which makes him even faster. This couples with his apparently above-average shoulder flexibility, which Rin also remarks in conjunction with the previous comment, saying that no amount of muscle training can grant an athlete that kind of advantage.

However, it should be noted, in regards to Sōsuke's shoulders, that when he warms up for swimming, he's constantly seen rolling and massaging only his left shoulder, as well as carrying both his school bag and his sports gear and goggles over the same shoulder, suggesting that this shoulder is either favored as his dominant arm and thus more important than his right, or that he's injured it in the past – maybe even a kind of condition that requires extra attention and training for that shoulder in particular. Sōsuke still possesses considerable stamina and strength, as he offers to swim two legs of a relay race without any show of hesitation, suggesting the burden was nothing difficult on his part to handle. This combines with his obvious physical strength, considering his athletic lifestyle, and he takes care to stay in shape and maintain his physique with regular workouts, training, and healthy eating habits. Apart from these sorts of details, Sōsuke possesses no abilities beyond a normal human athlete and high school scholar who lives somewhat on his own.


□ Personal Items:
~ Cellphone
~ Swimming goggles
~ Media player with corded earbuds
~ Samezuka swim team uniform (pants/jacket)
~ Swimsuit (teal stripes) – *wearing one of these upon arrival
~ Swimsuit (shark fin stripes) – *wearing one of these upon arrival
~ Sōsuke and Rin's exchanged letters, sent & unsent, during Rin's time in Australia


□ First Person Sample:
[The feed clicks on, opening up to the sounds of splashing and the echoed voices of other swimmers in the pool. To be honest, he's never going to fully get used to this "chip" in his head. The idea someone had illegally preformed surgery on him was still jiving pretty uncomfortably with the entire notion of being kidnapped in the first place. While he's come to terms with accepting there won't be any going back home for the foreseeable future, the displacement once again makes it harder for him to want to bother with melding with the city. Move too many times in your life and you end up losing that drive...

A sweep of a towel momentarily covers the feed as he dries his hair off and then drapes the thing around his neck.]

Hm? [The soft hum of notice precedes the feed swinging to the right, revealing a group of swimmers standing nearby.] It's on?

[One of them nods and his hand tightens a bit on the towel. So this “chip” was somewhat akin to a normal cellphone. At least in the vein that it contacted with people and he could talk to them. But standing here, talking to “himself” wasn't exactly... normal. He's not from some world where unnatural things happen every day. But at least he can take some comfort in knowing that he's not alone here.]

What am I supposed to say? [There's a good-natured laugh from one of the other swimmers and he makes a motion to turn around. Oh right. This thing used his eyes as the camera. He supposed that was interesting enough. Turning, the screen shifted once more before coming to a stop on a nearby window, reflecting Sōsuke and the people behind his shoulders. People could see him now... Another laugh came out and Sōsuke's sigh drifts through the feed.]

Cut it out, Rin. [At least there's a trace of humor in his quiet voice.] I'm still getting used to this.

[But if anything, he knows he adapts quickly. That alone is promising enough for his future here.]


□ Third Person Sample:
~ http://theloonybin.dreamwidth.org/23662.html?thread=13916782#cmt13916782 – (take your pick)