Let me repeat that, just so we all start on the same page:  the ending of Free! isn’t a shipping competition.

It isn’t about Rin vs. Mako.  It isn’t RinHaru vs. MakoHaru.  It is Rin and Mako, and also Nagisa and Rei, trying their very best to help a friend — a friend who is hurting, a friend who they love.

I don’t think Rin is stealing away Haru to Australia without the others’ knowledge.

I don’t think that Mako has given up on Haru just because Haru ran away from him.

I think they are all carefully working together for the benefit of Haru.  Each of them are trying different things until something clicks.  Until something works.

It is like picking up pieces of a broken cup and trying to fix it.  It isn’t a quick process.  You have to try all the pieces until you find the first one that fits.  And when you get one piece in place, then you have to start working on the next piece.  You do this piece by piece until the cup is whole again.

I don’t think Haru will magically be fixed in episode 12.  Hopefully, it will be a step in the right direction.  Hopefully, he can see that Mako wasn’t trying to hurt him in episode 11 and said what he did because he genuinely cares.  Hopefully, Rin will be able to share the light that Haru shared with him last season.

As with so much else in this series, fixing Haru is a team effort.  It will require Mako, Rin, Nagisa, and Rei.  All of them.  Remember, Rei and Nagisa gave Haru some of the kindest words and encouragement in episode 11, Makoto let Haru know he was loved, and Rin told him they were going to Australia with a smile.  Perhaps while reflecting on things in Australia, a place where Haru is displaced from the bulk of his pain, he can let all those words sink in.  Perhaps Mako telling Haru that everyone is doing this because they love him will finally begin to make sense.

Because when you find where one piece of the broken cup fits, the others will fall into place too.