RinTori

"From the second I lead eyes on him, Rin's been my hero."

- Aiichiro to Sosuke, about Rin.

RinTori is the slash ship between Rin Matsuoka and Aiichiro Nitori from the Free! fandom.

Canon
Nitori is Rin's roommate in his first year with Samezuka. He has a tendency to follow Rin around and call him 'Senpai!'. During the first season, he was a vital teammate who helped Rin get back on the right track when he was going down a bad path. Even though Rin yelled at him, he followed him along and admired him. During Rin's isolation from his former friends, Nitori was the only person who would hang around him and try to reach through to him.

Nitori admires Rin badly, and can sometimes be jealous of the relationship Rin has with Haruka and the fact Rin calls Haruka 'Haru'. However, at the end of the first season Rin calls Nitori 'Ai' (his first name), which makes Nitori feel like a real teammate and friend.

In season two, Rin is no longer Nitori's roommate and the two of them interact less. However, Nitori still receives advice from Rin and talks about how much he admires Rin to other characters.

Dive to the Future
Sprouting Dive Start! First Swim in a New Country!
 * Rin receives a text, showing a picture of Nitori and Momo with a beetle. He comments on how they never change.
 * Rin has a picture of the relay team he was on with Nitori from the previous year.

Fanon
Rintori is the sixth most written about relationship on Ao3, and the most popular ship for Nitori in general. It's the third most popular relationship for Rin whose relationships with Haruka and Sousuke, his childhood friends, are more popular.

Quotes
"Swimming with [Rin] inspires me. I want to make him proud."

- Aiichiro to Sosuke, about Rin.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * The director of Free!, Hiroko Utsumi, commented that, if you left Rin alone, he would be isolated without anyone, so there needed to be a character — more like a conversation partner — who would draw him out. The character who had been born out of this need was Aiichiro. Aiichiro's role was to draw out Rin’s heart. Because Rin could understand parts of Aiichiro that were like himself, he felt like talking to him.
 * Rin made Aiichiro the swim team captain after he left.
 * Rin's animal is a great white shark, while Aiichiro's is a duck.
 * Rin swims butterfly and freestyle, while Aiichiro swims freestyle and breaststroke.