I think this maybe is going to be my shortest chapter for this story, so definitely expect a bit more next time. Hope you like it!
High Fever
1. Latent Period
Makoto reached the solid ground, the tile around the pool. He convinced himself he'd be better the next day. As soon as they all got out of the pool, he hurried to attach his fingers to the wiring of the chain-link fencing and looked at the floor. There was a slight nausea he felt, and as he stood up straight again, he told himself in silence that it was caused by how fast he had gotten out of the pool.
"Do you feel like eating ice cream?" Haruka asked him from a few meters. Even if he had the slightest urge to throw up, maybe it was related to the hotness of this particular summer. "I'm melting"
"Yes" he answered and put on a smile for Haruka, before following them.
While they read and analyzed the flavors, Makoto tried to decide which one was the least likely to get him sick. 'It's just ice cream, it can't be too bad in the summer, I'm sure' he thought to himself, and decided to go with black cherry. He was the last one to ask for ice cream and by the time it had been handed to him, the others were licking theirs staring at him.
"So where are we going now?" Nagisa asked "Your house, Haruka?"
He looked at him. "I guess so, where else can we go?"
Rei glanced at the sky "Well it's getting late, so we better go there and then we'll all go back to our own."
Makoto tried to mask the fact that he wanted to cough, but he couldn't. He coughed a few times but no one seemed concerned by it, except for Haruka, who only glanced at him afterwards but continued walking.
Being halfway done with his coffee ice cream, Haruka noticed that Makoto was very slowly eating his own. He approached him. At first Makoto tried to act as if he hadn't noticed and kept his sight at his front, but then Haruka spoke.
"Something's wrong, Makoto?" he asked, and waited for a response before realizing that they were getting closer to a bridge that went across a wide river.
Makoto was looking at him, smiled and then turned his gaze to his right. "No"
Haruka moved his ice cream from his right hand to his left one, and stopped Rei by the shoulder.
"Do we have to go through here?" he asked. Rei turned around to lift an eyebrow.
"Well if we don't, we'll have to go back and take another route which will be quite a few kilometers."
Makoto didn't want them all to walk so much unnecessarily for him.
"It's okay, Haru." Makoto touched him on the shoulder, near the neck, from behind "I walk along it, it's not a big deal."
"You know you don't have to do it. We can totally change the route." he answered.
Rei seemed confused. "Hm? What for? What's the problem?"
Ignoring him, Makoto continued the conversation with Haruka "No, I can do it, really Haru."
With his last word came another smile that convinced Haruka. He turned around again Makoto positioned himself at his right before getting a foot on the bridge.
It was at the moment of looking down when he started to be conscious of his breathing in a way that made him feel that he had to be sure to breathe constantly, as if his body wouldn't do it by itself. He touched his neck with three fingers and discovered that he was in fact very anxious, by the feel of his heartbeat. At moments Haruka glanced at him, and both Rei and Nagisa turned to look but Makoto's sight was lost on the surface of the water. It was very deep. So deep that he only saw navy, and his eyes looked along all of the river that could be seen, and he remembered that those waters would be in the ocean.
Then he saw something moving among the water and, before he could think clearly, took the right hand of Haruka with his own left one. Nagisa and Rei turned around to look forward again. In order to demonstrate a sense of security that he hoped would calm Makoto, Haruka licked his ice cream in complete silence as he stared at him.
There was no way to recognize the big grey spot inside the water. By the movements it was most probably a big fish, but Makoto still felt uncertain, in a similar way to when one is in complete darkness in their own known room seeing distinguishable things around them and, unable to remember what they were before turning off the lights, interpret them as staring faces and eyes and mouths with fangs, or bodies scattered on the floor, and one has to keep staring at them until naming them, trying to convince oneself that there's no reason for something unknown and foreign in one's own room, and that no one can be staring since one's already drawn the curtains and closed the door.
He doubted the structure of the bridge. For a moment he was sure it would fall apart eventually, soon. And not only him would die but everyone on the bridge would, whether drowning or eaten. He pulled Haruka closer to himself, and he could see Makoto was pale.
"You're having a panic attack." he whispered.
Even though he could feel sweat on his skin, Makoto was cold, and the ice cream was melting on his fingers.
They were on solid ground again, and slowly the color went back to Makoto's face. The first thing he did was licking the melting parts of his ice cream, and noticed that the three looked at him and for seconds looked at each other.
"Are you okay?" Rei asked, as Haruka had his hand on Makoto's back. His breathing was very loud.
"Yeah" he said finally, and touched Haruka's arm to indicate it was enough. "Thanks everyone, but I think I'd like to have a different route next time."