"Haru?" Makoto's voice carried in the still evening air as he looked around the empty classroom. There was no sign of movement or his dark-haired teammate, only the white curtains at the window fluttering in the gentle summer breeze. "Strange…" He murmured as he worried his bottom lip. It wasn't like Haruka to leave the school without saying anything to Makoto first. Sure, he might have a tendency to wander off, especially when something caught his attention (for example, any body of water – be it fish tank or pond), but they had been going home together for the past three years and Makoto just couldn't place this nagging feeling that something was wrong.
Turning to leave, he decided to check the rest of the school grounds. Perhaps Haru was waiting for him outside the school gates. Making his way out of the classroom block, he started to cross the courtyard when the faint sounds of a scuffle reached his ears. Pausing and turning his head, he saw that the sound was coming from behind the gymnasium. Makoto's first instinctive thought was "someone's in trouble!" and true to his caring nature, he took off in the direction of the gymnasium.
Slightly out of breath and heart racing, Makoto rounded the corner and stopped in his tracks. He had expected to find some first-year being bullied by a couple of older students, but never would he have thought that it was Haru being pinned against the wall, Haru with bruises blooming across his cheekbones and flinching as the third-year above him drew back, smirking, and prepared to strike again –
"HARU!" He looked up, startled, at the sound of his name; his attacker, grip on his shirt slackening in surprise, did the same. What he saw made his blue eyes widen in shock. Silhouetted against the evening sky, Makoto dropped his schoolbag and charged towards his attackers, green eyes glinting dangerously in the sunlight, letting out a roar Haruka would've never thought he was capable of. He could only watch as Makoto leapt at his terrified attacker, ripping him away from Haruka and bringing him tumbling to the ground and pummeling every inch of him in reach with his fists. He was suddenly aware of how Makoto towered above the older students and how every inch of his body under his uniform rippled with muscle and how the third-years were backing away, terrified looks on their faces. And when Makoto swung around to face him, he suddenly found himself choked with fear because Makoto had such a savage expression on his face that he'd never seen before – it was almost scary…
And then it was all over because more students and a teacher had heard the commotion and rushed over, and people were yelling and trying to hold down Makoto who kept bucking and trying to throw them off. Ultimately, though, they managed to convince him that Haruka wasn't in any more trouble, and Makoto eventually stopped thrashing around and sank to his knees, sweat dripping from his chin and breathing laboured. The rugby club members who'd bravely clung to him let go one by one, exhausted and cursing under their breath, and Makoto looked up at Haruka, all traces of his former self gone and gentle smile back on his face, saying, "I'm glad you're fine, Haru…"
"…And that's what happened," the second-year concluded in a hushed tone, a serious look on his face. "Needless to say, after Tachibana went nuts, no one ever dared to pick on Nanase-senpai again." Rei and Nagisa, who were leaning in and listening closely, enraptured, looked awed. "I-I never knew Mako-chan could be so scary!" Nagisa whispered. "Neither did I," Rei muttered, pushing up his glasses. "I'll never look at Makoto-senpai the same way again…"
"Look at me what way?" An ominously familiar voice said above them, causing all three boys to yelp and look up at Makoto's smiling face, Haruka standing behind him, hands in pockets and looking bored. "Come on, let's eat lunch together. I made extra for you guys too!" He held up a cloth-wrapped lunchbox, green eyes twinkling good-naturedly. Nagisa and Rei exchanged a look, then stood and grabbed their lunchboxes, bidding goodbye to the second-year and following Makoto and Haruka out of the classroom. Explanations could wait for another time.