It was a Friday night and Haruka was making his usual mackerel and pineapple pizza. He thought of inviting Makoto over but quickly discarded that thought when he remembered that his best friend told him that his father had gotten sick, so he would stay at home taking care of him and helping his mother with the twins. But Haruka was planning on going to Makoto's house on Saturday to help the Tachibana's, they were after all, and even though Haruka wouldn't say it out loud, like a family to him.

As Haruka was carefully placing a pineapple piece over his mackerel pizza, the bell rang, making him drop the piece, as Rei would say "unbeautifully". Haruka sighed but frowned when the bell rang again, and again, and again. He made his way to the door, but when he opened it he was met with the sight of a crying Makoto.

"Makoto?" asked Haruka with wide eyes.

"Ha-Haru, you need to help me, please! I-I don't know what to do! What if-what if he's hurt? I-just I-just" Makoto burst into tears as he let his head all on Haruka's shoulder.

"Makoto, calm down. Who's hurt? What happened?"

"It's Ren! Haru we can't find Ren!" Haruka felt his heart painfully skipping a beat. Ren was lost? "Remember that I stayed at home today to help mom? We got a call from the school asking why Ren wasn't there! I took them both to school myself! I asked Ran and she started crying saying that she had a fight with him and called him some nasty names, and that he had run away! Haru it's nighttime! We've been looking for him the whole day! Where's my brother?" his voice broke again with this last question. Nanase just couldn't believe his ears. He hugged Makoto, trying to calm himself down: Makoto needed him, he had to be strong for him.

"I'll help you look for him. But let's call everybody first, they are at different parts of town, it will be helpful if they look for him over there" Makoto nodded, taking deep breaths but with tears still sliding down his cheeks. Haruka took his cellphone and dialed the first number.

"Huh? Haru? What the hell are you doing calling me? I thought you didn't know how to use your phone" Haruka could picture Rin smirking.

"Rin, we need your help: Ren is missing. I can't tell you the details, I need you to look for him over there, please" Haru heard the sound of fabric moving.

"Shit! What? Damn it! I'll go now. How's Makoto holding up?" he heard a door opening and closing.

"Badly. He is going to have a panic attack at any second"

"Fuck! Call me if you have any news, I'll do the same" He stopped himself for a second "And tell Makoto not to worry: we'll find Ren, I fucking promise him that"

"I'll tell him, thank you" he hanged up and turned to look at Makoto who was sitting on the sofa playing with his fingers, sniffing "Rin asked me to tell you that we will find him, he said it's a promise" Makoto tried to smile but couldn't, so he just nodded. Haruka dialed the second number.

"Haruka-senpai, what a rare thing for you to be calling me. At what do I own this pleasure?"

"Rei, remember Makoto's brother?"

"Ren? Why, of course! What about him?"

"He's missing. Please, we need you to look for him" He heard a gasp over the phone.

"Ren-kun is missing? Oh no! I'll look for him, but if we can't find him today, we will have to call the police" Haruka nodded but then remembered that Rei couldn't see him.

"Please call Nagisa" after hanging up he turned to look at Makoto, who stood up drying his tears.

"Haru…

"Let's go keep looking for Ren"

Makoto nodded and followed Haruka out of the house.

He was frantic, desperate. It was his entire fault! After all he had promised his dad that he would take good care of the twins, but he had failed. And now his mom was an hour away from having a mental breakdown while his father was out on the streets while being sick. But most importantly, he had failed as a big brother. And sadly, Ren was a lot like him: he was easily scared. He was afraid of the dark. And he was so little! What if he was hurt? What if he was kidnapped? He could picture his little brother alone in a dark corner, crying. It made him start crying all over again.

"Makoto" he felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked at his best friend who was looking at him with a very serious expression, but he could see the concern in his eyes. He tried smiling again, but he failed once more. He looked down.

"Haru, What if he's hurt? What if someone took him? What if he's…" dead that's what he meant to say but he couldn't even bring himself to think about that possibility. But Haru seemed to be able to know what he meant because he roughly took him by his shoulders, making Makoto look up.

"Listen to me. Nothing good will come if we just stand here thinking about those things. Rin, Nagisa and Rei are looking for him, we will find him" he then proceed to softly dry Makoto's tears with his finger. Makoto took Haruka's hand in his and kissed it softly.

"Thanks Haru-chan"

"Smile more. And drop the 'chan' already"