"H-Haruka?" Makoto said, stunned. "Where are you going?"
Haruka stared at him impassively. "To see Rin," he said simply.
Makoto cringed inside. It seemed he'd spent all of his life building his friendship - or relationship, or unrequited love, or whatever it was - with Haruka. Their daily routine, in which Makoto let himself in for breakfast and they walked to school together, was so engrained in them both that this single disruption seemed to tear at the foundations of Makoto's mind.
(Or, maybe, his heart.)
"But we always walk to school together!" Makoto protested.
Haruka looked at him, his expression as stoic as always but subtly betraying some small puzzlement. "We don't have to," he replied.
Makoto began to open his mouth in protest, then shut it when he realized that he could say nothing that wouldn't seem unfair. After all, Haruka wasn't bound to their arrangement, just because Makoto loved him...
"Have a nice time," Makoto said quietly, raising his hand in farewell as he crossed to the door. "I'll see you at school."
Once he was outside, he allowed himself to shed a few tears, and wiped them casually with the back of his hand, not wanting any passersby to pity him, even at the same time he wanted someone's sympathy. Maybe Rei, he thought; Nagisa or Kou would be too bubbly at a time like this.
After so many seasons in the sun, Haruka seemed to be drawing away from him at last.
Damn that Rin.