Moments could tear in two; haven't you heard? Haru hadn't. He'd never experienced the way moments could eclipse. Clipped and skewed, paralyzed like a glitching film clip in one discomforting moment that lived on like a lifetime in Haru's memory. Haru wished he could forget what Makoto had said.

'Makoto-chan, Haruka-chan...graduation is steadily approaching. Any ideas for your future?" Makoto and Haru refused to look each other, instead, their brows knitted together as they thought on their unspoken futures with guilt evident on their faces.

The demon smiled, its ears bobbing back and forth. Haru couldn't get over how bizarre it was that the cat Makoto had known since it was a kitten had turned out to be a demon. A wish-granting demon that had came to them on their way to Haru's house one day. All because of their visit to the shrine and their apparently, not so coincidental choosing of the 'Good Fortunes' card.

'That's okay, but time is running out. I just thought I'd let you know..." Makoto and Haru looked up, their attention caught. 'Think hard. Because I can give you a first look at what your futures could be.'

'Wha? How?' Makoto stepped from behind Haru, the terrified expression morphing into one of a confused look.

The cat-oni giggled. Haru had never felt such a dizzying effect of stupor and hilarity in his entire life.

Underneath the cover of the blanket Haru fingered the thin, red thread between his fingers. He breathed in deeply, took in the solid quiet of the room while Makoto washed up in the restroom, Haru couldn't help but think of that moment. That one blink of time that changed what reality was for Haruka Nanase. Reality was a smiling demon, purring promises of what ordinary humans never had the fortune of receiving; the future without its consequences.

He squeezed the thread between his fingers and closed his eyes. Haruka had learned so much about Makoto in that moment.

'You've always been so kind, Makoto. Always stopping to play with me on your way to Haruka's home. Since I was just a kitten I watched you two. You're very close. And graduation...well, aren't you nervous?'

Haru looked away stubbornly, unwilling to speak on the matter while Makoto chimed in as always with a soft smile—the radiance of that quiet early morning present in the everlasting beam of his smile. 'Haru's been scouted. He's very talented.' Makoto beamed, a soft pink flush on his cheeks. He had always been so proud to call Haru his best friend.

'Ah! And you, Makoto. You're thinking of going to a local university. Maybe even Tokyo university if your grades permit, right?'

Haru's head snapped to look at Makoto with furrowed brows. His first time hearing anything of Makoto's plans.

He had thought Makoto had been undecided, just as Haru was. But he guessed he had been too stubborn to see it.

'Y-yes,' Makoto said, scratching his cheek with a nervous grin in Haru's direction.

'I'd like to help you. I know its hard for you two to imagine the possibility of separation. I can allow you the chance of choosing your own paths—the ones you truly want, but are afraid of. Lives without one another.' Their fears were finally put into words and Haru flinched, looked down at his feet. Makoto's brows were furrowed as he chewed on his bottom lip. 'It will be tough. But you can always go back to each other. With this.' The cat-oni held out two long pieces of red thread for each of them to take.

Haru looked at the thread in his hand, but didn't expect to have any use for it. Haru wasn't going to accept the offers of the scouts anyway. He had just been about to open his mouth to assure the cat that Makoto and he would not be separating. But Makoto surprised him.

'I would like to try,' he said, stepping forward while Haru stayed back, staring at Makoto with wide-eyed confusion. 'If it means a chance to figure out what I really want. Without relying on Haru,' he said and looked down. Haru's brows furrowed; he couldn't blink back the shock and instead stared.

Haru clutched the pillow to his chest, stared up at the ceiling from his spot on Makoto's carpet. He couldn't get Makoto's words out of his head. They had hit Haru with a shocking surge of pain, like catching a mouthful of water, his throat dried from the chemical burn of chlorine, his lungs searing as he desperately coughed for air.

He didn't hear the bathroom door close; didn't hear the sound of Makoto's shuffling socks on the carpet. Haru only noticed, with a bit of a jump—when he felt the shifting pressure when Makoto laid beside him on the ground. Makoto rested his head against a small throw pillow and turned on his side, smiled as he balanced his weight on his arm.

Haru stared up at him, asking with his wide-eyes the question he was too afraid to ask. Makoto looked away for a moment, and Haru had to ask.

"Why? Why do you want to go some place without me?"

Makoto understood. His eyes softened, fingers splaying on the empty space between them. But still he smiled, and Haru remembered the cat demon's words.

'Follow to the end of the threat,' the cat said, 'It's a map, a map that will lead you. It will be your guide to finding happiness.'

He felt like Makoto's smile was that map Haru followed in his life. He blinked away the start of tears that formed in the corners of his eyes.

"Haru..." He loved the way his name sounded rolling off Makoto's tongue, but not in this instant, when Makoto looked at him like that; as if he couldn't be more guilty. Like there was something to be guilty about. "I'm sorry," Makoto said. Sometimes it was worse when someone said sorry when they had done nothing wrong. Haru wanted to turn away, but Makoto's eyes were a trap. He stared up at him with an unblinking stillness. How was it that Makoto was able to read Haru so easily but Haru sometimes struggled to understand his own feelings when it came to Makoto.

He just didn't get it. He didn't get why Makoto wanted to lead separate futures. Someplace without Makoto simply didn't exist in the honest, simplistic valleys of Haruka's mind. His mind was as streamlined as the lane in a swimming pool.

"Oh." Sorry hurt like a good bye.

"I want to find out if I'll be okay without you. I haven't had the chance. Everything has always been you, Haruka Nanase." Haru stared at his mouth; then his eyes traveled to the calming springs of Makoto's eyes.

"Don't call me Haruka," he muttered, shifting uncomfortably, hugging the pillow tighter against his body.

"I don't want it to be anymore." Makoto continued, eyes falling to the floor between them. Haru could feel his heart whipping wildly in his chest. "Graduation will only be harder. And..." Makoto eyes looked up with a sort of determination in them that Haru recognized. "I don't want to hold you back any longer. You are the best in the water, Haru. Don't let that go."

Haruka didn't know what to say, and so he didn't say anything. He simply stared at Makoto this way; even after Haru could only hear the soft breaths after Makoto fell asleep. Even when Haru lay awake and stilled his breath as to not awake his friend. And when the clock ticked away he stood up and walked over to the book he had pressed his Good Fortune into, held it in his palm, and re-read it.