Am I the only one who thought it's a bit creepy an old man befriends a cute little boy, stalks him in a festival and gives him goldfish out of nowhere? This is a story about that man ...

j/k, but I have noticed Haru-chan in his beautiful yukata wasn't around and it's impossible Mako-chan would go alone to a festival. So (also thanks to Nagisa for the inspiration), my headcanon worked it out.

Notes: I am guessing they are about 7 years old, and so Haruka was still okay with being called Haru-chan (since in episode 1 flashback he says it's about time to stop add -chan to his name ^^). They have not yet started swimming in the club, so he's still not obsessed with water either.

Hope you like it, enjoy~

Makoto's Goldfish

Mako-chan could barely hold his excitement. The day of the festival near the harbor had finally arrived. He's been waiting for it for weeks. Since his mother had just given birth, Haru-chan's parents were going to take the two boys to the festival.

"Mako-chan, let mommy take a look at you," his mother said once his father finished dressing him in the yukata. She was busy breastfeeding.

Mako-chan smiled brightly and dashed in front of her in his brand new green kimono. He spread his arms and then twirled around to give her a view in all directions.

"Ah, it looks great!" She said happily. "You look like an angel!"

Makoto just continued to smile brightly and jumped on her, giving the baby's head a kiss. "Too bad you're too young to come to the festival," he said. "Next year, ne."

"Dear, don't forget to give Mako-chan some allowance," she told her husband.

"Oh yeah…" His father searched through his back pocket for his wallet.

Mako-chan's eyes sparkled as his father put coins in the yukata's matching purse and put the strap around Mako-chan's wrist. "Don't spend it all on candies, okay?" He patted the boy's head.

"Okay!" Makoto agreed and then skipped away. "Bye bye!" He waved at his parents and continued to skip the rest of the short way to Haru-chan's house.

"You look like a girl," Haru-chan noted when he saw his friend dressed in the kimono. He himself was dressed in a navy blue yukata with white strips and a thin black obi on his waist. Mako-chan's yellow obi was thick and sat high up his chest. "It's a girl's yukata."

"No, it's not!" Mako-chan frowned, but that frown soon turned into a beaming smile. "Haru-chan looks so beautiful in his yukata!"

Haru-chan blushed and looked away.

"Haru-chan, Mako-chan, are you ready?" Haruka's mother asked. Mako-chan was the only one to reply, waving his hand at her.

The two boys walked behind Haru-chan's parents, checking out the booths with shining eyes. Mako-chan stopped by a booth that had carts filled with goldfish. The children were trying to scoop them out of the water. The boy looked at the pretty fish in amazement.

"Haru-chan! I want to try and scoop goldfish!" he called after his friend who continued walking.

Haru-chan walked back towards him and took a look at the fish. "Poor fish," he said.

"Why?" Mako-chan looked at his friend in confusion.

"They are in this small box instead of swimming freely in the lake," Haru-chan said.

Mako-chan thought about it. "But aren't the fish we eat more poor?"

Haru-chan made a face, he had no comeback for that, so he just huffed, "It's different."

Mako-chan returned his eyes to the goldfish. "Anyway, I want to try…"

"Haru-chan, Mako-chan, don't wander off by yourself," Haruka's mother stood behind them. "I don't want you to get lost."

Haruka's father took a look at the goldfish booth, scowled a little and turned to the boys. "Let's find something to eat. How about yakisoba?"

"I want yakisoba!" Mako-chan announced cheerfully and walked behind him.

"I want yakisaba," Haru-chan said and his mother smacked him upside the head. "That would be like eating at home!" she scolded him. But she still let him buy a grilled fish on a stick.

Mako-chan finished his yakisoba and then bought a squid on a stick, and then a candy apple. And found himself near another goldfish booth. His eyes wandered to the fish.

"Just forget it, Mako-chan," Haru-chan said, startling Mako-chan from behind. "Fish aren't meant to be pets." He had a soda flavored ice popsicle in his hand, the kind that had two sticks. He broke it in half and gave one to Mako-chan.

"But they are so beautiful…" Mako-chan said as he accepted the ice, his eyes sparkling again. "They look so happy to swim in the water."

Haru-chan huffed. "They die fast."

"They will not, I will take care of them!" Mako-chan insisted.

"You will need to change the water and clean the aquarium… and feed them every day," Haru-chan said quietly. No matter how he looked at it, it sounded like troublesome work. Fish were meant to either be eaten or swim freely in rivers and lakes, not a small jar in someone's room. He looked at his friend. Most importantly, he knew that Mako-chan would cry when the goldfish will die, and he didn't want to see his friend sad.

"I don't care about the hard work! I will do it!" Mako-chan announced and raised his hand that had the purse strapped to it.

Just then Haruka's father showed up behind them. "Boys, if you want to go to the haunted house you better line up now," he said.

"Ha… haunted house?" Mako-chan asked in hesitation. He shifted his eyes to Haru-chan, but Haru-chan was busy finishing his ice.

"It's a haunted house on the hill that appears every ten years," Haruka's father explained and the boy let out a little yelp and stepped behind Haruka's back.

"Dad, stop it." Haru-chan didn't even blink. "It's not real, Mako-chan," he told the scared boy.

"Mom and I will be sitting over there." Haruka's father pointed at the picnic area where they had previously sat to eat. Haruka's mother was still sitting on a bench, saving the seating space.

Mako-chan opened his purse and dropped the coins to his palm, counting them. If he would go inside the haunted house, he will only have enough remain to buy cotton candy. He will have to give up on the goldfish. He raised his eyes to the haunted house booth. It had scary drawings of ghosts and monks on the posters and a lot of kanji he still couldn't read. He really didn't want to go in there, but Haru-chan was looking at the drawings with shining eyes.

They paid and received tickets to enter. Mako-chan recognized the place. The stairs on the mountain were leading to the shrine. He had no idea the shrine was haunted. It made sense though, it was an old place.

He shuddered at the thought and moved closer to Haru-chan. They were only lining up on the stairs and he was already terrified. What was he thinking? Even the woman in front of them was clinging to her man's arm.

"Are you okay, Mako-chan?" Haru-chan asked him and Mako-chan looked at him. Haru-chan's deep blue eyes looked so calm and gentle, Mako-chan couldn't help but smile and nod.

The staff was letting only one pair of people inside at a time, so it took a bit of time until it was finally the boys' turn. Haru-chan walked through the veil with confidence, while Mako-chan, pale and frightened, hurried to catch up with him.

It was pitch black inside the shrine. There were some eerie sounds of breathing, forest animals, and then a door screeched.

"Gyaa…" Mako-chan yelped and grabbed Haru-chan's yukata.

"Don't worry, Mako-chan, it's not real." Haru-chan reassured him as they walked on. Something flew at them from the side and Mako-chan yelled again, clutching Haru-chan's yukata even tighter.

"Uwaaah!" Mako-chan yelped when they faced a rotting, mummified body still dressed in the shrine kimono.

"It's just a doll," Haru-chan said calmly. Mako-chan didn't even look at where they were going anymore, he closed his eyes and rested his head on Haru-chan's shoulders, clinging to his yukata as they walked.

"You're going to rip it off," Haru-chan grumbled and forced Mako-chan's hand off his yukata. Mako-chan looked at him, almost in tears and Haru-chan sighed. He took Mako-chan's hand in his. "There, I'll protect you, Mako-chan," he promised and they continued to walk hand in hand.

An owl hooted, there were a couple more puppets flying their way, and Mako-chan was sure they were finally about to hit the exit, when they came across another mummified body. He clutched Haru-chan's hand tighter.

"It's just a doll, right, Haru-chan?" His smile was crooked as he forced it on his face.

"Un." Haru-chan nodded and just then the mummified body got up and launched at them with a shrill scream.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Mako-chan screamed back and let go of Haru-chan's hand. He ran away, back to where they entered from.

Still screaming, he passed the surprised staff at the entrance, and the people that were still waiting in line outside and ran down the stairs, until he was back on the street of the festival. He then stopped running and looked back.

"Haru…chan…" he mumbled.

He had left Haru-chan alone to face that ghost, he felt terrible. "Haru-chan will be fine, right?" he told himself after a moment of self-reprimanding. He decided to wait for Haru-chan at the bottom of the stairs, but he was still reeling from the experience, so he decided to buy a cotton candy.

Still feeling down, he munched slowly on the soft sugar fluff. When he passed by one of the goldfish scooping booth, he had no choice other than watch the other kids trying to scoop the fish out of the water. He had used up all his allowance. Watching the goldfish swim lively in the box made his heart calm down and he stood there for a while, forgetting about everything else.

Haru-chan searched for Mako-chan in the crowd. He was worried. Mako-chan knew where Haru-chan's parents were waiting, but he wasn't there. What if he got so scared he tried to run back home? They've gone alone to the harbor many times before, but never after dark.

He felt so bad about making Mako-chan go into the haunted house. Mako-chan was always easily scared. Despite his baby face, he was bigger than Haru-chan, so everyone thought he was older, but actually Haru-chan was older by a few months, and felt quite protective of his friend.

Haru-chan continued to search frantically for Mako-chan, until he suddenly spotted him, standing with a cotton candy which he wasn't eating. Haru-chan opened his mouth to call for him, but closed it and continued looking at his friend. Mako-chan had a sad expression on his face and Haru-chan followed his stare and noticed the goldfish booth. Mako-chan was longing after the stupid fish again…

But he hated to see that look on his friend's face, so he hoped Mako-chan would just buy the stupid fish and be done with it already. Maybe these goldfish won't die as fast as the ones Haru-chan's grandmother once had in her house. He noticed Mako-chan was holding the little purse instead of having it hung on his wrist like before… Ah, he realized. Mako-chan must have spent all of his allowance already.

Haru-chan sighed and walked away, leaving Mako-chan to watch the goldfish swim. If they hadn't gone to the haunted house, Mako-chan would've had money to try for the goldfish. He went to where his parents were sitting and got some money from them, then walked back to the booths and searched for a different goldfish scooping booth. It would be stupid of him to give Mako-chan goldfish after trying to pursue him out of the idea before… he would have to let his father give the fish to Mako-chan, so Mako-chan won't know it's from him.

But first he had to catch a fish. It was harder than it looked. He only had three more tries left and he still hadn't managed to catch even one. How could they swim so fast in such a little box? What was the fun in that?

'They look so happy to swim in the water…' He heard Mako-chan's voice in his head.

"Ahh…" He nearly tripped over into the box. The last thing he needed was getting drenched because of some stupid fish.

He looked at his scooping net in disappointment. Missed again. And only two tries left.

"Isn't it Haru-chan?" He heard an old man behind him and turned around.

It was the old fisherman that Mako-chan befriended in the harbor. Sometimes they would come over to play in his boat. He even took them for a short sail one time. Haru-chan was wary about him at first, but the fisherman gave him mackerel so he grew to like him.

"Ah, Mr. Fisherman." He nodded and looked back at the goldfish. He didn't have time for a chat.

"Did you manage to catch a goldfish?" the fisherman asked.

"Not yet," Haru-chan said and focused. He then charged in and swept his net in the water, bumping into one of the other kids. The fish was in the net! He quickly raised his hand, but the net had come up empty.

"You won't catch a fish this way, Haru-chan," the old man said. "You're just scaring them away."

Haru-chan frowned. "But I have to catch one! Mako-chan really wants a goldfish…"

The old man laughed. "You sound like my grandson," he said. "Let me give you a tip. Try to become part of the water; the fish won't fear you if they think you are one of them."

That's so stupid, Haru-chan thought, but didn't say out loud. How would a person be part of the water? It's water! And he was no fish.

But it was his last try, and all his previous attacks did not work. He sighed and rolled up his yukata sleeves, then immersed his hand all the way to the elbow in the water and tried to stay still. His eyebrows wrinkled in the effort. 'Become part of the water…' He had no idea how to that, but he decided to relax his body. The other kids were splashing as they tried to aggressively catch the fish, but Haru-chan did not move a muscle.

Suddenly the goldfish, swimming away from the boisterous kids surrounded his arm, even touching him. It tickled, but he tried not to move. Then carefully, in a smooth motion, lifted his hand and held his breath.

"Good job, Haru-chan!" The fisherman cheered for him. "I'm sure Mako-chan will be happy."

Haru-chan blushed and watched as the staff at the booth put the two goldfish he caught in a nylon bag and tied it. He still felt sorry for the fish, but he couldn't wait to see the look on Mako-chan's face.

When he received the bag, he turned around and handed it to the fisherman. "You give it to Mako-chan," he said, not even asking. "Don't tell him it's from me."

"Oh? Why? You worked so hard to catch them," the fisherman asked.

Haru-chan pouted, feeling his cheeks flush a bit.

"Are you embarrassed?"

"Of course not," Haru-chan growled in response. "It's just that, I told him not to try to get the fish," he explained. "And then he had no money left because of me, but he really wants the stupid goldfish… so…"

"I understand your feelings." The old man smiled and took the bag from Haru-chan's hand. "You're a good friend, Haru-chan."

Mako-chan sighed and forced his eyes away from the fish. He still needed to find Haru-chan and apologize for running off. He started making his way back to where Haru-chan's parents were sitting.

"Mako-chan." He raised his head when he heard the old fisherman call his name.

The old man was standing in front of him, smiling. Then, from behind his back, he pulled out a nylon bag with two goldfish swimming calmly in it. "Look what I have for you."

A little farther behind the fisherman, Haru-chan watched the sad expression on Mako-chan's face turn into a huge, beaming smile that lit his entire face brighter than the festival lights. Haru-chan gasped, feeling a little warm and fuzzy in his stomach. He smiled faintly to himself and walked back to his parents.

The End.

(Although I do have a 10 years later story brewing in the dark corners of my HaruMako infested brain.. what do you say? xD)