I was running late again. My brothers came home late after playing in the park, Mom went straight to bed after her late shift, and I still did my sisters hair before making dinner. All while finishing my homework. I was proud of myself, but very stressed out, for I had to make breakfast and get my siblings ready for school. I shoved my shoes on my feet, and hung my bag over my shoulder, trying to tie my hair up as I ran. It was a windy day, making it an even harder task.

I passed the spot where Makoto apologized and noticed the two boys running ahead of me. I hadn't noticed them before, but I vaguely remember seeing by them in my peripheral vision. I kept running, finally managing to get my hair up. It probably looked like a mess but I hated having hair in my face. I started getting closer to the upperclassmen, ever so slowly, until I ran right passed the panting boys.

"Morning, Senpais!" I said as I ran by them. When it came to running, I was fairly confident. Plus I've been late for school my entire life. Running became second nature to me. I knew for a fact that Makoto was faster than me, but Haru was a great deal slower than him. I noticed how Makoto purposefully slowed down to match Haru's pace.

"Haoto Chizuru?"

"Here," I replied as the teacher called my name. I had made it to class literally seconds before the teacher walked in. Nagisa and Rei had given me questioning looks when I ran in. I suddenly remembered Makoto and Haruka. I probably should have helped them, or at least not run right past them.

School ended normally. The only thing different was that I had my art club. We didn't have it everyday like most clubs. We had it everywhere day in order to work on our art projects. The theme was currently the ocean and we were supposed to capture 'the true essence of the sea.' Of course this was a long term project and wasn't due for another two months. I had even started the sketch, but I hit a dead end. I had the oceans lapping at the beach in a calmly manner, with a few shells here and there and clouds in the sky. Anyone else would have called it fine. But not an artist. Not me. I felt as though it was completely wrong.

As soon as I walked into the art room, the smell of lead, paint and charcoal came flooding to my nose. We weren't required to attend the club meetings during long term projects, but I liked to come anyways. I sat in the corner desk that was next to the window and began to absently sketch.

It wasn't until a knock at the open door sounded through the empty room, did I snap out of my sketching trance. Nobody had come to the club today either, I realized. I turned my head away from my drawing, to find a boy standing at the doorway. He was hidden by the shadows, so I had no idea who it was.

"Are you going home yet?" The voice wasn't all too familiar, but I did recognize it.

"Ah!" I exclaimed, and threw my pencil into the air. His voice had startled me, more than his presence.

"I'm sorry! Did I scare you?" He exclaimed and rushed in. His olive brown hair caught in the light of the sunset and shimmered and his bright green eyes widened.

"No, no it's fine," I laughed. "I don't usually get scared that often. You're lucky you got to see that side of me," I sighed. Makoto had scared the living bajeebus out of me, but I wasn't going to admit how fast my heart was beating now. I tried to catch my breath as I reached for my pencil. "So why are you still here?" I asked him as I packed my things into my bag.

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied with a small smile.

"Right. Well I was here for my art club and time flew bye. Your turn." I managed to hide my wrist from him. I didn't want to worry him.

"Ah, well I was about to leave after practice, and then realized I left some papers at my desk. I came back to get them and passed you on the way out," Makoto shrugged.

The sun was setting faster now and walking home in the dark wasn't my cup of tea. I picked up my now stuffed bag. "Well I have to head home now. Hopefully it doesn't get too dark by the time I get home. The Chaos Crew might have burned the house down by now..." I trailed off. My siblings had actually almost burned down our house a few years back.

"We live near one another, right?" Makoto asked as he followed me out of the room. He calmly walked beside me as I hurried down the long hallway.

"Yup. I think you're like five minutes away," I replied quickly, and shoved my shoes on, and my other pair inside my shoe locker. I was starting to get worried. "Oh my god, what if they accidentally killed the cat?!" I exclaimed to myself, completely forgetting the incredibly tall boy next to me. I don't know how, considering I was 5'1" and he was 6'0". It bugged me that some people were just that tall.

"Uh. Is something wrong?" Makoto asked. I smiled gratefully at him. He was waiting for me as I ran up to the doors.

"Yes and no."

"Meaning?"

"By now my siblings have either burned the house down, killed one of the pets, or made a completely catastrophic mess," I explained. I sighed and dropped my head.

"Hahaha. I doubt they're that bad," Makoto laughed lightly. I now dub him as my new friend. Whether he liked it or not.

"No, they are. They actually almost burned our house down a few years ago," I sweat-dropped at the memory.

"I stand corrected then. Say, you seemed worried about heading home in the dark." I felt his green eyes look at me questioningly.

I tilted my head. "Yeah. See, I grew up more in the countryside, so we had a lot more yard space and all. I had this tree right outside my window. Let me just say that that tree is literally impossible to climb. Trust me, I had tried so many times before, and I'm a pretty good tree climber if I do say so myself.

"Anyways, this one night there was this guy in my tree, just sitting there, looking in and all. It doesn't seem all that scary, but it is when you actually experience it. And now I'm incredibly wary at night." I let out a breath when I finished. It was a personal story but I didn't care all too much. I'd tell anyone willing to nlisten. And Makoto listened. I shuddered at the other memory.

"And now I'm wary as well," Makoto said. "You said you live at least five minutes away, right? I don't mind taking a detour to drop you off at your house. Do you mind?"

I stared at him as I walked. "Well no, I don't mind, but are you sure you want to? I might end up ranting about some book or whatnot," I laughed at myself. I looked at the now dark ocean. It was truly beautiful, dark and mysterious. It seemed so simple and yet it was so hard to understand. Maybe because I had no connection with it that I couldn't draw it.

"I'm positive," Makoto's voice brought me out of my trance. "And you never know, your rants could be very interesting."

"Pfft. Don't say I didn't warn you," I slyly said with a shrug.

And this was how I made a new friend and managed to entertain him with my many rants of 'smol beans constantly dying'.

"Ah well we're here. Thanks for walking me home, Makoto-senpai," I smiled up at my new giant friend.

"It was no problem at all. And please, you can just call me Makoto," he replied.

"Ah, well, ok. If you say so," I said with a shrug. "Goodnight! By the way -" I paused mid-sentence, "I dub thee as my new friend," I said with an evil grin.

"Well good. I'm glad we're friends now," he replied with his usual kind smile. "Alright, well I better head home, goodnight Chizuru-chan." I waved to him in reply.

I turned to my house and quietly reached for the doorknob. Suddenly, the door swung open at full force, and three bodies glomped me. I fell over with them and landed on my back. "Kyaaa!" I let out a startled scream right before the smoke alarm went off.

Makoto, who had begun to walk away, turned back with an alarmed look. "Chizuru-chan! Are you ok?" Makoto asked, helping me up as soon as my insane siblings released me of their death grips.

I look up at him with a dead-panned face. "I told you, and yes, I'm fine. This happens quite often," I sighed. How many times had I sighed today? Too many.

Makoto was still steadying me when my sister decided to speak up. "Nee-chan! We were trying to make some cereal and we accidentally burnt it! And then the smoke detectors went off!"

"Wait what?!" I facepalms myself, the loud slap echoing. That was going to leave a mark. "Cereal is for breakfast! And how do you even burn cereal anyways...?" As I was fuming to myself, my youngest brother ran back to the house, and by the time I managed to calm my other two crazy family members down, he came back.

"Nee-chan! It's on fire now!"

"Oh my God!"