"Tachibana, it's far too risky to get this boy involved," came a deep and husky voice.
"But… but he can be trusted—" another voice replied.
Stirred from his slumber (though he had no idea how he came to fall asleep) Haruka tried to gaze around his surroundings, but upon seeing nothing but darkness, he realised his eyes were closed. His first instincts were to rub his eyes with his hand as to rid the sleep from his eyes, though his attempts were stopped when he heard a clang, as if two metal objects collided with each other. True to his predictions, the sound did come from two metal objects, long and rustic, suspected from the ceiling and chained to his arms. Since his hands were restrained he instead struggled to force open his eyelids. From what he could remember earlier, Makoto had him up against the wall, his hand capturing his face, and the events after that was like being trapped in an everlasting nightmare.
After fighting a battle to open his eyes, the first objects he saw were two figures: the owner of the deep voice belonged to a man dressed in a long black coat, who strode aimlessly around the dim lit room, tapping his cigarette once in a while. The sound of water dripping was synchronised with his slow and heavy footsteps, though the echo of each drip of water was far louder to Haruka's ears. The freestyle swimmer shifted slowly in his position as to not draw attention, and after doing so he realised he was sitting on damp, wooden planked flooring.
So that explains the water, he thought.
Haruka's blurry eyes looked to the other side of the room. It was Makoto. He had his eyes glued to the floor, looking as if would not dare to look at the man's eyes before him. A million questions raced in his mind at the same time, most of which involved Makoto. Why was he acting strange earlier? Where did he take him? What is he planning to do? However, his thoughts were cut off when the conversation suddenly stopped and the strange man opposite Makoto dissapeared. Hearing some footsteps aproach him, Haruka was out as quick as light; it would be wise to pretend he did not see anything.
Makoto got down on one knee and placed a hand on Haruka's glossed face. "Haru." Strangely, he found the sweaty face to bring a shine to Haruka. His friend was always so dim and isolated in his own thoughts, and it never changed from when he was a child. Haruka was never the type to express emotions at great lengths (or at all to be more accurate): he uses the same face at weddings, and at funerals, and at home, and in school, and right now he was making the same face, even when he's asleep. At the thought Makoto's face darkened and he got up and headed for the door. If only Makoto could see right through that emotionless mask then maybe he could find out Haruka's true feelings about him.
"I'm sorry" he finally whispered.
With that, the door was shut. Unfortunately, as Makoto was about to leave the place, the man from earlier called Makoto from across the hallway.
"Tachibana, there's someone at the door."
Makoto spun around at the sound of his supervisor's voice. "Ah, yes. I'm on it." But before leaving he turned around and securely locked the door. Even if Haruka was chained, Makoto wanted to make sure there was no chance for escape.
Gou stood with her arms crossed in front of a panting and sweating Rei, who was clearly tired from running around the school. "Well, where are they?" she spat.
"Well... I couldn't..."
RING!
Rei blinked at the sudden text he received:
"I'm not at Samezuka Academy. Don't go there. Makoto isn't here either.
—Haruka"
At the sight of the text he almost fell on the floor in a fit of laughter in Haruka's straightforwardness and his inability to lie.
Rei fixed his glasses and took a big breath of air and released it, obviously trying to repress his laughter. "Th-There's a chance that Haruka went to see Rin."
Gou felt startled at the mention of her brother's name. Of course, why didn't she think of that? Her angry expression quickly turned into a soft one. She had to admit that Rei was pretty clever when it came to solving mysteries. "Fine, we'll visit Samezuka Academy. Text Nagisa to meet us in the entrance."
Rei flipped out his phone again and began texting:
"Nagisa, meet up at the Samezuka Academy entrance. I think we know where Haruka may be.
—Rei."
"It looks too serious." Rei thought.
"Nagisa, meet up at the Samezuka Academy entrance. I think we know where Haruka may be.
lol
—Rei."
Rei looked seriously at the change, and then mentally smiled in confirmation. Now it looked right.
The front door creeked open as Makoto opened it with caution. Standing on the other side was Nagisa, a rucksack with dolphin prints hung from his back which clearly belonged to Makoto.
"Did you read the letter?"
Nagisa nodded.
"Did you understand?"
Again, Nagisa nodded.
"Come in." Makoto held the door to a size that Nagisa would be able to pass through. He had promised his supervisior that he would not involve anyone with the mission. The man's trust for him had already dropped due to Haruka's actions and Makoto wanted to be sure that it never happened again. However, Nagisa was a reliable friend ever since elementary school and so was the best option for Makoto. Honestly, Makoto didn't think Haruka would rebel in such a way. It was truly a shame that he had to use Nagisa as a substitute.
The said boy clutched tightly on the straps of the bag as he was led to a dark pathway. Despite the number of lanterns on each side of the wall which illuminated the area, it was hardly enough brightness for anyone to see where the path would lead to. So, Nagisa had no choice but to trust Makoto. The small boy started to make small whimpers as he walked; it seemed that wherever they were going the scenery started to grow cold and eerie. Looking around, Nagisa spotted cobwebs stretched across corners, the walls aged with crumbling concrete, and the floors wet with shallow water above them. To say he was not scared would be a lie. The further they walked the higher the level of water got, and this worried Nagisa. "Um, Mako-chan... there's water in..."
Makoto stopped abrubptly, causing Nagisa to bump into Makoto's muscled back, fall on the wet floor and let out a small whine. "Don't mind the water." he replied, then continued walking.
Nagisa made a small 'hmph' and got back up on his feet, shaking his leg to drain the water that entered his shoes. When he was finished, he rushed back to Makoto's side, splashing on the watery floor as he ran. The blonde tilted his head to the side as he watched Makoto unlock a series of locks connected to a door. "Hey, so about this adventure thing, why can't Haru-chan and Rei-can play?"
A click sound was made and the door in front of the two swimmers creeked open. Makoto flashed a sad smile at Nagisa. "Haru didn't want to play so he returned back to the swimming session."
"Ah~ So that's why he was missing." Nagisa nodded in understanding, but was quickly shaken away by a confused look. "But does Gou know about this? She seemed pretty angry at Rei-chan and I when we went to school to look for Haru-chan."
"Oh~ You didn't know that Gou is playing too? Well isn't her acting just great?" Makoto chuckled.
"I see... Woah you're right! She was pretty convincing when she shouted at us."
Behind Makoto's fake smile, he held a mischievous smirk. If lying got him this excited, surely it was not all that bad.