:Thursday:

Makoto walked through his morning routine like a zombie. His siblings, their usual needy and teasing selves, tried to get a rise out of him to no avail. He lifted a lazy hand as a sorry excuse for a good morning wave to Haruka. He dragged his feet and stared at Haruka as they walked; his friend staring longingly at the ocean.

At school, he started to get frustrated, and-yes, yes, he could confirm this emotion was indeed real-a bit angry.

Despite this new development in his personality, the morning went by smoothly. He encountered pretty much everyone without any "mishaps". Although, he didn't necessarily know if that was a good thing or not.

His brain hadn't exactly been at 100% capacity this week.

The lunch bell chimed and Makoto handed Haruka his bento (that he had no recollection of making) without a word. Haruka thanks him silently and watched his friend kind of float away to the hallway.

By the time Makoto reached the staircase he pauses. Suddenly, his eyes catch sighed of a shadow loom over him, just like in those horror movies he despised so much. He looked up and spoted Nagisa, smiling and bubbly, standing at the top of the stairs. Makoto gulped and lifted up a shaking hand to wave to his friend.

"Wanna eat together today, Mako-chan?" He asked with his usual excited tone. "I have a new manga that I want to show you! It's totally cool!" He laughs happily and bounces on the balls of his feet.

Makoto felt his heart twinge with a bit of guilt. He had been so on edge this week that he automatically assumed...well, anyway, he smiled back and walked up the stairs.

"Sure!"

Nagisa and he walked together down the hallway and slowly approached the door to the roof. Makoto smiled with a soft sigh as he listened to Nagisa babble on about the manga. He held his bento tighter and sighed once again.

Things were finally-

Nope.

It happened again.

Makoto pressed his back into the cement wall as Nagisa closed in. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, pressing even harder and wishing he had superpowers to just mold into the wall itself.

"Mako-chan reminds me of a warm summer day." Nagisa laughed as he brought his hands down on Makoto's shoulders, causing the taller boy to yelp.

"N-nagaisa, wait. Just hold on for a moment, alright?" He opened his eyes just in time to see Nagisa's pursed lips closing in on his face.

Makoto felt the blood rush to his cheeks and his breathing intensified. "Um, um, um," his voice cracked and squeaked, "l-look! Wow!" he announced, using the only tactic he's had in his inventory this week, "That cheery blossom tree bloomed early! Incredible!"

Nagisa, bless his innocent and dim soul, bounced up. His eyes shined as he turned, "Where where?!"

Makoto took this moment to make his escape. He bounced up, sending his bento flying, spilling all his uneaten food. His shoes pounded into the pavement as he high-tailed it to the roof door and down the stairs. He heard Nagisa complain in the distance, but he did not stop for a second. His steps echoed in the stairwell, and he sprinted down the hallway. Dodging in and out of students and teachers, he received many strict yells and one flabbergasted, "M-makoto?" from Miss Miho.

Makoto had, much to his displeasure, skipped his next few classes and was relived when it was his free period. He sat in a corner of the library, tapping his pencil hurriedly on his textbook. Eventually, he got an annoyed throat clearing from the librarian. He smiled apologetically and turned to face the window.

"There has got to be some explanation for this." he mumbled to himself as he began to doodle on his notes.

"Well, that's obvious. You're doing the wrong formula," a voice sounded from above him.

Makoto looked up to see Rei standing there, books in hand. He had use all of his strength to hold back an exasperated groan. He had come to the library in hopes of avoiding any more of these "encounters." Apparently, fate didn't like him very much.

However, Makoto felt an odd sense of relief that it was simply Rei. He had been the only one acting normal this entire week. Good ol' Rei. Normal, straight forward, and rule abiding. He could use a bit of Rei at the moment.

"Oh, am I?" he asked with a nervous laugh.

Rei sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Here, let me show you. You missed class so you're going to be totally lost."

"Th-thanks," Makoto mumbled, embarrassed at the reminder. Rei sat down and went into full-out tutor mode. And that is how it played out.

Rei would explain the question, decribe which equation to use, and Makoto would do the problem. Makoto was actually extremely thankful for his help, even if he had been in class he would be lost. The teacher's method wasn't exactly the perfect match for Makoto's learning abilities.

"The Quadratic Formula uses the "a", "b", and "c" from "ax2 + bx + c", where "a", "b", and "c" are just numbers; they are the "numerical coefficients" of the quadratic equation they've given you to solve. Don't press that, Nagisa, and when you have the numbers,"

"Wait, what?"

"What?" Rei looked up from his textbook, a bit annoyed.

"Did you, um, say something about Nagisa?"

"No," Rei drew out the word, a bit confused, "Are you okay?"

Makoto sighed and shook his head, "Not exactly."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Probably not," he folded his arms and let his chin drop onto them.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May," Rei spoke without letting his eyes leave the math textbook, it was as if the poem was written in there itself.

Makoto started, leaning up against his chair. His eyes went wide.

Oh no.

"R-rei?"

"And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines..."

Rei's voice went quiet and his eyes soften from their usual stern appearance. "Makoto-senpai, m-may I confess something to you?

Makoto, for the first time ever in his life, stood up and slammed his hands on the table. Rei jumped back, his textbook tumbling out of his hands. He looked up at Makoto, adjusting his glasses, a look of shock on his face.

The taller boy looked down at him angrily. His eyes were narrowed, misty, and his lip trembled as he bit it.

"I have to go home," he announced and he quickly turned on his heel and stomped away. He ignored Rei's calls to him. Yes, he was aware that he left his textbook. Yes, he was aware that he was making a scene.

He didn't care.

:End of Thursday: