Chapter Seven: Bombshell

Four days into Makoto's week-long visit, Haru came into the bedroom to find Makoto packing his bags. "Makoto?" he questioned. What are you doing?

The brunet, who was kneeling next to his duffle-bag, jumped as if he was caught in the middle of a crime. "Sorry, Haru," he quickly apologized. "I can't stay here any more time. My family has their annual camping trip this weekend."

Oh…That's right. How could he have possibly forgotten? It was a tradition that the Tachibanas had for at least the past ten years. This year wouldn't be any exception—in fact, it was even more important to have this last camping trip as a family before Makoto left for college. And in previous years, the Tachibanas had invited him to come along with them. He generally refused, since it was a bother to camp. This year, they hadn't invited him, but again, that made sense. This would be a sacred and important time for their family.

"When are you leaving?" Haru asked as Makoto continued packing.

"In a few hours—I need to go home and do my laundry so that I have enough to wear."

"Is that really all your concerned about?" Haru challenged gently.

At that question, Makoto stopped packing and focused on the dolphin. "I'm okay," he said with a wider smile than usual. "Really, the past few days have helped. Thanks, Haru."

Haru stared at Makoto for a few moments, gauging whether to believe him or not. It was true that in the past few days, Makoto has behaved more like his usual self. He hung out with Nagisa and Rei and even called Rin and made amends with him. Maybe the pressure of not putting on a brave face for his family helped him recoup. Or maybe he felt more confident about the bullies never returning to hurt him. Either way, Haru believed him. "I'm glad."

Makoto smiled faintly at Haru's kind sentiment before he continued packing up. "When I'm gone, you can have all the mackerel you want. I noticed you only had it one meal a day while I was here."

Having been caught, Haru glanced off to the side. "Shut up," he murmured, though not in a mean way. It was that typical way of, You saw through me again and I don't want to admit it. Still, it was good to see Makoto so perceptive again. That first day they were out on the walk, Makoto hadn't even noticed when Haru checked his cell phone openly. Nothing like that happened since then, especially not with his cell phone. He hadn't had a need to check it, since Makoto had taken the initiative with making plans with Nagisa and Rei and talking to Rin.

Haru knew that Rei was easily worried about everyone, so he asked Makoto if he could call Nagisa and Rei over so that they could say goodbye before the trip. At first, he wasn't even sure Makoto would say yes. He had a strange look on his face—like he was going to say something and then changed his mind. A smile covered it quickly enough that Haru dismissed it. "Sure," he said. "I'd like to say bye to them too, even if it's just for a few days." He went back to his packing and Haru went on to make the phone calls. His cell phone apparently died because of how little it was used, so he had to borrow Makoto's phone to call Rei and Nagisa. He would have called Rin as well, but Rin was heading back to Samezuka today and obviously wouldn't be able to make it.

A few hours later, Makoto was packing his duffle bag into the back of his family's car.

"Are you sure you have to go, Mako-chan?" Nagisa whined lightheartedly from the side of the packed car. "I want to hang out with you more before the summer ends…"

"Sorry," Makoto smiled to the blond. "It's a family tradition. You remember how long we've done this, right?"

"But still….."

"Nagisa-kun, let him go," Rei smiled to Nagisa. "It's good to go out into nature. It's so beautiful!"

"Almost everything's beautiful to you, Rei-chan…"

"That's not true!" he protested. "My swimming that first week was…not beautiful." He blushed, as if being unbeautiful was the worth thing that ever happened to him. Makoto smiled warmly at the sight of his friends acting so normal. Even Haru was tempted to crack a smile, but he could tell that Makoto was still hiding something, even now.

As soon as Makoto opened the back seat of his car to sit down, Nagisa stomped the short distance between them and gave him a sudden hug. "Have a good trip, Mako-chan!" he said extremely cheerfully.

"Yes, have a good one!" Rei agreed.

Haru simply nodded his agreement.

"Thanks," Makoto smiled, giving Nagisa a pat on the head before he gently pushed him away. "I'll see you all in a week."

"Three days before school starts…That's not much time to hang out. When do you leave for Tokyo again?" Rei asked.

"Sunday," Haru filled in, finally speaking.

"HEH?!" Nagisa freaked out. "But that only gives us one day to hang out before you leave. MAKO-CHAAAAAAN."

Makoto sat down in the seat of his car, shutting the door but dangling an arm out the open window. His family was obviously ready to go and he was the only one holding them up. "We'll have plenty of time to hang out," he said with a weak smile. "I'm actually going to be around for a while. I withdrew my application from Tokyo." His father started the engine and started driving as soon as he was done talking. Three statues who were once humans stood completely still as the Tachibanas drove away and Makoto's secret lingered in the air.

*…*…*…*…*…*

It was late afternoon and Haru hadn't left his bedroom since he, Nagisa, and Rei came into his house two hours ago. None of them knew what to make of Makoto's secret. First of all, when had he officially withdrawn? His parents and siblings obviously knew about it, since he said it right in front of them. What reasons would Makoto give them to make his withdrawal okay?

"He will probably just get a part time job or something," Rei murmured. "But that doesn't make sense. Makoto-senpai is capable of so much more!"

"Agreed," Nagisa said seriously. "Haru-chan, are you sure that you don't know anything?"

What was he supposed to say? Oh yeah, I have all the answers because Makoto has been living with me for the past few days. I know everything that's wrong with him? Yeah right… As frustrated as he was with Makoto, he was more frustrated with himself. He thought that he was being more observant with Makoto—he thought that he saw his friend improving. But withdrawing his application from Tokyo definitely wasn't improving. "I don't know anything," he admitted quietly. After just one more moment of thought, his bright blue eyes widened. "No, that's not true…"

"Haru-chan?"

A few days ago—the day that he forced Makoto to stay over at his house, they went for their walk. He said a few times over that Makoto wouldn't have to worry about self defense or the bullies because he was going to Tokyo so soon. Haru thought that Makoto was just afraid of the attackers coming after him despite all that, but maybe it wasn't fear that kept him so quiet. "I think he might have done it four days ago, or at least, he was thinking about it."

"This was obviously triggered by the triathlon…" Rei reasoned. "He was so excited for Tokyo before that."

"So in other words, we need to figure out what changed," Nagisa filled in. "Haru-chan, are you sure that you don't-"

Haru stood up from his bed, angrily swatting a hand through the air. "I'm sure!" he snapped. I know that I'm supposed to know because he literally lived with me and because we've been best friends for so long, but I don't have a clue what's going on! It was so…frustrating. Enraging. Painful. Makoto knew him so well that he always knew exactly what Haru needed, but apparently it didn't work both ways. How well did he really know Makoto? Why couldn't he help him when it really mattered?

After a few moments, he realized that the room fell silent and the dark cloud of his pain stunned Nagisa and Rei. "Sorry," he said quietly, more composed.

"No, don't worry about it," Nagisa comforted. "We could always just go and ask Mako-chan."

"We can't interrupt his family's camping," Rei countered. "What if they're trying to convince him to go to Tokyo too? We aren't the only ones fighting for Makoto-senpai here."

"What if it is about the attack though? What if his parents don't know that's what's really bothering him and they can't really help him?"

"But is it really our place to tell them? It was obviously a very scarring situation for Makoto-senpai if he's acting this way."

"So what are you saying we should do? We should just—let him throw all of his potential away because he's upset?!" Nagisa cried loudly.

Just as Haru's pain silenced the room before, Nagisa's had the same affect. As the blond opened his mouth to apologize, Rei simply uttered his friend's name. "Nagisa-kun…"

"Sorry," he said then. "It's just that…this is so awful. I've never seen Mako-chan fall like this before. I don't…like it."

"Neither do we, Nagisa-kun…Believe me, I don't want to leave him alone in his suffering. I just wonder if he needs time to sort it out himself."

"There is no time," Haru finally said. "Tokyo is eight days away. Makoto needs to be on that plane and ready to go to university." The two of them were going to the same university in Tokyo, but they were in different programs. Even so, they were going to remain best friends and help each other. Rather, Makoto was going to help him. Haru didn't think about it, but he was going to depend on Makoto to keep him in line and keep him on track with the coursework he had to take. The thought of going to college without Makoto just felt…wrong. "We'll have to talk to him while he's on vacation. We'll go tomorrow after we prepare what to say."

"Good idea, Haruka-senpai."

For a while, they tried to figure out what to say, but in the end, all they had were more questions. What specifically triggered his withdrawal? When did it happen? Was it even possible for the university to accept him again? Nagisa had the idea to call the school and pretend to be a repentant Makoto, prepared and ready to go to college. They could get his reservation back in the system right away and then work on convincing Makoto to go. It seemed ludicrous and childish, but it seemed like their best plan.

While Nagisa and Rei began writing up a script, Haru reached for his cell phone. It had been charging since that morning, so it was ready to be used for the phone call. He turned it on, listened to the short tune, and then arrived at the home-screen. "One Voicemail Message."

Makoto? he thought. Maybe he called to clear things up. No, the message was from 3 days ago, from Rin. He pressed a button and raised the phone to his ear to hear the message.

"You have one new voicemail. Tuesday, 12:36 AM." The voice changed into that of the loud redhead. "Oy, Haru! You gotta get over here. Makoto's—" Click. "End of messages. To repeat this message, press…"

Haru flipped the phone closed. That phone call came Tuesday around midnight—three days ago. Something was obviously wrong with Makoto then, and Rin knew about it. He knew about him dropping out of Tokyo, didn't he? he thought painfully. Or he knew what triggered all of this. Either way, Rin elected to keep it a secret instead of following up with another phone call or trying to contact the others.

"Haru-chan? What's wrong?"

Haru's body trembled in fury and betrayal. He almost completely ignored Nagisa and Rei as he stomped towards the front door. "I'm going to kill Rin," he declared. He stepped into his sneakers and slammed the door behind him before he started in his sprint. There was plenty to think about on the run there—plenty of situations and possibilities to ponder, but he didn't humor any of them. His anger distracted him too much to humor those thoughts, which was a blessing in disguise.

By the time he reached the Matsouka household, Haru was covered in sweat. Sprinting during a heat-wave was enough to explain all that, but he knew that he was still furious. He banged on the front door loudly and waited for Rin to step out.

Fortunately for him, it was Rin, not his parents, who opened the front door. "Haru?" he asked, obviously shocked by his disheveled appearance. "What's wrong?"

Haru wordlessly held up the cell phone that he clung to during his whole run. Rin glanced at it and frowned. "You finally decided to check your phone, huh?"

"Tell me," Haru panted. "What was that call about?"

Rin only looked down to his sneakers. You've got to be kidding, Haru thought. He stepped forward, getting into Rin's personal space as if to intimidate him. "Tell me," he repeated.

"I can't," Rin frowned deeply. "I made a deal with Makoto that I wouldn't tell anyone, especially not you."

"Makoto's not here now," Haru said, his breathing becoming more regular as he caught his breath. "You need to tell me what happened. You sounded…" Frantic. Terrified. And all on Makoto's account. Why won't either of you tell me what's wrong!

"I know how I sounded," Rin said in aggravation. "I want to tell you, but I made a promise. I can't back out on it."

Haru, uncharacteristically aggressive, reached forward and grabbed Rin by the front of his shirt. But that was all that he did. What, was he going to knock his lights out? That wouldn't change the fact that he made a promise. At the same time though, he couldn't help it. Beating the crap out of Rin was the only solution that he saw to this problem.

"Onii-chan, what's wrong?" Gou said as she suddenly appeared in the doorway behind him. As soon as she saw the situation, her eyes widened exponentially. "Haruka-senpai?! What are you doing?"

Haru helplessly glanced at Gou. As if he wanted to beat Rin up right in front of her.

Rin came to the rescue by explaining the situation. "It's alright, Gou," he said calmly. "Haru's just upset that I can't tell him something. I made a promise that I'm deeply regretting making…"

"Did he tell you, Gou?" Haru asked as he kept his tight grip on Rin's shirt.

"No," she shook her head. "But maybe we can piece things together. Tell me everything."

Haru glanced at Rin one last time, considering everything. He may have gotten a hold of Rin a minute ago, but if he let go of him now, there was no way he would get this hold again. …It's not going to do any good to punch him, he reminded himself bitterly. He released Rin and explained all that he knew to Gou: The self-defense training incident, him taking Makoto into his home, and then how apparently Rin called him frantically the first night of Makoto's stay with him. "And earlier today, Makoto told us that he un-enrolled from Tokyo."

At that, both Gou and Rin stared at Haru in complete and utter shock. "What?" Rin whispered.

"You…didn't know," Haru quickly realized.

"Of course not!" he scoffed. "You think I would have kept that from you?"

"Well whatever you are hiding, it's a pretty big deal. It probably connects to him dropping out of Tokyo."

Rin stared off to the side in contemplation. "Onii-chan, you should tell us what's going on," Gou said soothingly.

"I can't," he frowned. "If his issue is serious enough to make him drop out of university, then it's definitely not much place to tell.

"Where is Makoto-senpai right now?" Gou asked then. "Why don't you just ask him, Haruka-senpai?"

He obviously wanted to keep this from me, Haru thought. He might not tell me even after I ask. Instead, he said: "He's on an annual camping trip with his family."

Rin's eyes widened drastically. "They still do that trip? In the same place they did when we were growing up?"

"Of course," Haru said, though his suspicions were rising. "Why is that a problem?"

Rin knew the area that they went camping in. When they were all closer friends, they would go on camping expeditions in that area. The woods were harmless enough, but the area had wide rivers that had to be crossed. "That changes everything," he decided with furrowed eyebrows. Now it was more than just a matter of his heart being in turmoil; with Makoto's life on the line, he had no choice but to be candid. "Gou, go get my backpack."

"Huh?" she asked. "But today's the day you're going to-"

"Like I said, this changes everything," he frowned. While Gou hesitantly turned around to grab the bag, Rin met Haru's piercing blue eyes. "Makoto's in trouble. I'll explain on the way there."

*…*…*...*…*…*

Author's Note: Oooo, drama! Stay tuned next week for more!