Chapter Ten: Flee

Once more, Haru had absolutely no clue what Makoto was thinking. He should have been better at reading his best friend than this. Rin had to tell him what to do back at that café; he was the one who told him to follow Makoto when he walked out, and then he was the one who told him to drive him home. What would he have done if Rin hadn't said any of that? Would he have been able to figure out what Makoto needed?

Or, the more important question: Now that Rin wasn't with him, could he figure out what to do?

The two of them entered the desolate Tachibana home. Makoto headed right back to his bedroom. He won't lock himself away again, will he? If he did, Haru wasn't sure what he would do to get him out this time, especially with Tokyo in the close future. He considered whether he should put his dream on hold for his friend, but he knew that would result in equally bad consequences. Makoto would feel bad for holding him back and his depression would worsen.

Haru watched as Makoto pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "Hold this for me," he finally said to Haru. It took him a few seconds to recognize what Makoto said and wanted, but he did hold it. It was vibrating and flashing with warning: Makoto's mother was trying to get a hold of him. Whether it was right or not, Haru simply turned off the cell phone and tossed it to the side.

"…What are you going to do, Makoto?" he asked as his friend sat on the edge of his bed.

"…I don't know," Makoto said softly. "I know what I should do. I should answer my mother's phone calls and tell her that I forgive her. I should drive my parents' car back to them so that they're not stranded at the campsite. But I'm not going to do either. I'm going to be a terrible son…" He lifted a hand, wiping at his eyes. "That's awful, isn't it? I'm not being kind or forgiving. I'm not being what I've always been. Maybe…maybe this situation really has broken me for good."

"You have a right to be angry," Haru asserted. "Your mother…Did your father know?"

"Mm," he nodded. "He knew from the start, and he never told me either. Right now, I can't forgive either of them. And do you know what else?"

"No…" I don't know anything anymore. "What?"

"Akihiro…I think I might hate him. I've never hated anyone before, but he was so angry at me for such a stupid reason. I can't control what my mother did, but he blames me for everything."

"It's okay to hate him."

"But it's not," Makoto disagreed. "Hating him won't do me any good. He hated me and do you see what that did to him? It made him so bitter…so cold. I don't…want to turn into anything like that."

Haru knelt down in front of the bed, trying to look Makoto in the eye. Instead, the brunet looked down at his lap. "I never told you the other day…what I'm afraid of." Surely, even in the midst of all this, Makoto remembered the conversation. Everyone said what they were afraid of, but Haru didn't.

Like the good person he was, Makoto humored the seemingly different topic. "What are you afraid of, Haru?"

"In the midst of everything, I was afraid that you would turn into somebody different."

Makoto blinked, briefly glancing at his best friend. "Oh…" he said quietly. "So this is making your fear come true. Sorry…"

"That's what you're wrong about."

"Huh?"

"Even in the midst of all this pain, you're not giving in to your urge to hate or your urge to be unkind. You're still being Makoto."

"I'm not," he disagreed. "I'm so full of negative emotions. Hatred, anger, sadness, fear…I don't feel anything good at all anymore. Once all these things are gone, I think that I'll just be empty."

"You won't be," Haru argued right back, though his tone wasn't angry. He was arguing for his best friend and a chance to bring him back to the surface. "You know that I've been in your shoes before. I've been betrayed by the people I love." It was no secret that Haru and his parents had plenty of issues, and that was part of the reason he lived alone in Iwatobi. That also influenced his decision to go to Tokyo with Makoto. Makoto was his best friend—the closest thing to family he had. He wasn't going to let him just slip away. "There is hope after all of this ends."

"When will it end?" Makoto asked softly. "A year? Five years? I can't endure this that long."

"You don't have to. We're here with you. Always. We'll bear the pain with you."

Makoto finally looked up and met Haru's eyes. He thought that he saw something in Makoto's eyes—a brief glimmer of hope among all the grief and distress. "Will you let us bear the pain with you?"

"What?"

"You're too determined to help other people. Sometimes, you don't let us help you. Will you let us help you this time?"

Makoto stared at him in what seemed to be amazement, as if the words provided some type of revelation. "I will," he said quietly. "But first…there's something that I have to do to help myself." When Makoto moved to stand up, Haru moved out of his way. He was happy enough with Makoto's promise to let them help him that Haru didn't bother asking about what he had to do. But when he saw Makoto grab a suitcase out of his closet and began to pack his clothes, Haru became afraid.

"What are you doing?" Haru asked after the suitcase was half-full.

"I'm going to Tokyo," Makoto declared. "I'm going to re-enroll in the university and go to college. I'm moving myself away from my parents for now."

But isn't that running away? Haru wanted to challenge. He kept his mouth shut, because he knew he didn't have a right to tell Makoto not to run away. Haru was as good at running away from his problems as he was at swimming. Even so, that didn't change the situation and what he had to say. "…That's not a good idea," he said quietly.

"I know…but I'm doing it anyway."

Haru stared at Makoto in silence. This was completely unlike Makoto—he realized something was a bad idea but he was throwing caution to the wind to do it. He was normally so much more sensible than this. Was this a permanent change, or was this just shock to the news of his mother's affair? "The flight to Tokyo doesn't leave for another week…You'll need to see your family before then."

"No," he disagreed. "I'm going to call the airport and see if I can get an earlier ticket. The dorms in Tokyo are open tomorrow anyway."

"I'll come with you," he instantly said. He wasn't going to leave Makoto alone in this, not for a moment.

"Thanks," Makoto said with the faintest of smiles. However, it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. "I need to make some calls to sort this all out. If you're coming early, you should pack up your things too."

Obviously Makoto was trying to get rid of him. What was he supposed to do—give in and leave him alone? "…Let's figure out when the earliest flight leaves," he said slowly. "Then I can worry about packing."

Makoto glanced at him briefly and then nodded. "Alright. Give me a few minutes. …I'll need my cell phone back."

"Oh, right." Haru stepped over to the side and picked the phone off the ground. He turned it back on, and after it came to life, he saw four missed calls from Mrs. Tachibana with four voicemails as well. He closed out of the window and then tossed the phone to his best friend.

As Makoto made his calls, Haru only listened for the details relevant to him. The first call was to the university to reenroll. That was an easy one; apparently future students chickened out and then changed their minds pretty often. His enrollment was still registered and his room reserved. When Makoto got on the phone with the airline, he spoke of his ticket. His parents hadn't sold the ticket because they hoped Makoto would go to Tokyo even after he adamantly changed his mind. Haru doubted they wanted him to go now, not under these terms.

There were two seats available the very next morning. Makoto accepted the tickets, thanked the person on the other side of the phone, and hung up. "Tomorrow morning," he repeated quietly into the air.

"Your family may come back to the house between now and thene," Haru filled in.

"I'll need a place to hide until Tokyo."

"My house."

"No," he disagreed. "That's the first place my parents would look. And Rei and Nagisa's parents would never let me run away from home…"

"Rin?"

"Australia tonight," he reminded him. "It wouldn't be appropriate to stay with Gou…I wonder if I could ask…" Makoto briefly glanced at Haru, tentatively meeting his gaze. "Kisumi."

It was no secret how Haru felt about Kisumi Shiginio. He was loud, obnoxious, and had no filter. None of that was good for Makoto with where he was. What if Kisumi said something stupid and hurt him worse?

"I know what you're thinking," Makoto said. "But I think it's my only option. He's not a bad guy, really…"

"If that's what you need to do," Haru said with a slight shrug. He saw that Makoto was going to open his mouth to apologize or something, so he cut him off. "You should keep packing and get over there. There's no telling when your parents plan on coming home now."

A glimmer of fear streaked across Makoto's eyes. "You're right. Are you going to pack too?"

"Yeah," Haru nodded. "Come see me when you're ready to go. I still have your car keys." In other words, no going alone.

"Okay…Haru. Thanks. And sorry."

Haru stared at Makoto. He had a feeling that in the next few days, he would be hearing that a lot. He wasn't content to hear either of those sentiments. "You have nothing to be sorry for," he said, intentionally locking his gaze with Makoto as he spoke. "…And don't thank me. I haven't been able to help you at all."

The clothes that Makoto was about to pack into his suitcase simply fell. "Haru, what are you talking about?" he asked quietly, more gently. "You've done plenty to help me. You know I don't like to talk about it, but that night…" Makoto straightened, shutting his eyes as he took in a breath to calm himself down. His shoulders stiffened instead of relaxing, but the brunet kept talking anyway. "I heard everything that was happening. And I couldn't stop it even though I saw how it was hurting everyone, but you all came together and comforted me. When I was dug out of the sand…Sorry I couldn't grab your hand."

"That's…" Haru shook his head, glancing off to the side. He mumbled his next sentiment, unsure of what else to say. "Next time," he declared, "I'll have my hand extended again and you can take it."

Makoto smiled faintly. "I appreciate that."

Haru took it another step. "You'll be back in the pool again, someday soon. You can take my hand then."

Even though Makoto surely didn't have plans of swimming anytime soon, he humored Haru. "Thanks." Makoto, knowing Haru well, knew that he was supposed to look away now. Haru didn't like making emotional sentiments, especially with eye-contact. "You know, it's things like this that I'm thankful for. Just knowing you're there and waiting for me to get through this is more than enough for me."

If it was possible to hear a blush, that was what Makoto heard in Haru's voice. "It's nothing…"

Makoto smiled to himself and packed. There wasn't anything else to say, so Haru just sat in the corner for a few hours. He kept looking out the window to make sure that none of the Tachibanas were approaching in taxi or on mountain bike. By the time Makoto finished packing, it was after supper. Haru took him to Kisumi's, where he was eagerly greeted and overwhelmed with Kisumi's friendship. As Makoto took his luggage inside, Haru pulled Kisumi aside and gave him a warning.

"Don't ask him why he's here," he warned. "Don't ask him about his family, or swimming, or college." In fact, don't say anything to him at all, he wanted to add. But even Haru had limits on how rude he could be to people he didn't like.

"I got it, I got it," Kisumi said with his ever present smile. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of him."

After that reassurance, Haru said goodbye and promised to pick Makoto up for the airport in the morning. He would never know how that night went; he only knew that later that night, as he was packing his own luggage, there was a knocking at his front door.

Donned in sweatpants and a T-shirt, Haru opened the front door and was faced with his worst nightmare: the emotional Mrs. Tachibana. She was still dressed in clothes fit for camping, and although she obviously took a taxi to reach his home, she hadn't tried to mask the tears she shed.

"Haruka," she greeted with sorrow. "Where is Makoto?"

"He…doesn't want to be seen right now," Haru said cautiously.

"I know, but I have to see him. I have to tell him everything in person. Please, Haruka, let me see my son." She started stepping inside, reaching a hand to place on his shoulder and move him out of the way.

"He's not here," he interrupted while she was in mid reach. She blinked, obviously surprised and doubting him.

"He's not?" she checked. "Then where is he?" Haru didn't give any response. "Please…"

"He doesn't want to be found," he repeated.

"I know, but still…"

"I won't tell you where he is," he declared. At that moment, Mrs. Tachibana's anguish turned to rage.

"You have no right to keep me from my son," she said, voice trembling in anger. "He's my Makoto and he's hurting because of me. I'm the only person who can take away that hurt. You think that you're helping him, but you're wrong. You're only hurting him by keeping me away, Haruka."

Silence was her response.

"Haruka, I swear, if you don't tell me where he is right now, I'm going to call the police and have them ask you the questions. Would that make you more talkative?"

Nothing.

"Haruka! I have to speak to him. I have to tell him the truth."

"You had eighteen years to tell him the truth," Haru finally said in a quiet voice. "Makoto heard it from someone else. He doesn't need to hear it again."

"I need a chance to earn his forgiveness," she said, pleading tearfully again since her rage didn't work to convince him. "I need to help him."

Haru was so frustrated with her that for once in his life, he was going to speak boldly against her. "Is that really what he needs, or is this more about you?"

"W-what?" the mother whimpered.

"It keeps coming back to you," he said. "Things that you need to do and say. You keep saying that it's for his sake, but I don't think that's it. If you really knew what Makoto needed, you would leave him alone."

Even in the darkness of night, Haru could see Mrs. Tachibana's face turning red from anger. "Excuse m-"

"Goodnight, Mrs. Tachibana," Haru said. He shut the front door and stepped away. He could hear Mrs. Tachibana's sorrowful and anger-filled comments coming through the woodwork, including threats to call the police.

Haru simply sat down on the other side of the door and listened to it all, pondering whether he was doing the right thing or not. He was Makoto's best friend; But Makoto's mother was family. He knew about sour relationships with family, but even so, he held family relationships in high regard. He didn't want to have a hand in further destroying the fragile relationship between Makoto and his mother. At the same time, however, he knew that Makoto made a choice, and he decided a long time ago to stand behind whatever choices Makoto made.

After a while, Mrs. Tachibana disappeared. By the morning's dawning, the police never stormed his house. He grabbed his luggage, saw that Mrs. Tachibana left and took her family's car, and joined Makoto at Kisumi's house. He didn't tell him anything about his mother's visit or her desperate crying. Instead, they grabbed a taxi and flew to Tokyo together.

*…*…*…*…*…*

Author's Note: Poor Makoto, he's had it rough lately. Let's hope that going to Tokyo is the right choice.

A brief notes on updating: Sorry I missed the post date, again. Life is insanely busy. To be honest, I predict I'll be late on the remaining chapters; I just don't have the time to write and revise them right now. But I can assure you that this story will be completed, and soonish, considering I had 13 episodes planned and it's all outlined.

Peanut out.

PS-Thanks for the reviews!