It was on Friday during the lunch break. Aiichiro and Aki had decided to show all of them the flowers in the botanic club room. Aki was a member of that club, so thanks to her, they could all enter without trouble.
"It's amazing," Rin said as they entered the room. "Do you have any flowers of your own?" he asked.
"The camellias over there," Aki pointed with a proud smile on her face.
She also really had something to be proud of. The camellias were doing well. They weren't blooming currently because it was out of their season but it was easy to tell that once their time come, they would bloom beautifully.
"You're really good with flowers, Yazaki-san," said Aiichiro.
"I'm not as good as some of the others…" Aki mumbled. She looked around and noticed that Haruka seemed a bit lonely. She smiled. "Nanase-kun, look here," she showed Haruka some flowers and started explaining to him about them, claiming that they reminded her of him.
Sousuke turned to Rin. "Hey Rin," he said. "I'm gonna go swim with elite swimmers tomorrow around noon and I was wondering if you'd like to come along, we could go have something to eat later, since it'll be late,"
Rin thought for a bit. He'd love to say yes. It was a great opportunity to improve his skills and then maybe he could have the chance of beating Haruka in a race someday. However, tomorrow was also their first day working at the swim club, and their membership depended on it. He had to work, plus, Makoto's childhood friend would be at home and he got just a few plans up his sleeve that he'd like to try out.
"Tomorrow is no good," Rin said as he looked out the window. "I'm all booked, maybe some other time,"
Sousuke nodded understandingly. "Okay," he said.
Aki turned around. She was done explaining to Haruka whatever she had started talking about now and led the way outside again.
The following day around three in the afternoon, Rin and Haruka stood outside the swim club, waiting for permission to enter. It felt like they had to, since they came alone for the very first time here. Sousuke and the others had been with them all week, however the club was closed on Saturdays unless an event was happening.
"Do you think he'll show up?" Rin asked as he eyed Haruka.
Haruka didn't know, and didn't answer. There was no point.
Just then Sasabe turned the corner and waved at the boys. "I'm glad to see you made it," he said. He then instructed them on what to do and allowed them to enter.
"Thanks," Rin said as he led the way into the pool area.
"Oh yeah, I forgot the most important rule," Sasabe called after them. "No swimming in the pool on Saturdays,"
"We'll keep that in mind!" Rin called back.
Haruka looked down. He felt slightly upset. He had only pulled on his swimsuit on instead of underwear because he hoped to be able to swim just a little bit today, so much for the trouble…
Both boys cleaned, gathered garbage and cleaned some more everywhere they could. After speaking to another cleaning worker they got the instructions to take the boys changing room, and have that cleaned up.
The boys entered and agreed on sharing the amount of work evenly between them. It also went fine, if it weren't for the fact that Rin was done a lot faster than Haruka for the one reason that Haruka was much better at cleaning things up properly. He ended up also cleaning Rin's part of the changing room while instructing him in how to do better.
"You really are good at anything you do…" Rin said as Haruka stood up after finishing Rin's part of the changing room.
"Not really," was the respond.
If it had been anyone else saying those words, Rin would have yelled at them to make them learn how to accept a compliment, but because it was Haruka, and 'not really' was just as good as a 'thank you' from anyone else, he didn't bother.
"Should we head home?" Rin asked.
Haruka nodded and followed Rin outside. They said goodbye to Sasabe – or rather, Rin did – before they left.
The walk home was silent. Rin was a bit too exhausted to talk for the time being and Haruka just didn't care about the silence. To him it didn't matter if someone spoke or were silent as long as they didn't expect for him to say too much.
When they entered the apartment, Rei was throwing a fit over Nagisa, because the younger was making a mess of the chocolate brownies he attempted to bake, in the kitchen that Rei had just cleaned up about half an hour ago.
"I know you just turned 14, Nagisa, but won't you at least TRY to act your age?" Rei practically yelled as the twins entered the kitchen.
Rin and Haruka made a quick exchange of looks before Rin went and pushed the angry and annoyed Rei out of the kitchen while Haruka took over with the baking. Nagisa watched in amazement, while doing his best not to get in Haruka's way. The only one he would ever really cause trouble for, was Rei after all.
While the brownies were baking, Haruka got started on the rest of the dinner. It was all something that Makoto had requested him to make. Most likely that was because it was something his childhood friend liked.
Somewhere along the line Rei came back out and cleaned up the kitchen from Nagisa's mess. Haruka was amazed at how much responsibility Rei took over the youngest. He would never do it himself though.
At around 6:30 the door opened and two people came in, speaking happily to each other. One of them was Makoto. Haruka could recognize his voice almost anywhere by now. The other was most likely his friend, Kisumi.
"Kisu-chan!" Nagisa cried out of joy before he went and most likely hugged the life out of the stranger in the hallway. Haruka couldn't check. The nearly done food required all his attention.
"You sure have grown, Nagisa," said the stranger as Rei went to say hello as well. "And you two, Rei, I can't believe it has been so long," the stranger continued.
Rin entered the kitchen and started laying the table for six people.
"Mako-chan, where are those two new ones?" asked Kisumi.
"Rin, Haru," Makoto called. "Come out say hello,"
"We're busy," Rin said. "I'm afraid if Haru leaves the food now, it'll burn,"
"It's alright, Mako-chan," Kisumi said. "I'll just come out there," he peaked his head into the kitchen and smiled at the boys in there. "Hi, I'm Shigino Kisumi," he said. "I'm Makoto's childhood friend," he continued.
"Matsuoka Rin," said Rin. "That's my twin, Nanase Haruka," he presented. "It's nice to meet you," he lied.
Haruka turned for a brief second and nodded at Kisumi. "Nice to meet you…" he mumbled before turning back to the food again, giving it his full attention.
"It's nice to meet you too," Kisumi smiled at them both before exiting the kitchen to go talk to Makoto, Nagisa and Rei, and catch up with them.
Don't worry! I'm not just gonna skip out on this little visit. It's going to be so eventful. However, the update won't be up until Friday at best, so sorry if you guys will have to wait for a bit. The timing's bad though. I know that. But looking on the bright side, now you have something to look forward ti.
Anyways, thanks to both Flowering Lotus and kayamegumi for the reviews. It's great motivation!
Jackie