It was in the middle of October. Time had passed quickly the past three and a half month. At least that was what it seemed to Haruka. So much had changed ever since they got to Tokyo. The memories of their simple life in Iwatobi seemed so distant to him now.
It was in the middle of the exam period. It was Tuesday night, and again Rin was staying out. He had been doing that a lot lately.
It had been ever since they started school in August and Rin saw Sousuke more and more in his spare time. Whenever he was home, he and Haruka would barely exchange a word unless they were arguing. Normally this won't matter to Haruka, but somehow it felt wrong. He found that he actually minded, and found that he was extremely upset all the time.
Makoto was working late tonight so, since Haruka didn't feel like cooking, he had ordered pizza for the night. Rin would've pleased the idea, if he'd been there.
Now they had finished eating and Nagisa and Rei were doing things Haruka couldn't care less about, while Haruka himself, had turned on the shower and sat under it, curled up like a ball. It was almost like sitting in cold rain.
He sat like this because he had lost his and Rin's memberships of the swim club just this weekend. This was more than just a little disturbing to him.
There was a knock on the door and Nagisa peaked into the bathroom.
"Haru-chan?" he asked. He could hear the water running but he couldn't see Haruka in the shower because he was hidden behind a wall. Yet he knew Haruka was in there, there had been no one else in the bathroom ever since dinner and Haruka hadn't even left.
Haruka didn't do anything to respond as Nagisa entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He went and turned off the water, and Haruka still didn't react. He didn't even move when Nagisa wrapped a towel around his shoulders and sat next to him, not caring that his pants would get soaking wet from all the water on the floor.
"Mako-chan would be worried if he was here," Nagisa said.
Haruka said nothing to this statement. He knew that Nagisa was right. If Makoto had been home, he would've entered the bathroom a long time ago. Rin would've done the same… or would he? He would if it had been back at Iwatobi, but back at Iwatobi, things like these won't happen because there was no Sousuke, and no Kisumi either.
"Haru-chan, why are you crying!" Nagisa exclaimed surprised. He sat up straight to look at Haruka's face to see if it really was tears, or just water running from his hair.
Haruka lifted a hand to his eyes. It really did feel like tears. He was surprised. He never cried. Not when he slipped and fell as a child, that one and only time, or when they graduated from elementary school, or when they left Iwatobi just this summer. Not even the time when he was bullied for being a water freak did he cry. He'd just ignore them.
"I'm not crying," Haruka denied.
"Did someone hurt you? Tell Rin-chan who and he'll do as he did last time!" Nagisa exclaimed.
Haruka held back a hiss at that. He wasn't proud of that time back then when Rin had interfered, even if it did make the bullying stop, he wasn't proud of his brother handling the things for him.
It wasn't the first time Haruka was picked on by others. They would find all sorts of reasons for doing it. In the first and second grade it had been because his name was girly. Rin had been teased about that too, but it died down the first time Rin lost his temper and started yelling at them. Then the students showed both him and Haruka respect. Rin even managed to maintain the respect people showed him after they transferred school, to the same as Rei and Nagisa. That school was much closer to Makoto's place. It was called Iwatobi elementary.
It had been almost two years since then. Rin and Haruka were now in the fifth grade. Haruka had been picked on about many things by their classmates from the day he and Rin transferred into the class.
"Look there's the freak," one would whisper to his friends and they'd all start giggling.
The bullying was never obvious like it had been in the first grade. There was no more name calling or loud laughing or arguments. Now it was whispers and mean pranks pulled from the shadows.
Little by little things had taken a turn for the worse. The kids had gone from stealing papers and hiding pencils to pushing Haruka in the water at the swimming class and pretend that he just slipped.
Haruka didn't care. He enjoyed being in the water, and so what if he was pushed in? The water liked him. It would never hurt him.
But Rin seemed to take notice of the mean pranks that would slowly get meaner. He would ask Haruka every now and then if there was something he wanted to talk about and Haruka would always deny it.
"You don't ever tell me anything!" Rin would yell then and that would be when they started arguing.
This day they'd pulled the worst prank of all. Haruka's bag had gone missing and he had walked around, looking for it. It had been a gift from Makoto. He had given a schoolbag to each of the twins the day before they transferred into their new school, and now it had gone missing.
Haruka ended up finding it in the pool, everything was either flouting or had sunken to the bottom.
Haruka stared at the scene for a few seconds before stripping down to his swimsuit and jumping into the pool. He had no other option but to gather everything down there. Looing on the bright side, it was summer, so the water was warm enough that he won't get sick.
Haruka had just managed to pick up everything and was about to climb out of the pool when a boy kicked his bag as it fell down in the pool again. Another pushed Haruka away from the poolside as he fell back into the water and swallowed a mouthful of it. He surfaced, and gasped for air while coughing trying to get the water out of his lungs.
"Look, he likes water so much he'd even drown for it," one of the boys grinned. The others laughed.
"Don't touch him anymore," another said. "He'll infect you with his weirdness,"
Haruka ignored them and went to gather his things again. They had fallen out of the bag once more when it had been thrown back into the pool.
"Would you cut all of that out!" Everyone turned their heads to see Rin standing in the entrance to the pool area. He looked like he was boiling with anger.
"Matsuoka-kun?" The boys stopped and stared at Rin. It was obvious they never intended for him to find out about all this. Haruka hadn't wanted that either for that matter.
"I'm not blind and I'm not stupid," Rin said. "You've been picking on Haru ever since we got here two years ago," he said. His fists were tightened up and his eyes were burning with rage. It was the first time Haruka ever saw him like that.
"No we didn't…" One of the boys tried to deny it. "We just happened to pass by here,"
Rin shook his head. "If I ever suspect you are bullying Haru again, it'll be your bags floating in the school pool," he said.
The boys nodded and then left.
Rin had helped Haruka up and they walked home together, just like in those stories Makoto would read aloud to Nagisa at night. However Haruka wasn't proud of being saved like that. In fact, if it were up to him, Rin would never need to save him like that ever again. It had made him feel weak.
"Tell Rin-chan if someone hurt you," Nagisa repeated.
Haruka sighed. There were exactly two reasons why he couldn't do just that. The first one was that he didn't want to be protected by Rin again. The second one was that he wasn't sure how Rin would react if he found out he was the one who hurt Haruka. Then again, it wasn't even said for sure if Rin even cared.
"No one hurt me," Haruka lied.
Nagisa shook his head but said nothing else for a little while. He was clearly thinking about what else he could say to help Haruka stop crying.
"You know what I do whenever I'm upset Haru-chan?" asked Nagisa. Haruka wondered how Nagisa would even know what he did when he was upset. That thing seemed to be impossible. "Usually I go and eat something with strawberry flavor," Nagisa said.
"How does that help?" Haruka asked.
"It's not the strawberry flavor in particular… what I wanna say it that it helps to eat something you like," Nagisa said.
Haruka nodded. Then he got up and got dressed. Maybe Nagisa's advice would help. He went to the kitchen and took out one of the mackerels for tomorrow and started grilling it. There was nothing Haruka liked better than mackerel, and that was why he used this to prove if Nagisa was right about this little theory. It won't matter if Makoto got home and got angry because Haruka didn't make the mackerel on a water-day. He knew he'd be forgiven within a day anyway.
In addition to this last statement I would like to say that eating something you like actually does work. About a year and a half ago I was really feeling down, so I ate lots of chocolate and strawberries and it actually worked.
I hope you enjoyed this. I personally enjoyed writing that little flashback. I felt like I had to explain a little further about how Rin's and Haru's relationship was after they moved in with Makoto and the others. I hope I've made it clear enough when the flashback starts and when it stops. I think words such as Flashback at the beginning of one kinda ruins the flow, but it is pretty informative to the reader nonetheless.
Jackie