Saturday, July 13, 2013.

Secretly, Rei felt grateful to Makoto for kindly but firmly dismissing them for the night. Though he had never supposed himself so easily swayed into idle helplessness, as he and Nagisa fell into pace on either side of Kou, Rei was forced to conclude that he had abandoned all rationality in their desperate wait for Haruka's return. A responsible vice-captain would have assumed a more active role. He could have initiated a search, for instance, or considered the state and well-being of his teammates, but uncertainty and fear rendered him just as incapable of reason as everyone else – at least until Makoto decided to break their chains by asserting his authority as the eldest. Not the way senior students generally did, but rather like an older brother protective of those younger than himself… and sometimes, thought Rei, of those older than himself. Case in point: Nanase Haruka, who to Rei's knowledge was older than Makoto by four and a half months, or one-hundred and forty days, to be precise.

For his part, Rei gave little credit to Nagisa's assertions of there being tender feelings between the two, and often dismissed Nagisa as fancying greater attachment on Haruka's part, and more affinity in Makoto, than their character or relationship warranted. You have a wild imagination, Nagisa-kun, he told him several times in the hope of preventing mischief, and sparing his friends from needless harassment by their hopelessly romantic kouhai, who seemed to suspect love affairs between anyone and everyone, including Kou-san and Captain Mikoshiba, and more bafflingly, Amakata-sensei and Coach Sasabe. Forever a skeptic, Rei could see no more than a professional acquaintance in either case, so he did his best to ignore Nagisa's match-maker tendencies, and continued to view Makoto's repeated attempts to include and provide for Haruka as simply being his way: kind, obliging and mindful of others in general. It was just like Makoto to consider Kou's safety and the anxiety of their families when nobody else did. He knows his duty to others and takes care of them, just as an older brother should…

Rei thus did his best to honor Makoto's benign intervention by fulfilling the promise he made to him at Haruka's house. After Rei and Nagisa escorted Kou to her train, then waited on the platform until she left the station, they took the last train home and Rei walked Nagisa to his doorstep, glad he could at least be of some use to his friends.

"Well, here we are, Nagisa-kun," he said as they stopped by the front door. "Shall I text Makoto-san that you have arrived home, or will you do it once you are inside?"

"I'll do it," replied Nagisa, his foot scraping against the welcome mat. "But I would rather go and walk Rei-chan home instead. Who's going to watch out for you?"

"I shall, Nagisa-kun," came the ready reply. "Trust me when I say that I am perfectly capable of protecting myself. Now go ahead, your family must be waiting for you."

"I don't want to," mumbled Nagisa, his brow furrowed. Rei arched his brow with a smile.

"You placed third and second in your events, Nagisa-kun. I am certain your parents and sisters cannot wait to hear how well you did! I'm sure they will be proud of you!"

"You don't know them then," muttered Nagisa under his breath.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing…" sighed Nagisa.

"Well, good night then, Nagisa-kun," said Rei with a soft smile. He then proceeded to turn away, or at least he would have, had Nagisa not seized his arm to detain him.

"Rei-chan…" he said, drawing his hand back the moment the other stopped. Once his arm was free, Rei turned around to face him.

"Yes, Nagisa-kun?"

Nagisa took a deep breath.

"I gave Rei-chan a reward for placing first. Is there no reward for second and third place?"

Rei blinked, then colored and lifted a heavy hand to his glasses.

"It was a very unexpected reward…" he replied with an indignant huff, but Nagisa stared back at him obviously offended, puffing his cheeks like Rei had just trampled on his heart with the fury of an enraged elephant. Rei wavered under that glare, and after a moment's hesitation, his eyes darted left to right in search of passersby or spies.

Nobody in sight. Rei's features softened in relief.

"But, I suppose you deserve a consolation prize for not being able to attend the regional tournament with me."

Nagisa's cheeks deflated as air left him in a hopeful gasp. Rei rolled his eyes, but his expression remained perfectly tender as he leaned in, brushing a tuft of hair aside so he could press his lips to Nagisa's forehead.

"For third place…" he whispered, then dipped lower to place a chaste peck on Nagisa's cheek right under his eye. "…and second place." He then straightened and slapped his hands on his hips. "There, I believe this is a fair exchang— Nagisa-kun..?"

Within seconds of receiving his prizes, Nagisa turned the color of a boiled lobster from neck to forehead, his entire body quaking. Rei stared at him in confusion.

"Are you alright, Nagisa-kun..?"

"G-Good night, Rei-chan!" stammered Nagisa and the front door slammed shut in Rei's face, followed by a flurry of muted footsteps as Nagisa rushed off to his room.

"Honestly, Nagisa-kun…" muttered Rei with a shake of his head, turning away to head home. He took out his phone to text Makoto, just in case Nagisa might forget. The phone lit up and Rei let out a startled yelp. He missed several calls while riding on the train, some from his mother and one from his older brother. Rei's eyes widened.

I'll call you both soon, he thought as he composed a message to Makoto first.

We escorted Kou-san to her train, and I just walked Nagisa-kun to his front door. I shall text you again as soon as I am home, Makoto-san. R. R.


Ten minutes later, Rei sent his second message, now from the comfort and safety of his living room.

To: Tachibana Makoto

I arrived safely, Makoto-san. Thank you for your concern. Good night. R. R.

He then dialed his brother first, having not received a call from the elusive university student in some time and wondering, rightfully, if the matter was urgent.

The phone clicked. His brother's tone sounded frantic.

"Rei?!"

"Good evening, Onii-sama," replied Rei, his own tone calm and warm.

"Good evening to you too, Alice," came the half amused, half annoyed reply. "What rabbit hole did you fall into? Mom and dad have been worried sick, you know."

"Oh?" mumbled Rei, one hand pulling on the collar of his jacket.

"They even called me up hoping I would know where you were."

"Sorry.. I was going to come home earlier, but we had some unexpected difficulties…"

A pause. "Are you alright, Rei? Where are you?"

Rei's lips twitched into a smile.

"I'm fine and I'm at the apartment, so please don't worry about me. This was about Haruka-senpai."

"Nanase-kun, right? What happened?"

"He lost to Rin-senpai at the one-hundred meter freestyle, and I'm afraid it affected him deeply. He acted very aloof afterwards and eventually disappeared. We went to visit him after the tournament and waited for him to come back, but he didn't, so once it got very late, we all decided to go home."

"Damn. Well, at least you're okay, and I'm sure Nanase-kun will be fine. But come on, Rei, tell me how it went," came the excited reply. "How did my little brother do, huh?"

Rei instinctively straightened himself and pushed out his chest.

"Guess how I placed, Onii-sama," he replied, his voice almost a purr.

"Ooohhh, I know that voice. I can almost see that smug look on your face. You got into the top three, right?"

"Go on…" chirped Rei, his cheeks growing stiff from grinning.

"You placed… second?"

The careful answer, thought Rei as he suppressed his laughter.

"No need to be worried about my feelings, Onii-sama. I placed first! Twice!"

"Woah, oh-hoooo..!" cried his brother on the other end of the line, accentuated by a few booming claps of his hand. Rei suppressed a chuckle at the idea that his brother must have pinched the phone between his cheek and shoulder to free up his hands. "Now that is beautiful. Three cheers for Ryuugazaki Rei, my favorite brother in the world!"

Rei flushed a warm, happy pink.

"But I'm your only brother in the world, Onii-sama."

"You got me," replied his brother and a moment later, he and Rei tilted their heads back in synch and guffawed loudly for several seconds.

"But yeah, congratulations, Rei!" his brother continued once they stopped. "Sorry I couldn't come and watch you swim, this article deadline is killing me right now."

"Don't worry about it, Onii-sama," replied Rei in a sheepish tone. "I know how busy you are with your studies. Maybe you could come and see me at the regional tournament… I'm competing in the one-hundred and two-hundred meter butterfly. Kou-san also signed us up for the medley relay tomorrow, but since Haruka-senpai disappeared, I'm afraid we might have to forfeit."

"That sucks, Rei. But man, mom and dad will be so happy. Mom will make your favorite for a week straight," said his brother. "That is, if you call her soon, else you're just gonna get your ears chewed off."

"Yes, yes, I'll call her as soon as we are done," replied Rei.

"Then I'll hang up, I still have this article to pad anyway," offered his brother. "Good night and well done, little brother! You are really something."

Rei flushed deeper. "Thank you, Onii-sama! I promise I'm going to train hard for regionals, to make you and Mother and Father proud!"

"We're already proud of you, Rei," came the quiet reply, but before Rei could get flustered and say something embarrassingly affectionate, his brother hung up with a hurried Bye bye. Rei shook his head and wiped his eyes.

I love you, Onii-sama, he gushed silently as he dialed his mother next, thanking his lucky stars for the kind and caring older brothers of the world.