Tired from a long, exhausting day, Nagisa went to bed early. Makoto was updating the calendar when the young boy came to say goodnight.
"Goodnight, Mako-chan," the boy said.
"Goodnight, Nagisa," Makoto answered and looked up from his work to send Nagisa a brief smile. However, as his eyes met Nagisa's, a feeling of unease rose in his chest and he felt the smile turn into a puzzled look.
"Something wrong, Mako-chan?" Nagisa asked, catching on to the change of expressions.
"No," Makoto got his smile back in place. "Sleep well, Nagisa," he said kindly to throw the boy off. He didn't want any of them to worry about him and his train of thoughts. He would have forgotten about this soon anyway.
Nagisa went off to bed and Makoto turned back to his calendar writing, as he suspected, he had already forgotten everything about that weird feeling from a few minutes ago.
After finishing the update of the calendar, Makoto walked into the living room where Kisumi was sitting and watching TV. The sound was off, and it was understandable. What was on the screen was some kind of reality show which usually had way too much useless contents for Kisumi's liking. Normally Makoto wouldn't remove the sound but in truth, he wasn't much into such things. None of them really were.
"What were you doing?" Kisumi asked
"Updating our calendar," Makoto said.
"What did you add?" Kisumi asked. It did happen that Makoto would have to add a few things to that calendar and therefore sat and 'updated' it.
"Publish day of that magazine and the day of Rin's and Haru's trip to Australia," Makoto said.
"Any more information on that trip?" Kisumi asked out of curiosity. "Are all their needs covered? Do we have to pay anything?"
Makoto shook his head. "The coach takes care of all of it. Their stay, their tickets, everything. All we have to do is make sure they get to the airport. I might not have the time, so in case I don't, do you have the time to see them off?" Makoto asked.
"What's the date?" Kisumi opened his phone to check his own calendar.
"Sunday before Golden Week," Makoto answered.
"If I have to, I can go," Kisumi said. "But why won't you have the time?"
"Yamada-san's baby can almost come any day at that time and therefore the hospital will be really busy because we'll be short on staff," Makoto explained.
Kisumi nodded. "I see,"
The two men sat in silence as Rin and Haruka looked into the room. Rin said goodnight, Haruka just waved once Makoto looked.
"Goodnight," Makoto smiled.
"Sweet dreams," Kisumi said in a teasing tone.
"Yeah, yeah," Rin said before he and Haruka walked off to their bedroom. It was common for the two of them to go to bed around the same time, even after Makoto had removed their curfews when he understood that they were old enough to decide for themselves (at about the age of 16) they had still continued to go to bed in the same time.
Shortly after Rin and Haruka had gone to bed the news went on. There was still no sound on the TV so Makoto didn't notice until his eyes randomly landed on the TV screen.
'Dangerous serial killer is…' Makoto didn't manage to read further on the screen because Kisumi turned off the TV.
"It's getting a bit late," he said. "I should go to bed,"
Makoto nodded. "You're right," he said. He could then feel a yawn trying to force its way through, but he fought it back. Kisumi laughed.
"If you want, you can go first," he said.
Makoto shook his head. "Nah, it's all good. I need to read up on something before I go to bed anyway," Makoto answered.
Kisumi sighed. "Makoto, you really should go to bed," he said. "You're obviously tired,"
"Don't worry, it won't take long," Makoto said with a soft smile.
"If you say so," Kisumi said before going to bed as well.
Makoto found the book he needed to read and quickly finished reading the small piece. It was nothing to worry about, barely even a page, and he was done within a matter of minutes. He stayed with the book until he was sure Kisumi was done preparing for bed. Then he closed the book, put it back in place and went down the hallway to Rei's and Nagisa's room. He opened the door, careful not to awake Nagisa, and looked into the room where Rei was sitting with his laptop.
"You've been on your laptop a lot lately," Makoto said as he entered the room.
Rei looked up and placed the lap top next to him as he could have his focus fully on Makoto. "I'm working on something important," he said.
"Something for school?" Makoto asked.
"A research project," Rei explained further while fixing his glasses.
"What's it about?" Makoto asked.
"Genetics," Rei said. "The main question is if the risk of certain diseases can come through your genetics,"
Makoto nodded. "That sounds interesting," he said. Then he caught a glimpse of Rei's screen and kept on staring for a bit. "I don't imagine that has anything to do with your studies," he said
Rei sighed and looked at the screen as well. "No," he answered. There was no point in hiding it, although he had hoped that Makoto wouldn't have looked at his screen and noticed it.
"Why?" Makoto asked.
"Our economy is gonna be tight as of when Kisumi-san loses his job as model. I feel uneasy. I fear that we could risk facing a similar situation as three years ago," Rei explained. "I don't want that, so maybe it would lighten the load for everyone if I did this,"
"Are you sure about that?" Makoto turned to look at Rei. "I will do my very best for that not to happen. Same goes for Kisumi. I'm sure there won't be any need for such extreme actions,"
Rei didn't look at Makoto. He continued to look at the screen. "I know," he said. "But I'd rather be safe than sorry, and besides, I have already planned things out with one of my senpais at the university. He will pay most of our bills if I just find the cheapest place possible. You don't need to fight to keep me here. I'm 20 years old now. I have to move out eventually,"
Makoto nodded. "I am not trying to stop you, not more than any other parent would when his first child is planning something big like this, I'm just asking you to consider the situation,"
"What is there to consider?" Rei asked.
"How do you think the others will take it?"
Makoto's words forced Rei to look directly at him as he thought. "Rin and Haruka will get over it, I'm sure. Nagisa…" Rei trailed off, trying to think of what the youngest boy's reaction would be. "He might be able to get over it as well," he determined at last, though none of them were really sure if this was true or not. Both of them eyed Nagisa as Rei spoke again. "I should go to bed," he said.
"I should too," Makoto said.
Both of them got off the bed and headed out of the room. Makoto was last to leave the room and just before closing the door he eyed the blonde boy, who's head was hidden under the cover.
"Sleep well, Nagisa," he whispered before closing the door firmly behind him.
As Rei and Makoto walked around, preparing to go to bed, Nagisa turned on the bed. His eyes were wide open and he looked over to Rei's empty bed and the laptop. He sat up and took a look at the screen. The cheerfulness that would usually be found in his eyes was nowhere to be found.
With a saddened look he laid back down and covered his head with the cover once again, careful not to reveal that he had been wide awake this whole time.
It is with full intention that what Rei is really doing in the final scene is not mentioned. If you want to, try and guess what he is up to. I'd like to hear your thoughts.