The roof of Sakura High was completely deserted. Rin was very grateful for this fact. The less who heard their conversation the better. Aki had started to calm down somewhere behind him and her usual smile were back in place.

They sat as far away from the door to the roof as possible, to ensure no one overheard their conversation by accident. Everyone prepared to eat their lunches before Rin spoke.

"Yazaki-san," he started while eying the girl. "You asked about Haru and where he were,"

Aki nodded. "You want to tell us?"

"That's why we went here," Rin got some rice between his chopsticks and moved them up to his mouth. "Please don't interrupt, I haven't had to tell the full story yet and it might be difficult to find the right words," he excused himself.

Aki and Aiichirou both nodded at this and prepared themselves to just listen to what Rin had to say.

"So… This Friday, Haru and Nanami – a girl from third grade – were walking to her place. We were just asked to walk her there but I had to go for a run with Sousuke and sent those two off on their own," Rin said. "So I went running with Sousuke and we parted ways when we were done. I went home, so did he. As I reached home, Haru had yet to return, even though he should have been back by then, but then I got a call from Sousuke who said Haru had been kidnapped,"

By this Aki looked like she wanted to speak and Rin looked to her, asking her, with his eyes, what she wanted to say.

"Sorry for interrupting, but how did Yamasaki-kun know of this?" Aki asked.

"I found Nanami on the way home," Sousuke answered. "Her hands taped on her back and her mouth shut. I freed her and she told me what had happened," he answered. "I called Rin right after,"

Aki nodded. "Then… it must really be real…" she said.

"It is," Rin said. "Since Saturday morning I've been receiving a constant stream of messages from Haru's number. They are daring me to ask for where they are and in the same time, telling me not to go to the police with this. I've also had strange dreams since then…" he trailed off at the last part, not being sure of how relevant it was. It was just dreams after all.

"Dreams?" Aki asked. "What about?"

Rin hesitated. "There are two different ones. I dream of both at least once every night," he said. "The first one is more like a memory about how I ran through Shinjuku in search for Haru and found him, but unlike how it ended in reality, he was dead in my dream, I usually wake up immediately after that," Rin explained.

"What about the other?" It was now Sousuke asking. He had never heard of these dreams before, only the messages, which Rin had talked to him about this morning.

"It is much less accurate," Rin answered. "I see a mixture of colors, all sorts of colors, red, blue, black, green, yellow, and everything in between. Meanwhile, I hear the sound of my mother's voice as she tells me and Haru something that happened long ago, while we were still only babies, before we were placed in the orphanage,"

"What was that story about?" Aki asked curiously. She had never heard of this before, honestly, Rin and Haruka hardly ever talked about their past, not even after they had got to know their biological family. Aki had just figured it was because nothing happened, like most children, but she had never expected this.

"Apparently our biological father tried to kidnap Haru when we were very young because he wanted one of us all to himself. He almost got away with it, but our mother stopped him in time," Rin answered.

"Rin-san?" Aiichirou said hesitantly. "Do you think those dreams were there to tell you something?"

Rin stared at the younger boy with a thoughtful expression on his face, seriously considering the idea. "What do you make of it, Ai?" he asked.

Now Aiichirou started thinking. "Maybe…" He continued thinking. "Maybe the dream of Shinjuku was to tell you where Nanase-san was and the one of your story was to tell you who was behind it?" he asked, unable to come up with anything better. "I'm sorry!" he exclaimed. "It's not very realistic,"

Rin nodded, considering the idea. "You're right, it's not the most realistic idea, but it isn't impossible either," he said. "But I doubt the dream really have a meaning," he said.

Aiichirou nodded and looked down at his bento.

"So… what are you doing now?" Aki asked curiously.

"Well," Rin thought. "I… I'm trying to figure out where Haru is and who took him, while not giving in to that asshole," he answered. "And once I know all that, I'll figure out a plan to free Haru and get him back safely,"

"I want to help!" Aiichirou exclaimed. "Rin-san, please let me help you find Nanase-san!"

Aki nodded. "I'd like to help too, Matsuoka-kun, Yamasaki-kun, all I can,"

"Thanks," Rin answered with a smile. "I really appreciate it, but I'm not sure how much you can do," he looked between Aki and Aiichirou while speaking.

"If you don't mind, Matsuoka-kun, could I take a look at the messages you have received from Nanase-kun?" Aki asked while reaching out her hand for Rin's phone.

Rin made a slightly displeased expression, but handed Aki the phone. She looked through the messages since Saturday morning with a concentrated look on her face.

"How can you stand all this?" she asked as she handed back the phone. "I'm not sure I could stand all that, if it was my brother who got kidnapped and I received those messages, I would have given up long ago and just surrendered," she said. An impressed tone could be heard in her voice.

"I don't know," Rin said as Aki handed him back his phone. "I guess it's because I know it's not real and even if it is real, I know Haru is strong enough to handle it,"

"Rin-san really has confidence in Nanase-san," Aiichirou smiled while sending Rin an admiring look. There was a reason why Rin was his idol.

"Have you found out anything else?" Sousuke said, now that they all knew the same about the situation.

"I know Makoto went and talked to okaa-san yesterday," Rin answered. "I don't know what about. Of course, it could just have been about Nagisa and Gou's adventure from last week, but my gut tells me it wasn't just that," he said.

"If Tachibana-san spoke to your mother one could argue that it's confirming Nitori-kun's theory about your dreams," Aki stated.

Rin nodded. "You're right, but… I just…" he stopped talking, unable to find the right words.

"You don't want to believe it," Sousuke said. "Yazaki-san and Ai are both right, their theories are good and nothing has been against them so far. Although it's vague, I'm almost willing to buy it,"

"I'm not buying it until we have shut out all other possibilities," Rin said.

Sousuke let out a sigh and then smiled while looking away from Rin. "You really are a stubborn one," he said.

Rin nodded. "You've said that before,"

Aki looked at her phone's display. "Excuse me," she said. "But lunch break is almost over and none of us are near finishing our lunch, so maybe we should continue the discussion after school and finish our lunch now," she said.

Rin and Sousuke both nodded, and all four of them dug into their lunches and ate as fast as they could while the time was ticking closer to class start.

Once done, all of them hurried to their respective classrooms and found their seats just in time before the next lesson got started.

Rin felt strangely alone as he sat in his seat during the Old Japanese lesson they were having. The teacher was talking about something Rin didn't even care to understand. He just allowed his mind to drift while looking out the window. However, suddenly he became painfully aware of the empty seat next to the window, the seat that belonged to Haruka. He decided to look the other way while continuing to space out.