Okay this is a mildly short chapter, but we will finally get to see Makoto's true colours! I am sorry I didn't upload this yesterday but, once again, I didn't have time because I needed to be social (ugh). I don't really want to say anything else because I don't want to spoil anything, but also because I've run out of things to say.
I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Free! and it's characters do not belong to me and belong the respected owners. I only own/made this story.
A redhead teen walked down the school halls with tired eyes, feeling as if he could pass out on the spot.
Tutoring Haruka seemed to be a bigger challenge than he thought, it was exhausting too. The raven haired teen would be stubborn and unwilling to listen, sometimes losing his concentration completely. So the two ended up working over time and stayed up till one in the morning, and Rin ended up having to walk back home since Haru rejected his offer to sleep over.
Rin knew the teen was just irritated and slightly mad at how he was made to study the whole night, and Rin noticed how moody Haru would be without soaking in water at least twice a day.
When getting to class Rin looked around to see Makoto reading some book and Haru fast asleep on his desk. For once the redhead was late and tired, but he already knew why that was.
"Morning Makoto" Rin greeted, sitting at his desk and yawning.
When no reply was given, he turned back to see Makoto giving him a cold look. But once again it was gone as the brunette smiled warmly "Morning Rin, tired from last night?"
Even though Makoto was smiling, Rin could feel a heavy atmosphere around the two of them, making him feel uneasy.
"Uh, yeah...you could say that"
Makoto continued to smile, saying nothing back. The redhead felt himself getting the creeps, knowing there was something off about the brunette.
When class started Rin almost sighed in relief and Haru was woken up by Makoto. Rin realised Makoto didn't have the same cold tone towards Haru as he did when talking to Rin, but the teen decided to ignore it and focus on staying awake.
Rin thought it was a miracle he managed to stay conscious the whole day, but he knew there was one more thing that needed to be done. Since it was Saterday, the school had to be cleaned, and the teacher began calling out the groups and who would be cleaning what.
"Matsuoka and Tachibana, could you please go and get the cleaning equipment from the janitor's closet? Here is the key" the teacher held up a pair of keys and Rin sighed.
"Great" he thought "The halls would be completely empty right now, and any other day walking with Makoto would be fine, but today he's been acting really weird. It's almost as if he's been cold towards me"
Makoto smiled and stood up "Of course, Sensei, we would be happy to. You coming Rin?" and there it was, that creepy smile. Even so, Rin still stood up and walked out the door with him, trying to ignore the weird feeling in his gut.
It was silent walking together, which was odd, since the two of them were very chatty towards each other. Rin turned to the teen beside him to see Makoto's mouth was in a stern frown.
"Rin" said teen almost jumped when hearing his name.
"Uh, y-yeah?" he stuttered, feeling uneasy as the heavy atmosphere from this morning was back.
The brunette stopped, making Rin stop as well. Makoto was quiet for a moment before asking "What did you do to Haru?"
Crimson eyes widened at the question "...huh?"
Without warning, Makoto grabbed Rin's arm and roughly shoved him against the wall, making the back of his head slam into it and he groan under his breathe. He quickly looked up to see cold, green eyes staring straight into him, almost making him shake with fear.
"What the fuck did you do to Haruka?" Makoto growled, making Rin's eyes widen
"I-I didn't do anything!" Rin stuttered.
He had never heard Makoto use that kind of language before, maybe Haru had? No, surely not. Surely this is the first time Makoto had sworn at anything in his life, he was just too kind hearted!...at least, Rin thought he was.
"You fucking liar!" Makoto yelled, tightening his grip on the redhead's arms "Did you touch him?! Did you force him to have your way?! Did you toy with him?!"
"Holy shit Makoto, calm down!" Rin began to panic, feeling the grip on his arms sting in pain. What was even happening? What happened to the Makoto he knew? Was he possessed or something?
"No! I'm not calming down! I've had it with you! It was fine when it was just me and Haruka, everything was perfect! Then you come in and ruin it, you ruined Haruka! He changed because of you! He'd keep secrets from me, he'd be depressed for no reason, he'd refuse to talk to me or anyone! Why did you make such a big impact on his life? Why didn't he just give up on you? Why did you have to come back?!"
Rin started to tremble, the brunette was getting louder, a look in his eyes as if he was about to kill something, or someone.
"I-I didn't mean to make such a big impact! I didn't even know I did! What's wrong with you anyway? Are you sick or something?!"
Makoto snorted and banged Rin's head against the wall "I hate you...I FUCKING HATE YOU! You didn't even know you made such a big impact, you didn't even know you were hurting Haruka! Now he says things like I can't swim without Rin, I want to swim with Rin, Rin's why I swim, it's always just Rin, Rin, RIN!" he slammed the smaller teen against the wall again "I've been in Haruka's life longer than you! I've always looked out for him! I've always cared about him! I was the only one allowed to touch him! Then you come out of nowhere and he let you touch him, he let you talk to him, he let you into his life! Why...why? WHY?!"
"I-I don't know!" Rin stuttered, feeling his head start to ache and get dizzy from the violent shaking
"I've pretended to like you all these years, I've pretended to be your friend for Haru's sake, but I'm done pretending! I hate seeing you touch him! I hate seeing you with him! I hate YOU! I'VE HATED YOU ALL THESE DAMN YEARS! I WAS OVERJOYED HEARING YOU WERE GOING TO AUSTRALIA, AND YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED THERE! YOU PISS ME OFF SO MUCH, I CAN'T STAND YOU, YOU'RE A WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT THAT RUINED HARUKA!"
Rin was paralysed, he couldn't believe what was happening. Makoto was an important friend to him, and to hear he was faking their friendship? Honestly, it was completely heartbreaking. Was this Makoto's true side? His true self that is just full of anger and hatred? That kind hearted Makoto that everyone knew, was that just a mask? Was that just something he hid behind so no one could see his true personality?
The brunette began to pant, feeling breathless after yelling so much. So he tightened his grip on the teen's arms and leaned in close, so close that it made Rin push himself flat against the wall.
With a final breathe, Makoto opened his mouth and whispered "Don't touch Haruka, my Haruka, or I will show you a sight you've never seen before"
Rin suddenly realised what was happening, what Makoto meant. Not only that but it was sick. He took his own words that he said to Haru as a child and twisted them, twisted them to something that sounded cold and menacing. Makoto made those words sound like a threat. Rin wanted to say it's not like that, you've got it wrong but he didn't have the strength to. Instead, Makoto let him go and he fell to the floor, Rin watching as the brunette walked off.
He was shocked, hurt, confused, but most of all, he was scared. Scared because that was the true side of Makoto, scared because he knew Makoto wouldn't go back on that threat. So Rin let the brunette go get the cleaning equipment while he sat there and thought about how he could avoid this newly seen side of Makoto.
The answer pained him, but he knew it was the only solution. Even though it was the only solution, Rin knew it wouldn't be an easy thing to do.
"...I need to stay away from Haruka..."
...
"Rin, are you tutoring me tonight?" Haruka asked, looking up at the redhead standing next to the pool.
Rin's eyes widened and he turned to see Makoto glaring at him, the brunette had very clearly held his hatred in for a long time and was now letting it show. Which was probably the most terrifying thing Rin had ever seen.
"I-I can't tonight, too busy" he lied, feeling a tad guilty for doing so
"What are you doing?" the smaller teen asked
"I-I'm...uh...Gou and I have something planned, it's a brother, sister thing" he forced a smile and dived in the pool before Haruka could ask any more questions.
"Don't let it get to you, Haru" a voice from behind him said, making the raven haired teen look up to see Makoto smiling at him. "How many times have we had to cancel our plans because of my siblings?"
Haruka said nothing, just watched Rin swim "...but he sounded different...like he was lying..." Makoto's eyes glistened with anger as he stared at the concerned Haru.
"Why..." he murmured under his breathe
"Hm?" Haruka questioned, turning to the brunette
"Why would he lie to you?" Makoto smiled "You know he wouldn't do that"
"...I guess"
On the other side of the pool, Rin was lifting himself out of the water and onto the tiled ground, still confused about the situation he was in.
"This is blackmail" he thought "I knew Makoto cared about Haru, but I saw it as more in a motherly way, but I guess I did have my suspicions..." Rin's eyes narrowed as he felt his head begin to throb "But what's troubling me the most is...why do I despise the thought of Makoto wanting to get so close to Haru? I don't mind as friends but...is Haru even gay?"
Crimson orbs widened at the thought and Rin shook his head "W-why am I thinking about something like this?" he muttered to himself.
"Are you okay, Rin chan?"
Rin almost screamed when hearing the sudden voice, but relaxed when seeing a small, blonde boy in front of him.
"Oh, Nagisa, you scared me"
Nagisa raised a suspicious eyebrow at the statement "Scared you? I was standing here the whole time! You seem really off today RinRin, did something happen?"
The redhead felt his cheeks heat up "P-please don't call me that"
Nagisa blinked "What? RinRin?"
"Yes, that!"
"Why not? I always called you that as kids!"
"We're not kids anymore!"
"That's enough, Nagisa kun" a blue haired teen interjected, walking between the two. He turned to the blonde and said "I thought you were working on your stamina"
"I am!" Nagisa complained
"Doesn't look like it, why don't you keep swimming?"
The blonde stuck his tongue out at the blue haired teen and walked off saying "You're no fun, Rei chan"
Rin sighed when seeing Nagisa walk off "Thanks a bunch, Nagisa can really irritate me sometimes"
"I do agree with what he said though" Rei stated, turning to the red head with concern "If you don't mind me asking, did something happen with Haruka senpai?"
Rin looked at Rei for a moment, then turned to see Makoto and Haruka talking. His eyes settled on Makoto and he swore he saw the teen flash him a cold look. He felt a shiver go up his spine and turned back to Rei
"Well...nothing happened with Haru, no..."
"Then who? Who's been troubling you so much?"
Rin sighed and said "I can't say" before walking off.
He knew Rei wouldn't believe him, he almost couldn't believe it himself. But the pain in the back of his head was proof enough of what had happened, and he had a feeling if he told anyone of Makoto's true side, Makoto wouldn't hesitate to threaten him once more...
...yeah okay I made Makoto pretty violent, but think about this.
If you've been with someone almost your whole life, if you know everything about them and have always been there for them, how would you feel if someone you don't know came out of the blue and made a huge impact on that persons life. How would you feel to see that person start changing because of this one person that came out of nowhere? How mad would you be to see this random person getting as close as you did to that one person, maybe even closer, even though you're the one that's known them your entire life? Even though you're the one that was always with them and always looked out for them?
I don't know about you but I would be pretty damn mad.
Anyway, that's just how I see Makoto, and hopefully it hasn't made you mad or anything? Since I like Makoto myself and I can see why you would be angry or something.
Hopefully I will be able to get the next chapter out tomorrow! Not too sure though, but I will try!
Thanks for reading!