Yaaay I got this done! Now before you read this chapter, I just wanna let you know that I haven't really looked into Japanese holidays and just went with what we do in Australia. Which is finish the school year at the end of the year, have Christmas, and start a new grade in the new year. I don't know if the Japanese do that, which they probably don't, but hey whatever this is a fanfiction! So enjoy anyways!
(Insert disclaimer here, I am too tired to copy and paste this ugh)
The last two weeks of school passed normally. Exams were over, the third years graduated, and everyone was relieved to finally be finishing the year. Through these two weeks snow started to fall, so the swimming club had to go to Samezuka to continue their normal activities.
Also through these two weeks, Haruka avoided Rin as much as he could, which actually wasn't as hard as he thought. Rin seemed to be avoiding him too, well, Haruka thought anyway. The redhead wasn't as jumpy or active as he normally was and always avoided eye contact, so the two barely talked or ran into each other.
Haruka knew he couldn't keep avoiding Rin however, and he knew Rin couldn't keep avoiding him. So he decided to just wait until his feelings of love faded away, or at least dimmed down before talking to the redhead again.
The only fault in his plan was…it wasn't working. In fact, it was doing the exact opposite.
Those feelings of love were now stronger than ever. Every day Rin would be in his head, in his thoughts, and eventually he appeared in his dreams. He wanted to be around Rin, he wanted to talk to Rin, and it seemed denying these actions made it worse.
So now Haruka was under his quilt, still in his loose t-shirt and boxers, at twelve o'clock in the afternoon on the first day of holidays. The only thoughts going through his head were of the redhead and how he kissed him…twice.
Haru groaned and tucked himself even further under the quilt. He tried to force Rin to leave his mind, but the redhead would always somehow slip in. He'd find himself subconsciously thinking of Rin in any place at any time. Any different thought he had always led to Rin. Even when he was swimming through the water, Rin was still on his mind.
Haruka dug his face in his pillow and sighed. He wanted to get up and have a bath, since that usually helped him think, but it was too cold. In his mind his bed was warm, his bath was warm, but the space between them…no, that was not warm. He hated the cold.
The teen heard his bedroom door slide open and Haruka's eyes widened. Was that Rin? Did he come in his house? It sounded like something Rin would do.
Haruka shot up, the quilt flying off him, and turned towards the door while saying "Rin?!"
Makoto stood in the doorway, confused emerald eyes staring into wide blue ones. Haruka felt a strange sinking feeling in his stomach when seeing Makoto, but at the same time he was relieved it was the brunette.
The tall teen smiled warmly "Sorry Haru, just me"
Said teen sighed and flopped back down onto the mattress "It's fine, Makoto, I was just…caught up in my own thoughts…"
The brunette frowned slightly "Oh really? What kind of thoughts?"
Haruka shook his head "I can't…it's complicated. I can't really explain it"
Makoto's eyes darkened. He noticed in the last two weeks that Haru and Rin were both avoiding each other. He wanted to know what happened, but that meant Haru would expect him to help with the issue, and that meant trying to put them back together. Of course, Makoto had no intention of doing that, so he decided to say nothing and let the two stay away from each other.
It was fine for a few days, Haru spent all his time with just the brunette, but after a while Makoto found that Haruka wasn't even in the same world as him when they were together. Every time he tried to talk to the raven haired teen, his words would just go by deaf ears. Haru was always deep in thought about something, and Makoto could never get through to him. What was the point of being with the raven haired teen when he was just an empty shell? He wanted Haruka to notice him, to talk to him, to feel something for him, and there was no way Makoto could do that in the state Haru was in.
"You know Haru, if you want to talk to someone, I'm right here" Makoto smiled, his words dripping with honey.
Haruka frowned slightly and pulled the quilt back over his head "I know Makoto, and I'm grateful for that, but I really don't think this is something you can help me with. I need to figure this out myself…"
Makoto's eyes darkened once more, now he really wanted to know what was going on. He could easily read Haru's emotions, so he could tell when the teen was keeping a secret, but he could never find out what that secret was. Haruka was obviously very troubled, and it was definitely to do with Rin. Makoto thought he'd be able to tell when Haru finally realised his feelings, but the teen was so oblivious that Makoto could no longer read it. One minute it seemed Haruka had realised his feelings and it was obvious to read, the next minute he couldn't be read at all and Makoto couldn't pick out whether Haru had actually figured it out yet. It made Makoto wonder if Haruka even had feelings for Rin…but of course he knew Haru did, by the way his eyes shined during the relay when realising he wanted to swim with the redhead. Either way, Makoto planned to make his move soon, and whether Haru accepted him or not…well…he didn't know. He just had to hope for the best.
The brunette sighed "Right, I understand, but why are you still in bed?"
"Because it's the holidays and I can be" Haruka responded, his voice muffled from being under the quilt.
"What? Don't you remember that we planned to meet with Nagisa and Rei at the mall today? You should be ready by now!" Makoto frowned, looking at the lump under the covers.
Haruka's eyes widened slightly when hearing this, he had just remembered it now, but wasn't Rin supposed to be joining them?
"What about Rin?" Haruka asked, not seeing Makoto's eye twitch.
"Oh, Rin? He had some other engagement to get to, he told Nagisa yesterday afternoon. Now get out of bed!"
"Don't wanna" Haru quickly responded, tightly clenching the quilt in his hands.
"Good grief" Makoto sighed, knowing it was going to be a struggle to get the teen up. But it wasn't impossible, and he was looking forward to this day out. After all, Rin wouldn't be there, and Makoto would get the raven haired swimmer all to himself.
…
"It's cold!" a blonde teen complained, hugging himself tightly as they walked through the mall.
"You're the one that wanted to spend the day with everyone" Rei stated, raising an eyebrow at the boy.
Nagisa pouted and looked up at the blue haired teen "Actually I was wrong, you're cold"
"Huh?!" Rei exclaimed "But I was just stating the obvious!"
"You're so mean, Rei chan" the blonde grumbled, as if not hearing what Rei said.
Makoto and Haruka were walking behind the two as they argued. Makoto showing his usual warm smile and Haruka putting on his bored expression. The brunette glanced at the raven haired teen every now and then to make sure he wasn't zoning out, and it seemed Nagisa and Rei's loud, childish arguments kept him on Earth.
Although, unbeknownst to Makoto, Haruka wasn't with them at all. He managed to keep his blank expression, but through his head was just the same question replaying over and over.
"Why wasn't Rin with them?"
Was he not there because of Haruka? Did he not want to see Haruka? Was he disgusted at the sight of Haruka? Was he still trying to avoid Haruka? These were all possibilities that just wouldn't leave the teen's mind. He wanted to ask, but he didn't want to seem nosy. He also didn't want Nagisa making connections, as he had asked the blonde too many times about love, which was completely out of his character. So one little slipup and Nagisa would know exactly why Haruka had asked all those strange questions.
Either way, he still wanted to know why Rin wasn't with them, and Haruka couldn't stop thinking that maybe it was his fault.
"Nagisa, why isn't Rin san with us?"
Haruka's eyes widened and he looked up to see Rei had asked the question, making him almost thank the water gods for how lucky he was that Rei had the same track of mind.
"Oh, Rin chan? Uh…he said he had something to do today" the blonde answered, looking up in thought.
Something to do today…? But that wasn't a good enough explanation; he needed to know what that something was. Haruka turned to Rei and began boring his eyes in the back of the teen's head, trying to send some sort of vibe to make him ask Nagisa the question.
"What did he have to do today? Do you know?" Rei asked, making Haruka inwardly celebrate.
Nagisa shook his head "He didn't say, I did ask but he said he couldn't tell."
Haruka frowned and made a face as if he were sulking, Makoto noticing this expression and feeling irritation biting at him.
"How about we don't worry about it for now, I'm sure Rin has his reasons" the brunette smiled, making both Nagisa and Haruka nod slightly, although Haruka's nod was a bit less noticeable.
Rei, however, looked back at Makoto with concerning eyes. Could the reason the redhead wasn't there be because of Makoto? He had noticed Rin was staying away from Haruka in the second week, and asked the teen what was wrong. He tried reminding the redhead that he'd happily help, but Rin just told the younger teen it was nothing he could get help for. So Rei began doubting if it was really Makoto that had triggered this behaviour.
"I want a sugar, cream filled donut!" Nagisa suddenly burst out, making Rei smile at his childish ways.
"I wouldn't mind one either" Makoto added
"I'll have one too…" Haruka mumbled quietly
Rei chuckled slightly and turned back to the blonde "Right, well then how about we go find some?"
Nagisa nodded "Yeah! I think they're over…" he looked past Rei and trailed off, making Rei raise an eyebrow.
"Are you okay, Nagisa?"
The blonde tilted his head slightly and raised a finger "Is that Gou chan?"
The three turned to where Nagisa was pointing to see a redheaded girl crouched down behind one of the green, well-trimmed bushes. She looked as if she was…hiding?
"Gou chan!" Nagisa yelled out, running towards her and waving.
Said teen turned and gasped when seeing the blonde. She quickly jumped up, put a hand over his mouth, and crouched back behind the bushes. Makoto, Haruka and Rei all gave her a confused look as she quickly signaled for them to crouch down next to her.
They did what she told, and she let go of the blonde's mouth. Nagisa pouted slightly and gave Gou a questioning look.
"Gou chan! Why did you-"
"Shhh!" she hissed, putting a finger over her mouth and making Nagisa shut up. She pointed at the bushes and slowly peeked up over them, making the other four do the same.
What they saw shocked them all, including Haruka. As there, standing in a jewellery shop, was Rin. Although it wasn't just Rin, it was Rin and a girl, making Haruka narrow his eyes to see who she was. She looked slightly familiar, but he couldn't pick out who it was.
They all crouched back behind the bushes again and Rei was the first to ask "Would you mind telling us what we just saw?"
Gou made a gesture telling the teen to keep his voice down, and answered him in a whisper.
"I'm not too sure myself, but yesterday Rin asked if he could have my friend's number"
"Ah, Chigusa san, was it? I thought she looked familiar" Makoto stated, Gou nodding in response.
"Well, Rin asked me for her number yesterday, and then today Chigusa told me she was going to the mall and couldn't hang out. Coincidentally, Rin was going to the mall too, so I decided to follow him. And it turns out to be a date!"
Everyone gasped, Rei and Haruka being the most shocked out of all of them. Rei couldn't make sense of it because the only reason Makoto and Rin were on bad terms now was because of how they felt for Haruka, so none of it added up.
"H-hold on, Gou" Rei stuttered, trying to understand what was happening "Did Rin san tell you this was a date?"
Gou's eyes widened slightly as she thought about this "Uh…no"
"And did Chigusa san tell you this was a date?" Rei asked, staring at the redhead
"…no" Gou answered, a hint of guiltiness in her voice "B-but how could you explain this then? It has to be a date! Why would my brother ask for my friend's number, a girl's number, for any other reason than to ask her out?!"
Makoto tried to hide his grin. Honestly, he was mad when seeing Rin at first, but now he was overjoyed. So maybe Rin finally decided to give up and go for someone else after all, which just proved how little he cared about Haruka if he was able to chuck the raven haired teen out of his heart like that.
"You know, Gou's right, there's no other explanation" Makoto explained, smiling warmly "But Gou, why are you still following them anyway? You've already concluded this is a date"
"W-well" Gou stuttered nervously "it's just that…something doesn't seem to add up" as she said this, she gave a slight glance at Haruka, who seemed to be lifeless. Sure, Rin didn't confess anything to her at the restaurant, but she was almost certain that he….
The younger Matsuoka sighed as she took another peek at Chigusa and her brother, there was a piece missing and she knew it. There had to be another explanation for this but she just couldn't find it, she could only find one. She needed that missing piece to make sense of it all.
Haruka suddenly stood up, the movement being so unexpected and sudden that it made everyone jump. He began walking off, both Makoto and Gou expecting him to walk away, but their eyes widened as he was headed straight towards the redhead.
"Oh! There he goes!" Nagisa smiled mischievously, interested as to what was going to happen.
"Nagisa!" Gou pouted, still trying to keep her voice down "We have to stop him! I can't let Rin know I'm here!"
"Too late" Rei stated, everyone watching with interest as the raven haired teen now approached the redhead. Makoto noted that his best friend's usual calm, blue eyes seemed to be set ablaze. He hadn't expected this reaction, and he was too stunned to act upon it.
"Rin!" Haruka snapped, making said teen turn and show a surprised expression when seeing who it was that called his name.
"H-Haru?! Weren't you going to the other mall with the guys?"
Chigusa hid something behind her back when seeing the raven haired teen, then looked up to the redhead next to her and asked "U-um…do I…?"
"Yeah, you go, I'll catch up with you later" Rin answered, his eyes on Haruka the whole time.
Haruka's eye twitched as he watched the exchange. He had no idea why this irritated him so much, but it was the same thing that happened with Nitori at Samezuka. He could feel himself getting jealous when seeing Rin paying more attention to anyone but him, and that annoyed Haruka to no end. He tried to come up with an answer as to why this was, and the only explanation he could come up with was because Rin payed attention to only him when they first met. So he wasn't used to seeing the redhead pay more attention to others.
"Why are you here with Gou's friend instead of us?" Haruka asked, his eyes looking dark and menacing.
"That's none of your concern" Rin answered simply "and where are the others?"
"Answer my question!" Haru demanded, blue boring into crimson.
He was so mad, mad because not only did Rin ditch them, but he ditched them for a girl. For some reason the thought made the teen's blood boil, he couldn't stand the thought.
Rin's eyes were just as menacing as he stared into Haru's, showing he didn't intend to back down. So he just frowned and repeated;
"That's none of your concern, Haruka"
Haru's hands clenched into fists, he wanted to hit Rin. He wanted to hit Rin hard enough to put some common sense back in him, but the teen knew that wasn't the answer. So instead, he tried asking another question.
"Why did you deny Nagisa's request when you were coming to the mall anyway? Why did you come here with a girl instead of us?!"
"Haruka," Rin growled slightly, his eyes going dark "don't make me repeat myself once more. Why do you want to know anyway?"
Haru's blue eyes quivered, oh how he wanted to hit the redhead.
"Y-…you know why!" Haruka spat back, making Rin sneer in disapproval.
The redhead shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders "I have no clue. You haven't told me anything, so how am I supposed to know?"
Haruka frowned and glared at the teen "I haven't told you anything, that's true but…it looks like you're on a…"
"A what?" Rin questioned, as if challenging Haruka to finish his sentence.
The teen looked into Rin's eyes and took a deep breath before saying "A date!"
Rin's eyes went a deathly dark colour as he stared at Haruka,
"So? What if I was?"
Haruka's world and mind froze, the way the teen was looking at him…it was the same eyes as when he came back from Australia. Cold, dark, and emotionless.
Haru stepped back once, then twice, his eyes quivering from anger and confusion. What had happened to Rin? Why had he suddenly changed? Had all those days of avoiding him finally gotten to the redhead? It felt as if they'd gone back to the way they were before the relay, which made Haru's heart wrench.
Two strong hands suddenly placed themselves on Haruka's shoulders, and the teen looked back to see it was Makoto. Emerald eyes dark and just as menacing stared at the crimson ones in front of them.
"Come on Haru, Rin already said this doesn't concern you" the brunette spoke, still staring at the redhead.
"But-" Haruka started, only to be cut off by Rin
"Listen to Makoto, Haruka, and leave"
Haru's eyes widened as he stared into dark crimson, what in the world was going on? Had Rin really gone back to the way he was before? No, that couldn't be it, Haru refused to believe it! But...nothing seemed to make sense anymore, he couldn't put anything together. All he could see was an emotionless redhead in front of him with eyes dark and filled with hate.
It hurt Haru to see Rin like this, he just wanted to see the redhead smiling like he always did. But in this situation, there was no way that would be happening anytime soon.
Black hair covered blue eyes as Haru turned his back to Rin, saying a quiet "Fine" under his breath and walking off. Makoto gave Rin a slight glare before following the smaller teen, and the redhead sighed when watching them walk away.
He didn't mean for anything like that to happen, but he had to get Haru away somehow. It was his fault for mishearing what Nagisa had told him anyway, or maybe Nagisa decided to change plans at the last minute and go to this mall instead. The blonde tended to be spontaneous like that.
"Um…Rin san" Chigusa came up behind him, making Rin turn to see the girl holding a small bag "Are you okay with…what just happened?"
Rin sighed and combed a hand through his hair "Yeah, it's fine. Hopefully I can make it up to Haru later, but for now he's going to just have to cope with it…as much as I want to explain this to him."
Chigusa nodded and walked out of the store with the male teen, Gou, Nagisa, and Rei all still watching. Haruka and Makoto had told the three they were going home as they passed, and both Rei and Gou noticed Haru looked much more emotionless than usual, as if he were trying to hide something.
Rei and Gou both wanted that missing piece, they both wanted another explanation for what they had seen. But, they knew they wouldn't be getting that piece anytime soon, so all they could do was try to make their own pieces to fit in place. Yet, none of them would fit and just left them more confused then before….
And another roller coaster chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! Holidays are coming up for me at the end of this week and I plan to write a bit more over that time, but until then you'll have to wait!
Thanks for reading!