It was a Saturday in November. Because a flue epidemic was attacking the town, swimming had been canceled and the club was closed for all activities. This meant that Rei, Nagisa, Rin and Haruka were to spent all afternoon by themselves in Makoto's house while trying to get along as best as they could.
"I'm bored," Nagisa said.
"Don't you have some studying to do?" Rei asked.
"No, I finished long ago!" Nagisa exclaimed.
"Then stop bothering the rest of us," Rin snapped. "Haru, how do I solve this?" he asked.
"How would I know?" Haruka asked back while concentrating on his own homework. Unlike Nagisa, the three older boys were trying to study, but Nagisa wasn't up for this.
"You two are so boring!" he yelled at Rin and Haruka. He didn't want to pin the blame on Rei because he believed that he and Rei were on the same side.
"And you're so annoying!" Rin yelled while turning to Nagisa. "What's your problem?" he asked.
Nagisa didn't say a word at first, but then it came. "You," he said coldly.
"Nagisa!" Rei exclaimed in slight surprise. He hadn't expected Nagisa to be so direct.
Rin let out a sharp laugh. "Likewise," he said. "I wish you two weren't here!" he yelled.
"If you've got such a big problem with us, then you should leave!" Nagisa yelled.
"You seem to have got a bigger problem with us, so maybe you should leave," Rin snapped.
"Rin!" Haruka yelled, trying to claim Rin's attention, but at the moment, Rin seemed to be deaf to anyone but the younger blonde boy.
"You leave or I'll make you!" Nagisa yelled.
"You leave!" Rin yelled back.
Nagisa then got up and went upstairs to get something. He came running back downstairs and went to the kitchen. The remaining three could hear him messing with something, probably toys or something, and then he came back into the living room and shot tomato sauce at Rin. In the same time, he tossed a water-gun to Rei, who caught it with insecure hands.
Rin looked up in time to take the hit in his face and tomato sauce started running down from his chin and dripping onto his lap. An irritated look also started appearing on his face as he glared at Nagisa.
Haruka was more concentrated on observing the gun in Rei's hand, knowing that there was a lesser chance that he would get shot by Rei. He recognized the water-gun. It was a gift from Makoto's parents. They had given them one each in hopes that it would help all four of them get along better. That had been while they still had their summer break.
"You little…" Rin trailed off in lack of a word that was insulting enough that Nagisa would actually feel offended. He didn't find any.
"Let's go, Rei-chan!" Nagisa yelled before shooting at Rin once more, causing Rin to get even more irritated.
"Haru!" Rin turned to Haruka. "Help me here!"
Haruka had absolutely no interest in doing such. This wasn't his fight to begin with. Rin was the one who had picked the fight with Nagisa so he would have to respond back on his own, regardless of the fact that Nagisa had dragged Rei into this so they were now two against one. This was not Haruka's fi-
Before Haruka could finish his thoughts, Nagisa's gun was aimed at him, and tomato sauce splattered all across Haruka's shirt. This caused the black-haired to take action and he grabbed Rin by the wrist and pulled him upstairs. He then pushed Rin to his room and ran into his own to grab his own water-gun. Now they would just need some kind of ammo.
The two met back up outside their rooms and ran downstairs to the kitchen. Both started looking around for anything they could use. Nagisa had, of course, already taken all the tomato sauce they had, so that was out of the picture.
"Hey Haru!" Rin called from the fridge. "Will this do?"
Haruka turned to look at Rin and noticed the soy sauce in his hand. He nodded. There was plenty of it. The bottle Rin held was full of it, and Haruka knew there was another one somewhere. If he could find it and keep it on him, they would be good for a while.
"That's good," he said before he allowed Rin to charge both their water-guns with the soy sauce and he went to look for the second bottle. He found it quickly and they ran out to meet Nagisa and Rei and with that, the battle began.
Rei and Nagisa shot tomato sauce and Rin and Haruka shot soy sauce. The point was to hit their opponents as much as possible, and the opponent hat to dodge and make sure he didn't get hit. This went well, so well that the walls were soon painted black and red with the different types of sauce.
What Makoto came home to late that afternoon was not what he had expected. He didn't know exactly what he had expected, but a warzone wasn't it, that much he knew.
Once he entered his house, before he got to announce that he was home, he saw Rin backing towards him at a rather fast speed. Nagisa emerged from the living room in the same time with a water-gun in hand. He was doing his best to aim at Rin and therefore didn't notice Makoto. Also Rin was too focused on Nagisa to take note of Makoto's presence behind him.
Makoto allowed himself to take a quick look at what he could see of the house. He quickly noticed how black and red spots were covering the walls around him. There was already a black splatter on the door behind him. He wondered if the rest of the house looked the same as this.
"I've got you know!" Nagisa yelled.
"That's what you think!" Rin shot back at him.
Rei and Haruka immerged from the kitchen and both took a look at the situation and noticed Makoto at the end of the hallway. As Nagisa was about to pull the trigger, a horrified look appeared on both their faces.
"Nagisa, stop!" Rei yelled.
"Rin!" Haruka yelled, trying to claim Rin's attention, but it didn't work.
Nagisa shot and Rin dodged, and the tomato sauce shot right over his head and hit Makoto on the chest, splattering the sauce all over his jacket. He looked at the spot for a bit before he looked up to meet both Rin's and Nagisa's shocked eyes. It was obvious that this wasn't what they had intended.
"Ma-Mako-chan… I…" Nagisa was at a loss of what to say. He couldn't even seem to voice an apology and no one else knew how to help him.
"I…" Makoto didn't know what to say either, but he figured he could start by voicing his feelings. "I'm very disappointed in you," he said. "I know you haven't been getting along too well from the beginning, and I understand that you need time to adjust to one another, but this has taken too long. By now you should've adjusted to one another. And no matter what, you shouldn't be fighting like this," he said, while pretending to be as strict as possible.
"We're sorry," Rin muttered. "It was Nagisa and Rei who started it," he said.
"It was only Nagisa, but Rin and Haruka reacted," Rei said, in Nagisa's defense.
"You're so mean, Rei-chan!" Nagisa yelled.
"Regardless of who is responsible for this incident, you are all evenly responsible for not being able to get along and stopping this," Makoto said. "Therefore, I'm going to punish all of you. Go to the bathroom and learn to make up. I will lock the door and not open it until you are able to get along. I will clean up in the meantime. Hopefully you will make up in time to join me," he smiled at them. He really couldn't help it. He wasn't angry with them, just disappointed. He wanted to make this clear at least.
All four children obediently went to the bathroom and Makoto followed to lock the door. He hated the fact that he had to do this, but he needed to make them get along now. This had gone on long enough and this fight was terrible.
This was actually what triggered this story, This was the very first idea of something that could have happened when Makoto and the others were still living in Iwatobi. The story that this chapter and the following one tells was the "key idea" so of course you won't get the end of this conflict until I come home from my trip. You can use the time to imagine what'll happen.
Well, as always, thanks for reading.
Jackie