Haruka was first to enter the bathroom. Rin followed and then Nagisa came, pushed forward by Rei. Makoto closed the door behind them and they could all hear the lock click as he locked the door before heading downstairs to get started on cleaning up their mess.
"So… we are to make friends," Rei said, stating the task at hand. It seemed impossible.
"Not happening!" Nagisa and Rin yelled.
Haruka turned his back to the lot of them and turned on the cold water in the tub. He watched as it was slowly filled while pretending not to pay the others any mind.
"Now's not the time for that, Haru!" Rin yelled as he heard the water running.
Haruka ignored him. By now the tub was already half full and he started taking off his clothes to reveal the fact that he was wearing his swimsuit underneath.
Rin sighed and placed a hand on his forehead. "I can't believe you," he said.
"Does he do that all the time?" Rei asked.
"Whenever there is a chance he can get into the water, yes," Rin said.
"There's not one today," Nagisa stated.
"I can sense the water calling," Haruka said. He was already sitting in the tub and now allowed his head to disappear under the surface.
"How does that work?" Rei asked.
Haruka's head peaked up above the surface long enough for him to shake it, signaling that he had no clue of how. He had given his best answer.
"Was he always this weird?" Nagisa asked.
Rin shrugged. "Pretty much. He has always had a strong attraction to water. That's part reason why we started swimming,"
"When did you start that anyways?" Nagisa asked.
Rin thought. "We started swimming when we had our first swimming lessons at school. We both became the fastest swimmers within no time and our teacher recommended that we joined a swim club. I think it was around the middle of first grade if I'd have to take a wild guess," Rin finalized.
"When did you start, Nagisa," Haruka's head was now above the surface of the water again.
"When I was around 5. I met Mako-chan on the first day," Nagisa answered.
"That's where you met Makoto?" Rin asked, slightly surprised.
"Yes, he was my coach the first half a year," Nagisa answered. "He wondered about why Rei-chan was always the one who picked me up after swimming and then invited us home for dinner," he smiled as he spoke and Rei nodded.
"But don't forget, we actually ran into him before you started swimming, on the same morning on the bus," he said.
"Did we?" Nagisa turned to Rei.
Rei nodded. "We were heading to a dentist appointment with a few others from the orphanage and the bus was packed so I pulled you closer to leave a seat free. Makoto took it,"
"I was sleeping!" Nagisa remembered and then turned to Rin and Haruka. "Rin-chan, Haru-chan, isn't Rei-chan mean for waking me up while I was sleeping?" he asked.
Rin nearly chuckled and Haruka just sent Nagisa an irritated look before he spoke.
"Don't add –chan to my name," he said
Nagisa stared at Haruka and then at Rin with round eyes. He hadn't even realized that he'd done that, but then he smiled. He realized that the hateful feelings he had felt towards these two had been an act for a while by now and he had started to see them as friends. He had also added the suffix to their names in his mind often.
"Isn't Haru-chan your name?" he asked.
Rin laughed. Also he had realized the war was stupid by now and if Nagisa was willing to accept him and Haruka, then he could accept Rei and Nagisa as well.
"Yeah, Haru-chan's your name," he said while smirking at Haruka, who sent him a glare from the bathtub.
"Shut up, Rin-Rin," Haruka said, coldly.
"Don't call me that!" Rin yelled. "I've been called that enough!"
"You took it to heart," Haruka reminded him.
"It's because of you they started with the Rin-Rin and Haru-chan!" Rin yelled. "You and your girly name!"
"It was because of you," Haruka shot back.
"Hey, hey!" Nagisa yelled, interrupting them. "You have girly names too! So does me and Rei-chan!"
"Nagisa… I don't think that's such a good thing to mention at the moment," Rei said in an attempt to stop Nagisa from talking any more about boys with girly names.
"What? Can't we just say they're Rin-chan and Haru-chan, you're Rei-chan and Mako-chan is Mako-chan?" Nagisa asked.
Rei sighed. "I apologize on Nagisa's behalf. He doesn't mean to insult anyone… he's just… He has gotten way too used to using –chan," he explained.
Rin sighed. "Guess it can't be helped… right, Haru?" he asked.
Haruka didn't react this time. His head was under the surface but he could somewhat hear what was said. Rin interpreted the lack of reaction.
"Haru thinks it's fine too," he said.
All four fell silent for a bit before Nagisa took a look at himself in the mirror. His hair had been died a strange color due to the soy sauce that had hit him. Also his clothes had dark spots on them. Especially Haruka had been really good at hitting his target and both Rin and Haruka had shot more at him than Rei because they knew Rei was in it a bit more unwillingly.
Realizing how disgusting he was, Nagisa took off his clothes and allowed himself to slip into the tub with Haruka. This caused Haruka's head to break the surface and he sent Nagisa another irritated look.
"I never said you could join me," he stated.
"You never said I couldn't either, Haru-chan," Nagisa said before wrapping an arm around Haruka's shoulders with a happy smile on his face. "Rin-chan and Rei-chan should join us too. There's room enough for everyone!"
"Haru's bathing habits are too cold for me," Rin proclaimed.
"It's too stuffy," Rei said but he stepped closer anyways, and Nagisa grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into the water. Rei grabbed Rin's shirt in the same time and both landed in the tub with a splash, causing water to flow over the sides of the tub and down on the floor.
"What was that for?!" Rin yelled.
"Isn't it fun?" Nagisa asked.
"It's stuffy," Rei declared.
"The tub's half empty," Haruka stated.
"No, it's half full! Haru-chan you're such a negative thinker!" Nagisa declared before he went to fill hot water into the tub, to Haruka's dismay.
Surprisingly enough, everyone agreed when Nagisa suggested that they washed each other since none of them had gotten off without getting hit at least once with either soy sauce or tomato sauce, so that was what they did.
Makoto twisted the cloth over the bucket with hot water. He was finally done with washing the walls in the entrée. He still had to clean the rest of the rooms before he was done. He hoped the others had made friends soon as he could have them help him out with this mess.
Curiously, he took a listen, but he could hear nothing from upstairs. He had heard the sound of voices earlier, Rin's shouting, Nagisa's excited voice and Rei's more soft speaking. He couldn't hear Haruka's voice, but that was to be expected. However, now it was all silent and this caused Makoto to get slightly worried. Why weren't they talking? Had they gone that angry at each other? Wait, that wasn't like them, especially not Rin. He had heard him fight enough to know that he would just increase the sound level of the conversation for each sentence.
Therefore, Makoto dropped the cloth into the bucket and headed upstairs. He listened at the door to the bathroom, but he still couldn't hear anything. They'd been in there for an hour by now. What could've happened?
Makoto put the key in the keyhole and unlocked the door carefully. He opened it evenly carefully in fear that someone might jump at him if he didn't. But no one did that, and Makoto soon learned why.
On the floor, with their backs against the now empty bathtub and towels wrapped around them, Rin, Rei, Haruka and Nagisa were all sitting. Nagisa's head was resting on Haruka's shoulder, just like Rin's head was resting on Rei's. Rei had an arm wrapped around both Rin and Haruka and Nagisa also had both his arms wrapped around Haruka. All four boys were sound asleep, all with soft expressions on their faces.
Makoto stood and watched them for a bit, wondering if he should wake them up. He decided to wait a bit. He wanted to remember this situation, and therefore he went and grabbed his camera before he took a photo of the four boys. Only then he went to wake them up.
Guess who's back? Guess you figured from the update.
So it's Thursday night and I had way more energy than I expected, so here's an update on the story. I hope you like it. I will continue publishing daily from now on and do my job properly.
I admit, I'll be surprised if you're still reading this after a 4 days long break. If you're still reading, I'm so grateful. It's nice that someone wants to read my work.
Jackie