Rin was getting curious, more for each passing day, especially since the day when Nagisa had started lying. Haruka was sure that Rin knew nothing of what was going on except that something wasn't right. He was just as sure of this as he was sure that Nagisa knew something, but what that was and how much he knew was unclear to Haruka. But he had been acting weird lately. He was completely avoiding both Rin and Haruka as much as he possibly could.
Haruka had a pretty good feeling where the root of all this was, Nagisa's weird behavior and the increasing tension between him and Rin. It could all be traced back to one thing, the school, more precisely, a few of Haruka's own classmates.
Haruka wasn't very social, so him acting distant towards his fellow students was nothing out of the ordinary. What caused the problem was how they acted towards him. It wasn't obvious, if you only happened to see it once or twice you would just think someone was pranking him. But if one were to watch more closely, they would see that it wasn't just pranking on the innocent, friendly level.
On this day in June when they were to have a swimming lesson with class 1, some of Haruka's classmates decided to pull another prank on him.
It was right before class 1 arrived and Haruka was standing with the other boys from his class by the poolside. They could hear the other students approaching. Haruka was standing in his own thoughts, trying to not look too much at the pool, knowing he would be tempted to jump in if he dared to look.
But just before the students of class 1 turned the corner, Haruka felt a hand in his side and he was pushed over as he fell into the pool, sideways. It created a huge splash. Haruka listened to the sound as he felt the water closing in around him. Butterflies of happiness were flying around in his stomach as he kicked off the wall and slowly started moving through the water. He didn't allow his head to rise above the surface until he was at the other side.
"What are you doing, Nanase!" the teacher yelled. "Get out of the water!"
Haruka had stopped counting all the times someone had yelled that at him. It only happened too often. He was surprised Makoto hadn't heard any of it yet. Maybe he would this time? Haruka hoped not. That would mean he would either have to lie, or tell about these "pranks". He didn't really feel up for either one.
"Nanase, you're giving us a bad reputation!" one of those from Haruka's class yelled.
Haruka didn't say anything, but he did swim back across the pool and got out of the water to stand with his classmates. He noticed how Rin was sending him a strange look, like he was asking what this was all about.
The teacher started introducing what would be going on today. They had to practice saving someone in the water and bring them out.
"So you really do like water," a boy whispered while looking at Haruka through the corner of his eye.
"Sure seems like he does," another said.
"So he's a anti-social person with a girl's name and a relationship with water. What a freak," a third whispered while smirking all over his face.
Haruka said nothing. His breath was wasted on someone like these. But he couldn't help but feel a bit irritated about their judgement. He missed the water, and so he jumped back into the pool causing the teacher to yell at him again.
Almost a month passed. During this month Haruka noticed how the pranks worsened every day. One day there was no lunch for him, for reasons unknown to most. Another day Haruka found garbage in his desk and one other time someone had poured melted ice cream all over his desk during one of the breaks.
It was now the final day of school before summer break would start and today the people from Haruka's class had really pulled the worst prank of all, in Haruka's opinion.
His bag had gone missing and he had walked around, looking for it. It had been a gift from Makoto. He had given a schoolbag to each of the twins the day before they transferred into their new school, and now it had gone missing.
Haruka ended up finding it in the pool, everything was either flouting or had sunken to the bottom.
He stared at the scene for a few seconds before stripping down to his swimsuit and jumping into the pool. He had no other option but to gather everything down there. Looking on the bright side, it was summer, so the water was warm enough that he won't get sick.
Haruka had just managed to pick up everything and was about to climb out of the pool when a boy kicked his bag as it fell down in the pool again. Another pushed Haruka away from the poolside as he fell back into the water and swallowed a mouthful of it. He surfaced, and gasped for air while coughing trying to get the water out of his lungs.
"Look, he likes water so much he'd even drown for it," one of the boys grinned. The others laughed.
"Don't touch him anymore," another said. "He'll infect you with his weirdness,"
Haruka ignored them and went to gather his things again. They had fallen out of the bag once more when it had been thrown back into the pool.
"Would you cut all of that out!" Everyone turned their heads to see Rin standing in the entrance to the pool area. He looked like he was boiling with anger.
"Matsuoka-kun?" The boys stopped and stared at Rin. It was obvious they never intended for him to find out about all this. Haruka hadn't wanted that either for that matter.
"I'm not blind and I'm not stupid," Rin said. "You've been picking on Haru ever since we got here two years ago," he said. His fists were tightened up and his eyes were burning with rage. It was the first time Haruka ever saw him like that.
"No we didn't…" One of the boys tried to deny it. "We just happened to pass by here,"
Rin shook his head. "If I ever suspect you are bullying Haru again, it'll be your bags floating in the school pool," he said.
The boys nodded and then left.
Rin turned to Haruka and looked at him. "Will you be okay?" he asked.
Haruka nodded and picked up a floating book. He wondered what to do with all his books and papers being wet and all. The bag could be washed and dried off as it didn't smell like chlorine, but the books were useless by now.
Rin knelt down by the poolside and started putting the items Haruka had already gathered back into the bag. He then turned to help Haruka gather the last few things, of those he could reach, and then he looked at the black-haired in the water.
"You've got some explaining to do, you know," he said.
"It doesn't matter, it probably won't happen again," Haruka answered in a lethargic tone.
"Although I only took a guess when I said this had been going on all along, I'm pretty sure I'm right," Rin said. "Besides, you have to explain to Makoto how your bag ended up like this."
Haruka knew. Rin didn't have to tell him. This was something he couldn't lie about. Rin would see to it that he didn't.
Rin reached out a hand towards Haruka like Makoto would do when Haruka had been in the bathtub for too long. Haruka considered not accepting it, but then decided against it. Rin had just openly showed how much he cared, it was only right for Haruka to do this much for him in return, if he shouldn't do a little more than this in return.
Haruka grabbed Rin's hand and allowed him to drag him out of the pool. He then pulled his clothes back on, causing them to get soaking wet, and then he picked up his even more soaking wet bag.
Rin smiled. "Let's go home, Haru," he said as he started leading the way out of the pool area. Haruka followed right behind him.
They walked in silence almost half the way back home. Haruka didn't want to say anything and Rin didn't say a word either, not to begin with anyways. But the silence was broken at one point.
"You kept it well hidden," Rin said suddenly.
Haruka only turned his head with questioning eyes, wondering what Rin meant.
"All this," Rin continued. "I don't think anyone at home has noticed anything. I might be the first one to know this," he said.
"I didn't want you to know," Haruka said.
Rin nodded. "That's so like you," he said. "Still, I wish I'd noticed it sooner…"
Haruka sensed the feeling of guilt in Rin's voice. He hadn't thought Rin would end up feeling like that, but he knew it wasn't Rin's fault. He therefore did something he wouldn't normally do. He reached out a hand and placed it on Rin's shoulder for comfort.
"If it was up to me, you would've never noticed," he said, and Rin nodded and smiled vaguely.
"Yeah," he said and then they fell silent as they walked the last bit home together.