It was now just before spring break, in the middle of March. Rin and Haruka were about to finish their first year of middle school, Nagisa was about to graduate from elementary school and Rei was about to graduate from middle school now.
"When's the date of your graduation ceremony?" Makoto asked over the dinner table one night. He was looking at Rei while asking.
"On Saturday before Spring Break," Rei answered. "That's the day when everybody graduates from school," he said.
Nagisa nodded. He was graduating on that day too and enrolling into Iwatobi Middle like all his older siblings before him.
"That's the same day as elementary school graduation day," Rin stated what had already been confirmed by Rei. Nagisa felt slightly irritated about that. Why did everyone have to remind him?
Makoto nodded. "I know," he said. He was looking between Rei and Nagisa now. It seemed he had realized the problem. "I'll do my best to attend both ceremonies if possible," he said.
Nagisa sat up right. "No, Mako-chan," he said. "You don't have to attend mine. Attend Rei-chan's graduation ceremony!" he exclaimed.
Makoto looked surprised. "Are you sure, Nagisa?" he asked.
Nagisa hesitated. He wasn't happy about this. He had always wanted Makoto to be at his graduation ceremony like he had been with the other three but if it overlapped with Rei's, what could he do?
"I'm sure," he said.
Makoto nodded. He didn't speak of it any further. He could sense how difficult it was for Nagisa to talk about. He didn't want to make matters worse or anything.
On the graduation day, Rei, Rin, Haruka and Makoto all went to the middle school a little earlier. The ceremony there started an hour before the ceremony at Nagisa's elementary school, so that was why. According to the plan they would last until around the same time.
Nagisa left the house a little while later, and started heading towards the elementary school. He thought about what role this place had played in their life with Makoto, since all of them were adopted.
Nagisa remembered that when he and Rei were first adopted, Rei had started in 2nd grade and Nagisa hadn't started until spring the following year. Nagisa remembered how he had been asked to do a family tree not so long after starting school. He remembered how he had started crying because he had no clue of how to draw a tree for the family he didn't have. Later on he had subconsciously accepted Makoto's family as his own. Makoto's parents felt like his real grandparents, Ren and Ran felt like an uncle and an aunt to him. Makoto was his father, no question there. And Rei was the greatest big brother he could've ever hoped for. Haruka and Rin had also become his brothers by now.
"Nagisa!" Nagisa turned around as he heard someone run up behind him. It was some of the students from his own year. It was Akito who was running up to him with his twin brother Ayato in toe. Behind them came Yukio, who had gained some weight over the years, and a few others, both boys and girls.
"We're a handful who decided to walk to the graduation ceremony together," Yukio said. "Want to walk with us?"
Nagisa smiled and nodded. "That sounds fun," he said.
And so Nagisa joined the group of kids walking to the school. They were around ten in total now.
"Akito-kun, Ayato-kun, is your family coming?" one of the girls in the group asked.
"Yeah," Akito sighed. "Both our parents are coming to watch our graduation. I don't get why they bother."
"I don't either," Ayato said.
"Only my mother is coming," Yukio said. "My sister is graduating from high school this year, so my father and brother are attending her graduation ceremony," he explained.
The others started talking about whom of their family were attending the graduation ceremony and as Nagisa had expected he was also asked about this.
"Who is coming from your family, Nagisa?"Ayato asked.
"No one," Nagisa said. "Rei-chan's graduating middle school so Mako-chan went to see that, Rin-chan and Haru-chan had to go because they're already attending that middle school," he explained.
"Are you okay with that?" a girl asked with pity in her voice.
Nagisa put on a bright smile. "I'm fine with it, I told Mako-chan to go," he said.
The girl was still looking at him with pity in her eyes as they reached the school building and went to the assembling hall where the graduation ceremony would be held. They all found their respective classes and went to sit with them.
Nagisa was sitting with his own class when a female teacher came up to him and stopped in front of him. She looked to him and started talking.
"Hazuki-kun, is Tachibana-san coming today?" she asked. It was now that Nagisa recognized her as his teacher in his first year of elementary school, Sakamoto Mayu.
"No, Mako-chan's attending my brother's graduation ceremony," Nagisa replied politely.
"Oh," Sakamoto sounded a bit disappointed. "I was hoping I could speak to him at least one last time, but it looks like that's impossible," she said.
"If you need to tell Mako-chan anything, I can tell him," Nagisa said, smiling at her.
Sakamoto nodded. "Then… please tell him my apologies for what happened seven years ago. I'm still very sorry for that mistake I made," she said, bowing deeply to Nagisa who looked slightly surprised.
"It's okay, Sakamoto-sensei, I'll tell him," the blonde boy told the teacher who thanked him and left quickly to stand with the remaining staff.
Shortly after, the graduation ceremony began and Nagisa sat and payed attention to what happened around him. He had attended two graduation ceremonies before this one, both Rei's which had been three years ago, and Rin's and Haruka's which had been just last year. Everyone had attended those ceremonies, but he wasn't attending this one.
There was a speech from students and the principal and Nagisa sat and listened to it all like everyone else. Finally the classes were called up one by one. Nagisa was in class 4, the last class.
When each class had been called up, the students were called one by one and went to get a diploma, showing that they had passed and graduated elementary school.
The final student from class 6 – 3 was called up and when he was done, the entire class went down to sit while class 6 – 4 was called up as the last class. As they walked up, Nagisa looked over the area where families were seated. He couldn't see his own, but when he looked to where the teachers were, he saw Sakamoto waving at him. That brought him a bit of comfort and he managed to fake a smile.
The students were then called up one by one. Nagisa patiently waited until they reached Hashikawa and then his name was called as the following one.
Nagisa started walking up, feeling slightly sad that he couldn't hear his family out there. Normally the family would cheer for the child that was graduating, but no one was cheering for him.
But once he was half-way up, he heard the sound of the doors to the assembling hall slamming open and everyone turned their heads in the direction of the four people who stopped once they noticed this. Everyone looked surprised at first, including Nagisa, but when he noticed who it was, his face broke into a smile.
"Mako-chan… everyone…" Nagisa whispered.
"Sorry," Makoto said. "We're late, please continue," then he went to stand in the back, Rin, Rei and Haruka followed him quickly, attempting to be unnoticed.
The graduation ceremony resumed. Nagisa received his diploma and he could now hear cheers from behind him. He smiled. He was so happy his family had made it to see him graduate as well.
After the ceremony, Sakamoto went to deliver her apology to Makoto who just smiled and said that it was fine and long forgotten, which was true. Sakamoto was happy to hear this. They would be leaving each other on friendly terms.
"I thought you wouldn't make it," Nagisa said once they all left the elementary school for the last time.
"We wouldn't have if it wasn't for the graduation ceremony ending early," Rin said.
"We ran all the way here as soon as it ended," Makoto said.
"You didn't have to," Nagisa said.
"You're not fooling anyone," Rei said dryly. "I could see how much you wanted us to attend your graduation ceremony."
"You're easy to read," Haruka said.
"Honestly," Rei continued speaking. "You are a selfish brat at times, but why can't you be selfish when you need to be?"
Nagisa looked surprised, then he laughed. "That's so much like you to say, Rei-chan,"
This caused everyone to laugh as they continued on walking home together.
I know there are still a few chapters until the story actually ends but the primary part of them are actually also part of Free Parenting, so the last chapters are just there to tie the stories together completely. Therefore I felt like I should leave a note now, seeing as this marks the end of the story before the beginning (Does that make any sense?)
Anyway, thanks for reading so far. I'm really grateful.
Jackie