Chapter 3

Swimming practice had ended just a minute ago. Everyone was busy packing their things, preparing to leave, unlike a certain guy who went towards his captain.

"Erm… Makoto-senpai," Rei called out hesitantly from behind.

"Rei, what is it?"

"Well, I…"

His heart was beating faster with every second that he wasted. He knew he should quickly finish saying his piece of words because he backed down, but he just couldn't find the enough courage to say it out. Looking at Makoto's curious expression had only made it worse despite the fact that he had already practiced for his dialogue several times during last night and this morning. Then Rei took a deep breath and decided that it's now or never.

"I have two tickets for tonight's movie, if you are free, would you like to watch it with me?" asked Rei in a rather fast speed as he was rushing to finish his line. He was worried that if he took a too long time to finish speaking, he would change his dialogue halfway.

Will he say yes? Or will I be rejected?

Rei continued his eye contact towards Makoto as he thought about what type of answer will he received. However, Makoto still didn't show any signs of giving him an answer. Perhaps he was still considering about it. Well, at least he is considering, and did not directly reject him.

Please say yes! Please say yes!

"Rei, well… I –" started Makoto as Haruka came into the room where they put their belongings, along with Nagisa who followed behind him. He realized that their conversation caught Makoto's attention. Nagisa was asking Haruka of things about his relationship with Rin again. Rei had no idea why was his friend so obsessed with other people's relationship. In the first place, why must he choose to talk about this in front of Makoto again?

"Makoto, are you done? Let's leave," said Haruka, completely ignoring Nagisa. Not that anyone could blame him. After all, this is all privacy.

"I will be out later. Go ahead first," answered Makoto. After listening to him, both Haruka and Nagisa left the room.

"Well…" started Makoto as Rei was still looking at the door where the two had left. Makoto then continued, "I hope it's not some horror movie."

Rei was stunned for a moment before he quickly responded, "Definitely not. It's a story about the relationship between a teacher and his fellow students. I have heard that this movie is very touching."

"Alright, see you tonight," said Makoto as he grabbed his bag and walked towards the door. Rei couldn't believe what he had heard. Did Makoto just agreed on going out with him? Did he hear it wrongly? But he was absolutely sure he had heard the correct words. Lots of questions were filling his brain, and he only started to really react when Makoto left the room.

"Yes! Oh no, I need to quickly go home and prepare myself."

With that, Rei immediately grabbed his stuffs and ran home. This might be his one and only chance to fight for a place in Makoto's heart. He needed to make sure that tonight's outing would be successful. Failure would not be acceptable after all.

After he had finally done choosing the perfect set of clothes to wear, Rei took a final look in the mirror.

"Perfect," said Rei as he readjusted his glasses.

Slowly he left his house and walked through several roads. There was plenty of time after all. When he finally reached the assigned place, for a moment he felt as though he was finished. Makoto was already there, standing in front of the cinema waiting for him. Getting worried that he might have been late, he immediately checked his watch to find out that there were about 15 minutes more before the show starts.

"Makoto-senpai!" called out from the other road.

Makoto heard him and indeed looked at him while he was busy crossing the road. He panted heavily as he arrived in front of Makoto.

"Sorry that I am late. "

"It's alright. I just happened to reach early."

And so they went into the cinema. Throughout the show, no one talked. They focused on the show. After the movie, Rei invited Makoto to have dinner together and once again, Makoto surprisingly accepted the offer. They took their dinner at a restaurant located nearby the cinema.

"My house is this way, and you should be heading that direction, right?" asked Makoto as he pointed to the opposite direction of where they were standing.

"I will walk you home first," said Rei as he continued to walk forward, but Makoto stood still.

"Rei, I need to be honest with you," started Makoto. As he knew he had gotten Rei's attention, he continued, "I came out today because I didn't want to stay at home thinking of Haru."

"Somehow, I could guess the reason, but you still chose to come out to see me. That shows I still have a chance."

"Rei, about this… I don't think you should put your feelings onto me. You should just forget about me and find someone else."

"I am not giving up. Until you tell me you are already dating someone, if not I will definitely not give up on you."

"Rei…" Makoto could see the determination in Rei's eyes.

"Besides, Makoto-senpai, it's pretty cruel to actually tell someone to forget the person that he loves."

"That is not what I was trying to –"

"I am just joking."

"Eh?"

"But I am not joking when I said I am not giving up on you. You have no idea how much I am in love with you. If I could, I would have cut my chest apart to show you my heart."

Makoto felt inarticulate. What was he supposed to say in this kind of situation? Before he could give a proper respond, Rei pulled him into a hug.

"That's why please don't say things like asking me to forget you or telling me that I should leave you. It hurts."

"Sorry."

The next day arrived.

"Rei-chan, we need to be quick," said Nagisa as he messily threw all of his belongings into his already messed up bag.

'I am done, just waiting for you," said Rei, standing beside Nagisa.

"What's wrong? Are the two of you rushing to somewhere?" asked Makoto.

Then Nagisa took out a piece of paper from his bag, which had written big promotion on it. Every item would have a 50% discount for today. Haruka stood beside Makoto and took a look on it as well. His eyes nearly went wide. He could see the price of mackerel was so cheap that it was twice cheaper of the price that he usually paid.

"Haru-chan and Mako-chan want to go as well?" asked Nagisa as he zipped his bag.

"Let's go," said Haruka without any hesitation. The other three could completely guess what he was planning to purchase.

"Mako-chan, will you be going as well?" asked Nagisa.

"Yes, I guess I should. I have to help my mother buy some stuffs after all," said Makoto.

As they were about to leave and go to the supermarket, Haruka's cell phone rang.

"What is Rin-chan doing here?" asked Nagisa. They had just reached the said supermarket with 50% discount on all items, and as they entered the supermarket, Rin was already there waiting for them.

"Well, Haru had promised to grab dinner with me, but when I called him just now, he told me he was busy. And when I asked him why, he told me you guys are coming here and if I am interested, I could join as well," explained Rin.

Neither was shocked to the explanation. Mackerel was always the most important to Haruka, not even his boyfriend, Rin could beat mackerel's position in Haruka's heart. When everyone turned to face Haruka, all of them suddenly realized that Haruka was nowhere to be found. He had probably already gone to purchase his items. Knowing where he might be, everyone went to find where the mackerel was placed in the supermarket.

"Woah, Haru-chan is going to buy all of the mackerel here," pointed Nagisa as everyone saw the amount of mackerel that Haruka was holding.

"Haruka-senpai really do love mackerel very much," said Rei, sweat dropped as he saw the amount of mackerel there. He couldn't understand why Haruka hadn't grown bored of mackerel.

Next, they saw Haruka taking the pineapple tin, with Makoto stopping him.

"Wait, Haru, it's really weird to combine pineapple with mackerel."

"I like it that way," said Haruka.

"Makoto is right, Haru," said Rin, as he placed back almost all of the pineapple tin taken by Haruka, probably only left one or two for him.

"Don't worry, Makoto. I will not let Haru simply eat weird combination of food anymore."

Haruka glanced fiercely at Rin.

"I should cook for Haru from now on, with that I can make sure you eat healthy food. That way, Makoto can stop worrying about you as well," said Rin, laughing.

Makoto smiled sadly at Rin's statement. Right, he had almost forgotten that he didn't need to worry about Haruka anymore. He had forgotten that Rin would take care of him from now on. He had forgotten that Haruka didn't need him anymore. He is nothing more than Haruka's… friend.

Rin could see Makoto had a sad expression on his face. He wanted to walk towards him, and talk to him, perhaps gave him some comforting words, but before he could do anything…

"Rei-chan, that is the one that we are looking for! Let's go!"

Rei was pulled to somewhere else by Nagisa.

"Let's buy five," said Nagisa as he simply took the items.

"Wait, Nagisa-kun! You need to check the expiry date," said Rei as he took the boxes from Nagisa and checked the expiry dates.

"Ah! That is the famous strawberry jam! It is usually very expensive, I shall buy three of them," said Nagisa as he rushed to the place where variety types of jams were located.

"Ah, and all these chocolates are so cheap right now!"

Seeing that Nagisa's hand were having a higher pile of food each seconds, he sighed and spoke, "Nagisa-kun, you really should stop eating un…healthy…"

As usual, Nagisa always ignored Rei who was giving him advice. However, Rei was lost in words as he saw Makoto running, and his eyes were watery! Seeing that, he promptly left Nagisa alone to chase Makoto.

"Wait, Rei-chan!" shouted Nagisa as he stood up after taking all the food that he wanted. His arms obviously had no free space to take anything anymore for the time being. Nagisa started to run as well to chase Rei, but as he ran, things he was holding were starting to fall. It was then he realized Haruka and Rin were just on his left, so he put all his things on the trolley that they took before chasing Rei.

"Rei-chan!" called Nagisa from behind, and he was still chasing Rei who did not response to his calling at all. Nagisa could see their distance weren't that far, so he tried his best to run even faster and reached Rei.

"Rei-chan, where are you going?" asked Nagisa who suddenly rushed in front of Rei.

"I suddenly remembered that I have some things to do. I will leave first," said Rei, as he rushed out of the shopping complex to find the elder boy who he had lost sight of when he wasted his time talking to Nagisa.

As he exited the shopping complex, he was shocked to realize that it was actually raining heavily outside. Thus, he took out the umbrella that he had kept in his school bag, opened it up and went under the rain to search for Makoto.

As Rei disappeared out of his sight, Nagisa went back to where Haruka and Makoto were standing.

"Where is Rei?" asked Rin, looking around to find the boy.

"Rei-chan said he had something to do, so he left," said Nagisa.

"He as well? Makoto said he had something to do too," said Rin.

Meanwhile, Haruka recollected his memory on what had happened minutes ago.

"Makoto, did you know? Haru dislike eating prawns because he hates to peel the shell," said Rin.

"Hey Rin!" exclaimed Haruka, he sounded a little angry.

Makoto simply smiled.

"But that is what I love about you too," said Rin as he kissed Haruka.

Haruka then pushed Rin away and glared at him angrily before telling him, "We are in public, Rin."

"Sorry, sorry, you are just too cute, I could not control myself," said Rin smiling.

And then both of them realized Makoto was not talking.

"Makoto?" called Rin, but there was no response.

Then Haruka approached Makoto as he called his name again. This time Makoto responded as he felt something touched his shoulder.

"Are you alright, Makoto?" asked Haruka worriedly.

"I… I suddenly remember there is something I have to do. I will be going off first," said Makoto as he immediately rushed off to exit the place.

"Haru."

Rin called out to Haruka who seemed to be spacing out but there was no response. He tried again.

"Haru?"

This time Haruka looked at Rin as he finally heard his name being called.

"What is wrong? You are spacing out."

"It's nothing. Let's go."

And then, they continued walking, but deep in Haruka's heart, he was worried about Makoto. Thinking back, something seemed different with Makoto lately. It felt like he had not been in a good mood recently. Had something been troubling him? Haruka thought he should go and visit Makoto later when they were done shopping.

"MAKOTO-SENPAI!" yelled Rei as he desperately tried to catch up with the elder boy.

He didn't know if Makoto heard him despite the sound of thunder storm and pouring rain. However, he knew that he needed to run faster. Given Makoto's current emotion, he might be in danger if he continued running directionless on the road.

"Makoto-senpai!" Rei finally reached him and he grabbed his wrist, forcing the elder boy to stop his steps and faced him. He held the umbrella that he was holding along the way closer to the other boy, although the other boy was already fully drenched.

"Let me go."

"You're drenched, Makoto-senpai."

"Rei, I… I can't do it. I thought I can, but I can't. It hurts."

Hearing that, Rei released his grip on Makoto's wrist, fearing that he might have hurt him, not knowing that he had misunderstood Makoto's words. As Makoto's wrist was free, he fell to the ground.

"It hurts to see Haru and Rin together. It hurts to see that they are getting closer every day. It hurts to know that Haru will soon forget me and don't need me around. It really hurts, because I love Haru very much!"

Rei could see that Makoto was crying at this point. It hurt him to see Makoto broke down over and over again, every time for the exactly same reason.

For Haruka-senpai.

Yes, it was always for Haruka. Makoto was always crying because of Haruka. All Makoto thought of was always Haruka, never Rei.

Rei bent down to be on the same height as Makoto so that he could pull him into a tight embrace.

"Rei, what should I do. It hurts. What can I do to stop it from hurting?" asked Makoto while still crying.

Rei didn't know what he should do. All he could do was patting Makoto's hair and rubbing his back continuously and whispered that everything would be fine repeatedly.

They remained in the position until Makoto fell asleep. Rei didn't know how much time had passed after that, but the rain had gotten lighter. Carefully not to wake up the elder boy, he gently carried Makoto back (by piggy back) to his house which was not very far away.

~TO BE CONTINUED~

Author's Note : Another chapter done. Things are getting interesting. Hope dear readers enjoy this chapter and I shall start to work on the next chapter now.