Chapter 8

A/N: Finally the last chapter!

"Rei, please stop crying already," said Makoto as he continued to wipe away the continuous falling tears away. Rei had been crying so much to the extent that his eyes looked absolutely sore right now.

"I am so happy. Please tell me that this is not a dream," said Rei, still crying.

Makoto placed a light kiss on Rei's forehead as he told him in a rather soft yet gentle voice, "It's not a dream."

"Why would you choose me? I mean, I thought you like Haruka-senpai?"

"I thought so too. That day when Haru came and told me he broke up with Rin and said he was in love with me, I was unable to say that I loved him too. I wondered why… I always thought Haru is the only person I have ever fallen in love with. I didn't know the reason until you called me and wished me to be happy with Haru, and that we would only be friends. I felt so hurt that I almost cried. That was when I realized I had fallen deep in love with you without realizing it myself."

For a few seconds, Rei neither moved nor spoke. He was way too surprised to hear Makoto's confession. He jumped onto Makoto and hugged him tightly as he said, "I love you very much too, Makoto-senpai."

Makoto simply smiled at the statement as he whispered beside Rei's ear, "I know."

Makoto then pulled Rei away from him as he grabbed Rei's cheeks with both his hands and said, "I should have realize my feelings sooner, and then you wouldn't need to suffer so much. I am sorry for coming to you so late."

Rei shook his head in denial as he responded, "You are not late at all."

Then Makoto pulled him into a tight embrace again.

"What?! Makoto rejected you?" asked Rin in shock.

Weird, this was just simply weird. He always thought the two were deeply in love with each other.

"Well, he didn't actually reject me yet, but he didn't give me an answer either," said Haruka.

"Then what are you going to do? Wait for him to finally give you an answer?" asked Rin.

"I don't know," said Haruka. Somehow, Rin could feel his sadness when he said those three words. He then pulled Haruka and put him into his embrace.

"…Rin..?"

"No matter what happens, I will always be here for you."

"Thanks," said Haruka as he wrapped his hands around Rin's waist, extremely glad to have a friend like him around.

"Here," said Makoto as he handed the phone strap to Rei.

Rei held out both his hands as Makoto placed the phone strap in his hands. Rei said nothing as he just stared at Makoto.

"Merry Christmas," wished Makoto, smiling as he took out his cell phone, hanging the exact same phone strap that he had just given Rei.

"Merry Christmas," replied Rei as he immediately hanged the phone strap onto his cell phone.

"Thanks, I love it so much. It's the first present from Makoto-senpai," said Rei, smiling. Makoto blushed at the statement, yet still manage to smile back.

Rei then promptly stood up and went to his cupboard to get the box of Christmas present that he had prepared. He handed it to Makoto.

"I prepared you a Christmas present too."

Makoto took the box and looked at Rei. Rei told him to open it, so he obeyed his words. As Makoto opened the box, he looked at the contents. It was a brown scarf. Makoto took the scarf out of the box. Before he could say his thanks, he realized something was crafted on the scarf.

REI LOVES MAKOTO

Makoto felt so touched with the present. He loved it. It was no ordinary scarf, it had both Rei and his name on it. Rei was so thoughtful compared to him. He felt a little guilty now for he bought the phone strap that was under promotion with a buy one free one tag. Rei observed Makoto's expression. He waited for Makoto to say something, so as to know if Makoto liked the present he received.

"Thanks. I love your present," said Makoto, smiling. Rei was so glad Makoto loved the present.

"You wrote the same thing in the ferris wheel," said Makoto.

Rei blushed at the statement.

"You saw it?"

"Yes. I went to the theme park today and coincidentally went into the exact same ferris wheel we took. I guess it was fate."

"Fate?"

"It feels like it's helping me to realize how much I love you."

Rei once again blushed at the statement. Makoto took this opportunity to press his lips on Rei's once again.

And then Makoto stayed over and spend the Christmas day with Rei. They baked cookies together and took lots of pictures. It's their first official date. On the other side, Rin had asked Haruka out as well. Haruka could not find any reason to reject as he had nothing better to do. With that, Rin and Haruka spent their Christmas day outside together.

The day after Christmas, Makoto went home. This was probably his first time not spending Christmas in his house or with Haruka. As Makoto left Rei's house, he decided he should go and visit Haruka first. It's time to give him an answer. Makoto walked through the familiar road leading to Haruka's house and politely knocked the door when he finally arrived. He waited for a while before Haruka came to open the door for him.

"Hi, Haru," greeted Makoto.

"Makoto…" Haruka was somehow surprised to see him. He must have thought he would still continue to avoid him for a long time.

"Come in," said Haruka as he closed the door.

Both sat on the chair silently before Makoto finally broke the silence, "Haru, I am sorry for leaving without giving you an answer that day."

"So did you come here to tell me the answer?" asked Haruka. Makoto nodded.

"Sorry, Haru. I found someone else that I love."

"And that person is Rei?"

"Yes."

"I see. I understand."

And Haruka became silent. He could have guessed this would be Makoto's answer since Makoto pushed him away and ran after Rei that day. But hearing the answer straight from Makoto's mouth, it hurt.

"Haru, I…"

"It's fine, Makoto. I am tired, can you please leave me alone for now?"

Makoto knew his words had hurt Haruka, but there was nothing he could do about it, right? Then Makoto quietly left Haruka's house after saying "Sorry, Haru." As he closed the door behind him, he could hear Haruka fell onto the floor. He then took out his phone as he prepared to make a call, to call someone who would be able to comfort Haruka. Before he managed to make a call, his cell phone was already ringing.

It was Rin.

"Makoto, are you free? I would like to talk to you about something."

"About Haru?"

"Yes."

"I was about to call you for the same reason too."

"Good. When and where can we meet?"

"Now. Let's meet at the ocean nearby my house."

And then both Makoto and Rin started to go to the said place.

Makoto waited for a while before Rin reached, panting.

"Makoto," called Rin while he was still panting.

"You are here," said Makoto.

Then Rin straightened his body and walked towards Makoto and spoke, "I would like to talk to you about Haru."

"Rin, I rejected Haru."

"Why? Aren't you in love with him? Stop lying to yourself, I could see very well how much you love him."

"I did love Haru, he was my first love?"

"You mean you don't love him anymore? Why? Are you angry that he abandoned you and chose me? He didn't realize it either."

"I know. He told me you were the one to make him realize his true feelings."

"Then why? If you are angry at me, I don't mind doing anything to let you release your anger, but Haru… he is seriously in love with you. So please don't blame him. He is not in fault. It was because of me. I knew you two were in love, yet I did something like that."

"I am not angry at you, Rin. It's true that I was terribly sad when I first found out that you were already with Haru, but right now I found someone else to live for. He was always by my side when I broke down."

Then Makoto took out his cell phone and showed Rin a picture. It was a picture he took yesterday while making cookies with Rei.

"Rei?"

"Rei is the one who accompanied me through my heartbreak. Right now, Rei is the person that I love."

For a moment, Rin kept his silence after hearing that. He blinked his eyes, looked at the picture on Makoto's phone, then back to Makoto and back to the picture on the phone again.

"WHAT?!"

Saying that Rin was surprised might be an understatement. After all, Rei and Makoto? This was definitely a breaking news. He could probably accept it better if he heard news of Nagisa and Rei together, but with Makoto? First of all, Rin did not even know they were that close. He thought there was only a senior-junior relationship between the two. Rin tried to remember any moment that could give him a hint of their relationship. And then it struck Rin of the weird behavior Makoto had back then when they visited the sick Rei.

"That time when Rei was sick, we went to visit him. He told us he was courting the person that he loves, that was you?" asked Rin, totally in shock.

"Well, I guess so…" answered Makoto, blushing.

"But I am still sorry to you. I made you gone through a heart break by forcefully breaking up Haru and you."

Makoto shook his head. "No, it's not your fault. If you feel sorry about it, then please promise to make Haru happy. He is my best friend after all. I hope he can find someone that makes him happy, and that person would be you, Rin."

"I wish I could, but I just couldn't get him to love me back."

"I am not giving up. Until you tell me you are already dating someone, if not I will definitely not give up on you. That was what Rei told me when I told him to give up on me."

"Well, Rei is always someone who never gives up easily. He worked hard to achieve what he wants, just like when he desperately came to me, asking me to teach him the proper way to swim."

"I believe you can do it too. When you stand beside Haru, I can't help but to think you two are a good match."

Rin was surprised to hear Makoto words. He thought Makoto would be angry at him for making him heartbroken before, but here Makoto was encouraging him to chase back Haruka. How kind could he be.

"Quickly go to Haru. I just rejected him, he might be crying in his house right now."

No other words were needed. Rin promptly ran to Haruka's house to comfort the one he loves.

New year arrived. Makoto and Rei decided to attend the festival together.

As Rei and Makoto passed by the stall where the game of catching fishes was held, Makoto can't help but stare at those people playing the game.

"How nostalgic. I still remember we came together last year along with Haruka and Nagisa."

"Right. Haruka-senpai even gave you the fishes he caught as a gift for you. That's why you were always putting full attention on the fishes. Looking at those fishes must be able to remind you of Haruka-senpai."

"What is wrong with you all of a sudden?"

"Nothing. After all, Haruka-senpai is someone important to you. It's not like I hope I could replace his position in your heart. I mean –"

Rei was interrupted with his words as Makoto pressed his lips onto Rei's.

"Haru is definitely important, he is an irreplaceable friend, but you are the only person that I would like to do this with," said Makoto as he caressed Rei's cheek.

And they heard two familiar voices from the stall in front.

"You didn't even manage to shoot one of it," said the red-haired man.

The black haired man that stood beside him said nothing.

"I heard that you caught some fishes for Makoto last time when you guys came last year. Well, after all I know I am just not as important as Makoto is to you."

"That time is different."

"What is different?"

"I could feel the water rushing towards me while catching the fishes. It feels nice."

Besides Rin, Makoto and Rei who listened to the whole conversation muttered "Oh, I see" at the same time.

As Haruka and Rin turned, they met Makoto and Rei.

"Hi, Haru, Rin," greeted Makoto. Then following him, the other three greeted each other as well.

They were about to talk more but fireworks had started. No words were needed. The four put their attention on the fireworks that night. Both Haruka and Rin observed Makoto and Rei who were holding hands, happily chatting while enjoying themselves. As Rin could see Haruka was paying his full attention to Makoto, Rin slowly reached Haruka's hand and wrapped their fingers together. Feeling what Rin was doing, Haruka glanced at Rin and back to the fireworks, but he didn't make any movement to push Rin away.

~THE END~