They set out first thing the next morning, really even before dawn could reach the horizon, and headed up the mountain path for a long hike into town. They each had lightweight packs on their backs with not much more than minimal clothes, water, money, and bentos for lunch, which they took a break to eat about halfway through their journey.
The Makoto also had the cellphone with it, which it tried to use every now and then, searching around for a better signal and trying to dial its parents again — to no avail, but it didn't take the failure so much to heart now. It in fact, seemed incredibly optimistic, almost too much so, but Haru didn't call it out for over-exaggerating, because he could see the tension in its shoulders as well. He just let it go on about its family and all the things that they would think about Haru, and want to give Haru, and want to ask Haru.
It talked about how relieved it knew its mother would be, and breathed out several breaths while thinking about it out loud — and Haru couldn't tell what part of that was an emotional reaction to thinking so deeply about its mother, and probably missing her, or what was a steady preparation for the obstacles it would have to face in order to get to her.
Haru admired it a little bit maybe. It was clearly scared. And that became more apparent the closer and closer they got into town. He knew that if it could choose to do this any other way, it would, even if that meant walking two-hundred kilometers across a sky bridge. But it was determined to get back home, and so it said nothing about how much it was dreading having to face the sea again only days after almost being drowned by it.
Haru was trying to understand its situation and remain empathetic with it. (He'd decided to embrace that over the past several hours.) Because the Makoto, he'd come to realize, was actually an incredibly warm human with a lot of room in its heart for carrying things that didn't even really have anything to do with it. It had shown so much interest in Haru's very boring and anti-social life, and also expressed an uncanny amount of compassion and tenderness toward Haru's grief about his grandmother, and that was the first time he'd ever been shown so much care by another being. Of course, the Makoto was the first human he'd ever spent any time with, but also, he just somehow knew that they were not all like this, that the Makoto was something exceptional and unique to its kind. And he was appreciative of that, because he could have been landed with anyone else.
He'd taken to it maybe a little bit over the past few days that it had been living in his cottage with him. And even though it still closed the windows and the doors and hadn't learned how to not burn fish, he thought he would have been okay if it had had to stay another few days. It wouldn't have been bad at least. And maybe at this point, he didn't so much mind that he would be making the journey to Iwatobi with it. He'd made a promise to the bottlenose anyway. He thought it would be respectful to stick with that until the end.
"Is that it?" the Makoto asked as they crested the hill to find the seaside town on the other side.
"Yep," Haru said, continuing forward.
The Makoto hesitated for a just a moment, but followed.
They trekked their way down the dirt road into town where Haru could instantly feel the inclination to clam up and dive head first into the water below the docks. But he was playing the role of some sort of guardian today, so he figured he should do his best not to be anxious around the humans milling about under the afternoon sun.
It took no time at all from that moment to reach the dock where the squid boat was waiting, and the blond-haired sailor that Haru had talked to the other day waved at them from the bow of its boat. Haru didn't bother to wave back. The Makoto lifted a tentative hand.
There were a select few crew members shuffling around, preparing to take off, and the sailor said something to them over its shoulder before trotting down the ramp to greet them.
"You made it," it said jovially, brushing a hand down its goatee. It smiled at Haru, then looked to the Makoto and reached a hand out toward it. "This must be my guy. Sasabe Goro, nice to meet you."
The Makoto lifted a wobbly smile and shook its hand. "Makoto. Um … th-thank you for this. I uh …" It huffed out a nervous laugh. "Well, I suppose I'd have a hard time finding another way home." It shifted the bag on its shoulder.
"It's no problem at all," the Goro said. "We've got plenty of room. As long as you don't mind smelling like fish, then it should be smooth sailing."
The Makoto nodded, eyes dropping to the dock. Haru watched it for a second, and then turned to the sailor.
"Do you have room for one more?" he asked. "I promised I'd see it all the way home."
"Of course!" the Goro said, cracking a smile. "No charge. He's been through enough hasn't he?" The Goro turned its grin on the Makoto and tossed a thumb back at Haru. "This one told me about your situation. Crazy stuff, but I'm glad you made it. I'm honored to be a part of getting you back where you belong."
The Makoto smiled back meekly and nodded. "Thank you."
"All set, Sasabe!" one of the crew members shouted from the boat, thumb raised into the air, and the Goro waved back at it before turning back to them and clapping its hands.
"Well, you heard 'im. And you made it just in time. If you're ready to shove off, then let's get to it."
The Goro waved its whole arm this time as it turned fully to the boat, and Haru took his first step after it.
"J-Just like that?" the Makoto stuttered.
"Just like that."
"Sh-shouldn't we … um … Don't we have to … I-I mean I …"
Haru and the Goro both turned to find the Makoto absently stepping backward, chest heaving. Its face was drained of all color, and it hands were shaking fiercely as it clenched them together in front of its chest.
Haru was surprised by the twist his chest. He naturally turned his full attention on it. The Goro walked right up to it and patted it on the shoulder, huddling close with a crease of concern on its brow.
"Hey, hey. You alright? Do you need to sit down?"
The Makoto shook its head, but Haru wasn't sure it really meant to. The movement seemed rather mechanical. Its weight rocked back on its heels and it patted a hand on the one the Goro had on its shoulder, and though it could have passed as a gesture of gratitude for the sailor's concern, Haru suspected it was more so a reaction to keeping its balance in check.
"Yeah. I'm … I'm-I'm fine. I just … probably need to use the restroom first."
It said this very wispily, as though it couldn't breathe, and as it turned its head away from the water, Haru caught a glimpse of its focus fading away to somewhere distant, leaving its eyes glazed over.
The Goro seemed to pick up on this as well, as it looked even more concerned and tightened its grip on the Makoto's shoulder. "Okay," it said with a nod. "Okay yeah, just take a minute. There's one in the clam shop over there. We'll get you some water to drink."
"Okay." It was a whisper, and an entirely faint one at that. Haru didn't even hear it. He just saw its lips move.
His hair was standing up on the back of his neck, and he could feel the sea warning him in the background. He was already making his way over to where the Makoto was wavering off balance, purely out of instinct, but the Makoto passed out before he could get there.
The hospital was tiny, and seemed better suited to be referred to as an urgent care center.
He found himself waiting stiffly in a chair, far more restless than he needed to be. His fingers tapped on his thigh, and he bounced his knee, glancing around the little waiting room, which was also the lobby. There were only a few humans sitting in other chairs scattered around and one of them was the sailor Goro, who had insisted it wouldn't be satisfied with leaving until it knew for sure that the Makoto was truly okay.
They didn't have to wait terribly long. A nurse came out with a shiny smile and walked right up to them. They both stood up out of their seats.
"He's perfectly fine," it said. "Vasovagal syncope. It happens all the time. There's nothing physically wrong with him. He just had a bad reaction to an emotional trigger and his blood pressure got a bit too high. It's back to normal now, and we've got him on an IV just to make sure he stays hydrated. We'll give him maybe another half hour to rest, just to be safe, and he'll be good to go."
Haru found himself letting go of a rather large breath as the Goro nodded and shook the nurse's hand. It offered to show them back to the room, so they followed it, and the Makoto was already sitting up, slightly slouched forward and staring despondently at its knees.
It looked up when they entered the room and smiled a fake smile when the Goro approached it and shook its hand too. The Makoto apologized for passing out, and the Goro told it that was silly. It said that they're always sailing back and forth to Chibu, so they should let it know whenever Makoto was feeling better, and it would still be more than happy to take them. The Makoto nodded, though it struggled to hold onto its smile just then. The Goro didn't seem to notice.
Now that it knew the Makoto was fine, it was suddenly in a rush to get back to its job, so it made sure they had its number, then said goodbye to them and left. The nurse had already walked off to do something else, so Haru and the Makoto were alone after that.
They met each other's eyes for just a moment before the Makoto grimaced and pressed its palms to its face, back dropping against the bed.
"I'm sorry, Haru," it said in a muffled moan.
Haru breathed again and walked up to the side of the bed, electing to sit in the chair beside it. "There's nothing to be sorry for."
The Makoto's shoulders tensed and Haru saw the quiver in them. "I don't know what happened," it whispered, voice thick with emotion.
"You were scared. There's nothing wrong with that. You could have said something on the way over."
"That wouldn't have done anything. I just … I thought I could …" It brushed the side of its face that Haru couldn't see with its hand, then went back to hiding. It took a moment for it to calmly clear its throat. "I thought if I just focused on getting back to my family I would be okay." It sniffed, probably louder than it meant to. "This is ridiculous."
Haru sighed and looked away toward the wall, officially disquieted by the Makoto's frustration with itself. "Fretting over it isn't going to help you. It's not like your fear is unwarranted."
The Makoto sniffed again. "But you said there's no reason to fear the sea."
"Well … Yeah, but we haven't had the same experiences. I've never almost drowned because of it. And I grew up with the sea. It's always been there for me. It's not the same for you."
It dropped its hands down into its lap. The whites of its eyes were slightly red, the tops of its cheeks shiny. Its gaze was distant, staring down at the blanket over its legs.
"I used to want to be a sailor," it said, and this caught Haru so off guard that he found his shoulders shifting.
The Makoto was quiet after this declaration, and Haru felt he needed more explanation, so he prodded. "Did you?"
It nodded. Its voice was quiet when it spoke. "I loved sailing. I loved the sea. I loved that moment … of being so far out from the shore that there's nothing to see but blue. Blue skies, blue waters. I loved it when the wind caught the sails and carried the boat over the waves, and the ocean mist always felt so good hitting my skin, especially after being under the sun all day. My favorite thing was going out on the water for a picnic with my family. We did it all the time when I was growing up. And I wanted my own boat so badly. Namiko — child of the waves…"
It brushed a stray tear away from its cheek and shrugged. "But we couldn't ever afford one. At the most, we were only ever able to borrow one from a friend. At some point, I think I just kind of let that dream die away and went ahead with going to school in Tokyo, but then I kind of got stuck there and forgot about it. Everything was always so busy. But I missed the sea."
It closed its eyes, crease deep on its brow. "I missed it all the time. All I wanted was to go back to that smell, to get my hair caught in the wind, to hear the seagulls. I wanted to be under the sun again, without the buildings, and the telephone wires, and the billboards getting in the way. Gods …" It huffed out a laugh and opened its eyes again. "I can't believe I got so caught up in it all. I should have come back to visit more often."
It looked back at Haru and there was a doleful shine to its eyes that was so intense Haru felt it pull at the bottom of his gut and he felt nothing short of hurt for it, longing for it, sorrow for it. All he knew for the briefest of moments was that he wanted it to stop suffering. Because it shouldn't be so sad.
"I don't want to be afraid of the sea," it whispered, smiling again even though its eyes welled up very vulnerably. "I hate it. It feels so wrong. It makes me so …" It chuckled and brushed the tears away again. "It makes me so fucking sad."
Haru's fingers curled on his thighs. There was an itch in his palms, as though they were overwhelmed by temptation, longing to reach up and touch it, comfort it somehow, but he didn't know how, so they stayed pressed against his lap.
He swallowed and looked down. "M- … Makoto."
Makoto sniffed again and looked over at him. Haru struggled to get the words out for a moment. It took a while to convince his lips to part and his tongue to work the way he wanted it to, but he was eventually able to get it out.
"I'm sorry." He looked up, heart immediately squeezing under the way that Makoto stared back. "For not understanding you," he added. "You've … kind of been just a thing that showed up at my door, and I didn't think we were anything alike, but … that's not true. I'm …"
His lips pinched themselves together again, but he steeled himself and sucked in a breath, turning his shoulders squarely. "I promised to take care of you, and I still intend to do that. You're my responsibility, and I guarantee you'll make it back home. I'll find a way to get you there no matter what."
Makoto's expression pulled with emotion. He simultaneously grimaced and smiled and shed one more silent tear. He swiped it away, laughed breathily, and then smiled even brighter. "Thank you, Haru."
Haru nodded once, then stood, because he needed to escape for a moment. The intensity of all the feelings was a little too much and he wasn't used to that.
"You should get some more rest. I'll find you something to eat."
Makoto hummed and rested his shoulders back. "Thank you, Haru," he said again.
Haru nodded, no longer able to meet his gaze. He moved quickly out into the hallway.