Killer Whale

Ch 5 - Taming the Whale

Haru grabs the paint brush and begins to paint over the hurtful words. He makes it to the 'Not anymore.' and stares at it for a moment. He looks down at the paint can, getting the paint brush drenched in white paint, he begins to cover up the wall.

An hour later Haru has finished for today and begins to head home. He walks quietly through the little neighborhood. He sees Makoto's house and stops in front of it and takes a few steps towards the door. He becomes anxious and turns around and walks off. Haru makes it to his house and opens the door walking inside. Inside he finds Rin watching a show on T.V. and eating food.

"Rin? What are you doing in my house?"

"Oh! Haru! I came to hang out!!" Rin says as Haru makes his way over and sit down at the table. 

"Why?"

"Okay to be honest, Nagisa told me about Makoto acting weird. I came to ask if you knew why."

"I don't, I wish I did though..." Haru says quietly, "I miss my best friend." They both sit there quietly for a moment before Haru turns his head looking away. 

"Oh, Haru you have paint on your cheek." Rin says grabbing Haru's cheek at leaning in to get a better look and tries to wipe it off. At that moment, Makoto bursts through the door and runs into the living room. Rin and Haru leaned in with Rin's hand on Haru's cheek. Makoto's heart falls to his stomach and he backs away, his face going pale. 

"No..." He whispers under his breath. Haru looks at him with wide eyes.

"Makoto?" 

Makoto turns around and begins to run as fast as he can towards no where in particular just away from there. 

"Makoto?!" Haru yells getting up from the table and Rin as well. They use their built swimmer bodies to run after Makoto.

"Makoto!!!" They both scream into the air. Suddenly Makoto finds himself at dead end. He looks all around to try to find an exit, but no such luck. He stands there, hearing them call his name, soon he hears heavy breathing mixed in with his, he spins around to see two red faced boys with sweat glistening on their skin. 

"Jeez Makoto, you sure do run fast...!" Rin says breathing hard with a light chuckle, attempting to lighten the mood. Makoto just glares at him with hurt in his face. Haru looks over at Rin giving him a 'Shut up, your not helping.' look. He looks back at Makoto and his breathing slows down. 

"Makoto..." Haru says stepping forward with a hand extended as Makoto steps back. 

"N-No. J-Just go away...!" 

"Makoto, what's wrong?"

"L-like you don't know!!" Makoto yells getting angrier.

"We don't!!!" Rin yells entering the conversation. Makoto rolls his eyes, getting frustrated and walks away past the other two. Haru grabs his forearm, and stares him intently in the eyes.

"Makoto, I need an answer."

"You want an answer?! Yeah, me too!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Why did you choose him? When I was always the-" He stops realizing what he's saying. "I mean...uh..." Haru and Rin look at him confused. He turns around and loosens the hand from his arm. Rin and Haru stand there silently as Makoto leaves the area in haste. 

"Who is 'him'?" Rin finally asks. Haru shrugs his shoulders, but he knew. Him and Makoto knew everything about each other and could read each other easily. However, he didn't want to guess, he wanted a sure answer. The only problem was that Makoto being too afraid to admit it to him.

Rin grabs his phone from his pocket and begins to type on it. 

"What are you doing?" 

"We have to have a meeting at your house. I'm contacting Nagisa to bring Rei and meet us there tomorrow, because we all need to talk how we are going to fix Makoto." Rin states sternly before walking away. 

~Next Day, No School~

"So what exactly are we here for again?" Nagisa questions. Rin sits down at the short table in the living room, crossing his legs. 

"Makoto. We need to come up with a plan to help him."

"You mean we need to confront him?" Rei queries.

"Exactly. What should we say?" Rin replies. They create the plan within an hour and then finish up and nod in agreement of what they are to do.

"Where are we going to do it?" Haru asks at the conclusion. 

"Your pool's locker room." Rin states affirmatively. 

~Next Day~

"Okay, I text him yesterday evening to meet us here. So hopefully, he actually will!" Nagisa says with a laugh. Makoto arrives late, how cliche, trying to be rebellious. He walks in wearing a expressionless face coupled with the light glow of the anger that always seemed to be there now.

"Makoto!!" Rin starts enthusiastically. 

"What do you want?" Makoto says crossing his arms with a grimace. The boys all surround Makoto and begin to inform him of his behavior. Makoto rolls his eyes and groans during the process. 

"Why are you doing this, I thought we were friends?" Rei finally brings it full circle. Makoto becomes flustered and anxious.

"T-That's none of your business!!" Makoto yells. 

"Mako-Chan!!" Nagisa whines, trying to diffuse the situation.

"It's Tachibana!!!" He screams taking a intimidating step towards the blonde. Nagisa takes a step back, suddenly becoming nervous and afraid of Makoto. Before it can go too far, Rei steps in between them while grasping Nagisa's hand for comfort. Nagisa squeezes it tightly and steps closer to Rei, still behind him.

"Leave him alone." Rei growls lowly, angry at Makoto for threatening Nagisa. Makoto frowns and returns to his place a before. 

"If this is all you wanted me for, I'm leaving." Makoto hisses.

"What about your team?!" Rin yells at Makoto's back. Makoto stops dead-still in place and spins around to face him. He points a finger at the red-head. 

"You have no room to talk!" 

"What's that supposed to mean?! Look, Makoto, it's wrong to just ditch your team-"

"Don't you dare even start that crap!!!" Makoto screams, getting angrier by the second. "You-, you were the one who ditched your team! Over a stupid race!! And you know what, I was there for him, while you were busy losing races in Australia!!!" The acidic anger that was boiling up inside of him makes him spit out those hurtful words before he can think twice.

Rin walks up to him with the wild eyes of a shark that smells blood in the water. He grabs Makoto's shirt collar and slams him against the nearest wall. Makoto's back makes contact with a loud thud and he crumples a little under the pain. Rin raises a fist to sock him in the face, but as it speeds towards his mark, a hand grabs Rin's fist. Haru's hand.

"Rin. Stop. It will only bring you down to his level and will accomplish nothing. Please don't hurt the most important person to me, your my best friend."

Makoto's eyes snap open to see Haru staring at Rin while the words hang in the air. 

'Did he mean me?' Makoto thinks rapidly, 'Don't hurt the most important person to me'? He's calling Rin his best friend, but I'm the most important?!'

Haru suddenly turns to meet Makoto's stare, and in that moment the full meaning of those words are confirmed in the deep blue of Haru's eyes. 

Makoto Tachibana was the most important person to Haru Nanase.