Secrets

Constellations

"Hey Haruka?" Makoto pokes his head around the corner. Haru was currently being mesmerized by the nature documentary (about the ocean of course) that was on tv. "....Haru?" Makoto tried again.

Haru turned his head and jumped. "Jeez Makoto, don't do that! At least give me a warning!"

"But I—never mind" Makoto replied. "Anyway, I was wondering if you know anyone who has a car that we can use."

Haru cocked his head. "Why would we need a car?"

"I want to take you and Ren and Ran somewhere." Makoto said casually.

"Oh...umm....can you even drive?" Haru asked uneasily.

"Of course I can...my 'dad' taught me a long time ago." Makoto looked down at his feet. He didn't like mentioning his 'father'.

"How about coach?" Haru suddenly spoke. "I know he usually rides on that stupid scooter but I'm sure he has a car we can borrow."

"Ugh, why didn't I think of him?" Makoto groaned dramatically. "I'll go call him now."
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"Mako niisan?" Ran spike up from the back of the car. "Where are we going?"

"Yeah, and how much longer?" Ren added.

Makoto chuckled and shook his head. "We're almost there."

Approximately 70 seconds later:

"Are we there yet?" A whiny voice spoke loudly.

Makoto sighed. "No, Haruka, not yet."

Ren and Ran giggles in the back at Haru's childish behavior and the somewhat annoyed but also smiling Makoto.

Makoto has an idea and turned the radio on in the car. An upbeat song played and Ren and Ran began to sing in the back.

Makoto and Haru turned to look at each other and smiled. This is what having kids must be like.
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After an hour or so they had arrived at their destination.

"This is kind of an.....unusual spot." Haru said as he looked around. Long story short, they were in the woods. Like all forests, there were mosquitoes biting them and cicadas that wouldn't shut up as well as weird looking fungi along the ground. But to Makoto, it was his favorite place.

Makoto began walking the familiar trail that he always took, with the others wearily trailing behind him. The trees towering over him provided shade from the sun and the little pebbles in the dirt brought back memories of his childhood. He would be on the playground, the other kids actually playing, but Makoto would usually be found in the grass finding as many pebbles as he could. He would name the biggest stone "dad" and then medium one "mom" and the smallest one he could find would be "baby". He had to create the kind of happy family that he didn't have.

He felt tears prick his eyes and he blinked them away. This was supposed to be a happy day.
Finally after a couple of minutes Makoto was right where he wanted to be. At the center of the forest there is no trees and you can see the sky above you, the canopy of leaves from the trees around the center give a perfect vignette to the contrast of the now pinkish orange sky.

"Haru, can you hand me the blankets?" Makoto asked. Haru handed over the two large blankets and placed them on the ground.

He patted the ground next to him "come on guys, sit down."

Ren and Ran both waddled over to the blankets and plopped down in front of Makoto.

"Are we gonna watch the stars, Mako-niisan?" Ren asked looking up at Makoto with big eyes.

"Mhm." Makoto confirmed.

Makoto turned his head to see that Haru was still standing and looking around.
"Come over here, Haru."

Haru directed his attention to Makoto and he sat down next to him.

"Sooo now we wait?" Haru asked.

"Now we wait."
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Finally after an hour or so of lounging and cracking jokes to one another, Makoto, Haru, Ren, and Ran we're laying on their backs to look at the sky.

The stars twinkled in an out of view. Some stars being redder and some being white or blue. Occasionally Ren and Ran would point and say "look! It's a constellation! It's the turtle!" And Makoto and Haru would chuckle knowing full well that there wasn't a turtle constellation.

Haru decided to join in. "Look!" He pointed to nowhere in particular. "It's the mackerel!"

Ran turned around to look at Haru. "You're so silly Haru-nii! There's no such thing as a mackerel constellation" she said as if Haru was being absolutely ridiculous.

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure that's what it is." Haru said.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm an expert on constellations and astronomy." She boasted. "Right, Mako-niisan?"

Makoto bit cheek in order not to laugh. "Right, you sure are."

She let a content "hmph" before laying back down.
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"Are they asleep?" Haru whispered to Makoto.

"Yeah."

"Can I ask you something?" Makoto turned to face Haru.

"Of course." Makoto answered.

"How did you find this place?" Haru had wanted to wait until the kids went to bed just in case this wasn't something Makoto wanted them to know.

"Oh... my dad took me up here a few times." Makoto hesitantly said.

"O-oh...." Haru looked away. "I'm sorry for bringing that up then."

"It's okay."

"Can I ask...one more question?" Haru whispered. He didn't know if he wanted to know the answer or not but.....yeah no never mind, he wanted to know.

Makoto nodded his head and braced himself.

"What happened when you were up here?" Haru finally asked.

"Oh.....nothing..." Makoto quickly said.

"Makoto." Haru deadpanned. He took Makoto's chin in his hand and turned his head to face him. "What did I say about secrets?"

"That they were okay to have!" Makoto retorted quickly.

"Unless?" Haru continued.

Makoto sighed. "Unless they are too important not to share..."

"Exactly. So, do you wanna try to answer this differently?" Haru began. "What happened up here?"

Makoto looked down.
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Ooooh cliffhanger! Mwahahahaha. Sorry in advance but I needed something new. I was running out of ideas soooo yeah.