Chapter Text
“My favorite person in the entire world is Makoto Tachibana,” Haruka says, talking slowly while glaring at the floor. “He’s my best friend and he stayed by my side, even when it got really hard.”
I smile, glancing from Haruka to the small class of children that glare at Haruka with huge eyes. They’re extremely interested, or so it seems, and I got the most enthusiastic reaction when I told them yesterday that Haruka would be able to come by.
I never expected this to happen, to hear Haruka say those words, but after months of therapy, he’s much more like himself again. He still doesn’t like talking much, but I think he enjoys being able to do so, whenever he needs to say something.
And he’s no longer completely dependent on me, since now he can do mostly anything except getting out of bed himself and walking. Other than that, he’s mainly independent.
That’s why, since he’s doing so well and it’s exactly six months after Haruka started showing the first signs of regaining consciousness, we decided to make today a special day. First, he’d join me at work, in the morning at least, and that’s why he’s here in my classroom right now.
And afterwards, in five minutes when the bell rings, I’ll be driving us to the local pool so we can go swimming. Yes, swimming! Of course, Haruka will need some help in the water, where he’ll be mostly depending on either me or some kind of floating device to hold onto, but I’m sure he’ll enjoy it. Because even though he had a traumatic experience last time he swam, he can’t shut up about wanting to learn how to swim again.
“So, as you can see,” I continue where I left off before Haruka got the word. “My friend Haruka has, just like you, some difficulties with certain things. And that’s what I wanted to talk about, shortly.”
The children’s gazes move from Haruka to me when my voice breaks the silence.
“Sakura, you asked why I wasn’t giving class for a while, do you remember?”
The little girl nods, her expression curious as ever.
“That has to do with Haruka, because he’d been very sick for a long while,” I explain, glancing at Haruka who’s still focused on the ground. “And then he suddenly started getting better, and I wanted to be there for him, you know?”
Sakura nods again and then looks at Haruka as she asks, “So, are you better now? Has mister Tachibana been sweet to you, like he is to us?”
I chuckle and Haruka looks up at me for some sort of approval before he answers, “Yes, he wa--he is.”
A smile appears on my face, causing Haruka to start blushing. He grins lightly when the bell rings and the parents of the kids walk inside, probably because he thinks I won’t see him smiling sheepishly.
I tell the children goodbye before turning back to Haruka and saying, “I’ll do my work when we’re home. Let’s go now, okay?”
Haruka nods once, and watches me as I pack my things before walking to the door. “Are you coming?” I ask, turning around to Haruka.
He nods again and starts wheeling himself towards me and through the door.
We don’t speak much in the car drive, but we don’t have to, since it’s only a few minutes long drive. Within no time we arrive at the indoor swimming pool, close to where we live.
I help Haruka change into his swimsuit and press myself into one of my high school swimsuits, before we go inside. My feet on the cold tiles, they bring back flashes of memories, as I push Haruka towards the pool. Haruka’s clearly also thinking back of the days, to when everything was easier, and I guess only the smell of chlorine is enough to give us both that nostalgic feeling.
I stop nearby the pool and get out the floats for around Haruka’s waist and arms, but he stops me.
“I don’t need them,” he says, his face completely flushed as he watched the water splatter against the edge of the pool.
I frown and tell him that he clearly does, that he cannot expect to be able to swim after four, almost five, years of not swimming, and barely walking, at all.
He looks at me. His mouth slowly opens and he glances away before he says, “Not if you hold me.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Okay, I guess I can act as your floating device. Yeah, sure.”
It’s not easy getting Haruka in the water, and we both don’t feel like asking anyone’s help; Haruka, because he still seems rather ashamed of not being completely independent, and me because I have taken complete care of him without much help for so long so this shouldn’t be this hard.
Eventually we get into the water, and when the little waves splash against my back, I feel chills running down my spine. Not because the water is cold, but because it takes me back to that day, when it all happened.
I close my eyes and slowly walk into the deeper water while Haruka clings onto me tightly. Our chests are touching and his arms are wrapped around my neck like a young child would do, and for some reason I feel slightly uncomfortable about it.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Haruka’s voice sounds, calm and soothing.
I smile awkwardly as I feel my cheeks growing redder and warmer. This might seem normal to him, just two best friends; one helping the other doing his favorite thing in the world. But to me it feels different because, even after all that we’ve been through, there are words unspoken.
Legs wrap around me as well and as Haruka lays his head on my shoulder I hear a soft whisper. It’s barely audible, but I can make out a “thank you”.
I frown and, even though I’ve done a lot of things that Haruka might feel like saying thank you for, I ask, “Why?”
Haruka shrugs and says, “Taking care of me, being beside me all the time when no one was.” He pauses and I can feel his grip tightening as I lower us more into the water. “And now this, you’re always there for me… helping me when I need it. And, even though I still don’t quite understand why, thank you for doing that, Makoto.”
I swallow, my throat is tight and my eyes are closed now as I try to control the redness of my cheeks. And for some reason it just blurts out, the thing I wanted to say since we were just twelve years old, the thing I kept deep inside of me and locked away for Haruka to see. I say it!
“I did it because I love you.”
I gasp, not expecting to say that… never have I dared to speak the words out loud, they just were inside of me like this silent whisper that only I could hear, and now Haruka heard them too and I don’t know how I feel about that and what I should think, or do, or say next.
“I mean,” I stammer. “I-I… we… uhm, j— “ but my voice quickly trails off since I don’t know what to say anyway, I might only make it worse.
Haruka’s fingers are digging into my back, and for a moment I’m sure I ruined everything, but then he whispers, “Yeah, same here.”
“Really?” I ask, surprised by that. Haruka never showed any interest in anyone, for years I thought he might even be aromantic, or something, but now… I don’t even know what to think anymore.
Haruka nods into my shoulder and then he lets himself drift away from me a little, still holding on, but I can see him now. He’s completely red, and his ocean blue eyes look at me in a different way than they ever did before when he says, “Well, you are my favorite person in the world.”
Before I can say anything at all, Haruka’s lips are on mine and his hands are digging into my hair and my hands are wrapping around his waist. And I feel things I’ve never felt before, like my stomach is filling up with cherry blossom petals as Haruka’s sweet-tasting lips move against mine.
And after our lips part, I’m sure a lifetime has gone by, and it still seemed way too short, and when Haruka’s eyes meet mine again, we both start blushing.
I feel my own lips part. “And you are mine,” I say, immediately going in for a second kiss; because that’s what I’ve wanted to do for years and I was weak and I didn’t tell Haruka… I regret not telling him for years, but that’s behind us now; which means we should leave those regrets and that pain behind us. It’s all in the past, and right now it’s time for us to start writing a new chapter of our lives.
The End