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Buying Haru one of those little indoor fountains you put on side tables had sounded like a genius idea when it first popped into Rin's head. Sure, they were probably a little pricier than he was used to spending on birthday presents but getting one of Haru's looks of wonder and happiness in return would be more than worth it, he had reasoned.
The trouble was, they had been a lot nicer in Rin's imagination than the ones he'd actually found that were remotely within his means to buy. He liked the one with dolphins, but the fountain part was slightly more exciting to look at than a trickle. It was nice, but a boring kind of nice. Haru deserved something much better than that.
So now Rin was at the shopping center, out of ideas. There was the old standby of a fish dinner, but Haru could cook better than Rin and there wasn't much special about it.
Over by a nearby ramen shop, a couple of kids were running around in circles, laughing hysterically. It was a strangely nostalgic sight.
Maybe Rin was going about this all wrong.
* * *
"Happy birthday, Haru!"
Haru gave the thin, light package a puzzled look. "Thank you, Rin," he said politely, though he couldn't imagine what was inside. Rin was usually so dramatic with his gifts.
Rin grinned. "Well, aren't you going to open it?"
Under the paper was an envelope, the kind important documents tended to come in. Haru was stumped. Reaching in, he found instead of papers smaller thick rectangles with a different texture on one side than the other. "Photographs?"
Rin was definitely impatient now. "Not just photographs-- look at them!"
There were three pictures, and all of them were of water. Haru's eyes widened.
A waterfall, a huge waterfall… were those tiny specks up by the top people? A startlingly blue lake with mountains in the distance, equally immense. And the last one…
"That's an estuary," Rin supplied. "You want to see it in person? I can show you all of them."
Haru could hardly speak, the thought was so beautiful.