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“Honestly,” Rin grumbled, slipping through the door back into Haru’s house. “It’s just like him to wander off on his own birthday.”
He blinked as his pupils adjusted in the darkness of the old family house.
“Oi, who turned off all the lights?” He mused out loud, squinting as he tried to find his way to the living area.
Rin’s exasperated grumbling trailed off as he saw the figure of Haru, kneeling down in the darkness of the living area, illuminated only by a soft candle.
He was kneeling down in front of a shrine. The only shrine in the house. His grandmother’s shrine.
His head was bowed, his eyes shut, his face expressionless.
If it had been him from a year ago, Rin would’ve instantly turned around and silently crept off, leaving Haru to the private moment and never speaking of it again.
But something inside him prevented him from turning away. Instead, he moved forward, his feet feeling like they were moving on his own as he approached Haru.
“Hey,” he said, very softly.
Haru lifted his head, eyes opening. He looked oddly puzzled for a moment, like he was coming out of a haze.
“Rin?”
Rin shuffled his feet uncharacteristically shyly. “Just—ah…” he rubbed the back of his neck, his fingernails digging into his skin.
“Just checking on you, that’s all. You walked out on your party, so…”
“Oh…” A sobering expression crossed Haru’s features, his eyes turning to the floor.
“I’m sorry. I… needed to be somewhere else...”
“Oi, don’t worry about it.” Rin kept his voice soft, as though raising it to his normal cadence would break an unspoken rule.
“…Is Makoto looking for me?” Haru questioned, eyes still on the floor.
“Nah… just me. I’m sure he’ll come looking soon, though.” Rin chuckled with a good-natured shake of his head. “That Nagisa’s keeping the whole party real busy.”
“…He won’t look for me.” Haru closed his eyes, his voice quiet even for him. “He knows where I’d be.”
A heavy silence bore between the two of them. Rin’s mouth worked, resisting the urge to ask what he was doing, knowing it was obvious.
“Do… you want me to go?”
Haru lifted his face and their eyes met. Rin felt his heartbeat flare as he noticed a soft expression he had never seen before on Haru’s face.
“Do you want to go, Rin?”
Rin forced a smile. “Not really.”
Haru’s soft expression was replaced with a confused one. “…Then where do you want to be?”
“Ah, I don’t know, I…” Rin’s brows furrowed in frustration at how hard it was to express what he wanted, to fight back against the instinct to look cool-headed around Haru.
This was something he had promised to Haru that night at the pool. But he was still working on it.
“Can I sit with you?” Rin said suddenly, without giving himself another moment to hesitate.
He nearly felt himself melt at the meek smile on Haru’s face.
“Okay.”
It was a ghost of a smile, but a smile nonetheless.
Rin walked closer to Haru’s side, settling down on his knees next to him, their shoulders brushing together.
He made no movements with his arms or hands, not wanting to do anything to intrude. He simply sat there in the oddly comfortable silence, watching Haru once again bow his head and close his eyes.
One minute passed. Then two, then three, then four.
Once almost ten had passed, Rin decided to speak.
“It…” He trailed off, glancing at Haru as his blue eyes opened to look back at him.
“It—she…“ Rin smiled, genuinely this time. “She has a nice shrine.”
Haru’s expression was completely unreadable for a moment, and Rin instantly feared he misspoke.
Suddenly, Haru threw his head to one side, concealing his face before turning around with a watery, genuine smile.
“I’m glad you think so.”