Getting Answers

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They were having a group sleepover at Makoto's house, with everybody cramped into Makoto's small room to play video games and cuddle the plushies Haru and Rin had won earlier in the day from the winter festival. They two of them had competed in a variety of events to win two penguins, one orca, one dolphin and one shark plushie. Nagisa had then proceeded to get two butterfly-on-a-stick toys from somewhere so "Rei chan wouldn't be lonely". But somehow, the butterflies ended-up attached to the penguins thanks to a little loop the penguins had on their back, so they could be hung-up.

"Woo! Rin-chan is so good!" declared Nagisa as he watched Rin drive the virtual car.

"I am the speed shark!" Rin proclaimed.

"Why aren't my theories working?" demanded Rei.

Makoto just giggled and hugged the dolphin plushie he had claimed as his own, happy just watching his friends have fun. Haru said nothing but simply concentrated on trying to best Rin. The game ended in a tie, again.

"Eh! Another tie!" complained Nagisa.

"I lost again!" lamented Rei.

"Another!" Haru and Rin said together but before they could launch another race there was a soft knock on the door.

"Come in!" said Makoto as he simultaneously got-up, correctly guessing it was most likely his mother with some food and drinks for them.

"I hope you boys are enjoying yourselves," commented Mrs Tachibana as she handed over the food and drinks to Makoto and Haru, who had also got up to help her.

"We are," Nagisa assured.

"Thanks for having us, auntie," said Rei politely.

"Yeah, thanks," Rin chimed in a little shyly. He was surprisingly uncomfortable around an "auntie". But that was hardly surprising given how had spent most of his time since the end of elementary school in dorms with very little extended contact with adults who were not educators.

"Think nothing of it," said Mrs. Tachibana with her sweet smile and was about to leave when Nagisa piped in.

"Wait, auntie, I have been wondering this for a while but how did Mako-chan and Haru-chan meet?" he asked.

"Eh? That again?" wondered Makoto.

"I thought we settled this," said Haru, "We haven't always known each other."

"I know Mako-chan and Haru-chan don't remember not being with each other but Haru-chan is older than Mako-chan so there would have been a first meeting!" Nagisa pointed out, "I want to know how Mako-chan and Haru-chan met!"

Mrs. Tachibana laughed, "Well wait a moment then," she said and left the room. But she was back a few minutes later with an arm full of albums.

"Mom!" cried Makoto somewhat alarmed at the prospect of his friends seeing his baby pictures.

"It's okay, Mako-chan, we all know you were a cute baby that grew-up to be a handsome heartbreaker," said Nagisa.

"That's not the issue here!" protested Makoto, "Haru," he appealed but Haru found himself suddenly curious as to what the albums contained. If only because he's never really looked through the albums he had known the Tachibana family had. Come to think of it, he doesn't remember seeing through the handful of albums his own family had.

"Here we are," said Mrs Tachibana picking-up an album with a white cover with cute pink baby shoes decoration in the centre, "We thought we were going to have a baby girl," she explained, "Which is why we also picked the name Makoto. Since Makoto works for both boys and girls, we decided not to change it," she explained with a grin.

"Oh is that so?" said Nagisa, "I learnt something new about Mako-chan already! Soon I'll be as much of a Mako-chan expert as Haru-chan!" Makoto laughed good naturedly at Nagisa's declaration but Haru shot Nagisa a dark look and frowned.

Mrs Tachibana laughed, "Well you'll have to work very hard to be catch-up to Haru-chan," she said, "Because look," she showed a picture of her younger self, standing in front of the house holding Makoto, "This was taken just after I got out of the hospital. We brought Makoto home and decided to take a picture just before we took him inside for the first time," she turned the page and there was dark haired woman with a baby sling strapped across her body with a body nestled on her back, "That's Haru-chan!"

"Wow! Mako-chan and Haru-chan met as soon as Mako-chan came home for the first time?" asked Nagisa, noting that baby Haru seemed to be looking intently at baby Makoto, who was however sleeping soundly.

Mrs Tachibana nodded, "Nanase-san and I weren't friends. Obviously I saw her since we live so close but we never talked much before that day. She wasn't one of the neighbours who came to greet us when we moved in, though her husband came if I remember correctly. But Haru-chan's grandmother most definitely visited us to welcome as to the neighborhood. I think Nanase-san was very shy, like Haru-chan. She would only ever nod when I greeted her as we passed each other or ran into each other at the shops," she explained, "But that day, she stopped on her own and wished me congratulations. She even let us take this photo as we joked about Makoto making his first friend! We had no idea how right we would be," she added looking fondly towards her son and Haru.

"So Makoto and Haru hang around each other a lot as babies too?" asked Rin, noting some of the other pictures on the album pages were pictures of baby Makoto and somewhat older baby Haru together engaged in various activities. Mostly, Makoto was sleeping with Haru watching him as in the pictures Makoto wasn't much more than a few months old.

"Not exactly," said Mrs Tachibana, "Nanase-san and I were still not friends but Haru-chan's grandmother would often bring Haru-chan to our house or invited me and Makoto to keep her company when Nanase-san had gone for her daily walks. Nanase-san needed time to herself."

She turned a few pages, "It was really when Makoto and Haru-chan started school that they became really close friends," she showed photos of toddler Haru and toddler Makoto posing with an Iwatobi-chan plush toy, "We put Makoto in play school for a couple days a week starting at age 3. Haru-chan was supposed to go all week but after awhile, he refused to go when Makoto wouldn't be in play school. Haru-chan was always very independent and so days when there was no play school, Haru-chan often came down and played with Makoto all on his own," she reminisced.

"Grandmother would come with me sometimes," Haru said, blushing slightly.

"That's true," agreed Mrs. Tachibana, "Anyway, you boys look through the photos," she suggested, "I need to check on the twins," with that she excused herself.

For the next hour the boy did go through the albums and photo after photo of Makoto and Haru together. There were photos of just Makoto or just Makoto and his family but the vast majority were of the two of them together. Indeed, almost all the pictures of Makoto alone or just with his family seemed to come from vacations or because Haru was the cameraman."

"Wow! You guys haven't changed at all from when you were little," commented Nagisa.

"What are you talking about," wondered Haru, "Makoto is bigger than me now," frowning in annoyance as he looked through pictures of a time when he was bigger.

"Pfft! That's the only thing that's changed between you two dorks!" said Rin, "You are always by each other's side! The cute romanticism of it all sickens me! SICKENS ME," emphasised Rin.

"Eh? But why?" wondered Makoto.

"You too have been together from your birth, Makoto!" Rin pointed out, "That's like a romantic comedy waiting to happen! An anime romantic comedy!"

"No, no!" protested Nagisa, "In those kinds of animes the childhood friends get separated and then meet again years later when they have both changed and most of the time, one of them doesn't remember or at least, recognise the other. Mako-chan and Haru-chan can't be separated!" said Nagisa, seemly horrified even at the thought, "That's like separating strawberry from short cake! Or this orca," he grabbed the orca plushie, "From this dolphin!"

"Actually Nagisa-kun," Rei chimed in, "Orca's eat dolphins and I was going to take the orca plushie."

"You are not taking the orca plushie!" declared Nagisa, "The orca must always stay beside the dolphin! And the orca will never eat the dolphin because the dolphin is his friend! Friend!" insisted Nagisa, as he got a slightly yander look on his face as he made the dolphin and orca plushies kiss.

"That's… kind of creepy," said Makoto, even as he smiled indulgently at Nagisa.

"It's not creepy! It's true love!" declared Nagisa.

"Nagisa-kun! What are you talking about! A dolphin and an orca..." Rei started arguing with Nagisa with Rin speaking-up in support of both Nagisa and Rei alternatively, as one or the other made an argument Rin agreed with.

Meanwhile, Makoto noticed Haru was still going through the albums with a curious expression on his face that Makoto couldn't quite identify, "Haru-chan?"

"Don't change," Haru said finally, "At least, don't change so that you aren't beside me anymore."

Makoto smiled, "Don't worry, Haru, that is something that'll always remain unchanged."

Author's Note: This is partly based off the slumber party official art. This is also something of a sequel to "The Question With No Answer"