Chapter 6 – Should I Give Up on You?

It's ironic that I have to use Haru as a bait to lure Makoto (Kisumi Shigino)

At a late morning, Matsuoka Rin woke up with a bad headache. He scanned the room he was in and noticed that it was definitely not his room. Then he remembered that he had drinking contest with Kisumi, but he could not remember anything after that.

'What. Am I still in Kisumi's room?'

He sat up and looked around the whole room. 'What. It's Sousuke's. How the hell am I here? I don't remember anything.'

He was about to get up and have some water when he saw the owner of the house still sleeping soundly on the floor. Irked by how his friend could sleep soundly without a hint of hangover, he kicked the guy, hard.

"Oi, Sousuke!"

The raven-haired man groaned, but he did not wake up.

"Oi, Sousuke!" Rin kicked him again, harder this time.

And finally, finally, the guy woke up in a foul mood. Well, who would not when he was woken up with a kick?

"Oi, Sousuke, get me some water." Ordered Rin. "My head hurts."

Sousuke sighed. "The things I do for you…"

Nevertheless, he got up and gave the redhead a glass of water.

"Sleep some more if your head still hurts." Said Sousuke as he sat beside Rin. "Is it bad?"

Rin glared at him. "I hate guys like you who are still perfectly fine even after a night of drinking alcohol."

Sousuke laughed heartily. He tousled Rin's locks and grinned. "Rest some more. I'll make breakfast."

—*.*—

"- ru. Haru. Haru."

Nanase Haruka cracked one eye open, and all he saw was green – Makoto's emerald eyes. He looked around the room, and realized that he was in his own room. How? Even Haruka would like to know that.

"Are you okay? Does your head hurts?" asked Makoto with a worried face.

The raven-haired swimmer nodded weakly. His head was pounding like crazy.

"Then, rest some more, Haru. I'll leave some medicine for your headache and a bottle of water on your end table, okay." Said Makoto as he got up, ready to leave.

Tugging at his friend's sleeve, Haru called his friend's name with a croaked voice. "Makoto." He paused for a moment. Talking only worsened his headache. "How did I get home?"

"Um…" the brunette scratched his cheek awkwardly. " I carried you?"

Haru looked at him with a blank face. However, it was not just a blank face; Makoto knew that it was Haru's grateful face. But sure, only him would understand that.

"Nah, it's nothing, Haru. You should rest."

Haru nodded again. Then he tugged at Makoto's sleeve once more, asking him silently. 'Where are you going?'

"Um… To Kisumi's apartment? He seemed pretty wasted. I'm kind of worried. And I'll clean up his apartment for a bit too; we made quite a mess in there."

'Forever a good boy.' Thought Haruka as he let go of his friend's sleeve, silently telling him that it was okay for the other to leave him.

—*.*—

Kisumi groaned in pain when his head encountered the table's foot.

He woke up to find that he was alone in his apartment.

"What… they went home?"

He looked around the place and clicked his tongue. His place was really dirty and messy.

Kisumi scratched the back of his head and yawned.

"What… I have to clean this up alone…?"

He sighed. "Well, I guess this is what I get since I was the one who invited them to drink at my place…"

He zoned out for a few minutes before he finally got up. "Guess I'll take a bath first before tidying up this place…" murmured Kisumi as he strolled towards the bathroom lazily.

After a good ten minutes, he had dressed himself in a clean shirt and a tight jean, with a towel still draped on top of his head. He took out a big plastic bag and started cleaning up his room.

When he was about to clean up his desk though, he came across with two tickets to the aquarium, sitting nicely on top of stack of books. He put down the plastic bag and picked up the tickets.

'When did I buy this?' Kisumi pondered on. 'Did one of those guys left it behind?'

Then, he remembered.

He had bought the tickets three months ago. He had wanted to ask Makoto to go with him, but he could never find the perfect time to ask the brunette since every time he had met up with Makoto, the tall guy would always ended up bringing up Haru-chan this and Haru-chan that.

'Now come to think of it, why did I buy these tickets? Tickets to the Aquarium?' Kisumi scoffed – feeling pathetic and defeated with his own thoughts. 'Isn't it the place where Makoto and Haru would most likely go for their date?'

He smiled bitterly. He flipped the tickets to check the expiration date.

'Third July?' The pink-haired man glanced at the mini calendar on his desk. 'Today, huh…'

He chuckled dryly. 'Time to throw away these useless tickets then.'

He was about to put the tickets into the plastic bag – along with the other thrash – when he heard the bell. He sighed and put down the tickets back onto his desk before he opened the door. "Yes?"

Then, his eyes widened.

"Eh… Makoto?"

—*.*—

The moment Tachibana Makoto went back to Kisumi's apartment, the pink-haired guy had woken up, had washed up, and in the middle of cleaning up his messy room.

"Eh, Makoto?" To say that Kisumi was shocked to find the brunette on his doorstep was understatement. "Did you forget something?"

"No." answered Makoto shortly with a warm smile plastered on his lips. "I just thought that you seemed pretty wasted, so I bought you some medicine for your hangover in case you don't have one, but… I guess you're fine already, huh…"

Kisumi's heart tightened. 'This is exactly why I cannot move on so easily from you, Tachibana Makoto.'

"Ah, do you want me to help you tidy up your room? We made a big mess in there, right?"

"Oh, really? Wow as expected of Makoto, so kind!"

Makoto laughed awkwardly. "I'm not that kind at all, you know…"

It didn't take them a long time to clean up Kisumi's room. Once they were done, Kisumi remembered about the tickets he had bought on a whim and asked Makoto to go with him.

"Ne, Makoto…"

"Hm?"

"This…" Kisumi showed him the tickets. "These tickets… The expiration date is today, so… why don't you go with me?"

"Eh?" Makoto assessed the tickets for a second. "Ah, to the aquarium?" His face lit up like a candle. "Haru would like to go here!" When he realized that Kisumi only had two tickets though, his face fell into disappointment. "Ah, but… there's only two, huh…"

Again, Kisumi's heart tightened painfully. "Then, why don't you go with me today to see the aquarium first? Then the next time you bring Haru there, you can be his tour guide."

Makoto smiled. "Ah, sure! That works too! I can bring Haru there when they're open for dolphin show!" He checked his watch. "Shall we go now?"

"Yeah." Answered Kisumi.

'It's ironic that I have to use Haru as a bait to lure Makoto.'

—*.*—

Kisumi smiled fondly as he watched Makoto's expression brightened once they arrived at the aquarium. More so when he watched the swimming dolphin.

And then, he brought up Haru again.

"Ne, Kisumi, isn't that dolphin looks like Haru?"

Kisumi laughed shortly. "How?"

"Eh? How?" Makoto paused for a moment. "Hmm… the way it swims… so freely… it's like Haru, right?"

The pink-haired man smiles turned bitter. "Yeah."

"Oh, that one too! The way it turns just like Haru!"

"… Yeah."

Kisumi gritted his teeth. Since the moment they had stepped foot in the aquarium, everything Makoto talked about was Haru. Sure, the brunette had always been like that, and Kisumi knew it perfectly. But somehow, that day he felt extremely annoyed once the brunette mentioned his love rival.

"Ah, it's penguin! Hey Kisumi, do you think Haru – "

" – Makoto!"

Makoto was surprised when Kisumi cut his sentence with a rather angry voice. "Eh, uh? Yeah?" He scratched his cheek, wondering if he had done anything to offend the pink-haired guy.

Kisumi stared straight into Makoto's eyes and said, "I like you."

There was an awkward pause between them as Makoto tried to process what his friend had just said to him. He was about to open his mouth to respond when his phone rang suddenly.

Kisumi sighed. "Answer it."

"Um, okay." Makoto picked up his phone and read the caller's name before he went a bit further from the pink-haired guy. "Hello?"

"Makoto! Where the hell are you?!"

"Huh? Rin? Why are you using Haru's phone?"

"I'm in his place right now, duh! Now tell me where the hell you are! He is a pain when he is sick like this!"

Makoto's eyes widened. "Wait, who's sick?"

"Haru, you dumbass! Who else?!"

At that, Makoto ended the call abruptly and ran back towards Kisumi. "I'm sorry, Kisumi, I have to go back now, Haru is – "

"Sure." Again, the other cut his words with a bitter smile. "Haru comes first, right?"

"Uh, I'm so sorry, Kisumi, but Haru is sick, and I – "

"Hey, Makoto, should I give up on you?"

The brunette paused his frantic thought about the dolphin boy and focused at the matter at hand. 'That's right, Kisumi just confessed to me. I should give him proper answer.' Thought Makoto. So he bowed deeply and said, "I'm so sorry Kisumi, but I can't reciprocate your feelings!"

After that, the brunette left the broken-hearted pink-haired guy all alone in the middle of their supposed-to-be date.

—*.*—

To be continued...

A/N: Good bye, Kisumi! I'm sorry.