Chapter Eight

Makoto bounces on the toes of his feet as he waits outside the front doors. He isn't quite sure if he's so jittery because he is nervous to hang out with Haruka, or because the temperature is steadily dropping and his jacket isn't doing much to keep him warm.

He pulls his scarf tighter around his neck and watches each face that passes by as they exit the double doors. Most students look relieved to be leaving, chattering amiably to their friends as they zip up their jackets to bear the cold weather.

It is another five minutes until most of the students have filed out of the school. Makoto is just about to leave, figuring Haruka just decided to ditch him again, when he finally walks out the doors.

"Haruka!" Makoto shouts to gain his attention, genuinely surprised to see him. Even though he had been waiting there for him the entire time, seeing Haruka in the flesh is always strange to Makoto, considering he is supposed to be dead. Seeing Haruka is like a cruel reminder of the time he has left, and how Haruka's life is currently in Makoto's hand.

The thought does nothing to ease his rapidly beating heart.

Haruka looks up at the sound of Makoto's voice, pulling one earbud out of his ear calmly. He clenches his jaw when he sees Makoto standing at the bottom of the steps, waving cheerfully to him.

Be annoyed all you want, Haruka, Makoto thinks to himself, But I'm not going to back down.

Haruka keeps walking after passing Makoto, and when he realizes he isn't stopping for him, Makoto scrambles after him, falling into step with the shorter boy. They keep walking, crossing the quiet streets until reaching the train station. Makoto is about to head down the steps when he notices Haruka walking away.

"Hey!" Makoto calls after him. "Where are you going? Metro's this way!"

"Who said we're going home?" Haruka retorts, not even bothering to look back. Makoto heaves a sigh of annoyance and speeds up to catch up to Haruka for the second time. They pass the corner station and continue weaving through the town. By this point, Makoto has no idea where Haruka could be taking him.

In fact, he is silently confused until they've made it downtown. They've stopped in front of a used book store with a built in coffee shop, an old place that Makoto would've overlooked if driving down the road. It is wedged between a merchandise store for the local college and a 50's-style ice cream parlor, constructed with dark wood and large glass panels that allow people to see the inside. Makoto smiles a little when he sees the paper snowflakes taped on the windows, and he smiles even more when he sees a pride flag hanging between the Japanese and - French? - flags on the second-floor window balconies. In Japan, most people were not accepting of homosexuality and other queer sexualities, and if you were, you kept it to yourself. He suddenly has a lot of respect for the bookstore, which, upon looking at the light-up sign, is called Entre les Lignes.

Haruka pushes open the door and a small bell tinkles; he is already flopping into one of the overstuffed chairs in one corner of the room before Makoto is able to enter, sprawling out impolitely like he owns the place.

"Haruka! Get an apron on and watch the counter for a minute, would you? Vite!" A voice shouts, and Makoto is starting to think that maybe he does own the place.

Makoto's eyes travel to the owner of the voice. There is an annoyed-looking teenage girl standing at the counter of the cafe, which is in the corner of the book store. She looks the same age as Haruka and him, but she has a squishy, chipmunk-cheeked face that makes Makoto think she is younger, and warm chocolate brown eyes that are familiar, but Makoto cannot put his finger on where he's seen them before. Her maroon-colored beret and striped shirt makes her look like a young French teenager.

In fact, now that he looks around, the place feels very Parisian, with tiny, decorative cherrywood tables and icicle lights adorning the walls. On the far wall is a mural of a city at night lit up by an Eiffel Tower, painted in artistic streaks of black and purple and blue.

"My shift isn't until five, Asuka," Haruka shouts back, not seeming to care that there are a few customers staring at him with annoyed looks on their faces. Makoto watches the scene unfold, unsure of what to say or do, when the girl named Asuka's eyes travel from Haruka and land on him.

"You there! You're letting all the cold air in!" She points to him.

"S-sorry," Makoto stammers, letting the swinging door shut behind him. He moved towards where Haruka is sitting, tossing his bag down on the floor next to one of the chairs.

"Wait a second!" Asuka hops over the counter and plops to the floor loudly, walking over to where they are sitting with a shit-eating grin on her face. "Haruka, is this your friend?"

Haruka looks annoyed at her question, wrinkling his nose in disgust. Makoto takes this as the opportunity to pipe in before he can deny her accusation. "Yeah, I am!" He offers her a smile.

If it is possible, Asuka's smile grows wider. A hand flies to her mouth to conceal her grin. "No way!" She shouts. "Mark it in the history books, people! Haruka somehow managed to socially interact with another human being on his own free will!"

"Ta gueule, Asuka," Haruka mutters darkly, and Makoto is pretty sure his face is slightly pink from embarrassment.

"What's your name?" She turns to Makoto. She has two cups in one hand, and a pot of coffee in the other. She pours the steaming black liquid into the mugs and slides one towards Makoto. "I hope you like coffee."

"Tachibana," Makoto responds with his family name, completely intimidated by how aggressive the girl is. "Makoto Tachibana. Thank you," He ushers to the coffee, pouring in some cream before taking a sip. It is delicious, bitter and strong, and the scent wraps itself around Makoto's mind.

"Makoto Tachibana..." She studies him closely, smile faltering for a moment, casting a look at Haruka, and then back at him. She mutters something in a foreign language under her breath that makes Haruka clench his fist. After a moment of looking lost in thought, she shakes her head and the smile returns.

"Well, I'll leave you two to it, then," She says with an air of mischief about her, wiggling her fingers and bouncing off towards the counter to go help a waiting customer.

"Who was that?" Makoto asks once Asuka is out of earshot. "And in what language did she just speak to you?"

"My annoying younger cousin," Haruka responds. "And she was speaking French. Our great grandmother immigrated here from France a hundred years ago, and opened a bookstore."

"So your family has owned this place for a century?" Makoto asks. This is the last place he'd expected to see Haruka hanging out on the regular, and yet, as he thinks about it, it's kind of fitting. It is tranquil, like Haruka when he gets in his zone.

"It has been passed down for a couple generations from my uncle," Haruka responds lazily. "My aunt and uncle own the place now, and I work extra shifts here when I can."

"You work here and the seafood restaurant?" Makoto asks dubiously. "Why do you work so much?"

"Fills the void." Haruka responds after some thought.

"Of what?"

Haruka decides not to respond to that, sliding out of his chair and scoots towards an unoccupied booth by one of the windows. He unzips his backpack and pulls out a folder and a laptop, starting to work on what Makoto assumes to be homework.

Makoto joins him, sitting across from him in the booth and looking in his agenda to see what homework he has for the afternoon. Thankfully, it's just math and history - he never finished the notes he took last night - and had fallen behind on his nightly reading. Now he had practically two nights' of history reading to do, which would take him forever if he didn't get started.

Instead of talking to Haruka like he knows he should, he decides to start his math homework. Haruka is focused on his laptop as he intently types, looking back and forth from the screen to his notebook.

Makoto forces himself to stop staring at the way Haruka bites his lower lip when he's concentrating and work on his homework, which is a dumb math worksheet from a test he already remembers taking.

He quickly fills out the answers, not wanting to dwell on boring trigonometry problems. However, the unit circle pop quiz he is supposed to have on this would be this week, if he remembered correctly, and he could definitely use a redo on it, having got a 70% on it last time.

He is only halfway done with working through the worksheet when Haruka stands up out of the booth. "I'm going to go get a snack," He announces before storming off into the front counter, going behind it.

Makoto takes this as the opportunity to peer at his notebook, his curiosity getting the better of him. On the page is labeled Indefinite Integrals, and below it are so many letters and symbols Makoto is convinced it is written in an alien language.

"Quit snooping," An irritated voice says from behind him. Makoto practically jumps two feet in his seat; Haruka had returned in a flash, coming up on him so silently he hadn't noticed his presence. Haruka pulls the notebook further out of Makoto's line of sight and slides back into the booth. He has a blueberry muffin and a gooey cheese danish, setting them on small paper plates. Taking the plate with the danish for himself, he pushes the blueberry muffin towards Makoto.

"O-oh," Makoto smiles, not realizing Haruka had gotten the muffin for him. My favorite, he thinks happily. A lucky guess. "Thank you."

When Haruka says nothing, taking a small bite of the danish, Makoto nods towards the notebook.

"What level of math are you in?" Makoto asks him.

"Multivariable Calculus," Haruka says boredly.

Makoto nearly spits out his bite of the muffin all over the table. "Multivariable Calculus?!" He all but shrieks, voice full. The same people turn to look at them, a couple narrowing their eyes annoyedly.

"Keep your voice down," Haruka demands, looking down. He looks slightly embarrassed.

"How are you in such a high level math?" Makoto asks in disbelief. "They don't even offer that at Iwatobi High!"

From what Makoto knows, Multi is a level higher than Advanced Placement Calculus, which is a class only a couple of the smartest third years take, including his good friend Rei Ryugazaki. For Haruka to be taking Multi, he would be mixed in with a class that is mainly second-year college students. The thought alone is enough to make Makoto's jaw drop permanently.

"I took some math classes over the summer in middle school to get ahead," Haruka explains quietly. "I take the class online; it's connected to the college in the city."

"Wow, Haruka!" Makoto is completely and utterly impressed. "That's so cool!"

Haruka's cheeks turn the slightest bit pink once again. It is a passing thought, fleeting and faint, but Makoto thinks he looks pretty cute when he is flustered. "...Thanks."

"Really, though! You're probably one of the smartest guys in school, yeah?"

Haruka doesn't respond to that. His habit of not replying to conversations is getting tedious, considering it forces Makoto to start up a new conversation topic. He turns back to his laptop, typing away.

Makoto tries again, hopeful. "Do you think you could help me with this?" He ushers to his math worksheet, which is covered with eraser shavings and smudged pencil lines.

A small sigh passes by Haruka's lips. "Let me see."

Makoto mentally cheers for the small success and he hands the paper to Haruka. "It's number seventeen," He explains. "How do you solve it?"

"Because you're given two adjacent sides and an angle inbetween, you use the Cosine rule. X squared is equal to y squared plus z squared minus two times yz times the cosine of angle X. Then solve."

His explanation leaves Makoto staring at him like an idiot, and Haruka sighs once again. He takes a pencil and scribbles out what he just said, showing him the paper after he does so. "See? Then you can find side x. Then use the sine rule to find another angle, and then subtract those two angles from 180 to find the last angle."

Makoto is breathless as he takes the worksheet back from him. "Thanks. You're so smart, Haruka."

Haruka merely hums in an answer, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the statement. They return to work, a comfortable silence falling over them. Makoto has to admit, he enjoys working in Haruka's presence, even though Haruka clearly prefers being silent to conversing. There is something about having someone by your side that is comforting, and it puts Makoto at a slight ease as he works on his history notes.

The comfort, however, is destroyed soon enough. Makoto should have known it was too good to be true to last all afternoon. The destruction manifests itself in the form of a six year old girl, one who looks eerily familiar.

"Haruka!" The girl squeals as she makes a run for their booth, jumping into his lap. Haruka makes a small noise of surprise, a deadpan expression on his face as she wraps her arms around his neck in a tight bear hug. "I didn't know you were here today!"

"Suzuka, I'm always here on Wednesday afternoons," Haruka reminds her. He looks mildly uncomfortable, but he doesn't make a move to push Suzuka off him. She buries her face into his shoulder.

"But I haven't seen you in forever," She whines childishly.

"I was here two days ago!"

"That's way too long!"

Makoto fails to hold back his laugh at how cute the scene unfolding in front of him is. He realizes the girl is the same one he met at Haruka's funeral, a month into the future. Unlike the plain grey dress and black flats she wore at the funeral, she was wearing a cheerful green and yellow striped dress with green high-tops. A red bow tied back part of her golden brown hair. She is just as boisterous and confident as Makoto remembers her, although he knows the girl doesn't know him at all, considering the way she stares at him so widely her eyes are going to pop out of her head.

"Who are you?" She asks in a commanding tone, pointing a stubby finger in Makoto's direction.

"Don't be rude, Suzuka," Haruka whispers frustratedly.

"No, it's alright!" Makoto shoos him off, used to the bold way children speak as he has two twin siblings in elementary school. "I'm Makoto. Haruka's friend."

Haruka seems to scowl a bit at the word friend, but he doesn't disagree, which Makoto assumes to be a good thing.

"You're really tall," She announces, stating the obvious. There is an awestruck, starry look in her eyes; the girl isn't even four feet tall, and Makoto stands at a height of 6'5', so he could imagine her surprise.

"Thank you!" Makoto grins nervously, not knowing how to respond.

"Can we go to the park?"

It is clear the girl has an attention span of an ill-focused goldfish, because she's back to cradling Haruka and begging him to take her out.

"No," Haruka immediately dismisses the idea. "I have work in an hour."

"That's plenty of time!" Suzuka argues. "I want to go on the playground!"

"Sorry, Suzuka," Haruka shakes his head. "We have more homework to do."

"Actually, I'm pretty much done," Makoto says sheepishly, gesturing to his open history textbook. He does have more work left, but it is a manageable amount he can tackle later. Haruka shoots daggers at him with his eyes, but it is too late. Suzuka's eyes light up and she scrambles to the other side of the booth.

"Will you take me to the park, Makoto-san?" She begs, jutting her lip out. "Cousin Haruka is a big meanie. You're so much nicer!"

Haruka clicks his tongue in mock annoyance, which makes Makoto laugh. "Come on, Haruka. Let's go to the park! A bit of fresh air will do us good."

Looking up from his journal, Haruka regards Makoto with a calm intensity that makes Makoto want to shiver. How does one look threaten to bring me to my knees? He thinks with disdain, watching him back, unblinking. "Please?" He adds with a soft smile.

Eventually, he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose exasperatedly. "Fine. Whatever," He grumbles, getting out of the booth. "But I refuse to go on the slides."

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A/N: Why am I making Haruka part French, you may ask? The world may never know. Please vote and comment if you're enjoying this! Let's see if we can make it to 10 votes on this chapter? :)