28 DAYS [MakoHaru]

fifteen → 12/14

Chapter Fifteen: December 14th

Makoto manages to pull himself out of bed twenty minutes early. Even though he admittedly did not get much sleep the night before, he is motivated to wake up this morning, because today he is going to walk to school with Haruka, and this time, he isn't going to let him sneak by unnoticed.

Feeling determined, Makoto rushes through the normal things one does to get ready in the morning, even deciding to take a brisk shower to wake himself up, as he had a couple minutes to spare. He finds himself staring off absentmindedly into space as he scrubs shampoo into his scalp, the words shared from last night swirling around in his head.

Promises are worse than lies.

He shakes his head to snap himself out of the lull and rinses the soap out of his hair. After washing the rest of his body, he quickly exits the shower and dresses himself for school.

The house is quiet, which is no surprise; the twins had left for school half an hour earlier. Makoto takes a moment to appreciate the school system's staggered class openings; teenagers definitely deserved sleeping in a little bit more in the mornings. His father had also already left, having taken the family car to work early like he loved to do. Makoto doesn't hear any commotion in the kitchen, and figures if his mother went back to sleep he wouldn't bother waking her up; she had a rough night as well.

He enters the kitchen, toweling his hair dry to diminish the terrible mixture of wet hair plus December winds, seeing it to be empty. A few dirty dishes remained stacked by the sink, and Makoto takes it upon himself to quickly scrub them clean and set them in the rack in the sink to dry. He then grabs a banana out of the fruit bowl and a tub of yogurt, eating the yogurt without a spoon and saving the banana for later.

Makoto mumbles a quiet "I'm leaving", a habit of good manners even though no one is around to hear it, and locks the door behind him.

He grabs his backpack and peels the skin off the banana, taking a small bite of the soft fruit. Approaching the same set of stone steps, he kneels down to pet the same stray kitten that likes to play with the fallen leaves. Makoto's taken the liberty of naming her Yuki, and scratches her between the ears as a greeting, making the kitten purr and nuzzle into his hand. A smile makes its way to his face automatically as he pets her soft fur, looking up the set of stone steps.

Perhaps instead of waiting here, Makoto muses, I'll go stop by his house.

He is determined to not let Haruka walk to school on his own ever again; well, at least until the end of high school. But thinking about the future only led to bittersweet sadness and regret.

People don't appreciate the beauty of the present.

He ascends the stone steps and follows the path Haruka traced for him merely hours before; he recalls the way he felt when he was surrounded by silence and moonlight as he walked him home, and it sends a rush of warmth through his body. Staring up into the nice, two story house (easily double the size of his own home), the warmth is replaced with a sudden wave of anxiety rushes through his chest. His legs shake ever-so slightly as he steps up the front porch staircase and crosses the porch. His hand, curling into a tight fist, hesitates over the cherrywood door before he sucks in a deep breath and knocks.

After a minute, he frowns. No answer.

Is anyone home? He thinks. Surely Haruka wouldn't have left already, it's still another forty-five minutes until school starts, and he's often late to homeroom...

Makoto punches the doorbell with his finger, tapping his foot expectantly, a nervous tick because he can't stand still. Still, no one comes to the door, and he sighs in disappointment.