Our Eternal Summer (MakoHaru)

Chapter 6

           

We spent the monumental Day Six in Odaiba.

It was sunny. The minute we walked out of the train station, the automatic glass doors closing behind us, we were taken aback by the blinding glare reflecting off skyscrapers around us. Winter was now long into the past, and the air, although still crisp and fresh, were beginning to feel warm.

That morning, I woke up to find in amazement Rei and Nagisa's fingers tightly intertwined as they snored softly in their sleep, as if they fell asleep before remembering to let go. Nagisa was half out of his sleeping bag and half on Rei's futon. Their breathings were synced, their chests moving in unison. Distant chirping resonated in the room as birds flitted past the window outside.

Gou saw it too, the second-earliest riser as always. We looked at each other and smiled.

Nothing was said.

The apartment quickly came to life with everyone brushing and changing and wolfing down the breakfast – corn dogs and nikuman – I bought from the convenience store downstairs.

Gou was extremely bubbly today. She would laugh heartily at the silliest things, join the never-ending rows between Nagisa and Rei, and squeal at every single thing she saw, even though this was not her first time to Tokyo. And sometimes, she would be extremely quiet, walking silently behind her brother as he talked to Sousuke. Her ponytail would swing in time with her brisk steps, and I could see, during those silent spells, her knuckles strained white as she held her fists tight.

Lunch was a fun chaos. With so many of us, it was hard to find a table in the crowded Food Theme Park. The air was overflowing with the aroma of ramen and chashu (marinated pork), each stall smelling a little different because, after all, they were offering ramen from different parts of Japan. It was much warmer inside. Overhead, lights glowed orange and the air seemed to fog up from the steam curling upwards from bowl after ramen bowl.

It was also hard co-ordinating our orders. "C'mon let's order different things so we can share and try everything out!"

"Don't be silly, Nagisa. Even if we each ordered something different it's impossible to try everything in one meal."

"Oh whatever! Makoto you get that one! Haru how about that one! And Rei you –"

"Nagisa you're too loud!"

"Gou! You're not supposed to do a Rei and start yelling at me too!"

And I swear to God we were nearly kicked out for the racket we were causing. There were actually people turning and staring at us, their expression full of unspoken disdain: you idiots from the countryside?

But then banter seemed to calm Gou down, and she was so much more her natural self after we – finally, for Merlin's sake – got everything sorted out and sat down with food in front of us.

"You keep staring after Gou today." said Haru, his face flushed from the spiciness of his geikikara ramen. It was topped with pan fried mackerel – what else? – and seaweed, which bobbed in the perilously red soup as Haru's chopsticks dipped inside and pulled out a large mouthful of ramen. His lips glistened, almost as if he applied rouge, from the spice and the oil, and I couldn't help but stare.

Should I do it tonight too? Confess, and steal a kiss from those delectable lips, before I get rejected and leave his life forever?

Makoto. Stop.

"Are you listening?" The lips opened and closed again. His teeth peeked from underneath the muted red of his lips. They seemed swollen. What would it be like, sweeping my tongue across his teeth? Would he moan? Grunt? Would he let me? God, I wanted to kiss him until his lips swelled like that.

"Makoto?"

Stop it, idiot. Control yourself.

"Oh. Yeah. Because Gou...will need all the support she can get today." There was no point hiding it. Soon everyone would know. But it was Gou's secret to tell. I tried to explain, "She will be doing something really brave tonight. And I know she's scared, so I'm worried."

Haru opened his mouth, as if to say something, then quickly closed it again. The unspoken words hung between us. The crease between his brows had deepened again.

I wished I could screw it and stop thinking too much into things.

But of course, a careful coward never does that.

The day passed by, with some moments more vividly remembered than others. The replica statue of liberty glowed a copper green under the sun. We spent a good two hours bantering beside the huge Gundam statue – Rei and Nagisa's row-of-the-day revolved around the Gundam collectible cards – and Haru, being Haru, just stared dreamily at the sea, the sunlight casting a layer of faerie dust on its choppy surface, as if any moment then, he would run, strip and dive.

The flowering cherry blossoms fell onto his hair now and then, but he never noticed, and Rin and I, who walked beside him, would take turns brushing off the petals, rolling our eyes and snickering as we reminisced about our eternal summer that had already lapsed. Rin had changed so much since his first return from Australia. Now his laughs were frequent, eyes crinkled, revealing his shark-like teeth. He joked around with us more, and he had become so much more caring too.

"It's good that you came back after all." I said, squinting at the faraway daikanransha.

Nagisa and Rei were still bantering. Sousuke and Gou were just enjoying the show. Across the square, couples and friends and families enjoyed their day, their conversations and laughter mixed with the gentle whoosh of the sea breeze and the hum of car engines in the distance. Rin took it all in his wine-red eyes. Perhaps he was remembering his days in Australia, a Japanese child in an alien country who didn't understand how to explain his joke: My name is Rin, it sounds kinda girlish, but I'm a boy.

"Yes. I know I've said it before, and I know I've not said it enough, but thanks, guys." 

The breeze fluttered his fringes and casted dancing shadows on his face, a face that once sneered more than smiled, frowned more than laughed. "I like the you in Season 2 better. And I like how Haru changed after you came back too." I chuckled somewhat emotionally, and hugged him and Haru.

And bam! Nagisa was on my back, going "Hey I wanna join! Rei you too c'mere hug hug hug!", and that sentimental moment was gone.

And all of us, living out different stories after our shared summer ceased to be eternal, stayed locked in a playful and noisy embrace, the sky the most beautiful hue of forget-me-nots I have ever seen in Tokyo cocooning us like a dome. I could almost hear the whistles and deafening cheers from a long-ago swimming competition, and smell a mix of chlorine, trees and sea that could only be found in Iwatobi alone. 

In that instant, I made up my mind. I wouldn't run away at the pretence of protecting our friendship anymore.

Our time together would end, but the memories would not. As long as I remembered the summers in Iwatobi, those days would belong to me. Forever.