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It was Nagisa's idea.
Makoto knew - he knew - that Nagisa's ideas never, ever involved anything good for him. But at the same time, Makoto also knew that Nagisa knew he was kind of a pushover and easily manipulated. Makoto hated disappointing people, and that pout of Nagisa's was always, always his undoing. Secretly, Makoto was a little happy that Rei had come along, because now Nagisa could pull him into his troublesome schemes instead of Makoto.
So when Nagisa excitedly informed them that Samezuka was having a school fair and they should totally check it out, Makoto already had misgivings.
"Don't we have swim practice?" he tried to protest.
"Nope! Gou-chan gave us the day off! So we should totally go!"
"Well, I suppose we can… Is that okay, Haru?" he asked. He'll probably say something like, "Do whatever you want."
"Do whatever you want," Haruka answered.
"Yahoo!" Nagisa cheered. "I hear their haunted house is gonna be awesome!"
Makoto's blood ran cold. Oh no…
--
Samezuka's fair was actually rather impressive. Aside from having to restrain Haruka from trying to strip down for the dunk tank and a couple game ponds, the trip was going smoothly. There was enough to do there that Makoto even had a faint hope that Nagisa would forget all about the haunted house.
That was, until he spotted the large "This Way to the Haunted House!" sign a split second before Nagisa did.
"Guys! This way, this way! I wanna see the haunted house!"
"Do we have to…?" Makoto almost kept the dread out of his voice.
"Of course!" Nagisa said in a way that left no room for argument.
Makoto sighed and resigned himself to his fate.
"It's just students," Haruka said, trying to reassure him in his own way as they followed Nagisa.
"That's…not really the point," Makoto said weakly.
"Did you know," Rei chimed in, "the earliest haunted attraction can be dated back to as early as 1915! There are many forms of haunted attractions - haunted houses are just one form…"
As Rei continued on with his list of haunted house facts, Makoto felt himself filling with more and more dread. If he wasn't so concerned with his own fears, he might've wondered if Rei's babbling was of the nervous sort, but presently, he didn't much care beyond not having the heart to tell him to just be quiet.
The haunted house had a "two-by-two" rule. Haruka wasn't much comfort, but he was more reassurance than nothing, Makoto supposed. At the entryway, Seijuurou greeted them warmly.
"Hey, it's the Iwatobi guys! Having fun at our school fair?"
"It's impressive!" Nagisa replied, grinning. "Is the swimming club running the haunted house?"
"Yup! It's the Mysteries of the Deep Sea!"
Makoto didn't know haunted houses could get any worse, but somehow, the Samezuka swimteam had managed to cater to every single one of his fears in one horrible attraction.
Haruka glanced at him. "You don't have to go, you know."
"N-no, I'll be fine…" I think…
Seijuurou let Nagisa and Rei in together, but just as he was about to let Haruka and Makoto in, Kou ran up.
"Nanase-kun, there you are! Can you come help me with something for a minute?"
Haruka looked between her and Makoto, then at the haunted house.
Kou pouted. "You owe me. Tachibana-kun can go in the haunted house by himself."
"It's fine," Makoto said, sounding everything but fine. "Go ahead."
Haruka nodded just slightly and followed Kou down the hallway.
"Guess you're going in alone, then, huh?" Seijuurou laughed. "Be brave!" he said, all but shoving Makoto through the entryway.
Makoto froze two steps in, trying to let his eyes adjust in the dim, blueish light. After a few seconds, he could make out the wave patterns on the walls. He swore they even moved, but he ignored it, telling himself the darkness was making him see things. He walked forward slowly, his eyes as wide as they'd go.
A dark shape flitted past in the corner of his vision and he just barely stifled an undignified squeak as his heart leapt into his throat. It's just a trick of the light. I'm just seeing things! he tried to reassure himself. His heart pounding in his ears, he continued to move forward. As scared as he was, he knew there was an end to this haunted house, and the only way he'd get to it was by moving forward. Even if it did scare the bejeezus out of him.
Suddenly, out of the dark waves, an enormous shark whipped around, jaws wide, ready to swallow Makoto whole.
Makoto shrieked and stumbled backwards, throwing his arms up to protect himself as he fell to the floor.
"Makoto?"
Makoto blinked his eyes open, wincing at the bright light of the flashlight. "Rin?" he asked tentatively, recognizing him mostly by his voice and the form of address.
Rin pointed the flashlight away and held out a hand to help Makoto up. "Still afraid of the dark, huh? Shouldn't you be with Haru?"
"You sister pulled him away for something…" Makoto muttered, ignoring the jab as he took the offered hand.
"I see. You okay? You fell pretty hard there."
"I'm fine," Makoto said truthfully for the first time that day. By the light of Rin's flashlight, Makoto could see the "shark" suspended by several wires. The prop was made of papier-mâché and metallic paint, and looked much less threatening now than it had before, since it was mostly just a head.
"Hey, uh…" Rin shifted awkwardly and looked away. "Since Haru isn't here, do you want me to walk with you through the rest?"
Makoto bit back a Yes, please! and instead said, "Don't you have to man this station…?"
Rin shrugged. "It's just one prop, and it won't take long to walk you through." Without waiting for Makoto's answer, Rin turned and pushed the "shark" back behind the walls - which Makoto now realized were actually dyed sheets of tulle draped loosely over blue walls. The slight breeze through the passage rustled the tulle to create the "wave" motion he had been seeing before.
"Rin… It's fine. I can make it through on my own."
"It's pretty ridiculous to act tough after screaming like a little girl on the first scare," Rin retorted before shutting off his flashlight.
Makoto tensed up again, his night vision having been ruined by the flashlight. He jumped as something brushed his hand, only to relax once Rin's hand wrapped around it. He's…really warm…
"Geeze, your hand's an ice cube," Rin teased. "Come on, before the next pair catches up to us."
"Y-yeah…" Makoto focused on Rin's faint silhouette as he let his eyes readjust. "Ah, Rin… Can I…ask you why you're doing this?"
Makoto felt Rin's hand twitch in his. "Somebody has to," he grumbled, but Makoto wasn't convinced that was the entire answer.
Still, he smiled. "Tha--aaaiiieee!" He leapt behind Rin as a seaweed monster popped out from around the corner, making the most horrible gargling growls.
"It's just Nitori," Rin sighed.
"WAAARRRGHARBLARGH!" the seaweed monster replied, flailing about as it skittered across the passageway and behind another wall, allowing the two to press on.
Once the initial shock wore off, Makoto chuckled. Something about knowing it was that tiny first year made it quite a bit less frightening. Rin glanced back at him, a hint of a smile on his lips.
"There are vampire stingray up ahead," Rin warned.
Sure enough, a small school of stingray with viciously sharp teeth and blood trailing from their mouths sailed closely overhead, accompanied by angry screeching. Makoto still clung close to Rin, but he managed to not scream this time.
"The sirens should be next."
"Sirens?"
"I think they might just be evil mermaids."
Makoto chuckled just as an eerie, haunting tune started up. Rounding another corner, a section of wall behind the tulle had been dropped, creating an alcove lit by blueish-green light. On a rock sat two mermaids, covered by white veils. As the boys approached, they pulled the veils away, revealing rotted faces and seaweed hair.
Makoto pulled back, away from the disconcerting sight, and Rin pushed on, saying, "Relax - they're not gonna do anything to you." A few steps later, he added, "But watch out for the floater."
Suspended from the ceiling was the top half of a bloated "corpse" whose hands hung down just far enough to touch the tops of most people's heads, causing them to look straight up into a contorted, grotesque face. Even warned, it still disturbed Makoto, and thankfully Rin hurried past it.
"Who came up with all this?" Makoto asked.
"The whole team came up with different stuff. The vampire stingrays were my idea," Rin said proudly.
Makoto laughed softly.
"Ah, there should be one more…" he said, just as a low, rumbling growl filled the air. Lights flashed on against a wall, illuminating a five-foot tall, nearly cat-like eye. "It's a reef shark's eye. Pretty cool, huh?"
Makoto nearly whimpered.
"It's just a painting, Makoto. Come on, we're nearly to the end."
"Ah, yeah," he said weakly, following close behind.
Suddenly, a deep, wavering voice behind them called out, "Taaaaachiiiibaaaanaaaaa…"
Makoto froze with a strangled whimper. "I thought you said there weren't any more!" he hissed.
"Maaaaatsuuuuooookaaaaaa…" another voice groaned from ahead of them.
"I didn't think there was!" Rin hissed back, edging closer to Makoto.
A low groaning kept up, steadily getting louder, until it suddenly stopped, causing a dead silence to fall.
"Boo!"
Makoto shrieked, all but jumping into Rin's arms as Nagisa busted up laughing.
"Nagisa, you little shit!" Rin snapped.
"Aa~ Did I scare Rin-chan, too?" he giggled.
"Tch." Rin scowled, and with more force than probably necessary, pulled Makoto towards the exit.
"A-ah, Rin--" Makoto tried to protest. He winced as they hit the fully lit room past the exit curtain. "Rin, hold on a moment," he tried again.
"What is it?"
Makoto paused, unsure of how to express himself, before he smiled warmly and went with, "Thank you."
Rin stared, then looked away as if annoyed. "Somebody has to make sure you don't die of fright," he muttered.
Makoto reached up with his free hand, cupping Rin's face as he kissed his forehead. "I'm glad it was you."
Rin's face heated up, but his grip on Makoto's hand tightened. "Idjit," he muttered.
Makoto just kept smiling. He was glad that, even after all these years, Rin was still so easy to read.