"Have a good day!" the lady at the cash register said as Seiko started to walk out of the small store, and she gave a polite "Thanks, you too!" before exiting. She fixed her grip on the heavy plastic bag full of groceries for dinner, continuing to walk back home. It was just another normal day; her father had to work, and she had three little hungry mouths to feed. Well, make that four mouths, to add herself. She didn't know quite yet what she was going to make—she usually just took a vote from her siblings.

She had been walking for about just a few minutes, when she looked up and saw that the clouds overhead had suddenly become threateningly dark. Thankfully, she had taken her umbrella with her, and quite literally had it on hand—it hung down from the one that was not holding the bag. One simple movement of her thumb, and it sleekly popped open, rising above her head and shielding her from any potential oncoming rain. A couple of moments later, a downpour suddenly burst from the sky, almost immediately completely soaking every object prone to the rain. Usually, around this time of day, there weren't many people out and about, but there were the occasional few that unfortunately now had probably the most worst experience with weather of their lives that they'd ever have.

However, protected from the rain, Seiko simply kept going onwards, not really minding the transformation of warm, mildly humid air to cold and wet. As she walked, she noticed a slightly small hooded figure sitting on a bench. Their head was bowed down, so she couldn't tell anything else asides from the fact that well, of course, they were quite drenched. Just how long had they been sitting out there? As she walked by them, she saw a quick glimpse of their face, and now that she was able to observe them better, realized that they were a child.

Immediately, she stopped in front of them, and held her umbrella above the both of them. That seemed to get their attention. They slowly raised their head, Seiko's light brown eyes meeting their emotionless hazel ones. Strawberry blonde bangs framed their face, their thoroughly wet long hair hanging out of their hood. They were a girl. A completely defenseless, and alone girl.

"What are you doing out here alone, kiddo? And more importantly, where are your parents?" she asked, her voice slightly raised above the loud pitter patter of the rain so the young stranger could hear her. She merely rolled her eyes in response, and looked away from Seiko. Frowning, she tried to prompt her to speak again. "Do you at least even have anywhere to go until someone comes to get you or something?"

"And what are you doing, wasting your time pestering me? All of that ain't any of your concern, that's for sure," she rudely retorted, and turned a glare to the brunette. Sighing, Seiko had a feeling that this girl wasn't going to let her help her. She put her umbrella back above her head, getting ready to leave. After she had gotten only a few small paces away, the girl seemed to have suddenly changed her mind, as she called out to her, followed by the sounds of shoes sinking into deep puddles before then padding against the sidewalk. "H-hey, wait!"

Seiko stopped and turned her head towards the blonde, who had trotted up and now stood a few feet behind her. She waited for her to speak, and when she did, she was quite taken by surprise as to the youth's situation. "Could I…possibly come with you? …I don't have anywhere to go." God, did she mean that she was kicked out? Who on Earth would force out a kid? Had she not found her, she couldn't bear to think of what could have happened to her over time.

"Of course! C'mere, though. Don't want you getting even more wet, if that's possible at this point," she said with a smile. The girl merely nodded and walked over to her side, getting underneath the umbrella. "Alright then, let's go. Just a heads up, I've got three younger siblings back at my house, so expect a bit of noise," she said with a small laugh as they set off. The still nameless young teen let out some sort of sound of surprise at the information.

"Th-three? Yikes…" she said quietly. Her lack of speaking up probably meant that she was still a bit unsure of her, but at least she was talking.

"Not a fan of kids, are ya?" she replied with amusement. Seiko then turned her head to the girl with an expression of curiosity on her face. "Actually, that reminds me—just how old are you?" She was hoping that the more harmless questions she asked, the more the girl would eventually start to relax. It did take her a few moments, but she did eventually reply, speaking up a bit more this time.

"…I'm thirteen." The older teen just simply nodded. She had a feeling that she was young, but goodness, it was still so surprising. Wait, had she even asked what her name is? Well, it seemed like now was a fine time to do so.

"Oh, sorry, but what's your name, by the way?" This time, the girl looked up at her. She seemed to hesitate, but then finally responded.

"…Rin. Not really anything special, but it is what it is, I guess," she said with a shrug, before turning her head forward.

"Rin, huh? Well, a bit late to say this just now, but it's nice to meet you, Rin. I'm Seiko," she responded with a mellow smile. Rin looked up at her again, this time with a small grin on her face.

"Nice to meet ya, too."

Yep, I've finally gotten a bit back into writing now, and I rewrote an old story at that. I believe I posted the original on Quotev, but not on here. I'm not too sure though, it's been a long while. But anyways, moving on to some unfortunately serious stuff…

Sadly, the sudden loss of interest and motivation to write was not just a normal thing or laziness. It became more and more obvious over the years, but until recently, we didn't actually do anything about it. We don't know for absolutely sure, but there is for certain, SOMETHING wrong. I am currently on antidepressants and a pill for ADD (it's kind of like ADHD, but without the hyperactivity). This is what's been causing my life to slowly spiral down into a living Hell.

Well, perhaps that was a bit brutally honest. But there's truly no better way to word it. I can't enjoy anything creative anymore. Not writing, not art, I don't even want to bother designing something stupid in a game for fun anymore.

I don't know when or if I'll ever recover from whatever it is that's plaguing my mind. I pray that it will be soon, but judging from how long it's already been taking us to find the right meds for me (it's been about close to three months), it's not looking good. So I have to officially declare that I may in fact, be on a long-term hiatus. I'll post the occasional stories that I write while I'm bored; this was a very special and rare opportunity for me. I'm so sorry.