A/N: This was a long time coming. I'm sorry it took so long for me to come to my senses and realize the major problems there were with this trilogy of sorts. Because I wanted to get all of these done and edited so that I could replace all of them at once instead of one-by-one, I have spent the last two days fixing up all three stories to the best of my ability so that you could all understand these new versions together instead of what I think would be a rather jarring contrast between each revision and what the next one was before that process came into effect. There might still be a few issues with how well they flow, but it is in my eyes a vast improvement on what these once were. Please forgive any parts of this that might not make any sense, as I did write them in an earlier time in my life and I merely covered up some of the more amateur monologue/dialogue with better writing. This might still be a big hot mess, but at least it's my current self's hot mess.

That being said, I hope you enjoy this trainwreck!

All my love,

-LR

. . . . .

Another day of classes, another mindless knowledge session. The school day was over, but there was still sunlight in the sky and some life left in my body. I wanted to act on it, lest I lost the motivation as quickly as it came.

I made the split decision to get off my duff and head out of the school. I didn't have a particular direction in mind, but I was sure it would come to me as I went along.

I walked around the courtyard for a while, still impressed by the sheer largeness of it. The only thing I could think it came close to was the old soccer field I used to play in with my friends at my old school. Even with that image in mind, I wasn't sure if it was any comparison at all. The courtyard here was far bigger here than any other courtyard I'd ever seen; not to say that I had seen many in my time. I wasn't an expert. Maybe this was the size that all courtyards were standard to. Though, reminding myself where I was, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a bit bigger to support the population of students here.

I rounded the corner and went back along the main entrance, this time taking a turn in the other direction. I passed by the track briefly, but didn't linger for very long. I quickly peeked behind my shoulder to see if Emi was out running. I didn't see her, but then again, I wasn't looking very hard. Maybe she was there but was running so fast that the human eye couldn't detect her.

I had to chuckle a bit at the thought. Obviously no human could ever run that fast, but something made me feel like Emi could be the first one in existence to come close to it.

I eventually found myself back at the gate, seeming to have a perpetual instinct to go back to where I started. I felt slightly unfulfilled, but I decided that I'd walked enough for the day. It felt too early to head back to my dorm, but too late to go out for another try. If I went any further it would probably be well into the evening by the time I got back again, which would leave me little to no time to finish the homework I was assigned today.

Ugh... homework.

The thought made me groan in displeasure.

It's not like it was impossible; in fact it had been getting easier since I started classes with Mutou, but it was a minor annoyance that could put a grain of salt in anyone's otherwise perfectly satisfying day.

Coming back from my walk, I noticed Rin was still painting her mural. I figured I could possibly kill some more of my extra time before the task of finishing my homework was imminent.

Feeling rather chuffed to have an excuse to delay the inevitable for at least a little while longer, I went up to her in a means of trying my hand at small-talk.

"Hey, Rin."

She turned around and looked at me, completely un-phased. I guess that means I wasn't interrupting anything important.

"Oh, hello Hisao."

The mural now looked more-or-less half complete, but I suppose only an artist can say when their art is really finished. It could even be close to finished right now. But the fact that Rin was clearly working on it dismissed that thought.

"So, what are you doing?"

Dumb question. I suppose that was just my default conversation starter. As stupid as it sounded, pointing out the obvious would just make it sound weirder. I mean, what kind of person goes up to someone who is painting a mural and say "so, you're painting a mural, are you?" instead of just settling for the safe, nondescript 'what are you doing'?

"Oh, nothing much."

She said it fairly casually, as though she was simply putting on an act of working on the mural and really not getting much done at all. For all I knew, talking to Rin, that could've easily been the case.

"Hard at work, I see."

I said it half-sarcastically, but I wondered if she'd take the bait anyway.

"Not really. Although I'm thinking a lot more than I normally do right now."

"Oh?"

"Doing something doesn't always mean 'doing something', if you know what I mean."

"I don't know what you mean."

"If you think about it, doing something that can count as doing something can end up being nothing. One time, all I did was sit on a park bench with some skittles."

"That sounds pretty boring," I said bluntly.

"I don't know. Sitting alone on a park bench eating skittles for a long period of time can be very enlightening."

This intrigued me.

"Really? How so?"

"Well, for most of the time, I was looking at that spot in the sky where you could see the sun in the distance. Every time I had a yellow skittle in my mouth, looking at the sun like that made me wonder if that's what it tasted like."

"A yellow skittle?"

"No, a lemon."

"Oh."

"But after thinking that, I suddenly realized that the sun was made out of hot flames, so it couldn't really taste like that. … And then I figured out the last question for my science homework."

"You weren't doing your homework?"

"I went outside to think. But when I think about it, I was only thinking to think about thinking instead of really thinking. But then I ended up thinking. And I was able to complete my homework. Even if it was just a coincidence," she explained, but it sounded more like she was skirting around the issue to me. I wouldn't put it past Rin to try to cover up something as simple as goofing off instead of doing homework, but whenever she spoke it sounded very much like, to her, it made perfect sense. If she were talking to anyone else, it could've sounded like a perfectly acceptable reason.

"I see," I replied, leaving the rest to interpretation.

Rin continued.

"But in the end, I really wasn't doing anything, even if thinking means doing something. Saying that you were thinking when asked what you were doing is like saying you were breathing, or staring at a wall, or talking to imaginary people. It is something if you want it to be something, but most likely you weren't doing anything much."

I rolled her words around in my mind like thet were rock candy. I had to really think about what I wanted to say next, as I was certain that I'd never be able to ask about anything else she had just said ever again.

"So, when you said you weren't doing much earlier, when I asked you what you were doing, you meant that painting your mural was equivalent to any other thing that isn't much?"

The question was out - now to wait and hope for a response.

Rin put her head down in contemplation. I was relieved that, at least, my question was one to consider the answer for, by Rin's standards.

"I guess I meant that I wasn't doing anything much, in terms of painting the mural. It is at a point now where I think I am stuck. Like trying to get to the next level of a game when you don't have a strategy guide."

I was surprised that Rin was even aware of video games, without having opposable thumbs and all. Maybe she knew someone who played them? It was always a possibility, I suppose.

"How are you stuck?" I decided to ask, but before I had a chance to reconsider the words were already out. I guess I had no choice in the matter now if the answer I got was unsatisfactory.

"I... I don't know. The colors aren't blending right. There are things I want to do with it but I just... don't know what they are."

I was surprised at how well I comprehended her dilemma, even though her explanation could be considered on the more flaky side of things, as far as execution goes.

"Interestingly enough, I know what you mean. I have that sometimes too, when I draw. There are things missing or things I want to change somehow, but I'm not sure what they are or how to go about it."

Rin was looking at the mural intently, seeming lost in thought. I silently wondered if any of that got through to her, but I suppose in the end it didn't really matter. I said what I wanted to say, and she seemed done with the conversation.

Feeling in the moment now, though, after the momentum we had built up, I decided to initiate it one last time. It was worth a try, at least, though I was quite content with how far I've gotten with her up to this point.

"So what was the question you figured out, anyway? Did it have to do with the sun?"

Rin's eyes widened, ripping her gaze away from the mural and directing it at me. The look on her face was the most interesting mixture of shock, surprise and confusion.

"I don't know what the question was, now that I think about it. What did I say my answer to it was?"

"You didn't."

"Oh. Well I guess I can't tell you what the question was, then. But it had to do with science."

"That makes sense, seeing as how it was science homework you said you were doing."

"Did I say that?"

"Yes."

She seemed even more perplexed than she did before.

"That's so weird. It's almost like my mind erased half of our conversation right after it happened. Why do minds do that?"

"Beats me."

"Well if my mind forgets something, I guess it means it doesn't have enough space to rember whatever it is that I forget. Like it stores things in different boxes and gets rid of anything that can't fit in them."

This was surprisingly logical. I liked her box metaphor. I wondered if my mind worked like that, too; only remembering certain things that it had room for and tossing aside anything else that was too much or too difficult to remember.

"So when you were thinking about whatever it was you were thinking about, you were technically doing something as well?"

Rin caught on right away, to my surprise.

"That thinking just triggered the act of doing something after it led to the answer to the last question of my homework, which is something. But I wasn't doing anything until then."

I nodded pensively.

"So if you think about doing something instead of doing something, you're not doing anything, even though you're thinking?"

"Exactly."

Rin's way of thinking is very interesting, and sometimes hard to understand. But it's fun to try and figure out how she works. She's like a puzzle waiting to be solved. I think I want to learn how to solve that puzzle, even if it means attempting to do something impossible. But right now, it feels like I'm getting closer to the answer, even if just a little bit. Maybe, just maybe, I can find a way to put the pieces together.

She was now looking at the mural again, seeming determined to figure out the missing element before heading back to her room.

"… Well, it was nice talking to you, Rin."

She didn't take her eyes off the wall, but returned the sentiment.

"It was nice talking to you too, Hisao."

The remnants of a smile appeared on her face. It looked like a very honest smile. It was nice. It felt… rewarding, almost. As if I got a question right on a test, or knocked down the last target in a carnival game. I smiled back at her, acknowledging the reward.

"See you later, Rin."

"Okay."

I walked back to the dorms and into my room. Unfinished science homework ironically awaits.

. . . . .

Parts 2 and 3 coming soon. Very soon. Possibly sooner than you think. Unless you think it's an impossibility.

(that was a bad joke I am so sorry)

That aside, though, I'd like to take a moment to just thank you all for being so supportive of me and this tiny series I have created. I didn't think much of it, when I looked back, but I sure thought a lot of it when I first made them. So thank you. It's your kind words that kept me going, and inspired me to rewrite these as best I could, because you deserve better. Stay awesome, you beautiful people. Cheers.