A/N: I was walking home in the rain today and everything was wonderfully damp and covered in autumn leaves, some of which I collected and then later sealed within wax paper. They are now hanging on my wall, right by the window. As I walked through the raindrops and puddles I couldn't help but think of a certain red-haired rain enthusiast who seems to enjoy the lovely weather just as much as I do. I simply love rain, and I happen to know that Rin does as well. This story was largely inspired by my rainy day adventure, and I hope that it's just about as Rin-ish as I felt as I archived it through a third-person perspective.

Please enjoy!

Your favorite Katawa Shoujo author (just kidding),

-LR

She gazed at the outside world, the windows blurring the view as droplets of rain fell upon the glass. It was the kind of rainy day that had no confinements, no restrictions. It was the kind of day that was open to anything. It was the kind of day, she thought, that didn't need an imaginary umbrella.

It was decided.

Rin got up from her bed, slipping on her sandals and making for the school entrance. She slunk down the hallway and opened the door as the first drop of rain fell on her nose. Looking up at the soupy sky, she stepped outside and made for the town. She was going to seize the day.

The air was cool and gentle and the streets were slicked with rain. She looked down at the puddles by her feet, reflecting the sky above her. She gazed upon her reflection in the water, the raindrops rippling in the surface. From this angle, she thought, it looked as though the sky was closer, and that she was standing directly under it. Her perspective was incredible. It almost made her feel dizzy looking at it, as though if she were to fall into the puddle she would fall far, far into the clouds, beyond the rain, through the world in her reflection.

"Maybe I'm the reflection," she thought to herself.

She walked along the pavement, which smelled of pond water and petrichor, that earthy smell that came from the wet grass and dirt after a rainfall. Everything was calm and serene, the sound of water surrounding her as a hush fell over the earth, making her the only one breathing, the only one in existence.

She watched as a tiny river stream trickled down the sidewalk, flowing freely between the spaces where the asphalt and concrete connected. That is how she felt; connected. She looked at the leaves scattered on the ground, all different shapes and colors under the water flow, slowly becoming one. It was beautiful to see. She wanted to make those leaves into a river stream, make them come to life on her canvas. She wanted to take this moment and shackle it to her heart forever. The colors enchanted her, twisting and turning with each corner. As the rain whispered through the town, Rin whispered to the open air. She wondered if the rain would understand.

As she rounded the corner, her feet sloshed through the dip in the road where there was now a small pond. The beginnings of a smile tugged upwards on her lips, the cold rainwater pooling around her ankles undulating between her toes. Nothing much could compare to this feeling, she thought.

The town felt barren, as though she was the only one there, the only one in the world. Her heart fluttered, watching the downpour before her murky green eyes. Everything was at peace, she thought. Everything was always at peace when it rained. Slowly, very slowly, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes, letting the feeling of raindrops wash over her face and neck, delighting in the sensation. There was something about the feeling of rain on her face that just made her inexplicably happy. She wished she knew why, but there was something nice about not knowing, too. She wasn't sure what it was, but she decided that she liked it that way, and that it should remain as such. Besides, there was nothing fun about knowing the reason for everything in the world. If she did, she probably wouldn't be able to think about how snowflakes might be tiny shards of ice that very small angels weave from very small sewing machines and are cast down from the sky where they work in a house made from clouds, or how rivers might be neverending streams of water that flow for eternity to the ends of the earth. She figured that keeping it a mystery would be much more entertaining than figuring out what it was for real. The thought made her feel slightly bothered.

Deliberating the reason for why there should be an absence of reasons, she nearly lost herself in thought before a big drop of rain landed squarely on her head. She looked up and realized that she was underneath a telephone wire. Had it not been there and that amassment of water didn't fall from it at the time and place it did, she'd have forgotten all about the fun she was having in the rain. That wouldn't have been any good at all. She took a minute to breathe and feel thankful and shook her wet hair wildly around like a dog after a bath. Tiny droplets of water flew from her head as it swung back and forth. She felt glad that she was in this moment experiencing the world around her instead of trapped inside her own mind. This day so far had been nothing short of amazing.

Her feet made little tapping sounds as they walked through the puddles. Rin wondered who came up with the expression "under the weather", and why it didn't mean walking in the rain on an autumn day. This felt much more like "under the weather" than being under the weather did. It made her sad to think that if she was under the weather, it would mean feeling less like she was right now and more like she was when she had a cold. It was an awful comparison, she thought. Whoever it was that came up with the expression had terrible taste in metaphorical word choices.

Finally, walking back up the hill, she was on her way back to the school, thoroughly drenched from head to toe and her clothes and hair dripping with rain. Before going back through the iron gates, she took one last glance at the world behind her. The cloudy sky, the falling rain, the autumn leaves, the misty atmosphere, the wet, massive blur that encompassed the whole town in a shroud of serendipity. There was very little, she thought, that could compare to this damp and beautiful world.