Fast feet and the dusty track, stretches and sore muscles and colored water bottles left buried in duffel bags. Energy translates to heat and heat translates to energy, somehow, and Rin is an engine that never sputters. She's Otonokizaka's newest star of the track club. Her speed is unmatched, they found out. She's so easy to befriend and comfortable to laugh with as if they've been friends for years, they also found out.
Really, it must have been fate for them to gain such a fantastic member.
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It's raining so practice is cancelled. Rin grabs the opportunity to find Hanayo and latch onto her in an impromptu hug from behind, holding her a bit longer than normal, taking in the scent of her shirt.
"Kayo-chin!"
They haven't been able to spend as much time together after school these days, what with their conflicting club schedules. Sometimes, Hanayo can see the track team (and Rin) from where Muse practices on the rooftop.
"R-Rin-chan! Ah, you startled me!"
"Hehe, I—"
"Hanayo."
It's Nishikino-san. Rin's smile turns stiff and she acknowledges the other girl with a tilt of her head. Maki, however, doesn't seem polite enough to return the gesture and instead motions to Hanayo impatiently. "Come on. If we don't leave now, we'll be caught in the worst part of the rain."
What is this. "You walking home with Nishikino-san, Kayo-chin? Hey, let's all walk together, then!"
Hanayo isn't oblivious to the tension and she forces a sweet smile and a nod, allowing Rin to hook an arm around hers. Maki pulls a plain black umbrella from her bag.
"Oh, that's right! Rin forgot her umbrella today! Hehe, silly me~" Rin lightly bumps her head with her fist, still clinging to Hanayo. "Kayo-chin, let's share yours then!"
"I-I forgot mine too... I was going to share with Maki-chan, actually. Sorry..."
"Sorry." Maki repeats, a bit too awkwardly to sound entirely sincere. "My umbrella is only large enough for two. Why don't you see if anyone else will let you borrow theirs?"
What is this. "Hehe, no problem, getting a little wet won't hurt me!"
"Rin-chan, no! You'll get sick!"
"So I'll just run really fast through the rain!"
"I thought you wanted to walk with us?" Maki raises an eyebrow. Rin can't hold that smile on her face much longer.
What is this...
"That's... yeah. Okay. I'll just join you another day then. I think Fuu-chan is still around, so I'll go find her and see if she's got an umbrella we can share. I'll call you when I get home, Kayo-chin!"
She dashes back into the school building before Hanayo can say a proper goodbye much less get a single word in. Maki watches Rin disappear inside, her expression completely neutral.
"Hoshizora-san really is a fast runner, huh?"
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"Hey, didja see Kayo-ch— Hanayo anywhere?" Rin's slightly out of breath and looking around so fast her neck might snap.
"Ah, Koizumi-san? We saw Nishikino-san leading her up to the rooftop a few minutes ago. Weird, I didn't think Nishikino-san really talked to anyone else..."
The girl's friend adds something else but Rin had already tuned out their gossip and is walking away, fast. That is weird. She vaguely knows of Nishikino-san, that smart and pretty and standoffish girl in their grade who didn't seem to have any friends. What business does she even have with Hanayo? A sick feeling stirs in Rin's stomach and she pauses at the bottom of the stairwell that leads up to the roof.
Today was the day she was finally going to give Kayo-chin the push she needed to join that idol club. But— she doesn't like the next words that pop up in her head— that opportunity seems to have been stolen by Nishikino. Maybe Rin should've ran a little faster...?
She opens the door to the roof to see five girls there, Hanayo and Nishikino included, sitting close together and excitedly talking. Hanayo looks so happy, it makes Rin's heart skip a beat and it feels light like a feather.
Nishikino looks just as happy as Hanayo, too.
.
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She runs to empty her head of all those dark feelings she doesn't like ("hate" is too strong of a word, Rin fervently decides) and instead focuses on the track club. A couple of other first years had joined alongside her, girls in her class she was friendly with but only as casual acquaintances. In just a week it feels like they've become close-knit friends though, and Rin finds that she feels the best when she's running or goofing off with them.
Hanayo likes to tell Rin about her new friends, too, whenever they can find time alone together. She likes to talk about Nishikino-san in particular (but Hanayo always calls her Maki-chan, always Maki-chan), a topic that often comes up without any prompting of any sort from Rin's end. She's been helping Hanayo with her vocals and giving her private lessons in her big house. Oh, Rin-chan, her house is so big! And her parents are so kind, and Maki-chan tries so hard to be a proper host and it's kinda cute, really!
Rin can only think of that time Maki had told her that her umbrella was only large enough for two. She smiles and nods, nonetheless.
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"Why'd you stick your nose in our business, huh?! You didn't have to step in!"
"What are you even talking about? D-don't stand so close to me, Hoshizora."
That day afterwards, Rin found Maki in an empty hallway after school and managed to corner her. Nishikino is tall and even prettier up close, but Rin doesn't like the way she looks down at her.
"I wasn't even there when she joined. I wanted to see Kayo-chin make her decision myself! Why'd you do that?!"
"H-how was I supposed you know you have some kind of weird claim over her—"
"Don't say it like that, it's nothing like that! Kayo-chin's my best friend, you wouldn't understand how important to me she is!"
"Well, she's important to me now too!"
Maki's face immediately turns a bright shade of red and Rin steps back in shock. She didn't even know Ice Princess Nishikino had this much passion behind that standoffish air. She didn't know that Hanayo had somehow already befriended this girl, either. How did Rin miss a detail like that? There's no way she could've seen it coming, but.
"I-I mean, she's my... friend, I suppose," Maki twirls her hair around a finger, looking off to the side. "I suppose all five of us are friends now, being in the same club and whatnot. I'm still not sure of those upperclassmen but Hanayo... she's... she has a lot of potential. And I'm— we're all helping her improve."
Rin can't think of anything to say.
"As her best friend you should understand that much. Idols are important to Hanayo, aren't they? What's with you, being worked up over something minor like this? Hanayo got what she wanted, so isn't that fine?"
Rin still can't think of anything to say, so she runs. She runs down the hall, ignoring Maki's startled call to her, and runs all the way to the gym where she finds the manager of the track club sitting on a bench and sorting through some papers. By then Rin is slightly out of breath and there's a manic look in her eyes that throws the older girl off guard.
"Whoa! What's the rush, kid?"
"Please let me join your club!"
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Muse's third show as a complete group of eight is a huge success just like the previous two, and Rin is actually there to see it for once instead of being kept elsewhere for track club activities. Afterwards she's the first to find Hanayo and tackle her in an affectionate hug, excitedly rubbing their cheeks together. This feels familiar and right, unlike everything else.
"Kayo-chin, you were so great up there!"
"R-Rin-chan, that tickles! And, and do you really mean that? I think I missed a few steps, and my voice cracked at some point..."
"Who cares?! Rin's so happy for you! You looked like a real professional idol!"
Someone nearby clears their throat. Rin reluctantly pulls back from Hanayo, still holding her shoulders.
"Hanayo, you did miss those steps in the second verse, but it was still a job well done. Don't focus so much on your mistakes, alright?" The student council president. She doesn't look nearly as stern or harsh as Rin remembers. "Oh, Hoshizora-san! I'm glad you could make it! Hanayo's been talking a lot about you."
"Really...? Kayo-chin, you gossip!"
"It's not like that! Eli-chan, please!" Hanayo's blushing, but smiling. The student council president gently laughs and pats Hanayo on the head.
"We're all going out for dinner to celebrate, later. Don't stay too long," she pauses and glances at Rin, her smile too honest and nice to make Rin feel out of place. Maybe that charisma is why she's the student council president. "Would you like to come too, Hoshizora-san? Hanayo's never properly introduced her special childhood friend to the rest of Muse, so this would be a good opportunity for introductions."
Rin really does want to accept the invitation right there on the spot, but then she suddenly thinks of the look Maki gave her on that rainy day. It wasn't contempt. She wasn't contemptuous at all. What was it, then...?
"Rin would love to, but..." Why can't she remember how Nishikino looked at her? "I already have plans with some friends from the track club. Sorry!"
"That's a shame." Eli is so nice, too nice, that Rin feels as though she doesn't want to disappoint her, somehow. "Please join us the next time you're available, then. And I'll see you in a bit, Hanayo."
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Her happiness for her best friend is genuine, but every time Hanayo mentions private vocal lessons with Nishikino after school Rin can't ignore a small pang in her gut. Why is that?
She doesn't know, so she purges all those bad feelings with more mindless running. Her upperclassmen in the track club compliment her for her speed and form. They sometimes treat her and the other first years to ramen after practices.
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It's raining again, just like that day when Maki told Rin her umbrella wasn't big enough for three. Hanayo is busy in the idol research clubroom with something or other (or she might be watching idol videos with that third year who looks like a first year) and practice for both clubs are cancelled. Rin said she'd wait for Hanayo to finish up so they could walk home together. Until then, she wanders the empty hallways, hands folded behind her back.
There's another sound beneath the drumming of the rain, like an accompaniment. Rin absentmindedly drifts closer to the music until she realizes she's staring through a window at Nishikino Maki, who's playing the piano. Her eyelids are half-drawn. She looks sleepy despite the steady energy to her song.
Rin isn't musically inclined in any way, but even she has to admit it's a pretty sound.
How exactly did Nishikino look at her on that day?
"Kayo-chin is important to you too, huh?" Rin whispers with a small smile, moving away from the window and leaning her back against the wall, listening. She really is a good piano player. That comes as no big surprise, though, since it's Nishikino Maki.
Her back slides lower until Rin is sitting on the floor, picking out the piano notes from the rain and trying to find some sort of similar rhythm between the two. Her eyes gently close. Rin begins to dream of idols with bright smiles and plain black umbrellas big enough for a crowd.
She doesn't notice when the song comes to an end, nor when the door slides open and Maki nearly stumbles back in surprise.
"Hoshizora-san?! How long have you been sitting there?"
That's not part of her dream. Rin swims through the rain in her head and groggily opens her eyes, looking up at Maki. There's no unkindness in her face, now that Rin thinks about it.
So she risks a smile.
"I dunno, a while?" Rin fiddles with the strap of her bookbag, apparently thinking over something. "You're a really good piano player, Nishikino-san."
It might just be her imagination, but Maki's cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. It's not a vicious red like when Maki had declared that Hanayo was important to her. "Th-thanks. You..."
Rin can't make out what she mumbles next. She staggers up to her feet. "What was that?"
"I said, you don't have to keep calling me that. Hanayo calls me by my first name... since you're so close to her and all, you could too. I guess."
That's definitely soft pink tinging her cheeks. Nishikino— no, Maki, isn't quite as severe as Rin recalled. She never was, actually. Why else is Hanayo even a part of this idol group now? Something in Rin's chest tightens. It hurts, but the discomfort isn't unbearable this time.
A plain black umbrella, only large enough for two? What nonsense.
"Maki... then you can call me Rin."
They both hesitantly smile at each other then, as the rain outside crescendoes.
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A/N: I'm not sure if I want to continue this one. I did have plans for it to be longer and include Rin meeting/befriending other members of Muse one at a time and a RinMaki relationship slowly developing, but ha ha my writing energy. Maybe someday?
Also, thank you to everyone who left kind reviews on my previous story! Sorry for not replying to each one individually but they really made my day. u_u You guys are awesome.
I might start posting my stories to tumblr, so keep an eye out for that or something. I'll put up a link on my profile when I do.
