Truth be told, Hashima Rin just pisses her off. It's that easy and that simple and Tokoha doesn't understand Rin, can't understand her.
"Don't underestimate me," she says and it's cold, suddenly. Although Rin hasn't moved at all, doesn't even look at Tokoha, it feels like the temperature dropped by ten degrees or more. "I'll win this fight."
"I thought Vanguard is about more than winning and losing."
Tokoha had a vivid dream the night before this match. About flowers and angles, about torn apart ribbons, and of course about Hashima Rin. It's not exactly a dark dream, the way she recalls it during breakfast as she chews on her cereals as if they were some kind of gum. Just a dream that felt so close, so real.
"It'll be all right," Mamoru smiles at her. Tokoha nods and gets up, leaving her cereals pretty much untouched on the kitchen table.
"I'm heading out!"
Rin obviously plays with her. It's no real fight. It is not fun and feels odd, anything but real. It's so far from the fights she knows that having fun just sounds ridiculous. As if all the reasons why she didn't want to play in a tournaments suddenly assembled in front of her, shaped like the woman in front of her.
"Enjoying yourself, pretty little sister?"
Tokoha frowns. Don't let her get to you, she tells herself. Her hands are shaking, but don't let her get to you. I will win this.
"Stand and draw!"
Simething shines in the little sister's eyes, Rin notices. Although she doesn't mean to give it any thought, she can't help but get a bad feeling about this. She's not the kind of person who would doubt her own eyes and the things they see, but this is just –
"I stride," the little sister states. No heat in her voice, nothing. Her eyes are cold, too. The lack of emotion makes anger start boiling in Rin chest, and it's ridiculous – ridiculous how their roles reversed after just two simple words. "I will win this fight."
"Attack."
The confidence the girl radiates makes Rin think things. That she is not going to lose. How weakness is a sin, that losing is a sin. How much she hates, hates, hates Anjou Mamoru's sister.
"Guard!" Rin can't help but let her anger affect her voice and the Anjou girl. The Anjou girl has the nerve to smile. There are four cards left in her hand: one grade two, one critical and two heals. To use up the critical on Anjou's first attack isn't what Rin usually would have done, but she has to. To prove that she's stronger, that she won't lose. She played this game quite safe up to now, got two heal twice, so this turn shouldn't be a problem actually.
But that girl grins. "My Vanguard attacks."
"Guard," Rin exclaims again. No pass.
"Twin drive." Anjou's still not wavering, still pissing Rin off.
It's a trigger. Anjou draws. "Power to my remaining Rearguard." The second is a perfect guard.
"See? Your attack didn't work," Rin shouts. She can't explain why. "It didn't work, little sister, because you're weak. The weak can't win."
There's this sparkle in her eyes again and she smiles. "Don't worry, Anjou Tokoha isn't weak."
And in the end Rin. Does lose.
Instead of waiting to let herself be carried away by the UnaSan guards, Rin chases after the younger Anjou sibling, not even bothering to pick her cards up. She doesn't feel any regrets of leaving a deck that lost (because it's the cards who lost to Neo Nectar, it's not Rin who lost against Anjou, because Rin can't lose, can't be weak).
Anjou seems to anticipate Rin following her, because she waits in the corridor. She doesn't seem like a threat here, like a completely different person suddenly. "Thanks for the fight. It was really, uhm" she hesitates. Rin can tell that she seems uncertain, although she usually can't be bothered with reading other people's faces. The Anjou girl is a special case, she thinks in the back of her mind. She might be worth thinking about. But the way the girl is right now, she's boring. It's hard to not read her like a book. It looks like she forces a smile on her face. "It was fun."
A lie. Rin tilts her head, steps closer to Tokoha. "I didn't enjoy it either."
Tokoha's eyes widen and something about her falters. "I – I did have fun. Vanguard is about having fun," she practically declaims, like the good girl she is, like her brother probably taught her to be.
"Is it really? You who keeps saying that, don't you enjoy a winning more than losing? Don't try to deny it," Rin continues when the girl – Tokoha – opens her mouth to protest. "I saw it in your eyes."
"I didn't, you didn't," Tokoha protests, though neither of them can tell what she wants to deny.
Rin takes one more look at her, before turning around on her heel. "I don't really care if you want to stay weak as you are." The loss is still bitter on her tongue, but she's getting hungry now. Might as well look for something sweet to suppress the bitter taste.
When she takes her first step away from the girl, Tokoha speaks up again. She waited here after all, so there's perhaps something she still wants to say. Her voice is different from before and while Rin can't be bothered with turning around again to look at the little girl, there's a different feeling about it. As if her eyes are sparkling again. "Wait. I, well, I do want to get stronger."
Rin shrugs and puts her hands in her pocket, wondering if she left some bonbons in there. "So what?" There's a lollipop. She pulls the red wrapping paper off and looks at the green coloured candy. It's one of those apple flavoured ones, she supposes.
"Hashima Rin," the girl says, demanding her attention again. Rin sighs, disappointed to hear she is back to her usual voice. "Fight me once more! This time, we'll have fun."
There's nothing to cover the uncertainty in her voice (how could she be confident in her beliefs, right after this fight that was about everything but having fun). Rin laughs and bites down on the lollipop. It breaks inside her mouth.
"Fine, you'll annoy me until I give in anyway." She smiles. "Fighting me when I want to eat won't end well for you though."