It Looks Good

It's…so plain. Sakura thought, unable to keep herself from staring at Rukudou-kun as he ate his boiled cabbage.

When deciding on which restaurant to eat at, the girl had only been concerned with the decency of the building and the variety of foods they served. This way, they would be comfortable and both would be able to eat what they liked. Price hadn't really been on her mind, but the red haired boy ordered the cheapest thing in the place anyways.

From watching him gather the various offerings students left at the instrument shelter, Sakura was fairly sure that Rukudou-kun wasn't a picky eater. He took everything from inside of it with the same careful need, his expression only changing to distain when the item was passed its expiry date. Boiled cabbage probably didn't bother him no matter how tasteless it might be, so she tried to forget about feeling bad as she ate her own food.

Their plates were slowly becoming clean. Sakura glanced around at the other tables as she chewed. Across from then, a girl laughed at her company's story. To the right, a pair of teenagers awkwardly exchanged words. Now that she looked, their section was filled with couples. They were all chatting away, and as she noticed this Sakura felt very out of place. This was supposed to be a date, and yet she and Rukudou-kun hadn't said one thing to each other since they sat down.

Staring down at her half-eaten meal, the girl bit her lip a little and lifted her head. She was surprised to find her hazel eyes meeting Rinne's red ones. They held each other's gazes for a moment before Rinne looked downwards again, his expression unreadable.

"Um!" Sakura started, rapidly thinking of something to say. "How have you been doing in school, Rukudou-kun?"

The boy paused in his movements, chopsticks hovering in front of his mouth. "School?"

"Yeah!" the girl leaned forward a little, her braids coming dangerously close to her food. "You were away for the first month, so I thought you might be having trouble catching up. I mean, if you like, I could lend you my notes"

The redhead stared at her, lowering his chopsticks to his plate. "…If it isn't troublesome, then…that would be much appreciated"

"I'll give them to you on Monday"

He nodded.

Something else to talk about, something else to talk about…! Sakura wracked her brain for information. "Why did you decide to go to our high school?"

"This area has a high concentration of spirits, so it seemed like a good choice"

"Oh, that makes sense" she nodded a little. "I just decided to go to there because the uniforms were cute"

The red haired boy sitting across from her gave an unexpected chuckle, capturing her attention. She'd never heard him laugh before. Looking closely, the girl could see that his mouth was turned upwards in a smile. It was somewhat charming.

I hope he's not laughing at me, though! Sakura thought, staring at him quizzically. "What? You don't think I look cute in uniform?"

Rinne looked like he had been about to say something, only he had frozen during the process of forming words. "Ah…" he tried. "That's…"

If his hair and eyes weren't so brilliantly red already, Sakura would have noticed the slight tinge on his cheeks as she continued. "Well I think it looks good. You'd look good in our school uniform too! The tie would match your hair" she gave a little smile at that.

"Unfortunately, I will never have enough money for such a thing in this lifetime" he told the girl shortly, his expression diminishing into the usual melancholic one.

"Well, maybe in your next life, then?" Sakura took a small sip of her soda.

"Maybe" he sighed, suddenly looking distant.

The waitress came to take their empty plates, leaving Sakura the bill. As the girl shuffled through her purse for the necessary amount, a faint metallic sound fell into her hears. She looked up, spotting a small variety of coins resting in the center of the table. Rukudou-kun's hand settled on the edge of the wood.

"That should be enough to at least cover the tip"

Sakura felt a flood of gratitude similar to the one she had experienced when receiving his sweater. "You…don't have to-"

"I would like to" he told her firmly. "Otherwise, my late arrival will have been for nothing"

Late arrival…? Sakura replayed the words in her head before recalling what he had said earlier in the evening. So the thing had had to do that took him so long…was getting this money…

"Thank you, Rukudou-kun!" she exclaimed, heat rushing to her cheeks. "I mean, that's really sweet of you!"

He gave a small scoff at her words, avoiding eye contact as they stood to leave. This time, Sakura was able to notice the red on his face. She imaged that her dark hair must have made her face look even redder.

Walking out into the night air, the girl sighed as the breeze cooled her cheeks. "Feels nice to be outside again!" she said while looking at her watch. "It's about eight thirty. I wonder what we should do"

Rinne glanced at her, or maybe the street post behind her. "We're still continuing?"

Sakura stared at the boy, brows knitting as she assumed the worst of his words "Well if you're bored, just say so!" she snipped, feeling surprisingly hurt.

"No" the redhead sighed, meeting her angry eyes with his passive ones. "That wasn't what I meant…won't your family worry if you're out for much longer?"

The girl slowly uncrossed her arms. "O-oh…I'm sorry, I just…"

"It's fine" Rinne told her, and this time Sakura was sure it was really the street post he was looking at, not her.

"No, it's not fine!" she stared at her feet. "I'm really sorry. And you don't have to worry about things like that- my family knows where I am and won't worry if I'm out a bit late. There's no school tomorrow"

"I see. Then, what are we doing next?"

"U-um…" Sakura tried to ignore the guilt that had settled in the pit of her stomach. "Well, there's the late show…their playing a movie I wanted to see. Oh, but it won't start for another forty minutes, so we have time to do something else, too"

Rinne remained silent, looking up at the night sky. In the loss of conversation Sakura looked upwards as well, the lights of the buildings making the stars look faint. Inhaling quietly, the girl looked at the boy standing beside her, the off-white sweater keeping the wind away from her skin as it brushed past them.

"How about we find a bench to sit at?" she proposed, smiling as he nodded. Daringly, she took hold of his hand tugged him with her down the street. Rukudou-kun's face remained straight even as they passed by another pair of teenagers holding hands.

That's right, Sakura thought to herself as she spotted a bench and began leading him to it. We've head hands quite a few times before, when dealing with spirits. I thought it might affect him a little since the situation is different, but I guess not…

She released her hold, pressing her skirt against the back of her thighs as she took a seat. Rinne settled down beside her, not close enough for someone to mistake them for a couple, but not so far apart that they looked like strangers. A few cars drove by, their lights splashing over the pair as they passed. Sakura blinked, rubbing her eyes to get the spots out of them.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh?" the girl blinked again, staring at Rinne with innocent confusion. He looked vaguely concerned, but it might have been the shadows playing tricks on her. "The headlights from the cars just now- it made my vision go all blotchy. Why?"

The redhead sank back against the bench. "Never mind, it's nothing"

"Well, if you say so…"

They became quiet again, the sounds of people passing by and moving vehicles, as well as the opening and closing of shop doors filling in the silence the two had slipped into. Sakura swung her feet back and forth lightly, the tips of her sandals brushing against the pavement. It was clean, unlike that which was to be found in the sewer.

"Oh yeah!" her feet stopped. "I just remembered, Rukudou-kun!"

"Hm?"

"That-" Sakura made sure her voice was a whisper, leaning closer to Rinne so he could hear. "In the sewer, that girl's body…shouldn't we tell someone about it? Like the police?"

"You probably didn't notice because you were being dragged along so fast," the redhead pointed out, "but that section of the sewer was closed off. There aren't any real entrances a person could use to get down there. What will you tell them? You were dragged down by a ghost and happened upon a skeleton? You'll sound crazy"

"But…" Sakura frowned, staring at the brightly lit shop across the street. "That girl's family…I'm sure they must have been waiting for her to come home all this time..."

For a moment he was unresponsive. "I'll move the bones to a place where they'll be found" Rinne muttered, closing his red eyes "Thought I don't know if forensics will be able to identify her"

A smile spread across Sakura's face. "Rukudou-kun…!"

"What now?"

"You're really…such a nice guy!" she laughed, patting her classmate on the head. He shoved her hand away, making the girl laugh even more.

"Stop it" he demanded, scowling.

"Come on!" Sakura urged, trying to reach his hair as he leaned away from her.

"I mean it, Mamiya Sakura! Cut it out!"

A pair of women who were walking past the bench being occupied by the two teenagers had taken interest in their antics, stopping to observe. The redhead was steadily becoming flustered, while the girl with braids laughed merrily at his struggling.

"Hey, isn't that cute?" the one woman asked, nudging her friend.

The other nodded agreeably. "It's hard to find innocent couples like that these days"


And now we have a shorter chapter again! I hope no one minds, but I feel it necessary to avoid putting filler in my chapters.

How did everyone like the latest manga chapter? We got to find out that Rinne is a quarter shinigami and that his grandfather is a mackerel! I think he might be living in that old building- we'll find out more next week though. This is such a good series. I really hope they make an anime out of it! RT has had quite a number of her works made into anime, so I don't see why not, right? I want Susumu Hirasawa to do the soundtrack XD.

Once again, thanks so much to those of you that reviewed! As always, I'll do my best to write quickly, but I make no guarantees.