I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY SORRY for the long wait on this chapter. The writer's block on this chapter was immensely painful to deal with, and I'm really and sincerely sorry for the time I spent making this chapter. Thank you to those who continued to turn in review of this chapter, they greatly spurred me on to hurriedly finish this. However, in the near future, as I have a lot of major exams coming soon, I cannot promise that I'll be updating as regularly as I like, so I hope that all of you can bear with more waits (probably not as long as this one), and I thank you all for your patience.But, that's enough of me rambling and apologising, and now, on to the story...
Rin had always loved Len.
Just kidding.
Just kidding about just kidding.
Sighing for the fourth time that morning, Rin couldn't help but rub her neck impatiently.
Pacing her room impatiently, she found that nothing could calm her down. Her orange wallpaper, her laptop, even her bed all dragged her mind back to the single thought that had been bugging her for the past hour.
Len himself.
It was an undeniable fact, that she did like Len. Whether it be from their childhood, or in their current day teenage hood, she had had a very distinct love for Len. Momentarily stopping before her window, Rin sighed for the fifth time that day and lightly banged her head against the window, letting the soft thump distract her until she looked up and saw a smiling Len waving casually back at her from his bedroom.
Jumping back in surprise, Rin jumped to the side of her window, almost knocking down her entire bookshelf, before stabilizing herself. Roughly checking her messy attire, consisting of only an oversized shirt from her father and her undergarments, Rin's face exploded into a thousand different shades of red, before she tried to peek out of her curtain at Len, only to still see him with a wry smile loosely hanging from his lips.
Rin tried opening her mouth and closing them, with only inaudible squeaks surfacing. Biting back the urge to hide under her bed for the rest of the day, Rin peeked out of her window again, and found Len gesticulating furiously, saying that he was coming over, before disappearing into the background of his room.
Immediately springing up, Rin flung her closet open and threw a pile of her clothes onto the floor, hurriedly finding any pair of clothes that could go together. As she finally decided on a plain orange t-shirt and a pair of shorts to make her look comfortable at home, before the melodious chime of the bell rang throughout her house.
Checking herself in the mirror, she straightened her outfit once more and rushed to the door. Slowly opening it, she smiled nervously at the familiar sighed, clad casually in a yellow t-shirt and a simple pair of shorts, his long and messy hair neatly tied into a small ponytail.
Waving casually at her, Len plopped himself onto the grass on her garden, breathing in deeply, before patting his side, gesturing for her to join him. Shyly inching forward, Rin meekly took her place beside him, not saying anything, simply enjoying his company.
"So, your parents aren't here for the weekend am I right?" Len started, politely starting a conversation.
"Uhh… Yeah. They went abroad together. Yours too aren't they? They're out of town?" Rin asked.
"Hmm… So we'll be alone for the weekend. Do you mind if I bring over some homework? Then we'll do it together, I guess. My parents gave me some money for takeout tonight, so I have dinner covered as thanks, is that cool?" Len brightly asked, as he got up to gather his stuff.
Turning slightly red at the request, Rin simply nodded and playfully shooed him away before moving to her own house, until she heard a loud groan burst from the direction of Len's house. Jumping slightly at the sudden noise, Rin craned her neck from her house and heard Len cursing faintly from his position.
Watching him carefully as Len fumbled around in his pockets for his keys, Rin cautiously tried to open her door, but found that she had locked it beforehand. Sighing to herself, she immediately shoved her hand into her short pocket, digging impatiently for her key, but found nothing inside of her pocket.
She locked herself out of her own house.
A weak feeling of despair rose up as her heart sank. Exhaling deeply to calm herself, Rin slowly inverted her pocket and searched for the familiar feeling of the tiny metal item, before giving up after a while. Looking around helplessly, Rin smoothed herself out, and decided to just hang at Len's house for the time being, but found him still sitting outside in his garden.
Sauntering over, confused, Rin bent down and tried to clear her throat to catch Len's attention, but he continued to sigh and stare into the distance, a ttglazed look passing over his eyes. Clearing her throat again, louder this time, Len finally took notice of her as she took her place beside him on the grass again.
"Sorry, did I keep you waiting? Did you get your homework yet?" Rin asked politely.
"Uh… No. I think I dropped my house key somewhere in the garden, but I'm too lazy to find it, did you come out to look for me? Sorry about that," Len apologized in return.
Resisting the urge to crack up at the absurdity of the situation, Rin lightly waved away Len's curious stare, as she calmed herself down.
"Nothing. I also locked myself out…" Rin half giggled, half sighed.
Watching as Len resist cracking up as well, Rin's mouth cracked into a small smile, and she couldn't help but chuckle along with Len. Exhaling deeply, the both of them sat in comfortable silence, letting the warm embrace of each other's company warmly embrace the atmosphere, as a light gust of wing blew across the garden, playfully tugging and pulling at her loose strands of hair and clothes before peacefully settling down again.
"So… What now. My parents aren't coming back till tomorrow afternoon. We don't really have a place to sleep either. Do you have a plan?" Len asked, finally breaking the silence.
Shrugging her shoulders slightly as her lips cracked into an awkward smile, Len let out an exasperated sigh before digging into his pockets and pulling out his phone, "Ok. Let me ask Kaito if he's available. His sister lives in her university dorm, so maybe we can use his extra room to sleep over."
Waiting patiently, as she hummed a random tune, letting the notes slowly fall after one after another into a cute melody, swaying along to the irregular beat that she had stringed together before perking up when Len waved at her to get her attention.
"Well, Kaito said that he has some relatives coming over for the weekend, so we can't use his extra room. However, he said that we could over there and hang out for a while before his relatives come over. Is that okay? It's better than staying here all day at least," Len suggested while he checked his phone again.
Nonchalantly waving her hand in agreement, Rin widely rolled her arms and gestured for Len to lead the way, making Len bow dramatically before puffing his chest out and jabbing his finger in a random direction and marching towards it. Giggling at the small but funny exchange between them, Rin skipped to Len's side as they both meandered easily through streets, ducking through crowds and leisurely strolling in empty neighbourhoods before arriving at a neat house settled warmly at the end of a neighbourhood.
Waiting for Rin to catch up, Len slowed down before ringing the doorbell and moving back to wait for someone to open the door. Finally, Len lit up as the familiar mop of blue hair popped out from behind the door, both Len and Rin waved warmly and greeted Kaito. Swinging his door open eagerly, Kaito flashed an awesome smile and bowed exaggeratedly before stepping to the side and making way for them to come in.
Giggling as Len curtsied in response, Rin followed behind the both of them as they led her up to the second floor and into the room at the end of the hallway, where this time, a mop of teal hair burst out from behind the door to greet them.
Lighting up at the shock of teal hair that bounced energetically, Rin and Len couldn't help but snigger and laugh as Miku raced around the both of them, worriedly checking if they were both alright and ushering them both into the room.
"Oh Rin, Len! I heard from Kaito that you locked yourselves out and I came here to see if you guys were okay," Miku began as she gestured for the both of them to come in the room before shutting the door behind them, "I'd really love to help, but my parents are having a party for my mom's birthday, and it'll probably stretch till tomorrow, so I won't have a space for both of you. Sorry…"
Waving off the apology, Len and Rin both smiled understandingly before Kaito continued, "Yeah. I told Miku that you had nowhere to stay, but the best I can do for you is to give you sleeping bags for you to sleep outside in your garden. Miku also brought a change of clothes for Rin, and you can at least shower before you go wherever for the night I guess…"
Feeling her heart melt at the genuine apology and the concern her friends showed for her, Rin smiled weakly and profusely tried to placate their concerns, trying to reason that a sleeping bag and a change of clothes were good enough, while Len joined in, feeling responsible for Kaito's and Miku's worries.
Finally, after a few minutes of apologizing between the two parties, the four of them laughed off the situation and decided to settle down and chat in the meantime before they had to go. Immersing herself in the light hearted atmosphere that embraced the four of them, filled with laughter and jokes that made her sides hurt and her cheeks sore from smiling and laughing along with everyone.
Soon enough, time hastily slipped by, along with the healthy glow of the afternoon sun, which quickly yellowed into a melancholic orange, signifying the end of another day. Waiting in silence as the boisterous and lively atmosphere die down, slowly dwindling into friendly chatter and idle waiting, before more voices filled the living room below, showing that Kaito's relatives had started to arrive.
"Well… I guess I have to go. My mom's party should be starting soon. Here, Rin, I brought a change of clothes if you want to bathe here before going off. Do you have any idea as to where you're staying?" Miku asked worriedly, her usual bright expression scrunching up into a concerned frown, but Len tried to shrug it off.
"If we're really out of options, I know Kaito has a few sleeping bags. I don't have any money on me now, so we can't go to a hotel, so we'll probably have to end up borrowing his sleeping bags and camping in our backyards for the night," Len weakly tried, eliciting a dumbfounded look from everyone in the room.
"Len, are you crazy-" Rin started, her brain still processing the absurd idea of camping in their backyards for the night.
"But, if not, what are we supposed to do? I mean, it's not like there's anyone else who's willing to let us both stay the night. Besides, our neighbourhood's a safe place, camping outside for the night isn't such a bad idea. I mean, do you have any other ideas?" Len tried to reason with Rin, but Rin simply answered with a skeptical frown.
The four of them stood around in a circle, letting a tense silence settle over them as they tried to think of a better solution, but eventually gave up when Kaito's mother started calling for him from the living room. Grimacing at the prospect of having to camp, Rin sighed in defeat as Kaito quickly grabbed a bag and hastily passed them two sleeping bags and some snacks to pass the night, before directing them to the toilet where he let them bathe.
Sighing again as she felt her heart sank, Rin tried to rummage in her short pocket once more, hoping that she maybe had missed her house key somewhere, even turning her pocket inside out to check if there were holes in it. Scowling unpleasantly as she confirmed that she had simply lost them. Gritting her teeth as she imagined laying in her backyard, only to wake up with bugs and worms crawling all over her, Rin shuddered visibly and she felt her stomach go queasy.
"When you're done, you can show yourselves out. I wish I could help out, but my relatives probably wouldn't let me. I hope that you'll last the night," Kaito told them in an uneasy voice, as he and Miku went downstairs.
Clenching and unclenching his fist nervously, Len and Rin both hurriedly took a quick shower, and dressed in Kaito's and Miku's clothes both secretly left Kaito's house, and began to make their way back. Rin slowly followed behind again, watching as the same scenery that had been bathed in golden and cheerful sunlight, now was dyed with the quiet black of the night.
Slowly making past their way through the quiet and lonely streets of the night, both Len and Rin had made it back to their houses without any disturbances. Making their way quietly to their backyard, they laid the two sleeping bags side by side and used their clothes that they changed out of as pillows.
Anxiously checking for any signs of bug life or worms, Rin fumbled around her sleeping bag, with only the moonlight to help her see, before giving up as she couldn't make out anything anyway. Hesitantly taking a seat on her sleeping bag, Rin faced Len who was idly using his phone, before setting it aside and moving to lie down on his sleeping bag.
"So… You going to sleep now?" Rin asked lightly, shifting to lie down on her own sleeping bag.
"I guess…"
Not really knowing how to follow up, Rin remained quiet, shifting and turning on her sleeping bag, unable to find a comfortable position to sleep in. After tossing around on her sleeping bag, Rin finally gave up, choosing a position that was mildly comfortable, and grunting softly to express her own displeasure at the situation at hand.
Sighing inwardly for the umpteenth time that day, Rin wearily went through the day's events again, finding how something that was supposed to be a good day, spired out of control, ending in the both of them being stuck outside in their own garden, with nothing but sleeping bags, and the company of each other as well as hidden bugs waiting to pounce on them in their sleep.
Feeling goosebumps rise up in her skin, as her body tensed up again, Rin wondered if she could get arrested for breaking into her own house, but decided against it as she couldn't think of a way to reach her window or break her door down, resigning to the fact that she was stuck in her garden for the night.
"I was supposed to do work today with Len… What did I do to deserve this," Rin sighed, waiting for the sweet embrace of sleep to come, but found that the more she waited, the more awake she felt.
Shifting uneasily once more, Rin tried to sneak a peek at Len, but found him with his hand covering his eyes as his chest rose up and down steadily, his shirt messily crumpled already, exposing his stomach.
Feeling a rosy pink rise to her cheeks, Rin resisted trying to do anything to Len in his sleep and hesitantly laid back down.
"Hey Rin, are you still awake?" she heard Len ask from beside her.
"Y-Yeah, I can't sleep I guess. It's not exactly the pile of pillows that I usually sleep on," Rin sighed.
Len hummed lowly in agreement and sat up as well, moving to the bag that Kaito lent and pulled out a bag of potato chips, quickly opening it and offering for Rin to take some. Smiling warmly, Rin dipped her hand into the bag, taking out a few before Len went to help himself to some of the chips.
Letting the sound of chips crunching fill the empty silence in between them, Rin licked her fingers clean, savouring the salty flavor as Len sat upright on his sleeping bag, his eyes drooping wearily but refusing to fully close, until he finally decided to lie back down onto his sleeping bag, so Rin followed suit. Waiting for Len to make a sound, Rin glanced at Len and found his eyes still open, his blue eyes still smoldering with life, refusing to go to sleep.
"Hey… Len, have you ever gone stargazing?" Rin blurted our randomly, taking Len and herself by surprise, but quickly covered her surprise and gestured at the sky, "You know, looking at stars in the open and stuff."
Chuckling at the question, Len replied, "Not really, and it's not like that there're stars out to watch anyway. Light pollution and all… Am I right?"
"W-Well, yeah, but I mean, let's try now. It's not like the both of us can sleep anyway… I know! Why not we look out for shooting stars to come by, then we can both make a wish?" Rin suggested meekly.
"What… A shooting star? Those rarely come by- Oh my god! It's a shooting star!" Len exclaimed, making Rin jump up, her gaze following Len's finger that pointed at something in the sky.
"Len… That's just an airplane…" Rin scowled, trying to hide her laughter.
"I know, but we can always dream, can't we? Look, why not we just make a wish on that plane?"
Finally letting her laughter loose, Rin's scowl cracked into a huge smile and she apologized in between her laughter and cleared her throat.
"Alright. Only someone as stupid as you would come up with something so stupid anyway," Rin started, cutting off Len's protest and continued, "A moment of silence, as we wish upon this great star- I mean, airplane… thing."
Tightly squeezing both eyes shut, Rin slightly opened one eye to see Len doing the same before immersing herself into her own thoughts.
"Hello star- airplane, thing," she whispered inwardly, "I've done a lot of really bad things, especially to Len until now, and I'm not proud of what I've done. So I'm really happy, that I've still had the opportunity to hang out with some of the most amazing people, and I wish that these times could last forever."
"Rin… Rin!" she heard Len call, increasing his volume each time, "Yo, you looked super concentrated, what'd you wish for?"
"Uhh… Nothing much."
Blushing in embarrassment, the both of them fell into idle chatter, talking about anything to everything, from their work to their shared childhood, to the days when they were away from each other, before a silence fell over them again.
Blinking slowly, Rin stretched lightly and prepared to lie down once again when she heard Len clear his throat to say something and sat back up again. Watching as Len opened and closed his mouth uncomfortably, Rin waved her arm in front off him, and gestured for him to just say whatever he wanted to say.
"Say… Uh… Rin. I know recently, we've been pretty cool with each other, but… Remember when you first came over, and a lot of stuff happened in between us. I know we're close friends now and all, but, I just really want to understand what…" Len nervously started but quickly faltered as Rin's expressions soured into an unsavoury grimace.
"Y-You know what? Forget I asked. I guess this isn't the most appropriate of questions to ask, especially since we're out in the garden and all. L-Let's just get some sleep," Len immediately tried to cover up, but felt a lump in his throat as Rin's expression changed to a more hurt and small expression.
"R-Rin… I-I'm sorry, I didn't really mean to-,"
"Len," Rin interrupted, her voice almost cracking taking a more hurt and vulnerable tone, "I-I'm sorry…"
"H-Hey, it's not your fault-,"
"But it is!" Lin let out a strangled cry, before continuing more softly, "But it is… I was the one was mean to you, I was the one who treated you like crap, I was the one… I was the one…"
Gulping during the pause of the intense exchange, Len slowly breathed out and helplessly looked at Rin, silent tears dripping from between her fingers as she rubbed her eyes painfully. Urging himself to move over and comfort, Len continued to remain frozen in the same spot, not really sure on how to continue.
Finally finding his voice, Len hoarsely tried to comfort her, "Rin… If you say it's your fault, then it is. B-But, I really just want to know what's happened. You look so hurt, and I really want to help you, but I don't understand what's going on…"
"I-It's fine, it's not your-hic, problem… D-Don't worry about it," Rin continued, her voice hoarse and her eyes red with guilt with tears streaming down her cheeks, "I'm sorry…"
Breathing in deeply, Len stood up abruptly, surprising Rin and walked over to her side, grabbed both her shoulders and gently hugged her, eliciting a shocked squeak from her.
Leaning backwards, Rin shrank back as she found Len wearing a nasty scowl, prompting Rin to want to apologise again, but Len cut her off and started gently, "Rin… I've said this many many many times, and I won't stop saying it. I like you, like a whole lot. I can't even comprehend how much I like you, I just know I do. So, because of that I, especially can't bear to see you like this. Look, I don't care if it's your fault, or if you're sorry, I care that you're sad, and the source of the problem seems to be what happened before you came back. Please, please just let me help."
Taking in unsteady breaths, Rin sniffled and rubbed her eyes softly while Len stepped back to sit next to her, the both of them relaxing as the tense atmosphere slowly dissipated.
"Umm… Rin, sorry about the outburst, I kinda acted on impulse there. Look, it's not really necessary of you to tell me now, it seems sort of inappropriate-,"
"No… I-I think you deserve to know what happened… You're after all, caught in the middle of everything, and i-it's not fair for me to leave you in the dark…"
"What? No, really! You don't have to say anything now, since you're crying and sniveling and your tears are-"
Rin immediately shot Len a ferocious glare, silencing him, "J-Just gimme a minute to compose myself…"
Nodding his head, Len quickly got up and moved to walk around his backyard, trying his hardest not to stare at Rin, before she cleared her throat, signaling that he could come over and start talking.
Turning around quickly, Len walked over hurriedly but carelessly tripped and extended his arms to grab his back door to support, but instead, the backdoor immediately gave way, and swung open, leaving Len to fall onto his kitchen floor. Groaning as he rubbed his arms sorely, Len got up slowly, grumbling a string of complaints and curses when he realized that he was in the back of his own kitchen.
Gaping in astonishment, Len slowly came to the realization that his backdoor had been unlocked the entire time and groaned as he flopped back down onto the kitchen floor. Looking up as she heard Rin curse behind him, the both of them looked at each other, before cracking up, trying their hardest to contain their laughter so as to not disturb their neighbours, at the absurdity of the situation.
Barely holding in their laughter, the both of them quickly packed up their sleeping bags, letting a few giggles escape through the cracks of their teeth and shut the door behind them as they went into Len's house, before finally letting out the chuckles and chortles that they had tried so hard to keep in. Looking up in between short gasps of breath, Len looked up and found Rin laughing alone heartily, the previous pain and sorrow on her face quickly dissipating into thin air, replaced by the cheerful shine of her beautiful smile. Calming himself down, Len couldn't help but smile warmly as Rin rubbed her eyes once more and smiled gratefully at him, before taking a seat at his dinner table.
"Well, we took quite a while going around and all, and it's 4am now, so the sun will be coming up soon anyway," Len said to Rin while checking his phone, "I'll make ourselves some coffee before you start talking."
Nodding gratefully, Rin swiftly combed through her hair and straightened her bow, tiredly sinking into her chair when she smelt the gratifying smell of freshly made coffee and delightedly accepted the warm mug. Taking a good whiff of the sweet aroma, Rin grabbed a small spoon and slowly stirred the drink before finally sipping at it gratefully.
Feeling the warm and bitter drink run down her throat, Rin straightened herself in her seat, vaguely aware that her eyelids were almost drooping when she heard Len fuzzily call out to her, "Rin, you look extremely tired. Look, it's not like it's a must to talk about it now, we can talk about it tomorrow. It's Sunday tomorrow anyway…"
Shaking her head groggily, Rin blew on her drink a bit more to cool it and downed the rest of the coffee, "No… I think it's best to say this now…"
Nodding understandingly, Len quickly took a seat close to her as Rin shifted herself in her seat and began, "Well… It started when I had shifted away. I went into a new school, but I knew no one there, however, everyone was really nice and I made quite a number of new friends."
Pausing as Len slowly digested everything, Rin continued, "Most of the people there were generally really nice, and I was having a good time there… But then, in the last year of middle school, the year before I moved back, in summer, I met Rinto."
Pausing again as Rin found Len shifting in his seat uncomfortably and gave him a minute to settle down again and continued, "During the summer, his parents had brought him over to live with his aunt as they had to go abroad, and he lived close to the school. So, because I had summer lessons, I'd see him frequently outside his house, or chatting to some other people at school. So, one day after my lessons, he came up to me and asked to go out with me, and I was taken by surprise but he did look handsome at the time, so I immediately said yes."
Seeing Len bristle immediately and his eyes narrowed into hostile slits, Rin giggled inwardly, perversely happy that he felt somewhat jealous but gestured for him to calm down before finishing her story, "Then, because it was summer, we went out for a bit and we had the time to hold dates frequently. Mostly, movies and going to the park and doing homework and stuff like that…"
"W-Wait… Did you k-k-kiss?" Len interjected, his voice nothing but a hoarse and worried cry.
"N-No! No we didn't!" Rin denied furiously, her face dusting a light pink and was grateful that the dark made it hard for Len to see her, "He tried on a few occasions, but I usually stopped him and said that it wasn't exactly the time for it."
"T-Then… Where does this whole conflict start… What happened…" Len asked.
Wincing as a cluster of memories surged forward in her memory, Rin felt a lump form in her throat as she tried thinking of a good way to continue telling the story, "Well… He was honestly a nice person, but then I noticed a huge change in him. I don't know whether he was always like that, or something happened to him on the way… But… Well, it's hard to say as to when it started, but he was less gentle, and was rougher than he was before. He'd start tugging, he'd growl at me and he'd lose his temper more often, his gentlemanly demeanor was gone…"
Taking a deep breath, Rin continued, "At first I thought it was because maybe he was generally having bad days and the dates was trying to find some sort of comfort in our dates. But as the summer neared the end, he'd sneak into my school during my lessons and call me to the back of the school and tried to… touch me in weird places and all of that…"
Holding her hand in the air to stop Len as he gave an indignant glare, she continued, "I told him to stop, and after a while he understood and backed off, but it grew worse, and even in theaters he'd try grabbing me or drag me to hotels after dates. Eventually as summer ended, I could usually see him hanging out with other girls as he put off more of our dates and I started to see him hanging out with more of the sluttier sort of girls."
"Does it end there? It doesn't really explain what happened, and why you were so pissed and all of that jazz…" Len interjected, but Rin waved off his comment and asked for him to let her finish.
"Well, summer rolled by and by the end of summer, we sort of just fell out of our relationship. But then, when I was entering high school, and moving back, I remembered that Rinto went to the school that we go to now. So, when we moved over, my dad immediately wanted to come over to school and finish some of the administrative work," Rin tried to continue, but her voice grew shaky and she struggled to finish, "But, when I was wandering around the school, I saw Rinto at the back of the school and wanted to say hi, but he immediately grabbed me and pinned me to a wall…"
Gesturing for Rin to pause, giving her time to clear her throat, Len sat back in his seat, his face clouded with a bunch of emotions as he intently listened to the last of Rin's story, "I was about to scream, and I tried resisting and he was getting really angry, but just then I saw you come out from the corner of my eye, with Kaito, and I guessed at the time you were checking out the school with him. However, he noticed that I was looking somewhere else, and grew even more furious, then he shoved me to the wall and took out a knife from his pocket and wanted to go towards the both of you…"
Blinking, shocked, at the revelation that he had become part of the story, Len leaned in further, "And then, I knew that he was going to harm the both of you, so I called out to him, and told him that we could go dating again, as long as he wouldn't touch the both of you. He agreed, and he's tried doing more things to me again, but thankfully, nothing's happened so far. However, on our dates, he's started to get into more fights, even though he's the captain of the archery team and the student council president. Sometimes he'd just find his other side girls and go off with them in the middle of a date, and leave me in some unfamiliar part of town, and I don't know how to deal with it. He's threatened to come after the both of you if I try to break up, and it's getting harder and harder to avoid him, I just don't know what to do…"
Staring with his mouth open in shock, Len found himself for the second time, at a loss, unable to fully wrap his mind around the entire story Rin had told him when he finally realized that tears were streaming down Rin's face again and he immediately got up to move to her side.
"I-I really don't know what to do. I can't avoid him at school, he just goes off on his own and drags me around, I-I can't help it…" Rin cried, her voice cracking again.
"Rin…" Len started softly, his warm and gentle tone providing sweet comfort to Rin, "I know, it's stressful., but look… I can help-,"
"B-But, he's threatened to hurt you, a-and Kaito! I can't risk getting the both of you-,"
"Look Rin. As much as he's bothered you, you're my somewhat official girlfriend now, since you're technically still Rinto's boyfriend-,"
"Wait, what?"
"Wait, Rin… You don't necessarily have to deal with this yourself; you have me, Kaito and Miku. We're here as your friends, and I'm here as your somewhat official boyfriend,-,"
"No, I want to talk about the boyfriend part-,"
"Sorry Rin, just let me finish… Look, there are a thousand and one ways, to deal with punks like him… But there's only one way for me to be happy right now, and that's for you to be happy. So, I'll just have to go through one thousand and one ways to get rid of him, is that okay?" Len asked.
"Sigh… I guess, but let me finish next time please?" Rin replied, her voice taking on an exasperated and tired tone, slowly getting softer after each word, making Len have to go closer to hear what she was saying, "You don't have to be my somewhat official boyfriend, when you can be my actual one."
Leaping back in surprise, his face burning a fiery red, Len tried to come up with a response, but Rin immediately got up, lightly tiptoed and pressed her lips against his softly. Breaking away, Rin flashed a tired smile at Len and gently sat back down onto her chair, nestling her head on her arms as she drifted off to sleep.
Blinking a few times, Len tried to pinch himself to see whether it was a dream, until he finally came to the conclusion that he wasn't. Rubbing his now sore arm, Len tried to suppress our chuckle as he neatly princess carried Rin onto the sofa, where he sat down beside her and laid her next to him, letting her head rest on his lap while he sat up straight, playing with the loose strands of hair on his ponytail, waiting for the sweet embrace of sleep to come for him…
Well, that's it for this chapter. Please do drop a review if you loved this, or if you hated it, criticism is always welcomed. Again, really sorry for the long wait, but I'll be updating as soon as I can, so until then, leave your thoughts as a review or follow this story :D (shameless self advertising). But until then, have a great time~ -TheFluffMaster
