Chapter 1 – The Absence of Light

(Rin's POV)

Oh no, it's approaching me.

These were my thoughts on my way home from school as I watched a blond boy walking backwards and waving goodbye to his friends. If he doesn't move any second now, he's gonna bump into me. Sure, I could just move aside. But why the hell should I have to do that when I was here first? Besides, he's the one not looking so his carelessness wouldn't be my fault.

The inevitable happened. The bloody idiot bumped right into me. Great, as if my day couldn't get any worse.

When the boy turned around, I dealt him with the deadliest glare I could ever muster.

"The hell do you think you're doing?" I said in a low threatening voice that always scared everyone off. Heck, if I so much as looked at anyone, they'd already be running away. But to my surprise, this kid just looked at me curiously before smiling at me like an insane person.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" he said with a cheery voice that totally did not scream apologetic to me. "It was my fault for not looking." He eyed me thoughtfully. "Are you going home? Would you like to have cake with us at the student council room?"

I just raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you seriously not know who I am?"

He tilted his head to the side. "Well, no, but I'd like to!" Grinning, he continued, "I saw you in the hallway this morning and I thought you look really cool~!"

How. DARE. he. "Are you saying I'm just carrying this katana around to look cool?" I grasped the hilt of the wooden katana strapped to my body. "Are you fucking implying that I don't know how to use this thing?!" My annoyance had turned my voice into an angry growl, and fear finally flashed through his eyes.

"N-no, that's not what I—" he started to say, but the unsheathed katana I pointed directly in between his eyes silenced him.

"Why don't I show you exactly what I can do with this? Baseball field. Now."

I led the way to our school's baseball field, the golden sunset casting a dramatic glow on the dust swirling in the wind around us. The perfect stage for me to annihilate this afternoon's inconvenience.

I turned to him when we were an acceptable distance apart. "Alright, since you're a kid I'll go easy on you. But remember this the next time you try to be a clumsy dumbass."

Despite my threats and curses, the boy just stood there innocently hugging his stuffed bunny, absolutely unaffected. "But I'm not a kid," he said. "I turned 18 early this year!"

What. I looked him up and down. There was no way he was the same age as me. No guy my age has ever been close to my height and acted all cutesy and childish.

I had to laugh. "Yeah, you are definitely messing with me right now."

"I'm not, promise! I'm Haninozuka Mitsukuni, by the way. Nice to meet you~!"

Okay, this kid is clearly undermining me. Not only does he have the guts to actually bump into me, but he also dares to lie to me AND not take my threats seriously. Time to teach this brat a lesson.

"I don't fucking care," I said as I assumed a fighting stance. I've had enough of this kid. "Let's fight."

As I lay there on the ground after a long battle, I finally realized why his name sounded so familiar.

I've heard stories of the Haninozuka clan, about how their eldest son and future heir is easily one of the best fighters in the entire history of judo. The thing is, I didn't expect him to be so…child-like. And apparently, he was taking me seriously because he couldn't have beaten me if he just played around (at least, I'd like to think so). And I guess he wasn't lying about his age either, because what child would be this fucking strong? Perhaps I was the one underestimating him this whole time.

Shakily, I forced myself up. There is no way I'm admitting defeat now that I know who he is. "Hey, I demand a rematch!" I shouted at him.

"What? Why? You really don't have to force yourself," he said with concern as he moved to help me up, but I shrugged his hands away with a grunt.

"I had an unfair disadvantage of not knowing who you are. But now that I know the scope of your abilities, I'm gonna take you seriously this time." I flashed him a smug grin. "I'll even throw in a little wager."

That seemed to pique his interest. "Ooh, that sounds fun~!"

"Alright. If I win, you will get me the skull of a national hero from a foreign land." He stood there appalled. I love catching people off-guard with my morbid interests.

"Um, I don't know why you'd want that, but okay!" He assumed his usual cheeriness. "And if I win, you have to come with me to an amusement park~!"

I sighed. Of course that's what he wants. "Fine. But don't get cocky just cause you won the first time. And don't you dare go easy on me." I sent him another glare that has proven ineffective so far, because he's just not scared of me somehow. Well I'm gonna change that. I don't care if he's the Haninozuka Mitsukuni. I'm the Yoshizumi Rin. He should be scared of me.

"I'm sorry, I don't know your name yet but please yield," the Haninozuka boy said tearfully behind me as he pinned me to the ground with his knee, my arms held too tightly behind my back. "I don't want to hurt you anymore."

If only my head could make a 180° turn so that I could tell him to go to hell with my eyes. "Never!" I said defiantly. My wooden katana lied uselessly up ahead of me, disarmed from me a while ago with his admittedly advanced combat skills.

"You don't even have to go with me on the amusement park rides. We don't even have to talk! It'll be my treat, and I can offer you some dessert afterwards!"

"What is with you and sweets, you weirdo?" I tried wriggling out of his grip for the nth time, but it was still as solid-tight as ever.

"Well, I sure like it better than gravedigging in a foreign country," he said with a giggle.

Seeing I had no other way out, I sighed in defeat. "Fine. You win. Now let go of me damn it!"

Immediately he did as I said and offered his hand again to help me up, a bright smile on his face that didn't even have a trace of gloating on it. But what do I know? I just met the guy. So I just shrugged it off again and got up and dusted myself. This is turning out to be an extremely strange day.

"So, you happy now that you've defeated me twice?" I said coldly as I picked up my katana and strapped it back onto myself for security.

He clutched his bunny with a genuine innocent face. "But that's not at all why I agreed to fight with you. My dad always taught me to honor any challenge with my best. And also, I just wanted to be friends with you~!"

I was about to retort in protest because, why? Nothing about me is friendly at all. Literally everyone I know except my best friend is scared of me. I was about to call him a weirdo if it weren't for the arrival of a tall guy dutifully running towards us.

"Mitsukuni!" he shouted plainly and jfc, the guy was TALL. He took a quick look at me and the child-like being beside me, our clothes all dusty and rumpled, and seemed to put two and two together. "Are you alright?"

"Yup, I'm alright, Takashi~!" the boy replied. "We both are. And now I have someone to go with me to the amusement park!" Tall guy just looked confused. "Come on, I'll explain it at the student council room."

Then he turned to me. "You should come, too! I'll introduce you to everyone, and you can have some cake~!"

For once, I was at a loss for words. No one has treated me this normally for as long as I can remember. At that moment, I almost completely forgot who I am, or rather who I've become. I felt like I was just a normal person making friends at school. Something I never had the opportunity to experience.

Seemingly taking my silence as a yes, the Haninozuka boy took my wrist and dragged me along with him as he ran to the school, Takashi following close behind. And I just let it happen because screw it, I guess this is my life now. This day has been weird enough as it is, so what's a little more weird to top it off?