Rin and Hanako were walking around the school grounds, Tucker had been sent back to his dorm after he heard the Nurse's words to take it easy. Rin and Hanako were speaking to themselves as they didn't know what was happening.
"So, what does this mean for Tucker?" Hanako asked. She seemed to be concerned for her friend.
"Hopefully he should be able to rest and play the game we have in mind for him." Rin told Hanako that Tucker needed some space to rest. Hanako walked onward as she had another question in mind.
"Should I tell Natsume about the newspaper club that I want to join?" Hanako asked curiously. Rin shrugged her shoulders as if she didn't know what the correct answer was going to be.
"You can try if you want. Natsume is a pretty patient person, she'll let you in." Rin told Hanako that she would need to wait a bit if she was going to get some results.
"Okay but I'm still not entirely sure about what is going to happen. I must go as I need to meet Hisao at the airport as Lilly is coming in within the hour." Hanako told Rin that she better get going now. Rin nodded.
"Take care." Rin told Hanako. Hanako turned and left the scene as it was now just Rin that was wandering the scene. She began to stroll around as she was the one who definitely enjoyed a couple moments to herself. She continued to wander around as there was nothing to think about, well… except Tucker. However what Rin didn't realize was Misha, Ernest and Shizune wheeling the cannon they had brought up in the meeting earlier that day, the cannon was relatively easy to wheel around despite the heavy weight. Rin spotted them rounding the corner before she realized she was walking straight into a trap. Rin quickly turned around and darted off as she knew she wasn't going to be sticking around in case the cannon fired. The cannon fired as the net flew straight at Rin. Rin quickly ran off as the net of the cannon missed its target.
"What are you waiting for? Go after it!" Misha called out as she wanted a chase. Ernest turned his head to Misha and began speaking.
"This cannon weighs almost as much as all three of us. We'll never be able to catch her." Ernest told Misha that the heavy cannon wasn't very fast and more importantly it needed all of their strength to move. Misha was taken back by this, and she began to think.
"Well, I didn't know Rin was so fast. If it was Kenji, trapping him may be our only option. So, we might as well set up an ambush." Misha told them that she didn't know if Kenji was going to be as swift moving as Rin. If he was then ambushing him, was their best bet.
Rin had dashed off to a safe distance as she was out of breath. She didn't know what she wanted to do next. However, her fortunes were going to turn in her favor when she spotted Natsume and Naomi approaching her.
"Hey Rin." Natsume greeted her. Rin looked at Natsume and Naomi as they paused to see what she might have in mind.
"Hey Natsume, is there anything you two wanted to talk to me about?" Rin asked them if they had anything in mind.
"Yeah, two things, first of all, where's Tucker?" Natsume asked Rin. Rin tried her best to think about what she was going to say, she then began to give her answer.
"Tucker was sent to his dorm, we found out from the School Nurse that his arm was beginning to bleed, he needed to rest." Rin explained to Natsume. Natsume bowed her head as she seemed to be in shame.
"Oh… I hope everything is going well for him." Natsume told Rin that she hoped for the best and her friend was going to recover. She then decided to move onto her second question. "Where's Hanako, I wanted to talk to her about joining the club."
"I was talking to her a few minutes ago, I can text her if I want." Rin explained to Natsume that she was just spending time with her before they parted ways and left. "And then I ran into the student council who fired at me with a cannon, and I managed to get away from them. I then ran into you two who asked me these questions." Rin told Natsume as she got out her phone and began to text Hanako that Natsume wanted her for something. After a minute or so, Hanako wrote back that she was going to stop somewhere for the meeting to be held. "She said she'll be at the main building first floor where the Student Council Office is. You can scoop her up and take her to ask her if she would like to join your group." Rin explained to them. Natsume and Naomi nodded.
"Thanks again Rin." Natsume happily told Rin as she was thankful for the help. Natsume and Naomi began to walk away from the scene as Rin was left alone. She decided to use the time to go roaming around to see what she could use for her inspiration. She didn't want to bother Tucker while he was recovering.
A couple hours went by as Rin was staring at the sky, bored as ever. She didn't know what she wanted to do, then a shadow moved in as the sweet voice sounded.
"Rin, you seem to be bored, you didn't even notice I had come back." Lilly greeted Rin. Rin stood up to face Lilly.
"Lilly, I wasn't expecting you to come back." Rin began. It was clear neither Tucker nor Hanako were expecting Lilly's return. "How was Scotland?" Rin began.
"It was all right. Mrs. Hakamichi is doing fine at the moment. I kind of miss Japan now that I think of it. I don't know what I would want to think if I had to leave this country for good." Lilly began. She closed her eyes almost if she felt dampened.
"Are there people here you are familiar with, and you will miss completely?" Rin asked Lilly if there was anyone that they were going to think about and that she will miss. Lilly tried to think about it, and she began to speak.
"Hanako, Hideaki and… Hisao." Lilly answered as if the words were bubbling up to the surface. Rin felt hurt by this statement, missing the people that meant so much to you.
"I wouldn't know what I would do without my Tucker. He seemed to be the one giving me company." Rin began. "We even kissed together." Rin admitted as she babbled the words out of her mouth. Lilly turned her head to Rin as if she wanted to see what she had in mind.
"You kissed?" Lilly asked Rin if this was true.
"Yeah… we did. I love him, that's all." Rin told Lilly that Tucker might be the one person she loved with her heart. Lilly paused as she began to think about it.
"I will probably think about it as I do have a plan for the break that I want to cover with Hanako. I can possibly get the two of you in on it but I don't know how Hanako is feeling." Lilly explained to Rin that she had something in her mind that she wanted to do.
"Oh, I was talking to Natsume and Naomi a couple hours earlier, they were looking for Hanako as they wanted her to be a part of the newspaper club." Rin explained where Hanako could be. Lilly nodded before she began speaking.
"Want to come with me to see if we can track her down?" Lilly asked Rin if they were going to go find Hanako.
"Sure, I got nothing else better to do." Rin told Lilly that she was open to go find where Hanako was and check up on her. They departed to go looking for their friend.
Lilly and Rin found their way to the second floor as Hanako was walking to them. She seemed to look different to Lilly even though Lilly couldn't see her.
"Hey Lilly." Hanako greeted her. Lilly seemed to be shocked at how much Hanako had changed. Rin was the eyes for Lilly as she saw Hanako was smiling.
"Hanako, you're happy, what happened?" Rin asked. Rin nervously turned her head to Lilly who was looking at her as she was curious as well.
"I applied for the newspaper club. Natsume has to get back to me about that." Hanako explained to them. Lilly was surprised to hear about that.
"Hanako. My goodness, you're taking steps to becoming a wonderful woman. You feel like you're not a little girl anymore." Lilly told Hanako with happiness. Lilly and Hanako hugged each other. Lilly felt proud for her friend.
"It's a few steps forward and that isn't all." Hanako continued to speak for Lilly. "Tucker, Misha and Rin started up the new Trainz club which I am a member of. That's how I got to know Natsume, Naomi and Molly." Hanako told Lilly that her friends had started up a new club which seemed to be the success of the entire group. Lilly placed her hand on her face before she politely began to speak.
"Oh yeah, where's Tucker Kagami? I haven't seen him all week and I want to pay him a visit." Lilly asked as she wondered about her friend and how he was doing. Rin turned herself to Lilly as she had to tell her some bad news.
"Tuckers in his dorm probably resting, his arm was bleeding earlier today from running to make sure he wasn't late to the meeting that Misha had set up for them." Rin explained to Lilly where her boyfriend was.
"Oh, you think it'll be a good idea to visit him?" Lilly asked. She really wanted to pay Tucker a visit. Rin and Hanako stood beside her, and Rin was thinking on her behalf as Hanako seemed to not know what she wanted to do.
"I think we should. I want to see how he's doing." Rin told them, a visit wasn't going to hurt them. The three of them began to walk off to pay Tucker a visit to see how he was doing.
Rin, Hanako and Lilly were chatting away to see what else was new and how the week went. It seemed to be that Hanako had changed the most over the course of the week.
"Well, we got the break coming up and I might as well include you and Tucker in on the break as you two are getting along very well. I think the vacation might further the relationship." Lilly explained to Rin that the three-day break could do them well.
"So where are we going?" Rin asked Lilly. Lilly placed her hands together as she began to think of the place that they usually went to.
"The Satou summer residence. I haven't been there in a while, but I was wondering if you and Tucker wouldn't mind coming up for a visit." Lilly told them the location of where they were going for their break. Hanako's eyes lit up as Rin seemed to be confused about the commute there.
"How long is the commute either way?" Rin asked, she hoped it wasn't going to be far.
"It's pretty far, the commute to get to Hokkaido is about 12 hours and there are only four trains a day, two going to Hokkaido and two heading back. I had to get a schedule to make sure that we are getting on the right one." Lilly explained to Rin that she might need to purchase more tickets if they were going to get the correct train and arrive while the sun was still up." Lilly explained to Rin how long the commute to get to Hokkaido was going to last. Rin began to think about it as she began to speak.
"Well, you can count me in on it, but I want to make sure Tucker is doing okay." Rin told Lilly as she seemed to be worried about her friend. Rin went over and knocked on the door. "Hello?" Rin asked whoever it was that was at the door. The door to Tucker's dorm had opened, inside was William.
"You came here for Tucker?" William asked them if this was true. Rin nodded yes as it was true. William scooted out of the way as the three of them walked in. Rin turned her head to the bed as it looked like Tucker was in bad shape.
Katawa Shoujo- Breathlessly
"What happened?" Lilly asked. Tucker was resting on his bed as the School Nurse had brought the bleeding under control but now Tucker was unable to move. Rin looked at Lilly as she knew she needed to explain it.
"Tucker ran all the way to the Student Council office and his arm was beginning to bleed, it was clear he ran all the way there to be there on time and by the looks of things, he had to get a new bandage and the dosage for the antibiotics had to be changed." Rin explained to Lilly what exactly had happened. Lilly nodded and she began to speak again.
"I feel bad for him. I wish I could take him to my place and take care of him." Lilly explained to Rin that she wished to be there for Tucker if it meant taking care of her friend.
"I do too. I wasn't expecting this to happen." Rin admitted. William looked out to see that Tucker was still in his bed.
"He's in pain at the moment and he needs to sleep. I wouldn't suggest disturbing him that much." William explained to them that Tucker wasn't doing too well as he needed to be resting in peace. Lilly walked over before she began to stroke his hair.
"It's okay, Lilly's here for you. Now get some sleep." Lilly calmly told Tucker that she was there for him and there was no way she was going to go out of her way to hurt him. Tucker was unable to move as Rin and Hanako didn't know what they should do.
"What should we do? We can't disturb him if he is like this. But it will be rude for us to leave." Rin asked as she didn't want to leave the one, she loved behind. William began to think about it as he didn't know if this would be a wise decision, but he knew that he wanted to be nearby to Tucker in case Lilly needed the help. He also didn't know if Hanako was going to tolerate large crowds of people either. He knew he needed to make a decision.
"I don't know if this will be a good idea but I'm hosting a card game at my dorm later tonight. I wondered if you two wanted to get in on this." William began. Hanako lifted her head to hear the two words put together.
"Sure, I guess. At least we're near Tucker as this will mean we get to spend time together." Hanako told William that she was down for the game. Rin began to think about it but with Tucker in pain, it was clear that it was going to take a little bit of time to get him back to his feet and about again.
"Okay. I will take the invite as Tucker is nearby." Rin told William that she will be attending. She didn't want to bother being too far away from him. William nodded.
"Okay, you can come to my dorm which is only a couple steps away. I can take you in and get you two set up." William told them as he was willing to have Rin and Hanako over early to show them the ropes of the game. Hopefully Rin needed something to pass the time.
"We'll come over." Rin told William that she and Hanako were willing to spend time with their friend as a means of passing the time until Tucker recovered. Lilly decided to stay behind to keep a watch over Tucker while he slept. William led Hanako and Rin out of his dorm before Hanako turned her head to Lilly and she began to speak to her:
"I will see you tomorrow." Hanako told Lilly. Lilly didn't say a word while she stroked Tucker's hair. The door slowly closed as Hanako didn't want to disturb her friend, nor wake him from his sleep. The door was fully closed. Lilly looked back to her friend who was asleep. She didn't know what kind of future seemed to wait for him.
"The deepest solace lies in understanding, This ancient unseen stream, A shudder before the beautiful." Lilly began. Tucker seemed to be drifting off to sleep in his own little world.
Kevin MacLeod- Come Play With Me
Tucker woke up as he seemed to be in Rin's dream again. What was she dreaming about, the large steel behemoth began to take off as Tucker studied the side of it. It was the engine she told him about when she was painting the mural a couple weeks ago. Tucker looked on as the steam train pulled past him. Tucker was flown along as if he needed to get a better angle. It was a stormy day, just like in the mural that Rin had painted on. The steam engine's wheels slipped a bit as it was trying to fight the water to get a good grip. Tucker studied the train behind it, the passenger cars seemed to be awfully familiar to him. The steam locomotive continued to gather speed as its yellow number 836 was too familiar to Tucker. He continued to move along as if he was the camera, and the focus was on the train. Tucker was adorned by this as this was Rin's hobby, her passion, her secret.
The train approached the old bridge that Tucker helped paint into the mural. The old wooden mural had been weakened by the battering of the storm and it was ready to collapse in on itself. It needed a little more weight for it to bring it down. Tucker looked on as he seemed to be curious about it, but he said nothing about it. The steam train drove onto the trestle as the bridge beneath it began to crack, it finally gave away. Poor 836 dove nose first into one of the bridge's supports beams as it crashed even more. The rest of the train piled up as the bridge gave away and finally collapsed in on itself. Tucker began to think of when he collapsed trying to make that mural.
When the dust had finally cleared, the damage had been dealt. The passenger cars were everywhere with some in the river. Tucker looked on as if the game was telling him of how many had gotten themselves injured in the crash. There was no way anybody was going to survive that. Tucker knew this was what Rin meant by: You'll fall through the cracks. He was moved over to where the steam locomotive was as it was in the water and partially buried beneath the rubble. It was clear it had been lost. This was finally followed by the ghostly whistle that Tucker was all too familiar with in terms of sound.
"Tucky." Rin's voice called out for him. Tucker didn't want to wake up from this dream, what did Rin mean?
Tucker knew he had to find out about what Rin had said.
[A/N]: A pretty short chapter but like I said, this is just picking up the events regarding the last chapter. Rin's secrets are slowly showing themselves and Tucker needs to figure out what they mean.
Also, this is the first chapter I wrote where Tucker doesn't say anything. Thus, the reason why this chapter is short to begin with. I think Tucker could have lengthened this chapter up by a couple hundred words, I think. I'm not entirely sure about it. But I digress.
We also hit the 300-view mark total for this fanfic, and I want to see if you guys want more of Tucker and Rin. Lilly's return has definitely added some more elements to the plot and something big is being built up that Lilly has begun to mention. I'll see you in the next chapter. Goodbye.