6 – mindful

His muscles ached, lungs protested against each heaving breath made – in and out, an exhale into the evening air. It was strenuous, time-consuming, but Rin was persistent and stubborn. Even though it was a Saturday afternoon and he could have spent it any way he wanted, there was no offer that trumped his evening run.

Given the chill, he had dressed in a jumper, but wore shorts in additional consideration to the fact he was running. It had been about fifteen minutes since he began, and a small sheen of sweat rolled off his forehead. Rin didn't expect to meet anyone important around, and rather lacked a sense for appearances.

He ran, and he ran towards something that he had no idea about. A future, a figure – whatever it was, it annoyed him that he was becoming sentimental. That habit he could surely blame on Ayaka Shibata.

She was fuel to his fire, to the confusing swell of emotions within him. At least, of them all, she was the easiest to define. Haruka was a complicated topic, Makoto just as much. Rin, however, knew what Ayaka was to him, and it was, however reluctantly, a friend.

Nowadays, he didn't have many of them, so whether or not he was happy about it had yet to be decided upon.

Ahead, his eyes caught sight of a convenience store. He marked it if only as a temporary goal. It helped to have something physical to focus on other than his thoughts. Usually, running had cleared his head.

One foot in front of the other, he thought. Steady breathing, measured intakes, helped Rin maintain his pace without become short of breath and occupied his attention. In fact, he was so wholly focused on himself it became a hindrance.

He didn't notice his collision course, and neither did she – not before it was too late to change anything.

"Ow!" A sharply feminine voice pierced his daze.

Rin swore lowly, "Sorry, I should've been watching-!"

"Rin?"

The surprise in her voice was mild compared to that of his own. "Shibata?"

The invasive blonde grinned broadly, her trademark birthmark stretching across her jaw. He noticed only to ensure that he was correct, that it was Ayaka standing before him, before cursing his bad luck.

"Fancy seeing you in town," Ayaka greeted playfully, "Something wrong with your school dorms?"

Rin snapped his teeth together, frowning down at her. "No."

"Lighten up, I'm just teasing."

"I know."

Ayaka settled a hand on her hip, eyebrow quirked. "Then what? Don't act so resentful because I'm here – this is where I live."

"In a convenience store?" Rin quipped.

She stared at him, assessing him with a quick onceover. "Are you," Ayaka paused, as if sorting out her words, "teasing me?"

Rin smirked, enough to give himself away, but maintained a certain degree of seriousness as he said, "You make it pretty easy."

"You are! I didn't know you had it in you."

"Why do you sound so impressed?" Rin replied, genuinely curious. Ayaka had the strangest interests, and an even more selective taste in where she invested her attention.

"Because I am." Ayaka admitted, eyes wide before her lips split into a smile.

"Whatever. What are you are you doing, anyway?"

"Shopping," Ayaka said resolutely, lifting the bag in her hand up as evidence, "Akio used up our milk but he doesn't get out of work until later tonight, so I'm buying some more."

Rin, while glancing at the plastic bag, noticed something odd. "Are those…?"

"Hm? Condoms?" Ayaka smirked, "Yes – does it make you uncomfortable?"

His stare turned to her, perplexed. He had never really considered it before, but given her nature, it wasn't so odd. "Are you a virgin?"

"You don't have any shame, do you?" Ayaka sighed, shaking her head softly.

Suddenly, her free arm was linked around his. She appeared not to care that he had been rather preoccupied in his own activities, and neither did she seem that interested in properly answering him. Rin's curiosity – as he would stubbornly insist – was the only reason he went along with it.

As they continued walking along the street, Ayaka picked up the conversation once more. "Whether or not I'm a virgin depends how you define it, or if you even believe in virginity. What I can say is I've never," she winked up at him cheerily, "had sex with a guy before."

He pressed his lips together, refraining from commenting. Rin was only just then figuring it wasn't any of his business and that he should never have asked. Of course, as with anything with Ayaka, there were consequences.

"You're a virgin, aren't you, Matsuoka?" If her assessment was annoying on its own, the truth of it surely made up for it.

"Shut up." He snapped, pulling his arm from her grip.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about." Ayaka laughed, carefree and reserving judgement.

"It's nothing I want to be talking about with you." Rin retorted.

Ayaka happily ignored him. "I mean, it's your choice. I know it's not because you couldn't – look at you – and you do attend an all-boys school. But, like, if you ever want a little practise, I could help-"

"Ayaka," Rin interrupted curtly, scaring her with the use of her first name, "I'm not interested."

"Oh, right; you're still trying to make me hate you. I suppose if you were bad at it…"

A sharp pain shot through her ear and stopped her speaking mid-sentence once again. Ayaka grimaced, on her tiptoes to relieve the pressure, but Rin was unrelenting. He pinched her ear, pulled upwards on it, until he was sure through intense study that she had learnt her lesson. A sudden realization dawned on Ayaka, one she had never considered but now became painstakingly obvious.

"Ow! Rin! Let go, let go, let go!"

He did, though with some reluctance. In the time that he had known Ayaka, she had always been the more assertive, the more in control of the two – partly because she was the more willing to be his friend and readily committed to it. It was sort of exciting to change it up, to make her listen to something he had to say.

She blurted the words most prominently on her mind. "Does it really make you that uncomfortable?" Far from teasing, Ayaka actually sounded concerned. Her eyes, golden in the evening light, were open wide and her lips puckered in surprise. She truly had never considered it before.

Rin stopped walking in that moment, forcing her to turn around and face him. "Yes! That's why I made that bet with you, so you would stop saying things like that!"

"Oh. Well, um," she scuffed her foot along the pavement, "Sorry."

There was the silence of brief consideration. Rin turned the apology over in his mind, before muttering, "…It's fine."

"But," Ayaka began again, and Rin inwardly groaned, "The condoms are for my brother."

"Huh?"

"Yeah."

"Shibata, no little sister should ever buy her older brother condoms." Rin determined.

Ayaka slammed her hand across his shoulder as she breezed past him. Wisps of her blonde hair floated behind, a golden trail that Rin turned to follow.

"I just don't want my brother getting girls pregnant. This is a reminder to him." Ayaka explained coolly, nonplussed by the affair. Rin might not understand it, but it made perfect sense to her. There was a brief pause in which silence prevailed, and Ayaka turned to glance back at Rin's frozen silhouette. "Hurry up, Mastuoka."

"Why?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, you were going in this direction anyway weren't you? Let's walk together."

"There's no reason to." Rin reminded them both, despite catching up to her swiftly. His long legs made it easy and the fell into step seamlessly.

Her lips drew a complacent smile. "Other than that I know of a sweet-as bakery close by."

"I don't like sweets." He replied curtly.

"I didn't mean it so literally. They have savoury stuff as well. You should come check it out – Satsuki works there."

"That means nothing to me."

"Satsuki is Haruka's girlfriend."

Rin's eyes wandered to her profile, critical in such a way as he had never been before. She wore a flippant smile, honey-coloured eyes fixed ahead. He couldn't perforate the cloud of mystery around her, intentions undiscernible. "Fine." Rin snapped, once again assuring himself it was a simple case of curiosity.

Ayaka nodded, more to herself than him. They continued, tolerating the company of the other, in companionable silence. It was strange to find such peace in the silence, though it had always been that way. Ayaka had never needed to speak to Rin – there was only want. She liked their conversations, she liked that they lacked necessity, and his butterfly heart had grown on her.

"So…how's school?" Ayaka breached the wall between them recklessly.

Rin shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"Well, I consider us friends, and friends care about this sorta stuff."

"Then, it's fine." Rin answered grumpily, not attempting to dispute her claim.

Ayaka hummed in acknowledgment before turning the topic onto herself, saying, "I'm doing well, if you wanted to know. Kou decided to go with your lame volcano project in science, and with my help, guess what grade she got?"

"What?" Rin sighed, realizing she was far more literal than her self-declarations would have others believe.

"An 'A'."

"Are grades really important to you?" Rin suddenly asked, abruptly and suspiciously alert.

"…Yes?"

"Hm," He took a moment to construct the idea, figure out the finer details, but it really wasn't quite complicated – actually, it was rather stupid, "If you tutor Gou, would you tutor me?"

"As a favour?" Ayaka wondered, "Is Rin Matsuoka asking me for a favour?"

"I'm asking if you'll tutor me."

"What do you get out of it? Because I'm open to it, but you're getting something out of it for sure, and I want something out of it as well."

Rin rolled his shoulders, tilting his head in consideration. He noticed Ayaka smirking at him, her eyes appraising his appearance - ponytail and all - and Rin's only reaction to that was to scowl at her.

"What do you want?" Rin asked. There was no way he would tell her what his aim was in this all – he was not that dumb, though it was actually the general idea of his plan to have her believe he was otherwise.

If – and that if was enough to explain the stupidity of the idea – Ayaka saw how low his grades were, perhaps she'd be more inclined to hate him.

"If I tutor you," Ayaka declared loudly, ever smiling, "Whenever we meet up to study, you have to bring snacks."

"Snacks?" he echoed dumbly, "That's it?"

"Yep! Food in exchange for tutoring – not a bad deal, is it?"

Rin growled lowly, his head shaking in utter and obvious disbelief. "You're an idiot, Shibata."

"So are you," Her fingers teased the air, brushed his skin accidently. Goosebumps rose, his heart fluttering to life in a single moment, "After all, you didn't even decide what the winner of this bet actually wins."

Butterfly wings rose in a crescendo, louder than any certain heart.

I don't really have anything to add...thanks for reading, I guess? I mean, I nearly always say that, but only cuz I mean it.