Summary: It's all fun and games until someone gets caught
When Nadeshiko invites Rin home for an impromptu study session, Rin hesitates. She knows full well that Nadeshiko's attention span is about as long as a goldfish's memory, so the actual amount of studying they'll get done? Probably zero. But she accepts anyways because she is nothing if not a supportive girlfriend (and a pushover, how could she ever say no to Nadeshiko's sad face, it'd be inhumane.)
So imagine her surprise when they get to Nadeshiko's house, settle down at the kotatsu, take out their books and begin actually to study. Honest to god studying. Praise Afro.
There's a catch of course. With each question Nadeshiko gets right, she demands kisses in return. After some initial spluttering and hand-wringing on Rin's part (because PDA, even without the prying eye of the P, is still new and embarrassing for her) she obliges and with a quick look left and right, places a brief peck on her girlfriend's cheek. Her girlfriend giggles, kisses her back on the cheek and goes back to her questions with a content hum. That should've been the end of that.
As it turns out, her girlfriend is craftier than Rin gives her credit for. With each problem solved, the kisses get just a second longer and just a little closer to the lips. It's a sneaky ploy, and by the time Rin realizes what's happening, it's already too late. At that point, she's pretty much giving kisses out like Halloween candy, regardless if Nadeshiko gets the problem right or not.
Not that she minds really.
Somewhere down the line, she ends up half-straddling Nadeshiko's lap, her girlfriend's arms wrapped around her waist. The problems lie on the table, long forgotten. She only has a hazy idea how she got there, and now that she's there, she really doesn't want to leave.
As she pulls back to breathe, her girlfriend lets out an adorable whining noise and tightens her hug. She nuzzles into Rin's cheek like a puppy begging for more pats. "Just one more, Rin-chan, please? For good luck?" she asks, eyes glistening beseechingly at her and there's just something in that glassy-eyed, flushed expression of hers that lights a low fire in the pit of Rin's stomach. She can't put a word to the feeling; it's impossible to think with the warm buzzing in her head.
But one more can't hurt, right? Rin glances over at her phone. After all, they've been studying hard for… less than half an hour. Really? She glares at the time, feeling cheated. Well, whatever. An hour in regular time is like three in Nadeshiko years. Rin shrugs and leans in for another, smiling into the kiss as her girlfriend eagerly reciprocates.
It's a little rough, a little clumsy, very Nadeshiko.
It's because of that, they don't hear the door closing until it's too late.
"I'm home! Mom and Dad said they were going to be working late, so I brought home take- Oh!"
Something falls to the ground with a clatter. Rin looks up.
Standing in the hallway, one hand hanging awkwardly in the air and with a look of pure astonishment on her face, is Nadeshiko's older sister.
There's a pregnant pause, the silence deafening. And then…
Rin leaps out of Nadeshiko's lap. Oh god. This is it; this is where her life ends. Caught in the act red-handed by her girlfriend's older sister. Embarrassing doesn't even cover half of it. Oh god.
"S-sis!" Her girlfriend bolts up, bangs her knee against the kotatsu, falls face first, and eats floor, all in the span of seconds. She bounces back up just as quickly, no worse for wear.
"Hey, hi, yo, wassup, how's it going?" she asks, smoothing down her shirt and patting down her hair. As if the swollen lips and the red cheeks weren't conspicuous enough. "I thought you-" her voice cracks and Rin winces. She clears her throat. "I thought you had night class today?"
Sakura Kagamihara nods just once. Slowly. She bends down to pick up her cell phone, the source of the earlier clatter, all while keeping her laser stare solely on Rin. Smart decision. As soon as she takes her eyes off her, Rin's melting through the floor and letting the earth's molten core burn her to a crisp.
"They got canceled," she says, switching the plastic takeout bag to her other hand. "It's nice to see you again, Shima-san," she says, her tone perfectly bland.
Rin just nods at the floor. Verbal communication, what is that even?
Her girlfriend leaps in to speak for her. "Rin-chan was helping me study. For the mid-terms!"
Her sister just turns her exceptionally neutral gaze onto her sister. "Ah," is all she says and Nadeshiko squirms in place.
Well, if the earth won't rise and swallow Rin whole, then it's time to do the next best thing.
"Bathroom," she mutters and makes a mad dash down the hall. Thankfully, she remembers the house layout from the last visit, so she finds the bathroom without any trouble. Inside, she locks the door and sits down on the edge of the tub. She grabs a towel from the rack, puts it over her face, and screams.
Once she's spent, she puts the towel back and just groans, covering her face with her hands. Getting caught making out by anyone is embarrassing. Getting caught making out by your girlfriend's older sister? Face-meltingly mortifying. Not to mention potentially life-threatening. Nadeshiko's sister doesn't seem like the type to murder Rin in her sleep, but then again, you never can be too sure with the quiet ones.
A shudder runs down Rin spine, and she gulps. Just her luck that her girlfriend's family owns a backyard along with the necessary camping equipment to bury her body without a trace. Never before has Rin been quite so regretful to introducing her girlfriend to the joys of camping.
Goodbye life. It was fun while it lasted.
Just as Rin debates whether she can squeeze her body through the pinhole of a window above the tub, there's a knock at the door.
"Rin-chan, are you okay? You've been in there for a while." Her girlfriend's worried voice is muffled by the door. There's a short pause, then, "please don't try to climb out the window. I tried it once, and they had to call the fire department to get me out."
That at least gets a strangled sort of snort out of Rin. With a reluctant sigh, she gets up and unlocks the door.
Her girlfriend stands in the doorway, hands behind her back, worrying her lip nervously and looking contrite. As soon as she sees Rin, her eyes light up. Wordlessly, she holds out her hands. Rin takes them in hers and comes in close. Her girlfriend leans in and brushes their foreheads together. Rin lets her eyes close.
For once, Nadeshiko is silent, offering her warm presence instead as a quiet comfort. Rin soaks it in like a sponge. She breathes in slowly, feeling the tension gradually seep out of her shoulders as her girlfriend holds her close.
After a second, Nadeshiko pulls back, still keeping their hands linked. She has a reassuring smile on her face, but there's a hint of nervousness in it.
"Sis is in the kitchen. She wants to talk with you," she whispers. The 'alone' is all but implied.
The anxiety shoots back into Rin's veins, but she puts on a weak smile for Nadeshiko's sake. "Okay."
"Hey. It'll be alright. Promise." Nadeshiko raises Rin's hand to her lips. "Love you."
Despite everything, Rin feels herself cracking a small smile. "Love you too."
Nadeshiko's sister has her back turned to her as she enters the kitchen, and for one morbid moment, Rin can't help but wonder if she's standing like that so that Rin can't see the knives she's sharpening.
At the sound of footsteps, Nadeshiko's sister turns around and Rin's lets out a silent sigh of relief to see a coffee pot in her hands. If I survive, I am never picking up another slasher-mystery fic ever again, I swear.
"Good timing. Coffee's just about done." Nadeshiko's sister heads over to a cabinet and pulls it open. "Care for a cup?"
Rin nods before realizing that it maaaay be better if she starts using actual words lest Nadeshiko's sister thinks she's being rude. "Y-yes, please," she stammers, taking a seat at the table.
She nods and takes out two mugs and pours the coffee out. She places the cup in front of Rin. No sugar or cream is offered. The implications of that are worrisome, but Rin's distracted at the moment by the mug Nadeshiko's sister is using.
It's just so...pink, so eye-watering pink. Like somebody took a blob of cotton candy and spun it into the shape of a mug. Cute chibi animals circle the side and Best Sister Ever! is written on the front in an excited scrawl that can only be Nadeshiko's handwriting.
"Tacky, isn't it?" Rin's head snaps up. Nadeshiko's sister takes the seat across from her. She has a dry smile on her face, yet the look in her eyes is fond as she nurses the mug in her hand. "Nadeshiko made it for me when I got accepted into uni. It hurt my eyes at first," she gestures to the general pinkness of the thing and Rin is torn between wanting to laugh and staying absolutely silent, "but for some reason, I can't bring myself to use any other mug." She takes a quiet sip. "Coffee just tastes better in this one."
She takes another sip. Rin leaves hers untouched.
The silence stretches on.
Nadeshiko's sister puts down her cup. She puts her hands down on the table and laces her fingers together.
"How long have you been seeing my little sister?"
Her voice is soft, with absolutely no inflection. Rin swallows. "A little more than two months."
Her eyebrows rise. "Huh. I'm surprised Nadeshiko managed to keep quiet for so long."
Rin just nods, not trusting herself to speak.
Nadeshiko's sister begins lightly drumming her fingers on the table. Rin keeps her hands in her lap, balled into tight, anxious fists.
Tap, tap, tap.
"Out of curiosity, when were you two planning on telling anybody?" she asks quietly. There's no accusation in her tone, yet Rin can't help but flinch at the question. "Don't get me wrong; everyone deserves their personal privacy. I can respect that. But at the same time, that same personal privacy gets a little harder to respect when you come home to see your baby sister with her best friend's hand up her shirt."
Rin flushes red. In her defense, her hands were freezing. And the surprised squeak Nadeshiko makes whenever something cold makes contact with her side? Super cute. And that's it. Honest. They've both talked and agreed that they're not ready for anything else just yet. Maybe when they're older but not now, that's for sure.
"I-it's not what i-it looked like." Rin fumbles though she's coming up with a big, fat blank how to explain it otherwise. "I-I swear."
To her surprise, Nadeshiko's sister lets out a faint chuckle. "Relax. From what Nadeshiko has told me about you and what I remember, you don't seem the type to do anything that rash."
That sounds like a compliment but Rin's not entirely sure. "Thank… you?"
Nadeshiko's sister nods agreeably. "I actually quite like you, Shima-san. You keep Nadeshiko out of trouble and you humor whatever she has to say, which is something every older sister likes to hear when it comes to their siblings. So, cheers for that," she says, saluting Rin with her mug.
Rin hesitates. "...But?"
She puts down her mug. "But she's also my little sister," she says softly, gazing at her mug.
Another beat. Rin sits on the edge of her seat and tries not to sweat bullets.
Nadeshiko's sister takes off her glasses and begins cleaning them with her sleeve. "You probably know this, but my sister's the kind of person who thinks of others before herself and asks for nothing in return. A lot of people take her for granted because of it. People who act like they've forgotten about her. People that she still calls friends to this day, even though they've never once called her to ask how she's been ever since we've moved." She holds her glasses up to the light and frowns. "People that made her cry."
Rin blinks. That's just so… wrong. Nadeshiko never talks about her time in middle school and now Rin knows why and it's just... wrong. Who in their right mind would even treat her like that? Who?
Whoever they are, they don't deserve to call themselves her friend, that's for sure.
Nadeshiko's sister slips the glasses back onto her face and stares Rin dead in the eye. There's a hint of something in her eyes, something strong and fiercely protective.
"My sister will bend over backward just to make sure other people are happy. It's just who she is and I love her for it. What I want to know is, what makes you think you deserve that same kindness?" She leans forward and puts both hands on the table. "Better yet, just what can you even offer her in return?"
Not once does she raise her voice, but there's no mistaking the steel in her tone. Rin feels sweat on the back of her neck. She starts to say something and then stops.
Starts.
Stops.
It's no good. Her mind is blank. Nothing seems like the right thing to say.
Nadeshiko's sister picks up her pink mug. One of the chibi animals, a small terrier, grins reassuringly back at her and suddenly, Rin finds herself talking.
"That's not fair," she says. Nadeshiko's sister's eyebrows shoot up in surprise and Rin quickly amends her statement. "It's not- you can't define a relationship as give and take because if you do, then you'll just be spending all your time trying to one-up each other. And I never really thought of us like that." She pauses, then adds, "I guess I never really put a lot of thought into our relationship as a whole but…"
She trails off. Nadeshiko's sister watches her intently.
"Nadeshiko… she makes me happy," Rin admits softly. "And I just want to make her happy in return."
"Maybe it's just me being selfish," she continues. The words are coming out faster now, surer. "But every time she smiles because I tell her something silly or invite her to go camping, I feel...lucky, I guess is what you'd call it."
Is lucky even the right word? It feels too soft for what Rin's trying to say, like it's not enough for what Nadeshiko has done for her.
"Lucky that she wanted to be my friend, lucky that she is my friend. If I can just make her smile every day, then that's all I want out of our relationship." Rin nods and looks Nadeshiko's sister directly in the eyes. "She deserves it and more for wanting to be my friend."
Rin's not sure where the sentiment came from, only knows that it's how she honestly feels and nothing will change her mind. It's strange. The fear from earlier is gone. Now all she feels is just a warm glow in her chest, a little ember burning bright and filling her entire being.
Nadeshiko's sister stares back at her. Rin meets her gaze head-on.
The silence stretches for a beat, then two.
Finally, after what feels like an eternity, the older Kagamihara opens her mouth.
"Some cream and sugar?"
The question throws Rin off. It takes a second for her to remember the coffee in front of her. "Oh, um, y-yes. Please, i-if you don't mind."
Nadeshiko's sister nods and picks up the mug. Halfway through, she pauses and then frowns. "Ugh, cold coffee is the worst. Let me brew you another cup."
"O-oh, you don't have to trouble yourself, Kagamihara-san."
Nadeshiko's sister just waves her off. "It's no trouble." She looks over to Rin and graces her with a wry smile. "And don't worry about the formalities. It's just Sakura."
Maybe it's Rin's imagination, but she likes to think that it's approval she hears in the older Kagamihara's voice. Maybe. But she'll keep that to herself.
"In that case, thank you very much, Sakura-san,"
There's a loud sniffle that comes from somewhere behind Rin. Nadeshiko's sister casts an amused glance over her shoulder. "You can come in now."
A brief patter of footsteps is the only warning Rin gets before she's suddenly bowled over from behind by a bawling storm of pink.
"Rin-chaaaaaaan!" Her girlfriend sobs into her neck. "Y-you make me happy t-too! I- I just want you to k-know that b-because what y-you said was the n-nicest thing e-ever and j-just everything you do m-makes me happy and I just love you sooo muuu-muuu-uahhhhhh!"
Rin can only pat her bewilderedly on the back. This is too much emotional whiplash in one day for her. "L-love you too."
Nadeshiko's sister chuckles sympathetically before coming over to gently pry her off of Rin.
"I told you, I just wanted to talk with her." She affectionately ruffles Nadeshiko's head. "Stop overreacting."
"S-sorryyyyy." Nadeshiko hiccups. "A-are you g-going to t-tell Mom and-and Dad about this?"
She thinks for a second before shaking her head. "No. I'll leave that up to when you two feel comfortable. Sooner is better than later, but both of you are mature enough to make your own decisions and I trust both of you, so that's for another time." She reaches forward and gently thumbs the tears away from Nadeshiko's eyes. "Now go wash up and let's have dinner. I got Kung Pao."
Nadeshiko sniffles again and wipes her eyes with a sleeve. "S-spicy?"
"Extra spicy."
Nadeshiko sniffles again. "C-can Rin-chan stay?"
"If she wants to." Nadeshiko's sister turns to her. "Shima-san?"
Common sense would dictate she get out of the house as fast as she can, after that interrogation. But instead...
"I'd love to," she says with a small smile, and she means it. "And call me Rin."
The take-out is spicy, too spicy for her and she ends up giving most of her portion to Nadeshiko. Nadeshiko talks a mile a minute, shoveling food down at an impressive speed while the older Kagamihara occasionally interjects with a dry comment. When Nadeshiko grabs Rin's hand to hold, her older sister doesn't comment. She just smiles her wry smile at Rin's flushed expression, shakes her head and takes another sip of her beer.
"So, wait." Rin holds up her hand and Nadeshiko pauses in her storytelling. "Let me get this straight. The reason you got your head stuck in the bathroom window was because you saw your neighbor's dog and wanted to go pet it." She's struggling not to laugh at the scandalized pout on her girlfriend's face. "And just why couldn't you go out the front door?"
Her girlfriend's pout deepens. "Rin-chan, you don't understand. It's a really cute dog!"
"In her defense, it really is." Her sister remarks, smirking slightly at Rin's disbelieving expression. "But that's not the best part. Did she tell you that she got hungry while we were waiting for the fire department to come?"
"You didn't."
"I did. Hand fed her potato chips in the cold until they came to get her out. What's worse was that she was so low to the ground that I had to kneel down and let her inhale the chips from my hand like a horse." Her smirk widens. "Firemen said it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen in their 20 years on the job."
The image in Rin's head of it all is the funniest thing she's seen all day and she can't help but break out into a laugh as Nadeshiko squirms with embarrassment. "You didn't have to tell her that part!" she gripes half-heartedly, struggling not to smile at Rin.
Her sister just laughs, not unkindly, and ruffles Nadeshiko's head. "Just welcoming her to the family, sis."
AN: Yuru camp is over and I'm just now going through the seven stages of grief and loss