Chapter Three

Rin stepped off of the bus, glad that the first day was over. She figured the worst was out of the way, now all she had to do was survive the rest of the year. Survive. The word made Rin stop in her tracks. Right now, Miku was trying her hardest to survive in that hospital, and Rin was wasting her life by going through the days in a depressed daze. If only I was the one with the illness, Rin thought, clenching her fists at her sides as tears pricked at her eyes. Miku should be the one with this worthless life, not me. For her time to be so short-lived... it's more than cruel! Unable to help it, Rin began crying on the street. Passerbys sent her odd looks, some with a hint of concern or pity, but Rin paid absolutely no attention to them. They might as well have not been there at all.

She felt helpless, like a child. There was nothing she could do to help Miku, and she seemed to only burden her more with her visits. Even the doctors at the hospital had told her that her crying was stressing Miku out. Rin felt utterly worthless. What good was she if she couldn't even support her best friend in her time of need? Still, she selfishly wanted to see Miku, even though she knew that she would end up sobbing the moment she laid her eyes on the frail body that belonged to someone who used to be so strong. Miku was always acting like a big sister for Rin, guiding her and helping her through trouble, sometimes even scolding her for doing things that were bad. Rin almost felt like laughing as she thought about how much Miku would scold her right now for acting like such a wimp. Almost.

Rin ran the rest of the way home, slamming the door loudly behind her as she launched herself at the couch in her living room. She buried her face in the cushions and continued to cry until her eyes had practically swollen shut. For a long while, Rin laid motionless in the silence, but she eventually sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her vision was blurry from the leftover tears, yet she didn't care. She didn't need to see anything anyway. Tentatively, Rin placed her hands over her puffy eyes. Darkness enveloped her vision, and she wondered to herself is this was what it was like for Miku every day. Not being able to see a thing, even with your eyes open... What a scary thing. A few seconds passed before Rin lowered her hands and glanced over at the clock on the wall.

"Mom won't be home for at least an hour..." she mumbled to herself.

Rin clambered to her feet and headed toward the bathroom to wash her face. It felt sticky and uncomfortable from all the tears, and she wanted to wash away the feeling as soon as possible. Also, she didn't feel like explaining to her mother why she had been crying again. Rin turned on the light in the bathroom and went over to the sink before turning on the water. She splashed handfuls of water onto her face, rubbing at her cheeks until they were red. The cold liquid felt good on her face, and Rin continued splashing handfuls onto her cheeks even after she was sure the tear stains were gone. Once she was satisfied, she reached over and grabbed a small hand-towel from the shelf to her left. Rin dried the excess water from her face, then tossed the towel lazily into the dirty laundry hamper that sat in the corner of the room.

Rin glanced up at the mirror in front of her to see if all traces of her last crying fit were gone, but what she saw was definitely not herself reflected in the mirror. Instead, a boy who looked extremely similar to Rin was staring back at her through the glass. Rin screamed and stumbled backwards, resulting in her tripping over her own feet in the small, enclosed area and hitting her head on the wall. Rin winced as she clutched the back of her head, which throbbed painfully from the impact. Then, remembering about what had caused her to hit her head in the first place, she quickly looked back at the mirror. Though, all she saw was her own face gazing back at her, with an expression that was a mixture of pain and fear. Rin's breathing slowed to a more regular pace once she realized that she was just imagining things, but her heart was still pounding. What had caused her to see that boy in the mirror? Was it just a trick of the light, maybe from water that had still been in her eyelashes and affected her vision? That seemed like a logical enough explanation.

"Rin? I'm home!" the familiar voice of her mother called.

Rin tore her gaze away from the mirror and instead focused on the doorway in surprise. She couldn't see to the living room from here, but she could hear her mother's footsteps as they approached the bathroom. Rin, having left the door to the bathroom open since she didn't see a point in closing it when she was alone, merely waited for her mother to arrive while she tried to regain control of her heartbeat.

"Rin, honey, what's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost," Rin's mother frowned once she saw her daughter, who was crouched down in the bathroom with her hands clutching her head.

"Oh... I just hit my head, that's all," Rin said slowly.

"Are you alright?" her mother asked.

Rin nodded, but instantly regretted it when a new burst of pain ran through the back of her head. Luckily, she managed to keep herself from wincing.

"Hey, Mom, aren't you home kind of early?" Rin pointed out.

"Hmm?" her mother seemed confused for a moment, then she smiled. "Oh, yeah, I am. Since we weren't as busy today, I managed to finish all my work early, and my boss let me go home. Isn't that nice?"

"Yeah," Rin responded.

Her mother, a kind yet serious woman named Lily, worked for a local business firm. Over the years that she had worked there, it had grown steadily into a successful business, meaning Lily would often have to work long hours to complete her work. Because of this, it wasn't uncommon for Rin to have dinner by herself. It wasn't all that bad, though. Honestly, Rin didn't mind cooking, as it meant she could eat all of her favorite meals whenever she wanted. And, lately, she didn't mind being alone either.

"Since I'm finally home in time to make you dinner, what do you want?" Lily asked with a smile.

Rin finally lowered her hands from her head and looked away. "Anything will do."

"Come on, there has to be something you want. It can be anything, just name it," Lily continued to prompt her daughter.

"There isn't really anything I want in particular," Rin answered.

"I see..." Lily trailed off.

She wanted to do something, anything, to cheer up her daughter. Seeing Rin so depressed all the time was heartbreaking, but with how demanding work was, she hardly had the chance to see Rin. She really did feel bad.

"Listen, Rin... about Miku..."

Lily was silenced by a pointed look from Rin. It was the first time her daughter had looked at her so coldly, and Lily couldn't help but be taken aback by this.

"I don't want to hear it," Rin said flatly.

"A-Alright... Well, I guess I'll go make dinner now," Lily stated before leaving and heading toward the kitchen.

Once her mother was gone, Rin stood up and decided she would go to her room until it was time for dinner. Though, as she neared the exit, she stopped in her tracks and her hand hovered over the light switch. Unable to help herself, Rin glanced back at the mirror one last time before turning off the light.

A/N: And another chapter is up! I'm going to (hopefully) keep updates fairly frequent, with no more than a week in between them. Lots of people have been supporting this story, and I'm so thankful for that. Really, you guys are amazing, I love you all so much! I hope to continue to hear your opinions about this story in the future so that I can keep improving it. I'm actually really looking forward to writing this story, and I hope all of you are looking forward to reading it too :)

As always, have a nice day/night/whatever~