She doesn't want to think about it. Meiko left and that's all. That's what Rin told herself anyway.

Rin didn't want to think about the implications of what happened. She didn't want to think about why Meiko would leave them. She didn't want to think about her anymore.

All Rin wants to think about is... improvement. All they could do is improve... improve... improve... and improve.

...Should I? Rin thought to herself, jogging in place at the spilt in the road- er, street.

Usually the route was rather basic. The perfect route to take her mind off of... things, but maybe out of curiosity's sake, Rin could help herself to a little exploring.

Although I think there's a park. Rin thought for a moment. I think it's the same path Kaito works at. A big grin spread across her face. There's nothing wrong with a cheat day.

And so, she took the route less traveled by... for her.

With a little pep to her step, Rin found herself in this new area. Though she did try to rack her brain, trying to remember if Kaito have said anything about specific landmark on his route, like maybe a statue or a grand lake he've been selling his wares by.

Her eyes looked around for the blue haired man until they landed on a playground.

Of course, like any other playground on a weekend, there will be kids playing around on the equipment or with each other or both. It was a very normal thing... a very nostalgic thing in fact...

Rin have done this before as a kid and with her own friends...

...and yet, Rin can't help but to keep staring at these happy kids. Memories keep popping up in her mind, unwelcome.

"Come on, you can hang out with us! You don't need to listen to those assholes."

Rin soon smack herself in the face. "This isn't even the same playground. I need to get out of here, quick."

She dusted herself off, and was about to jog off, probably onto her original route and never return to this park again, but at the last second, a cry caught her ears.

"No! Give it back!" A little boy wearing a yellow hoodie cried out, trying to 'wrestle' with an older looking kid (maybe 12 years old). For a moment, she thought she was a familiar shade of blond, but the little kid has dark hair.

By an arm's length, he was held back as the other little kids looked too scared to do anything. In the older kid's other out stretched hand was a baseball.

"Come on, you just need to give me candy." The older kid laughed.

Where's the parents? Rin looked around for any parents, but it seemed to be only them around. Welp, I guess I have to do something.

"Hey! Stop right there!" Rin came over to the group of kids, putting on her best adult voice. "I saw what's going on here. Where's your mother, young man?"

Rin tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the bully to back down, but the kid looked at her in confusion. "Come on, you can't be that much older than me. Don't be such a tattletale."

Rin stared at the kid with a blank expression. "...You know that I'm in my 20s, right?"

"Stop lying! There's no way you're that old."

"..." Her eye twitched.

Like anyone else near the playground, Jyushimatsu can't help but to take a take a look at what's going on, even when he's coming back from playing baseball. Through the crowd of parents and frightened children, he was able to see a blond teen arguing with one of the moms.

"Young lady, where's your mother?"

"Of course you guys appeared when I didn't want to! If you must know, your brat tried to bully these kids-"

"My son would never-"

"If you can interrupt me, then I can interrupt you! Maybe if you're a better mom, then you would had actually realized that your kid tried to bully them out of their candy."

It just continued on being a screaming match between the two. Jyushimatsu doesn't know if he should just step in or not, though he felt bad for the kids watching this. There are even a couple of familiar faces in the crowd too.

His eyes landed on the blond once again. "Ah." Tears were welding in her eyes, threatening to leak out.

"Well, FU-" The blond was cut off by her own surprised scream as Jyushimatsu wrapped his arms around her middle and lifted her up, whisking her away.

"Let me go! Let me go!" She banged her fists onto him, but he didn't, even as the angry mother yelled at them to come back.

Jyushimatsu just did it on a whim, something that just popped in his head. He held onto her, even when he stopped by the vending machines, and let her scream and shout and squirm in his arms. He got weird looks, but he didn't care.

He didn't let go of her.

She did put up quite a fight, scratching and pinching his arms, but her movements and her screaming soon died down. He felt her go limp in his arms as her screams turned into muffled whimpers.

"...Are you okay?" Jyushimatsu have to ask. Slowly, he let her down, unwrapping his arms.

For a moment, he was frightened by the stillness of the situation, but she did turned around to face him, her hand wiping away her tears. "...I don't know."

With whatever change Jyushimatsu was able to scavenge around, he was able to get a lemon lime soda and a canned coffee. The blond was crouch next to the vending machines, sniffling, as he showed her the drinks.

The blond let out an annoyed tsk, snatching the coffee can from his hand. "I'm an adult, goddamn it."

"Oh."

Oh. Oh. ...Oh.

He didn't realized that, but still, he crouched down next to her, happily opening up the soda.

"Gah! It's way too sweet." She recoiled from her sip of canned coffee, but she noticed his eyes on her, bringing the can back to her lip for another sip. "So, are you going to chastise me for hitting a kid too?"

Jyushimatsu thought about it for a moment, but he shook his head.

"Really?"

"Not good, but the mom..."

"...Yeah, I was already chewed out by that stupid mom. I hope that's punishment enough."

Jyushimatsu nodded in agreement, and took a sip of his soda. He could feel her blue eyes staring at him, as if she's waiting for him to say more, but nothing came to his mind. What else to say?

She pursed her lips, swirling her can around as if it was a glass of wine. "I... Er..." A frustrated groaned escaped from her lips. "...Thank you for getting me out of there. I'm not sure what would happened back there if you didn't. I mean, I know; I would had get yelled at more, but thanks for saving me back there."

"You're welcome!" Jyushimatsu smiled at her.

Her blue eyes narrowed, scanning his form. Jyushimatsu tilted his head in confusion. She wants to talk more. He can just tell, but instead talking about what's on her mind, she suddenly slammed her can down and stood up, dusting off her clothing. "...I need to go. It's been a stressful day for me."

Jyushimatsu watched her walk away, her arms over her head in a stretch.

"What a strange lady."

AN: Jyushimatsu is hard to write.