Promiscuity Ch. 8

The morning routine picks up again.  Take care of Rin, make sure she's ready for her day at school.  Upon finishing that as cleanly as usual, I proceed on my morning run.

My spirit feels loose, free.  Not just physically, which I'd have Rin to thank for, but also emotionally.

Rin cares.  She's not around right now, but she really does have concern.  She listens.  She hangs around.  I don't understand her at all, as I could never hope to, but regardless, she remains there, to listen to anything I'd have to say.

As I run, I'm not even counting my laps.  Moreover, I'm not letting my mind be bogged down with anything at all.  I'm just, in the most simple of ways, happy.  Guess I got Rin to thank for that.

If I had someone keeping track of my times, I might have set a record for the school.

Classes go by pretty normally.  I'm as distracted by Rin's presence I've ever been, possibly due to our close encounter in the morning, but it's not really an obstacle.  Maybe I satisfied those urges I'd been holding back.  As it is now, I couldn't feel more free, really.

Why am I thinking about her so much?  Is it in my running, even?  Am I doing it for Rin?  No, it's not quite that, though she is definitely one to thank for the easing of my mind.  I should tell her as much later.

I wouldn't know how to, though.  I've never had a problem talking to anyone, but Rin has always been different.  I'm probably worrying too much, Rin always listens to what I say, regardless, right?

The next time I see her is at the start of our morning classes.  I stay quiet for all of the periods.  I also refrain from falling asleep at any point, fearing I might dream of her.  It's a little hard, but I manage.

Once we're done with our class, meeting in the hall, I can't resist hugging her on contact.  I do it tightly, probably more than she'd like.

Despite her being so close to me, I yell to her,  "Rin!  I'm so glad to see you!"

Rin wiggles a bit in response.  "Wow, not so loud, I hear you anyway.  You're attracting attention."

as I'm about to refuse her claim, I take a look around us.  Throughout the hall, all sorts of students have taken notice, both in my class and otherwise, showing shocked eyes, pointing, giggling.  Among the crowd I hear a couple of specific comments.

"That's the track star, right?  What's she doing with that dirty girl?"

"Uggh, so gross, she's hugging her so tightly!  What's the deal?"

I don't care, it doesn't matter.  I'm consumed by Rin, hypnotized as I squeeze her frail yet warm body, feeling more at home than I have in a long time.

Rin, in return, doesn't respond much, but I expect that by now.  Her face is pretty blank.  I notice a blush, though.  She's feeling it a little, at least.

I release my grip, deciding to give a late welcome.  "Hi Rin, how were the lessons today?  Ogata is making sure it's complex as usual, isn't he?"

Rin shrugs.  "Ogata.  Yeah.  So tough.  Yells a lot.  Hard to listen.  I think I got it.  Water of India flows infinitely, right?"

I make a tired sigh.  Was she really fooled by that trick?  It's simple, one of those stupid gimmicks instructors come up with.  Mr. Ogata made it a point of his lectures, that what the eye sees is never true.  He'd take a water bottle, tip it over a dish, and then as soon as he yelled 'Water of India', it would start to pour out, without any visual movement from his hands.

Sure, I have no idea how it's actually done, but it's probably not hard.  Did that really grab Rin so much?  I guess I'm not surprised if it did.

I move to change the subject.  "So, Rin, you got anything to do today?"

Rin nods.  "Yeah.  I think.  I need art supplies.  Lots of them.  Nomiya told me, I needed all I could get.  All I can get is a whole heck of a lot, probably.  More than is in the supply room.  Colors missing, even from there."

I look to the side for a moment, trying to puzzle out her words.  "I think he probably just meant the art room stuff, Rin.  We can go get that, no problem."

Rin shakes her head, to my dismay.  "Not no problem.  Nomiya, he told me I should color what I feel is instinct.  I do not feel those colors, the art room has in it.  Too plain, too used everywhere.  I need another source."  She tilts her head, in a direction possibly relevant to her thoughts, "There's an art shop in town.  It's got this color.  I can't explain but I'm gonna go there."

Without another word, Rin proceeds to walk down the hall.  Lacking anything else to do besides my normal running routine, I take a steady pace and follow her.

Rin looks back for a moment, recognizing me, not seeming to refuse my trailing.  "It's Prussian blue. Stupid name, right.  We need more.  I need more.  I need more and I'm sure the shop has it, I'd seen it."

A normal person wouldn't keep listening to Rin's rants, but I do, devotingly, trying my best to absorb the odd information.

Rin keeps going.  "Light blue, not light blue, but light blue, one of those troublesome in-betweens."

This makes no sense.  What is Rin even thinking.  From following her all along, I still have no idea.

Not wanting to interrupt her chains of thought, as well as attempt to outsmart her logic, I keep listening, silently.

Overall, I don't get it.  Still, I let her trail me all the way down the road, to the mostly familiar downtown area.

I've been here a couple of times before.  Just as I assemble a good mental trail for the two of us to take on, Rin suggests a totally unfamiliar and vague set of directions.

"It's left.  Not that left, my left."  Rin twists and turns, making her own definition of 'left' more difficult than ever.  "Okay, I stand here.  This left?  Is that really left?  It's more like left-up, or left-south, or left-north.  Aw crap."  Interrupting her directional instructions, she turns to me.  "No, no, it's right-north.  Your hands are likely to turn that way, right?"

Rin seems really into this.  Despite most of her suggestions not being an actual direction, her arm waves in the general way she wants to go.  I ignore her vocal orders, accept her visual ones, and follow it, however vaguely.

She leads me into town.  It's not an unfamiliar route to me, though she quickly leads me into street corners I've never traveled before.

With some recklessness, I go along, trusting her.  We end up in front of a shop tucked into a little corner of the city, adorned with a colorful sign.

"Yup,"  Rin toots, her arm waving directly towards the overhanging sign, "This is it."

"Could've guessed," I mutter sarcastically, before following her in.

My eyes darken in contrast to the indoor scenery.  It's not dark, so much as there's an overwhelming composition of colors.  Some sort of abstract rainbow, born from insane minds.  I can't really decribe it further.

I can't take it.  I gotta close my eyes for a bit.  As I open them, I see Rin's eyes, close to my face, looking right at me.  "You see this, Emi?  You're not looking."  She pulls her head back, giving me a chance.

Everything looks very much like a convention hall for some anime, stands everywhere, signs posted, signals blaring throughout.  It's hard to tell one thing from another, but Rin doesn't seem to feel the same, eagerly stroking my arm in the direction she wants to go next.

I don't deny what Rin wants.  She wants art, through and through, and so, I follow along with her moves.

I end up paying more money than I'd expected to spend today.  It's cool.  Rin needed it.  And hopefully she wouldn't need more for a while.

We exit the store.  Just as I think we're done with the day, I notice her head turn, towards the direction the downhill road leads, away from the path back to the school.

Her mouth moves before I hear voice.  "I'm sorry Emi, I need this to not end.  I need... that.  Music.  Could really use it."  She wiggles her stump, directing my eyes to the adjacent shop.

"Music, Let's Go!"  Seems pretty generic.  Hoping it's not a den of pop music, I follow Rin into the building.

Luckily, I find out that pop music is not in the majority of tracks played here.  However, I quickly lose Rin among the general 'electronica' section, preferring to leave myself within the instrumental classics.

I don't have much interest, either way.  Rin has no problem hiding it though.  She's swinging her hips, rocking her body like a model, making a very impressive image from what was nothing.  I can't even tell if she's going with the beat.  It's something, though, that much is certain.  I can't help watching her every move, though I couldn't hope to understand the beat of the music itself.

After quite a long time of watching, I walk to her, grabbing her shoulders.  As her body is still moving, I take the chance to lean into her ear and whisper, "Hey Rin, we done yet?"

She seems jarred by my sudden movement, wringing her body away from me before her eyes focus, setting on me.

I stand strong, even as she makes a comment way louder than normal, speaking over her headphones,  "YEAH.  HEY EMI, GET THIS CD FOR ME"

As I explain to her to use quieter musical terms, I buy the CD for her.  It really is pretty cool, I don't know much about this music but I'd call it 'kicking beats' as Rin might.

Even as I buy the music, Rin is knocking her head up and down, listening to her new tunes, disregarding the world around her.  She continues this behavior as we walk back to the school.

I'm tempted to stop her, to maybe tell her a little bit about how I feel, but her eyes are closed her head rocking.  She's become exclusive to the beat, and I couldn't hope to stop it.  After that beat died out, she'd be dying to see me, right?