Chapter 1: Long time no see
 
 
“She really has improved hasn’t she?” Hisao said while gazing at a painting on the wall.
“Yeah, I still don’t really understand art much but all the paintings looks really cool” Emi replied looking confused as she studied the same painting as Hisao.
Nomiya coughs and startles the absentminded Hisao and Emi, “Long time no see, come to see Rin’s work?”
“Rin sent us an invitation...” Hisao paused for a moment looking around, “...but I don’t see her anywhere.”
“She never liked to be in the crowd of people asking her about her work. She agreed to come back and sell her works here if we didn’t force her to answer questions about the work.” replied Nomiya with a hint of agitation.
Emi speaks up after being silent for an unusual amount of time for her, “Where is she? We’d like to see her, right Hisao?”
Hisao nods and Nomiya tells them that she is upstairs. “Let’s go Hisao” Emi says enthusiastically as she pulls him up the stairs by his wrist.
 
 Rin sat in overalls and a plain tee, with the same concentrated stare at the canvas that she had when they had attended Yamaku. Hisao stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw her. He had been apprehensive in seeing her again after how their last conversation ended that rainy night several years ago. Even just seeing the back of her head was enough to make all of his old feelings resurface and send his head spinning.
“Hisao?.. Hisao?” Emi said tugging on his shirt, snapping him out of his train of thought.
“Oh, sorry, what happened?”
“Rin said hello and you just stared blankly at her. Are you okay?”
“Oh, sorry, I’m fine” Turning to Rin, Hisao replied, “How are you, Rin?”
She looked blankly at him before replying, “Medium okay, you?”
“I’m fine, it looks like you’re a big success.”
Rin gave a hassled look and said, “Nomiya and the Sae told me that I didn’t have to answer questions if I let them display my art and sell it.”
“That sounds perfect for you” Hisao said in a quiet manner, clearly uncomfortable still.
Emi looked at Hisao noticing a lack of vigor and with a sly smile said, “We should all go to Shanghai and catch up on what we’ve been up to the last few years.”
Hisao looked bothered by the idea but he wanted to see Rin more, he wasn’t sure how he felt but he had a strong urge to stay near her so he replied meekly, “yeah, let’s.”
Rin nodded in agreement and Emi burst out, “Let’s go right now then!” Without waiting for either of them to respond she put an arm on Rin’s back and grabbed Hisao by the wrist pulling them down the stairs.
 
The shop had a smell filling it of fresh baked goods which lightened the mood as they were given a table. After the waitress took their drink orders Emi had a rather sad expression so Hisao asked, “Is something wrong Emi?”
She looked up before replying, “I guess Yuuko doesn’t work here anymore.”
Hisao frowned for a moment before replying, “maybe she just has the day off or got a better paying job somewhere.”  Emi smiled and said, “I hope so, that’d be great for her.”
“Here is your tea, may I take your order?” the waitress said, setting tea in front of everyone and placing a straw in Rin’s tea. Hisao ordered a simple cake and Emi order a lemon cake as well as a strawberry cake with a slightly embarrassed face saying to the group, “I ran extra hard today just in case we decided to come here!” Hisao laughed and Rin gave a small smile without saying anything.
“Hisao, what have you done since you graduated?” Emi said with an excited expression after the waitress left.  
“I’m working at a lab, you?” He said giving her an inquisitive look after letting his eyes glance to see how Rin reacted to what he said. Rin had a blank stare, her eyes following who was talking without showing any interest in the conversation. Hisao wondered what she could be thinking about as Emi was talking.
“What about you Rin? I saw your exhibit but did you finish art school?” Said Emi enthusiastically. Hisao tuned in at this point, embarrassed that he wasn’t listening to Emi, he hoped that she wouldn’t test him later.
Rin replied simply, “Yes. I moved back here after Nomiya and Sae told me that they would handle all the business end if I exhibited here.” Hisao listened carefully to her as she spoke, almost in a trance. Hearing that she was living in town made his heart jump, he had only recent moved back to town and hadn’t had a chance to see if anyone else was still living in the city.
Rin looked at him with a slightly concerned face, “Is there something on my face Hisao? You’re staring.”
“No. Sorry.” He fidgeted a bit, getting more nervous due to his carelessness. He decided it best to try and steer the conversation off him, “Do you live in the atelier?”
Rin was silent for a moment before replying with a sly smile, “Plan on stalking me, Hisao?”
Hisao instantly blushed and only managed to mumble something uninteligible.
Rin slowly let her expression go back to blank and replied smoothly, “I do, Sae lets me live there almost for free.”
Emi decided it was a good time to break the air, “Look! Our food’s here!” She said excitedly as the waitress arrived.
 
Emi’s eyes grew wide in excitement as she caught eye of her cakes coming to the table. Hisao broke his stare off of Rin to look at his cake, the distraction calmed him down and relaxed the air. Rin stared absently at the cakes for a moment before taking a sip of her tea. Hisao noticed the stare and felt bad for a moment thinking to himself, ‘I guess she can’t really eat out at places like this comfortably, maybe I should be careful in where we go from now on.’ Meanwhile, Emi devours her two cakes before Hisao manages to finish his one and lets out a satisfied breath.
“It was nice being able to catch up with you two” Emi said with a beaming smile.
“Yeah. We should hang out more.” Hisao said nervously, being overly aware of how much he looked towards Rin.
“You should come by the atelier sometime.”
“Sure.” Hisao said, finally speaking with less nervousness.
“I’ll be sure to come by as well! It’s on my way back home after my afternoon run.”
Rin nodded before everyone got up to pay for the check and went their separate ways.
 
A few days later Hisao was standing outside of Rin’s atelier looking at the door to the stairwell. ‘I wonder if she meant what she said. She had that same face that I used to have so much trouble dealing with. But, Rin was never one to say thing’s she didn’t mean. Why am I being so nervous? It’s been a long time, I’m sure she doesn’t have these issues when she sees me.’ He fidgeted for a while longer, then with a deep breath opened the door and climbed the stairs.
Knock. Knock. No answer was heard from within the room. Knock. Knock. A rustling was heard from inside, then the door opened.
“Hello” Rin said plainly looking at Hisao with a blank stare.
“Hey, you said I should come by.”
She nodded and moved inside, leaving the door open for Hisao to come in. Hisao watched as Rin sat down in front of an easel, her clothes already covered in paint splotches, and started to paint. Hisao watched her quietly, it reminded him of when he used to come every few days and watch as she painted in preparation for her first exhibit here. ‘I wonder if she’s thinking about that time. Should I talk about it? No, it’s probably best not to bring up bad memories with Rin.’ He watched closely as she moved the brush diligently across the canvas with her foot. It was such an amazing site that he watched for a couple hours before realizing that it was getting dark out.
“I should probably head back.”
Rin remained silent, moving her brush as if she hadn’t heard him. Hisao started to get up but
“Wait.”
Hisao froze for a moment, then slowly set back down. He looked back to her as she continued to paint. It reminded him of a similar scene from their high school days. He became lost in those thoughts as he watched her paint, waiting for her to say what she wanted him to wait for.
“You’ll come back, right? Hisao.”
He turned to see her expression, hoping that she would show some sign of endearment to him. Yet, she only had a blank stare to offer. He cringed for a moment, then replied, “of course.” Smiling he left with a wave, “bye.”
“Bye.”
After he exited the stairwell, he leaned his back to the door. ‘Why was I so nervous? Why did I hope she would still have feelings for me? She broke it off then, didn’t she? Maybe I still don’t understand her. It’s so hard for me to read her. She invites me over, and doesn’t say a word, yet holds me there to say bye? I don’t get it.’ He walked back towards his house lost in these thoughts.
Rin stared at her canvas after Hisao left with a frustrated face.