Chapter 5: Untitled
 
Knock. Knock.
“I’m coming in.”
Hisao opened the door slowly, peering around for Rin. As usual, she was sitting in a chair staring at a blank canvas. He gave a sigh before walking in and putting away groceries for that night’s dinner.
“How was your day, Rin?”
She gave no response as she started to paint. Hisao thought about going ahead and cooking before remembering how long it took her to finish the painting she started on when he was there last night. ‘Guess I’ll clean up for a bit first.’ With that Hisao looked around, the kitchen area was still relatively clean but the rest of the room…
“I’m going to clean up a bit Rin.”
Not even a nod. Hisao let out a sigh before starting with making her bed and then cleaning up the rest of the room. He put all the clothes in a basket he found and looked around for a washer and dryer.
“Rin, where do you do your laundry?”
“Sae has a thing that cleans them in the place downstairs.”
She gave a short, blunt reply without ever looking away from the canvas. ‘Guess I should be happy to have gotten a response at all.’ He went downstairs with the basket of clothes. ‘Hopefully the clothes will finish before I get done cleaning.’ With that thought he realized he had never been in anything but the exhibit room of Corner 22. ‘Where would the washer and dryer be…’ As he was thinking this
“Hello, Nakai.”
“Ah, Sae. How are you?”
“Fine. Do you need something?” She eyed the clothes in his basket, “I don’t think those fit you.”
“Ah, well, their Rin’s clothes. She said she uses the washer down here?”
“It’s off through that door.” She pointed to a door in the back behind a corner. “But before you go, I want to talk to you about Rin.”
“Sure.”
Sae paused for a second, eyeing Hisao’s inquisitive expression. He didn’t see anything wrong with what was going on. With a sigh Sae spoke up again,
“Don’t you think it’s odd that she isn’t painting when you’re away? She hasn’t had a problem painting since before the art exhibit when you still attended Yamaku.”
“She told me she likes it when I am here. I don’t really understand what that means.” Sae noticed his eyes look away with that comment.
“Is there something else you aren’t telling me that happened?”
“No.” Hisao gave a quick reply as he blushed.
“Hmm… anyway, I think you should put a lot of thought into that. Since Rin has been staying here I’ve gotten a bit protective of her, understand?” She gave a sharp glare at Hisao with the comment.
“Yes ma’am.” Hisao straightened up understanding the intensity behind her words. “I’ll be on my way then.”
“Very well.”
 
After finishing starting the laundry Hisao set an alarm on his watch and went back upstairs with his discussion with Sae bearing heavy weight on his mind. As he was cleaning he would stop and stare at Rin, wondering what he should do about the things she has said to him. ‘She even slept next to me last night. What if she wants to again tonight? What if she wants more.’  
Beep. Beep. Beep.
‘Oh, the laundry’s done.’ With that Hisao went and change out the laundry and came back up stairs. ‘I wonder what she does with these…’
“Rin, how do you keep your clothes?”
“On hangars, how else would I keep them?”
“Oh.” Hisao grew embarrassed, ‘I guess that was insensitive of me.’ With that he took hangars out of the closet, an obviously clue to how she kept them, and hung the shirts up. ‘I wonder how she gets dressed alone…’ He hung the shirts up fine but then the underwear were left, for some reason he didn’t have a problem throwing them in the basket, but when it came to folding them he was suddenly overly aware of Rin being there and them being hers. He also recalled the conversation from the rooftop about how panties were a window to a girl’s soul. He stared at them not knowing what to do, it was also the only thing he had left to do as far as cleaning the room. With a sigh and a reddened face Hisao folded her unmentionables and left them in the basket not wanting to spend more time on the issue by asking where she wanted them.
“I’m going to start cooking dinner, Rin.”
She didn’t respond or even acknowledge what he said. Hisao gave a sigh before moving to the kitchen and cooking dinner as he watched Rin paint. From his angle all he could see were distorted shapes and things resembling body parts. ‘Maybe she’s back to her usual self.’ With that thought he became even more confused about what to think of her. While lost in thought he managed to cut himself.
“Tch.”
He sucked on his finger while looking for a bandaid.
“Rin, do you have any band aids?”
“Kitchen.”
‘Such a short response.’ Hisao gave a sigh before sifting through cabinets until he found the first aid kit. After bandaging his finger Hisao finished dinner and called Rin to eat.
“Rin, it’s time for dinner.”
“Okay.”
Rin got up and walked over to the table. Hisao stared at her, stunned. ‘She got up when I called??”
“I just finished.”
Hisao’s expression immediately became grim again. ‘That explains it.’ Hisao sat quietly as he ate with Rin, still lost in thought. As soon as they finished Hisao realized she was done with her painting and he could look at it now. The objects were indistinguishable from one another at the table so he got up to get a closer look. As he drew near he noticed that it wasn’t just random shapes and distorted body parts. At the center of the canvas was a clear, red heart with a bandage over it. He was frozen, ‘what could this mean?’
“Hisao, what is love?”
“What?”
“Sae was talking to me yesterday, what is love?”
Hisao thought about it, ‘that didn’t really explain where that was coming from. How am I supposed to answer something like that?’
“It’s like when you can’t get someone off your mind.”
Rin gave a flat expression, but her eyes hazed over as if she was thinking deeply about something. Hisao was still focused on the painting, oblivious to Rin’s reaction to his comment.
“Rin, what is this a drawing of?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, what were you thinking of when you drew this?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the painting mean?”
“I don’t know, it’s too hard to explain.”
Hisao gave a frustrated expression but managed to not deflate into a childish anger induced yell. Instead he thought for a minute before continuing,
“What were you feeling as you drew this.”
Rin gave a frustrated expression as she thought for a while then turned to Hisao with a blank expression.
“It was like a flock of butterflies in my stomach, and they tried to fly up through my chest so I couldn’t breathe easy, and my head spun really fast like the thing at a carnival with the horses that go round and round, and it was hard to focus because I just kept thinking of you when all I wanted to do was paint because there were fish in my head swimming really fast and it made the water in my head they were swimming in splash about really fast and the only way to make them stop was to paint but I couldn’t paint because I was thinking about you.”
Hisao stood motionless as Rin let out the torrent of words that he couldn’t really understand so he gave a complicated look back at her even when she finished.
“I don’t know what to say Rin.”
“Me either.”
A long silence filled the room as they stared at one another. Rin had a blank expression, while Hisao gave a complicated look.
“I don’t like it when you leave.”
“Rin…”
Rin suddenly ran the few steps between them and pushed her body into Hisao’s. Hisao instinctively hugged her as his heart began to beat faster and faster. ‘Am I in love with Rin? When did this happen? Does she love me? Is that what she’s trying to say? Am I overthinking this? What should I do?’
“Can we just stay like this?”
Hisao stopped thinking when she said those words. He tightened his grip and they stayed that way for several moments before Hisao loosened his grip and Rin pulled back.
“Rin…”
Rin stood on her tip toes, raising her face closer to Hisao. Hisao paused before closing his eyes and kissing Rin softly. Rin closed her eyes as Hisao wrapped his arms lightly around her waist.
“Couch.”
Hisao listened to Rin and sat down on the couch pulling her on top of him as he sat down. Rin closed her eyes and kissed Hisao again softly.
“More.”
Hisao lost a bit of the nervousness he had, he had been intimate with Rin before, but it still felt like his heart might explode if he kept going.
“We need to slow down.”
Rin gave a confused expression before running her knee over his chest. “This?”
“Yeah.” Hisao looked away, trying to calm his heart down.
“Okay. You lead.”
Hisao calmed his breathing the best he could with Rin on top of him, he looked back at her face. She had an expectant but patient expression. ‘Okay, Hisao, get your shit together.’ With that he swallowed and started to kiss Rin’s neck slowly. Rin’s thighs tightened around Hisao’s legs and waist as she let out a slight moan. Hisao stayed this way for a few minutes before moving his hands down Rin’s sides and securing her back. Rin started to grind against Hisao’s lap as she became more and more excited. Her head hung down as she began to breathe more and more heavily.
“Your shirt.”
She pressed her head against Hisao’s shoulder before pulling back as he took off his shirt. Then he pulled Rin’s off while still supporting her with his legs before putting his hands back. His heart started pounding again and he stopped kissing Rin’s neck.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Hisao stayed like this for a while. ‘How long has it been since I’ve worked my heart this hard? I don’t know how long I can keep this up.’ Rin watched expectantly as Hisao calmed himself down.
“Do you want to stop?”
“No, I’m okay.”
Hisao started to kiss Rin’s neck again before pulling her bra off and kissing her nipples, before sucking on them. Rin gasped as his lips touched her skin, and started to clamp her thighs tightly against Hisao. They continued like this for a few minutes before Hisao stopped and started gasping for air. Rin stopped and her expression became blank again.
“Are you okay?”
“I need a moment.”
Rin got off of Hisao and stood up. At this Hisao couldn’t hold it in any longer and bent forward gasping for air, only holding on to enough composure to stop Rin from becoming too worried. By the time he regained his stability Rin had put her shirt back on and was sitting next to him.
“I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay.”
Rin gave a blank stare, as if she had lost all interest and as if nothing had happened. ‘Does she understand or is she mad? I’m pathetic. Maybe I should have been better about keeping in shape. I wonder if Emi would let me start running with her?’
“Can you stay tonight?”
“Yeah, I don’t have work tomorrow.”
Rin gave an expectant look before going to her bed and laying down. ‘Does she want me to go with her? I don’t know what to do anymore.’ Hisao debated to himself before getting up and timidly climbing in bed with Rin. He stayed as far on the other side as he could while being comfortable enough to sleep. Rin seemed to be fast asleep, and Hisao was incredibly nervous. After an hour or so, Hisao managed to drift to sleep.