Chapter 43: Rin-chan
During the lunch break, Yuuki went to buy food.
The reason for this was because he hadn’t prepared lunch today, so he went to buy some.
Because he spent a bit of time right outside of the classroom, caught in between the two Seatmate Killer victims, Yuuki didn’t arrive at the store until the wave of people had receded.
It was nice to not be pushed around by the crowd, but at the same time, the amount of variety was nonexistent.
While Yuuki was looking at the onigiri, and arms suddenly reached out from the side and snatched the last tuna mayo onigiri from right in front of him.
“Phew…”
And then, right beside him, a female student turned and had a mysteriously smug look on her face.
(Wow, some people are really strange…)
He looked closer and saw that it was Rin.
He ignored her for now and moved his gaze to the sandwiches and bread.
While thinking that he was too hungry to care about the price…. an arm stretched out in front of him again and snatched the last egg sandwich.
“Fufufu.”
She had a mysterious smile.
Yuuki saw a makunouchi bento1 and bought it while trying not to look at it as little as possible.
It was cheaper than buying onigiri or sandwiches and offered more value.
Afterward, he stopped by several vending machines to buy a drink.
Yuuki briefly looked over the lineup and approached the one he wanted while searching for change in his wallet.
Then a shadow suddenly swooped in front of him, quickly put money in, and pressed the button.
She took the plastic bottle that fell with a clatter and glanced at Yuuki as she left.
“Hmph…”
It wasn’t like the drinks were going to be sold out, and now it’s a full-blown mystery.
Yuuki bought a drink and headed down the corridor to return to the classroom.
Then, near a less populated corridor, someone overtook Yuuki from behind and stood in his path.
“Ara, to be in a place like this… how strange.”
Rin, who had a plastic bag dangling from her arm, laughed wryly.
He couldn’t ignore her when she did something to this extent.
“What’s the point of this?”
“What do you mean? Is something wrong?”
Yuuki didn’t have any problems as to whether or not she was there or not, but he thought she was such an… eccentric person.
He didn’t think it was too much of a stretch to think that her bizarre behavior was also caused by damage done by the Seatmate Killer.
He should be kind enough to let her down a bit.
“Uuu, I bought them first… sorry about that.”
“Saying that makes you seem stupid.”
(–What should I do here?)
Her incomprehensible behavior was stranger than he expected.
First aid might be needed for the time being.
Yuuki suddenly remembered the power stone that he kept in his pocket, which has an effect that relieves stress.
When he handed it back to Yui this morning, she returned it, saying, “I don’t need it”, so it remained in his pocket.
“Then I’ll give this to Rin-chan.”
When Yuuki said that, Rin started coughing.
And then she glared at him while wiping her mouth.
“You don’t get to use -chan.”2
“That’s what Yui calls you.”
“That’s hardly a reason at all.”
Does that mean Rin-chan was special?
Yuuki didn’t know about that, so he thought it was okay.
“What should I call you then?”
“H-hah!? Hell if I know, figure it out yourself!”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you the type that get’s lost in class? …If you insist, attach ‘-san’ and use my surname. That’s standard.”
“No, that’s a little…”
“Why?! What’s not to like?!”
“Your surname has five syllables. Your first has one. It’s easier to say.”3
“Why are you trying to make it easier to say? It’s ticking me off. Oh, and my last name is a four-syllable word, you must have me confused with someone else.”
“Do you know about Re-O? The one where the protagonist gets stronger when he dies.” 4
“I don’t. So what?”
She looked at me like she was going to hit him if he said any more.
He put the name issue on hold for the time being, and took out the stone from his pocket and thrusts it in front of Rin’s eyes.
“Here’s a present for you. It’s a gift.”
“Pfft, a present…?”
“It’s not unlucky.”
“…What?”
He went ahead and held it closer to Rin’s face.
Rin quizzically looked at the stone in his palm, but,
“I-I don’t need something like that.”
“Don’t say that. I hear it’s a great stress reliever.”
“I don’t want it! You’re going to charge me something later anyways, aren’t you?”
So power stones aren’t popular, after all. Maybe girls these days are surprisingly pragmatic.
Rin became more cautious rather than calming down.
(She’s so smiley when with Yui…)
As he thought of Rin when she and Yui were alone, a great idea came into Yuuki’s head.
“Oh, yeah. Here’s a cute picture of Yui.”
“Eh?”
It was a photo of Yui’s cute face that she sent to him on LINE some time ago.
It was a favorite of his, so he saved it on his phone.
When he took out his phone, he displayed the image and turned the screen towards Rin.
“H-hmmmm….? A p-photo, huh…”
Rin was staring at the picture, but she didn’t seem to be very interested in it, according to her words.
“I knew you wouldn’t want it…”
He was about to put the phone away when Rin suddenly stopped him.
“W-wait a minute!”
“Eh?”
“P-please…”
“Hm? What?”
“Please!” 5
Rin said that with a strong tone of voice, and she took out her wallet and fumbled around inside.
Then, as if she thought of something, she held out what looked to be cards.
“R-right now I don’t have much on me… s-so…”
Rin, who spoke in a quiet voice, was holding a library card in her hand.
Yuuki didn’t take it, and pointed to the card, saying,
“No, that’s a gift from someone else.”
“And from my uncle as a promotion gift…”
“You’re using it badly.”
“There’s about 700 yen left…”
“And it’s already used, too.”
She was too desperate.
It wasn’t as if he was asking for money, but she seemed to assume that he needed something in return.
“It’s fine, I don’t need that.”
“Y-you don’t?! But…”
Then she started rummaging through her bag again, and Yuuki quickly stopped her.
“I don’t need onigiri or sandwiches. Do you want me to send you this on LINE or something?”
“Eh, ah, LINE…? Does that mean you’ll be trading IDs with me?”
“I can’t send it to you if I don’t have your ID.”
Wasn’t that obvious?
Rin’s eyes suddenly began to swim.
“Well, if you don’t want to, it’s fine.”
“I-It can’t be helped, huh… I’ll trade IDs with you… for it.”
“I knew you’d feel better if I did.”
“I-I will! Send it to me please!” 6
And Rin took out her cell phone.
Yuuki wondered if she was excited because for some reason her hands were shaking.
“No, wait, press that symbol right there.”
“I-I knew that! I just forgot!”
Ah, this girl wasn’t used to it… Yuuki chuckled in his heart.
However, he was also nervous when he exchanged IDs with Yui last time.
When the exchange was finished safely,
“Fu, a full kanji name… what a beginner.”
“Your name is just RIO.”
“What are you laughing at?! T-that’s not strange, right!? Whatever, hurry up and send me the picture!”
“Yeah, but on second thought, do you think we should get permission from her?”
“Y-Yui? No, I can’t do that kind of thing while sneaking around…”
Even though she was mumbling something, Yuuki sent a message to Yui on LINE.
[Can I send that picture of Yui from before to Rin-chan?]
He had thought that if he sent it now, he wouldn’t get a reply quickly.
[Absolutely no————!!! You give it to her and I’ll kill you! Actually, erase it now!]
She replied really quickly.
“She said ‘absolutely no’.”
“Eh… t-that can’t be… why…”
“That’s stingy.”
He thought it was good as a photo. In the first place, she sent it herself.
Rin’s mouth was half open, and she looked like a shell of her former self.
I felt I little sorry for her, so I sent her the picture of Miyorin that Keitaro jokingly sent me earlier.
“Ah…”
Rin stared at her phone.
But as soon as she saw the photo, she realized it wasn’t her.
“Whoever this is, she’s a fake!”
“You’ll get in trouble for saying that.”
“Damn it… you were mocking me all along!”
Rin’s body quivered, and when she said so to Yuuki’s face, she turned away 180 degrees.
And then as if to say, “Remember”, she glanced at Yuuki one last time and walked down the hallway with a snarl.
_______________________________________________________________
Notes:
1 See here
2 Friends and/or lovers may sometimes attach “-chan” to the end of a girl’s (and sometimes a guy’s) name, which indicates closeness or familiarity. Doubly so since Yuuki used Rin’s first name
3 In the raws, Yuuki says ‘five characters’ and ‘two characters’ respectively, Rin says “four characters”, I changed it to syllables to make it easier to understand in English
4 Re:Zero reference [??] man arc 6 has not been kind for my guy subaru
5 Rin specifically uses ‘onegaishimasu’ here as opposed to, say, ‘kudasai’ or ‘onegai’. ‘Onegaishimasu’ is used when formally requesting something from a stranger or superior, compared to ‘kudasai’ and ‘onegai’, which are much more casual
6 She used ‘kudasai’ here, tsk tsk, how rude
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