Out of Nowhere (Rindou x reader)

Chapter 43: Someone to Stay

"It's not fair that we laugh together and you cry alone, (y/n)."

—~—

Third Person POV

"(Y/n) look at this."

Rindo tilted his flip phone for her to see the text Ran sent as said female glanced away from her notebook to check it out.

"Oh god, who was that?" The (h/c)-haired girl asked in a somewhat lighthearted tone. Rindo picked up that she was trying to appear as her usual self but waved it off for her sake.

"I think that was Mochizuki but I don't know," he shrugged and proceed to type a reply whilst she sweat-dropped, "Isn't it hilarious?"

"More like, 'Is he okay?'," she deadpanned and went right back to work with the nth sigh that day, "He flew off his motorbike into a river."

"He's fine, he's tough," he dismissively waved at her, "Oh, do you want to listen to the mix I made the other day?"

She nodded her head and put down her pencil; however, Rindo noticed that she wouldn't so glance his way. A scowl that he never seemed to get rid of was permanently plastered on her features as she stared at her notebook.

He released an inaudible sigh before pulling the other earbud from her ear so he can prepare the next song on the MP3 player. Once he skipped through all of the songs he downloaded all the way to the recording he made, he placed the earbud back into her ear and pressed play— both enjoying the music through the shared earphones.

The day was by no means normal. The exhausted female woke up thirty minutes later to find a fluffy blanket around her shoulders and Rindo playing games on his phone. They were both drained at the fact that (y/n) might have lost the competition for good, but neither spoke up on that matter. Instead, (y/n) started on her fourth outfit as Rindo did his own thing, sometimes showing her funny things his friends sent him.

That was the least he could do. They both gave up— as much as that sucks to hear, and trust me, he knows— so he'll be the shoulder for her to lean on. There was no longer the rush to finish things so Rindo waited patiently for whatever (y/n) comes up with. That said, his eyes subconsciously trailed over to the trash bag filled with all of her first attempts at the other end of the table.

'She couldn't bring herself to get rid of it... huh?' He blankly thought. No frown, no bitter smile— just a neutral expression that didn't convey pain nor sadness. Bittersweet may be the best word to describe the feeling.

How they accepted her loss so easily was bittersweet.

"Rindo?" The (y/h) girl spoke up with a puzzled look adorning her face. He blinked and turned to look at her, "The song ended. It was really good, by the way, I enjoyed it a lot. You're really creative."

(Y/n) didn't mean anything by her words—anything condescending— that is. Considering her situation, it felt like a punch to the gut seeing the rift of hard word versus talent, and yet, she was being genuine. Rindo saw the opposite, and he was beginning to feel bad showing her his passion when she just lost the meaning to her own. It seems that he is taking this much worse than she is.

The (e/c)-eyed girl sighed seeing him flinch at her words before mustering a small smile, "Rindo... thank you. I know what you're trying to do and I appreciate it. To be honest with you, I'm not okay and I don't think I will be for awhile. But I'll be fine. You'll be there with me, right?"

The blonde faintly scoffed and pushed her head away with a grin, "Of course, dumbass. That's what I promised you, didn't I?"

A light chuckle of her own came about and the duo returned to their own activities, basking in the quiet that came about once more.