Into The Water

Chapter Seven: Setting Up To Fail

"Okay, well..." The look she gives Rin seems full of equal parts dread, discomfort, and awkward...

Yeah, just awkward.

She figured it might be bad if he knows where she lives. She doesn't know him on a personal level. But he's not exactly a stranger anymore. He's Matsuoka Rin. Second year student at Samezuka Academy, and Gou's big brother. And he's friends with...

"You're a friend of Nanase Haruka, right?"

"He's not my friend," Rin says automatically, then sighs. That response is getting to be knee-jerk. "That is, he's not anymore." He rubs the back of his neck. "I'm sorry. I don't remember your name."

"Mizuki," she replies, holding out her hand. "Watanabe Mizuki. Nice to meet you. Again."

As Rin shakes her hand, Mizuki can feel the heat he provides like crackling ambers, smoldering beneath a pile of blazing logs. When he finally lets go, she makes a low sound of disappointment in her throat, grumpy. It makes him smile, that little sound.

"This has got to be one of the weirdest introductions."

"Reintroduction," she interrupts, with an embarrassed smile pulling at her lips. She's cute, in a girl-next-door kind of way. He shifts his weight from foot to foot, then glances around once more. "I'm telling you, it's not smart to come out this late in the evening."

"I know," she says, and thankfully it sounds as though she'll never do it again. "I just didn't want my family to listen in during practice. No one bothers me here, and it's nice and quiet."

Rin rubs his jaw. "Honestly, think before you act."

"I'll bet, or you would have come at me with a chainsaw." He crosses his arms, then grins when she giggles. "I can always swing my sax around to scare off predators," she demonstrates playfully. "Or maybe I should take self-defense classes?"

Definitely cute.

"At the risk of losing my masculine reputation in case you do hit me out cold with that thing, I'll accompany you home."

They walk side by side. She doesn't know how to handle situations like this. Is she supposed to make conversation, or should she leave him be? Time passes in silence. Rin senses her discomfort and tries to put her at ease.

"That's a nice saxophone."

"Prez."

Rin halts. He frowns at her slightly. "What?"

"Nothing, forget it." Her smile comes out kind of creepy. Her mother hates it when she does that, but it's automatic; she can't help it. When Mizuki feels awkward, she looks awkward. She can always be counted on to have the corresponding facial expression for each and every embarrassing event.

She quickly decides a short explanation is in order. She's not the only musician who names her instruments. He won't think she's weird. Maybe.

"Prez, that's his name. The saxophone, I mean. It was Lester Young's nickname, one of my favorite sax players besides John Coltrane. He always told a story in his solos in an original way. It's pure art... He showed me how good a sax player or any other instrument can get when enough hard work and dedication is put into playing."

Rin stares at her for a couple of seconds and then grins. He'd spend ten minutes with the girl and it's already obvious how passionate she is about music. It vibrates off of her.

"He's that good, huh?"

"He was amazing. I have all his records."

"I'm sure you're right. I don't really know much about jazz. I mean, I know a little―Bill Evans―but that's about it."