Rin hummed to the song playing through her earbuds as she trekked through U.A.'s courtyard. The subtle autumn breeze rustled her thick hair as she walked, and a small smile graced her features as she ventured into Musutafu to meet Dante at a small cafe in town.
She had been looking forward to begin the preparations for the school festival, and had pep in her step as she thought of what exactly she'd be doing for her individual performance. Her mind raced with ideas, so much so that she was anxious to see what Dante would bring to the table.
It took Rin fifteen minutes to track down the cafe, and once she had, she spotted Dante's head of black hair seated in a booth across the lobby. He perked up once she approached and stood up to greet her.
"Hey, Shorty!" His grin was wide as he held his palm up to her. She high-fived it with a giggle. "Togata tells me you needed some help with something for the festival! What did you have in mind?"
Rin was grateful for him cutting right to the chase, and took a seat across from him upon his gesture to do so. He seemed eager to hear whatever it was that she wanted to say, and his excitement helped to ease her own nerves.
"My class convinced me to participate in the beauty contest," Rin began with her small hands laced in front of her on the table. "I was thinking of performing a song, and I was wondering if you'd be able to help me write something."
"Oh yeah, for sure!" Dante's grin only grew encouragingly. "He told me you could sing. Have you ever written a song before?"
"Well... not exactly," Rin pursed her lips. "It's sort of a part of my Quirk. When I sing, I can tap into the feelings of whoever's around me, just enough to use Siren to control them. I've never really sung for anything else before."
"Oooh, I get cha," he nodded in acknowledgement and glanced off to the side as he pondered. There was a brief silence before he looked at her again. "Then let's figure this out. What kind of song do you want to sing?"
"What kind?" She tilted her head to the side, questioning.
"Yeah, y'know, a ballad, something poppy, blues?" He threw out some examples, and when Rin returned it with a quirked brow, he laughed. "Alright, tell ya what. Why don't you go home tonight and just write your feelings out, and we'll meet back up here same time tomorrow and figure it out from there?"
"We can do that." Rin nodded with a wide smile, and Dante laughed again.
"Great," he offered his hand to her as he stood up. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. "C'mon, I'll walk you back to the dorms."
Rin nodded in agreement, and the beginning of their walk was had in silence. Rin would occasionally glance over at him from the corner of her eye, and every time she did, he had the same absent smile on his face that he always seemed to; it made sense that he and Togata were friends — happy people attract happy people, Rin had realized.
"So," he said. His voice made her jump. "You and Togata, huh?"
The teasing tone of his voice made her blush. "Y-yes. What about it?"
"Oh, nothing," Dante waved his hand dismissively. "I just think it's cute, is all. All that guy would do is talk about you. And I'm not exaggerating either, literally for a straight week. Fish Girl this, Fish Girl that. 'Man, she was so cute, you should have seen her'! This was after you and the green haired kid split, by the way."
Rin listened to Dante ramble on with a crooked, embarrassed smile on her face. She knew Togata had talked about her to Amajiki and Hado, but not to this degree, and not to Dante. For some reason, hearing about it from him made the back of her neck sweat.
"Oh, yes, I've... heard." Rin's tone was quiet and shy, and the sound of it made Dante whip his head to the side to look at her.
"Ah, shit, sorry. Am I embarrassing you?" He palmed the back of his head apologetically. "Sorry, sorry. I tend to ramble."
"No harm done," Rin smiled sweetly at him. "If it makes you feel better, Mirio talks about you, too. I think he's just a talker."
Dante barked a laugh. "Man, you've got that right."
The duo shared another chortle together, and continued their small talk until reaching the 1-A dorms.
"It was nice to actually finally meet you, Fish Girl," Dante held his hand up to her like he had when she arrived at the cafe, and as she did before, she slapped his palm. "You're alright."
"It was nice to meet you, too." She replied genuinely.
"Get to writing that song, and I'll see you tomorrow." Dante turned to walk back down the path as he waved.
"I will," she offered him one last grin. "See you."
Rin entered the building whilst releasing the breath she didn't know she held in her lungs, and slowly made her way down the hall. As far as she could tell, her classmates were nowhere to be found, and when she poked her head into the kitchen, her eyes widened to see Uraraka standing beside the counter, tapping away at the keyboard on her flip phone.
"Where is everyone?" Rin asked, her soft voice making Uraraka jump and almost drop her phone. Rin looked at her blankly as she did so.
"O-oh," Uraraka stuttered. "Some of the girls are in town getting some things for the pantry... I think everyone else is in their rooms."
"Ah," Rin made a sound of acknowledgment whilst beelining it toward the fridge. "Okay."
An awkward silence settled between them as Rin rummaged through the fridge, and she could feel Uraraka's uncomfortable stare on the back of her neck as she did so. A few moments passed before Rin sighed, turning to meet her gaze.
"What is it?" She asked, coming off more annoyed than she meant to.
"U-uh..." Uraraka looked down to the floor beneath them, and at her guilty look, Rin suddenly felt bad. "I just..."
Rin slowly closed the refrigerator and walked the small distance between them to stand in front of her. She had to slightly arch her neck back to look Uraraka in the eye, and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Are you scared of me, Uraraka?" Rin asked, and her straightforward question made her flinch.
"I-I... uh, I wouldn't... um..." her stuttering reminded her of Deku, and at the thought of him, Rin forced a smile.
"You know there's no reason to be," Rin continued. "I wouldn't actually hurt you on purpose..."
"I don't know if that's comforting." Uraraka's voice shook as she tugged on a strand of her hair. Rin sighed again.
"Listen," Rin held a hand out to her. Uraraka stared at it. "I don't want there to be any hard feelings. We're both friends with Deku. He isn't my property."
When Uraraka neglected to take Rin's hand and remained silent, Rin looked off to the side before turning to leave. However, before she could get two steps in, Uraraka quickly grabbed hold of Rin's wrist.
"I-I..." Uraraka stammered out once Rin turned over her shoulder to look at her. "I just want you to know that there wasn't anything going on between Deku and I... I can't help b-but feel that... it was my fault."
Rin chewed on the inside of her lip at Uraraka's words. If she were being honest with herself, she did blame Uraraka for what happened between them, even if nothing was truly going on. However, she knew that in reality, Uraraka's part to play in their split held very little weight, and instead of lashing out at the girl she came to resent, she smiled at her.
"You don't have to justify anything," Rin said simply. "Deku and I had our own reasons for why it didn't work out right now... it isn't your fault."
"But do you think if he had never come to me in the first place that you two would still be together?" Uraraka spoke quickly, as if she had been desperate for the answer ever since the question first popped into her head.
"I..." Rin trailed off. "I don't know. There's really no way of knowing."
Uraraka looked disappointed, and Rin turned to face her fully again and took the hand that was still secured around her wrist.
"You were being his friend," Rin smiled warmly again. "Really, it's okay. I'm glad he has someone he can go to when he's feeling down. Everyone needs someone like that."
"R-Rin..." Uraraka's eyes welled with tears, and she quickly looked down again as they fell down her cheeks. "Y-you know he talked about you, too. He... h-he..."
A tight feeling scrunched in Rin's chest at the sight of Uraraka's tears. She had no idea how much she had been hurting, and to see her sobbing in front of her almost felt surreal. She found herself at a loss on what to do, so she hugged her.
"I'm sorry," Rin said when Uraraka hesitantly hugged her back. "I didn't realize how much I hurt you."
"N-no, don't say sorry," Uraraka shook her head quickly against Rin's shoulder. "R-really. I'm just s-so glad you don't hate me."
"I don't hate anyone," Rin replied and held Uraraka at arms length to wipe the tears smeared on her cheeks with the pad of her thumb. "From now on, we're friends, Uraraka."
"You mean it?" She looked genuinely surprised. Rin couldn't help but chuckle.
"Of course."
"We're baaaaack!" Mina's voice rang from behind them as she and Jiro entered the kitchen, interrupting the moment between Rin and Uraraka as Rin turned to acknowledge them.
"What happened?" Jiro asked immediately upon seeing Uraraka's tear stained face.
"Oh, nothing," Uraraka quickly replied whilst running her arm over her wet eyes. "Rin was just... um, comforting me, is all. I'm alright now."
Mina and Jiro looked between them skeptically before Mina settled with shrugging it off and linking her arm with Rin's.
"Well, regardless, I'm happy you're here, Rinny! We have to talk about what you're going to wear for the beauty contest," Mina pinched Rin's cheek with her free hand and tugged her into the hallway. "Be a dear and put those groceries away, alright?"
Her request was meant for Jiro, who gave Mina a look of annoyance as she dragged Rin up to her dorm room.
"Sooo, I hear you met up with Dante after school today," Mina finally released Rin once her door was shut behind them. "How did that go? Do we have a plan yet?"
"I'm actually supposed to be writing down ideas for Dante right now," Rin said as she plopped herself onto Mina's bed. Mina sat next to her. "I've never written a song before. I'm not even really sure what I want it to be about."
"You can write it about how things have changed since you... y'know," Mina sat on her hands. "Escaped from your dad."
"I'm not trying to depress people, Mina." Rin pursed her lips at her. Mina laughed.
"No one said it had to be depressing," she replied matter-of-factly. "Why don't you focus it on how you feel now? Like the difference from then to now. It can even be about how a specific person changed you."
"Like Dad?" Rin perked up at that idea. Mina nodded quickly.
"Yeah! Exactly," she replied. "Write it about Mr Aizawa."
"That's not a bad idea," Rin smiled at the idea. "I think I can do that."
"Perfect!" Mina cheered. "Now we can start on the fun part. What are you gonna wear?"
"I'm not sure," Rin palmed the back of her neck, bashful. "I didn't really think about that."
"Well this just won't do, Rinny," Mina got to her feet and began to pace with a finger on her chin. "It won't be easy, but I suppose I can brainstorm a few ideas while you get your song written out."
"You don't have to do that," Rin quickly objected and stood along with her. "I already have so much help."
"So what's one more person?" Mina grinned cheekily and slapped her hands onto Rin's shoulders. "If anyone's winning that contest, it's gonna be you, and I'll make sure of that by making you the cutest girl at the festival! So don't you worry about a thing."
"But Mina —"
"Don't 'But Mina,' me, missy," she said sternly whilst leading Rin to the door. "Get your booty in your room and get writing! Leave the styling to me and focus on 'wowing' the crowd with your fantastic voice! Go on, get!"
Mina finished her demand with a playful kick to Rin's rear, of which made Rin whip around with a sour look on her face. Mina laughed.
"I can't wait to hear your song, Rinny," she said gently. "Mr Aizawa is gonna love it."
Rin smiled crookedly at that and finally settled with following Mina's instructions. "I hope so."
"I know so." Mina said, and winked as Rin finally proceeded to make her way down the hall.
She slipped into her room silently and slowly made her way to her desk. She didn't know exactly how her song to her adoptive father would turn out, but she hoped her love and appreciation for him would pour out into the lyrics she prepared herself to write.
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An: long time no see y'all lol. Sorry for the random hiatus, I completely lost inspiration and motivation for writing and am slowly gaining it back, so I hope this chapter makes up for my absence.
I can't promise the updates will be consistent, but I can promise that there WILL be updates, they're just slow going right now.
I hope you guys missed Rin as much as I missed writing about her, and I really hope y'all enjoyed this chapter :)
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