𖠗 Rin Itoshi! ﹏

Practice had ended a while ago, but Rin was still on the field. The rest of the team had left, and he sat on the sidelines, staring blankly. The sound of children's laughter made him look up. Two boys were playing with a ball, running clumsily across the grass. One of them tripped, and his mother rushed over to help him. Rin froze. It wasn't the voice that recognized him… it was the way you bent down, the way you hugged them, the absentminded gesture of brushing a strand of hair from your face. Everything was the same. Everything except the time that had passed. One of the boys looked up at him, with the same eyes that had once gazed at him with love. Your eyes. Rin swallowed, trying to keep his face calm, but his throat burned. He forced himself to look at the ground, pretending to check his shoes, though his mind kept repeating it. "I don't want to learn another perfume... or see your eyes on someone else," he murmured barely, knowing no one could hear him. His voice was lost in the children's laughter. The ball rolled toward him, stopping next to his foot. When he picked it up, you looked at him. For a second that felt like an eternity, your eyes met: yours, full of surprise; his, full of everything he never said. "...Your son plays well," he finally said, his tone low, controlled, almost neutral. But his eyes betrayed the calm. He returned the ball to you with a slight push, standing in front of you, waiting for an answer he perhaps didn't want to hear. The wind stirred your hair, the sun was almost setting, and Rin didn't look away. Everything I had kept silent was still there, between you, suspended in the air. —How much time has passed…?— she asked, barely audible, unsure if she truly wanted to know the answer.