Everlasting Gift

Chapter 5
Let's Start!

"Len! Neru! Good morning!" greeted Rin, frantically waving at the two. She and Miku were at the corner of the street that Len and Neru lived on. Rin and Miku lived a few streets behind them so they waited at the corner everyday for their friends so they could walk to school together.

Although it had seemed like a perfect plan during the first few days of school, it got quite frustrating. Neru was never a morning person and was always crabby in the mornings. It took a lot of coaxing from Len to make her come out this early. A lot of coaxing. So they were almost always late.

Well, Miku and Neru were almost always late. Len and Rin had started a habit of racing ahead of them to get to school on time. The two girls that were left behind didn't really care about getting to school on time. They had become the best of friends in a few days.

"Guys, hurry up and power walk at least! You two are going to be late for the fifth time in a row," urged Rin.

"It's just being late. It's not like we're cutting or anything," retorted Neru.

"Go on ahead like you usually do," said Miku.

Rin shrugged and turned to Len. "Let's race again! We'll see who wins this time!"

Len smirked. "I could probably walk faster than you can run," he said, looking down at the shorter girl.

"Hey! That's so mean!" squealed Rin, lightly punching Len on the arm. "I'll show you that slow and steady wins the race!"

"In a million years," replied Len, already racing towards the school.

"Not fair!" Rin chased after him, as fast as she could, but to no avail.

The two stragglers behind them just took their time walking to school, chatting idly about this and that.

"Hey, how come you aren't in our class? Even though it's the top class, it doesn't take a lot of effort to get in," Neru asked.

"I didn't score too high on the entrance exam. It was so hard that I guessed on over half the questions!" exclaimed Miku.

"How did Rin do though? She's in our class."

"I'm not sure either. She also thought it was pretty hard. I guess she has better luck at guessing than me. Rin's luck has always been good though."

"Yeah, I guess," said Neru, reminiscing about the times that Rin had won at games and prize drawing even though she didn't know what was going on. She really missed those times since everything Rin won was everything that Neru wanted.

"Hey, do you think those two would make a good couple?" asked Miku, changing the subject.

"Eh…? You mean Len and Rin?" Neru blinked at the question, surprised at the abrupt change in subject.

"Yeah. They get along well and they argue over small things a lot too. I noticed that Rin starts to blush when she talks to Len too."

"I don't think they'd be good together," Neru said, eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"Why not?"

"Well, Rin seems a bit too…naïve, you know what I mean?" replied Neru, desperately looking for a reason. Silently, she agreed with Miku. Len and Rin were perfect for each other. Len would be able to take care of Rin and he would never hurt her. And the option of cheating would probably never occur to Rin.

"But that's one of her best traits. It makes you feel as if you want to do something to make her smile." Miku smiled dreamily, taking a trip down the memory lane.

Neru watched as Rin's silhouette disappears around a corner, desperately trying to catch up to Len. She glanced back at Miku, who was still staring into space and snapped her fingers in front of Miku's eyes. Miku blinked and after a few seconds, focused on Neru.

"Sorry about that," apologized Miku. She smiled at Neru sweetly. "So, how do you want to kill time this time? Last time we did a hopscotch game using the cracks in the sidewalk…"

Neru laughed at the memory. She remembered trying to jump over the cracks in the pavement. However, the cracks were pretty far apart from each other and they had arrived at school with scratched elbows and knees.

"Let's not try that again. We had a hard time explaining what happened to the nurse. Why don't we just talk or something?"

"Sure. Why not? We still have another fifteen minutes of walking."

Len and Rin arrived at school, sweating and panting from their exercise.

"I still…won," Len managed to say between breaths.

"That stupid…uphill…road…" muttered Rin, also gulping down air.

"Yup," agreed Len, wiping his sweat on his sleeve.

"Here," said Rin, holding out a handkerchief. "You shouldn't get your clothes dirty."

"Thanks," he muttered. He reached out for the small piece of cloth and his fingers gingerly met Rin's hand. Quickly, he pulled away, his face flushing.

When Len looked up, he also saw Rin looking aside, face turning as pink as his.

'She looks so cute when her face is all flushed like that,' thought Len. He heard the late bell ring, interrupting his thoughts.

"Let's go or else we'll be marked late," Len said, grabbing Rin's wrist and dragging her off to the school building.

Rin didn't say anything and let Len drag her all the way to the classroom.

The classroom door opened, and Len and Rin walked in, with Len still holding onto Rin's wrist.

"A little late, aren't we? Did you two lovebirds take a detour somewhere?" asked Akaito, curious.

"What?" asked Len and Rin at the same time, confused.

Akaito gestured to where Len was still gripping Rin's wrist.

"Oh!" exclaimed Rin, gently tearing herself away from Len's grip. While doing that, she was blushing again, turning even pinker than before. She stared at the ground, feeling her heart pound quickly against her chest.

Mr. Tachibana chose that time to walk into the classroom, signifying the beginning of class. Just after he walked in, Neru and Miku appeared at the door, not late for once.

Class went by slowly. Rin tried to concentrate on the arithmetic problems that Mr. Tachibana had assigned. However, she found her eyes wandering over to where Len was sitting right next to her.

Len was staring out the window like he usually did. He never really paid attention during any class, especially math. Mr. Tachibana's lectures could even make an insomniac fall asleep!

Through the faint reflection of the window, he could see Rin. She had turned her head over to stare at his direction, giving Len the creepy feeling that she could see him through the window. He smiled softly to himself, thankful that Rin wasn't sitting close enough to the window to see.

Rin turned her head back to her work, her pencil scribbling furiously and the white ribbon on her head bobbing.

From the corner of the other side of the room, Neru mentally noted all of this. Although she couldn't see Len's smile, she could definitely feel some of the lovey-dovey aura emitting from him. And she wished that it would be her that gave him that aura.