Today was awfully rainy.
The sun had become long hidden behind the clouds, the sky becoming a bleak grey, with a pitter-patter, a continuous stream of rain. The streets had become painted with rainbows of a variety of colours.
On days like this, it was unlikely many people would want to go out. If anything, most people who were going outside had errands or commitments they had to attend to. Or perhaps others were quickly walking along to get to a place in which they actually could be indoors-the mall, cinemas, or a cafe they were meeting up with friends in.
Emu however was in the rain for a reason.
She simply wanted to jump in the puddles.
When she was younger, she used to always think of the rain as a gloomy thing. To her back then, it interfered with almost everything. She couldn't go outside and play, the sky was all dark and Phenni Land would close a lot of attractions-including the stages she loved.
At least until that day when her Grandpa decided to go and play in the rain with her.
Putting on their raincoats and their matching pairs of gumboots the two of them had decided to buy one day, the two of them splashed around in the puddles for hours and hours.
Towards the end of it though, Emu had gotten annoyed.
The water had gotten to the soles of her boots. Now, her feet felt all wet, soggy, and annoyed. The rain was stopping now, but Emu had wished she'd stopped jumping a bit earlier.
But then, her Grandpa pointed towards the sky.
And up there, she saw a beautiful and big rainbow.
"You know, Emu. Every time it rains, you're always bound to see a great big rainbow after it."
And since then, Emu has loved the rain just as much as she loved the sun.
Thus, on this rainy Saturday with nothing better to do, she decided to go splash in the puddles once more!
Hehe, it had been a while since she'd gone puddle-splashing. She doesn't know if she'd even been splashing in puddles since her Grandpa passed on. Maybe, she should ask her troupe mates to join her next time it rains!
"Fufu, you look like you're having a lot of fun, Otori-san."
"Ah-A-Asahina-senapi?"
Emu turned around, and sure enough, there was Asahina Mafuyu, her senior. She was dressed in a business-casual style, a simple coat covering a button-up shirt combined with wide, some-what skirt like pants. Due to the rain, she of course had an umbrella to make sure she did not get wet.
Oh, and of course, she wore that plaster-like smile that terrified Emu.
And yet, she kept on trying and trying to make it reach her eyes.
"M-MMM! Um, do you want to join, Asahina-senpai?" She said a bit too loudly.
"My apologies, I have cram school today. But, you can feel free to accomony me on my way there."
"O-Okay!"
Thus, Emu continued to (nervously) walk with her senpai. To be honest, she wasn't quite sure as to why Asahina-senpai had invitied her along. Usually when a classmate asked her to do something with her, she'd turn them down and go about her routine. But, while she did turn down Emu, she still let her walk along with her. Perhaps the two of them were closer than Asahina-senpai was with her classmates.
Actually, how many people was Asahina-senpai close with? At school, she sometimes talked to Hinomori-san, and well, that was about it.
Well, all the better that she was walking with her now. And yet, Emu, of course, was still horrified.
How could she make Asahina-senpai truely smile, if she struggled to smile around her half the time?
Lost in her own thoughts, Emu didn't pay attention to where she was walking. Hence, as the puddles splashed around her, she didn't notice the small, green frog that was hopping along the streets, coming right in her direction-
Splat! Bounce! Plop!
Mafuyu began to laugh. "Was that a candy?"
"Ah-ah, y-es! Ahahaha!"
Emu was fully aware that the "candy" that Asahina-senpai had just had was actually not a candy, but rather, what she pressumed to be the eye of the frog she had accidentally stepped on, the poor thing lying dead on the street (which needless to say, Emu felt awful about). Now, the good thing to do in this situation would be to tell Asahina-senapi the truth, but, she just couldn't bring herself to do that. Because Asahina Mafuyu was laughing, a genuine smile on her face. And Emu didn't want to ruin the moment.
So, she pretended not to know.
The two continued walking to Asahina-senpai's cram school, as Emu took one last look at the poor, squashed, dead frog.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Asahina-senpai had long since gone to her cram school for the day. Now, Emu was alone, walking back along the streets.
Though, unlike before, she wasn't splashing in the puddles in an upbeat and energetic mood. Actually, Emu was feeling rather down now.
She still felt guilty from the whole frog eyeball-candyball situation with Asahina-senpai. Sure, it was nice to see her smile, but it was from such a grotesque manner…
Would she have been better off telling Asahina-senpai the truth? Or was seeing her laugh worth it. Gah, if only she had paid more attention when walking with her Senpai!
"Oi, look at the slug wither!"
Emu turned around the to the sound of the a young boy talking and proceeded to see what the boy was describing. A group of neighbour kids were surronding a slug. One of the kids was shaking salt all over the poor slug, which was withering in pain because of it.
"H-Hey, you shouldn't do that!" She yelled at them.
"And so what?" The kid replied. "It's an ugly slug anyway!"
The kids laughed and mocked her, before leaving the slug dead on the ground.
Sure, Emu knew slugs were parasites, but she just couldn't help but feel awful for it anyway. She really had enough of animal deaths today.
And yet, she was too weak. She didn't do anything to help the poor slug.
Just like how she didn't do anything to help Asahina-senpai.
When that frog's eye landed in her Senpai's mouth, she didn't tell her the truth. No, she was too wrapped up in Asahina-senpai's smile and laugh. But was that really the best thing to do? No, it wasn't, was it? Sure, Emu can make her smile for brief moments, but at the end of the day, it was never permanent. Not to mention that all the times that she made Ashina-senpai smile…she could count them on one hand couldn't she?
Emu's mind began to wonder.
Say, if this rain suddenly turned into poison, then what would happen? Well, it'd melt everything away, wouldn't it? The forest, the houses, the people. And what about Asahina Mafuyu? Would she ever be truely happy? Able to truely smile?
Would the two of them ever truely see the sun, poison rain or not?
And so, she decided.
She was going to tell Asahina-senpai what actually happened this morning.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
It took a couple more hours for her Senpai to finish up with her cram school work. But Emu waited patiently. She for one didn't have Asahina-senpai's number and even if she did, she'd still want to talk in person with her.
Finally, at long last, the cram school ended and everyone walked out.
"Asahina-senpai-!"
"Ah, Otori-san?" The purple haired senior appeared shocked. "Were you waiting for me this entire time?"
"Only a little bit~! Well, actually, I waited a couple of hours because I didn't know when it would finish…" she sheepishly admitted.
"Ah, I'm very sorry about that! I should have told you when it finished." A polite apology.
"No no, it's fine! Besides, I have something very important to tell you."
Asahina Mafuyu stared at her, appearing somewhat curious. Now or never.
"T-this morning, you know that uh, candy that got into your mouth? It wasn't a candy. I had stepped on a frog, and it's eye bounced and got into your mouth. But you seem to be laughing…and I didn't want to tell you the truth because you seemed to be laughing so genuinally and the truth is really, really gross, but I also felt really, really, guilty about it…I'm really sorry, Asahina-senpai!"
Mafuyu, unsuprisingly, looked rather suprised.
"Don't apologise. I mean, I should've been able to tell the difference between candy and well, frog eyeballs anyway. So, really, I should be the one who's sorry."
"Ehhh? I'm the one who lied to you right? So why are you-"
"But you only lied to me once, right? I'm sure I've lied to you a lot more."
"Eh-Asahina-senpai, are you alright?"
The older girl breathed in.
"To be honest, I'm not sure. Well, it's not about the eyeball thing. I'm just…indifferent to it. I'm indifferent to a lot of things in life. The foods you love? I don't have any of those. I can't even taste any sorts of food, which is also why I couldn't tell the difference between candy and the eyeball."
Silence.
"Sorry, I burdened you there, didn't I? I should get going, sorry."
"Stop apologising!"
Her senpai paused.
"None of this is your fault. Not being able to taste and enjoy food is awful and I'm sure you didn't ask to be indifferent to everything nor did you ask to not be alright. So, you are not burdening me at all, Asahina-senpai!"
Emu held onto her senpai, not letting go of her in this moment.
“Otori-senpai…”
…
“Thank you”
The two remained like that for a few moments, feeling perfectly content in each other’s embrace. They forgot about the rain almost completely, until they had noticed that it had stopped.
“Ah, Asahina-senpai, look!”
The purple haired senior looked at what Emu was pointing at-a great big rainbow.
“My Grandfather once told me that even after all the heavy rain, you will always be bound to see a great big rainbow! It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
“Mmm, it is.”
When Emu looked at her smile, it was not only genuine, but also warm.