When Did We Become Strangers? (Discontinued)

Chapter 5: Night Night

By night fall, Emiko was done with arranging the belongings she brought with her, satisfied with their placements. Checking the watch on her wrist, she realised how late it had gotten and she should be preparing for bed.

She kneels down in front of one of her bags and rummages through the one that had her toiletries until she found her toothbrush and toothpaste. She heads for the bathroom right across her room, but finds that it was locked shut.

Someone (likely female) was inside and humming a sweet tune. Emiko leans her ear close to the door and knocks gently, "Is someone in there?"

The person inside squeaked in surprise and answered, "It's Gou!"

"Oh, Gou-chan! Sorry, I'll use the other one." Emiko says then heads to the other bathroom down the hallway. Luckily, this one was unoccupied. She goes inside and fixes herself in the mirror. She combed her hair back with her fingers to tie it back into a ponytail, and secured it with a rubberband on her wrist.

Then, she ran her toothbrush under the tap and put a dollop of mint toothpaste. She begins to brush her teeth when she sees a shelf reflected in the mirror. She looks behind her and sees a red toothbrush inside of a cup on the shelf.

Upon closer inspection, the toothbrush also had some shark decorations on them. It doesn't take a genius to guess who the toothbrush could possibly belong to.

"Emiko-san," Speak of the devil. Emiko paused mid-brushing and glanced over at Rin. "Yin?" She said with her toothbrush still in her mouth and full of toothpaste.

Rin quirked up a little smile. Emiko took out her toothbrush and spit out the toothpaste then rinsed her mouth. "Hey." She greets him.

Rin hummed then came inside. He grabbed his toothbrush (the red one that had sharks on them) from the shelf then wet the brush under the tap. After he squeezed on some toothpaste, he said to Emiko, "Scoot over. The sink's too small for the both of us."

Rin stepped in front of the sink, bumping an arm into Emiko. "No, you scoot over." Emiko shoves into his sleeveless arm, making him stumble a little.

"Oi!" Rin shoves back. If there was a responsible adult in the room, they'd most definitely shake their head at the two of them.

The two almost-adults compromised when Emiko rammed her elbow into Rin's stomach, causing him to cry out in pain.

They huddle close together around the sink, brushing their teeth in relative silence. In sync, they spit into the sink and gargle their mouths with water, repeating the process a few times until their breaths smelled cold and minty.

Rin washed his own toothbrush first while Emiko stared at how busted his toothbrush was. The once fine bristles of the brush were now split and worn out. It was highly unlikely that such a toothbrush would give Rin's teeth an optimal clean. His toothbrush was long overdue for a change.

Emiko thought for a long while, then she snickered. "Wouldn't you need some industrial metal toothbrush to clean those things you call teeth?"

Rin had just washed his face, so it was dripping with some leftover water droplets. He narrowed his eyes, "What are you trying to say?"

Emiko washes her toothbrush. "I'm saying that there's no way a normal toothbrush could properly clean your monster teeth."

"Shut up! They clean my teeth just fine! And my teeth are normal!"

"If you say so Shark Boy. Just don't come crying to me when you get a cavity or three--ahh!"

Rin throws some water on her and laughs as Emiko screams. Droplets of water clung onto her fringe and eyelashes. "You little shit!" Emiko's eyes sparkle as she spots the shower head. She plucks it off of the holder and aims it at Rin.

Rin pales drastically and takes a step back. "Damn it! Emiko, put that down! Put that down! I just showered!" He points at her with his finger as Emiko hovers her hand over the shower tap.

Emiko cackles and spreads her mouth in a crazy grin, "Take This Bit--"

"Why aren't the both of you in bed yet?" Mrs Matsuoka popped her head into the bathroom, only to find her son and his friend stuck in a stand-off with each other. She raises her brow gently, "Um, what is going on in here?"

Both friends froze and gaped their mouths in shock. They swiveled their heads to Mrs Matsuoka. Emiko hid the shower head behind her back while Rin held up his arms innocently. "Mrs Matsuoka/Oka-san!"

The three of them hold eye contact for a long awkward moment before Mrs Matsuoka sighed with a fond smile. "Make sure to play nice, you two. I don't want our bathroom to get damaged, alright?"

"Sorry, Oka-san/Yes, ma'am!" Mrs Matsuoka shook her head then left Rin and Emiko to their own devices.

After that embarassing ordeal, Rin goes to grab a towel from the shelf and wipes his face dry with it. He tosses another towel to Emiko for her to use as well.

"Well, I'm going to hit the sack now. I got a busy day tomorrow." Rin drops his towel in the laundry basket.

Emiko raises her brows in curiousity, "Ooh, where are you heading off to?"

"Like I'm going to tell you." Rin says with a faint smile and heads for the door. Right before he crosses the threshold, he pauses and turns his head to Emiko.

"I'm really glad that we're friends again, Emiko-san. I missed you alot." He says in all earnesty. Emiko's usual teasing face drops for a split second, before she smiles softly. "Don't get sentimental with me now, kid."

Rin rolls his eyes good-naturedly and leaves through the door. "Whatever. Night, Weirdo."

"Goodnight, Shark Boy."

In bed, Rin buries himself under his blankets and sleeps on his side. 'She really never changes.' He thinks fondly but then he frowns a little. "...But had her eyes always look like that when she smiled? Had they always been so strained?'

Maybe she wasn't settling here as well as he thought she would. And well, obviously. What did he expect she would react when a childhood friend you've lost contact with suddenly asks you to come home with them...

Wow, Rin really needs to think his ideas through. "...I'll ask her about it tomorrow."

He falls asleep replaying the image of Emiko's smile over and over.

When he wakes up the next morning, he forgets all about it and goes about his day like normal.
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