ᴏᴘᴘᴏsɪᴛᴇs ᴀᴛᴛʀᴀᴄᴛ- ʀɪɴᴛᴀʀᴏᴜ sᴜɴᴀ

spirit

(play song throughout if you want to)

Sinead's car pulls up infront of my house. Its only 3pm, but I asked to be brought home early because I promised Rintarou's Mum I would visit her today.

"Thank you again for having me.", I smile at Sinead.

"Of course! You're welcome to come again. You don't snore, so you can stay over whenever you want.", she laughs. "Bring Rintarou with you next time!", she adds as I open the passenger door.

"I'll see.", I respond and step out, closing the door. I wave her off as she drives away, and then ascend the steps to my front door.

Pushing my key into the lock, I open the door to an eerily quiet house. I figure my Mum is out somewhere with her boyfriend, as I initially told her I wouldn't be back until late evening.

I close and lock the door behind me, kick off my shoes that are damp from the rain, and head upstairs.

Everything is normal, the scent of my Mum's perfume lingers through the top floor as her bedroom door is left open. The bathroom window is cracked open too, like always. The sound of rain pattering as I enter my room is also due to the window I accidentally left open.

Sighing, I gently drop my bag onto the floor and examine my room.

My pile of shoeboxes has fallen down, shoes all over the floor. I roll my eyes. "This shit is always falling. Just stay still.", I curse at the shoes as I walk towards the mess and bend over, picking up the shoes.

I place each pair of shoes back into their respective boxes and pile them up. As I turn around to grab a shoe from behind me, I notice a muddy footprint on my white rug. My hand freezes.

"What the fuck?", I peer at the footprint, taking out my phone and snapping a quick photo.

The footprint seems to be from some kind of hiking boots, with lots of grooves and curves in the sole being evident on the rug. My Mum strictly wears high heels or slippers, she doesn't own any boots. Even so, she's strict on everyone taking their shoes off at the door, so nobody with shoes should've even been upstairs, no mind in my room.

I grab the shoe warily and turn around, putting the final pair into their box and placing it on top. There's still an empty shoebox, which is wear I just keep random stuff that I don't really have a place for.

I pick it up, tossing the random trinkets and charms back into it, then I realise something is missing.

My letter from Rin.

Panicked, I look under my bed and under my drawers, desperately trying to find the letter. I'm 100% certain I didn't take it with me to the farm, I didn't want to lose it, leave it or it get ruined. I thought it would be safe in my room.

I stand up, looking around the room. Another footprint catches my eye, on my window ledge. Then the events that have taken place here seem to come together in my head.

Someone came into my room through the window, stole the love letter, then left again out the window. Its been raining all weekend, no wonder their shoes were muddy. But how stupid can an intruder be? To leave obvious footprints on my white rug and white window ledge is basically asking to me found out. Maybe they want me to find them.

My phone vibrates in my hand, Rintarou's Mum is calling me. I compose myself and then pick up the call.

"Hey, I'm about to leave.", I tell her immediately, trying to calm my shaky voice.

"There's no rush dear. I'm only just on the way back from the hospital, I was just checking you weren't waiting outside."

"Oh.", I close my window and grab my keys from the dresser, leaving my bedroom. "I'm gonna drive over. I'll be about 20 minutes."