roubai | i. wakasa

十七

"So it goes like this..." Rini begins to say, placing her fifth vodka shot on top of the bar table. "First he comes into my house unannounced and so naturally I had to get up and dress up. Looking cute and everything for him until he tells me he likes this one girl in our year. Like hello? I exist too!" She tells Wakasa of the events early this morning.

Setting down his fifth shot glass, Wakasa lifts two fingers up at the bartender, signalling him to give them another round of whiskey shots. "Go on. I'm listening." He responded.

"I'm a pretty girl too, right? Why can't he see that?" She asks, her face scrunching in annoyance.

"Sure." Wakasa responded, watching the bartender hand each of them five new shot glasses filled with whiskey. The two of them taking one in their hands, clinking it together and drinking in one shot.

"Hey" Rini speaks, looking at the white haired male besides her. "If you had a girlfriend right now and you're impromptu asking me to drink with you at night. What do you think would your girlfriend say?"

Hearing her question at first, Wakasa shrugs, sliding to her another shot glass filled with alcohol. "I don't know." He replies.

Rini makes a sound, not pleased with his answer and just drank her sixth glass. "Don't you see me as a girl too, Waka? Am I only my older brother's sister to you?" She asks, blinking her eyes twice before averting her direction back to the remaining three glasses she has. Drinking them consecutively while slamming the bottom of the glass rather harshly.

"At least be careful." Wakasa tells her, taking her hand off the glasses. "It'd be troublesome to pay if we broke them."

"You know" Rini says, leaning a bit closer to him while wrapping her arms around one arm of his. "I really appreciate you. Earlier, I felt like drowning in my feelings. I didn't know what to do but then you called and asked me to go out drinking. Thank you, my lifesaver." She says, smiling to herself while hugging his arm.

All the while Wakasa was finishing his shot glasses, Rini had ordered for another glass of beer. Wakasa was about to stop her from getting the glass from the bartender's hand but Rini leaned forward and extended her arm out, taking a hold of the glass first before chugging all the liquid down like it was water.

As the alcohol made it's way into her system, so did her tendencies to become clingy and affectionate. At first, it was only her hugging his arm. But when a random guy from the bar tried to hit up on her, Wakasa didn't hesitated to take Rini by her shoulders and drag her outside, settling in an alleyway - just the two of them.

"Fuck" Wakasa curses under his breath. Hearing him curse made Rini turn her head to look at what's happening to him.

"What's wrong?" She asks, her eyes peering over to him.

He takes one cancer stick out of the box before tossing it away. "It's the last one left." He tells her, sighing softly.

Though neither of them spoke a word, out of nowhere, a woman who looked around their age, bumped into their way, removing her hair from her face as she looks at Wakasa. "I don't have a stick with me too. Would you mind if we share together? I'm trying to sober myself up." She asks him, lifting her eyes up to meet his. "If we run into each other again in the future, I'll surely buy you a new pack."

As the woman was about to swiftly take the cigarette from his hands, Rini immediately took it from Wakasa's hand and sandwiched it between her lips. Averting her eyes to meet the woman's. "Beat it." She tells her, grinning a little. Her eyes hostile and her voice spiteful and low.

The woman scoffed, mumbling a "Stupid bitch" under her breath before walking away. Behind Rini, Wakasa smirks at her actions, fishing out the lighter from his pocket as she turns around to face him. "I didn't know you could be like that." He tells her, lighting the stick up in one hand while his other hand curves a little a top of the stick as he lights it.

Rini could only smile a little at his words, taking the cigarette between her index and middle finger before letting out gray colored smoke out and past her lips. After doing so, she leans it to his lips, watching him wrap his lips around it and letting out a smoke too afterwards.

And the two of them continued to be like that - Wakasa hovering over her with one arm above her head against the wall while sharing one cigarette stick, taking turns it letting out a smoke. And despite doing so, Wakasa could actually faintly taste her cherry lip gloss in his lips.

. . . . . . . . . . ♡

The following day the four founders along with Shinichiro's and Takeomi's younger siblings tagged along with them to spend the rest of their afternoon in Shibuya. It's the summer and the children didn't wanted to spend the rest of their day cooped up in their home.

And to say the least, Benkei felt like a third wheel while sitting in front of Wakasa and Rini.

"You should try mine!" The girl beams, sliding her plate towards Wakasa's directions. As Wakasa took her slice of cake, he did the same to her; sliding his towards her.

"I'm going to eat yours now!" She announces, slicing a small portion of the cake before eating it. "Hey, this is actually good." She commented in between chews. Icings of the cake smudging on the corner of her lip that Wakasa immediately took notice, taking a hold of a napkin and wiping it off for her.

As this scene unfolds in front of Benkei, all he could do was simultaneously watch them with a glint in his eyes.