Sweet Like Candy

Lighting Candles With A Flamethrower

Rin gave a huge yawn as she stumbled into the cafeteria-like dining room of the Ryokan and sat down heavily at a table, still trying to get her eyes to stay open. On one end, that was the best she'd slept in months. On the other end, she didn't want to wake up and hate her life when she was sleeping that well. Rin sighed and grabbed a bowl, filling it with rice and grabbing herself some chopsticks. She didn't remember much from last night, but she at least woke up in her own bed, so that was good. Her hair was down and her stockings were off, which was a little suspicious, but nothing else was amiss and Rodan didn't say anything, so she didn't ponder it any further. She'd woken up with a headache, but it had faded pretty fast–perks of demon healing.

Rin had taken a shower, brushed her hair out and braided it to keep it out of the way, and gotten dressed in a low-cut black crop top and high- waisted denim shorts, electing to go barefoot around the Inn. She'd put on her own clothes instead of the school uniform since the students were allowed to.

Suguro had caught sight of her when she walked in and froze, chopsticks halfway to his mouth. Rin quirked a brow at him when his eyes finally found hers after looking her up and down very obviously, lingering on the belly button piercing for a suspiciously long moment. She winked just to mess with him and he ducked his head quickly.

She sat at the table beside Suguro's, back facing him and Konekomeru as they ate their food. She heard Suguro saying he didn't remember anything from last night and figured he also hadn't realized the juice was actually alcohol.

“Good morning, Rin!” Shima greeted her brightly. Rin furrowed her brows in confusion. "Uhhh....Good Morning? Any reason for the sudden friendliness?" She could feel Konekomeru's troubled gaze on her back. "Eh, it's too much work to avoid you and it's kinda my fault Koneko and Bon got hurt that night, so it's not like the whole thing was all you, you know." He admitted, offering a sheepish smile to the girl. "Yeah, I specifically told you idiots to stay back and you all did the exact opposite. Were you channeling my authority issues or something?" She wondered, deciding to just go along with it. A friend was a friend. Shima laughed and grabbed himself some food to eat.

"Nah, that one goes to Bon. He took off first. Me and Koneko are supposed to protect him while he's away from home, so we had to follow after him. We all had a part in that forest disaster though." Shima told her. Rin agreed and kept eating her rice, a smile gracing her features. Shima smiled too. Rin looked much nicer when she was smiling. He was proud of himself for being the first person to draw one out of her for the first time since the Forest.

“REEENNNZZZOOOUUUUUUUU!” The blonde man from the Sick Room Incident came flying into the room, a flying kick aimed at Shima's head. Rin's instincts kicked in and she tucked Shima against her as she caught the man's foot and flipped him backwards. His brother caught him with a barely concealed snicker.

“What the hell was that, Kinzou?!” Shima cried, pushing away from Rin's cleavage in his face where she'd tucked him against her side. “That was a flying kick, Idiot Renzou!” Kinzou snapped. Rin was seeing a pattern with their names and found it very amusing.

“You’re the idiot! Trying to kick me across the room while I'm eating, I could've died!” Shima exclaimed, batting at his older brother in retaliation. Rin shook her head, smiling wider at the scene. Juzou stepped forward, greeting the three in a friendly manner and ruffling Shima's hair.

“You guys feeling better already? That's good.” Shima changed the subject as the two men sat down across from them and grabbed themselves some food of their own. "They seemed like they were fine yesterday even when they were in the sick room." Rin grumbled, recalling the fight the day before between the Shimas' and the Snake Girls.