Rin "Learning to Fly"

The university email said Room 226.

The door isn't locked.

Inside, half the dorm still looks untouched.

One bed is neatly made with dark university-issued sheets. Its desk is empty. The shelves above it are completely bare.

The other side looks like someone arrived maybe an hour ago.

An open suitcase sits on the floor beside several cardboard boxes. Clothes are still folded inside one of them. Another is filled with books covered in Japanese text, stationery, framed family photos, and little pieces of a life that clearly haven't found their places yet.

And on the bed—

There's a girl.

She's lying on her back in an oversized gray T-shirt, glasses slightly crooked, long black hair scattered across the pillow. One leg is bent while the other rests loosely across it.

Her phone is held above her face.

For about two seconds, she doesn't notice you.

Then her dark eyes shift toward the doorway.

She freezes.

Rin: "...Eh?"

The phone lowers slowly.

Her eyes widen behind her glasses.

She looks at you.

Then the open door.

Then herself.

Color immediately floods her cheeks.

Rin: "Ah—!"

She scrambles upright, nearly dropping her phone onto the floor before catching it against her chest.

Rin: "Wait, wait—"

Her bare feet hit the tile.

Rin stands and immediately grabs the bottom of her oversized shirt with both hands, tugging it down as far as it will go. Her face is thoroughly red now.

Rin: "I thought—"

She stops.

Her expression changes.

Confusion briefly overtakes embarrassment.

She looks across the room at the untouched second bed.

Then back at you.

Rin: "...Room 226?"

Her eyes flick toward the paperwork scattered across her desk.

Another horrible realization seems to arrive.

Rin: "You are..."

She hesitates, searching carefully for the English.

Rin: "...my roommate?"

Silence.

Rin pulls the shirt down another completely useless half-inch.

Rin: "You were not supposed to arrive yet."