There was something about the melody that drew her in. Delicate fingers expressed love, longing, desire and pain altogether, tickling a bittersweet sensation to her ears. Rin was no expert in music, but this much she knew. The diamond princess was letting her melancholic heart be heard.

Maki was always alone. She was sad, she was lonely. This pitiful state for a girl their age bothered Rin the most; and despite the desperate attempts of Maki in shutting her windows to avoid the sunshine to seep in, Rin continued to smile brightly at her, one too warm and accepting.

The rays of the sun eventually got into the depths of Maki over time, including the scent of flowers that calmed her so. Looking back many years ago, Rin was able to crack shy baby Hanayo's shell open, and now, she was able to melt the icy walls down around snob queen Maki. Rin considered this as a feat, but she liked to think that she did herself the bigger favor of being happy by befriending them, among others.

It was during the winter of their senior year that Rin heard the melancholic melody from Maki again and again. She always asked why, but Maki shrugged her off every time. Maki started to have that certain coldness in her again, the loneliness in her eyes was hardly ever hidden anymore. There was pain. She was hurting.

There came a time when, while Rin secretly laid by the music room's door to listen to Maki's heart, a different sound from the grand instrument startled her thoughts. The notes pierced too harshly, yielding a noise of horror that converted into frustration, if not suffering.

She rushed to open the door and found Maki crying. Rin's heart felt like it was being stabbed by a hundred knives at once as she walked over to the pianist's side.

Make it stop.

There was really no need to ask why. The reason was always clear to Rin, yet she kept denying it to herself that maybe, the yearning gazes that Maki gave her whenever they were facing each other was just her imagination. Perhaps the freezing tension she always felt when the three of them, MakiRinPana as she tagged it, were walking home together after school was just the winter cold getting to her.

That maybe, when Maki never failed to look away while Rin was hugging and clinging and being sweet to Hanayo was just nothing.

But Rin felt it. She repeatedly heard it from the painful song that hit her heart. She may be dense and weak in academics but she sure knew Maki very well by now and no denseness can blindfold her from the reason for those burning tears.

Make the pain stop, Rin.

Rin sat beside Maki, removed the pianist's hands from covering her eyes and replaced it with her own small hands, rough on the palms yet very soft with its touch, cupping Maki's cheeks warmly. Her thumbs wiped away the flowing tears gently and she placed her trembling lips on Maki's forehead. The crying still didn't stop and Rin moved to graze the tip of Maki's nose very lightly as how a feather would.

Within a hair strand, guilty eyes bore into weeping ones, the pain and longing all too clear. Rin's heart broke a little more harder this time and she finally met Maki's lips with her own.

Slowly, softly, apologetic.

Rin's sorry. Rin didn't mean to hurt you. Rin didn't see it right away. Rin was waiting. Rin was stupid. Rin didn't know what to do.

"I love you."

The orange sky that afternoon began to fade as Hanayo leaned her back quietly on the music room's door.

Sweet, beautiful flowers deserve to be protected at all costs. They brought color to a bright, sunshiny day. Breathtaking when in full bloom, it was always a sight too unforgettable to ignore.

Hanayo had been by Rin's side from the time they were still learning how to spell the word orange and write it in clean, legible letters. Rin didn't remember why, but she felt drawn to the meek girl who already wore glasses at the age of five. It must be destiny, she thought. Kayo-chin, as what she liked to call the shy cinnamon bun, was a gift of fate to her. Rin was very thankful for that.

One spring time during high school, Rin, along with Maki, saw how Hanayo bloomed into the beautiful flower that she was. Hanayo was finally a step closer to her dream — to be an idol — and Rin couldn't be any happier about it that she even cried. Hanayo joined the school idol club, Rin and Maki getting dragged as well because hey, what kind of friends were they if they won't be by Hanayo's side in it?

That part of the timeline, though. It was during that time that things went into a series of rollercoaster loops. It was partly because of being school idols, but it was more often because they were young, curious, sensitive and needy. Their feelings soon began to have deeper meaning; their hearts started to choose who to beat harder for.

They learned how to love.

In which, by autumn of their sophomore year, Hanayo confessed to Rin.

"I love you."

Rin felt happy. Ecstatic. Of course she loved Hanayo too, for a long time now to tell the truth. From that moment in preschool when she beamingly introduced herself as 'Rin-chan' to the quietest girl of their unruly bunch. The one who remained by her side through almost everything, the shoulder she cried on when her parents scolded her for breaking another vase, and the one she shared the best and the worst times with until present.

It's Kayo-chin. Her dearest best friend.

The feeling of hearing the words full of sincerity from Hanayo was really warm, and to an extent, very overwhelming.

Rin said I love you too. But what she didn't say was how Maki's face flashed in her mind almost immediately after she said those four words.

"You love her."

The silence was broken as Hanayo dared to say the words. She didn't raise her voice because that wasn't her thing. No. Hanayo was a gentle person, she knew she's like a flower that only followed where the wind was going and waited for the sun to shine to go in full bloom. Shouting was never an option. The pain won't go away even if she shouted.

Maki remained looking at Hanayo's eyes, two sets of purple both unwavering and firm. Maki never wanted it to come to this, but she already expected that somewhere along the river they were going to hit rocks that will damage their once-sturdy raft.

"Yes."

It wasn't as if Maki forced it to happen. Rin was the bright sunshine that melted her icy walls, remember? The warmth that worked her way into her caged heart persistently. While finding the key to unlock her doors wasn't all on Rin's efforts alone, that very persistence made Maki believe that she can be someone important to somebody and she can have people she can care about and be scared of losing altogether.

Rin did more than break down her barriers. Maki was made to feel how it is to fall in love, and she was already at the point where she couldn't stop her heart any longer from feeling anything else but love for the person who let her, even if it meant clashing her own feelings with another's.

"But she's with you."

True enough, Hanayo understood where Maki was coming from. She related very well to it, word for word. Maki experienced real summer when she was already old enough to make out her feelings, but Hanayo had been under the sun ever since she was a kid. Rin had been by her side for the most of her life and she planned to keep it that way for as long as she can.

A life without Rin — a life without the one she loved the most — was something Hanayo couldn't even begin to imagine. She had to be brave, she had to make a choice; even if it meant forging the red string of fate away from another.

"I'm sorry."

And in spite of everything — of all the hurting, jealousy and unspoken pain they inflicted on their friendship by being in love with the same person — Hanayo didn't get angry; Maki didn't harbor any ill feelings.

They understood each other the most in this trainwreck they found themselves in.

Summer was a season you cannot help but love.

Two is better than one, that was what they said. Rin agreed to it wholeheartedly because having two best friends in her life was the best thing that happened to her by far.

Someone as sweet as a flower blooming in spring; someone as beautiful as a bittersweet melody flowing out of a grand piano.

They were her best friends.

Rin loved them both.

On this graduation day in spring, Rin had to learn how to let go.

.

A/N: Haha. The crapola festival that had been hiding for months. I don't even.

Dumbbell Rin's birthday is getting nearer! As well as mine, and Rippi's, and Elichiker's…

Happy stuff should come... のヮの