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“Can you stay? Just for a bit.” Rin sounded cheery but his smile didn’t reach his eyes as he stepped into the old dorm, “I was thinking of making yakisoba tonight and I don’t like eating alone.”
Shura shrugged. She had a bit of time and Rin’s cooking was pretty good. “Why not.”
Rin grinned as he made his way to the kitchen, Shura following along behind. He seemed to be his usual bouncy self, enough so that Shura doubted her suspicions until she saw Rin sagging a little when he thought she wasn’t watching.
She was presented with a cutting board and knife and decided that free food and answers were worth chopping some vegetables.
They worked quietly, the silence only broken by Rin humming. The effort paid off wonderfully as they sat down with steaming bowls that smelled amazing.
“Yukio on a mission tonight?” Shura asked, perhaps pointlessly given Rin had already said he’d be alone. It wasn’t like Yukio had much of a social life, after all.
Rin frowned around a mouthful of noodles.
“I guess. I haven’t seen him much lately,” Rin said.
That was odd, Shura thought. Last she heard, Yukio was planning on forcing Rin to study for the exam, making his absence all the more suspicious. He’d always been more stressy about that than she had (after all, they could hardly execute Rin now he’d proven himself against the Impure King. They knew how much they needed him now).
“I don’t think he’s been eating much, either,” Rin continued, “I’ve been leaving him food but half of the time it doesn’t even move. I guess whatever missions he’s been on must be stressful but he needs fuel or he’s going to make himself sick.”
Shura could almost understand that but they couldn’t have been assigning Yukio that many missions. Shura wasn’t being given so many she couldn’t take time to eat. Not to mention that the Order usually tried not to give too many missions for exorcists that were still in school. They’d keep the kids busy, no doubt, but not to the point of overwork.
Rin shook his head and moved the conversation onto less depressing topics and Shura ended up staying longer than she intended. Leaving with more questions than answers, she resolved to get to the bottom of it. If only she could get away from work long enough to do some digging.