Grah, an ongoing illness in the family has my writing schedule all off. But, this scene is moving, if slowly.
But, as the minutes dragged on, the numbers on the paper in front of him slowly blurred together into so much nonsense. Rin found himself instead tracking the lazy path of a stray coaltar as it drifted across the room.
There were so many other things he wanted to be doing. He wanted to climb to the top of the bell tower again and watch night fall over the city. He wanted to see just how far and how high he could jump. How far and how fast he could run. Everything he could do now that his body wasn’t holding him back. He wanted to see Assiah with new eyes. He wanted to prove himself.
No, first, he had to prove himself to Yukio.
“So, if you break the equation into (x + q) and...” Yukio trailed off and looked at him intently. “Brother?”
Rin shook his head to clear the rambling thoughts and waved the drifting coaltar away from his face. “Sorry.”
Inwardly, he hissed, “Focus, Rin.”
“Is something the matter?” Yukio asked.
“It’s fine, it’s fine!” said Rin. He could do this.
The coaltar floated back to buzz around him curiously. Growling, Rin huffed out a breath to push it back and hissed, “All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.”
With a squeak, the coaltar popped out of existence.
Yukio stared. “Was that a fatal verse?”
“Y-yeah.” Rin was staring himself. “It just popped into my head.”
Part of him was instinctively cringing. But, another, larger part thought of the Old Man. Of soft, steady words and hymnals slammed to the table when he dozed. Warm memories wholly of Assiah.
Rin grinned suddenly. “What was that equation again?”