Quoted By:
>You can ask one question. If you ask many, only the first one will count.
The smile under those drowsy eyes contradicts them: it’s earnest, and what many would call ‘pure’. It doesn’t help Marie or Miharu look at her face, or even face her, and yet Rin is stuck as if she had seen something catch fire. So far she hadn’t taken in a word that had been said not because she didn’t care or because she didn’t understand- but because none of that had any kind of importance. This does. This is the line. Someone has to say it; to Rin, it’s duty. Jaw shaking, mouth gaping, Rin wets her lips and puffs up her chest; then, she points at Dumbbell, and loudly claims
ع Rin: GGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!
like a walrus who is always absolutely correct. As if accusing a witch, an actual witch, to be cast to the fire
and yet the witch seems largely unphased. Until she takes a deep breath herself- and says
Dumbbell: I’m- gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayywwwwnn!
and the long word ends in a yawn. Rin is… very confused. This isn’t how it goes in the classroom. That long word, bouncing inside Marie’s head, gets some gears turning in it. Creeping in, her thoughts whisper of the kind of dreams that Dumbbell- could have seen.
๑ Marie: …nah bitch, no way. You mean, like, gay like…
Dumbbell patiently shakes her head.
Dolores: Ciel-san, that’s /not/ the point. Look: you just /don’t/ tell people you’ve just met that you love them. It’s not normal. It’s embarrassing.
Dumbbell: But it’s true. I love Rin, Miharu, and Marie, and… and I want to protect them.
๑ Marie: Bitch get outta here with that weird fluffy shit, you don’t even know me. This girl right here is sussy as fuck, man.
Dumbbell: What does it take to know someone?
Dumbbell’s rhetorical question is left hanging in the air, but, although embarrassed, Miharu does give it some thought. At what point do you decide that you love someone? When can you say that you understand other people? Is it a matter of time? Is there a line to be crossed? Whatever the case, it’s Rin that answers the call, who takes the legacy of justice upon her shoulders.
ع Rin: It’s still GAY.
And Dumbbell pauses until a little grin visits her face.
Dumbbell: Is that bad?
And it’s over. Even Rin knows not to fight that battle, not in this age and era. Dumbbell’s little grin is what’s left standing in the end.
Dumbbell: Rin, Marie, and Miharu, and you, Dolores, too; whether you like it or not, I love you all.
Rin just mumbles ‘cock’ repeatedly in desperation.
