They're both soaked to the bone by the time Hinata's bike sputters to a stop beneath the overhanging awning of what Rui thinks is a shop quite down on its luck. A closed sign is pressed against the glass of the front door despite it hardly being - she checks her watch - three in the afternoon. Wooden boards crisscross another window, and through the other she can make out dark, vague shapes - but nothing moves, or stirs, nothing seems to breathe within the enclosed space.

Hinata pays it no mind. Rui wonders if it's really safe to have practically parked on the sidewalk, but she's distracted from asking him if he plans on paying any fines in the near future when Hinata smoothly dismounts and just as easily pulls her off after him. 

Tremors rack her rain-slick hands as she tries feebly to rub warmth back into her arms. She shakes out her damp, dripping hair, wiping the clinging strands off her forehead with a moody frown. It's been a while since she's gotten caught in a downpour. Kaori being rather averse to chaotic elements she couldn't tame herself, she generally didn't get much work done on rainy days. Rui's never understood the correlation, really, but on those days, she herself usually spent hours wasting away in front of her computer at the office, editing recent articles or poorly playing chess against an unsympathetic code. 

"S-So... w-where are w-we?" Rui asks through teeth clenched in order to quiet their chattering. It does her little good, though, as her words are warbled just the same, and Hinata's lip curl at the corners as he slicks back his sodden hair.

"Downtown," he says, which doesn't necessarily answer her question, and her mouth quirks, unsatisfied.

"C-Care to... elab-borate?"

"Where would be the fun in that?" he throws back cheekily, before abruptly clapping his hands together. "Alright! C'mon, Rui-chan, it's not so far now. We're gonna make a run for it, 'kay?"

A run? God. No. Running has never been Rui's forte. She actively avoids situations in which running is even a possibility. She can recall, somewhat ashamedly, several instances where Kaori was left to chase after a lead (quite literally) all on her lonesome, as Rui had made some half-baked excuse to stay behind.

In reality, her reasoning is simple: She contracted asthma late in her teens, which makes running in any capacity difficult. But she's loathe to admit it to anyone, for a not-so-simple reason that may have something to do with pride, as well as a teeny-tiny lie on her job application to the paper. As far as Kaori knew, Rui was in perfect health. She never had the heart to tell her otherwise.

But, well... she ran for Hinata the other night. A block or two won't kill her.

Probably.

Rolling her eyes, Rui cinches her jacket closed, zips up the front, slips a hand - fretful and malcontent - into her pocket. Her fingers press lightly around her phone, pads skimming across the screen. Her forgotten habit has resurfaced these last few days, and in her spare time - when she isn't consumed with grief on both Hinata and Kaori's behalf - she'll sit for countless minutes, staring at that final text message on which she feels everything hinged.

Won't be back for a few days. Don't check up on me. 

Hinata seems to find her hesitation amusing rather than irritating, judging by the quiet chuckles he makes no effort to hide. Zipping up his own sweatshirt, he drags her hand from her pocket and, tugging her forward, leads her from the safety of the awning's shadow out into the storm.

He's right in that it isn't a far distance to - wherever it is they're going. But Rui feels the weight of it in her chest all the same, the sting, the burn, the gasping breaths that feel much too small to quell the ache in her lungs. She was lucky her run in the apartment hadn't amounted to much, or she would have been doubled over, hands on her knees, sucking in sweet lungfuls of air while Hinata bled to death on his carpet.

She hardly notices the rain with everything else going on, so that's something of a plus.

"Rui-chan... what's wrong?"

She waves him off, but he catches her wrist, tugs her closer. They've stopped just outside a squat, four-story apartment complex, the windows of which are drawn and shuttered on every level. Rui rakes her eyes over the brown-brick building, trailing up the fire escape peeking into view from her awkward angle of the adjacent alleyway. Anything so that she doesn't have to look at Hinata.

Her breathing's heavy, her chest heaving visibly with every intake and exhale. She'd call it ragged if she wasn't aware how much worse it could get. She settles a hand over her heart; it beats like a machine-gun against her palm, but she doesn't mind it much. She's more fixated on the volley of knives that tear upwards into her chest, seemingly from her diaphragm, with each breath that passes over her trembling lips.

It's not an attack. She knows what that feels like. But this is a prime example of why she doesn't overexert herself. On some level, she supposes she should be grateful it's only physical activity that triggers her respiratory ails; she's met a handful of men and women who suffer anxiety-induced attacks that are much less predictable.

"I'm..."

"You're not fine, don't give me that bull, Rui."

She blinks, wheezing out a breath - or the shredded remains of one, in any case.
He's dropped the -chan. It's fuzzy, but perhaps he did the same thing while on the verge of death the other night. While it's a far more intimate use of her name than she'd like, it connects a misfiring synapse in her brain that tells her how worried he must be to forgo the cutesy act.

Rui fumbles for a smile and manages something less gruesome than the grimace threatening to overtake her face.

"Fine," she coughs, closing her free hand over his, the one still gripping her wrist. "I'm... going to be fine. It'll pass."

"But--"

"Asthma," she admits with a calculated, careless shrug. 

If Hinata's trusted her with his most coveted secret, then surely this is only fair in return? 

His eyes widen but she hurries on before he can speak.

"This... isn't as serious as it looks. It's not an attack, I'm just winded. Okay?"

"...Okay."

"Good." Rui beams, gently lowering their hands, still entwined. She breathe a bit easier now that they've rested a few minutes. "Now. Where are we, Hinata-kun?"

He opens his mouth, then pauses, closing his eyes. When he opens them again, he's smiling - a bit forced, but it's enough for Rui.

"A friend's house," he explains, jerking his chin at the apartments. "You'll like 'em, Rui-chan. They're good people."

"Good people or good...?"

He just grins that infuriatingly infectious grin of his, and she huffs as a response while he scampers up the stone steps to press a buzzer.

Static crackles, before a soft female voice filters through.

"Who is it?"

"Hinata! And his plus-one!"

"Hinata? Jeez, it's been a while, kid. C'mon up!"

Another buzz, and Rui hears the door unlock. 

Hinata's quick to usher her inside, as though he has it in his head that she'll dash off at the first sign of the unusual. More aptly, the first sign of ghouls. She can't quite say he's off base in his thinking, but at the same time, she trusts Hinata, for better or worse. If he claims these people - these ghouls - are friends, and that this may be the cure for their ailing relationship, then she'll go with him - just this once.

They opt for the elevator instead of the stairs, partially because Hinata is trying not-so-subtly to have her avoid any strenuous exercise, partially because Rui smells something godawful seeping under the door that leads into the stairwell, and after her night of horrors with Hinata, she's not about to walk in on anything that reeks of unidentifiable smells.

On the fourth floor, Hinata chatters to her about how great this friend is, how much Rui's going to like her, but she can't help but drift away from the conversation. If he notices at all, or finds it irritating, he doesn't let on, and continues to make corny jokes regarding the woman's sordid history with her neighbors all the way up until they reach her door.

Hinata knocks once, twice; they both hear a loud, surly curse from within the apartment, followed by a muffled shout. Soft footsteps pad towards the door, pause a moment (during which Rui shoots Hinata a questioning glance, to which he merely grins and shrugs his shoulders - meaning he's no idea what's going on either); then the door swings open, revealing a young boy, no older than nine or ten, that not at all matches the image Rui had built up in her head of Hinata's friend.

"Kimi's coming," the boy says, a smile twitching at his lips when he notices Rui's blatant confusion. "I'm--"

"Yoshi!"

Hinata lunges forward, lifting the boy high into the air with a delighted grin. The boy - Yoshi - laughs, kicking his feet playfully, and sinks into the hug Hinata pulls him into.

"You settling in okay, kiddo?" Hinata asks, ruffling Yoshi's choppy black hair.

"I'm trying," Yoshi admits, swatting away Hinata's hand. He peeks around Hinata and offers Rui another adorable smile. "It's Kiyoshi, by the way. Hina-kun's weird like that."

"I'm aware," she giggles, much to her own surprise.

"Hey! Rui-chan, don't go agreeing with him. Aren't I cool? I'm funny and cute, too, right?"

"Hina-kun, Kimi hates it when you get desperate."

"Yoshi! Not in front of Rui-chan!"

And that's it.

The combination of Kiyoshi's serenely serious face and Hinata's flustered attempts to silence him are enough to have Rui laughing; she claps a hand over her mouth, seeing Hinata's betrayed expression, but she can't help herself. Perhaps it's because she, unconsciously, has realized she's in dire need of a release of tension, lest she suffer from some sort of anticipation-induced panic attack; perhaps her weeks of somber melancholy have created an accumulation of mirth inside of her that's choosing now of all times to break out.

She is naturally a person who is very easily amused, but somehow, she thinks it has something to do with Hinata himself that she's laughing now, and her sense of gratitude towards him deepens just a bit more because of that. 

"What's all this about?"

Rui, with tears in her eyes and a tremulous grin splitting her lips, swallows back the last of her laughter, cheeks flushing in embarrassment. A woman at least a few years older than herself now stands in the doorway, hands braced against the frame to either side of her. She's pretty, with a shock of red hair (that Rui suspects to be dyed) and bright brown eyes, but nothing that would really stand out in a crowd. Rui, though, fixates on the slight curve of her nose, the dimples indented in her cheeks, how her mouth upturns at the corner in a half-smirk; where her clothes are wrinkled, the state of her possibly unwashed jeans; anything, really, that makes her identifiable.

Because this person - this ghoul - is someone Hinata cares about, someone he wants her to meet. Her knack for studying people seems a bit more purposeful, too, when she uses it because she wants to, when it's not simply a hardwired reaction to meeting someone new.

"Kimi-chan," Hinata beams, tucking Kiyoshi against his hip as he turns to gesture at Rui, who manages a soft smile and a polite dip of her head. "This is Kitamura Rui-chan. She's--"

"Human?" Kimi guesses through a knowing smirk. She doesn't wait for confirmation, just continues on. "Interesting catch, Hinata. Didn't think you had it in you to charm a pretty young girl like her. What is this, then? Here to ask me to give you away at your wedding?"

Hinata rolls his eyes, but he subtly moves to stand in front of Rui, blocking her from Kimi's view; she breathes a silent sigh of relief that her crimson cheeks won't be seen so early in their meeting.

"Nah, just here for a visit. Rui-chan... well, she kinda just found everything out."

"So you want me to talk to her?"

"You helped out Misaki-chan when Satoshi asked you to."

Kimi cocks her head thoughtfully.

"Yeah, and?"

"Kimi, I really need--"

"Rui-chan?" Kimi asks, brushing past Hinata to get a better look at her. "That's your name, right?"

She blinks, dropping her hands from her cheeks, and dips into another courteous (albeit shaky) nod.

"Ah, y-yeah, that's me."

"You like Hinata?"

"Um..." - Hinata flashes her a pleading look and she inwardly cringes, knowing her efforts were all for nought, that her face has gone aflame once again - "...he's nice."

Though Hinata deflates, and Kiyoshi poked pointedly at his cheek, asking him how he can survive being shot down so easily, Kimi barks out a laugh and settles her hands on Rui's shoulders, pulling her closer.

"Good enough," she grins, something glittering in her brown eyes that eases the tautness from Rui's muscles, even if she can't identify it. "C'mon in, then. We'll sit down for a nice, long chat. Kiyoshi, grab Satoshi, will ya? The brat might be useful for once, 'specially if Misaki's with him."

Needing no further encouragement, Kiyoshi scrambles down from Hinata's arms and makes his way down the hall, disappearing into an apartment that opens its door after only a shout from the boy announcing his arrival. Kimi waves her hand, inviting Rui to follow her back into her own apartment, and she does so hesitantly, seeking out Hinata's approval before she crosses the threshold.

She swears, just for a moment, that his cheeks are a shade redder than usual - but then the moment passes and he's grinning with all his usual charm, sweeping into a gentleman's bow, arm outstretched to wave her into the apartment.

"After you, Milady."