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Chapter Text

He was a hunter who caught the comet's burning starlight.

Starlike tears fell from her obsidian eyes, and he couldn't utter a word.

If he did maybe he could have even saved her.

---

Today was another special day to him, as he get showered by the public's praises and awards. As his accomplishments stockpile into a mountain of golden lights, his mother who gently caresses his brown locks and his proud father who was glad to have him.

Akechi Goro, that is his name. Blessed with a rowdy group of friends, an enviable intellect and who had lived a grandeur life. He was happy as he spent his time and his life was filled with colors and love.

Yet in the depths of his heart where no human gaze could fall, was a grey line unfilled hole. A gaping emptiness that consumes him, but he tried his best to wave this feeling off. For the moment he knows it, he will surely regret it.

He had a fear for that truth after all.

In this any other special day he propped the cap of the cognac given to him. The musky strong smell with a certain flowery scent lingering to his nostrils. He took a sip and he couldn't help but to sip even more. The emptied bottle and the satisfying taste left on his mouth, and he dreamed.

In that dream he was in his lit apartment room and he had a girl at his side, who seemed so silent and he glanced to her.

She seems genuinely surprised as her mouth formed an 'o' and then she smiled gently to him. Tears formed from her obsidian eyes and they dropped like falling stars into her rosy cheeks.

He then wiped her tears, "Don't cry.." Her name on the tip of his tongue yet he couldn't remember.

She nuzzled her face to his palm, "Had to much to drink? Haha, how are you Goro?"

First name basis, yet he couldn't scold her for she seems to be close to his heart. Then he smiled at her beautiful gentle voice.

The gap in his heart filled with her tender light.

"I remembered... You brought a similar bottle like this in the attic, you got wasted before back then.." She hummed her eyes holding a certain melancholy.

"Then you were very drunk.. That lead to that accident... Not that I blame you for not remembering, because I made it so that you forget about it." She blurted out and he was bewildered, like memories were rising at his head.

His heart felt stuffy as if he couldn't breath. Then he remembered her soft lips placed with his, on that winter night. As she cried to his arms.

"I don't know anymore! I am scared Goro! Why do we have to suffer?! I don't want to think anymore..." She cried bitterly to him.

Yet his arms felt heavy, and his brain couldn't form proper words, his heart not knowing what to say to her.

He expected something from her as well after all, how could he have the shame to console her? 

"Haha, too drunk to say something? Or do you wish to extort something from me, of course you do... 

Then I expect something in return." She added as she leaned to him, their lips meeting. As he lazily meet hers as well. 

Then she stopped from kissing him, and he felt empty at her lips leaving him. Then he was shocked and was speechless, as she stare into his... Eyes empty and dull, even from an unknown memory he knew that her eyes wasn't supposed to be like this. 

"Ah! Did you remember? Just don't mind it anymore, it doesn't matter anyways... Sweet dreams Goro." She inched to him as she kissed his cheek, and he didn't want to fall asleep. 

For she will be gone and he doesn't wish to lose her. 

The visitor in his dreams, would often visit him. She was an enigma, dainty smiles, her childlike laughter, and her eyes that would sparkle like stars. Then at times her smile was as calm as a water, her eyes reflecting her solemn, and her voice that would shake. Then all of this would end with her kissing his cheeks. 

Her kisses were soft like feathers yet he felt lonely at the touch. They were always together, at the arcades, at the cafes in Shibuya, at his favorite bar. She would nod her head as she jam at his favorite music, they had the same taste. She will mewl as she smile like the sun as she eat sweets with him. Then she will look tenderly and lovingly as they feed the ducks in the park. The sunset reflected on her eyes as she sorrowly smile at the setting sun. 

The snow that fell onto them as they walk together at the snowy path, their boots leaving trails and their bare hands providing heat as they silently stroll. 

He felt peaceful with her, a happiness he never had but he had surely felt. Yet there was this loneliness that lingers within him, as it seems they will lose their time. 

She would surely fade away and melt like snow, and his hands can't contain her forever at his side. 

He stopped from their steps as he hugged her, and she returned the embrace. He felt bitterly safe at her loving arms, and he cried "I love you..."

"But you can't even remember me." She replied. 

"I know, can I get to see you?" He asked bitterly as he bit his lips, and she smiled sadly at him as she run her fingers through his hair. 

"When I wake up... Maybe, I'll get to see you again.. Sweet dreams, Goro." She hummed her voice like a lonely sonata who hushed him to the dreamlike land. 

He and his friends walked to LeBlanc, and there was a strong feeling of emptiness in his heart. Then he stopped on walking as he questioned himself. 

How did they all ended up as friends? Who united them? Who was the one who he was waiting for at that stool, the owner of that green apron sitting on that corner, the one who stood side by side with Sojiro? Who was the one who saved him? 

Who is the one who saved them all? 

Who was that girl in his dreams? 

"Goro-kun, you okay?" Ann asked as they noticed him stopping from walking. 

Sweat run to his face as he shakily breath. His eyes dilating, his pale face running with cold sweat, and then his fingers trembling. 

"Aren't... Aren't we missing someone?" He asked as her silhouette burned at the back of his head and at the center of his heart. 

"I do get that feeling... But what matters is that we are all happy!" Ryuji brushed off as they walk like nothing happened. 

Yet the feeling never left Goro and he fainted. 

Then he dreamed about her, as he shook her shoulders. 

"Who are you?! Why are you doing this to me?! What are you doing to me?!" Goro yelled at her, as tears flow from his eyes.

Her lips formed a tight line as her eyes squint like the crescent moon, her lovely orbs filled with... Loneliness. 

"Don't cry... Don't shed those tears for me.. This is all my fault, don't cry please?" She pleaded as she console him. 

The angry words died at his throat, as he couldn't blame her even more. He cried bitterly at her loving warmth. 

Then when he woke up, his face was wet with tears and the loneliness never left him. He lied at the bed at the attic, the bed no one questioned. In that orderly room, the room they always clean with no question. As they wait for someone they waited subconsciously. 

Dawn came and the dusk has ended. Then he gazed at the window from the attic, and he saw the morning star. 

He stepped up as he lean into the window, the morning star shining brightly at him and warmth filled his heart. 

Then came a memory. The truth had made its way to him. 

This world truly was a crappy place, cruel where everyone will just end one another.

In that backstabbing world, I met you.

The blinding star, shining so bright that I've wanted to corrupt you.

Hot tears fell from his eyes as his heartached. Then he glanced at the bed, and she was laying there. 

Sleeping peacefully like a baby. 

In the dark, heavily dusted room where the star's light does not fall. 

Then he sat next to her, and he held her cold hand with that noticeable long nails. Just how many years had it been? 

He watched her chest softly rise and fall. Then he tucked her hair behind her pale colored ear that had the same tone as her skin. Then he kissed her. 

Wishing like in fairytales, she would finally wake up. 

However, he is not the prince who will save her from that lonely castle. But he is the villain who killed her.

Her memories and emotions ran to his head.

Her loneliness, her despair and the grief in her heart. She chose to sleep, to eternally rest. To no longer think, to no longer suffer from the cruel world's control, and to free herself from them.

As they cruelly did depend on her, only relying on her, believing that she was fine all this time.

But the pain hunted her, the cruel beatings, the sound of the hammer in the courtroom, the black and blues on her white skin and the tears she shed under the moonlight at dusk.

Like him, they all killed her. 

Then she died, lying asleep on that bed. Forever, sleeping and she will finally be peaceful.

He kissed her forehead and her skin was starting to become ghostly, and his fingers passed through her body and then she disappeared.

He was back in the world where he found his happiness, in the world where she no longer existed. 

Chapter Text

Even if my canvas and my fingers won't be able to paint you completely...

When the colors in my rounded palette, won't signify your beauty...

You will always shine like the brightest stars in my eyes, my heart and with my whole life...

--

"Mr. Kitagawa... What is your next work?" A reporter asked after Yusuke gave a speech.

Then he pondered for a second, then an image flashed on his head. 

A silhouette of a girl, with charcoal black hair and obsidian clear eyes. Rosy cheeks as her lips gloss. Her image shining as she stood amidst the greenery. The sun putting an emphasis on her beauty as she happily smiled like a sunflower. 

For the image of her in his mind will always be bathe in the warm sunlight. 

Then he cleared his throat and his eyes softened, "I guess I'll paint a portrait next time... Please do look forward to it." 

The female reporters blushed as the painter's face showed a tender warmth, like how he would look to a lover. They snapped a photo, the photo to be used for the next decades to come.

Then he returned to his humble home, a traditional Japanese house for him and for his old master. It was a wonder how the all time famous painter remained single throughout the years. 

It was that the feeling of falling in love never strucked him. 

But surely he had felt it... 

Once, twice no more than what his fingers coud count...

He had always been in loved with the girl who bathe in the warm sunlight in his vague memories, in his dreams. 

Was she real or was she just merely a fruit of his imaginations? 

But he knew what was real is the lingering warmth on his heart, the tender bubbling feeling on his chest, his nervousness as he watched her. 

It was subtle at first, Yusuke recalled as he lie down at his floor. In front of his blank canvas and at the numerous paint buckets surrounding him. 

He closed his eyes as he succumbed to his dreams. 

The soft slumber lulling him to the land of his dreams, at the world he could finally be with her. 

Her image always held a light that he could only see, as the dark bushes seems to lighten around her and as the blue waters become clear as she smile at him. 

Her fine line of sweat on her forehead as she paddled their boats, the spring beneath them and the leaves of various hues surround them. Her image on his head would always be ephemeral. 

Whenever if it was raining, even when the skies were gray as the rain drops sticks to the window. As she danced onto the rain, the noise died at his ears as he gets drowned into her tune. 

His heart performing a rhythm as her voice ring to his ears like the windchimes at summer. She was soaked in the rain and their surroundings were dim, and yet amidst the rain the stars shone to her and she held a light. 

The light he will never be able to contain. 

An elation at her soft feather whispers to his pounding heart, the scent of spring clinging to her. 

She smelled like wonders he thought, the scent of fresh fruits with a tinge of the after rain. 

Her concentrated eyes as she did her homeworks in their group studies, her airy laughter as they strolled at the beach, she wore a white dress as her hands tried to kept her hat to her head as the wind blew to them. 

He would always be unable to move as his time seems to stop as he elude himself to her light, the warmth on his fingertips and the smile plastered on his lips. 

He loved her, but he had also felt scared. For he was eccentric but nevertheless she accepted him. She seemed like a porcelain but she was a diamond, as they passed time.

She was always within his reach, and yet it seems her figure would always pass through his fingers. As he try to chase after her. 

For she was never his and she loved a different man. 

As the observer that he was to her, as he would always look at her with that light. He knew that he was the painter in the background as her image painted a loving smile to the one she loves. 

He was the artist, who could only draw her as she dance at the palm of someone else. 

He never knew her heart lest he never did try. 

For when she was within his reach, he stayed at the sidelines. 

Supporting her or in truth, he relied on her. 

Then it was already late, for when he realized that she needed him, them the most. 

They had already forgotten, after all.

Now she was gone... Forever gone, as she slept for a never ending eternity. 

Yusuke opened his eyes and his heartbeat is erratic, as if he had watched a warm play that ended in tragedy. Just how he simply forgot her, and he moved past her. 

But even a sinner like him could do her this much. 

Grabbing his brush, over and over and over again. He tried to paint her. 

Yet he couldn't capture her beauty into this blank canvas. 

No matter how much he had tried, was she always this far from him? 

No, it wasn't. It did because, he was too scared to even tell her his feelings. 

If he did then maybe, he could have been there for her on her darkest times, lulled her to sleep at her sleepless nights and even show her the light she had once lost. 

They had a lifetime for them, if only did they had the courage to pursue it. 

Now he was nothing than just a fisherman at his boat at the middle of the sea, at the high of night as he threw his bait into vast sea. Relying on chance, relying on the stars for light. He would always vainly wait for her.

His tears finally had stopped and the blood dripped down from his nails due to him tearing those canvas that couldn't potray her beauty. 

He imagined her to be with him, in that dim room as the moonrose high. The moonlight reflected on her obsidian eyes as she walked to him. 

He sat at the chair as he dipped his brush on the paint, her hands guiding his gently and he gently stroked the colors into the canvas. 

Then he was done as he potrayed his love for her. Words wouldn't be able to even define this masterpiece. The love hid in  sight, out now in the middle of the gentle midnight lights. 

The stars would soon disappear and soon the night will end, he stood up taking her hand and he held a firm grip onto her waist. 

It seems like the world was there ballroom as they danced with the fireflies, the stars providing them light in the dark room and the moon acting as a discoball who gave them a romantic setup. 

Dusk soon ended and the morning star would soon appear, and now she was gone at his side. 

Tears streamed to his cheeks, as his fingers trembled and he held his hands as he fell onto the floor on his knees.

He let out in a weak voice as his gray eyes held her lost light. 

    "Even if my canvas and my fingers won't be able to paint you completely...
    
    When the colors in my rounded palette, won't signify your beauty...
    
    You will always shine like the brightest stars in my eyes, my heart and with my whole life..." 

His fingers running at his dried painting as he smile softly. He swore onto that moment, that no matter what may happen in his life. 

He would spend his lifetime, forever waiting to see her open her eyes once more. 

Chapter Text

I will use every strength in these legs of mine..

Just so I could chase after the never lasting you...

So that in our next eternity, I can finally be with you..

---

Sakamoto Ryuji, a professional athlete who led Japan's team to victory at every corner of the world. Unmatched speed and agility, wide grins that bewitched the whole fans of sports. He became the children's idol, the females crush and he became the rising star of Japan.

His life filled with fulfillment, love and support from his various fans, from his mother and from his closest friends. 

But even the stars has its dark times.. 

At the silent moment of his life, he can't help but look for something, for someone. 

The person who can fill this hole in his heart. The person he had once lost. The person he is mourning for, the person who gave weight on his shoulders and when she was gone the weight had been lifted. 

The pain was gone but it still aches.. 

As if he had lost the meaning, the goal of his life. 

For in the finish line she was always there waiting for him as she cheered him so he could run faster, and when he nears it. 

He'll have a better view of her, her beautiful smile and her lively voice. 

For she was once the one who had filled the gaping hole in his heart. 

In his world filled with the dry soul crushing sand with nothing but emptiness til the horizon. She is the vast sea who gave him a meaning. 

Then he would constantly look for her, at every corner, at every nook and even at the corner of the tabloids. At the train station, at the rooftop of their school... Everywhere and anywhere just to see her once more. 

The person who gave him strength, who gave him the will to push forward and the person who would wait at him at the end. 

His goal, his eternity and his everything. 

For a world without her is nothing than just a fragile dream that is about to end. Summer without the crickets, Christmas without Santa and nothing, everything is mundane without her at his sight. 

At his darkest moments in the wooden floor he would curl up like the most fragile ball of fur. He would feel her phantom warmth seeping to his skin. 

Her heat and her feathery touches that makes him melt gently... Her warm voice as she touch the hidden corners of his heart. 

Like the stars in night who envelops its light to him gently... 

He felt like his heart his torn, for even him who knew her the longest had forgotten her. 

The emptiness on his shoulders, his path with no ends and he loss her.

"So who is that person that you've forgotten then?" A voice asked him out of nowhere. 

The sunrays embraced his skin and his eyes opened widely. She was there at his side yet his hand couldn't reach her. She sat next to him, in the sandy ground at the harsh sunlight at the soft cool waves that clashes at their bare feets. 

"You... You are the one that I have been looking for, in my entire life..." He cried out as her hands gently caress his hair.

"Wanna walk with me? Look this place is beautiful..." She helped him stood up and the colors flowed into his vision, the sunrays, the white sand, the blue sea and the vast sky. 

They walked side by side, and she would tell him stories. 

"Remember when we used to ran after school? It was our training regimen..." She spoke softly and his heart calmed as well. 

"Yup, and I would cheer you on as you try to chase me." He chuckled at the memory, the shrubs that taints their shoes, the sweaty tracksuits and when they seat on the grass letting the afternoon breeze cool them down. 

He would close his eyes and he would always feel that pang of coldness at his cheeks or at his neck as she stick the cold soda on his skin and he would hiss at her antics. 

Popping the can and they would both sigh at the taste that touches the bundles of their tongue. Letting the cool drink down into their guts as he watch her close her eyes and relax into the background. 

His heart fluttering for he admired her. 

He admired her for she understood him. In the darkest time of his life, she was there to give him a shoulder to lean on. 

She would always give him drinks, eat with him, play games with him, watch the movies and she would always wait for him at the end of his track and she would welcome him with praises at the end. 

She is his goal, and his guiding light. 

The night she cried that he happened to see as crystalline tears fell from her eyes, he happened to see on her opened window after taking a bath. 

He was going to run to her side to console her however, he hesitated. His heart sunk and he realized that he loved her after all, and also the fact that she was never his. When he saw how she kissed Akechi, he run away. 

Then the air between them got cold and he avoided her, avoided her eye contact and had even swatted her hand away when she reached him. 

But he couldn't bring himself to hug her even when he saw her dejected eyes and tears fell. 

"I see... I'm sorry... I'll go now." She walked off slowly her figure fading into the busy streets in the middle of the thousand lights. 

That was the last time he had seen her completely. 

Then she lost herself as she grew desperate, her eyes contemplative, and the hesitation in her voice as they gave up on the heist. 

All of these memories, the regrets run into his mind. Muddling his thoughts and then her voice cleared his troubles. 

Like the calm sea that she always was, "Isn't it beautiful?" Her eyes peering into the sunrise and the morning star appears.

"Of course, wherever I end up to it will always be beautiful as long as you're there, Rin.." He smiled and the tears fell and his voice trembled at speaking her name. 

Her forgotten name that he had been looking for at the corner of his memories.

He reached for her as he kicked the sand behind him, only losing her as he try to wrap his arms to her figure. 

Then he forgot her name, their memories, her image, her face... But what remained was the pain of losing her. 

Ryuji laughed dryly as he realized no matter how fast his legs are, no matter what marathon he might won, the star and the sea would never meet. 

Yet he still vowed with his whole heart on that moment on the rising sun before he return into the dreamlike world. 

"I will use every strength in these legs of mine..

Just so I could chase after the never lasting you...

So that in our next eternity, I can finally be with you.." 

He closed his eyes and tears fell... 

'See you later, my eternity...' 

Chapter Text

The thief who stole your life who can't even return it...

The painter who can't paint you...

The runner who can't even reach you...

Only I can have you after all.

---
Maruki closed his door as he concentrated his persona prowess, he had been busy for quite a while keeping those unintended rising memories in check. 

For he can't let them have her after all. 

For him they never deserved her, probably he also did not but that is a different case. 

For he could have this much in exchange of being the messiah, doesn't he? 

Then his glasses reflected a dangerous glim as his eyes had a flaming glow. He licked his lips in anticipation, smirking evilly at his intentions. 

Everything had went well, and she is still on that deep slumber. 

Obsidian eyes never to open, long eyelashes that had stayed in place, cold fingers, long ebony hair. 

For she had become his doll, that he would always cherish. 

He could still remember the days they had spent together, at first he had thought that she had reminded him of Rumi but that's not the case there. 

She was different, she shined in all ways that is better than his previous lover. Better than any person he had met. 

She is patient as she listened to his research adding her frequent well spoken comments on the matter, she remembered the details he thought she won't, her eyes were clear filled with understanding and a tender warmth was on her hands when their fingers brush. 

Her voice was lovely filled with a soft tune, like an ocean whisper. Her confident poise that was rich in light. Her intellect as she handle everything rationally. Then her kindness as she enact her self-righteousness. 

She is courageous he noticed, when she was prepared to risk her life for the people she did not know. Cold to her enemies and kind to her company. She never judged to quickly and her judgement is always correct. 

She was decisive and selfless at the same time. They were just supposed to be a councilor and a student who helped each other in mutual benefits, but who wouldn't help but to open up to her. 

Her dainty smile as she prop a loli on her strawberry lips, her cheery voice as she greet him how she calls his name with a lace of sweetness 'Maruki-sensei', how she understood him and had symphatize for him as her clear eyes cry as she heard his story. 

"Maruki-sensei, did you had a hard time?" She asked softly as her lips quiver ever so slightly and her voice trembled. 

He couldn't lie to her, and his mouth had let out, "I used to but I... I think I am doing well now, I even have a sweet student who cries for me."

For he had seen many patients cry at him, but never for him. 

"Is that so?" Her fingers trying to wipe her tears but it didn't stop. 

She placed her hands at his, and it felt oddly fuzzy... Her warmth seeping to his skin and blood rushed to his face and he felt his breathing become short. 

His heart pounding at her kind smile at those understanding clear eyes. 

"If you ever do need someone to talk to... I'll listen to you wholeheartedly! Rest assured, Maruki-sensei." She smiled her cheeks forming a rosy blush and light seems to radiate from her. 

He felt his face heat up and his heart pound. 

"Are you sick? You look quite red..." She muttered worriedly. 

He shook his head as he try his best to calm down. 

To mask the sown seeds of greed that sprouted at his chest. 

When she waved goodbye on him, his eyes had an animalistic glow that he surely does not wish to show. 

For he can't make a single mistake this time, he'll anticipately wait for a moment to strike. Like a predator waiting for its prey. 

So he'll bear with this, at her soft smiles to strangers, at the discrimination of the other students to her, at how her male 'friends' would smile to her, at how she is fond to how she tells him about her 'friend' Goro and he will tolerate this for she is worth the wait. 

The more you are patient, the longer you get to savor its taste. The more she'll mature then at her darkest moments he will become the beacon she'll run to. 

While he plays that waiting game at least he can get to enjoy a daily life with her. How she runs to him as she try to cover him from the rain, how she would water the plants with Okumara Haru, how her sweat would glisten at her face as she run to him, he could observe her. Coverse with her and spend her time simply with him. 

Then when she loses her strength, he can monopolize her completely. 

Fate was in his favor as he got the power to twist reality... 

How she would try to stop him, and he watch as she desperately hold herself together even when she slowly crumbles. 

As her light glows dim, like how quickly fireflies dies. Her clear eyes filled with grief and she desperately tries her own way to save them all. 

But how could she hold herself when she is only alone?

In the first place she was barely holding it all together, with her 'friends.' 

They were happy in that world and she couldn't live that life she had once dreamt. 

The man she loves who died for them was alive again and instead of being happy with her, he took more from her.... He expected her to sacrifice him. 

The man who knew her pain, and had seen all her facial expressions reading them like sentences. Had simply stood at the side watching her fall into despair. 

Her last sliver of hope, her dearest longest friend Ryuji who slapped her hand away. Who became cold to her without a clear reason at all... 

She who had lost everything, found something again, only to lose it once more. 

The pain she had once forgotten, the pain she tried to forget came back to her stabbing her, shattering her like glass.. 

She lost all hope as she never plugged her phone into the charger on the night before the deadline.

She forsake the bonds she had made, and she no longer wanted to even make a decision nor think at all... 

Then they met again at her sleep, Maruki acted as if he hadn't expected this. 

"If even the action to make a decision makes you suffer, then I shall let you rest." He couldn't help the excitement on his voice to come out, the blood rush into his veins and his malicious smile. 

Then he stood as he approached her, whispering to her ears as he softly cupped her wet cheeks. 

"Pleasant dreams, Rin... In days, in years and for the rest of your life." He hid his smirk and she collapsed into his arms. 

He maniacally laughed as he won over her, he had the complete control, Amamiya Rin for his and him only. 

He cupped her cheeks as he wipe those tears clean. Nuzzling his nose at that pale neck that had the scent of flowers and soap. Soft lips that he explored as they had all the time in the world. 

Clothes discarded into the floor, letting his hand explore her soft supple breast and her milky skin at his gloved hands. The night was young and their time was unstoppable as he did more unspeakable things to her. 

Then back to the present, as he supplied illusions to her past friends. As they remembered her like they used to, the bright star that she is but he never knew Akechi Goro would make it to his hidden domain. 

So he let Akechi remember to torment him but of course, not everything should be remembered. Just enough to torment the poor rising star that he was as he stole her life. 

He made it so that Akechi who never treasured her correctly, will carry the burden of killing her. 

Then Maruki raised her body like she was porcelain, holding her hand trimming those long nails that might scratch him, unbuttoning her clothes as he wiped her body clean, tying her hair into that ponytail she always did as she rest her head into the space of his neck. 

Hearing her soft whimpers as she slept, her calm heartbeat against his chest. 

Then he held her wrist and she whimpered at his strong grip. He whispered... 

"The thief who stole your life who can't even return it...

The painter who can't paint you...

The runner who can't even reach you...

Only I can have you after all." 

He chuckled softly as he kissed her cheeks.

Then her lips formed a small smile, maybe she is having a nice dream.

He kissed her deeply and he discarded his clothes onto the floor.

He gently caressed her hair, as he kissed her forehead. 

"Pleasant dreams, my lovely Rin."