Chapter Text
The rain was heavier than she had expected. It came down in sheets, a glimmer in the air like crinkled metal as it soaked everything. Ren practically threw herself under an awning, hands slamming against the marble of a clothing shop: safe! She shook the water off of her hands, then tried to brush off her clothes, which were so thoroughly drenched that they couldn’t absorb any more water which left the offending droplets to sit on top. She’d have to do better about checking the weather report out here in Tokyo because rain where she grew up and rain out here meant two different things.
“Ugh! Oh my God…!” Came an offended squeak as Ren started to ring out her hair, another girl ducking underneath the same awning she’d taken shelter below. She started brushing her fancy looking jacket off, continuing with, “This rain is terrible, isn’t it?” before she pulled her hood down.
Her thick hair fell out from her hood: gorgeous, shiny, soft looking blonde waves that sat in twin tails. It was the kind of soft the memory foam mattress place she passed all the time to her old school peddled as cloud like. It was elusive and yet wholly real. Hair like that should melt like cotton candy in rain like this. The moisture on her clear skin looked like a glimmering mist, like she’d come out of a shower commercial for some fancy product Ren would have never seen on the shelves of her small little hometown despite always getting the glitzy commercials for them. Her her figure was slim, the kind she was told to strive for her entire life. Her nails were simple oval shapes with a glossy coat, all the same length which meant she might be wearing acrylics. Her eyes weren’t almond shaped the way she’d been expecting and were instead a soft blue like sea mist.
This girl was beautiful.
And Ren realized she’d asked her a question. The rain, right. She nodded, twisting her long, frizzy hair a little too hard. The sound of the water drenching the sacred dry ground was lost in the downpour.
“The fact they expect us to go to school in this is crazy!” she complained, with a laugh that was probably meant to inspire comrade. Us—Ren realized she was also wearing a Shujin uniform, but she’d put on rose red leggings along with her jacket. Ren knew better than to try anything with her own uniform, despite desperately wanting to wear plain black leggings. The last thing she wanted was for them to call her new guardian and tell him she wasn’t dressing appropriately.
The girl looked out to the torrential rain, observing with with a forlorn grace about her that made Ren feel like she was intruding despite being there first. She turned her attention to her own reflection in the shop window. Her bangs were ruined and she’d look like a sheep when they dried now, but she tried her best to fix them, to come off as a little more presentable given her unexpected company.
She glanced over at her again, adoring and self-conscious both wrapped up into one unruly little package. Maybe she should have picked a dingier store to hide under. A convince store would have suited her more.
She decided to pull her phone out from her bag, first to make sure her bag held up even a little against the rain, and then also to give herself something to idle with. Her hair dripped a water droplet onto her screen she wiped away. That app was back again and had opened itself in her bag. She should delete it again and tell Sojiro the rain was really bad and she might be late. Would he be mad? He might lecture her, tell her that she needs to plan better for these sorts of things and it was her own fault—
“Good morning. You want me to give you a ride to school? You’re going to be late.”
Ren looked over her shoulder to the white car and a man in a blue track suit. He was so square—his nose, his jaw, his shoulders.
“Um, sure, thank you,” the gorgeous girl agreed, her voice light and as polite as fine silk. This wasn’t at all the tone she’d used with Ren. It made her wonder if she wasn't worthy of it. The girl made her way over to the car, with its fancy looking interior.
“Do you need a lift too?”
She tensed, she held her phone closer to her chest. She didn’t know who this was. A faculty member? This girl’s relative? A stranger? She shouldn’t get into cars with strange men—Sojiro would be even more mad if she did that.
“Hm, I don’t recognize you…I’m Suguru Kamoshida, the gym teacher,” he introduced as the gorgeous girl got in the passenger seat and hooked her seatbelt. The rain threatened to drip into the car from the roof.
Ren ducked her head down in acknowledgement, still not turning around to face him properly, staring like a doe. She was soaked compared to the other girl, which meant she'd ruin his seats. The gorgeous girl was at least much more careful about the rain than Ren had been and had a hoodie.
“So do you also need a ride?” he offered again.
She swallowed down a dry lump in her throat. She should say no and thank him anyway. She should be polite. She needed to keep her head down and to be polite. Open her mouth. Say thank you. Say it, stupid.
A boy ran up with a briefcase over his head.
“Ah, pardon me!” he apologized as he lowered his briefcase, an umbrella turned inside out rattling in his hand. It took her a moment to realize he was either apologizing because he was intruding or because he might have gotten her a little wet—not like it mattered. He looked to the car, then to her. His eyes flickered down in a way she was unfortunately familiar with before coming back up to her face. Their eyes met and he immediately looked away.
“It feels bad to leave a female student out here in the rain like this,” the teacher insisted. “Come on, before the inside of my car floods,” he chuckled.
“Oh, are you a Shujin student?” the boy asked. “I’m actually about make an attempt to buy a collapsible umbrella from a nearby shop since my current one broke in the middle of my walk. I was trying to arrive early to where I needed to be, but it’s a personal endeavor —which means I can afford to be a little late and backtrack to bring you one as well if you’d like,” he offered.
Her shoulders relaxed at the offer. Her eyes flickered back to the teacher and the other Shujin student. She waved to the car.
“Okay, if you insist. Just make sure you’re not late, alright?” the teacher insisted, Ren nodding.
The window rolled up. Ren caught the gorgeous girl looking down at her lap. The car drove away. The boy set down his broken umbrella and briefcase.
“Forgive me, I hope I didn’t come off as a pervert a moment ago,” he apologized, unbuttoning his brown uniform jacket. The fact he was removing his clothes and talking about being a pervert out of no where made her lean a little bit away from him.
His white button up underneath seemed mostly dry and she wondered for a moment if he was going to start taking that off too. An exhibitionist? They weren't just coat flashing old men, but boys around her age too?
But instead, he offered his jacket to her, Ren looking down at it, then up at him before tipping her head in confusion. What was this guy’s deal? A pervert offering her his jacket? She had gotten lost somewhere.
He stared at her in return, the rain shushing everything around them. The longer he stood there with his jacket held out, the more he seemed confused.
“I’m sorry, it might be a bit presumptuous of me to offer, but did you have another jacket in your bag, or…?”
She was very, very lost. He kept his eyes on her face, but pointed with his free hand to her chest.
“I presumed that was why you didn’t want to get into his car…?”
She looked down, eyebrows furrowed—then they raised up to her hairline and her face turned beet red. She was wearing her uniform. Her skirt, her shoes, black socks up to her knees, and her button up. Her button up which had gone see through in the rain. Her entire bra was visible. White, simple, probably in need of a wash if she was being entirely honest and probably in need of a replacement if a boy was going to see it.
She snatched up the boy’s jacket immediately, too mortified to process whatever nice cologne was on it. She put it on backwards, bag still on her shoulder and everything. No wonder they had made such a big deal about replacing her jacket when it didn’t fit the first time she tried it on. Her old school’s uniforms didn’t turn into cellophane in the rain! What kind of cheap city school was she being forced to go to?
The boy busied himself with rolling his sleeves up like a proper business man. He picked up his briefcase staring at everything but her. He was polite—it didn’t stop the fact she was so mortified it pushed her to the verge of tears. She wondered if she had been flat chested if this wouldn’t suck as much.
One moment she was ten, able to play with mud and dirt with the boys, the next she was eleven and everything she ate went to her hips and her skirts felt too short without leggings. The moment after that she was twelve and it sat at her chest, the next further from that she was thirteen and was the envy of every weed within the vicinity with how quickly she shot up.
Fat. It was fat that padded her thighs, her tits, her lips—that’s what boys said anyway. Clothing labels said plus sized. Nicer girls said no, no, she wasn’t fat, just curvy. It didn’t matter. Some random boy had seen her fat tits in her bra and she was going to die about it. It was always her stupid tits. They were why she was out here to begin with. This wasn’t fair. She wanted to curl up a die about it. Maybe juvie would be easier—at least it would be all girls.
“Are you alright to wait here for a moment?” he asked her, Ren trying very hard not to breathe and to make herself smaller. It didn’t work. It never did. She was too tall. But the boy trying to peer around at her face was taller somehow, which was nice in helping her feel smaller. Boys usually weren’t taller than her anymore.
She nodded.
“I will actually be back with two umbrellas so, please don’t go running off with my jacket?” he asked with a soft laugh, like it was a joke and some laugh track from old TV shows should play.
She nodded again, her jaw full of tense rubber bands that threatened to snap inside of her mouth and fill it with blood if she dared to open it.
She heard footsteps out into puddles of rain, and then he was gone.
She ducked her face down into his jacket, her reflection in the store window copying her. She looked up from her thick lashes, staring at the ridiculous girl in the mirror. Would Sojiro be mad at her if she just went home today? If she started tomorrow, or maybe later? But then she’d have to tell him why she was back.
She crouched down, wrapping an arm around her head. She wasn’t in a position to act spoiled. She was going to be late and they were going to yell at her. But the boy was going to get her an umbrella. And then what? His uniform wasn’t the one from Shujin, which meant he couldn’t come in. She’d have to give it back, right? Then walk past however many other students until she found her homeroom teacher to tell her she was here, she just needed her gym uniform and would be right back. She was here. Please don’t be upset she was here, soaked in front of a fancy store display in a stranger’s uniform jacket because everyone could see her damn bra.
She wondered if there were poorly made uniforms that were supposed to be sent back, but they kept them and gave her one on purpose as a delayed punishment. The terrible delinquent girl. She didn’t even look cool like the sukeban girls from the 80s, she looked like some soggy mouse. She was just some spoiled brat in comparison, with her soft hands that kept running through her ratty hair and pouty bottom lip that wouldn’t stop quivering and her lashes that were so long they looked fake catching her tears the size of pearls.
Juvie may as well be— “—locking me up in a castle tower…” she half mumbled, gripping her phone tightly. She thought it made a noise under the rush of rain, but she didn’t check it. Sojiro might have asked if she made it to school yet. She couldn’t bear to answer him. She just hid there, crouched in public like some weirdo.
“I’m back!” the boy announced, out of breath. She looked over her shoulder to see a translucent umbrella being pelted with rain. Great. More clear things. “Are you alright? You didn’t hurt yourself while I was away, did you?”
She looked up at him, blinking away tears. She hoped she was at least still wet enough to blame it on the rain. She sniffed and stood up, the boy offering her a second umbrella. She looked down at the mess she was in then back to the umbrella and her eyes welled up again. He smiled softly, collapsing his umbrella before coming back under the awning with her.
“I understand. Here, I’ll stand guard if you want to adjust my jacket to wear it properly and get your bag out from underneath it. Then I can walk you to your school. I’m sure if you speak to a female faculty member, she’ll be able to help you and then bring it out to me whenever you’re settled. I don’t mind waiting. And it doesn’t work out that way, then I guess that’s just no good deed going unpunished and I’ll have to take it on the chin, won’t I?”
She stared at him. Bourbon and vanilla. That’s what most of what she got from cologne that was on his jacket. Something underneath it was earthy too, but she couldn’t place it. It was nice. It felt more suited to winter, but the rain was cold enough to make it acceptable.
She sniffed, nodded, wiped at her right eye. He turned around and she stared at his back for a moment. His shirt was wet. He had been out of breath. He’d ran back with that umbrella for her. How unlucky to end up in a situation like this; how lucky to find someone nice enough to make it more bearable.
She removed his jacket, letting her cloth bag drop onto the ground with a heavy thump as she removed it. She tossed her phone into it, then put his jacket back on properly to try to button it up the best she could. When she was done she grabbed her bag and fidgeted with both of the straps. She looked at his back again, his rolled up sleeves, the curling ends of his wet hair. He held the dry, closed umbrella in his left hand and the wet one was hanging by the handle in his right.
She should thank him. She should open her mouth and say thank you. She tried—it felt like a piano wire had snapped in the soft palate of the roof of her mouth as punishment for talking to herself earlier. She felt like the world would start spinning faster to try to flick her off of it like a bug. She stood next to him and looked up at him through her hair.
“Ah, all set?”
She nodded. He handed her the dry umbrella, which she opened.
“Shall we?”
She nodded again, but he didn’t make a move to open his umbrella back up just yet.
“You don’t say very much, do you?”
She shook her head, feeling guilty, so she didn’t look him in the eyes. She hadn’t thanked him. Thank him, dummy. Stop being difficult and just say it. Two words—one if she was feeling overly casual.
Instead, however, he just smiled. “Don’t worry, I don’t mean it as an insult. I’m used to being around far too many people who feel the urge to fill the silence with superficial questions or idle, cyclical chatter, so this is actually a welcomed change of pace.” He opened his umbrella and stepped out from under the awning, Ren following after him.
Sure enough, if she disregarded the way the rain shushed everything consistently, the thicker spray of water dripping from gutters or car parking overhangs, and the drainage sewers, the entire walk was done in silence.
The boy paused, pulling his phone out of his back pocket. “Oh, one moment. Your school is just around the corner from where we are now, correct? I just need to take this call, but I’ll be by the gate afterwards.” He smiled at her, brown eyes that looked like amber cooked down into caramel narrowing at her as he held his phone up to his ear and turned away.
Oh. He was cute. She hadn’t noticed that yet. She made her way through the alleyway, a quicker shortcut they'd taken to make sure she’d still be there on time. She paused. She frowned.
A castle?
Was this some other thing intent on throwing her off today? This was where Shujin had been when she’d come to speak with the principal and her homeroom teacher the other day, wasn’t it? The sign on it said it was Shujin. Was it a Tokyo thing? A festival thing? An event? But even so, this felt excessive, didn’t it? Or maybe that was where all of the budget had gone and why her shirt was like this in the first place.
She took a tentative step closer, then another, the wood sounding real under her feet, the cobblestone making her shoes click. The rain had stopped. She closed her umbrella, it trailing droplets after her. This didn’t feel right. The boy seemed to at least know where her school was which soothed her worry about being in the wrong place. But the idea of being even more of a bother, of being such a country bumpkin that she didn’t even have the wherewithal to recognize prop scenery so she went back just felt absurd.
One of the large wooden doors slowly started to open, creaking under its own weight—
“Hey! Miss umbrella, come here! Get away from there, now!”
Miss umbrella? Her? She turned, the boy from earlier bolting across the drawbridge towards her and throwing his own umbrella into the moat—moat? A real moat—and his clothes burned like blue hellfire peeling through paper as he reached for her. Dark leather gloved hands were covered in white silk, his button up replaced with regal attire, his loafers replaced with black dress shoes. The most startling thing was when the fire burned away the air in front of his face to reveal a red beak as long as a humming bird’s.
She felt the weightlessness of her feet being lifted off of the ground before she felt the hands hoisting her up. Armored hands, accompanied by heavy metal clattering.
“Well, well. Looks like the girl desires to see lord Kamoshida after all!”
Armor. Suits of armor…and they appeared out of deep crevices and shadows behind the boy. She opened her mouth—her useless, just for show, stupid mouth—and didn’t make a single noise to warn the boy dressed like a prince before he was hit over the head with the hilt of a sword so hard his head bounced off of the cobblestone floor.
“You however, are an unwelcomed visitor who’ll be put in the dungeon until the king personally comes to dole out your punishment.”
The knights hoisted the boy up roughly by his arms, his eyes roaming unfocused in Ren’s generalized direction before his head dropped forward and lolled to the side. His feet were dragged across the ground, his shiny shoes scuffed as they skidded behind him.
Ren hated when she couldn’t breathe. Her chest always heaved too much. She always felt like her blood was too loud in her ears to hear anything else. Her vision always turned into a vignette. It was because she couldn’t open her mouth. This was all her fault again.