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Cats are independent creatures; that he knows well enough. They like to spend time outdoors, exploring and roaming or simply napping under the warm sunlight on a roof or in a patch of flowers. It’s not uncommon for Morgana to be gone for long periods of time. The first few times Ren had been worried, but his pet always found its way back regardless of how many hours had passed.
Recently, and by that he means around a year or so, Morgana has spent some nights away from home. Sometimes, Ren doesn’t even see him leaving or returning, either too early in the morning or too late at night to spot him slipping through the pet door. Not even Sojiro, who wakes up early to leave for work, ever saw Morgana leave.
Another thing that has caught his attention is that Morgana has gotten fat. Once Ren noticed his cat wasn’t as lithe anymore, but a rather round tuxedo cat, he started entertaining the idea that something was amiss.
But no matter how hard he tried to spot his cat fleeing their house to catch him red handed, Ren could never quite accomplish it. He came close to victory many times, but Morgana was much faster even big as he is now, or something would always draw Ren’s attention away for long enough to allow his cat the chance to disappear into the street.
Futaba offered to install cameras around the house to track his movements, but Ren didn’t want to trouble her over it. Wherever he was going, Morgana was being treated well, given the new circumference of his stomach. Besides, the fun was in catching the cat himself.
It’s all harmless curiosity, really. At this point, Ren is more intrigued than he is worried.
There comes a day when he is raking dead leaves off their front yard and enjoying the mild autumn weather, and Morgana comes zipping through the pet door in a rush unlike any other. Ren stands there dumbfounded, not recalling having ever seen his cat leaving in a hurry like this before. Rare occasions when he wants to play aside, Morgana is lazy in overall, sleeping all day long wherever he goes.
The cat slips through the rose bushes between their yard and their neighbor’s, and Ren drops the rake to follow the cat, determined to uncover his secrets after many weeks of pondering.
Ever since they came to this house, the left portion of their yard is separated from their neighbors' by a row of tall, wide bushes which bloom the largest carmine roses Ren has ever seen in his life. In the twelve months they have been living here, Ren has never caught a glimpse of his neighbors, though Sojiro has shared a few words with them on occasion and has remarked that their daughter is very polite and sweet.
He always admires the roses on their side of the yard, but never trims any of them for whatever reason. Not even when Sojiro says he should take his new date something to show he’s interested, when he’s actually not .
Past the bushes, Morgana meows loudly and Ren quickens his steps so he won’t miss his cat. “My darling boy!” Mindful of the thorns, Ren pushes the bushes aside and sticks his head through the foliage. “What ever are you doing over there?”
A shriek is the only response he gets before he’s doused in the face with water, sputtering as it jostles his glasses and makes it hard to breathe. Morgana hisses in displeasure, but Ren can barely open his eyes, let alone spot his cat running away from the cold water spouting from a hose. Only his hearing picks up a stream of apologies as the stream is directed elsewhere and eventually shut off.
In his surprise, Ren had released the bush and a thorn nicked his cheek. It’s the least of his worries, he thinks as he removes his glasses to wipe his eyes, and then comes face to face with one of his neighbors, a girl around his age with blonde, luscious hair tied in twintails.
Ren spots his cat from his peripheral vision, slipping into her house through the ajar door. “What are you doing?”
“I’m...” He turns back to the girl, as red in the face as her crop top and flip flops. “...Watering my roses? You?”
He blinks at her, feeling stupid all of sudden. “No, I mean- Morgana!” He calls out to the cat and, as expected, gets ignored.
“So that’s his name,” she muses and drops the hose to the ground. “I didn’t know he was yours.”
“I don’t think he knows that either,” Ren mumbles, narrowing his eyes at the door, like he knows Morgana is just beyond it and snickering at the scene he’s caused, if he could snicker in the first place.
The girl lets out a peal of laughter that she quickly muffles with a hand to her mouth, shoulders shaking in silent mirth. Despite his soaked state, Ren finds himself smiling a bit. “I thought he was just an overly friendly stray.”
“Trust me, Morgana isn’t what you would call a friendly cat.” It had taken him a while to warm up to Ren once he was brought home, after many days of being hissed at and having his hand scratched by sharp claws at every turn.
“He seems friendly enough,” she says with a frown and a slight pout of her lips. “Sometimes he will even sleep on my pillow.”
Ren lifts an eyebrow at her statement. “You let a stray cat sleep on your bed?”
“W-Well.” Her cheeks become a rosy shade of red. “He isn’t actually a stray now, is he?”
“Yeah, but you didn’t know that.”
Her whole face becomes crimson much like her roses. He feels bad, but at the same time, not really. As it turns out, she’s adorable when she’s flustered.
The girls clears her throat and turns around on the balls of her feet. “I’ll get him for you.” Ren watches her go, still stuck between the rose bushes, the cut on his cheek stinging a little as he grins at her back.
He had thought he would never see her again after their embarrassing, slightly chaotic first meeting, that the both of them would be too busy avoiding each other out of mortification, but she doesn’t disappear and he’s very pleased with that.
Ann Takamaki moved from Finland to Japan around six years ago. Her first first year of high school was spent in Shujin, the school he’s enrolled in since last year, and then later moved to Kosei High School with her best friend for reasons undisclosed.
Ren often wonders what his school days would have been like if she were a fellow classmate, but judging from Ryuji’s obvious disgust in their gym teacher since day one and the scandal that followed Kamoshida’s unmasking, Ren is glad she changed schools and didn’t get herself caught up in that.
Though now with this knowledge, he thinks back to the early, nasty rumors of a foreign students having relations with kamoshida and wonders…
He tries not to think about the it too much. Ann seems happy watering her flower bushes or just lingering in her garden on the free hours she has between one photoshoot and another. She’s told him about her family, her fashion designer parents and the hobby-turned-career as a model, having started at an early age as a substitute in one of their runway shows. His own life wasn’t as interesting, but she didn’t seem bored as he told her about his mundane life in his hometown up north from Tokyo.
“What brought you here?” She asks him one day, both sitting on his yard as the dipping sun makes the rose bushes cast a shade on them.
Ren thinks of a dark street, a drunk man and a struggling woman, and feels that same old feeling of unfairness clinging to him. “A misunderstanding,” is all he says, and Ann doesn’t press for details. He should tell her, he thinks, but he’s tired of how people react to the word probation .
He will tell her, he promises himself, and when he does, Ann shares the same feeling of injustice that has been following him around for the past year and a half. And worse, she confirms his speculations and shares her own experiences studying in Shujin and the abuse she put up with to protect her best friend until they both transferred schools.
From there on, Ren has a new friend whom he can trust. He’s made his fair share over the course of the months studying in Shujin, but Ann becomes one of his closest friends in a short period of time. It’s not unusual for either of them to stick their head through the rose bushes to greet one another, and they have spent many evenings together watching the sky change colors in the company of Morgana and, sometimes, Futaba.
On occasions, both of their friend groups meet up for an afternoon in the arcade or a homemade hotpot in Ren’s room in the attic. Yusuke is eccentric and Hifumi is quiet, but when they are together, they become almost too chaotic for Makoto to handle. Shiho and Ryuji were classmates long ago and reconect instantly, and Haru and Ann find common interest: dancing.
He catches her looking at him from across the attic and smiles, the curve of his lips widening when she waves at him before turning back to her- their friends.
Ren finds a new part-time job in a flower shop in the underground mall. Not that his previous jobs in the local market or the meat bowl place were bad, but sometimes his evenings were too busy and rushed that he barely had the energy to shower when he got back home. So a flower shop seems like the perfect place to stay for now, quiet and not as fast-paced. He dons the apron and stands at the front of the store, people-watching.
Like clockwork, Ann appears in the underground mall on the same days at the same time, looking through racks of clothing and jewelry on display. Sometimes, she takes a little something with her, like a new scarf or hair accessories, but most of the time she spends her money on food to eat whilst she roams.
She doesn’t seem to have noticed him yet, and that’s fine with him. He finds that he likes watching her whenever the chance presents itself, whether she is celebrating the first place she got in a racing game or simply petting Morgana in their yard.
Ren usually can’t do that much when their groups meet, because all of the girls except for her are extremely perceptive and he’s already received many, many eager texts about it. Especially from Shiho.
He likes her, as Makoto puts it. Fancies her, as Haru once said. Has a crush on her, as Shiho and Hifumi have said on one too many different occasions. Even Yusuke fixed him with a very serious look and asked if he had romantic feelings for Takamaki-san .
And yeah, all of that is true, but as much as Shiho swears on her favorite game or dish that Ann likes him too , Ren isn’t going to risk ruining their friendship until he sees these signs with his own eyes.
For now, he watches her from within the flower shop as he puts together colorful arrangements.
November 12th comes around, and Ann’s friends from Kosei arrange a party in her house that weekend. Ren and his friends (and Morgana) are invited, and they hook up his old video game console to the big TV in her living room and spend most of the night playing racing and fighting games.
Ann steps out to her yard at some point to accept a call from her parents, who are currently on a trip to promote their newest collection. Ren waits a while before following her out, figuring that this is going to be the best opportunity he will have to deliver her gift. He knows his exit hasn’t gone unnoticed, and can feel the weight of stares through the windows as he steps onto the grass and walks to the rose bushes where she is fiddling with the green leaves and wishing her parents a good day before hanging up.
Without preamble, Ren gives her a tiny box, watching as she unwraps it with excitement and pulls out a gold plated necklace from within. He spent many weeks looking at it in the jewelry store in the underground mall, especially after Ann herself had expressed interest in it when they were sharing a cup of coffee in his kitchen a while ago.
It’s a simple chain with a heart shaped pendant made of a delicately cut red crystal. He doubts it’s a ruby or some other precious gem, but she had taken a liking to it and it suits her well enough.
Pink colors her cheeks as she smiles at him, the flowery scent of her perfume and shampoo filling his lungs as he wraps his arms around her to return the grateful hug she gives. Ann turns around and moves her blonde hair out of the way, revealing the pale skin of the nape of her neck, and holds her breath as he puts the necklace in place.
Experimentally, he runs his thumb on her skin and watches it prickle with bumps, her frame quivering with a shiver she can’t suppress. Ren smiles to himself.
It’s early April and the cherry trees are in full bloom. Inokashira Park is packed with people dressed for hanami , blankets laid over the vibrant green grass and bento boxes filled with fragrant snacks placed at the center for the enjoyment of the group.
Ann stands from where she’d been sitting, running a hand over the red flowery fabric of her yukata to smooth out the wrinkles. “I’m going to buy some candied fruits. Anyone wanna come with me?”
The group, even Shiho, declines the invite, and so Ren isn’t going to let this chance slip by. “I’ll go with you.”
He walks close to her side, close enough that their hands brush a few times before her fingers curl around the sleeve of his plain blue yukata. Ann has flower pins decorating her hair, a mix of red and pink blooms that complement a larger yellow flower. She talks animatedly as she pulls him along towards the food stalls, and he watches her lips a little too intently.
Ren pays for two sticks of candied strawberries and takes her closer to the fenced area by the river so she can savor her sweets away from the throng of people.
“You have a...” She trails off, reaching up to pluck a solitary pink petal that had been clinging to his hair. Ann pulls her hand back, and the speed in which he quickly catches her wrist in a loose hold that has her eyes widening. “Ren?”
Her lips taste of sugar, as expected. Soft and sticky too, and he wants to suck on them, flick his tongue against the sweetness but that’s much too soon. She’s like a deer caught in the headlights when he pulls back, blinking owlishly at him, cheeks tinged a deep shade of pink. Her half eaten sweets fell from her lax grip at some point, the red fruits covered in grass and dirt.
Ren carefully moves them aside with his foot. “I’ll get you another one,” he promises, pulling her closer by the arm he wraps around her waist. Ann, now recuperated from the shock of a sudden kiss, grips his shoulders tight and rises up on her tiptoes to properly return his affection when he lowers his head to hers again.
This moment is a long time coming, but Ren would be lying if he said he didn’t postpone it to make it perfect for her. Kissing under cherry blossoms is like a scene out of one of the many cheesy rom-coms he watched with her over the past months, and she’s always expressed her desire on doing romantic things with her future partner.
This is a good start for their relationship, and he has more romantic surprises for her up his sleeve.