Chapter Text
Present day:
Ren stood with the rest of the Big Five behind Asano as their leader spoke with the principal about current matters. His hands were shoved into his pockets and he let his attention drift in and out of the conversation, knowing he wasn't needed for this one.
He was thankful that, despite his title as secretary of the Student Council, he wasn’t normally needed in their monthly debriefings with the principal. His eyes drifted over to his friend and narrowed when he saw how tense his shoulders were getting. Asano was always at least a little on-edge when talking to his father, but if it was this bad, that meant…
“-And I do expect better results from you soon, Asano-kun. Another failure wouldn't suit the school’s top student.” The man’s smile was saccharinely sweet. “Don't you agree?”
Exactly as Ren thought. It meant that the principal was being openly cruel to his son.
Wonderful.
Asano’s spine was ramrod straight, but he kept his voice and expression deceptively light. “Of course, principal.” From where Ren was standing he could see Asano’s hands, deliberately folded behind his back, clench a little.
Ren really had to commend Asano’s ability to hold his temper. He knew how difficult it could be and, when it came to that skill, Asano was one of the best at it.
The man smiled wider and clapped his hands together once. “Wonderful!” he said. “Well, you may go to class now. The first bell will be ringing soon.”
As they began to make their way to the door, however, his voice called out once more, “Ah, Sakakibara-kun? Would you mind staying behind for a moment? There's something I'd like to speak to you about.”
They all froze in their tracks. Ren saw Asano shoot him a subtle but worried look, not wanting to leave him alone with his father after the pole-toppling debacle.
Ren couldn't blame him, honestly. He'd peeked into the office while the cleaning staff had still been mopping up the bloodstains. The room had looked like something from a nightmare.
With a reassuring smile, Ren did his best to ease his friend’s worries. “It’s fine. Save a seat for me in class, okay? I promise I won't be late.”
I promise I'll be fine. Was the unspoken message that they thankfully seemed to get. Asano gave him a slightly curious and hesitant nod before he led the others out of the office.
He'd likely have questions for him later.
Turning back to the principal with an easy smile, Ren asked, “So you wanted to speak with me, sir?”
“Yes,” the man began, his tone deceptively pleasant, “I did. You see Sakakibara-kun, I’ve gotten the strangest impression that you don’t like me very much.” His hands were folded calmly in his lap and there was a smile on his face, but his eyes seemed to be staring through Ren.
Ren cursed internally, careful to keep his posture and expression unchanged. What gave him away? He’d been friends with Asano for years now, so what did he do to finally tip the man off…?
Well, now wasn’t the time to worry about where he slipped up.
“That is strange, sir.” Ren replied, his tone equally cheerful. “After all, what on earth could I possibly have against you?”
The principal raised an eyebrow and chuckled, taking the pointedly polite remark as the jab to his parenting skills the way he knew it was intended. “What indeed…?” he questioned lightly. “Well, that was all I wished to discuss. You may leave.” His eyes closed affably as he smiled at his student.
Not trusting him but eager to leave, Ren turned on his heel and began walking towards the door.
Which soon proved to be a mistake as, body reacting almost on instinct alone, Ren whipped his head to the left just as something whizzed by at top speeds. Tracking the flying object with his eyes and having no time to think, Ren jumped to the side just as the object ricocheted off the wall and hurtled back towards him, missing him by a hair’s width before landing perfectly back in the principal’s grasp.
Adrenaline and heart both pumping at top speeds, Ren trained his eyes on the skid mark left on the wall. Now that he had enough time to mentally identify what the object was, he knew that it was a ball a little bigger than the size of his fist. And with the force and speed that it hit the wall, if it had actually hit his head the way it was aimed to…
He would have absolutely gotten a concussion. At least.
Smoothing the irritation off of his face before turning to face the principal once more, Ren adopted a politely confused expression as he asked, “Sir?”
“Just something I wanted to test.” the man replied, his tone amiable as though he hadn't just nearly removed Ren’s head. “Say, Sakakibara-kun?” he began lightly. “Your reflexes are absolutely impeccable. It's truly interesting as to how a normal student could dodge a throw like that so accurately with such little warning.” He grinned with just a few too many teeth, a clear threat underlying his words. “And I do wonder why that is.”
Ren’s eyes narrowed for just a moment. Ah, he thought, so that's what his angle is here.
Bastard.
Smiling brightly at the man, Ren’s voice turned almost sickly sweet as he replied, “Well I’m certainly lucky that I was able to!” He tilted his head a little and placed his hand on his chest, lacing his words with a threat of his own, “You threw that ball pretty hard, sir. I'd hate for you to get in trouble for harming a student, after all!”
The man’s eyes narrowed in return at that, but his smile never faltered. He chuckled in a way that was almost a parody of warmth. “Quite so. Well, I do believe that the bell will be ringing soon. Off to class with you.” With that, the man looked down and began to sign some paperwork in front of him, blatantly dismissing the other.
Happy to get away from the man, Ren turned on his heel to leave, though this time more alert to his surroundings than he was the last time. He shut the door behind him as he left, sighing soundlessly once he knew he was no longer in the principal’s sight.
He really had no clue how Asano could deal with that man daily.
He walked through the hallways to get to his class when he heard muffled crying from nearby. The hallways were already mostly empty as the students were all already in their classrooms, earlier than the first bell.
Then, down the hallway to his left, he found the origin of the sound. It was a mousy looking girl sitting against the lockers, sobbing into her hands.
He stopped and looked at her for a second. He didn't recognize her, so it was pretty likely that she was new. Silently opening his bag, he shuffled around for a while before pulling something out. It was a small container full of different colorful origami flowers.
Taking an intricate blue one out and putting the container back in his bag, he stepped forward and knelt down in front of her. “Hello.” he said, his voice soft.
The girl’s head snapped up, seemingly horrified at being seen sobbing. “...H-hello….” she said, her voice shaky from crying.
He smiled, taking in her confused expression. He offered the flower in his hands to her, her eyes growing wide as she accepted it. “No one should be left to cry alone.” he said, his voice like sweetened honey. “Especially a girl as lovely as you.”
Admiring the delicate paper flower, the girl began to absentmindedly wipe her tears away, momentarily distracted from her sadness. “Oh…” she aimed a watery smile up at him. “...Thank you.”
Before Ren could respond, the sound of the bell rang out through the hallways. Jumping up to his feet, he muttered a hurried, “Fuck, I can't be late.” Turning to look at the girl, he began to back away in preparation to bolt for his classroom. “You should head to class too so you don’t get in trouble!”
“Oh!” the girl said, hurrying to stand as well, rubbing at her face to clean it of tears. “Right, thanks!”
With a parting wave, they were both off in their own directions. Breaking the school’s ‘no running’ rule, Ren managed to make it to class just in time, slowing down just as he approached the door so it looked like he had walked instead of sprinted. Asano shot him a questioning look as he sat down, but thankfully the teacher began class before he could ask what the principal had wanted to speak to him about.
Resting his head in his hand, Ren began to plan what to tell his friend when asked.
How troublesome.
--
Ren stood at the gate after school ended, waiting with the rest of the Big Five for Asano to get out of the meeting he was called into with his father.
When their leader finally arrived, Ren’s eyes immediately focused on the stiff set of his shoulders and spine.
Ah, so the meeting didn't go well.
Asano came out of nearly every meeting with his father looking more annoyed and tense than when he went in, whether it went well or not, but it was never more obvious than when the meeting went badly. The others didn't seem to notice the signs, but Ren had known Asano the longest. He could read him better than anyone.
As they began to make their way to their houses, Ren hung back a bit and silently observed them all.
Seo was boasting loudly about something to a slightly disinterested Koyama. Araki’s mouth was pulled down into a small frown as he stared down at his camera, not speaking. Asano’s eyes were narrowed at the street in front of him, clearly lost in his own head and not listening to whatever Seo was talking about.
Ren frowned as he watched his friend’s shoulders become tenser and tenser as he began to mentally spiral downward. He needed to do something to break the tension and help him relax, but what exactly could Ren do?
His first reaction was to convince them to go to a cafe with him, since having a good cup of coffee seemed to ground Asano pretty well, but none of the others would agree to go if Asano didn't. And Ren knew that, with the mood Asano was currently in, the odds of him agreeing to go and ‘goof off’ were even lower than normal. He would first need to be put in a slightly better frame of mind.
That meant that Ren would need to get creative.
Mind whirring at top speeds as he began to formulate a plan, his eyes landed on a stray brick laying on the sidewalk.
Perfect.
He casually removed his hands from his pockets as he walked in preparation. As he drew closer to the brick he let his foot catch it at just the right angle to trip him.
“Ow!” he complained loudly as he caught himself using his hands and knees, causing the others to stop and look back. He hissed quietly as he felt how scratched up his left hand had gotten, as it had taken the brunt of his impact. Not planned, but he could handle it.
He could hear Seo laughing loudly at his misfortune, with Koyama’s quiet snickering joining him soon after. But they weren't the ones whose reaction mattered right now. Eyes drifting over to Asano, he saw the other assessing him with his eyebrow raised, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
Ren felt a warm rush of accomplishment hit him. He knew that Asano was the type to become at least a little amused by the misfortune of others, as long as it wasn't terribly serious. And that put him in just a bit better of a headspace, which was all Ren needed.
Asano leaned down a bit and offered his hand. Casually tucking his left hand into his pocket so the injury wouldn't be noticed, Ren took the proffered hand with his right hand and stood up.
“You should really watch where you're going.” Asano chided him mildly, a small bit of amusement in his tone.
Ren laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry. I was kinda lost in thought.” Then, widening his eyes as though a thought had just occurred to him, he exclaimed a bright, “Oh!” He brought his free hand to his chest as he added, “I know what will soothe my poor injured pride.” Grinning as Asano rolled his eyes, he went on, “There’s a cool new cafe pretty close to here that I heard about recently. It’s supposed to be pretty upscale. We should go!”
Glancing around at the others, he could tell that Seo was interested. He was easy to talk into things, always interested in going to fancy places so he could feel more important than other people. Araki and Koyama both also seemed interested, but they would go along with whatever the group decided. Which meant that the only person left to convince was…
“I heard that their coffee is supposed to be amazing, actually.” he commented in an offhanded manner. From the corner of his eye he could see Asano shift a fraction, his eyes lighting up a little in interest.
Ha, he thought, repressing a satisfied smile, got you.
Asano could be lured into most outings with the promise of a really good cup of coffee. To make his comment seem less pointed he added a cheerful, “And I really want to try it with one of their pastries. The tiramisu is supposed to be really good!”
“I hope they have some kind of blueberry dessert…” Seo muttered as he scrolled through something on his phone, most likely trying to figure out which cafe it was.
Asano sighed. “I suppose a short trip wouldn’t affect my schedule too much. I do need to be home within a few hours to study, though.”
Ren smiled and began to lead the way as he added a calming, “Hey, if you want, we can review while we’re there.”
Some more of the tension in Asano’s posture relaxed at that. “That sounds acceptable.” he said with a small nod.
“Great!” Ren said as he glanced down to make sure he hadn't torn a hole in the knee area of his pants when he fell. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any damage. Good. These were tailored, after all.
The rest of the walk was spent that way, full of idle chatter from the rest of them while Asano seemed to just be absorbing it silently.
Ren let himself enjoy the peacefulness of the moment.
…
From the almost sedated look on Asano’s face, Ren knew that he was really enjoying his coffee. Ren hid a smile behind his bite of tiramisu. Mission accomplished.
Now he needed to figure out what was up with Araki.
He looked over at the other who was still staring down at the camera in his grasp. Careful not to grab anyone else's attention, Ren quietly asked, “Hey, is something wrong, dude?” thankful for once for Seo’s loud voice distracting the others as he regaled them with some story that may or may not have even happened.
Araki shifted a bit in his seat and his eyes widened a little, seeming surprised at the question. “Oh, uh…” he paused before sighing. “Yeah, something’s wrong with my camera and I'm not really sure what, but it's just not working properly.”
Ren frowned sympathetically. Araki’s family wasn't poor per se, but Ren knew that his camera was pretty expensive and a gift from his grandfather. Not only would it be difficult to replace, the camera itself was important to him. Ren hummed quietly as he thought over what he could do.
Smiling as an idea hit him, Ren leaned forward a bit and said, “Hey, I have a solution. There’s an electronics shop that's really good at what they do not too far from here, and I've seen them working on cameras before.”
Araki blinked in surprise. “Oh?” he asked.
Ren nodded. “Yep! My parents actually employ them a lot when some of their tech breaks. If I go with you when you go to get your camera looked at, you'll get a really big discount from them.”
Eyes lighting up, Araki beamed at him. “Really!?” he asked, visibly excited.
“Uh huh!” Ren said, glad his friend was in a better mood already. “I can text you their info later and go with you this weekend if you want?”
At Araki’s cheerful nod, Ren smiled once more and took a sip of his coffee, enjoying the flavor.
Mmmm, he could understand Asano’s blissful expression now. This place really was good.
“Hey Ren?”
Ren paused and looked up at Seo, curious about what he wanted. “Yes?”
The other boy narrowed his eyes in confusion and asked, “So what'd the principal want with you anyway?”
Ren saw Asano immediately stiffen up a bit in his seat. Hurrying to indirectly reassure him, Ren huffed a casual laugh and answered, “Oh, it wasn't anything bad. He just wanted to clear something up with me, is all.”
Untensing a fraction, Gakushuu narrowed his eyes at him, a suspicious look crossing his face. “And why did that take so long? Just clearing something up shouldn't have held you back so long that you had to run to make it to class on time.”
A small grin quirked up at the corner of Ren’s mouth. Of course he noticed. Ren wasn't even surprised that the other had picked up on that.
He began to think over how he should respond to the question.
Well you see, he thought with a touch of bitterness, your father held me back just to threaten me. Also he tried to remove my fucking head with a projectile.
Fun times.
What he actually said was, “Oh, I was a bit later than I was going to be because there was a girl crying in the hallway. I stopped to try and cheer her up a little.” Not technically a lie as that did actually happen.
Asano frowned at him. “Class is more important than something like that Ren. It wouldn't do for you to be late to class.” he said, his voice stern.
Ren could tell what the other wasn't saying by the furrow to his brows and how tightly he held his cup. I was worried that it took you so long to come back with a meeting with my father, he was thinking, don't do that again.
Smiling pacifingly at the other, Ren said, “You're right, sorry. I'll try not to take that long if it happens again.” He watched as Asano nodded once, seemingly satisfied, and went back to sipping his coffee.
Ren almost sighed out loud. That was one crisis averted.
Now he just needed to make sure that the rest of the outing remained as tranquil as possible.
Well, as long as Seo refrained from yelling at the servers, he figured it wouldn't be too difficult. As he finished off the rest of his cake, he pulled his book out of his bag and opened it to where he left off.
He'd have to make sure they came back here again one day. It was nice.
--
Out of all of them, Ren had the longest walk home. He didn't mind too much unless it was raining, though, so it was fine. This way he got to enjoy the different shades in the sunset for longer.
Approaching his house, he stopped and frowned when he saw the car parked there.
Ah, he thought with a small frown, they're home.
They're supposed to let me know before they come back from a trip. What if I had company?
With a sigh he stopped and pulled a binder out of his bag after looking through it to make sure there wasn't any important homework in it. He walked up to the door and opened it, carefully stepping in after a quick glance down at the floor.
“Hey,” he cautiously called out, “I’m-”
CRASH
Ren jumped back just as a vase hit exactly where his head had been. His hand, still holding the binder, snapped up in front of his face just in time to block the small shards of glass that burst from the impact.
When he was sure it was safe to move, he lowered his hand and strained his ear towards the kitchen where the thrown vase had originated.
A woman's voice rang out,
“It's your fault the merger went south!”
A man’s voice quickly followed,
“Mine!?” he demanded. “Maybe if you weren't making eyes at the other company’s accountant, you would have noticed that things were going to shit faster!”
There was a distant crash, quickly followed by more enraged yelling. Ren sighed and began to climb the stairs to get to his room.
They're certainly energetic today.
Closing his door behind him, Ren relished in the silence it offered, once again thankful that he'd had soundproofing installed in his room. His parents weren't home very often at all, but when they were home, all they did was fight. He understood that they were probably just getting it out of their systems before they had to go back to pretending to be a perfect example of husband and wife, but still.
Since they ran a company together, they couldn't get a divorce or else the company would suffer greatly. They'd lose too much profit if their image was ruined, so they were stuck together. And Ren understood, he really did. But...
But it had been like this his whole life. And he was just so tired of their fighting. They both loved him dearly, but their hatred for each other sometimes took up so much of their focus that they forgot they had a son, and that he could be injured in the midst of their fighting.
He snorted, almost bitter at the thought.
You'd think they'd have learned by now, all things considered.
He quickly waved that thought away, not wanting to let himself fall down the rabbit hole of bad memories.
Over the years, Ren had become extremely adept at easing tense situations, hating the heavy feeling in the air that came with arguing and negative emotions. And he was already dreading dinner time, knowing that he’d have to be the one to calm them both down enough to not stab each other with their silverware.
He was almost tempted to inform them that they had been indirectly threatened today. Ren could tell clearly from the principal's words that he knew exactly what kind of household this was, and the man had made it pretty clear that his parents' reputation was on the line if Ren ever did anything directly against the man.
What a bastard.
It wasn't like he would have anyway. As many issues as he had with the man, that was Asano's fight. He wasn't going to do anything to mess that up for his friend.
With an exhausted sigh, Ren collapsed onto his bed and decided to take a quick nap before dinner. If he was lucky, maybe he’d dream of happier times.
That'd be nice.