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"And you two keep an eye on the Cafe, okay?", Angelica, the owner of the cafe underneath the Banded Rocking Records building and assistant of said label's owner Maple, turned her attention towards Ren and Ichiro, the cat and owl myumons who stood behind the counter.
"Don't worry Angelica, the cafe's in good hands", Ichiro answers and shoots her a thumbs up, followed by a nod from Ren.
"I know. You two are definitely the best help I had so far.", she smiled before closing the door behind her, leaving the two alone.
Both Myumons could finally breath easy as they heard the car driving further from the cafe, something that has more to do with the two themselves than Angelica being a bad boss.
The two went their way on the usual duties in the empty cafe, neither of them count on any more customers as the usual rush hour was already over and the bands have gone either to their dorms or own apartments, Maple and Angelica are currently on their way to check some stuff for Buster Bros!!!'s official debut under BRR at S-River and neither Jiro, Saburo or any of the others have announced that they're coming over to the cafe (In Ichiro' s opinion a bit bitter as he loved to chat with Allen about music production and Hip-Hop in general).
"Are you currently nervous?", Ren asks after a while as the two settled down at one of the tables. A questioning glance of mismatched eyes answering the cat's question.
"In what way do you mean nervous?", the owl's feathery ears tilted a bit as he moved his head to look at Ren.
"The debut.", Ren answered, "It definitely seems to be a huge commotion because of you guys bringing something new to the entire BRR roster"
A nervous chuckle came from Ichiro. "If you say it like that, then kinda", he answered, "I mean, back in our world we're already well known - more or less, against our will because of the DRB - but here, it kinda feels like we're doing this on our own."
Ren's cat ears perked up as Ichiro told him that. So the DRB was kinda pushed onto the siblings and everyone else in the divisions by the government and neither of them had a real chance of saying anything against it.
Something that he's sadly all too familiar with from his own world.
The probation....
The Metaverse....
All the stress with the Police during the summer....
Everything was basically forced onto him just because he was selfless in a selfish world. And yet, he managed to best everything. Similar to Ichiro, despite the latter being still in a similar situation.
Ren's black cat ears and tail moved into a slight state of fear and sadness without him even noticing. On the other hand, Ren always feels like he can be honest with the Owl Myumon, as he can be with others back home.
"Is everything okay, Ren?", Ichiro immediately asks, worry resonating in his voice at the shift from his co-worker and friend and almost knocks the carefully placed chair from the table as he moved over to comfort Ren.
'Did the cat ears gave it away?', Ren thought with a sigh. He definitely has to learn to keep his Myumon features from showing his REAL emotions, but honestly.... It was nice to be the one getting comforted for a change. And besides, Ichiro was one of the people he trusts here, so Ren didn't took too much issue with said fact.
"I....", the black cat thought on lying his way out if this, but just seeing the taller owl worried like that made him realize he probably should tell the truth, "I kinda realized how similar we are"
Ichiro's feather ears tilted a bit. "What do you mean with similar?", but it kinda dawned on him already, but to what extent was Ren implying that.
Ren tries his hardest to not cry on the spot, but his voice was unmistakably shaky as he probably thought back on everything that has happened.
"I already told you that I got on probation due to an false accusation and all the stuff happening there, right?", he asks.
Suddenly, Ichiro realizes what he meant.
"Yeah, you told me about it. It was definitely messed up what they did to you back then"
"Then I don't have to repeat it.", Ren smiled weakly, "It's just that I realized that we both basically had no say in the shit that happened to us."
Another moment passed before Ren could continue.
"Me with the goddamn Metaverse and all the shit that happened then and you guys with the DRB", he continued and soon enough, the cat couldn't hold the tears in and gets almost immediately hugged by Ichiro.
"Ren...", Ichiro sights softly. He hasn't admitted it to himself, but Ren kinda reminded him on a mix out of himself and his siblings. Is that the reason why he's generally that caring about the cat or is it the realization of that fact after Ren told him about what happened to him in his world?
Either way, Ichiro was currently comforting the cat as an familiar blue glow appeared and Arsené was floating next to the two, probably worried for his other side as he senses any changes in Ren's emotions, who currently keeps quiet.
The black cat quickly recovered and was actually quite glad that he wasn't alone, especially with Ichiro around.
"Sorry if I might've ruined something with my crying", another weak smile and an attempt at taking the heavy emotion away.
"Ren, I told you that I'm always there to listen to you", Ichiro petted the cat Myumon between his ears, making Ren laugh.
"Hey, I am NOT A CAT!", he playfully mimics Morgana's usual annoyed demeanor whenever someone calls him a cat, before laughing, "But seriously, thanks Ichiro. I'll keep it in mind"
The owl laughs. "Alright then, let's finish closing up the cafe", he nudged Ren before the two finished up closing the cafe and headed over to their apartments.