Chapter Text
“I do like you but… theideaofdatingyoumakesmewanttopukemygutsoutI’msosorry!”
“Those aren’t the kind of butterflies I was going for!”
-
And that was rejection #100. That’s not the kind of record Rentarou was hoping to make but there it is. Friend A was absolutely no help consoling him after the fact, simply laying it on thick and even twisting the knife more before he departed from the plot entirely. Ah, who needs him? He doesn’t even have a name!
Rentarou made it halfway down the block before he noticed the sound of something laminated under his foot. “Hmm?” Somehow he hadn’t noticed the flier with the chewed-up ball of gum stuck to it until he had to pry it off of his foot. The flier advertised a nearby matchmaking shrine. ‘The lonely shall find love here,’ it read.
“...am I really that desperate?” Rentarou muttered to himself. Perhaps he was. The pain of his 100th rejection was still fresh. After his very first rejection at 8 months old, he strived to improve himself, to become a better boyfriend for the next but maybe that wasn’t enough if he was still rejected 99 more times after. This… might be Rentarou’s last chance.
“...wouldn’t hurt to give it a try, I guess. Maybe this God of Love can tell me what I’m doing wro-” Thwump!! “Ack!” Eyes on the road, buddy. Though, to be fair, the guy he ran into wasn’t paying attention either and now the both of them were paying for it. “ Owch, my butt bone, ” Rentarou complained. “Oh! Sorry about that! Are you okay?”
The guy with rose ebony red hair grumbled, rubbing at his forehead. “ Ow… yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”
Rentarou pushed himself back up, dusting himself off and offered a helping hand. “You’re not really hurt, right? Can you stand?”
“I said I’m fine,” the guy muttered. But Rentarou still stood there, hand outstretched waiting for him to take it. The guy huffed and reluctantly took Rentarou’s hand. “Thanks, though,” he said, looking up into Rentarou’s eyes. “I appreciate-”
ZIIING!!!!
The second Rentarou’s brown eyes connected with this guy’s soft pink ones, a bolt of metaphorical lightning shot through his entire body. For a reason he wouldn’t find out about until literally 20 minutes from now, his heart started speeding up, his mouth ran dry and his palms started to sweat. Almost exactly like how he felt about Asakawa but dialed up to a million.
“Wh-Whoa…” Rentarou gasped, pressing a free hand to his own neck to check his vitals. “What was that ?”
The guy responded, now much more soft spoken and timid than he was a moment ago, “I-I dunno…”
“Oh, right!” Rentarou gently pulled the guy up to his feet, instinctively dusting the dirt off of his shoulders and back. Now that he’s actually looking at him, Rentarou felt like he saw this guy somewhere before. Maybe in the background with the other extras whose names he didn’t remember?
“Sorry again. I should’ve been watching where I was going,” Rentarou sheepishly admitted.
The guy nervously wrung his hands together. “Nah, that was my fault,” he said, pulling his head into his shirt as much as he could in an attempt to hide the manic blush and the smothered smile he gained since looking Rentarou in the eye. “I should’ve been paying attention.”
“Agree to disagree then,” Rentarou laughed. He offered the guy his hand again, this time for a handshake. “I’m Rentarou Aijou. It’s nice to meet you.” The guy seemed to sparkle at the idea of shaking Rentarou’s hand, accepting the gesture with both hands. “What’s your name?”
“Eh? My name? Y-You really wanna know my name!? ”
“Yeah, that’s why I asked.”
“ Oh right ,” the guy nervously laughed. “Stupid me. Obviously. * ahem * It’s-” Just at that second, the phone in his pocket emitted a loud ring, yanking his attention away. “Really? Right this second?” he grumbled under his breath. “S-Sorry, I gotta take this.”
“Sure, no problem!”
The guy turned away, pressing his phone to his ear. “Hello? …hi, Mom. …yeah, yeah, I’m on my way home. I should be back in a few minutes. …yeah, sure! I can stop by on the way back. …eh? Wh-What d’you mean? … Shh! N-No, I don’t!” If Rentarou really focused, he could hear the faint sound of the guy’s mom laughing on the other end of the line.
The guy pressed his phone against his shoulder and he said to Rentarou, “I… gotta get going. My parents are expecting me… a-and this is my turn anyway.” The guy inched away down the street he was intending to go, reluctantly, like he would stay if he had the choice. “It was nice to meet you, Rentarou Aijou.”
“Yeah, it was nice to meet you too! Bye!”
Rentarou stayed for a while, watching that guy walk away and disappear down another intersection. Is… this what love at first sight feels like? Is that what that zing was? Rentarou never got his name but he knew for a fact that he fell for that smothered smile, those pretty pink eyes, that voice… Should he go after him and get his name? Eh, he’s probably already lost him by now. Oh well. With any luck, they might wind up at the same high school.
“Guess it’s back to my problem,” Rentarou said with a deep, miserable sigh, shuffling away…
…completely unaware that the guy came sprinting back to sneak a picture of him from around the corner.
“ Rentarou Aijou~♡ ”
-
(The author of this fanfiction is fully aware that the God of Love said something or other about guys taking longer to realize their feelings for their soulmate but she has no patience for that. So into the trash that rule goes.)
-
“I’m home!” Tohru announced to the house and was immediately pounced on by his mother. “ Ack! Mom~! ”
“There he is!” his mother squealed. “And listen to you! You sound so much happier now! See? I told your father that as soon as you found your person, you’d have that life in your voice! It happened to me when I met him after all!”
Tohru laughed, “I do feel a lot better now, actually! I guess you were right, Mom!”
“Yay! I’m so happy!” his mother said with a smile. “Now, tell me, who’s the cute little hussy who thinks she can take my baby boy away from me?”
“Er… well…”
In the kitchen, Tohru’s henpecked (and that’s putting it very , very mildly) father softly sobbed to himself. “Kid… whoever you are,” he murmured to himself. “Run while you still have the chance.”
“Did you say something, dear?”
“No, honey.”
-
Then canon happened, if that matters at all for this series. We all know the deal now. Yadda yadda Rentarou’s got a metric crap ton of soulmates blah blah blah when he meets one, he’ll get the zing! etcetera etcetera Rentarou will set the God of Love’s shrine on fire if he’s screwing with him and so on and so on. And that brings us to the entrance ceremony.
Rentarou wasn’t paying attention to a thing being said, mostly because the entrance ceremony was practically skipped over in the actual anime. Instead, he scanned over the crowd, looking for a head of rose ebony hair. After what the God of Love told him, he was sure that that zing he felt meant that that guy was one of his soulmates. And if he could help it, Rentarou was not about to forget about him, even if the plot was trying to make him.
(“You’re not gonna give me crap over the fact that half of your soulmates are guys?”
“Nope. They’re my soulmates and I love and accept them no matter who they are.”
“So progressive!”
“...so when you say half, you mean, like, 50, right?”
“Oh, did I say 100 soulmates? Er, yeah, fanfic author lady says that, for the purposes of this specific work, I meant 200 actually.”
“THAT STUPID MOVIE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN THAT GOOD!”)
No luck there, but he did catch sight of a different person. But only the back of their head. Bright orange hair that brushed their shoulders, part of it pulled back into a tiny ponytail. Just that alone told Rentarou that they were the rebellious type, a punk rocker more than likely. He wasn’t paying attention either, snickering and whispering to the guy next to him, an old classmate of his if Rentarou had to guess. ‘Uwah… he seems really cool~’
“And that will be all. All of you, head off to your homeroom classes for orientation please.”
The second Rentarou’s butt left the seat, something swished past him, causing him to jump. Left on the seat behind him was a bottle of banana milk and a plastic wrapped homemade egg salad sandwich. Written on the plastic in permanent marker, the mystery gift giver wrote, “Hi, Rentarou Aijou! Have a good day today! :) ♡”
“Oh? For me? Aw, thank you… wh-whoever you are.”
-
And then canon happened again and Rentarou met Hakari and Karane. We’d be here all day if the author of this fanfiction repeated all of the canon stuff verbatim so she’ll skip ahead a little bit to just after Hakari and Karane heard about that four-leaf clover love legend thingy and ran off to go find one. “ So your legs work!? ”
The two turned the corner, nearly running straight into the quartet of punkish students coming down the hall. “Yo, watch where you’re going!” the orange-haired leader snapped.
“ You watch where you’re going, jerk!” Karane snapped back, sprinting to catch up with Hakari. There’s no way she’s going to let Pinky beat her on this.
The leader, Kanata Tsunoda, rolled his eyes and continued on. “I don’t get chicks these days.”
“Dude.”
“You don’t count, Gita. You’re one of the chicks that I can understand.”
“Phrasing, dude. You sound hella sexist saying it like that.”
“Whatever.”
There was a little bit of time left before they had to be in their homeroom classes so while Kanata and his band had the chance, they had to check out the class room they were able to save for their ‘club’. At the moment, it was nothing special at all, just an empty room, but the possibilities were endless!
“Hell yeah, dude! New club room!” Gita cheered, slinging off her guitar.
Besu left their bass guitar right next to Gita’s and dug out a couple posters they salvaged from their old middle school clubroom. “The school year just started and I’m already stoked for the school festival,” they said, unfurling a poster and sticking it to the wall with masking tape.
“Lucky you guys,” Taiko said. “I have to bring my instrument here in pieces.” He paced around the room until he found a good spot to start setting up his drum kit, marking it off by leaving a scuff with the tip of his shoe.
Kanata was already sick of having to follow this stuffy dress code, pulling off his jacket and tying it around his waist. Rolling up his sleeves and loosening his tie a bit, Kanata breathed a sigh of relief. “Much better…” Kanata scanned the room. They can personalize it however they want later but the most important thing, at least for him, the cool and majorly talented and totally destined to be famous lead singer, was if the acoustics were good. Only one way to find out.
First a whistle, then a little melodic humming. Good, good so far. Let’s do a little more.
♪You can’t see me,
But I know, oh, I know,
You can hear me.
I’ve been waiting,
Waiting for you.
Come find me,
Come find me,
Oh, lover,
Come to me.
Follow my sound,
Stay with me,
Say forever with me.
Come, Come,
Look me in the eye-♪
ZIIIIING!!!
Kanata slowly spun towards the door and his sharp green eyes caught deep, gorgeous brown eyes, watching him from the door frame. Rentarou was already heading in this direction, confusedly following after Hakari and Karane when he heard Kanata’s singing and was pulled over by some compulsion to know who that siren-like voice belonged to. Good thing too. He may have missed one of his many, many soulmates otherwise.
“Oh, uh, hi!”
What the hell? Why was Kanata’s heart going that fast all of a sudden? Why was he blushing that hard? Based entirely off of instinct, Kanata sunk into ‘tsuntsun’ mode and snapped, “Wh-What d’you want? Why’re you just standing there like some kind of creep?”
“Sorry about that,” Rentarou said, wringing his hands nervously. “I just… heard you singing and I was drawn over here by it.” Rentarou gave Kanata a sincere smile and said, “You have an amazing singing voice.”
Kanata’s face turned a shade of red that mankind had never seen before. “ I-I- You- You can’t just- Who just goes and says stuff like that!? Who even are you!? ”
“Oh!” Rentarou took a step over the threshold, hand outstretched. “I’m Rentarou Aijou. I’m in Class 1-4.”
Kanata eyed Rentarou’s hand suspiciously, almost as if he was half-convinced that it would snap open and reveal a surprise cybernetic machine gun or what have you. But of course, that’s just the tsundere being silly and tsundere. He gave a huff and took Rentarou’s hand, completing the ritual as fast as possible before Rentarou could notice his gross sweaty palms. “Kanata Tsunoda,” he muttered. “Class 1-2.”
Besu leaned over Kanata’s shoulder, greeting Rentarou with a wave. “‘Sup, bro? You’re kinda early but you thinking of joining the music club?”
“Oh, I haven’t given much thought to joining a club yet,” Rentarou said. “I’ve been focusing on… other stuff.”
“Oh, a loyal member of the ‘going home’ club, eh?” Gita chuckled. “I can respect that.”
“But, y’know, if you do think about joining a club, we’ve got space that we need to fill,” Besu said, half-pleadingly. “Our idiot keyboardist went to a different high school and we’re gonna need one more person if we want to keep the club open. We gotta fill her spot and quick!”
“ Hah? Wait, wait, wait!” Kanata protested. “We’re seriously not so desperate that we’re gonna grab some rando off the street, are we?”
With 100 canon and 100 fanon soulmates to worry about? There should be no way in hell that Rentarou would have the time to consider joining a club… but if one of his soulmates is here… and surely this plot will come back up again when the fabled school festival chapter arrives and something inevitably goes haywire requiring Rentarou to swoop in and save the show…
“Alright, sign me up!”
“Eh? Just like that!?”
“Yup! I don’t know how to play the keyboard yet, but give me 24 hours and I’ll have it figured out in time for our first official club meeting!”
The rest of the band gave astonished giggles. “ ‘24 hours?’ That’s pretty ballsy!” “There’s no way he can pull that off! It took me years to figure out the bass!” “Dude’s confident, I’ll give him that!”
Kanata, on the other hand, rubbed at the back of his neck, his face drawn into some tsundere interpretation of impressed. “Don’t say outlandish crap like that,” he sniffed. “If you’re an amateur, you can just say that. We all are.”
“Oh, you don’t think I can?” Rentarou said, arms crossed and a challenging grin on his face. “Well, now I have to prove you wrong!”
O-hoh? This guy’s got guts! Kanata’s a huge fan of that ! “Oh, yeah? Alright, Eyebrows,” he said, accepting Rentarou’s declaration with narrowed eyes and a matching smirk. “You’re on. You master the keyboard by the time we meet after school tomorrow and you’re in… and that’d make you cool enough to hang with us… y-y’know… if you wanted to… or whatever…”
After 100 rejections, Rentarou has studied the ways of the character archetypes and was fully fluent in tsundere. His words seemed flippant and too cool for Rentarou but that blush on his cheeks and that little slip at the end seemed to beg for Rentarou to keep coming around. ‘Cuz it’s totally not like Kanata’s gotten fully attached to this guy in the 5 or so minutes he’s known him for or anything, okay!?
“I accept your challenge!”
Then, a soft, melodic chime rang through the halls. “Ah, guess it’s time to go to class.”
“Yep.” Kanata slipped past Rentarou, close enough to gently bump shoulders with him and stalked away. “Later, Eyebrows.”
As Kanata passed him, Rentarou caught a clean, slightly floral scent. ‘Whoa… his hair smells really good…’ Admittedly, Rentarou hadn’t given a whole lot of thought to what a male ideal romantic partner of his would look like, but so far, Kanata’s meeting all of his standards. Gorgeous singing voice, aura of pure coolness, a fun type of challenging attitude, takes care of himself well… ‘Uwah… he’s so cool~’
“He’s just screwing with you, by the way,” Gita laughed, giving Rentarou a light punch on the arm. “We’re not some super elite, gate-keeper-y kinda club. You can come over and hang with us any time you want.”
“Thanks!”
“More importantly,” Besu added. “What did you do to the poor guy? I don’t think I’ve ever seen Tsunoda glitch like that before.”
“I dunno,” Rentarou lied. “I guess I have that kind of effect on people now.”
“Really?” Taiko said. “Oh, I see, Mr. Popularity. The girls at your old school must’ve loved you, eh?”
“Eheh… n-no… quite the opposite actually.”
Kanata glanced out the window on his way down the hall, spotting those two weird chicks from earlier reluctantly pulling themselves out of the school garden to go to class… oh, it’s about that dumb lovey-dovey four-leaf clover thing he’s been hearing about? That if you bribe your crush with one when you go to confess, it’s a surefire success every time? That’s stupid. There’s no way that actually works…
-
“Dude, what’re you looking for down there?”
Kanata shot up ramrod straight and sputtered, “ N-Nothing! Not a four-leaf clover or something stupid like that! I… I-I lost a contact, that’s all! ”
“Since when have you been wearing contacts?” Besu countered with a smarmy smirk.
“...Since 5 minutes ago,” Kanata declared, to his friends’ amusement.
“ Right. Good luck trying to find one in there .”
“ Oh. ” Gita couldn’t help but laugh. “This is for that Aijou dude, isn’t it?”
“Who, Eyebrows?” Kanata sniffed. “What would I wanna give him a four-leaf clover for?”
“C’mon, like we haven’t been hearing the no-name extras talking about this mushy love myth all day.”
Kanata refused to look at her but the neon red blush told on him. “A-As if! I don’t believe in that crap! That love myth thing’s for chicks anyway!”
“Yeah? Then what were you doing picking through the garden for?” Taiko snickered.
“ For the contact! Like I just said! ” Kanata’s friends didn’t buy that for a second and laughed themselves to tears. “Ah, forget it,” he grumbled.
“Ah, don’t get mad, Tsunoda,” Taiko said, giving Kanata a hearty pat on the shoulder as he stalked past him to the vending machine beside them. “It’s so obvious that you like this guy-”
“ NO, I DON’T! ” Kanata hissed. “Just… just drop it, okay?”
“We tease, bro, but you should honestly go for it,” Gita said, following after him. “The worst he can say is ‘no.’ You’re our friend. We’d be stoked to see you happy.”
“Guys, seriously, just drop it.” Kanata checked his pockets and sadly didn’t find any stray soda money in there. “Hey, float me some change, would ya?” Taiko dropped a couple coins in his palm and that was when he heard a commotion going on on the other side of the plaza. It’s those weird chicks again… a-and Aijou too! The one with the pigtails was screaming at the pink-haired one, something about being a line cutter and then loudly and quite unconvincingly denying that she wanted Rentarou to… pick her over the other girl…
“Aw, that sucks.”
“Sorry, Tsunoda.”
“That lying lil’ liar! He said he wasn’t popular with the ladies!”
Right… obviously. Who ever heard of two guys going out with each other? They don’t do that… That’d be weird… and anyway, he shouldn’t be feeling this way for a guy that he basically just met. It’s nuts. It’s stupid. There’s… gotta be something wrong with him for falling for this guy so fast. Kanata sighed and carelessly smacked one of the buttons on the vending machine and through some stroke of stupid luck, the machine spat out two melon sodas.
“Seriously?”
“Oh!” Besu’s fist tapped against Kanata’s shoulder. “You might still have a chance!” Looking back, Kanata found the scene not playing out the way he expected, with Rentarou giving an apologetic bow and backing away before turning on his heel and heading straight for the entrance, a mixture of euphoric joy and… panic(?) on his face. The girls seemed a little confused and unhappy about him leaving. So… did he reject them then?
If that’s the case, then… he still had a fighting chance! God, what was he even saying!? What’s the harm? Go do it! But he literally just met the guy! So? Those girls just met him and they’re already fawning over him! Why not Kanata too? This is so not realistic! Are you seriously expecting realism from this series? Stop stalling and just go do it!
Kanata swiped the soda cans from the dispenser, claiming one for himself and hurriedly stuffing it into the pocket of his jacket as he shuffled away, intending to intercept Rentarou before he disappeared entirely. “I’ll, uh, I’ll catch up with you guys later,” he stammered.
“Woo, Tsunoda!”
“Go get your man, dude!”
“We’re rootin’ for ya, buddy!”
“ Shut up, shut up, shut up! I friggin’ hate you guys! ”
With that, Kanata stomped off, leaving his bandmates to idle by the vending machine. “Pfft-! Nah, he loves us,” Besu snickered.
“Tsunoda’s funny,” Gita agreed.
Splash! “Kyaaaah!”
Back in the plaza, still standing where Rentarou left them, Hakari and Karane didn’t notice the window above them open until they were doused with the contents of a bucket by some unknown assailant. Hakari seemed to handle the (presumably) prank with grace and dignity but Karane was utterly livid about it. “Hey! What the hell was that for!? Where do you get off dumping dirty mop water on us!? I’m coming up there and I’m kickin’ your ass!” The bucket wielder didn’t respond aside from pulling the empty bucket back in and shutting the window again.
“...what the hell was that all about?” Taiko asked.
Rentarou just managed to clear the entrance when Kanata caught up with him. “Hey! Eyebr- * ahem * A-Aijou, I mean! Hold up!”
Rentarou slowed and when he saw Kanata approach, a happy sense of dread seemed to creep into his expression. He’s already reeling from the double confession he just received and now he has to make a truly difficult decision. But maybe this soulmate was willing to take things at a slower, more normal pace? Maybe? Please? “Hi, Tsunoda,” he said. “On my way home to get to practicing! I haven’t forgotten!”
“Practice? …oh, right! The keyboard thing! Yeah, I totally didn’t forget about it already or anything!” Kanata nervously fidgeted with the tab of the extra soda before remembering he had it and thrusted it towards Rentarou. “Here,” he said. “The machine gave me an extra and I’m not gonna drink it… a-also… you’ve been working pretty hard up there, helping that old timer find that contact lens, so… you might be thirsty… or whatever…”
“Oh? You noticed that?”
“Yeah,” Kanata scoffed. “Pretty corny… and kinda cool of you.” He hooked his thumbs under the jacket tied around his waist and his eye nervously drifted to the ground. “...hey. While I still have you… I have something I wanna say. So listen, okay?”
‘Ah, crap. Another confession? Already? That idiot love god didn’t say that I was going to be pelted with soulmates from day one!’
Kanata sighed, anxiously brushing his fingers through his hair. “This is ridiculous,” he huffed. “It feels like we’ve skipped a whole lot of steps but… I-I dunno. All I know is that I’ve known you for half-an-hour at best, but I’ve already gotten pretty fond of… ugh, no, that’s not strong enough. The truth is… I think I’m already in love with you. I don’t know how you feel about… being with another guy, but if you’re cool with that… then I’m cool with it too.”
‘Dammit! I wanna say yes, but what about Hanazono and Inda?’
As much as it pained him to, Rentarou responded with an apologetic bow and the same answer he gave Hakari and Karane. “I’m sorry,” he said. Just that broke Kanata’s heart but Rentarou was quick to save it. “I-I need some time to think about it. But I promise, first thing in the morning, I’ll have an answer for you!”
Kanata gave a soft, somewhat relieved sigh and answered, “Sure, fine. I-It’s not like I’ll be eagerly waiting for your answer or anything.”
Rentarou quietly inched away with an apologetic smile. “Thanks, Tsunoda. I’m sorry. I’ll… see you tomorrow.” And then, wracked with indecision and panic, Rentarou left, making sure he was well out of sight before the pain of even temporarily pushing back accepting three consecutive confessions forced him to vomit blood into a nearby bush.
Well… Kanata did it. It was just as stupid as he thought it was gonna be, but he did it. He sighed and squeezed at his face. At least he got a ‘I need to think about it.’ That’s better than an outright ‘no’, he supposed. Welp… he may as well head home then and try to distract himself so he doesn’t drive himself crazy waiting for… eh? He was pretty sure he left his bike chained up near the entrance. Where’d it go?
Answering that question, a window above him slid open and the mysterious bucket wielder from before tossed out a crumpled and mangled ball of metal, chain and rubber that used to be his bike, clattering to the ground a few steps away with an agonized crash.
“Wh- Are you kidding me right now!? ” he gasped. “ Why!? Just why!? ” He whipped a glare back up to the window that just snapped shut. “ The second I figure out who you are, you’re paying for it! ”
-
How could Rentarou possibly choose?
Between the voluptuous and super cute Hakari Hanazono, the fiery and super cute Karane Inda and the cool and super cute Kanata Tsunoda… seriously, how could Rentarou choose just one of them!?
The God of Love proved to be no help at all, proving that he was incredibly incompetent at his job and making things even worse by dropping the bomb that if he chose just one, that the other two would suffer great misfortune and straight up die . What’s a boy to do in this situation!?
Maybe… oh! Maybe if he pretended to reject all of them and then approached them separately, agreeing to go out with them quietly so it doesn’t get back to the others… That might work! Rentarou gets to go out with all three of them and no one has to die! Everybody wins!
… As if! That is not the Rentarou Aijou way and frankly, he was ashamed of himself for entertaining the idea for that long! He of all people should know the kind of courage it takes to share their hearts with him the way they did. They don’t deserve to be led around like that!
Instead, Rentarou decided that he would pull a really risky maneuver: he was going to say yes to all three of them and date them at the same time! Maybe this four-leaf clover love legend malarkey might come in clutch after all, since Hakari and Karane were really looking hard for one during class breaks and surely Kanata had to have at least heard of it. If he had one for each of them with his answer, that would make them happy for sure!
So that’s what brought Rentarou right back to the school, jumping the fence for a daring scavenger hunt in the dead of night… not that he really needed to do that, since the teacher he helped earlier was more than willing to let him back in. He just always wanted to do that. Now to find three four-leaf clovers…
…which was easier said than done. As some voice in the back of his head suspected, someone must’ve come along and all but cleared out the garden of the little treasures. But Rentarou had all night to look and he was going to make the most of it!
The first wisps of sunlight started to make an appearance, turning the sky from black to a dark gray when his self-imposed task was finally complete. “Alright!” Rentarou said with a tired but satisfied sigh, pulling himself up from the garden and counting the blooms in his dirt-stained fingers. “One… two… and three! Mission accomplished!”
“Yay, you did it! Good job, Rentarou Aijou~♡!”
“ EEYAAAAAAH!!! A GHOST!!! ” On instinct, Rentarou flung the clovers up in the air so he could retrieve the vial of ‘holy water’ and pocket Bible from his jacket that he had just in case of ghost/demon encounters (as one does.) “ BEGONE, EVIL SPIRIT!!! HOLY WATER SPLASH!!! ” This was a special move Rentarou borrowed from the Re*gen Ar*taka Exorcism Hand Manual in which he flings tap water he boiled the hell out of in random, indiscriminate directions.
None of his shots caught any ghosts or demons or what have you. But the spectacle greatly amused the voice that floated around behind him. “You’re so funny, Aijou!” the voice giggled. “That’s one of the things I really really really really really love about you~♡”
Rentarou startled at the sensation of an arm wrapping around his waist, the mysterious presence pulling him into them. Their other hand peeked into his field of vision, having retrieved the clovers he tossed into the air. “Only one of them. Honestly, I really really really really really really really really really really love everything about you!♡” the voice cooed, nuzzling their forehead into the back of Rentarou’s shoulder.
“Ah… thank you,” Rentarou said, nervously accepting the clovers from the mysterious person’s hand. “Um, I’m sorry. Have we met before?”
The mystery person made a despairing sound, before something occurred to them. “Oh, right. I didn’t get to tell you my name last time, did I?” They cleared their throat and whispered, “My name’s Tohru Aikawa… and I’ve been in love with you since the day I met your eyes. Remember? Middle school graduation? You were heading towards the love shrine?”
That immediately connected in Rentarou’s brain. The soulmate he’s been keeping an eye out for! “It’s you !”
“I’m so sorry it took me so long to actually approach you,” Tohru said, his free hand connecting the arm loop around Rentarou’s waist to nervously twiddle his thumbs. “I guess I was kinda nervous. You’re just so… handsome and kind and smart and athletic and cool and sweet and funny and… and perfect … I worried that someone like you wouldn’t give someone like me the time of day.”
“ D’awww, shucks, ” Rentarou laughed, overwhelmed by the praise that Tohru was piling on him. “ ‘Perfect’ might be a little much, don’tcha think?” For a moment, he almost forgot how much of a red flag this entire situation was.
“But… maybe I should’ve approached you sooner.” Tohru’s voice turned cold. “I know those other three told you that they loved you.”
“Oh… y-you mean-”
“Hanazono, Inda and Tsunoda.”
“ Ah, well- er , that is… see, they- it’s, um-”
Tohru’s grip around Rentarou tightened, as if Rentarou would disappear if he let go. “But I love you way more than them!” he pleaded. “I love you so much it hurts!”
“ Ow, ow, ow, my spine !”
“They don’t even know you! Not like I do!” Tohru bitterly grumbled into Rentarou’s back. “They don’t know how much you love eggs! They don’t know about the ‘girlfriend joy fund’ or the counterterrorism/anti-Godzilla image training! They don’t know your sleep schedule, your go-to breakfast, your usual from the convenience store, the route you usually take for your ‘light jog’, your IP address, your birthday down to the exact second and the hospital you were born at, the fact that you have the most adorable set of freckles right in the middle of your back-”
“ Not exactly stuff you should be admitting to during a love confession! ”
Tohru crushed Rentarou in his hug once again and shouted, “I love you way more than anybody and I always will!” Then his voice turned tiny, pleading, “...so please… be mine? Forever and always? Please?”
Against his better judgment, Rentarou was absolutely going to accept him. But… that brings up the concern about Hakari, Karane and Kanata’s safety. Saying that Tohru was the jealous type was woefully understating it. All of that yandere love and jealousy left unchecked would spell doom for Rentarou’s soulmates. Like they weren’t already doomed enough without a pissed off lovesick phantom running around. Best to nip that in the bud right away! Rentarou gently placed a hand against Tohru’s and soothed, “You don’t have to fight the others for my love, y’know.”
“Yes I do,” Tohru countered, his voice cracking. “My world was dull and gray and lifeless before you came into it and gave it color and light. If I can help it, I won’t lose you to anybody.” His voice gained a sharp, dangerous edge to it. “I’ll do whatever I need to do to make sure of that. Whatever I need to do.”
“You won’t lose me to anybody,” Rentarou said. “I love you too! I’d be honored to be your boyfriend!” Tohru gave an incomprehensible sound of joy, crushing Rentarou’s ribs against him again. But before he could say anything, Rentarou cautiously added, “...but I love them too.”
“...huh?”
“I can’t choose between the four of you,” Rentarou said. “Because I love all four of you! The exact same amount, by the way and for the record, that amount is high . Really high! Like, I love all four of you so much that the meter jumps off the scale and goes up into space! That’s how much I love all four of you!”
“ Hngh~!♡ ”
In one swift motion, Rentarou slipped out of Tohru’s hold and flipped around so he could hold Tohru’s hands in his and look him in the face for the first time since he met him a month ago. For a moment, he got distracted. Tohru, as like all of his soulmates thus far, was so incredibly cute! His soft pink eyes met Rentarou’s, filled to the brim with love, his hands were soft and Tohru’s palms fit so perfectly in Rentarou’s and that slight gap in between his two front teeth when he smiled…!
Focus, Rentarou! Stay focused! You’re in the middle of negotiating a ceasefire! Rentarou pressed his forehead to the back of his hand and pleaded, “My heart’s big enough to hold all four of you at the same time and still have plenty of room to spare! I’ll cherish all four of you with every fiber of my soul! …s-so… may I pretty please have your permission to make Hanazono, Inda and Tsunoda my boyfriend and girlfriends too?”
“...”
“...please?”
“... mmm …”
“ Pretty please? ”
“... mmmmyyyeeeeh …”
Completely abandoning all pretense of dignity, Rentarou dropped straight to the ground, bowing as low as possible without digging himself completely underground.
“ Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease- ”
“ Okay, okay!! ”
Tohru sank to his knees next to the dogeza-ing dirt-covered boy, draping himself over Rentarou’s back. “I don’t… really like having to share you with them… but you being happy makes me happy,” he murmured. “And… I guess … if having those three buzzing around makes you happy… I can try.”
Rentarou breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Aikawa-”
“But if they stop making you happy,” Tohru said, the dangerous knife-edge in his voice back. “You let me know and I’ll be glad to get rid of them for you.”
Rentarou countered that bit of yandere-ness with some of his own. “And if I stop making you happy, you tell me and I swear I’ll atone for it by committing seppuku!”
“ Eh!? No, don’t do that! ”
“Any man that hurts the ones he loves and cares about has no right to walk the earth,” Rentarou declared, pushing himself up off the ground.
“ Nooooo! ” Tohru wailed, pulling Rentarou into his chest. “ There’s no way I can live without you, Aijou! ”
Rentarou held Tohru close and declared, “ And I can’t live without you either, Aikawa! ”
“ I would die for you! ”
“ I would kill for you! ”
“ Please don’t do that! ”
“ Please don’t do that! ”
The two just knelt there for a moment, catching their breath after all that love confessing and after a while, Tohru giggled. “Hey, Aijou,” he said. “Did you hear that? Our last names start the exact same way! Ai jou… Ai kawa… That’s a really sweet coincidence, don’tcha think? Like the gods knew our love was meant to be.”
No, the God of Love was just being an idiot. But hey, it was a really cute coincidence, wasn’t it? “I know, right?” Rentarou agreed, keeping that little bit of lore to himself.
“ Aikawa and Aijou~♡ ”
“ Aijou and Aikawa~♡ ”
“ Aikawa-Aijou~♡ ”
“ Aijou-Aikawa~♡ ”
“ Aikawajou~♡ ”
“ Aijoukawa~♡ ”
Okay, we’re getting really off-track here.
Rentarou looked up to the sky, noticing the dark gray starting to lighten. “Ah, it’s almost morning.”
“Yeah…”
The two hopeless love bugs were reluctant to let go of each other until they were fully stood up. Tohru sighed, “Well, I guess you’d better go tell those three the good news, that I’ve so graciously decided to share my boyfriend with them…” He smoothed out the front of his uniform and then lovingly adjusted Rentarou’s tie. “You should get a little bit of sleep. Don’t worry about making yourself lunch, I’ll make enough for both of us! Maybe… tamagoyaki? With some octopus sausages? And a fruit sandwich with strawberry hearts in the middle for dessert?”
“That sounds wonderful! Y-You don’t have to do all of that just for me-”
“Sure I do! And more importantly, I want to!” Tohru raised himself up on his toes enough to leave a tender smooch on Rentarou’s cheek, leaving an imprint of his lips in the dirt smudged on his skin. “Anything in the world for my super cool, super handsome, super perfect boy-fri-end ~!♡”
“ Hngh~! ♡ How’d I get so lucky? ”
Tohru was reluctant to wipe the dirt off of his mouth, saving the feeling of Rentarou’s cheek with a kiss to the palm of his hand instead. “Okay… have a good nap, Aijou. I’ll see you soon!”
“You get some rest too, Aikawa.”
Tohru trotted away, pausing just before he reached the lockers, like he just remembered something. “ Oh, crap, that’s right! Um, be careful opening your locker later, okay?” he sheepishly said back to Rentarou. “I may have… overfilled it… a little bit.”
“...huh?” Tohru didn’t elaborate further, disappearing into the last remaining shadows of the night. Rentarou would have to find out for himself.
Following the path Tohru took, Rentarou figured out right away what Tohru was talking about. It was easy to figure out which locker was his. It was the one that was creaking and groaning with the effort to hold all of the pink-and-green clovers that Tohru stuffed in there, a true symbol of just how much he loved Rentarou. That explains why it took him so long just to find three individual clovers.
‘Oh, wow. That’s… that’s so sweet~♡!’
This man stood absolutely no chance at all.
‘Well, of course I have to take all of these home with me! I’m… sure I have a vase big enough for all of them at home.’ Rentarou gently took a hold of the han-
Simply touching the thing proved its undoing, causing the door to fling open and the sheer mountain of clovers inside to explode outward with such force that Rentarou was thrown back into the lockers behind him and knocked unconscious.
And so, Rentarou Aijou died there, buried under pink four-leaf clovers and a yandere’s immense and thoroughly over-the-top love. Game Over. Back to the main menu for you, Rentarou.
-
…
…
…
“...whoa, what the hell?”
“Oh my goodness! What happened here?”
“ Aw, what? Is this where all those stupid clovers were?”
“...mmm? Is that… Ah! Aijou!?”
“Ah, crap!”
Three very gentle, soft hands brushed the clovers away from Rentarou’s face.
“Is he dead?”
“No, he can’t be dead! …Maybe if I gave him CPR-”
“Like that would actually work if you tried it, Pinky! L-Let an expert try-”
“Guys, he’s seriously dead. Stop being thirsty for a minute.”
“ Ah!? I-I don’t know what you mean, Tsunoda!”
“Wh-Who’re you calling thirsty!? You’re so off base!”
“Besides, I bet neither of you actually know how to do CPR anyway… B-But I just so happen to have taken a class over break-”
“ Aha! I knew it! You’re just as thirsty as the rest of us, you hypocrite!”
“ H-Huh!? What’re you talking about!? It’s not like that!”
“I’m a tsundere too, stupid! Obviously I can recognize your crap on sight! Also, get your own shtick! I was here first!”
“Oh really? You like Aijou too? That makes sense! Aijou has such a beautiful soul, it doesn’t surprise me in the least that he would be just as popular with the boys as the girls!”
“ I-It’s not like that at all! ”
“ Sure it’s not. ”
“Glass houses, Inda.”
“Can it, Pinky!”
“Hey, Eyebrows!” A hand Rentarou identified as Kanata tapped his cheek. “You didn’t die on us, right?”
Karane’s knuckles knocked against his forehead. “Aijou! Dude, wake up already!”
Hakari’s hands groped at his chest under the guise of performing chest compressions. “Aijou, come back to us!”
Rentarou’s eyes fluttered open. “Oh… yay, I’m still dreaming,” Rentarou sighed with a goofy smile. “Good morning, you three~”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Hakari sighed.
“Sheesh, way to scare us for no reason,” Karane huffed.
Kanata curiously sifted a hand through the flood of four-leaf clovers Rentarou was buried in. “So, what’s the deal with all these… clovers?” he asked.
“Are these all four-leaf clovers?” Hakari gasped, amazed. “We’ve been looking all day yesterday and couldn’t find one ! Are these all for us?”
“Oh… uh, no, not all of these,” Rentarou explained, pulling his fist up from the pile, three clovers still clutched in his hand. “But I did find these ones! …at least I think they’re the same clovers I found.”
“Then what’s with all this?” Karane asked, gesturing to the clover waterfall pouring out of his locker.
“They’re for me, I suppose. From a…” Rentarou paused, unsure of how to introduce the brand new, bonus fourth partner that he acquired during the night without freaking the others out. “ …secret admirer?”
“Well, damn, they sure love you,” Kanata said, bewildered and slightly threatened by the secret fourth person’s gesture.
“No duh,” Karane agreed. “What is this, some kind of reality show?”
Resolving to do something about it later, Hakari, Karane and Kanata dragged Rentarou out of the pile of four-leaf clovers, bringing him back out into the plaza to dust the petals off of him and check him for any serious injuries. “I’m okay,” Rentarou sheepishly protested. “But, really, I’m touched that you guys are so worried about me.”
“You’re not bleeding or nothing, so… that’s good,” Kanata said, lifting a pair of fingers to Rentarou’s eye level. “How many d’you see?”
“...two.”
“I don’t like how long you had to think about that one,” Kanata wheezed.
“I’m fine, honest! Just bonked my head a little! I’ll be okay!”
“You didn’t lose any memories, did ya?” Karane asked.
“Nope. My name’s Rentarou Aijou. My birthday’s May 1st. I attend Ohananomitsu High School and I remember all of your names too.” Rentarou pointed to each of them individually, proving his lack of amnesia. “Hakari Hanazono. Karane Inda. Kanata Tsunoda.”
“Phew, that’s a relief,” Hakari sighed. “Then you haven’t forgotten…?”
“I haven’t,” Rentarou answered.
The other three tensed with anticipation. “Then, you have an answer for us?” Hakari asked. “We are dying to know…”
“Yeah.” This is it. The fates of his prospective partners all hang on this one risky gamble. Time to see if all that good luck that he’s been accumulating with 100 rejections is going to pay off! Place all the chips on beating heart red and let it ride!
Rentarou bowed. For a moment, the others feared that he would reject them all but instead… “I want to date all three of you!”
The tsunderes were absolutely flabbergasted.
“ Huh!? You want to date all of us!? Did you wake up on the stupid side of the bed!?”
“ Huh!? That can’t be an option, can it!? There’s no way-”
“Maybe you guys are right. Maybe my idea isn’t the typical solution… but I thought about it all night and I couldn’t decide.” Rentarou straightened back up and declared with his whole body, mind and soul, “Because I’m falling in love with all three of you! Maybe it’s selfish on my part, but that’s what I feel in my heart and I know that’s true! I promise I’ll make all three of you the happiest people in the entire world! So, I’m begging you! Please go out with me!”
The silence that fell after that was long and agonizing. Hakari, Karane and Kanata shared looks with each other, quietly asking each other if this was a thing that was actually happening and silently commiserating about it. While they all seemed unsure on the surface, there was a flicker of something behind their eyes.
Karane was the first to speak. “L-Look, you can sweet-talk me all you want but ‘sharing’ is not on the-”
Rentarou countered with his secret weapon: the four-leaf clovers. “I heard about that four-leaf clover love myth thing going around school,” he explained. “That explains why you two were working so hard combing through the garden yesterday.” Hakari and Karane blushed, their scheme figured out. “And I figured you’ve at least heard of it, Tsunoda.” Kanata blushed and turned his head away.
“I thought you guys would feel really special if someone found a clover for each of you,” Rentarou continued. “So I figured that if I gave you these clovers along with my answer, then maybe I might get to see you all smile.”
“ Hngh~!♡ ”
“ Hngh~!♡ ”
“ Hngh~!♡ ”
Triple Heart Bullseye!
Hakari was the first to recover and answer back, “I appreciate that and I accept! I do not mind sharing you with the others!”
“Huh!? Don’t tell me that you caught the dumb disease too!?”
“I know that in my heart, my feelings for you are real. I am hopelessly in love with you! I cannot imagine being with anyone else!” Hakari closed the gap between her and Rentarou, clinging to his arm. “If it’s this or rejection, then sharing my boyfriend with two other people is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make!” She giggled and melted into his chest. “So, please make sure to take extra special care of your girlfriend, Rentarou, dear~♡”
Karane sputtered and shot back up, latching herself to Rentarou’s other arm. “H-Hey, that goes for me too! If you don’t treat me right, I swear I’ll make you pay!”
“ Funny, ” Hakari teased. “I thought sharing was off the table for you~”
“Y-Yeah, well, maybe the tables have turned a little bit, Pinky!”
Kanata was a little more hesitant, taking small, meek steps towards the throuple. “Damn… I gotta hand it to ya, Aijou. You’re pretty smooth,” he said. “I was convinced that this wasn’t an option… are you… sure there’s room for me?”
“Absolutely there is!”
Hakari and Karane looked to each other, silent agreement to the idea of their new boyfriend having a boyfriend of his own in their eyes. Karane harrumphed and rested her head against Rentarou’s chest, her cheeks puffed up adorably. It’s not like she was fine with that or anything. Hakari giggled and held an arm open, inviting Kanata to join them.
Kanata sighed. “There’s no way this would work in real life,” he grumbled. “...but, y’know what, screw it.” He stepped forward and joined the others, one arm around each of the other girls and resting his cheek on Rentarou’s shoulder. “I can deal… if it means I get to be with you too.”
And so begins Rentarou’s journey into mixed-gender harem life, guided by nothing but love!
-
Fortunately for Hakari and Karane, they got to stick with Rentarou for the rest of the day by virtue of being in the same class. Kanata, not so much. Luckily, Rentarou knew exactly where he’d be and Hakari and Karane were totally fine with tagging along.
“Hey, you guys!” Rentarou announced, poking his head in through the music club room door. Slowly but surely, the music club room was starting to come together. At least as much as it could in one day. Besu had finished pinning up all of the band’s old club posters, Gita and Kanata had spent a good chunk of their free time rearranging desks and chairs to create space for their equipment and Taiko was able to bring in the first few parts of his drum kit early in the morning.
Kanata hooked another chair onto the growing tower he and Gita were creating. His thought of climbing atop the throne dissipated when he heard Rentarou’s voice. He turned towards the door with a smile, greeting Rentarou. “Hey, Eyebrows. Wassup?”
“Hmm? Oh, hey! Who’re those two you’ve got with you, Aijou?” Gita asked.
Hakari popped in around him with a cheerful wave. “Hello! I’m Hakari Hanazono. I’m in Class 1-4.”
Karane drifted in behind her. “Karane Inda. Same class.”
“Whoa, you two are crazy pretty~!” Gita said.
“Aw, thank you! That’s so kind of you to say!”
“ H-Huh!? Don’t just say random stuff like that! I-It’s not like I’m touched by the compliment or anything, okay!?”
Taiko decided he had done enough for the day, stepping back from the partially constructed drum kit to take a breather and wiping the streaks of grease off on his handkerchief. “So, how’d practice go?” he asked, still somewhat amused by Rentarou’s bold declaration from the day before. “Have you mastered the keyboard yet?”
Hakari gave an interested hum but Karane seemed more skeptical. “What’d you go and tell ‘em that for?”
“Yeah… ‘master’ might’ve been a little bit optimistic,” Rentarou sheepishly admitted, reaching into his own personal pocket of hammerspace and pulling a full keyboard out of it. “But I’ve been able to get a little bit of practice in!”
“ Hwah- Where were you keeping that this whole time!?”
“Oh, you did, huh?” Kanata said. “Considering where we found you this morning, I dunno where you would’ve found the time to do that.”
“I practiced in between scenes!”
“Why’d you say that like it was a completely normal sentence?”
“So we’re just going to ignore his magic trick?”
“Well, rock on, dude,” Besu laughed, beckoning Rentarou over to them. “Let’s hook that up and see what you got.”
It took about 10 minutes or so to hook up Rentarou’s keyboard right next to Taiko’s partially constructed drum kit. Rentarou cracked his knuckles, shook the nervous energy from his hands and when he was ready… he performed ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.’ Rather well for a beginner but still, the quartet of punk rockers were in absolute stitches over it. Karane rested her face in her hands trying to hide her own laughter but Hakari was at least willing to humor Rentarou’s efforts with applause.
“Oh man, this Aijou guy cracks me up,” Gita laughed.
“Yeah, I dunno what I was expecting,” Kanata added, wiping a mirthful tear from the corner of his eye.
Rentarou took it all in stride, laughing himself and rubbing at the back of his neck. “Yeah, it was kind of a busy night.”
Kanata smiled and shrugged. “Y’know what, you’re in,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of time to practice before the school festival rolls around.” He weaved around the keyboard and placed a chaste kiss on Rentarou’s cheek. “And it probably says something about me, but I’m not above playing favorites when it comes to my boyfriend.”
Rentarou chuckled, “I’ll do my best!”
“I don’t doubt that~” Kanata’s bandmates happily celebrated their friend bagging his crush with Rentarou’s girlfriends looking on approvingly. “Ah, pipe down!” he complained, that dumb lovey-dovey smirk not leaving his face for a moment…
…at least until he suddenly shivered. “ Whoa, brr! When did it get so cold in here?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Rentarou caught a shadow lurking in the door frame behind Hakari and Karane. A very not happy shadow. One whose soft pink eyes seemed to gain a dangerous glint behind them as they glared at Kanata.
‘Ah, nuts. I should’ve figured that it wouldn’t be over so easily.’
Rentarou cleared his throat and greeted the shadow. “Hi, Aikawa.”
Noticing his beloved Rentarou looking directly at him, Tohru perked up, the venomous hate in his eyes pushed back for a moment. “Hi, Aijou~!♡” he chirped back, startling Hakari and Karane into jumping aside.
“ Eeek! Scared me half to death!”
“ Gyah! Where the hell did you come from!?”
Tohru completely ignored them and skipped into the room, rather roughly pushing past Kanata so he could see Rentarou. “Good morning, Aijou~! …or afternoon, I guess!” Tohru presented Rentarou with the bento he promised that morning, having added a heart-shaped rice ball to the mix. “Ta-da! I apologize for being late in bringing you your lunch. I was kinda bad and didn’t take your advice to get some rest, so I conked out during lunch but I’m here now!”
“Yeah, you look tired,” Rentarou said, putting the bento aside for a moment to check in on his boyfriend. “Are you okay?”
Tohru melted under the hand Rentarou placed on his head. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he sighed. “Just a little bit sleepy is all. I’ll feel better tomorrow, promise!”
“...oh, wait, I recognize you,” Kanata said. “You were that kid that was passed out in the back of my class, weren’t you?”
Fully annoyed that he was being addressed by one of the thieves after his beloved Rentarou’s heart, Tohru sneered at Kanata through gritted teeth, “ Last I checked, I wasn’t talking to you . ”
“And who exactly are you supposed to be?” Karane asked, Hakari peeking out behind her shoulder, using her as a human shield.
That question Tohru was more than willing to answer! He clung tightly to Rentarou’s arm and cheered, “I’m Tohru Aikawa! I’m Rentarou’s boyfriend!” He turned an icy, malicious glare to Kanata and coldly added, “ And I was here first. ”
Karane gave a frustrated sound, throwing her hands in the air. “Where do we all keep coming from!?”
Kanata’s bandmates looked at each other, completely befuddled by what they were watching. Taiko spoke up first, “Damn, dude. You wanna share that charisma with the rest of us?”
No one ever said the harem life would be easy. Good luck with this one, Rentarou, buddy!