Chapter Text
Makoto Yuki had his fair share of inconveniences in his life, but getting lost from his sister in the middle of the incessant Tokyo crowd was definitely something to add to his list. To make matters worse, she's not answering messages and calls on her cell phone.
I hope, for her sake, that it's something important, I'm not in the mood to stand around like a fool waiting for her good will.
Putting his headphones on, he starts to walk aimlessly in the hope of finding her in the mass of people, after walking for almost half an hour, the odds aren't really in his favor.
Stopping at an intersection, he sighs after checking his phone again, no update.
The way I see it is that I'll go straight to the dorm and wait for her to get ther-
"-Listen to me!"
"Hmm?"
As Makoto turns around, he sees a girl walking towards him, turning his head, he sees that the light is still red. Just my luck.
When the girl walks past him, he grabs the collar of her sweatshirt and pulls her back towards the sidewalk, she stumbles back but he grabs her by the arm.
A speeding car pass by, turning almost all people's attention to it. Looks like he made it just in time.
"Sumire!"
Another girl runs towards him, he lets go of the girl's arm when he sees that she can support herself.
"What were you thinking? running like that!?"
"I-I'm sorry...I-"
Trying to disconnect from what was about to become a lecture, Makoto tries to leave, but someone grabs his shirt sleeve, sighing internally, he turns to see that one of the girls is holding him.
"What?" He asks with a slight tone of rudeness, he wasn't in a good mood to begin with, and now this.
The girl looks a little discouraged for a moment, but seems to recover her spirits soon after, she starts.
"Thank you for looking out for my sister, she gets distracted quite often."
Makoto responds by just looking at the other girl, she notices that he's looking and fidgets in place for a little bit before bowing.
"Sure, no problem." He tries to turn around to leave, but his arm is still being held.
"Wait! I need to repay you back somehow, you probably saved her life, after all." She gestures towards the street, with a slight frown on her face, the wild traffic continues to flow as if nothing had happened.
"There is no need to-"
"Of course there is! just let me think for a mo-oh! I know just the place! and it's right around the corner, come!"
Makoto doesn't have time to respond, the girl grabs her sister's arm and starts dragging them both trough the streets. I can already feel the headache from a mile away.
After going trough some strange alleys and swearing that he was going to have his organs sold, Makoto is dragged to a coffee shop, upon entering, he comes across a surprisingly cozy environment, the smell of fresh coffee and spices filling his nostrils. This place might not be bad at all.
"Welcome." What appear to be the store owner, a gruffy old man, greets them without looking away from the newspaper he was reading.
Sitting on a booth, the three of them get comfortable, and for a change of pace, the redhead with glasses start talking.
"Kasumi, I wasn't aware you knew a coffee shop around these parts."
"Well, I didn't, this place actually popped on my phone map after I fidgeted with it a bit."
And there you have it, dragged by who knows who, to who knows where, to do who knows what, that headache must be just around the block now.
"So!" The auburn girl spoke in a loud tone, drawing the attention of even the owner who was reading his newspaper.
"We've never seen you around here before and judging by that bag of yours, you seem to be moving, do you intend to stay here in Tokyo?"
Makoto kept his speech brief. "Yeah, I'll be here for a while."
"So which school are you going to to join?" Makoto took a moment to remember. "It's called Shujin if I'm not mistaken."
The girl beamed. "Oh! looks like we will be seeing each other often then, we're also going to join that one, isn't that right, Sumire?" Her sister just nodded in response.
Makoto looked to the side and noticed that the old man was nearing their booth.
"You folks decided what to order?"
"Do you have any recommendations, sir?" Kasumi, as Makoto had picked up between the two sisters conversation, asked the man.
"Just call me Boss, and I'm not trying to show off here, but my curry is only the best one you will find in town."
"Then I will have just that and some water, I'm already running as enough coffee as I am, what about you?" She asked turning to his sister.
"I will have the same, please" She told the man.
"hmhmm" He turned to Makoto, waiting on his answer.
"You can ask for whatever you want, it's on me after all." Kasumi smiled.
Makoto pondered for a moment before responding. "I'll have the same, but swap the water for black coffee, without sugar."
"Coming right up." Makoto could see a faint smile forming on the man's lips as he started to prepare their order behind the counter, it seemed that the two shared the same opinion; that coming to a coffee shop and not ordering coffee was strange.
"We never introduced ourselves, right? I'm Kasumi Yoshizawa, this here is Sumire, my sister." she nudged her sister when she said her name, who only fidgeted in place in return.
"Makoto Yuki." He responded without much care, looking at his phone. No sign of Kotone yet... Where is she?
As if to answer his question, a loud thump sound could be heard outside the store, Makoto didn't pay no mind to it, but as the Yoshizawa sisters got a sight of what was behind him and made a confused face, he was forced to look behind him.
At the other side of the store's glass panel, a familiar face, too familiar, was pressing down against it. Big red eyes staring directly at him. "Found you."
"I suggest you cover your ears." Makoto advised as he grimaced to prepare himself for what was to come, the sisters didn't have time to react as Kotone practically barraged through the door.
"Onii-chan! Where have you been!? I've been running all around looking for you, all the while you've been here relaxing!" She pointed at the sisters as she said that. "And who are those?"
"Eh? You have a sister?" Kotone turned to Kasumi, striking a dramatic pose and making a peace sign towards her, Makoto frowned at the sight. "That's right, I am Kotone, nice to meet you...uhm..." She looked at Makoto with a semi-pleading face.
"Kasumi and Sumire Yoshizawa." He answered her silent question, the twins bowing to Kotone in response. "Right!" She said as she sat down, pushing Makoto to the other end of the booth.
"So, how did you end up here? You're not trying to pick up girls, are you?"
"That's not it." He said in a deadpan voice. "I was looking for you when I found them both, some things happened and they brought me here."
"What kind of thing?" Makoto looked at the sisters for a moment, pondering whether he would tell the details of the meeting between them, looking at the faces they were making, he thought it best not to.
"Nothing too major, don't worry."
"Eeehh, is that so?" Kotone looked dissatisfied with the answer, but left it at that. "So, what are we doing?"
"Huh?"
"We are only supposed to arrive at the dorms by night, right?"
"I believe so, yes."
"So..."
"I'm not in the mood to go wandering around, we just got here." Makoto said, making a pained face.
"Stop being a mood killer, it's just a little sightseeing, we've never been to this part of the country before." Kotone pouted, slouching back on the seat.
Their bickering seemed like it would not end soon.
"How about this then!" Kasumi spoke up, clapping her hands and getting the attention of the siblings. "What do you say we show you around town, we know some fun places."
Sumire seemed a bit taken aback by what Kasumi said. Makoto was aware of it.
"We don't want to overstay your kindness." Kasumi waved a hand at him in response. You're not, don't sweat it."
Guess I'm not taking a break until I arrive at the dorm, what a nice day.
Kotone beamed at the proposition. "Oh! I'm up for it, let's go!" She was already in the process of leaving the booth when Makoto grabbed her shoulder and plopped her back down on the seat.
"Wait a minute."
"What's the hold up?"
"The curry hasn't arrived yet."
"Wait, you ordered curry? What about me!?"
Much to Makoto's dismay, it seemed like their bickering would continue.
Being dragged around the country was already normal for Yu Narukami due to the nature of his parents' work, so when the opportunity to stay in one place for more than a few months or even weeks, presented itself, he was more than willing to accept the change in routine.
Leaving the Shibuya station, he looked around, seaching for his uncle, wich he was holding a photo of.
"Hey, over here!" A middle aged man waved at Yu. That must be him.
Aproaching his uncle, Yu was met with a handshake and a smile, a far contrast to an unamused welcome home he received from his parents, that if they were home to begin with.
"I gotta say, you're more handsome in person than in your photo, welcome to Tokyo. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be looking after you."
Yu smiled at him. "Yeah, It's been a long time, uncle. I'll be in you care." Dojima scratched the back of his neck, smile still up.
I'll say. You've really grown. I still remember when you were in diapers... Anyway." He turned around, bringing Yu's attention to a little girl that was standing behind him.
"This here's my daughter. Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself yo your cousin." The girl looked at Yu for a second before hiding back behind her father.
Dojima chuckled. "What're you so shy for?" That seemed to annoy her, she slapped Dojima's back in response. "Ow, hahaha, what was that for?"
Yu couldn't help but laugh at their little interaction.
"Well then..." Dojima started. "Let's get going, my car's over there." He lead the way to his car. As soon as he started following, Yu was interrupted by someone calling him.
"Oh, hey." He turned around to see a girl. Around his age, he assumed, with an auburn, most orange colored hair, with a pin holding the side of it, forming an XXII. Huh, I've never seen something like that before, pretty cool;
The girl in question was holding off a piece of paper in his direction. "You dropped this." Yu looked at the piece of paper, recognizing his writing. It was his uncle's address, in case they didn't meet at the station.
"Thank you." he said as he took the paper. The girl's smile only grew wider at his response. "It's no problem, see you around." She waved as she said goodbye to him. "Now, where the hell is he?" Yu heard her mutter something and look around as they parted ways.
"What's wrong?" His uncle asked behind him. He turned around and continued his way. "Nothing, I'm coming."
When they got into the car, Dojima seemed to remember something. "Oh right, I must deliver something to an acquaintance of mine, it's just a quick stop on the way, it won't take long."
Stopping in an alley, Dojima got out of the car towards the trunk, opening it, he took out a cardboard box. "Do you need help with that?" Yu asked, sticking his head out of the passenger seat window.
"Oh, don't worry, these bones can still take a few beatings." Dojima replied, with a slight smile. "Let me help you out with the door at least." Yu said as he walked out of the car. Nanako had already entered the establishment where they were going to stop, apparently.
Letting his uncle in and following after, he comes across a very cozy coffee shop, contrasting with the vast and busy city. Nanako was already sitting on a stool at the counter, drinking a juice, probably the owner had given it to her.
"Hey Sojiro, here's the last box."
"Just leave it on the counter, I'll see where to put it later." The answer came from behind said counter, from a area that appeared to be a small kitchen, the man, probably the owner of the store, was cleaning a cup, with a lit cigarette in his mouth.
"Oi oi, you should stop with the cigarettes, if you get sick in the middle of the street, it won't look good on you." Dojima spoke as he lit his own cigarette.
"The hell are you on about? I may be older than you, but I can still beat your ass." Both Sojiro and Dojima snickled.
"So, when is your guest arriving?" Dojima asked as he put out his cigarette in an ashtray on the counter.
"I don't even know, his parents called me saying he would come on one of the first trains to Shibuya." Sojiro replied as he looked at his wristwatch. "He's probably on his way as we speak."
"I could have given the kid a ride, I was going to stop by anyway."
"Nah, don't even bother, you've got your own baggage to take care off ." Sojiro grunted,slightly bowing his head at Yu, who responded in the same way.
"You're too grumpy sometimes, you know that?" Dojima frowned a little.
"And I'm starting to think its going to rub off on you." Sojiro joked.
"Sure, you old coot. Anyway, this is my nephew, Yu Narukami. He will stay with me for a while."
"I see, I'm Sojiro Sakura, but just call me Boss." a slight smile formed on his face.
"Sure, pleasure meeting you, Boss."
"We should go now, Yu's probably tired after the long ride."
"Eh? Already? I wanted to play with Futaba nee-chan..." Nanako interjected, somewhat downcast.
"Don't be like that, Nanako, one of these days we'll come and visit you, instead of the other way around." Sojiro replied, with a caring tone.
"Y-You mean it!?" Nanako looked skeptical. Sojiro rubbed the pack of his neck.
"Sure, it's a promise." He smiled. "Now go, before your father dies from standing too long."
Returning to the car, the three were ready to leave. Dojima started a conversation.
"It seems that Sojiro will also be the guardian of a boy, it seems that he is the same age as you."
"Doesn't he already have a daughter?" Yu asked.
"Oh, it seems like you think fast, just from his conversation with Nanako, you already connected the dots." He smiled. "Yeah, he does, but some things happened with this boy in question, his parents and I have known each other for a long time, to they asked me for this favor, as I had already agreed with your mother to take care of you, I turned to him to help out."
"I see." Trying not to bring up a sensitive subject, he left it at that.
They were about to leave the alley when a strange feeling came over Yu. Looking around, he saw a trio of people, consisting of two girls and a boy, entering the alley. They were heading towards the coffee shop when the boy stopped and looked back, as if searching for something. He locked eyes with the car for a few seconds before one of the girls caught his attention back, and entered the shop.
"Is something wrong?" Nanako asked, breaking Yu from his thoughts.
"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing, guess I'm just a little tired from the trip."
"..."
A bullshit year was the best description Ren Amamiya could give for the recent events in his life, being forced to spend a year in Tokyo under the care of a stranger because of a drunken bald bastard was the icing on the cake.
Leaving the station and almost being pushed by the crowd, he stops at Shibuya crossing to check the map when a strange app on his cellphone catches his attention. He taps on it but nothing happens. It hasn't even been 30 minutes and shit is already happening, that's gotta be a new record. He tries to get the phone working again, but nothing seems to work.
"Hey." A voice behind him catches his attention. Turning around, he sees a girl standing behind him.
"Can I help you?" Ren asked.
"Yeah, get out of the way." The girl spoke monotonously, but with a grimace that said otherwise.
"Oh, sorry." Apologizing, he stepped out of the way so she could pass. hearing a slight grumble from her as she walked away. "Are all people stupid over here?"
"..." Ignoring the girl's unfriendliness, he started to go on his way, but his cellphone caught his attention again by vibrating. Looking back at it, the app was still there. blocking the phone's access to the other apps.
My patience is starting to wear thin with this shit. He thought as he started tapping his phone harder. Fuck it, I know the place is in Yongen-Jaya, when I get there I'll manage. Better hurry too, the sun seems to be starting to set.
After a bit of walking, Ren managed to arrive at the marked adress. He rang the bell, no response came. Looks like no one was home, unfortunately for him.
"Oh, yeah..." A voice from Ren's side made itself known, startling him a bit. Where the hell did he come from? The deliveryman continued. "Sakura-san's usually at his cafe around this time. Well, Leblanc's in the back alley so I should make my other deliveries first..." The man proceeded to mumble something about his next package. Ren didn't care about it, he got enough information to continue his search for his caretaker.
Finding the cafe he noticed a sign that said "coffee&curry Leblanc" on it. He opened the door to it without much thought. Upon entering, he noticed the place was quite empty, there was only an elderly couple sitting on a booth making small talk about an accident that was being talked about on the TV. at the counter in front of them sitting on a stool was a middle-aged man reading the newspaper, he was mumbling something, from what Ren could hear, he was playing crosswords. And on the the other side of the counter, a girl with glasses and orange hair tied in a ponytail was disinterestedly fiddling with her cellphone.
"Sojiro, you got a customer." She said without looking away from her cellphone. The man took his attention away from the newspaper to look in Ren's direction.
"...Oh, right." He put the newspaper on the counter and stood up. "You're quite late, I almost forgot that it was today."
The elderly couple from before stood up, the man telling Sojiro that payment was on the table and saying goodbye. He scratched his head as he watched them leave the store. "...Four hours for just a single cup of joe." Sojiro retorted.
"I'm sure they were well entertained by you racking your brains with the crosswords." The girl with glasses mocked him with a smirk. "Can it." Sojiro retorted, staring at her before turning back to Ren.
"So, you're Ren?"
"Yeah, I'll be in your care from now on." Ren responded bowing his head.
"...Uh-huh, I'm Sojiro Sakura. You'll be in my custody over the next year. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you're the one, huh?
"The one and only." Ren replied with an overly confident tone, clearly wanting to make light of the situation.
Sojiro shook his head in disapproval, but a faint smile could be seen at the corner of this mouth. "If he's already like this with strangers... Anyway... Follow me."
Climbing the stairs of the cafe with Sojiro, Ren came face to face with a dusty attic, the amount of trash and random things scattered around it made it seem like the dump had a new competitor in town.
"This is your room. I'll at least give you sheets for your bed."
Ren was wearing a expressionless face as he looked around him.
"You look like you wanna say something." Sojiro pressed.
"This place is...quite b-"
"A dump." The voice that came from behind him belonged to the girl who was at the counter earlier. She had gone upstairs while the two were talking. "Like literally, I think you would live better if you fought with a dog for his doghouse."
The sincerity of it drew a laugh from Ren, which he tried to cover with his hand, but the two who were with him noticed the initial cackle. Sojiro took a deep breath before letting out a long sigh.
"Futaba." Sojiro called the girl's apparent name.
"What's up?" She responded
"Aren't you supposed to be on the lookout in case someone shows up?"
"Yeah?"
"So shoot, go on." Sojiro made a sign to her to go away with hand.
"You're no fun." She stuck her tongue out at Sojiro as she walked back to the store.
With a sigh, Sojiro looked at Ren continued speaking. "It's on you to clean up the rest. I'll be leaving after I lock up each day. You'll be alone at night, but don't do anything stupid. I'll throw you out if you cause any trouble."
Ren nodded in response
"I got the gist of your situation, but simply put, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass. It's best you not talk about anything unnecessary. I am in the reastaurant business, you know. Just keep your head down for the year and your probation will be lifted."
A whole year... The idea of living in a place like that with a stranger made Ren uncomfortable, but considering it could have been worse, it was what it was.
"We'll be going to Shujin tomorrow." Sojiro interrupted Ren's thoughts. "Huh?"
"Shujin Academy-the school you'll be attending. We'll introduce ourselves properly to the staff there. It's a wonder that they accepted someone like you, you know." Sojiro scoffed. "What a waste of my Sunday..."
Well shit, sorry, why'd you accept me in the first place if you're going to be an ass about it?
"Your "luggage" arrived earlier, I left them over there." Sojiro said as he turned towards a cardboard box that was laying on the ground. Then proceeded to leave the room.
"One more thing." Ren turned to the man. "Don't get any funny ideas with the girl downstairs. I'll be keeping an eye on you."
Ren laughed at the idea. "I'm pretty sure romance isn't at the top of my to-do list."
"Is that so?" The man asked as he stared at him. "The warning still stands." He continued down the stairs.
After Sojiro left, Ren changed into more confortable clothes, after seeing what was around the room, he decided to clean it up. Living in the middle of a pile of trash and dust didn't seem like a pleasant idea.
"What the heck?" Came the voice of Sojiro from the stairs. "I heard you making all sorts of noise up here but I didn't think you were cleaning." Looking around, the man scratched his beard. "Actually, the place doesn't look to bad."
"I can clean downstairs too, for a price." Ren joked. "Oh hell no, I'm fine." Sojiro chuckled, waving his hand at him.
"Guess it's only natural you'd want to keep your room tidy. Why don't you go to bed for tonight? You don't have anything better to be doing, right? I'm going to close up shop and get out of here myself."
Ren nodded in response.
"If you get sick from staying up too late, that's on you." He proceeded to leave.
The sun had already set, Ren was in bed getting ready to sleep, thinking back to the night he was arrested.
"Damn brat, I'll sue!"
He frowned at the memory. Still, I couldn't just let that go...
Ren sighed at the memory, remembering it wouldn't help at all, but there was no way to help that. His eyes were starting to get heavy, when he was about to sleep, his cell phone rang, when he picked it up, Ren realized that the strange application was still there, its icon looked like an eye and seemed to be pulsing.
Guess I forgot about this thing, I better delete it.
After moving the app to the trash on his phone, he left it on the windowsill and dozed off shortly after.
The sound of chains woke Ren up, upon opening his eyes, he didn't recognize the ceiling he was looking at. As he stood up, he noticed that his clothes had changed; he was now wearing a simples black and white striped shirt and pants, almost like those of a prisoner. He also noticed that there were handcuffs on his hands and chains on his feet attached to a metal ball on the floor, he couldn't go far form there. With a confused face, he went towards the metal bars that contained him in that small room.
As he leaned against the bars, Ren observed a circular room with several cells just like the one he was in. In the center of this room was a bald man with an oddly long nose, pointy ears and bloodshot eyes. He sat in front of a desk and seemed to be staring into the distance, even though there was nothing to be seen there.
He also noticed two girls in front of his cell looking directly at him. They appeared to be young girls with platinum blonde hair and yellow eyes. They both were wearing a black eye patch with the letter "V" over one of their eyes and a blue prison guard outfit. "The inmate has awoken, at last." One of the twins said.
"Then it's about time we started." The man in the middle of the room extended both arms. "Tricksters, welcome to my velvet room."
Tricksters? There's more than just one?
As this thought passed trough his head. Ren heard noises in the cells around, as he looked back at them he noticed that three of those cells were occupied by different people, and in front of each of them was a different person, these people wearing the same type of blue outfit that the twins in front of him were wearing. The people inside the cells seemed as confused as he was.
The twins in front of him started speaking, this time for everyone in the room to hear. "You are all only experiencing this as a dream." The other twin shouted after. "You're in the presence of out master. Stand up straight!"
"Welcome. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a "contract" may enter. I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well. I summoned you lot to speak of important matters. It involved your lives as well."
Everyone in their cells became restless as the old man talked about their lives.
"Hey, long nose, let me out." Ren spoke with a certain anger behind his voice. Suddenly, a baton hit the bars of his cell, electrifying them. Ren jumped in shock.
"Know your place, inmate! Who do you think you're talking to!?"
"Haha, he woke up not even five minutes ago and is already getting a scolding." Came a feminine voice from another cell.
"I suggest you all remain silent while our master is speaking." A male voice came from one of the "wardens", but apart from the twins in front of him and Igor, everyone else in the center of the room was obscured.
Igor chuckled in his chair. "Still, this is a surprise..." He said while looking around. "The state of this room reflects the state of your own hearts. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are "prisoners" of fate."
The room fell silent again at Igor's remark, making him chuckle once again.
"Haha, worry not. There is a means to oppose such fate."
It looks like things aren't going to be as easy as everyone who was trapped there thought they would be.