Chapter Text
4/9, Saturday
Ren snapped awake after finding herself dozing off on her train ride to Tokyo, she could hardly blame herself for falling asleep though given all that had happened to her lately. The sounds of the train moving and the whispers of nearby girls talking something about ‘mental shutdowns’ filled her ears. Truth be told she had never been to a big city like this so she found herself rather nervous about living here for the next year.
Flashes of what had happened filled her mind, a man hitting the concrete, a falsified statement, cuffs clicking together. Stop, don’t think about it she told herself, shaking the sleepiness off of her face and staring down at her phone.
Huh… I don’t remember installing an app like that, her eyes were fixed on the bizarre black and red icon of whatever had been installed on her phone. She made a mental note to check it out later as her stop had finally arrived.
She slowly walked her way through the backstreets of Yongen, where she’d be staying for the next year. It wasn’t the worst area, hell if anything it was downright cozy. Idly waving to the elderly man running the second hand store nearby her eyes caught on something for a moment, a cafe, the sign at the front said ‘Leblanc’. She thought about it for a moment and decided to venture a look inside, she could certainly use a coffee right about now anyway.
The bell rang with a satisfying chime when she swung the door open, she quickly got a good look at the atmosphere of this place. The cafe was rather small and rustic, but it had a certain charm to it that she couldn’t quite place. A gruff man with glasses and a beard was leaning against the counter and staring intently at a crossword while two elderly people were talking in a nearby booth. She was a bit confused how a place like this stayed open if it only had three booths but she had no reason to question it.
“We’ll be going now, the payment’s on the table” the elderly man said as he got up out of his seat, the woman across from him getting up as well
“Thanks for coming” the bearded man, presumably the owner, responded
Ren moved out of the way so they could leave, not really paying them much mind as they passed. Her focus instead was on the manager looking guy, she wasn’t great with her voice yet so she had to focus a fair bit.
“Hello” it was a little rough, but it was a manageable girl’s voice
“Can I help you?” he had the smile of a man who had been in customer service for years, polite but not overly so, friendly but not overbearing
“Well I’m looking for a Sojiro Sakura, but I’m earlier than expected so I figured I’d have some coffee here first” she half smiled politely, she was growing rather good at fake smiles by now
“Huh” he looked over her for a moment, not in a creepy way, it was more of a curious look, “Well guess you got lucky, I’m Sojiro Sakura” he said with the same customer service smile
“Oh! Well, it’s nice to meet you then Sakura-san” why did she suddenly feel so nervous?
“Heh, you’re more polite than I was expecting… but please, you can just call me Sojiro or Boss” the older man put his hands on his hips, his posture was pretty bad being the main take away she noted, “and you’re… Akira Kurusu, correct?”
She flinched when she heard that name, dammit why did I do that? It’s technically my name after all, he doesn’t know
“Oh dammit” he snapped his fingers, as if just remembering something, “Sorry about that, that was the name they had on all the information I was given about you”
There was a slight pause, Sakura gently pinching the bridge of his nose, “Look, I was given a pretty good run down of your circumstances… it’s really none of my business but I don’t see much of a point in being overly cruel to you… so what name would you prefer me to call you?”
“O-oh uh.. I-its fine” she immediately whimpered out, it’s not fine dammit, why can’t I help myself?
“Come on kid, I’m old, not dumb… I saw how uncomfortable you felt at being called that, so just tell me what you like better” despite the roughness to his voice there wasn’t any hostility in it which was certainly something she wasn’t used to at this point
“Uh… R-Ren… Ren Amamiya” her voice trembled a bit, slipping back to a lower tone before she corrected it
“A different last name too?” he raised an eyebrow at the girl
“That was a part of the deal” she huffed a lock of curly black hair out of her face, “My parents agreed to send me to school and let me go as a girl, but I had to agree to use a different last name”
Sojiro made a quiet ‘hm’ noise at that but didn’t say anything
“Guess my parents didn’t want the headache of a freak child messing with their brand’s reputation” there was more than a little venom in her words.
There was a slight awkward pause between the two before the man sighed, “Well, it’s none of my business, come on… I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping”
She followed him up the stairs at the back of the cafe, they led up to what appeared to be an abandoned attic. Junk was all over the place, dust piled over an inch high everywhere, it had certainly seen better days.
“It’s on you to clean the rest” he gave her a slight skeptical look, “You got something to say?”
“It’s…” don’t say anything snarky , “certainly big”
“Hm… well I’ll at least give you sheets for your bed, we should probably get you a curtain too since there’s no door, a girl needs her privacy after all” he said that in such a nonchalant way that it made her heart skip a beat, “What’s with the look?”
Shit , he must have seen the slight blush on her face alongside her awkward shy smile, “U-uh it’s nothing!”
“...right, well, tomorrow we’ll be visiting Shujin… we’ll have to pick up your uniform and class ID while we’re there too” a uniform… a girl’s uniform…
She looked at what she was currently wearing, a pair of baggy men’s jeans and an oversized t-shirt… not her ideal wardrobe options but she was pretty limited.
Sojiro might have said something else before going downstairs but she didn’t pay it any mind, her brain was far too consumed in the idea of wearing a skirt to school. Get a hold of yourself Ren… you’re a girl, girl’s wear skirts… Once she was able to stop happily wiggling at the mere thought of it she began to clean up the attic.
A couple of hours must have passed after that, she was cleaning without putting much thought into it. Her mind felt like it had gone somewhere completely different during her chores. Blood coming out of a man’s head, his drunken voice yelling at her, a stern face holding her down. Stop… stupid brain… She shook herself free of those thoughts just in time to hear her guardian walking up the steps.
“Woah-ho, I thought I was hearing a bunch of noise up here but I didn’t think you had gotten this much done” his voice sounded genuinely impressed, which truth be told might have been warranted?
The once junk filled and dusty ass attic had been pretty much entirely cleaned. An empty shelving rack was near her bed, an impressively well stocked work table on the other side, a couch next to that, and a filled shelving rack right by the stairs that she managed to squeeze all of her belongings from home into.
“Guess I was in the zone” she rubbed the back of her head with a cheeky grin, looking around the room in a bit of amazement herself
“Well come on downstairs, I’ve got some dinner for you” at that her head perked up, she looked like a deer in headlights that hadn’t eaten in weeks.
She took a seat at the counter with a heaping plate of curry right in front of her, the smell was like a dream. She carefully took one bite of it before her eyes shot open just a bit more. It was spicy for sure but… there was a lot of depth to the flavor, certainly more than she had ever expected or experienced with curry before.
Sojiro chuckled a bit at the sight of her wolfing it down, she could have sworn he had a look in his eye that appeared to be nostalgia but she was too busy stuffing her face to tell.
“You don’t gotta eat it that fast you know, no one’s going to take it from you” he smirked and passed her a cup of coffee
She took another bite and then a slight sip of the coffee, somehow it was amazing too?! She couldn’t hide the genuine elation from her face, looking up at her guardian with a wide smile, “Thank you for the food, Sakura-san”
“Huh… hard to believe the kid in front of me has a criminal record” he sighed while she ate and drank some more, “To get this straight you saw a woman being harrassed, you stepped in to help, and then you got arrested when the man was hurt…”
The look on his face was something that Ren had trouble reading, was it regret? Or approval of her stepping up? Annoyance? She couldn’t get a grasp on it.
“That’s what happens when you stick your nose in other people’s business” he finally said in a gruff tone, “you did injure him yeah? Just be sure to stay on your best behavior, in one year’s time you’ll be off of probation if you’re good… if you cause any trouble though I won’t have any issue kicking you out”
Talk about a change in attitude , the firmness of his voice and the serious look on his face told her that he meant what he said. For now she figured it would be easier to just agree rather than try and argue why helping that woman was the right call. She just nodded, continuing her meal in a much more controlled manner.
A little while later she had finished her curry and coffee and was in the middle of cleaning off her dishes when she heard Sakura walk towards the door.
“Alright, I’m going to lock up for the night, remember we’ll be going to your school first thing in the morning so don’t stay up too late” she was a bit surprised he was trusting her with his store overnight, “I’m not gonna take care of you if you get sick”
She nodded as he was opening up the door but she quickly stepped out from behind the counter before he could fully close it behind him.
“Once again, thank you for the meal… and for taking me in Sakura-san” she bowed as deep as she could
“Huh… yeah” there was a hint of appreciation in his tone, “and I already told you, you don’t need to call me Sakura-san”
“R-right… have a good night Boss” she stood back up straight and smiled
“...good night kid” the surprise both in his tone and on his face was pretty easy to see
She got changed, took her hormones, and finally went to lay in bed at the end of this absurdly long day. Sakura-sa… Boss, doesn’t seem so bad… it could certainly be worse for me , she thought to herself as her eyelids grew heavier and heavier over time.
???
She snapped awake in an unfamiliar bed, the light notes of a piano were all she could hear outside of the slow but steady dripping of nearby water. Her body felt slow and sluggish but she was able to pull herself out of bed with relative ease, at least until the chain on her foot caught.
Looking down she could see that she was wearing the outfit of a prisoner, her leg chained to a massive ball nearby and her hands chained together in front of her. Panic slowly began to set in until she heard a bizarre laughter coming from behind her. For a moment she almost felt like she shouldn’t turn around… like she would regret facing whatever was laughing behind her, she pushed those worries down though and turned to face whoever was there.
Behind the bars in front of the cell she was held in, off towards the center of the room sat an out of place looking desk. Behind that desk sat a man who appeared to be rather frightening at first glance. He had a bizarre proportion, his hair gray and balding, and… that is one hell of a nose .
Before she could say anything she became aware of two small girls standing in front of her cell. They were both wearing little prison guard uniforms and had eyepatches on opposite eyes from each other. Her main takeaway from them, other than how adorable and precious they looked, was the golden eye that each one possessed.
“Welcome, to the velvet room” the soft, almost friendly voice of the bizarre man finally rang into her ears
“Wh-what the hell is this place?!” she jerked forward, grabbing the bars, bars… jail… locked inside, it’s so lonely, the way they looked at me.
“This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter” the man’s voice thankfully snapped her back to… well… not reality, but back to the present, “It is a room that only those who are bound a ‘contract’ may enter, I am Igor, the master of this place”
“I’m… so far beyond confused” Ren’s voice squeaked out, only just barely able to maintain it’s femme sound
“I summoned you here to speak of important matters, matters that involve your life as well” the smile that seemed to never leave Igor’s face was already a bit creepy for her
“J-just let me out of here!” she fruitlessly pulled at the cell bars before a loud electrical smack rung against the bars
“Learn your place inmate!” one of the two small girls yelled with a slight grin on her face
“Ah, allow me to introduce you to the others, on your right is Caroline; on your left Justine” Igor’s weird creepy smile grew wider, “of course this is only an introduction for you”
“Wh-wha?”
“This is not the first time these events have happened” the quieter one… Justine? Cut her off
“Yeah, we’ve seen plenty of Tricksters before!” the aggressive one who had smacked the bars grinned, “You’re gonna have to really impress us Inmate!”
“Can someone please explain what’s going on?” Ren whined, her head sinking against the bars
“That will have to wait for another time” Igor chuckled devilishly god that guy is too weird! , “it seems our time is at end for tonight, take your time to adapt to this place”
“Now… return to yourself in reality” Justine’s calm soft voice almost felt like it was putting her to sleep, by the time the prison bell began to ring she could hardly hear it…
4/10, Sunday
She awoke with a jolt, sitting up straight in bed with her heart in her throat. Velvet... room? Creepy nose guy? Tiny gold eyed twins?... What a weird dream… Her eyes quickly widened as she realized once again what she had to do. In a flurry she shot up out of bed and got changed as quick as she possibly could, Can’t make a bad impression on Boss, have to be punctual for now! She thought while scrambling down the stairs. Her hurried panic seemed to be completely unnecessary though, like usual, as she had flown down the steps well before it was even time for them to leave.
Sojiro drove her today, since they both had to be there for this introduction. Since she didn’t have a uniform yet she wore yet another baggy t-shirt with men’s jeans. In truth, men's jeans made her skin crawl when they were on her legs, but she didn’t have a lot of other clothes she could wear.
They pulled up to the school, sitting in the Aoyama district, and Sojiro displayed his impressive talents with parallel parking! She didn’t really have the chance to compliment him on it though as he got out of the car the instant it had turned off must be in a hurry to get back to the shop…
The school didn’t look like anything special, just an ordinary prep school with no one around due to it being a Sunday. The inside also looked overwhelmingly normal which while probably a good thing, was a tad disappointing to Ren.
She followed wordlessly behind her guardian until they got to the Principal’s office where an extraordinarily tired looking woman opened the door.
“Yes?...” her voice was even more tired sounding than she looked
“We’re here for a meeting, this one starts tomorrow” he motioned back towards her, she gave the woman a slight wave that she either didn’t see or didn’t care to return
Lovely start…
Once they walked into the office itself she saw the principal… she didn’t want to body shame him though, even in her own thoughts…
“Welcome, Akira Kurusu” the rotund man said flatly
…But he just has the most bizarre build I have ever seen. Even Igor looked more normal than his weird humpty dumpty shaped body.
“Ah, it’s actually Ren Amamiya” Sojiro flatly said before Ren even had the chance to say it herself, immediately she saw the principal’s eyes narrow
“Really Sakura-san? You’re partaking in this perverted horseplay?” the condescension leaking off of his voice just furthered her desire to body shame him
“She was allowed to enroll here as a girl, I’m afraid I don’t see the big deal” was that… a hint of a protective tone in her guardian’s voice?
“We agreed to have the gender marker on his ID listed as female, but we have no intentions of letting him act out his perverse fantasies in the halls of our school” Ren could almost feel her heart dump all the way down into her stomach at that, “Now… moving on-”
“Hey, the kid’s criminal record doesn’t just give you the right to treat her like dirt” there was a sternness in Sojiro’s voice that completely surprised her
“...is this really a hill you are going to die on Sakura-san?” the principal’s beady eyes narrowed even more, they were already small on that fat idiotic bald head before
“Listen, I’m her guardian for the next year” Sojiro sighed, “just enroll her as you would any other girl, unless of course you want me calling her parents? I’m sure they wouldn’t react too kindly to you taking their donation and not fulfilling your end of the bargain”
God damn, for an older guy he can really spit venom
The egg shaped man took a deep breath, thinking to himself for a moment, “Fine… we will fulfill the agreement” his eyes shot towards her with a look so stern she felt like she might pass out, “You will be given a girl’s uniform, and your… situation about that will be kept strictly between myself and your home room teacher”
“If you’ll follow me Amamiya-san… we can get your uniform and ID” the woman standing next to the principal said with a sigh, she still didn’t really seem to give a damn about anything… but she did call her the right name
She looked at Sojiro for a moment as if asking his approval, “Go on, I’ll finish up the paperwork here” he smirked at her again, which really made her feel like everything was going to be ok.
She followed the exhausted teacher over into the teacher’s lounge, she didn’t really say anything though I’m not sure she’s even conscious right now . Once they reached the machine to create IDs she finally spoke.
“Name?” her tone was what Ren would compare to a fast food worker who was on the 10th hour of the last shift at the end of their two weeks notice… or more simply, completely checked out
“R-ren Amamiya”
“No I got that already… I meant spell it for me” the clear frustration in her sigh made her nervous but she did eventually spell it out for her
Then the woman walked over to a stack of boxes with uniforms in them, “do you know your size?”
“Uh… not really?” she awkwardly laughed, the woman… clearly not being entertained
Being measured was surely… a weird feeling, especially in the chest where Ren had barely more than buds formed, her little AAA-cups as she liked to call them, though they could maybe be considered A-cups by now. She was rather impressed at the speed in which the teacher could measure though, she had all of her measurements down faster than Ren would have been able to get a single one… though she wasn’t sure why a school uniform needed all of those measurements.
She handed her a sealed plastic bag that contained a uniform, from what she could see it had a jacket, undershirt and skirt as well thigh highs and tights that she could interchange with the weather. Her heart skipped a beat when she took it in her hands.
“I’m Kawakami… I’ll be your homeroom teacher, when you show up to school tomorrow just find me here and I’ll take you to class” she said with another of her already trademarked sighs
“R-right! Thank you, Kawakami-sensei” she took a deep bow in front of her, even if her teacher wasn’t the most friendly she at least was going out of her way to not call her the other name, and for that Ren was extremely grateful.
An hour later, they were completely stuck in traffic. Though the only way Ren could tell that was by the lack of movement in the car. Ever since she had gotten it she was just staring at her student ID with a big dumb smile on her face
Ren Amamiya
Class - 2-D
Gender - Female
Her picture still didn’t look great to her… but still… to see it confirmed on an ID felt like a huge step for her. She hardly even noticed Sojiro talking directly to her until the third or fourth time he said her name.
“Hey kid, you good?” there was just a small hint of concern in his voice
“O-oh uh… yeah… sorry, was just thinking about things” she gave him a slight fake laugh which she immediately heard him follow with a low grunting sound
“Sorry about that at the school, had I known ahead of time I woulda had you wait outside the office” after a moment he looked at her speechless face, mouth agape and eyes wide, “What?”
“S-sorry! I-I’ve just…” she looked back at the ID again, “never really had anyone stand up for me like that…”
“Yeah well… I figured you’re more likely to stay on good behavior if the school treats you like a human being” his sigh sounded incredibly tired, “Don’t get me wrong though, if you don’t behave I’ll still kick you out to the curb without a second thought”
Even if that’s true… he’s still nicer than anyone else has been to me… maybe ever?
“R-right… I’ll be an ideal student, don’t worry” she grinned while her hands fiddled with the package containing her uniform
“Well starting tomorrow you’ll be taking the train to school… this traffic is unbelievable” after he sighed yet again they both heard the radio talking about another train derailing issue, “Another accident? Geez, what’s this country coming to…”
“Will the trains be… safe?” she raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, not that he took his eyes off the road to notice
“They should be fine, just be careful” he said it nonchalantly enough, but there was that hint of worry again.
By the time they finally got back to the cafe it was already night time, meaning Sojiro didn’t even get to open the store at all.
“Well… I guess I’ll lock up for the night, feel free to study or… whatever, just don’t touch anything in the fridge” he didn’t even leave the doorway as he was speaking
“Right uh… I-I do really really appreciate what you did for me today Boss! I’m sorry that you couldn’t open the store” she took another super deep bow, this one feeling incredibly well earned given all he had done for her
“Heh… well, you can thank me by helping out behind the counter sometime” he said with his smirk, “Good night kid”
“Sounds good! I’ll help out however I can, good night Boss” she stood up straight and smiled at him.
She went up to bed pretty quickly, not like she had much else that she could do right now. Maybe this place won’t be so bad? Even the teacher seemed accepting and the students won’t be aware that I’m not cis… honestly it doesn’t seem that bad at all, outside of Principal Humpty Dumpty of course… knowing my luck though? This good feeling is not going to last…
More things plagued her dream that night, a cell, cold and dark… the names they called her, a woman’s scream, the sound of an impact.
4/11, Monday
Ren awoke the next morning in a sweat, damned dreams… but she had learned how to pay them little mind by now. The nightmares she was used to so really she was just happy she didn’t have to take another midnight prison trip with Igor.
Putting that all aside she had to get ready for school today. Saying she was nervous to put on her uniform was the understatement of the decade, the way the skirt hung off of her, the feeling of tights hugging her roughly shaved legs, buttoning her buttons on the opposite side… It all felt so incredible!
She went downstairs to the bathroom and quickly looked in the mirror to see how she looked. Truth be told she didn’t look overly male, she had been growing out her hair for years so now it reached a fair bit past her shoulders and the puberty blockers had at least stopped her growth spurt before she got too tall. Sure, she was self medicating… Japan’s laws pretty much made that a necessity at this point, but it was turning out alright.
The estrogen certainly was helping quite a bit too, which reminds me… I need to find a new way to GET HRT and puberty blockers here… Boss thinks I have a prescription for it… I’ve still got over a month’s supply though, so I should be good to wait a bit .
But even with all of that there were still a few things she really didn’t like, her shoulders still looked sort of wide compared to other girls and her overall structure was more boyish or neutral than it was feminine. She passed well enough though so she was happy with that for now, outside of… well, the thing between her legs. But if she wanted to get to school without being a sobbing mess she had to push those thoughts deep down in her mind.
A while later she was finally on her way to school, Sojiro was kind enough to make her breakfast in the form of more curry. He really comes off as a big old softie… which I guess he sort of has to be to have agreed with taking me in for a year . The stations were a bit of a nightmare for her to navigate at first but she didn’t end up running overly late.
Once she got to Aoyama though, it was raining, dammit she thought to herself as she ran through the rain with her hair bouncing behind her with each step. She probably made it about half way before she decided to duck down underneath cover and catch her breath.
These tights are super warm but I hate that they’re all wet now… maybe I should also try to get some girl’s shoes sometime soon? I might get clocked with these shoes.
She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice someone bumping into her. Both of the girls fumbled backwards but luckily neither of them fell completely.
“Shit, sorry!” a sweet voice came from the hoodie wearing girl
“It’s-” she roughly coughed to adjust her voice back to feminine, “it’s fine”
She noticed the girl was looking over her shoulder, something was clearly frightening her but Ren couldn’t tell exactly what it was.
“Did you… need some help?” she spoke softly and quietly, for all she knew it could have been a stalker
“Wh-what?” the strange hoodie girl turned back to face her, Ren could make out her brilliant blue eyes inside of her hood, “Actually… yes”
The plan was… a bit overly convoluted and cartoonish in Ren’s opinion but she was nothing if not willing to help others. She took off her jacket and feigned to be shaking it out, waving it like she was trying to get a bug off of it or something. The other girl meanwhile hid behind her, using both Ren and the jacket flailing as cover.
Seemingly they enacted their plan without a moment to spare, because as soon as a particular car passed by at a slow speed she could hear the other girl let out a sigh of relief.
“You’re seriously a lifesaver” hoodie girl said, her voice was full of gratitude but also sounded deeply tired
“It’s no problem… if someone asks for help I can’t ever bring myself to say no” she grinned, half sarcastically, while putting her jacket back on
The hoodie girl finally decided to pull the hood down, unveiling her massive blonde twintails that reached down past her shoulders. How the hell did she fit all of that inside of a hood?! It was now that Ren also took note of her uniform, which certainly couldn’t have been regulation, the red tights alone really made her whole look stand out… then again, not any more than the massive amount of blonde hair on her head.
“I don’t think we’ve ever met before, my name’s Ann! Ann Takamaki” the blonde gave her a genuine friendly smile before her eyes moved past Ren and took on an annoyed look.
Ren also turned to see who was approaching, it was a guy wearing a school uniform, though he had replaced the undershirt with a bright t-shirt for whatever reason and didn’t have his jacket buttoned. Notably he too also had blonde hair, though his was clearly harshly bleached instead of being naturally blonde like Takamaki’s. Based on his heavy breathing it seemed that he had run for quite awhile.
“What are you doing Sakamoto?” Takamaki’s voice had a mixture of annoyance as well as a hint of worry, “And should you really be running?”
“Eh shuddup!” he brushed her off with a handwave and a loud tone, “I wanted to make sure that pervy ass teacher didn’t do nothin to ya”
“Pervy teacher?” Ren asked with a raised eyebrow, her phone slowly opening up the weird app all on it’s own without her knowing in her bag
“Yeah, that was Kamoshida’s car that just passed by” the way Sakamoto said his name definitely let her know there was a lot of history there
“Uh, I can take care of myself you know” the other girl huffed, “I had it handled”
“Yeah by gettin help from her,” the boy pointed right at her, “Why are you so pissy with me? I was tryin to help”
“Considering what happened the last time you tried to help someone, I think I’ll pass” Takamaki’s voice shot razor blades at the boy
Oh god what am I in the middle of? I just wanted to help this… really really pretty girl.
Sakamoto looked to the side when she said that, his brown eyes flashed with regret and anger.
“Well… uh… th-this has been an enlightening conversation, but I should really be going” she awkwardly tried to excuse herself and walk away
“You go to Shujin too, right?” Takamaki cocked her head at her, “At least, that’s the uniform you're wearing”
“You a transfer student?” Sakamoto stepped over to the pair
“Yup, just a normal regular transfer student!” sweat had already started to drip down her brow
You moron! Why would they be suspicious? They’re just curious! Calm down
“Well, I should warn ya then, steer clear of Kamoshida… he walks around the school like he owns the place” Sakamoto’s nose immediately scrunched in disgust while Takamaki looked away from them both with a distant expression, “He likes to mess with girls especially, it’s best to just stay as far away as you can, you probably wouldn’t be taken seriously if he tried somethin with you, everybody else treats him like the king of the castle”
As soon as the boy said that last word Ren had to grip her head in pain, a migraine of some kind just slammed into her head like a brick wall. When she looked at the other two with one eye open and saw them reacting the very same way though, she got a little concerned.
“Ugh… dammit, I wanna go home” Sakamoto sighed and sagged his shoulders in an over exaggerated manner
“We should probably get to class” Takamaki said while also rolling her eyes at the boy’s reaction before turning to her, “Wanna walk with me?”
“S-sure” Ren nodded, following alongside them
“You never got to tell me your name by the way, cause that idiot interrupted our greeting” she shot the boy a scowl
“Oh uh… I-I’m” don’t freeze, it’s natural, say it naturally, “Ren Amamiya”
“Well I’m Ryuji Sakamoto” the blonde boy grinned at her, “nice to meetcha!”
“What the hell?!” Takamaki’s gasp and yell of surprise turned both their attention to her, and then to what she had reacted to…
Sitting right there, where the school was supposed to be, instead was a massive medieval western-style castle! Complete with a drawbridge of all things and an odd unnatural looking sky overhead.
“And here I thought I was getting pretty good with directions” Ren sighed, giving a sarcastic grin to the others that they didn’t really pay attention to
“I know we went the right way… the sign even says Shujin…” Sakamoto’s eyes narrowed, examining the castle as if it would just disappear at any moment
“Think it’s some kind of movie set?” Takamaki asked the others, her arms folded in front of her
“Well… I know for sure we won’t find out here… might as well go inside” she didn’t wait for the blonde duo to say anything, she just started walking towards the castle.
She could swear that for a minute it almost looked like something pulsed over the building, in the waves she sort of made out the look of the school again… I don’t know how or why he did it… but I’m just going to put all of the blame for this squarely on that Igor guy…
Things just kept staying weird as they walked over the drawbridge and approached the front doors. I was here yesterday, there’s no this was all set up overnight… With the help of that Sakamoto kid they opened up one of the oddly heavy doors and started to walk inside.
The room was incredibly tacky, a massive entryway with two staircases off to either side. There appeared to be a hallway off to the left and one off to the right, above them hung massive chandeliers that looked like they could carry a full person’s weight with no issue.
“Where is everybody?” Takamaki seemed to be looking around for people while Sakamoto was more baffled by the appearance of the place
“I’m… getting a bad feeling about this place” Ren took a step back, a deep hard chill running down her spine
THE TIME IS ALMOST UPON US AT LAST
She let out a loud scream and quickly turned around much to the confusion of the two blondes, “Who was that?!”
“Who was what?” Sakamoto looked around, he didn’t seem to be lying
“You didn’t hear that voice?!”
THE HOUR OF OUR RECKONING SHALL SOON LAND UPON THIS BLIGHTED WORLD
“It sounds like it’s coming from all around us!” her head darted around rapidly but no matter where she looked she couldn’t see anyone
“O-ok, just take a deep breath” she felt Takamaki’s hand on her shoulder, “you don’t have to panic, we’re right here”
“R-right it’s j-just… hallucinations… this whole thing has to be a hallucination, right? I doubt you two are even real” she awkwardly laughed, more trying to convince herself than the other two
“Dude… relax, you look super pale” she could see a hint of fear and concern in Sakamoto’s face
She slowly took in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds and then released, she did this a few times over while the other two thankfully just stayed quiet.
“Sorry…” bashfully she turned her head away from their concerned faces, feeling a bit of heat appear in her cheeks
“ Well, well well… Now who do we have here? ” a voice she didn’t recognize, not the same one as before, called out.
The three of them all turned to the source to see a rather… strange looking man standing in the middle of the room. He was very tall, wide and had a pretty bad haircut but the most noteworthy thing about him was his glowing yellow eyes. Yellow eyes? Like those twins… He was wearing a cloak of some kind, and unfortunately for her as he paced around the cloak moved and revealed that he had little else on underneath it.
“Kamoshida?!” the voice of Sakamoto snapped her back into the present and out of her disgust, “What the hell are you wearin?!”
“ Hmph, should have figured it would have been you Sakamoto ” his eyes then ran up and down Takamaki and before Ren could even process that she felt his disgusting gaze eying her up and down now too. Eying would be putting it lightly though, more like he was trying to burn her uniform off with just his gaze, “ Well well, at least we have something usable here, my Princess has returned and she even brought in a new beauty for me~ ”
“Quit looking at us like that you perv!” Takamaki threw her arms over herself to try and cover whatever the creep was imagining he saw
“ Is that any way to talk to your King? Guards! ” the yellow eyed man nodded to someone else
When Ren turned her head she saw the Knight’s frame for just a second before he grabbed a hold of her roughly. He grabbed at her middle and hoisted her up into the air, kicking and squirming to try and escape his grasp. She looked over and Takamaki was in the exact same position she was.
She was about to check on Sakamoto when she heard a loud thud before the boy let out a pained groan. He was laying on the ground, presumably having been struck by the knight that was behind him.
“Ryuji!” Takamaki screamed, kicking extra hard but the knight holding her didn’t budge
“ Bring the boy to me ” the king’s gaze looked towards the two girls with a sickening grin, “ and take those two up to my room~ ”
“Wh-what?! Like hell we’ll just go with you!!” Takamaki kept struggling and struggling, the fear making Ren try even harder to escape as well but it was pointless
The third knight kicked at Sakamoto, knocking him forward and closer to the king. Now that she had a good look at it, the knight barely even seemed human… It was incredibly top heavy with a massive sword and shield, but even stranger was the inky blackness that seemed to emanate from it.
She was snapped out of her study though when the knight carrying her began to move, shit! shit! shit! shit! She tried to reach back to poke at an eye or grab at it’s face but all she could feel was more cold hard metal.
“Put them down you bastard!” Sakamoto groaned in the middle of his screaming, gripping his leg in pain
“ You think you’re in any place to give orders to MY MEN?! ” Kamoshida(?) approached the boy, planting a foot firmly against that very same leg that the boy was holding onto, getting a loud pained groan out of him
HE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM YOU, ARE YOU GOING TO STAND IDLY BY WHILE HE DESTROYS MORE LIVES?
The blonde boy grabbed at both his leg and his head, but his train of thought was completely shattered when Kamoshida(?) pressed even more firmly down on his leg, sending enough pain through his entire body that he thought he might throw up.
The knights carrying Ren and Takamaki got closer and closer to the left hand side of the room, going for the stairs. They were only slowed down a little by the constant resistance both girls were putting up.
“Just let them go, you asshole!!” while the king was distracting appreciating the view of the struggling girls Sakamoto slammed a fist into his leg hard enough that it made the weird Kamoshida flinch backwards
“ Hnghh, guards execute this one! I have more entertaining slaves to tend to~ ” he immediately acted like he hadn’t been hurt by Sakamoto’s punch, focusing his view on the two girls with a disturbingly hungry look in his eye
Before he could get up, the same knight from before kicked him down again, sending him onto his stomach and planting a metal foot against his spine. “D-dammit!! Get back here!! You hear me Kamoshida?!” but struggling as he could, there was no way he could escape from beneath his captor, looking hopelessly up at the other two captives with dismay.
“Sakamoto!! Look out!!” the voice of Ren screamed through the room, making him look back to see the knight preparing his sword to come crashing down on him
DO YOU HAVE THE RESOLVE? YOU KNOW WHAT HE’LL DO TO THEM IF YOU DON’T STOP HIM
“I….I can’t…let that… happen…” he started to push himself back up harder, noticing that he was starting to get a little bit of progress.
The splitting migraine returned suddenly in earnest, making him let go and collapse back into the ground, gripping his temples and wailing in absolute agony
“ What the? ” Kamoshida(?) scoffed at the boy while the two knights carrying the girls stopped moving, Ren assumed out of intrigue
YOU’RE LIFE IS ALREADY IN SHAMBLES, WHY NOT HOIST THE FLAG AND WREAK HAVOC?
A bizarre pulse of wind shot out from Sakamoto, sending the knight on top of him flying backwards and leaving everyone else in the room surprised. Even the strange Kamoshida seemed caught off guard.
“Ryuji?” Takamaki whimpered quietly, just barely being audible to Ren
“ What are you going to try and fight me again?! How about I shatter your other leg this time! Those sycophants will call it self defense anyway! ” the king’s face twisted up into a disturbing awful grin
“You goddamn piece of shit!...” he slowly trembled his way up to his feet, “I AM SICK AND TIRED OF YOU LOOKING DOWN ON ME WITH THAT STUPID FUCKING SMILE ON YOUR FACE!!!”
GOOD! THOUGH THE SEAS MAY BE ROUGH AND OUR FUTURE UNKNOWN, FROM THIS MOMENT ONWARD THE SKULL OF REBELLION SHALL BE YOUR FLAG HENCEFORTH!!
It suddenly felt like his face was on fire, burning screaming agony glued to his head. The only thing his body could do was grab at it and begin to pull, his screams and wails of pain must have filled the entire castle.
I AM THOU, THOU ART I
The voice and Sakamoto spoke as one and although he couldn’t see it, Ren saw that his eyes had turned golden in hue. One pull and a spurt of blood shot forth! A second and now the top of it was free! One more pull caused a geyser of blood to shoot out from his face.
With one final scream he yanked the mask off, his body lit aflame with a ghostly blue fire that shot all across the room. Everyone in the room was shocked when the flames disappeared. Sakamoto walking out of the fire wearing a thuggish leather getup and floating behind him was a massive… thing!
Whatever it was that floated behind him glowed with the same blue flame, it appeared to be a skeletal man standing atop a ship that moved in place as if it was at sea. It had a pirate’s hat and a cannon for a hand while the air around it almost seemed to electrify with raw energy.
“BLOW ‘EM AWAY! CAPTAIN KIDD!” Sakamoto pointed forward, a crazed smile wide across his face.