The sun is beaming in the window on your face. You slowly open your eyes to see Aimi and Hana still asleep. You look out the bedroom window to see the sky covered in clouds. It wasn't very bright outside, but the light is still shining through.
It looks like it's going to rain. You thought to yourself.
You climb out of bed quietly, trying not to wake them up. You quietly slide open the bedroom door to see Ren and Eli awake and sitting on the couch.
"Oh... you're awake." Ren says. Eli is sitting on the ground, zoned out. You quietly slide close the bedroom door.
"Yeah. Did you both sleep at all?" You ask. Ren nods.
"I slept a little... I don't know about Eli though." Ren says looking at the back of Eli's head. You look at Eli who's still zoned out.
"Eli..." You say trying to get him to snap out of it. Eli slowly looks up at you and starts to cry. Your eyes widen when he does. Ren also looks confused. "Are you okay?" You quietly ask.
"No... I'm such a coward..." Eli sniffles, he moves his body to where his head is now in his knees.
A couple hours pass and you, Aimi, Hana, Ren, and Eli are sitting in the living room surrounding the coffee table in front of the couch. There is a bunch of pastries on the table that your grandmother gave to you for you all to eat.
"So... both of you are members of Toman..." Aimi comments. Ren nods. Eli is zoned out again.
"We are under the first division, and we have to follow Baji, the first division captain." Ren adds.
"That doesn't seem too bad." Aimi says.
"You would think... but they still are suspicious of us." Ren states. "That's exactly why we are under the first division to begin with." Ren says taking a bite of a creme filled pastry. "Oh... and by the way Hana... you might want a new phone and phone number. Baji is using this to contact us." Ren muffles holding up Hana's phone. Hana sighs and looks down.
"And they now know what I look like." Hana sighs. Everyone sits quietly eating pasties.
BZZZZZ BZZZZZ
Ren grabs Hana's phone and answers it.
"Hello?" Ren answers.
"Hana?" Ren looks at Hana and shakes his head, motioning her to be quiet.
"Who?" Ren questions.
"I'm calling Hana through my work phone since she's not answering my phone calls" The voice on the phone says.
"That's my mom" Hana whispers.
"Your phone didn't ring a single time for your mom..." Ren whispers back at Hana, holding the phone far from his face.
"Yeah... because I blocked her..." Hana says.
"Why?" Aimi asks.
"Because... she's trying to get me to join this stupid nutritionist thing... saying if I keep eating the way I do I'll just get fat and end up dying from some sort of dumb heart attack or whatever... I don't want to do that dumb ass diet... So I blocked her... I'm rebelling... no one's taking my favorite food from me." Hana whispers in irritation.
"Hello?" Hana's mother says.
"Hi..." Ren responds.
"Who is this?" Her mother asks.
"This is... Cheol-su Nishimura..." Ren quietly says into the phone.
"Cheol-su? Do you know where Hana is?" Hana's mom asked.
"No... I don't" Ren replies.
"Why do you have her phone?" Hana's mom asks.
"Hana wants me to fix her phone since it won't work properly..." Ren says.
"Okay... well when you see Hana, can you tell her she needs to come home NOW..." Ren nods.
"I will let her know." Ren replies.
"Thank you Cheol-su... and tell your mom I said Hi. Wait she's in the states, right?" Her mom says.
"Yes... But I will let her know we spoke." Ren says.
"Okay. Thank you. Bye." The phone hangs up. Everyone looks at Ren.
"Cheol-su?" Eli questions looking up at Ren.
"Yeah... that's my real name." Ren answers.
"Wait... did Hana already know this?" Eli asks.
"Everyone knew this Eli..." Aimi says.
I didn't know that. You thought to yourself.
"Welp... looks like I have to go." Hana says standing up and grabbing a couple of pastries. And shoving it into her mouth. "Oh and thank you for lending me your clothes Yuki..." muffles Hana as she winks at you. You nod.
When Hana left, Aimi went with her. It just leaves you, Eli, and Ren. Eli is eating a pastry and Ren in going through Hana's phone.
"She doesn't have anyone on her phone other than me, Yuki, Aimi, and her parents." Ren says. Eli looks at Ren in confusion. "She takes an awful lot of pictures though." Ren adds.
"Wait, she doesn't have me in there?" Eli questioned. Both you and Ren look at Eli.
"Of course she doesn't... all you do is piss that girl off..." Ren replies.
"Well... she pisses me off too." Eli responds looking away with his eyebrows narrowed. You slowly shake your head. The phone starts vibrating in Ren's hand. Ren's eyebrows furrow as he answers the call and hands it to Eli.
"Hello?" Eli say's looking at Ren in confusion.
"Oi... Eli... what are you doing?" The voice asks on the other end. Eli sighs and looks at the phone.
"Nothing as of now." Eli answers.
"Okay. I want you to meet me at the bridge we were at last night... be there in 5 minutes." The voice says.
"5 minutes... but the-" The phone makes a click sound. "GODDAMIT THE PHONE DIED..." Eli groans loudly slowly laying down on the ground.
"Who was that?" You ask.
"Baji..." Ren responds.
"Yep... which means it's time to go Ren..." Eli says standing up and stretching. Ren stays seated looking up at Eli with a relaxed face. Eli looks at Ren and motions him to get up.
"He said that to you... not me" Ren implies.
"He did?... Just me?" Eli asks with a worried look on his face. Both you and Ren nod. Eli sighs really loud. "I DON'T WANT TO GO ALONEEEE..." Eli groans slowly falling to the ground.
"Yuki... can we go to your grandparents... I want to meet with your grandpa." Ren asks. You nod. Ren looks at Eli. "We will walk near there but we will split ways." Ren says. Eli sighs.
"Fine."
The three of you walk a bit before you and Ren split ways to head towards your grandparents.
"Why do you want to meet my grandpa?" You ask.
"He taught you Martial Arts, right?" Ren asks. You nod.
"Well... he taught me different kinds of Martial Arts, but he mostly taught me Jujitsu." Ren looks at you shocked when he heard you say that.
"Wow... thats really... wow..." You slowly nod.
"My grandpa said I was very flexible so he started teaching me Jujitsu when I was 4 years old." You add.
"That's impressive... I always knew you were skilled... but not that skilled." Ren says. "Did you get to choose whether you wanted to learn or not? Like did you have an option or no?" Ren asks.
"At first no." You speak. Yuki's memories come back to you. You remember Yuki's grandma yelling at Yuki's grandpa because Yuki was in pain and crying about the soreness from practicing Martial Arts. "At first, I didn't want to learn Martial Arts... It hurt and I was so tired. But one day I was listening in on my grandparents. They were arguing about me learning Martial Arts. My grandma didn't understand why my grandpa was teaching me it and neither did I. But my grandpa explained he wanted to teach me so that I can protect myself. My mother was getting beaten by her boyfriend at the time and it hurt my grandpa's heart. He taught my uncles Martial Arts when they were younger but never taught my aunts and mother. He said he regretted it and chose to teach me so that I can always protect myself. I decided I wanted to learn Martial Arts... so that I can protect my mother..." You say. "But... I was never able to protect her." You continued. Ren looks at you with a sad look on his face.
"You're a really strong person Yuki... So, you did all that training to protect you mother... that's such a sweet thing to do." Ren says smiling. You nod.
"But now... my new goal is to protect my friends... I want to also protect all the innocent people who get taken advantage of. That's mainly why I got invested in on Toman." You say.
"Ah... I see. Then I'm willing to be your ally." Ren says.
"Ally? But you're a member of Toman... wouldn't that effect you?" You ask.
"Yeah... I am a member of Toman... but I was your ally way before I was theirs. I will always choose my friends and family over others... even if it means my fate." Ren replies smiling at you. You smile back. "But, I don't want you to carry the burden on your own... that's why I want to meet your grandpa... I want him to teach me Martial Arts." Ren continues. You nod.
"I see..." You reply.