The next day~~
"Are you finally ready to go now?" Shu groaned as Ren rushed outside with her small backpack on her shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," she snapped impatiently as she combed a hand through her still damp hair from the shower she hurriedly took. They had overslept a few hours and now had to speed up their hike home.
Shu turned and began walking as Ren followed behind. Looking behind her, she took one last peak at the house they stayed at, the memories that were made the past couple days flowing back into her mind. She inhaled anxiously as she turned around to see Shu's tall frame walking ahead.
The two exchanged mild conversation about the demon world as they hiked the rough terrain. After a good while of walking, the exit to the demon world came into view.
"Ugh, my hips are sore," Shu complains as they reach the door to the underground tunnel, "This is your fault, you know."
Ren rolls her eyes before stating, "Well, no one necessarily told you do all those things yesterday so you only have yourself to blame."
He scowls before muttering, "Don't act like you didn't enjoy it."
Ren bit her lip in silent frustration at the statement as they entered the tunnel and made their way towards the light at the end.
As they stepped outside, they realized it was light outside and immediately covered their eyes from the sudden brightness.
Walking inside from the back door the mansion, they walked through the hallway until they were in the main entrance hall, where they found Laito sitting on the staircase, grinning suspiciously.
Shu furrowed his brow at the sight before asking, "What is it?"
Laito chuckled cutely before suddenly appearing behind Ren and sniffing the air around her.
"Something smells different about this one," a deceptively sharp expression appeared on his face before he asked with a smirk, "Did you two have a lovely romantic weekend together?"
"Shut up," Shu groaned, rolling his eyes at his younger brothers cunning perception.
Meanwhile, Ren bit her lip nervously, suddenly remembering that vampires have a heightened sense of smell. It wasn't surprising that they could tell the difference of whether somebody was a virgin or not. She hadn't thought about that at all until now and blushed internally at Laito pointing it out.
"Fufu~, Ren-chan, your blood smells sweeter now. Can I have a taste?" He teased baring his fangs close to Rens ear.
"Laito, knock it off. Can't you see she's been marked as my possession now?" Shu smirked as he glanced towards Rens chest, which had a deep scar from Shu's repeated bites through out the weekend.
"Aw that's no fun," Laito pouted before commenting, "Shu can be so cruel, don't you think? Leaving marks all over your skin so all can see. If you ever want to feel really good, you could always come to my side."
"Thanks for the offer but I'll pass. Shu is good enough for me," Ren politely declined. Laito laughed somewhat cynically in response before muttering, "Such a serious girl."
"Shu must feel pretty lucky right now," he continued as he patted Ren on the head.
Shu blinked, uninterested in Laito's banter as he grabbed Ren by the hand and pulled her outside through the front door and shut it behind him so they were alone.
"Ugh, that Laito always says too much," he groaned and scratched his head. Ren chuckled before mumbling, "I guess I have to go home now."
"I'll see you later," Shu replied, surprising Ren as he wore a uncharacteristically humble smile.
"Yeah, see you then," Ren nodded shyly as she turned to make her way towards the cab she had reserved in advance.
Peeking over her shoulder, she felt strangely flustered as she felt Shu's eyes stare through her while she walked away.
--At school the next day
Ren stares blankly at the front of the classroom as the teacher lectures on about upcoming exams and study questions. Her mind wanders vagulely and she rubs her eyes to keep from falling asleep. As class finishes up, she looks ups and notices a tall dark haired figure standiing outside the door. Standing up, she approaches the door to find Reiji standing there looking distant. Peeking around the corner, she greets, "Reiji, how are you?"
Reiji grins in seeing her, chuckling to himself as he greeted, "I'm doing well, Shizumi-san. In fact, I was looking for you."
Ren tilts her head, mildly worried about what sort of business Reiji could possibly have in order to personally approach her like this.
"I'd like to discuss something with you," he explains, earning a weary expression from Ren as she shiftily stared at the ground.
"It won't take too much of your time," he assured, before gesturing for her to follow him. She looks around to see if anyone was watching, before reluctantly following behind.
He leads her to a secluded hallway near the library. It wasn't a busy part of the school night since they were currently on lunch break so there was nobody around.
"Shizumi-san," Reiji begins, "The reason I have brought you here is because I wish to ask you something."
Ren nods anxiously, as Reiji continues, "I'll be frank with you. Are you truly serious about that good-for-nothing, Shu?"
Ren doesn't know how to respond as her gaze falls on the floor, struggling to find an appropriate answer that he would accept. At her silence, Reiji sighs and questions, "Are you aware of what being with such a person entails?"
"I have only heard brief details regarding the situation. I still find it unclear what any of it really means, if I'm being honest," Ren mutters cautiously.
Reiji smirks and replies, "Well, it's good that you're honest at least. You are only human after all."
Stepping closer to Ren, Reiji reached out his gloved hand and started to unbutton the top few buttons on her school uniform. Ren's wide eyes watched him with apprehension as he opened the collar to reveal the deep mark on her chest from Shu's fangs.
Reiji stares at the wound momentarily, before shaking his head and asking in a melancholy tone, "You really did such vulgar things with that Shu, huh? Such a pity."
Ren stared at him, her heart rate increasing with an unnerving caution as she saw his pained expression.
Biting her lip to subdue the knots in her stomach, she forced herself to ask, "What happened between Shu and you? He was furious with me the last time I spoke to you alone."
Reiji wore a surprised expression at Ren's sudden abrupt question before he laughed and pushed up his glasses. Replacing his expression with a somewhat smug grin, he answered, "He and I are two opposing sides of a coin. He was always destined to be the golden child and I, forever in his shadow. But all he ever does is shut himself away from his responsibilities. It infuriates me to see someone like him be the next head of the family. And yet, I know I could not fill those shoes myself. It's very conflicting."
Ren frowned at his self-depricative statement and empathized, "That must have been hard. I dont know how Shu feels about it but I know what it's like to be the golden child with expectations. It's like being in a cage. It's nothing to be envious of. Of course that's not to say your struggle is invalid. It wasn't fair of your family to pit you two against each other."
Reiji scoffs before casually retorting, "You dare try to sympathize with me? You really are a foolish girl to feel such emotions towards a vampire."
He stepped forwards, pinning her against the wall before whispering, "But I suppose that side of you is rather charming."
His face is fairly close to hers when he reaches up and brushes a piece of hair out of her face. Ren blinks and they stare at one another, as if trying to read each others thoughts. Reiji then pulls away swiftly, grinning amusedly as he uttered, "Has anyone ever told you your eyes speak much louder than your voice?"
She shook her head. Reiji brushed a hand through his hair and exclaimed, "Even though it's obvious that my presence makes you apprehensive, your eyes show no fear for your personal safety. There's a clear disconnect when it comes to your own value of your life."
"There's no doubt that Shu has noticed it too. It's what makes you so fascinating," Reiji pressed on before whispering, "How did the adopted child prodigy of a wealthy family become so dissociated with life?"
Ren's eyes widened at his words, realizing at that moment that he knew more than she thought he would. Fighting a strong urge to run away from this confrontation, she tensed up as an explosion of anxious emotions rattled out of her mouth.
"What do you get out of backing me into a corner like this? Why does it matter to you what happened to me in the past? I finally thought I found some meaning to my life but talking with you has shown me how little I really know about anything," she huffed indiscriminately, as if a tiny thread had snapped in her patience.
"Oh wow, it looks that struck a nerve," Reiji backed away while snickering, "Talk about repressed. Have you not discussed such topics with Shu during your time together? I thought your connection was deeper than that."
"I...have..." Ren trailed off, recalling that it seemed like every time she had long discussions with Shu, they were only ever about herself. Shu didn't talk about himself that often and the few bits that he had opened up to her were far and few in between.
Did she really know Shu at all? Suddenly, she questioned everything that had happened up until this point.
"Oya, oya were you just going along with his pace and not thinking about it?" Reiji questioned in seeing her disoriented expression. Ren felt almost sickly as hundreds of thoughts filled with doubt suddenly flooded her mind, overwhelming her physically. Her eyes watered as she suddenly pushed Reiji away and dashed down the hallway, running nowhere in particular except to get away from the source of this overwhelming panic she felt.
Running while covering her face, she darted blindly in search of somewhere she could calm down before she ran into something solid. Before her stood Shu, who appeared shocked at the sudden impact of force running into him.
As he realized who it was in front of him, he gasped out, "Oi, what happened to you?"
Ren opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but shut her mouth panted heavily instead. Her eyes watered as she held onto her own chest, which appeared to be in pain. Shu looked panicked as he tried to figure out what was wrong.
"Oi, are you okay? Calm down so you can tell me what happened," he pleaded again, placing his hands on her shoulders to hold her in place. In seeing Shu's concerned expression, the tears in Ren's eyes began to spill out as overwhelming guilt plagued her internally. She bit her lip before crying out, "Shu, I'm sorry. I'm sorry," before she pushed him away and ran away.
Shu frowned as he watched her disappear. Feeling very bothered now, he wondered lethargically to himself, "What is she apologizing for?"
Just then, he caught a familiar scent coming from the direction she ran from. Looking down the hall, he could see Reiji approaching. Shu's eyes narrowed bitterly as he spat out, "What did you do?"
"I made her a little more self aware of her delusion is all," Reiji scoffed before suggesting, "She probably realized how shallow she was in thinking that you of all people could somehow make her like herself enough to want to live. But you can't love someone into submission. If she truly doesn't fear death, simply being with you will never fix that part of her. The urge to die will come back again."
"Why must you always meddle in my affairs? This is none of your business. Why can't you ever leave me alone?" Shu growled, his normally deadpan eyes twitching with irritation.
"Because it's painful to watch someone be so incredibly naive. I did that girl a favor in making her realize this now before it's too late. What were you going to do, Shu? Were you going to forcefully turn her into a vampire so she can never die? Take away her choice so you wouldn't suffer?"
"She never opposed it," Shu roared before thrusting Reiji into the wall by his collar and punching him hard in the face, "Don't act like you know everything when you don't."
"You're so stupidly optimistic now that you've had her. You've given her something she never experienced before, so of course she'd be blissfully hopeful. But eventually, that high will go away and she'll remember why she wanted to kill herself in the first place. All I did was remind her of that," Reiji shouted, shoving back irritably against Shu.
Shu was seething with anger at Reiji's words, all of which felt like a thousand knives digging at him subconsciously. He knocked Reiji to the ground before sternly warning, "Stay out of our business. Next time, I won't be so forgiving."
As Shu stormed away, Reiji rubbed the newly forming bruise on his cheek, and chuckled lowly before whispering, "Sometimes children just need a little push to face their problems head on.