After a talk and a quick nap in Takuto's office, Ren was making his way back to his dorm room. He came to the conclusion that he should at least tell Ryuji about his sexuality, yet that was enough to make his stomach churn.
"You'll be fine Ren..." he told himself, "if anything goes wrong, you can always change your name and move to France! Mummy's friend lives in France, right? I can work at her fashion studio and pretend I never made a fool of myself!"
"I don't know, you sure are making a fool of yourself now."
Ren frowned. Behind him stood sweet lil' Futaba Sakura with her evil grin.
"Nice to see you too, gremlin." Ren said sarcastically.
"Whatever, cherry."
"Where'd you hear that?!"
"Anywayyy~!" Futaba ignored Ren's distress, "I'm gonna be here all week with the Gifted Group for the game! You going?"
"Yes, unfortunately..."
Ren explained his sorrowful situation to Futaba as they walked toward the dorm. While the girl kept making sarcastic remarks, Ren knew she really did care. She was like a little sister to him.
"Well, it sounds to me that if Ryuji's that much of a dumbass, you're better off picking another romance option. How about Inari!" Futaba said after.
"No, Yusuke's sweet but I'm pretty sure he's aromantic." Ren blushed. "Besides, Ryuji's cute when he does dumb things. His heart's always in the right place and he's always putting up with my imperfections... and I put up with his."
"That's gay." Futaba said.
"Shut up, you're gay!"
"Am not!"
"I've seen the wallpaper on your laptop."
Futaba shoved Ren and he shoved back, both of them laughing.
"Well, I should get going before dad realizes I sneaked away. Later, cherry!" Futaba said as she skipped away.
"Yeah, yeah, gremlin!"
Ren rolled his eyes. Futaba was a handful just like all the other kids in the Gifted Group. Ren was just about head up the steps to the dorm building when he heard something from the flowerbeds.
"Mrroowww..."
Ren sat on his knees before the plants, leaning forward a little.
"Mrrooww!!"
"Ah!" Ren sat back when a small black and white cat jumped out at him. "Oh! A kitty!"
The cat was about to wander away but Ren quickly scooped him up. In response, the cat yowled and squirmed around. Ren cradled the little monster and rubbed his belly.
"Who's your owner, huh? Let's see..."
The cat wore a simple yellow collar with a name scribbled on it:
'Morgana'
"No address... c'mon, I'll help you out. Are you thirsty?" Ren stood up and Morgana tried to scratch him. "You're not very nice, huh?" he frowned.
Ren made his way up to the room, despite the cat squirming around and screeching at him. Finally inside, Ren put Morgana down and shut the door to keep him from running away. That was when Morgana just started meowing nonstop.
"Mroooww! Mroooww! Mroooww!"
"Shut up already!" Ren went and poured some milk in a bowl. "What are you, in heat? I don't get any action yet you don't hear me whining!"
Ren sat cross legged and put the bowl down. Morgana quieted down once he saw it and began lapping up the milk. Ren sighed and just watched the cat, eventually moving on his stomach and leaning on his hands.
"I don't blame you. I used to whine for attention all the time."
Ren carefully stroked Morgana's back as he talked to himself. The cat continued to drink undisturbed.
"I'd always get jealous when Mummy was busy with work and she'd have to hold me to keep me from crying."
He pulled his hand away from Morgana and laid on his arms.
"Sometimes... I feel like I've been whining for Ryuji's attention too..."
————
After the chemical explosion, Goro wanted to do nothing but go back to his room and sleep the rest of the day. But, of course, Kasumi jumped him outside the classroom and latched onto him like a tick on a dog.
"Was it scary? Did it hurt? Do you need serious medical attention? I'm so worried about you, my love!"
"For the last time, get away from me!" Goro exclaimed. Kasumi tightened her grip on his arm.
"I can come take care of you! I'll make you my special tomato soup! And something sweet for dessert! Then I'll nurse you back to health with plenty of tender love and care!"
"I'm not sick! Leave me alone!"
Truth be told, Goro didn't know if he was sick or not. He felt a little hot but it could easily just be because of the chemicals that hit his skin earlier.
"I'll make you feel better! I promise!" Kasumi was pressing her breasts against his arm. "I'll make you feel REALLY better~!"
"I said... leave me ALONE!"
Goro pushed Kasumi down harshly. The second she was down he got on top of her and wrapped his hands around her neck. He didn't realize what he was doing until Kasumi was screaming and a couple guys were pulling him off of her.
"Dude, the fuck are you doing?! Lay off!"
Goro stared dumbfounded at Kasumi as she breathed heavily with tears streaming down her face and at all the guys that came out their rooms to see the commotion.
'What the fuck... did I do that...?'
They were yelling at him, but he wasn't listening. Goro slowly stood up and continued to his room, ignoring everyone else; his dad owned the school, nobody would ever dare to mess with him.
'I was going to hurt her... I was going to kill her...'
Goro closed his door and leaned on it to stare at his hands. For a moment, he thought he saw them covered in red...
'I... wanted to kill her...'
————
The first thing to greet Ryuji in his room was a very aggravated cat.
"Oh shit! How'd a cat get in here?!"
He watched as the cat gave another disapproving meow before walking away and curling up beside Ren, who laid on the floor with a large book.
"Careful, Morgana's a bit of a brat." Ren said without looking up.
"Ok... where'd Morgana come from?" Ryuji dropped down cross legged.
"Found him outside. I was gonna make found cat posters to see if he belongs to anyone."
"Ok... how was the talk with Mr. Maruki?"
"Alright. What'd you do while I was gone?"
"Ehhh," Ryuji laughed, "I ran into Futaba earlier and we played some pranks on Inari. I don't think I've ever seen him so pissed off! Haha!"
"Stop being mean to Yusuke!"
"Noooo!"
Ryuji jumped back up and went to rifle through the cabinets for snacks. Ren glanced up from his book to stare at Ryuji, biting his bottom lip and scratching his nails on the book page.
'C'mon... you don't gotta tell him how you feel... just tell him you're gay...'
Ren swallowed and spoke up in a shaky voice.
"H-Hey, Ryuji?"
"Oh yeah, I was thinking, we should get gifts or something for our dates! Ann really likes sweets and stuff like that, you think she'd like those chocolates from the café down the road?"
Ren's throat closed. "I... um... y-yeah... that's what I was gonna say! Maybe after the game we could take them to dinner or something...?"
"Yeah! I hope I got enough cash for that..."
Ryuji went to dig in his messy bed for loose change. Ren felt like his whole stomach was twisting into knots; like he'd throw up everything inside him, including his organs.
"Mrrooowww,"
Morgana was lying on his side and staring at Ren with his unsettling blue eyes. It was as if he was telling the boy how pathetic he was. Ren frowned and went back to reading his book.
'I'll tell him tomorrow...'