RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (2025)

Chapter 1: Super Snooping & Snuggling SAGA

Summary:

Ai gets the chance to visit Ren’s apartment, but three of her fellow Franchouchou members decide to drop by as well…

Notes:

Warning: You must read through Ai Means Love before starting this story if you want it to make more sense. Feel free to continue if you don’t care, but if you want to be informed of the leadup to Ai and Ren’s relationship (or even who Ren is) then you have to check out the previous one. Please do not complain if you don’t know what’s going on, thank you!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

< Third-Person POV >

Saga Prefecture, Japan.

Late afternoon.

It has been about two weeks since that fateful night, when a young man and a zombie girl confessed their love for each other. It was then that they learned what love was, and that it can somehow manage to spring up in such a short amount of time. The duo shared a fun-filled week that neither of them expected to have, and now they grew to not just be good friends… but romantic partners.

“I’ll see you all later, I’m heading out now!”

Ai Mizuno, aka Number 3 of Franchouchou, tells her companions while inserting her feet into some light purple flats with ankle straps (her current outfit for the day also included a yellow striped shirt with indigo overalls).

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (1)

Saki Nikaido (Number 2), Junko Konno (Number 4), and Lily Hoshikawa (Number 6) were all lounging in the living room as they heard her voice. Saki smirked before yelling back at her.

“Oi! Make sure to bring protection, Ai! Heh heh, have fun…”

An annoyed Ai clicks her tongue before shutting the door and walking out. Saki began chuckling to herself as Junko let out a sigh.

“You really need to learn how to be more respectful, of course they won’t try anything so… risqué.”

Saki turned back to her while still being all smiles, “Will they? Or are you just telling yourself that?”

“I-I… Of course not! They’re both still young… well, at least Ai-san is physically, but… um…”

Junko’s face was getting redder and redder the more she thought about it, Lily tilting her head cluelessly.

“Eh, Lily doesn’t get it… hm, so what are their date plans supposed to be today?”

The young girl puts her index finger on her chin as she kicks her legs.

Junko turns to her and answers, “Ai-san informed me that they were going to see a movie before going over to Ren-kun’s apartment.”

Saki’s eyes lit up at the last few words of that sentence.

“Oh ho ho… lover boy’s apartment? Now this I gotta see…”

Saki was about to sit up, but Junko held onto her jacket to stop her.

“Saki-san, please wait! None of us should be getting in the way of this, it’s the first time he’s inviting her over. It could end up messing a lot of things up if we were to come too…”

“Agh, c’mon! Aren’t ya a little bit curious on what his place looks like? And we also gotta make sure Ai’s gonna be treated well. She’s our friend, riiiiight?” Saki eggs her on.

Lily pumped her fists and nodded, “Yeah! Lily wants to go see Ren-kun’s apartment, that sounds so fun!”

“Ha ha, that’s the spirit, Shrimpy!”

Lily puffed her cheeks at Saki’s nickname, “It’s Lily, you should know that by now!”.

“Yeah, yeah… so whaddya say, Junko?” Saki puts her arms behind her head and awaits the floofy-haired girl’s response.

Junko showed hesitation, “S-Still… Ai-san might get annoyed at us….”

Saki shrugged with her shoulders, “So what? She’s always like that, that’s no big deal.”

Junko shakes her head and places her hand over her heart.

“I know, but this time it’s different. From what we’ve seen and what she’s told us, being with Ren-kun has managed to ease some of her worries. Have you seen Ai-san smile that much off-stage before? And I wouldn’t want to end up accusing Ren-kun of being untrustworthy either, he’s quite kind…”

Lily grins as she places her hands on her cheeks, “He’s nice! Very dorky, but nice!”

Saki takes a few seconds before replying back,

“.... I guess I see your point…. But I’m going anyway because I want to, later! Yo, Kotaro, I need some makeup pronto!”

Saki dashed off in search of their manager as Junko was sitting there with her mouth open in surprise. Basically like she does in this image:

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (2)

“Me too! Me too!” Lily followed her.

Junko lets out a sigh while placing her face in her hands, ultimately deciding to come along too.

“Please forgive me, Ai-san, Ren-kun…”

________________________________________________

“Y’know I wasn’t expecting to like a romantic comedy, that was pretty nice.”

Our main guy, Ren, tells his girlfriend as they walk out the theater. Their hands slowly etching towards each other before their fingers intertwined, the two of them softly laughing at their lingering awkwardness. Seems they still have some ways to go before being completely comfortable.

Ai smiled as they walked hand-in-hand, “I told you so, a way better experience than that horror movie we saw last time…”

Both she and Ren quivered while recalling it, “Ugh, agreed. The freaking jumpscares from that movie keep popping up in my dreams almost every other night. This one was fun though, since… you were clutching my hand like this the whole time, Ai-chan…”

Ren’s cheeks began to glow light pink as Ai’s did the same.

“W-Well… the story was just that compelling, can you really blame me for that?”

Ren shook his head, “Not really, you were getting quite emotional at the end when those two confessed their feelings…. pretty sure you used up all of the tissues you had in your bag, ha ha…”

“S-Shut up, you dummy…”

Ai lightly punched him in the arm as the two of them kept on walking. But unbeknownst to them, they were being followed by three snooping Franchouchou members donning facemasks, baseball caps, and sunglasses. They all peeked out from behind a light pole as Saki snickered to herself.

“Huh?” Ren quickly turned his head as Junko pulled Saki back into their hiding spot.

“Shh!” Junko warns the blonde biker girl who rolls her eyes.

Ai raises an eyebrow and turns her head with him, “I heard something too…”

“Hm… eh, I’m sure we’ll find out what it is once we keep moving…” Ren shrugged.

“Good point. Though whoever it is, they’re a lot better at hiding than Kotaro was…” Ai continued clutching his hand as they walked on.

“How were you able to tell when he was around so much? Am I just not very observant?” Ren questions.

Ai giggled, “Well there’s that, and the fact that my eyes and ears are much sharper than others.”

Ren smirked after hearing that, “You’re so cool, you know that?”

“I do, but I appreciate you saying that.” Ai plants a kiss on his cheek at the compliment, which he returned immediately.

Junko’s eyes go wide and her face goes red after witnessing their showing of affection.

“Kyah! They’re so bold to do these things right now, don’t they know they’re in public?! If they got caught by the media, who knows what might happen?!”

“And you were telling me to shush…” Saki snarked as Junko was mumbling to herself.

“Be quiet! Lily wants to hear…” The younger girl told her older group mates as she listened in.

“So… you sure you feel like coming to my place? It’s not really anything special, hell it’s not even that big.” Ren rubs the back of head with his free hand.

Ai nodded in reassurance, “I don’t mind at all, it’ll give me more of a chance to see the sides of you that I haven’t seen yet. Besides, I prefer it being smaller since it’ll just help us snuggle closer…”

Ren began to blush again as a wobbly smile formed on his face, “Jeez, you’ve gotten a lot more flirty lately.”

Ai smirked as her hand gripped his tighter, “That’s only to keep up with you, darling…”

“Ha ha, you’re doing well with that then. Although… you haven’t forgotten that…” Ren asks as their words get harder and harder for the three girls behind them to hear.

The sounds of other pedestrians and cars weren’t making it any easier either as our couple crossed the street.

“Forgotten what?” Saki lifts an eyebrow, only hearing a bit of what he said there.

“Hey hey, we need to catch up quickly!” Lily tells her as the three of them continue their pursuit of Ai & Ren.

Both parties eventually make it to Ren’s apartment complex, which looked quite simple despite the name. Ren struggles to find the right key for a moment before unlocking his door, letting Ai go in first. She undoes her ankle straps and steps barefoot into his abode, taking in the look of everything.

“You weren’t kidding about it being small, but you really downplayed how it looks. It’s decent, not much in terms of furniture, though everything’s pretty organized…”

Ren removes his shoes and readjusts his socks, “I try to keep everything neat and I don’t really care much about having a lot of stuff like potted plants or vases. Just seems like a lot of stuff I could end up accidentally breaking, probably as soon as I buy them…”

“Ah ha ha, I can see that happening. You almost bumped into some people while carrying the popcorn earlier! You and Sakura could compete over who’s more clumsy…”

Ren rolled his eyes at her joke, “Oh I’m sorry, I was just so focused on trying to preserve enough popcorn to put in your hair for your next show, honey… excuse me for being considerate…”

Ai snorted at his retort, “It’s cute that you think that comeback is good enough to shut my statement down.”

“Yeah, well…. Ah, damn you.” He stated as she continued laughing at her boyfriend, “Hmph, if you’re gonna act that way, I guess you don’t want some of these…”

He led her over to the kitchen to show off a large container full of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, carefully stacked so they were not smashed up as they were before.

“Wow, you really did make me ones that were actually cookie-shaped this time. Thank you!”

Ren scoffed at that, “Who said they were for you? I told you I bake to satisfy my own cravings…”

“Oh is this how it’s gonna be? Come on, I know you made them for me. Why else would you make that many?” Ai began poking his cheek as he refused to budge.

“Maybe they’re for the others, hm? Or for when I feel like gorging myself? Also stop doing that, it tickles…”

Hearing that last part gave Ai an idea as a sinister smile creeped onto her face. Ren turned back to her and noticed this as he put down the container and took a few steps backwards. Ai etched closer and closer as Ren bumped into the side of his couch.

“Please no…”

“Hee hee hee… shouldn’t have said that last part, Ren-kun… Ha!”

Ai tackled Ren onto the couch and began to tickle him mercilessly. The young man did his best to hold back his laughter as he squirmed around and messed up the cushions and pillows. Meanwhile, peeking from the balcony window were the other girls, who could only get a glimpse into what their friend was doing to him.

“Lily can’t see! What is Ai-chan doing to Ren-kun?” The younger girl tried standing on her tip-toes to see what was going on.

Saki was grinning from ear-to-ear, “I knew it! I knew Ai would be the top outta the two of ‘em! Ren really gave me some bottom vibes.”

Junko was simply looking on with her face completely red and her hands covering her mouth. Not saying a word as Ai just kept tickling Ren, but it looked like he wasn’t just gonna lie down and take it. His arms began slowly moving towards his sweetheart and managing to turn her over so that she was now below him.

“Heh, my turn. And I think I found a better spot for my onslaught, you should’ve worn socks today…”

Ai gulped after seeing his smirk, “Oh no…”

“Oh yes… Come here, you! Rah!”

While Ai had gone for his neck and face, Ren chose to aim lower, going for her feet. She tried to kick at him a bit as his fingers danced across her soles and toes, but he kept dodging. Ai didn’t stop her previous tickling assault however, and the room was filled with their loud giggling. Junko gasped as her imagination went wild on whatever was happening between those two, clearly regretting having come here.

“Huh, so he’s a switch? Or are they both switches? Either way, cool…” Saki chuckled.

“What? Lily thought switches were video game consoles or for turning stuff on and off…” Lily innocently asked.

Saki patted the little girl on the head, “Well from the sound of things, something is definitely getting turned on in there, eh Junko?”

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

“Huh?”

“Mm?”

The floofy-haired girl let out a yell in response as Ai and Ren stop their tickle fight and immediately get up to check where that sound came from.

“Shit! Shit!” Saki whispered as she and the other girls lowered their heads to try to not be seen.

Ren opens the sliding door and steps out, his eyes darting all around to see where that yelling came from.

Ai walks up behind him, “See anything?”.

The other zombie girls began to sweat as they tried to breathe softly, unfortunately for them…

“Ah… ah…” Lily’s nose begins to twitch as Junko moves her arm to cover it, but it is too late.

“ACHOO!”

“Ah?” Ren moves closer and spots Junko’s fluffy hair sticking out from the edge of the balcony.

Immediately knowing who it was, but unable to resist temptation… he began patting the soft fluffy hair.

“Eyah!” Junko lets out a smaller shout as she reveals herself.

“Ah, s-sorry Junko! I’ve always wanted to do that.” Ren quickly bows his head as Junko did the same to him.

“N-No! It’s fine, I shouldn’t have been here in the first place!”

Ai crosses her arms as she decides to call the other two out, “Hm... obviously you couldn’t have gone without a certain someone convincing you, no more hiding now!”

“Aw, man…” Saki groans as she and Lily pop out alongside her.

“Ha ha… hiya Ai-chan…” Lily waved to her.

Ai waved back, “Hey Lily. Now you three better have a good explanation for this…”

“Yes ma’am…” The other girls uttered as Ren opened the sliding door open for them.

___________________________________________________

“I… I guess it could have looked like that from where you were watching… but no we weren’t doing… that. Honest.”

Ai’s cheeks flushed pink, while she and Ren went to work on making dinner and the other three sat in the living room next to the kitchen.

“Yeah, plus I’m not interested in that sort of thing anyways. You wanna tell ‘em, Ai-chan?” Ren asks his partner while washing the rice.

Saki put her left hand on her knee as she raised an eyebrow, “Hah? Tell us what?”.

Ai nods before bluntly stating, “Ren-kun is asexual.”

“Eh? He’s a sexual, but he’s not interested in sex? The hell are you on about?” Saki tilts her head at that as Ai sighs and puts her hand on her forehead.

Asexual,not a sexual. It means that our relationship is purely romantic, we don’t plan on doing anything other than kissing and cuddling…”

“We still need to attempt doing the latter though!” Ren chimes in as he turns on his rice cooker.

Ai nods in response, “Oh we certainly do. But regardless, nothing to be worried about, girls.”

Junko breathed a sigh of relief, while Saki sighed in disappointment.

“Lily just wanted to see more of your lovey-dovey stuff and see where Ren-kun lived!” Lily defended herself.

Ren softly smiled as he walked over to the eternal 12-year-old and handed her a cookie.

“Well we can’t punish you for being curious. Here you go!”

“Yay!” Lily cheered as she began chewing on it.

Ai puts her hands on her hips after seeing that, “Hey! How come she—”

“You’ll get one later, sweetie, don’t want to spoil your dinner now…” Ren shot back as he went back to coating pork cutlets in panko breadcrumbs.

“Hmph!” Ai pouts before she boils some broccoli.

Junko giggled at this, “Ha ha, ah, I shouldn’t have been so worried. Although I did want to just leave you two be, but Saki-san just couldn’t be talked out of it.”

The biker girl took offense to that last remark, “Oi, you wanted to know what was going on too!”

“That’s true… my apologies, once again for interrupting your date.” Junko bowed her head apologetically.

Ren plunged the breaded cutlets into the frying oil before speaking up, “It’s nothing to worry about. I’d also be keeping tabs on a friend of mine if they were to start dating someone out of the blue.”

Ai nods, but raises a finger up to emphasize a point, “We forgive you, though I should point out that we don’t often get too many chances to spend time together with our schedule as an idol group. I would prefer not to have this precious time interrupted, thank you very much.”

“A-Alright, we’ll leave you two be unless we’re invited as well. Right, Saki-san? Lily-san?” Junko asks the two girls beside her.

“Mhm!” Lily smiles as she finishes her cookie.

Saki rolls her eyes, “Agh, whatever. You got a deal, lovebirds…”

Ren puts the finished pork katsu pieces on a plate with paper towels on it to drain the oil. He glances over and sees the rice still has quite a lot of time left.

“Hm… I guess I’ll leave the katsu in a low oven for a bit. Do y’all wanna play a game before dinner?”

Junko puts her hands up and shakes her head, “We should really be staying out of your way now, we showed up uninvited and…”

“Come on, we made about enough for all of us. Might as well stay for a bit, but it’s up to you of course. Gonna boot up Smash Bros. Ultimate.”

Ren went over to his tv and took out five controllers, Saki and Lily immediately grabbing two of them.

“You’re on, lover boy! I’ll definitely kick your ass and then some.” Saki taunted him.

“We’ll see about that, team with me Ai-chan?” Ren passed a controller to his girlfriend as she sat down next to him.

“Sure, I feel like squashing someone who’s too overconfident.” She gladly takes the light-blue controller in her hands before turning to Junko, “It could be fun, want to try it?”

Junko hesitantly looks at her four companions before ultimately taking the white controller.

The poor girl was not familiar at all with modern day games, only briefly getting the chance to play with the Game & Watch, Pac-Man (Who she was playing as currently), and Donkey Kong. Meanwhile Saki had chosen Terry Bogard for her time in the arcades playing Fatal Fury and King of Fighters, Lily chose Pichu for its adorable look, and the power couple had Ren going with Pyra (without switching to Mythra) and Ai choosing Lucina.

“Hah! Landed a Buster Wolf, baby! Woo!” Saki raised her fist at her first KO.

Ren smirked as he respawned, “Lucky shot, but you left yourself open!”.

One Smash Flare sword strike later, Saki was launched offstage.

“Gah! You’ll pay for that, you bastard!” Saki told him as he stuck his tongue out at her.

“H-H-How do I use a special attack?!” A panicked Junko asks as she repeatedly jumps into the air and accidentally self-destructs by jumping off the platform.

“That’s not how you do it, Junko-chan… this is how you do it!” Lily uses Thunder to blast Ai away.

“Tch, you didn’t choose that attack on purpose right?” Ai flinched as she briefly recalled her past trauma.

Lily just kept on outrunning her sword swings and zapping her whenever she sees an opening. Seeing Ai dodging over to his side, Ren looked at her and they both nodded at each other. That’s when they switched opponents and went to town on the opposite team! Ai countered Saki’s heavier attacks to use them against her, while Ren was easily able to send Lily’s Pichu flying.

“W-Wait! Have mercy, Ren-kun!” Junko begged him.

Ren lowered his head as he charged a Flame Nova special.

“This is mercy, Junko-san… my sincere apologies.”

Eventually the battle winded down, with Ai and Ren managing to overcome three opponents at once… even if it actually was a two on two during the entire thing.

“Agh, damn it… got too cocky… Not bad, Ren.” Saki offered her fist out and her opponent bumped it.

“We’ve still got time, how do you feel about a few more rounds?” Ren asks the four Franchouchou members.

“Okay! Lily wants to fight with you, Ren-kun!” The little girl says and he obliged.

“Sure, sure. I’ll take Junko too, I’ll do my best to tutor you in gameplay.”

“Thank you, I do need it…” Junko tells him.

This goes on for about an hour, and due to his experience Ren managed to get the most KOs out of the group. Saki took second, who had to be held back from breaking her controller, followed by Ai, Lily, and Junko. However, thanks to Ren’s guidance Junko was able to knock out two opponents at once, and to her that was a small victory worth celebrating.

“Ha… I must admit that was fun…” Junko smiled as Ren gave her a thumbs up that she reciprocated.

Ai nodded in agreement, “It was, but now I’m ready for—ack!”.

Ai’s right hand popped off her arm, she must have been moving it around like crazy with how well she played.

Ren immediately sprang to action, “Oh! I gotcha, here you go, sweetie.”

“Thanks, Ren-kun.” Ai reattaches her hand as Ren plants a quick smooch on it, “Ah ha ha…”

“Heh…”

The two of them sat there and stood into each other’s eyes until Saki cleared her throat.

“Yo, the grub should be ready now. I’m starving!”

“Eep!”

“Gah!”

The couple broke their intense gaze as they rushed back to the kitchen, making the other girls laugh. Their dinner tasted wonderful, near perfect in fact: The pork katsu was just the right amount of crispy on the outside, while being juicy on the inside… the rice was fluffy… and the broccoli was correctly seasoned after its initial boil. By the time everyone was finished, the other girls thanked the power couple and ended up falling asleep on the couch.

Ren hands Ai her cookie at long last, “Thanks for helping me out with the cooking, Ai-chan. I’ll handle the cleanup.”

Ai swipes it from his hand and enjoys the semisweet chocolate melting in her mouth.

“How about you give me more of these in return for helping you out more? I can’t just let you take care of everything, even if I’m your guest.”

She grabs a dish towel and begins to dry the dishes as Ren washes them by hand.

“I guess I have no choice. I did make those cookies for you after all…”

“So you admit it, hm?” Ai leans against him as he continues scrubbing a plate.

He scoffs, “Well it’s not like those other reasons I stated aren’t wrong either. I made enough for both me, and all of you girls. Though… I did regret giving you only a sample of crumbs back then, so I needed to redeem myself.”

Ai gave him a genuine smile as she placed a cup into the cabinet.

“I’d say you've done that and then some, it was a perfectly balanced cookie. Not overly sweet, with a bit of saltiness.”

“Heh, thanks darling…”

Once the dishes were put away, the two of them wiped sweat from their foreheads and thought about what to do next.

“Hm… you know, you haven’t shown me the one place I’ve been curious about since I got here…” Ai informs him with a smug look on her face.

It took Ren a few seconds until he realized what she was talking about.

“Uh, hold on, I gotta go readjust some things…”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad, which way is it?” Ai asks, but before she could get an answer Ren booked it to his room, “Oh no you don’t, you’re not outrunning me! And I saw which direction you took!”

Ren busted through his door and right as he was about to pick something up…

“Hm… well the bed’s not fixed and there’s some manga left on your desk, but for the most part it’s about as neat as the rest of the apartment.”

“Grgh…” Was the only thing Ren could respond with as his girlfriend tiptoed behind him and tapped his shoulder.

“Now what was it that you were trying to hide from me?”

Ren admits defeat and steps out of Ai’s way as her eyes widened as she saw… the shrine.

Posters, tapestries, keychains, acrylic stands, plushies, cds, t-shirts, figures and more in just one corner of the room. Franchouchou Number 3 merchandise was perfectly organized on multiple shelves, based on what kind of item they were. At its center though was a large figurine of Ai in a wedding dress, except on her wrist… was a small blue ring, decorated with a yellow flower pattern.

Ai looked over at Ren who was covering his face with a pillow, yet it couldn’t hide the blush that was spreading all over. She smiled before jumping on the bed and wrapping her arms around him. Upon feeling her body right up against him, Ren dropped the pillow and sighed.

“Ugh, I really should have put that away before we went to go see that movie…”

Ai simply hugged him tighter before she replied, “Awww, that’s nothing to be ashamed of! I already deal with a lot of fangirling by living with Sakura, compared to that it’s harmless. I was your oshi, and now I’m your girlfriend, it’s not like you’d want to get rid of all of it.”

“I know, I know… I just thought you’d think I was weird. Having that stuff around… makes me feel like you’re with me, even when you’re off doing idol things.” Ren admits as he puts his arms around her.

Ai giggled as she snuggled closer to his chest, “You are weird, that’s why I love you, dummy. You’re also adorable, that was such a sweet way to say that you miss me a lot!”

Ren couldn’t help but let out a few laughs, even with his embarrassment.

“Oh, you be quiet. But yes, that was basically what I was saying. Do you feel the same way?”

Ai glances over at the shrine again before answering, “Obviously yes. Although now I feel a lot better about it, since I know you want to put that ring on my finger.”

Ren’s blushing returned and he began to stammer, “Y-Y-You little… gah! Just stop teasing and come here…”

She did just that, the both of them holding each other tight in their arms. Nuzzling their cheeks together, as well as their noses before they pressed their foreheads against each other. They once again got lost in each other’s eyes and soon their lips couldn’t resist being apart any longer.

“Mmm…”

That kiss of theirs lasted for minutes on end, refusing to break for a second. To them it felt like the world around them didn’t matter, only they did as their hearts began beating to the same rhythm. Ren’s arms held Ai close, while her hands stroked his black hair and her legs wrapped around his. By the time they did manage to pull their lips apart, they didn’t feel like leaving the bed.

“Mm, hey Ren-kun?”

“Hm? What’s up?”

Ai readjusted herself on the bed and hugged his back.

“Can I be the big spoon? I just want to hold you, if that’s alright…”

He smiled as he got into a more comfortable position as the little spoon, “Anything you want, Ai-chan… I’m all yours.”

*creak*

“Oi, Ai, we should be getting going no—oh damn, never mind. Heh heh heh…”

“Tch, Saki, will you please leave?!” Ai tells her fellow idol who kept snickering at the two of them.

“Nah, just pretend I’m not here! I can’t miss this even for a—YOW! HEY!”

Junko pinched her ear and dragged her away from the doorway, “No, you were right, we SHOULD be going now. Come on, Lily.”

“Bye bye, Ren-kun!” The young girl cheerfully bid him farewell.

He returns that smile and waves to her as well, “Later, Lily!”.

Both he and Ai briefly whispered, “Thank you”, to Junko as she gave them a smile of approval before leaving the apartment. After they hear the door close Ai returns to hugging Ren like he was one of those plushies he had in the room. The couple finally get the chance to relax after dealing with their unexpected snoopers.

A thought then occurs within Ren’s mind, “Are you fine with being late coming home? Pretty sure Kotaro might kick my ass for this.”

“I’ll beat him down before he even lays a finger on you.” Ai pecks his cheek affectionately.

Ren lets out a grateful sigh, “Ah, my hero…”

“Besides, it’s like you said…”

Ai then leaned her head by his ear and whispered:

“You’re all mine.”

Notes:

Don’t worry peeps, they’re seriously just gonna keep cuddling. I ain’t ever gonna make any smut involving these two. I refuse to do so, they’re just too cute and Ren is asexual (like myself). Now back to more important matters, welcome to another new story with Ai and Ren! It feels too soon to be making this right after Ai Means Love had ended, but I couldn’t keep myself from doing it! People liked that story and wanted to see more of them being an adorable couple, and I did too. I really need to get back to work on Danganronpa: Fictional Epicenter though, Chapter 4 of that is a big one. I do have the plotlines written down for future chapters of this story, so once I take care of my crossover stuff I’ll be back to write more fluff. Hope this hits the same notes as the previous story and I’ll see you all next time, farewell peeps! (Also if anyone’s wondering, Junko did lock the door before leaving. No one else can get in between their snuggling now…) - Renegade Braveheart

Chapter 2: Valiant Valentine's Venture SAGA

Summary:

Ai faces a daunting task, making Valentine's chocolate for her boyfriend at the last minute!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

< Third-Person POV >

Saga Prefecture, Japan.

Early morning, Valentine’s Day.

“Mizuno-senpai, am I in trouble?”

The young man entered the student council room and took his seat right in front of the president. She was looking down for a bit, some of her hair getting in front of her eyes before pushing it back. Taking a deep breath, without the boy seeing, she took a small box out of her bag and held it in her hands.

“No, no… you didn’t do anything wrong, Ren-kun. I wanted to congratulate you on your improvements on exam scores. You were near the top of your class when I last checked them!”

Her proud smile made Ren gulp and fidget awkwardly in his seat.

“T-Thank you, senpai, but I owe it all to your tutoring. You took time out of your busy schedule to stop by my house and help me realize what I wasn’t getting. If I didn’t have you there, I would have dropped out…”

His upperclassman (or upperclasswoman?) shook her head, her hands starting to clench the box.

“There’s no way I could have let that happen, not to someone like you. You’ve been so helpful to the people around you, your fellow classmates may not always see that but… you’ve always done your best despite everything. And besides… someone else might be saddened if you stopped coming to school.”

Ai looked at her underclassman in the eyes seriously as he tilted his head confused.

“Really? Who exactly? It’s not Baba-san is it? I told her I wasn’t interested…”

Ai let out a sigh at that, “Of course it’s not Shiori. But for that person, to not be able to greet you every morning, walk to school with you, eat lunch on the roof with you… it would hurt them if the school gave up on you.”

Ren’s eyes went wide at his senpai’s words, his mouth was parted open. After hearing all that, he realized who he was talking about and couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His glasses slipping down his face. Mizuno-senpai then looked him in the eyes and brought out the box holding the gift chocolate she made for him.

“Senpai… is this what I think it is? That doesn’t look like any obligation chocolate I’ve ever seen…”

“Ren-kun, will you accept—”

*SPLAT!*

“Ack!”

“Eh?!”

She unfortunately had the box upside down, and the clutching of the box she did earlier loosened the top of the packaging. The hardened chocolate shell was shattered onto the table, with the soft creamy filling now splattered onto each corner. A disheartened Ai slumped back into her seat after her little slip up.

“I… I’m so sorry…” She began to utter out, her expression about as crushed as the chocolate in front of her.

Her kouhai then stood up and leaned over to scrape a bit of the chocolate onto his index finger. He inserted it into his mouth and took the time to savor the taste, contemplate the flavor. Ren looked up at Mizuno-senpai after a few seconds and took a deep breath in.

“Mizuno-senpai, it tastes—”

“H-Huh?! What was he about to… what did it taste like?!”

Ai suddenly sat up from her futon as the other zombie girls began to stir at the noise she made.

“Oi, keep it down, will ya? It’s too early for this crap…” Saki complained groggily.

“Ah, s-sorry.” Ai apologized as her head fell back onto her pillow.

After a few minutes, the Heisei-era idol couldn’t return to sleep. She stood back up, her bandaged feet stepping into some slippers as she went to go get a drink of water. After gulping it down, she leaned against the kitchen counter and pondered a little about something important.

“Today’s Valentine’s Day .” She thinks to herself, her index finger tapping her chin.

She knew she had to figure out what kind of chocolate to make for Ren, store-bought wasn’t going to cut it here. Her boyfriend was OBSESSED with chocolate, and a homemade gift from her would end up making him melt just like it. There was a lot to consider though when it came to what he would like to consume today of all days, so Ai sought to think about all of it.

  1. He had a nut allergy, which she had to be aware of in order to not send her boytoy to an early grave. Unless she had some way to grant his wish of being a zombie like her (which she still hates the idea of), it was a big fat NO.
  1. Milk chocolate was his favorite kind. Ai usually saw him picking out plenty of truffles in candy stores they went to, and the common trend was that they were covered in milk chocolate and contained a select few fillings. He wasn’t huge on dark chocolate, which she preferred, so whenever he baked for her they shared semi-sweet morsels as a way to satisfy both of their tastes. Perhaps going for that as an option wouldn’t be a bad choice either…
  1. Speaking of fillings: chocolate ganache, marshmallow, or caramel. Those were his favorite kinds, although each came with their own problems. Marshmallow, while good, could get pretty chewy and she wanted something he could bite through smoothly. Caramel was way simpler, yet she feared it would be too boring of an option for him. Chocolate ganache though… Ren would eat a tub of it with a spoon, yet she felt like trying something different than just chocolate on chocolate. What to go for?
  1. Finally, the last thing to think about was… how would this one treat stack up to the treats he had given her? After sampling his chocolate chip cookies and eventually his fudge brownies, she’s worried about how this one singular chocolate will stack up to his. It’s not just a Valentine’s Day gift to her, it’s also a gift to thank him for the sweets he’s shared since they started dating.

“How am I going to do this?” She thought aloud before she heard someone enter the room behind her.

“Ai-chan? It’s so early… can’t sleep?”

Sakura Minamoto, probably Ai’s Number 1 fan (both figuratively and literally, considering she’s Franchouchou’s Number 1). She was rubbing her eyes and yawning as she entered the door, Ai turning to greet her.

“Sakura, good morning. I’ll go back to sleep soon, I just needed some time to think.”

Sakura blinked her droopy eyes twice before speaking again.

“Think about what?”

Ai twiddled her fingers a bit before deciding she couldn’t just drop the subject, letting out a sigh.

“I was… struggling to figure out how to make Valentine’s chocolate for Re—”

Sakura suddenly perked up and dashed over to clutch Ai’s hands, her drowsiness fading away instantly after what she heard.

“You’re making chocolate for Ren-kun?! That’s so romantic!! Let me help you out!”

Ai was not expecting a reaction like this out of her at five in the morning, “U-Um, are you sure? I appreciate the offer but…”

“It’s no problem! I plan on making chocolates anyways, so helping you out with your boyfriend sounds like a win-win in my book! Come on, I’d be glad to help you with half the work.”

The redhead with the egg-like head beamed at her inspiration, Ai being a bit hesitant until deciding to accept the assistance.

“I appreciate your help, Sakura. I just wish it wasn’t on the day of, I was so busy with practice yesterday that I neglected to think about it.”

Sakura gripped her fists, determined, “Nothing to worry about, it’s never too late to get started! I’ll be here to help speed things up, and it’ll be fun too! Trust me…”

A soft smile forms on Ai’s face as she nods back at her.

“Right, as long as I make something he’ll enjoy, he obviously won’t mind how late it is. Still, I’d rather be on time for this, so in a few hours we’ll head out to buy ingredients. You got it?”

Sakura saluted herewith her eyes shining brightly, “Aye aye, Ai! Ren-kun will be so happy with this, that he might propose to you on the spot!”

Ai flinched after hearing that last sentence.

“Grgh, let’s not assume such things, Sakura… even if that does sound like something he’d do… ha, that dork…”

The two of them softly giggled at that before returning to their futons. Sakura was all pumped-up to start helping, while Ai stared up at the ceiling before closing her eyes. Hoping to herself that this hard work will be worth it in the end, to see his smiling face after he takes a bite.

“Do it for him…” She whispered to herself before falling into a deep slumber.

________________________________________________

“Ba da da da da ba dada da! Be yourself, can't be no one else… Another day, gotta give 'em hell! It's burning straight through the dark… This rebel heart, this rebel heart!”

Ren bops his head to the exciting tune playing through his wireless earbuds, all while shaving the facial hair that was beginning to grow on his face. To him it felt itchy to have a mustache or goatee, so whenever he could he’d cut it all off for the sake of easing himself.

“Alrighty, just need to take care of the chin area and—”

*BZZT!*

“AGH! OUCH!”

The sudden vibration of his phone within his pocket had caused him to cut his cheek with his razor, he clenches his teeth while observing his injury. He takes out his phone to see who was calling him, seeing his girlfriend was on the other end.

“Urgh, hey Ai-chan, what’s up?”

Ai was using a phone model not nearly as high-tech as his, mostly due to Kotaro being a cheapass. She did still have calling and texting, so at least there’s those features.

“Hey, is this a bad time? It took you longer than usual to answer the call.”

Padding the small amount of blood dripping down his face with a tissue, Ren cleared his throat.

“No no, it’s a good time. Perfect time, actually. I was wondering when you were gonna call since today’s… y’know…”

Ai nods at his words while readjusting the shopping basket she’s carrying. She and Sakura are currently gathering the ingredients they needed at the grocery store, while the other members of Franchouchou were out shooting a commercial. Sakura was scanning the various shelves to see which items would be the most delicious.

“Of course I remembered Valentine’s Day, what do you take me for?” She teased him.

Ren chuckled at her reply, “I never doubted you, darling. I’m pretty sure you also have something planned for us today, right?”

Before she could answer that, Sakura showed Ai a bar of low quality baking chocolate.

“No, not that one.” Ai tells her as her fellow idol went to return it to its original spot.

Ren raises an eyebrow after overhearing that, “Eh? No?”

Ai gasped as she attempted to correct that, “N-No, you misheard that. I do have something planned today, I’m not one to push things back until the last minute... In fact, I planned on what to do today right as the month started!”

She was right about remembering and planning what she was gonna do that day, but she lied about how she was unable to execute said plans due to indecisiveness. Sakura gives her a small thumbs up, silently telling her “You’re doing great!”.

“That is impressive, Ai-chan! Now you’ve got my hopes up if you’ve been working on things for that long. Although, don’t feel too pressured into making things perfect, okay? Ever since we met, I’ve learned to expect the unexpected, so don’t worry too much!”

Ai clutched her heart after that last statement, his considerate nature is a bit overwhelming.

“Ah, you know just what to say… Thank you, Ren-kun.”

Ren smiled hearing that on the other end, “Anytime, Starlight.”

Ai’s heart fluttered after he uttered that nickname he gave her, referencing his love confession towards her.

“Ha ha, you’re such a dork. Okay, be sure to meet me at our mansion in the afternoon, about 2pm. I’ll send you the address and I’ll greet you by the gates outside, is that fine with you?”

Ren opened up his calendar app to make sure.

“2pm? I’ve got a free schedule for the day, so I’ll definitely be there for sure. Having the address will definitely save me some time though, I would have gotten more lost than I was at the festival.”

“Thank goodness for that. It’s a date then, see you soon! Love you Ren-kun.”

Ai’s cheeks went pink when she said that, making Sakura smile with delight.

“Haaa, I never get tired of hearing that… Love you too, Ai-chan!”

After ending their call, the two of them briefly hold their phones close to their chests and let out simultaneous sighs of love, right before returning to what they were originally doing. Ai then looked up to find Sakura with her hands clasped, clearly overjoyed.

“Awww! You two are so cute, you know that?”

Ai’s blush increases as she clears her throat, “Ahem, so did you find a better type of chocolate to use?”

Sakura whipped out a large bar of semi-sweet baking chocolate and Ai observed it up close.

“I’ve never seen this brand before… the packaging looks quite sleek and fancy, so it has to be expensive right?”

Sakura shook her head, “It’s only a few more yen than the normal brand, and apparently it’s an import from overseas! Although it does look smaller than the usual type of baking chocolate…”

Ai puts her thumb and index finger on her chin to think it over before coming to a decision.

“Sakura, go and grab a few more of these bars. Quality over quantity here, got that?”

“Roger that!” Sakura saluted as Ai placed the chocolate into the basket.

*POP!*

The extra weight causes the basket to fall to the floor, Ai’s hand and forearm still attached to the handles.

“...”

The two zombie girls stared blankly at the sight for a few seconds before Sakura finally broke the silence.

“I’ll… go get a cart.”

“Yeah, definitely for the best.”

Ai sighs, hoping that none of the containers for the ingredients got damaged.

_____________________________________________

After returning home, the two of them went straight for the kitchen and unloaded their groceries. They tied aprons around their waists as they immediately got to work on crafting the perfect chocolates. They also bought a bunch of tools to help them customize and shape the designs of their creations.

Ai rolls down her sleeves as she begins to chop the baking chocolate into easily meltable pieces.

“Only have a few hours until he arrives, no more procrastinating!”

“Yeah! Let’s do this!” Sakura pumped her fists into the air as she began to set up the three molds containing the shapes Ai wished to use.

Ai placed the chopped chocolate into a heat-proof bowl and heated up some heavy cream before pouring it into said bowl. Mixing well until the chocolate was fully melted. Sakura meanwhile, was making caramel in a small saucepan nearby.

“EYAH! HOT! HOT! HOT!” Sakura yelled as she turned the stovetop burner on too high.

Ai went over to her side and fixed the problem, “Aw, jeez… just turn the dial left and it’ll lower.”

Sakura bowed her head apologetically, “Sorry…”

“It’s alright, just be more careful or you could have burned something or hurt yourself.” Ai tells her as she begins to mix some homemade marshmallow creme.

After everything was finished blending, the time had come to begin pouring the chocolate and fillings into their molds. Ai wipes some sweat off her forehead before she and Sakura double high five at their success so far.

“Hooo, quite a workout… let’s take a quick breather before we continue on.”

As soon as Ai finishes that sentence though, in walks their fellow Franchouchou members.

“Oh my, what a delightful aroma…” Yugiri says as she enters the room.

Junko steps out behind her and gasps upon realizing, “Homemade chocolate, it has to be for Ren-kun!”

Ai nods her head at her best friend’s observation, “It is, we’re just about to fill up the molds. We made plenty so we can have you guys try some—”

Right on cue, in came Saki, Lily, and Tae. Rushing into the kitchen to try and get more than just one sample. Tae in particular was drooling and her eyes were gleaming.

“Hehe, don’t mind if I do! I ain’t a sweets gal, but I wanna see how far Ai’s willing to go for her man…”

“That smells yummy, Lily wants some!”

“Ragh! Ragh!”

“AFTER! I was gonna say after! Junko, Yugiri, would you mind taking care of them please?” Ai requests while facepalming.

“Right away.” Junko tells her.

Yugiri also agrees, “Now now, let Ai-han finish crafting her sweets, girls…”

The two girls began pushing the other three back and away from the kitchen, much to their disappointment.

“Aww… Lily wanted some chocolate now…” Lily pouts.

Tae whimpers, “Mmph…”

“Tch, these better be hella good if you’re keeping us waiting...” Saki grunts as they all leave.

Ai lets out a sigh of relief, thankful that no one else is trying to sneak a taste… until she hears the marshmallow bowl shift on the counter.

“Sakura, that means you too.” Ai states as the redhead backs off.

“Ah! Sorry, sorry!”

After that situation was thankfully solved, they filled up the molds to form the chocolates into three types of shapes. Layering on the melted chocolate, inserting the fillings, before topping it with more chocolate to seal them in. After placing them in the refrigerator to help them harden up, a conflicted Ai leaned against the kitchen counter.

“Is something wrong? We’re nearly done…” Sakura walks up to her as Ai shakes her head.

“No, I’m just… this is my first time doing this for someone. Ren-kun’s new to dating as well, but for me I've only been thinking about this from an idol’s perspective.”

Sakura tilted her egg-shaped head at that sentence, “An idol’s perspective?”

“I’ve always tried to put my heart into idol work, making sure our fans are always left with smiles on their faces by the end of each performance. However, it’s somehow harder to do something like this for just one person. Especially since this one person is… him. Not that the fans matter any less, but… to me, I don’t want to let him down the most.”

“Ah…” Sakura softly nodded in understanding.

After that explanation, the two of them didn’t speak for a while until the time came to take the chocolates out of the fridge. Sakura’s eyes lit up as she saw the finished candies be cleanly removed from the molds.

“Wow… they look like chocolates that could be sold at a fancy sweets shop!”

Ai crosses her arms while making sure there’s no cracks or leaking of the fillings, carefully placing fifteen into a gift box and wrapping it tightly with a dark blue bow.

“Hm… all that’s left now is to taste. You can call everyone back in now.”

Sakura went to gather the other Franchouchou members as Ai places the extra treats on a separate plate. The other six zombie girls gathered around it, while she stood behind them anxiously waiting.

“Well? Go ahead.”

“Thanks for the food!” The others told her as they each took one and inserted them into their mouths.

They slowly chewed the candies to truly get the feel of the flavors present within them. The silence started to get to Ai as she impatiently tapped her foot on the floor.

“Come on… say something…”

After another few seconds, they all turned around at her after they swallowed them. The six of them went into a quick huddle, whispering amongst themselves much to the flowerhead’s dismay.

“Okay, whatever you all have to say about them… just say it. Don’t be afraid of telling me the truth.”

Breaking the huddle, Sakura looked up to Ai and calmly said with a smile:

“Ai-chan… I don’t think you have to worry anymore.”

“HUH?!”

*POP! POP!*

Ai gasped with surprise as her eyeballs popped out and rolled on the floor.

The other girls giggled as she scrambled to place them back in.

Saki grinned before popping another chocolate into her mouth, “Ha! You really thought these wouldn’t be good enough? You really wanna impress your loverboy.”

“They’re so good that I’m getting addicted to all the flavors! The hard work was worth it, Ai-chan!” Sakura chimed in again.

“Lily loves these ones with the marshmallow, the chocolate's melting in my mouth!” The younger girl happily dances in place.

Ai blows off any dirt that was on her eyes before placing them back in, “You all shouldn’t have been so secretive then! But… do you really think they’re delicious?”

“Indeed, they are truly wonderful sweets. Be sure to feed that boy well, Ai-han.” Yugiri smiles innocently, while Ai blushes at the comment.

Junko gives a polite nod towards her bestie, “Ren-kun will love them, no doubt about that.”

*BZZT!*

Ai feels a vibration from her phone and sees a text notification pop up.

“And speak of the devil…” Saki smirked as Ai clicked her tongue in response.

“Hey sweetie! On the bus rn to your place. But it looks like you’re already here riding with me!”

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (3)

He sent a picture of the special bus that has Franchouchou on the side of it. The red on Ai’s face increased even more, making the other girls struggle to hold in their giggles.

“Only a few more stops until I’m there! See you soon, babe. <3<3<3”

Ai looked back up at the other girls, who gave her reassuring looks, before she texts him back.

“Can’t wait to see you, darling! Love you tons! <3”

Ai gulps while staring at the box of chocolates for him, picking it up and heading over to the front gates.

“Do your best, Ai-chan!” Franchouchou tells their friend as she leaves.

After finishing the plate of chocolates, the others soon start to leave the room too. But then Sakura stops Junko for a second.

“Sakura?” The floofy-haired girl turned back to see what she needed.

Sakura held a finger in front of her mouth and shushed her.

“There’s still some chocolate and fillings left, why don’t we make some more for someone else…”

Junko’s eyes went wide briefly before gladly agreeing to do this. And so they picked up the leftovers and found some new mold shapes…

___________________________________________________

Ren stood around by the gate, his hands in his pockets and whistling “Atsuku Nare”. Checking the time to see that it was 1:55pm, five minutes before the scheduled time.

The earlier, the better.” He thinks to himself before hearing the gate unlock behind him.

“I’m here! Sorry to keep you waiting!”

“Huh?”

When Ren turns around though, he’s met with Ai looking right at him… without makeup on.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (4)

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (5)

“GAH!” He yelps while jumping an inch backwards.

Ai raises an eyebrow before realizing her mistake, “Ah, I’m so sorry! I should have told you that I didn’t have time to put on any makeup.”

After Ren manages to catch his breath, he finally responds.

“No, no, you look fine. I told you that I didn’t mind your zombie look, it’s the sneaking up behind me thing that got me…”

Ai fidgets as she holds the box of chocolates behind her back, “Um, okay, good. Wait… how did you get that?”

Ai points out the bandage on his cheek as Ren taps it and gave an embarrassed laugh.

”This? I would call it a close shave but… the razor blade was more than close on my end…”

Ai shakes her head at his clumsiness, “You should have been more careful… you could have cut yourself worse than that if you didn’t pay attention. Anyways… won’t you come in?”

She invites him by extending her hand to him and he takes it.

“Lead the way, Ai-chan.” Ren tells her, making her softly grin as she welcomes him into her abode.

Ren takes the time to study the layout of the place, before Ai directed him over to the living room. They sit down on the sofa as Ai finally reveals the box of chocolates to his surprise.

“Holy… Ai-chan, is that what I think it is?”

Ai softly nods and reveals the types of chocolate she made for him.

“Ren-kun, will you accept these chocolates?”

”Y-Yes, of course. Thank you so much…”

Their faces are illuminated with red as Ren slowly takes the box from her and opens it up. Ai began to explain what each shape had inside.

“The flowers have caramel inside of them, the stars have marshmallows, and the hearts have ganache. I… hope you enjoy them.”

Ren softly chuckled as he picked up a flower shaped one first, “You know, I’m holding myself back from making a joke about the caramel ones, considering what they’re shaped like.”

Ai playfully swatted at his shoulder upon realizing that it looked like her popcorn-like flower earrings.

“Just eat it, you dummy.”

Ren’s expression shifts from joking to serious as he inserts it into his mouth. Chewing through it slowly, before swallowing. Ai waited for an answer from him, but instead he grabbed the star-shaped ones next. After consuming all three shapes with the three different fillings, he placed the box down on the coffee table and scooted towards her, so now they were face to face.

“So… what did you think?” Ai asks sheepishly, not expecting things to go this direction.

“Ai-chan… why don’t you try one yourself?” Ren gives her a question instead, grabbing one of the heart-shaped ones.

She raises an eyebrow at this before shrugging with her shoulders, closing her eyes, and opening her mouth wide enough to have the chocolate fit in. The flavor exploded into her mouth after her first bite, and it continued to flow constantly until she reluctantly swallowed it.

“That was…”

“... Amazing?” Ren guesses.

Ai giggled while picking up another chocolate, “Yeah, is that how you feel about them too?”

“Eh, that’s not the word I would use. I’d go with stellar, phenomenal, or even GLORIOUS! You did flawlessly, sweetheart.” Ren grins while holding up another heart-shaped one to represent the last thing he called her, making her laugh a bit.

Ai lets out a sigh of relief while chewing on a caramel choco, “Thank goodness… I really shouldn’t have been so worried about this, but I wanted to make sure our first Valentine’s Day together went right.”

Ren gave her a smooch on the cheek, “Well it did, thank you for that. Expect me to work hard on White Day in return, ha ha.”

She returned the kiss with one on the lips, pulling back to say:

“I look forward to it. Although between that and my birthday earlier that next month, you’re probably planning on spoiling me rotten, aren’t you?”

Ren smirked, “Maaaaayyyybe…. I can afford it just fine though, no need to worry at all.”

Ai took a moment to wonder what Ren did for money, but ultimately brushed it off as a passing thought.

“If you say so, but don’t overdo it okay? And your birthday is in March too, so why not treat yourself around that time instead of just me?”

“No promises, babe. Although if my birthday is as good as this Valentine’s Day is, then I have nothing to worry about with you around.” Ren patted Ai’s head, as she pouted.

“Ha, well I’ll be sure to actually prepare everything in advance next time. I was so indecisive about today for some time, until Sakura offered to help me out.” Ai mentions while feeding him a marshmallow star.

“Shakura? Wow, sheesh sho shchweet…” Ren says, say with his mouth full.

“Swallow your food before talking, I barely got that.” Ai scolded him.

Ren swallowed before speaking up, “Yes ma’am.”

“Excuse me, did you just call me ‘ma’am’?” Ai replies back, slightly offended.

Ren holds his hands up defensively, “I didn’t mean it like that, okay?! Ugh, seriously though, I might pay her back on White Day too. So she just offered to help just like that?”

Ai nodded her head, “I told her about my dilemma and she volunteered immediately. She did say she was planning on making chocolate anyways, don’t know who they’re for though…”

The two of them briefly brainstorm who Sakura would give those chocolates to before giving up.

“Eh, it’s not too big a deal. By the way, you said that this Valentine’s Day was good…. But it’s only gonna get better.”

Ai smirks as she scoots closer to her boyfriend before leaping onto him and unleashing a barrage of kisses all over his face.

“Ah ha ha, hey, slow down!” Ren tells his girlfriend, but she just keeps going.

The sounds of the couple’s laughter and smooching filled the living room and spread through the rest of the mansion. Their energy is about as sweet as the chocolates they completely finished, or perhaps even sweeter.

Meanwhile their question was unknowingly answered as Sakura and Junko knocked on a certain someone’s door in the mansion before running off before it opened. Out walked Kotaro Tatsumi, Franchouchou’s noisy and eccentric manager, who found a small box at his feet. He opens it to find eight chocolates shaped like cherry blossoms and tiny mushrooms, as well as a note that simply said:

“Thank you for all of your hard work.”

Tatsumi stared intensely at the message, breaking away from it after overhearing Ai and Ren’s makeout session.

“PIPE DOWN, YOU HORNY KIDS!” He shouts down the hall before walking back into his room and popping both chocolate shapes into his mouth.

“... Delish.”

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (6)

Art by my good friend, Zarius. Thank you so much for this absolutely spectacular artwork!

Notes:

Happy Valentine’s Day… in July. Look, I really felt like writing this since I got the idea and my motivation kicked into overdrive these past few days. Chocolate is a food that I adore the most in this world, yet I’ve never received any ones that were homemade myself. Sure, I’ve made cookies and brownies that have chocolate in them but… nothing like the store-bought truffles I get from candy stores. Maybe once I find the girl of my dreams, for now though I’ll just keep writing for one of the cutest couples I know. Hope you all enjoyed this off-season Valentine’s treat, and I hope you revisit it when it’s actually Valentine’s Day next year. See you all next time, farewell peeps! - Renegade Braveheart

Chapter 3: Disorienting Dog Days SAGA

Summary:

The titular couple go on a walk with Franchouchou's zombie doggo!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

< Third-Person POV >

Saga Prefecture, Japan.

Nighttime.

It was close to the time Ai went to sleep, not Ren though since he plans on staying up despite his girlfriend’s scolding. The former wanted to talk to him for a while on the phone just to help tire him out… it was now over two hours and they’re both still awake, so you know how well that’s going.

“Ah ha ha, seriously though, you need to start thinking about what you put into your body.” Ai softly giggled while laying on her stomach in her futon with her feet in the air.

“What do you mean? I’m just fine, ha ha…” Ren responds while leaning back in his desk chair and reading through a manga.

“Really? You’re fine, even after eating an entire pizza by yourself tonight?”

Ren put his hand over his chest and gave a mock gasp at her remark.

“It was only a medium 12 inch one! Besides, according to the ‘zero calorie theory’, the pizza is circular to represent the number zero. Thus making it zero calories!”

Ai snorted at his explanation and shook her head in disbelief.

“Your math is blowing my mind here. Ha ha, you’re such a dork, you know that?”

“And you love it.” Ren shoots back with a smirk on his face, Ai sighing while picturing it in her head.

“... I do. But try to eat healthier for me, okay?”

“No promises.”

“Hmm? What was that?” Ai spoke up in a mildly threatening tone.

Ren’s forehead began to sweat when he heard that, “Um, o-okay I will, darling…”

“That’s what I thought. Anyways, as I was saying earlier, since we’re heading to a park I figured I might as well take Romero out on a walk with us. Do you mind that at all?”

“Of course, I love doggos! And from what you told me, he’s pretty well behaved, so I don’t really see how that would be a problem. Ahhh…” Ren yawns and Ai picks up on that.

“You better get some rest then for tomorrow, I don’t want you half asleep while Romero uses you as a walking chew toy.”

“Sure, I’ll head to bed soon after we’re done here…” He lied.

Ai scoffed, not believing him for a second, “Ren-kun, you better go to sleep soon.”

“Okay, okay… man, you’re starting to sound less like my girlfriend and more like my mom.” Ren groaned.

“I’m just doing what’s best for my boyfriend, whether he likes it or not. But you know I do it because I care, right?” Ai changes her tone to be more sincere.

Ren sighs and softly nods, “I know, and I do appreciate that. You don’t have to baby me too much, but you really help keep me grounded when my head’s in the clouds. Sorry if it seems that I’m annoyed at you.”

A small smile forms on Ai’s face as she answers back, “No, I’m sorry if it seems like I’m pushing you too hard. I just don’t want you to look dead tired tomorrow, I’m supposed to be the zombie here, not you.”

Ren softly chuckles as he readjusts his seating position.

“Ha, yeah, it would be a lot more different if it was the reverse… or even if both of us were the same. I’ll try to sleep soon though, I promise, so don’t worry too much about me.”

Ai grins after hearing some truth in that last statement, “Okay, I’ll trust you on that. Before you go though, I have to tell you the key to getting Romero to like you it’s—”

“Hold on, I’m getting another call, it’s from…”

Ren paused for a few seconds, Ai wondering why he went silent before speaking up.

“Is something wrong? I can hang up now if you need to talk to them.”

“It’s nothing, Ai-chan. Just a spam call, hate those things. I think I’ll head to bed right now actually, you can text me what I need to do tomorrow morning. Is that alright?”

Ai raised an eyebrow at this before replying, “Oh, okay. I’ll be sure to text you before we head out. Sleep well, Ren-kun.”

“Right back at you, Ai-chan. Have a good night, sweetie, I love you.”

Even with her being a bit concerned, those three words always hit the bullseye in her heart.

“Mhm, I love you too, babe. See you tomorrow.”

She hangs up and lets out a sigh as she turns over on her back, still thinking about how abrupt that call ended. Sure she wanted him to head to sleep, but she felt that something was up.

She opens up a photo of the two of them he took during their last date, where she gives him a surprise kiss while he was trying to take a normal selfie. The mischievous, yet loving smile on her face as he captures his lips… his wide eyes and blushing cheeks when he got caught off guard… the picture being slightly crooked, but still a good quality… It made her smile and gave her motivation before her most recent performances.

“Ren-kun…” She utters his name while looking at him in the photo, wondering if he has his own things he’s hiding.

“Oi, finally done with your booty call? That took forever.” Saki yawns while walking into their shared room.

“SHUT UP!” Ai blushed furiously and threw a pillow at her face.

__________________________________________________

Afternoon.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (7)

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (8)

Ai squatted down to give Romero a few headpats before attaching a leash and harness to him. Her outfit for the day was a blue hoodie with a black vest over it, a black skirt with small blue dots on it, white socks, and blue and dark gray high-top sneakers. Romero was excitedly padding across the sidewalk, sniffing all around as the sunlight hit his blue fur.

“Now be good to him, Romero. He’s a very nice boy, and he’ll give you treats if you don’t be mean to him. You’d like that, won’t you?”

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (9)

“Woof!” Romero answered, making Ai softly chuckle.

Soon the zombie idol and her undead poodle found her boyfriend on a bench with a small brown bag next to him. After noticing them, he exits out of the manga scans that he was totally reading legally and heads over to them. The young couple greet each other with a short, but sweet, kiss on the lips.

Ren welcomed her into his arms with a warm smile, “Hi, honey.”

“Hey.” She answers back with another peck to his cheek.

“Grrrrrrr, ruff! Ruff ruff ruff!” Romero growled at Ren who grunted in response.

Ai shook her head in slight disappointment, “Yeah, sorry. I told him to behave politely towards you but… he’s so protective.”

“Hm, it’s alright, no need to worry. Besides, I already got what you told me about right here. Before that though…”

Ren squatted down and held his hand out to the zombie dog, the hound not in the mood to greet him nicely.

“Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! Bark!”

“C’mon, give me paw.” Ren nonchalantly says, even after seeing the sharp teeth the mutt had.

“BARK! BARK!” Romero answers back, rejecting the young man’s offer.

Ren clicked his tongue in response before whipping out the small brown bag.

“Fine then, be that way. I guess you don’t want one of these..”

He pulls out a packet of dried squid , (which you shouldn’t give to normal dogs, but it’s fine here), and eats some of it in front of him. The dog whimpered as Ren snugly chewed on the squid, and without even batting an eye he held out his hand again to ask for his paw.

Romero places it in his hand and Ren shakes it, “Good boy.”

Ai looks on, impressed at the way her boyfriend is handling the zombie hound. After getting some more paw shakes from him, he was able to get Romero to spin (with his body while his head stayed locked in place), roll over, and sit. She pats him on the back for a job well done.

“Wow, you really got him wrapped around your finger.”

Ren laughs awkwardly while rubbing the back of his head, “Hopefully he still is once the squid is long gone… but I am glad he’s warming up to me. He’s the last one of your group that I haven’t gotten the chance to spend some time with, and like I said I like dogs.”

He softly petted the top of Romero’s head as the pooch softly closed his eye (the one that still had an eyeball in it), relaxing under his touch.

“He’s so adorable… aren’t you, you little guy? Aww…”

Ai watched as Ren nuzzled his cheek against the pup, and that’s when Ai felt a bit… off. She felt the need to pout, crossed her arms, and let out a huff as she sat down on the bench. She looked to be somewhat jealous, but at that point she didn’t know who she was jealous of in this scenario.

“Shall we get going then, Ai-chan?” Ren asks and she huffs again, shifting her head away from him.

“Hmph, very well.”

The girl stood up and led Romero into the park with her, Ren standing by her side and wondering what her problem was. He tried to hold her hand, but Ai avoided his touch and kept looking on at their surroundings. Confused, he scratched his head and cleared his throat.

“Nice weather we’re having…”

“Mm…” Ai grunts while continuing to pretend not to care.

Raising an eyebrow, Ren tries again, “You feel like grabbing something sweet later?”

“I guess.”

Ren lowers his eyebrows at her before looking in the opposite direction. They stay silent most of the time, only speaking up to stop Romero from biting other people or eating things he shouldn’t be putting into his mouth. Even when they felt bitter with each other, they still worked well together. The two of them soon found a small area that Romero could run around in, so Ren decided to play a quick game of fetch with him.

“Go get the stick, little buddy!” Ren tells him and he immediately dashes over and brings it back.

“Arf! Arf! Woof!”

“Good boy, Romero. Such a cutie-patootie…”

“Hmph…”

Ren turns to find his date crossing her arms and glaring at him and that’s when he’s decided he’s tired of this.

“Is there something wrong? You're either staring daggers at me like I took the last piece of yakiniku or looking away from me, annoyed, like I’m Tatsumi. Did I do something wrong?”

Ai shifted her eyes away from him before giving a blunt answer, “Maybe.”

He crossed his arms in reply and stepped over to her so they were now face to face.

“Maybe? Do you mind being specific then? It would really help so I can—”

She walked past him and picked up Romero in her arms, pouting and clutching the pooch to her chest. Ren clenched his fists as he stomped over to her and looked her in the eyes again.

“Seriously, tell me what’s up with you! I can’t help if you’re not gonna say anything to me!”

“If that’s how you’re gonna act, I won’t tell you! Maybe I’ll tell Romero about it instead!”

Ren felt his teeth clench before shooting back, “Fine then! Be that way!”

“Okay!” Ai replies with annoyance before the two of them hold a glaring contest.

They scowled at one another for about a minute and a half before they both gave up and headed over to a bench nearby. Sitting in silence while Romero was panting in the sun. That silence would thankfully last one more minute before their hands shifted towards each other and stuck together like magnets.

Their fingers intertwined and they lifted their heads back up to face each other and both say:

“I’m sorry.”

“Wait, no, it’s my fault.”

“I mean… ah ha ha ha…”

The two of them laughed off their ridiculous moment of saying things at the exact same time before wrapping each other in a close hug, with Romero in the middle of them and giving some licks out to both.

“Seriously though, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been so jealous…” Ai placed her hand over her heart and sighed in relief.

Ren chuckled, “Jealous of me or him?”, he says while pointing at Romero with his thumb.

Ai laughed lightly while petting Romero’s head, “Both actually, you were paying more attention to him and he’s already pretty close to you, even if you just met today! Pretty stupid of me, isn’t it?”

Ren shook his head, “Not really, I shouldn’t have been so ticked off at you acting that way. You were pretty quick to start acting that way though.”

“I was admittedly, but we made up pretty quickly too, didn't we?” Ai brings up.

Ren joins her in patting the doggo while nodding in agreement.

“Oh, definitely. But I can tell we really can’t stay mad at each other for too long. If you hadn’t spoken up at the same time as me, I would have tried to apologize first.”

Ai smiled and brushed his hair out of his face, “You’re so sweet, I would have done the same thing. Guess that’s why we both said sorry at once, ha ha…”

“Yup. But in all fairness, could you really blame me for focusing too much on him? I mean, just look at him! The zombie thing is weird, but besides that he’s an adorable pupper!”

Ren nuzzled his cheek against Romero and Ai snuggled him from his right side.

“I know! I wasn’t so sure about him at first, but now I can’t help but feel attached to this little undead furball. Oh you’re such a cutie, yes you are…”

The couple swooned over the dog as he let out a huff, the dog equivalent to the sigh.

Ren then realized something and turned to her real quick, “After thinking about it more, the way you were acting earlier...”

“What about it?” Ai looked at him in confusion.

“With you trying to deny that you wanted attention… There's a three syllable word that I can use to describe that behavior.”

“And what, pray tell, is that word?” Ai put her hands on her hips while awaiting his answer.

Ren smirked while using his finger to point out each syllable.

“Tsun-de-re.”

“I’m not a tsundere!” Blush flashed onto Ai’s face as her boyfriend snickered to himself.

“That’s what they all say…”

Ai clicked her tongue at his remark, “Gah, you dummy…”

“Aha, a key word tsunderes use to describe the person they like!” Ren pointed out and Ai hid her face from him.

“Agh…”

After strolling through the park for a few more hours, they got that sweet treat Ren suggested earlier, ice cream. Ai got a french vanilla (she appreciates when the classics are done right), and Ren got swiss chocolate with sandwich cookies. The two of them were happily eating while watching an anime on Ren’s phone.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (10)

“You should really quit smoking…”

“Bite me! What are you, my boyfriend?!”

“Why not? Sounds good to me.”

“I still can’t believe he actually had a hundred thousand yen on him.” Ren says while seeing a student council president kiss a blonde delinquent.

Ai spoons some ice cream and swallows it, “I still can’t believe he hasn’t zipped his pants back up.”

“And I’m still wondering what kind of ‘testing’ he did to make sure he’s not ga—”

*Bzzzzzzzzz!*

“Ah, damn it, this fly won’t leave me alone… ack, almost went in my ear that time!” Ren complains.

Ai continues to eat her ice cream while watching him try to clap it with hands. Laughing at how he holds his hand in pain after slamming his fist into the table hard.

“I have heard they’re attracted to the carbon dioxide people breathe out, just let it be.”

“Ugh... Why should I let it BEE, if it’s a fly?” Ren jokes and Ai rolls her eyes.

“Tch, please don’t…” She replies while burying her face in her hands.

Ren smirks, “Come on, with how much this fly is BUGGING me I should keep this up so I don’t remain EAR-itated at how it finds my ear EAR-resistible.”

Ai groans and just shoving spoonfuls of ice cream into her mouth, hoping the brain freeze could help her forget she ever heard all of that. She pauses however, after seeing Romero eyeing the fly with a gleam in his eye.

“Hey, hey… what are you thinking…?”

*CHOMP!!*

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (11)

That’s when Romero snatched the fly with his jaws like a venus flytrap and swallowed it whole.

“...”

“...”

Ai and Ren stared at the pup and blinked twice.

Ren popped a question, “So… do zombie dogs get sick?”

“I… have no clue. Fingers crossed that they don’t, otherwise let’s just move on and hope he’ll be fine…”

It seems that the brief moment of Romero going feral stunned the two of them.

The rest of the date went on pretty well, quite the peaceful day for the two of them. The sound of the river flowing, the soft wind blowing through their hair, the way Romero frolics through the flowers… it was all so wonderful… and it made Ren glad he remembered to take allergy medicine before leaving home.

“Getting late, maybe we can grab dinner to go?” Ren suggests, feeling his stomach growl loudly.

Ai giggles at the sound from his gut, “Sure, you okay with eating back at the mansion?”

Ren nods, “Of course… my treat. You know… I think I can buy food for all of you girls tonight.”

Ai raised an eyebrow at this, “Really? Seems a bit much, are you sure you can afford all of it?”

He gives her a confident smile and wink, “I’m sure, consider it a thanks for welcoming me into the family… er, I mean… well, you all do seem like just one big happy undead family so… ah ha…”

After hearing him stutter for a bit, she grabbed his arm and held him tight.

“I’m glad you’re a part of this family, Ren-kun…”

“Ruff! Ruff!”

Ai giggled after hearing Romero chimes in, “And it looks like he agrees!”

Ren blushed before eventually leaning against her head as they kept walking on, stuck together as close as an otaku to a good manga.

“Thank you both, truly…” He states, feeling warm and content.

He ended up buying gyudon, or beef bowls, for everyone on the way back. Ren struggled to lift all of it in the large bag they gave him, so they both decided to carry it together and lighten the load. Soon enough they got back to the mansion just as the sun was getting low.

Ren sighs in relief as he temporarily sets the bag down so he can stretch his arm.

“Ah, finally… I’m expecting Kotaro to give us an earful as soon as we walk in. I can’t believe you have to live with the guy sometimes, as much as I kinda respect him.”

“Ha, yeah…”

It was then that Ai thought back to the previous night, seeing him look a bit tired here reminded her of the way he sounded tired on the phone. Due to that reminder, Ai thought to speak up about something.

“Hey, so... About last night?”

“Last night?” Ren tilted his head in confusion.

Ai hesitated a bit before asking him, “... Who was it that called you? After you saw it you stopped talking before heading to bed soon after, is it something personal?”

Ren’s eyes widened, “Oh, that? Well, you see it was… uh…”

“YOU’RE LATE, AI-CHAN!”

Ren and Ai hold their hands over their ears to stop the ringing, courtesy of Kotaro’s squawking.

“Jeez, say his name and he appears…” The young man snarked.

Ai scoffed as she responded back, “We just stopped to grab dinner, it’s no big deal.”

The idol manager crossed his arms and looked at the bag, “Hm, I see. Did you buy something for me?”

“...” They stared at him and didn’t answer.

“I can see nine bowls there, I know you’re hiding it!”

“That one’s for Romero.” Ren tells the manager while Ai picks up the doggo and the two of them walk away.

“WHAT?! HEY! GET BACK HERE!”

His yelling fell on deaf ears as the two of them sat down at the dinner table and simultaneously winked at each other, before feeding the mutt some meat. However, Ai can’t help but look at her partner with slight suspicion. She shook it off after he caught her brief staring, but what was he about to say?

Ai couldn’t help but worry that even with him knowing her big secret… she didn’t know about all of his.

Notes:

It was with this chapter that I remembered that I didn’t need to write like 15 or so pages all the time. This is supposed to be a slice-of-life with some drama and light angst moments, not a complex storyline like my Danganronpa series. Still, I do want to at most get to 14 pages and at least 10-12, don’t want y’all to be any less fed. Anyways, we’re starting to get a bit of extra story building up for Ren, and we’ll see how Ai is able to factor into it. She’s not one to just sit back and let someone suffer alone, especially if it’s someone she truly cares about. Considering that this is her boyfriend going through stuff, she definitely won’t stop being concerned about him. Hope you enjoyed the fluffy stuff here, and the leadup to more dramatic things in future chapters. Don’t worry though, at its core RenAi will always be a heartwarming story between two inexperienced dorks that have super cute moments together. That will not go away, and letting you know right now that they WILL NOT separate as this story unfolds. See you next time, peeps! Looking forward to reading your comments. By the way, the anime they’re watching is Tsuredure/Tsurezure Children, and the couple’s names are Kaji & Akagi. It’s great and I recommend it for short and sweet fluffy comedic romance stories featuring a variety of couples. I took some elements from it to build this story and Ai Means Love too!- Renegade Braveheart

Chapter 4: Frustratingly Fretful Family SAGA

Summary:

Who was the person who was calling Ren? Well it's...

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

< Third-Person POV >

Saga Prefecture, Japan.

Early morning.

*SLAP!*

“You ungrateful child… take your damn money and leave if you really want to! Go!”

A younger Ren ran out the room and slammed the door. Leaning against the door, his breathing was quick and uneven as he lifted his head up to see a girl who looked about a year or less than him. She had black hair in a ponytail and a sky blue nightgown, clutching her skirt before responding to him with a pleading look.

“Kuya Ren, please don’t leave… think about this more…”

Ren clutched his chest and readjusted the bag on his shoulder, “I’m sorry… I can’t take it anymore, okay?! I’m just so tired of him…. so tired…”

“Are you really sure?” The girl asked him, her lips quivering.

“I am absolutely sure, Jenny, spent weeks thinking about it in fact. It’s why I’ve been learning Japanese for about a month. You can’t convince me otherwise, I’m getting on the plane and leaving Manhattan tonight.”

Jenny came closer and saw him holding a brand new debit card alongside that bright red mark on his left cheek. Ren turns away from his sister, frustrated and just looks out the penthouse window as she grabs his arm. They stood in silence looking at the stars for a few minutes, Jenny looking at him with her eyes beginning to water.

“We can try to fix this… The fact that father gave you money is a sign that he does care… we could hire a therapist, help you two come to an understanding…”

Ren interrupts her, holding a quivering finger as he looks at her with a solemn expression.

“I don’t want to see him ever again, Jen. The only thing that made me tolerate him for so many years is how kindly he treated you, with me gone he won’t even bat an eye. I’m just done… okay? I’m sorry.”

Jenny clutched her heart as he began to make his way out the door, putting on his sneakers before he looked back at her with a wobbly smile.

“But… if anything happens, you can call me and come visit. Okay? I… hope to see you again someday, sis. Love ya…”

The door shuts.

“Ack!”

Ren jolted awake in his bed, one hand on his head as he took some deep breaths. He looks to his right and finds his phone charging, tapping the screen to see that it’s 6am, a time that someone like him wouldn’t dare wake up at. Ren sighs through his clenched teeth as he flopped back onto his pillow.

That wasn’t a dream… it was a memory.

He picks his phone back up again and looks through his recent calls. A few days ago, it looked like Jenny finally decided to call him. Ren looked at his calendar and saw that today was the day he was supposed to meet up with her. Putting his phone down and closing his eyes, he decides he needs the extra sleep before taking on the day. The young man repeated a small mantra to himself to lure himself back to sleep, all while his nervous heart pounded like it was doing a drum solo.

“Breathe in, breathe out…”

___________________________________________

“Hm…”

Ai was constantly checking her phone, waiting for her boyfriend to message her back after she just sent him a couple of online tickets to watch today’s performance. One for him and another one in case he wanted to bring a friend. Usually she’d be practicing the choreography for the upcoming show, yet here she was pacing back and forth in the dance training room as the others watched it happen.

Ai’s eyebrows lowered as she stared at her phone screen, once again there’s no response. As she began muttering to herself, the girls looked at each other before deciding to step in.

“Ren-kun hasn’t answered yet, huh?” Sakura asks first.

Ai shakes her head, “He usually answers quicker than this, am I being too anxious about all of this?”

“Of course not, you just care a lot and that kindness is one of the things he loves most about you.” Junko says reassuringly.

Saki leans against the wall while smirking, “Heh, yeah. Loverboy’s just freakin’ smitten with you, girl. Shouldn’t be worried about him cheating or whatever.”

Ai scoffs at the thought, “That is certainly not what I’m worried about. What I am worried about is that phone call he received the night before our last date. He went quiet on his end after receiving it, and after I asked him about it he had a certain look in his eye… it was fear.”

“Fear? He’s scared of a phone call? Hm…” Sakura racks her brain trying to come up with an idea.

A thought popped into Junko’s head and she gasped, “M-Maybe he’s being threatened by someone dangerous?”

“Grrrrr…” Tae growls in response.

Yugiri places a hand on her cheek and ponders that concern, “If that truly was the case, the young man would have informed you of something so frightening, am I correct Ai-han?”

Ai bit her lip before answering, “Knowing him, he wouldn’t want me to get involved for my sake. So selfless, yet never thinks about himself... Ugh, not gonna jump to conclusions here, at this rate it’ll make me even more stressed! That’s it, back to practice. One… Two… Three… Four…”

The other girls get back in line and join her, but not taking their eyes off of Ai as she’s clearly failing to ignore her uneasiness.

“Ren-kun’s not gonna get hurt, is he?” Lily nervously whispers to Sakura.

The egghead struggles to answer that, “Um… well, I really hope so. He doesn't seem like the type to get involved with scary people, and he definitely wouldn’t cheat on Ai-chan either… maybe it’s something else?”

“Something else…” Lily repeated softly to herself as she looked at Ai’s still concerned face.

Ai’s movements were swift and precise, always looking to perfect her craft. Her toned legs display her dedication to the art of dance. Despite her zombified form, her undead heart beat as quick as a boxer rapidly hitting a speed bag. While her boyfriend’s current predicament clouded her mind, she constantly repeated something in her head to steady herself:

Breathe in, breathe out…

_________________________________________

Ren fidgeted in his booth seat at a family restaurant, their agreed meeting place. He immediately tensed up when he felt a sudden vibration from his pocket, only to sigh in relief when he saw it was from his girlfriend. Looking over what she sent him, he smiled for the first time in hours that day and began to type out his response to her…

“Kuya Ren?”

Upon hearing the Filipino word for brother, Ren’s anxiety returned as he found his younger sister looking over his shoulder. She still had that ponytail, was wearing a violet wool jacket and black slacks, and dark brown boots.

“... Hey, Jenny.”

She sat down opposite to him and picked up the menu, looking over each word with her eyes squinted.

“You’ve gotten taller…” Ren starts with a compliment.

“And you haven’t.”

Ren groans after she burned him and just held his menu up to block her out.

“That mouth of yours hasn’t changed much though, very grateful for that. Wouldn’t be you without it.”

Jenny scoffed and just focused on reading over the menu… well, more like using her phone to translate the kanji written down on it. Her eyes moved from the menu and back to her phone constantly, yet she was visibly struggling to understand any of it. By the time the waiter showed up, the young woman had trouble speaking up.

“H-Hello, I… would like… um…”

A subtle, yet smug smile began to appear on Ren’s face as he spoke up in her stead.

“She’ll take an omurice and I’ll have a hamburger steak. Thank you so much!”

The waiter took their menus as Jenny’s eyes went wide at how well her brother spoke in Japanese.

“You’ve… become quite fluent since I last saw you.” She tells him while Ren confidently pushes up his glasses.

“Mhm, I may get things wrong here and there, but for the most part I am. It seems you haven’t brushed up on any of the language though, why not?”

She crosses her arms and huffs, “I’m only gonna be here for two weeks, one week here before I spend another one in Tokyo. And don’t make fun of me for that when you haven’t learned any Tagalog.”

“Touché.” Ren acknowledges that flaw of his.

“Hmph… so… how have you been lately? It’s been years after all.” Jenny places a hand on her cheek and her elbow on the table.

“It’s been decent… until a month ago. That’s when things started to look up.”

Ren twirls his chopsticks around as Jenny looks on curiously.

“Really now? What happened last month?”

“Kanojo.” The young man states to purposely confuse his sibling.

“Ren, in English, please.”

Ren takes out his phone and shows her his lock screen wallpaper, the picture he took of Ai at the beach on the night he confessed. Her feet in the water, the joyful smile on her face, and the diamond sky above her. Jenny audibly gasped at the sight of her.

“My girlfriend.” Ren translates for her.

When he says that, Jenny immediately starts lightly smacking his arm.

“What?! You idiot! Why didn’t you tell me you were dating someone! This is huge!”

Ren rolls his arm before sighing, “Because I told you to call me all that time ago. I’m busy these days, and I know you probably are too. Didn’t think you’d answer even if I tried to tell you.”

His answer made Jen slump in her seat, “Yeah… y-you’re right, I’ve been busy. This is the longest amount of vacation time I had, so I thought I might as well reach out and catch up with big bro…”

Her brother looked at her suspiciously as he stopped twirling his chopsticks.

“Is that the only reason you’re here, though?”

“...”

Upon seeing her go completely silent, Ren’s expression switched to one of remorse as he leaned back in his booth seat. The waiter soon arrived with their orders and Jenny looked at her omurice with hesitation, while Ren clapped his hands together and gave a soft “Itadakimasu.” or “Thanks for the food.”. He cut into the juicy hamburger steak and swooned when he began to chew it along with some fluffy rice.

“I-I-Itadakimasu…” Jenny uttered timidly before opening her mouth and inserting a spoonful of the egg and rice, “Mmph!”

The flavors exploded in her mouth as she soon began to shovel more of it in and made Ren chuckle.

“Oh yeah, the food is another reason I stay here. I’ll be sure to show you Drive-In Tori later, it’s amazing.”

The two of them began to eat and started chatting again. The earlier tension seemed to fade away and be replaced by familiar camaraderie for the siblings, like the food was the key to easing their minds. Looking at how his sister was enjoying her meal, Ren softly smiled. Seems like he’s starting to relax after all that time stressing over seeing her again…

“So, have you and your girlfriend done it yet?”

“Gwack!”

Nevermind, that one question from Jenny made him start choking on his water. After a lot of coughing, Ren finally replies.

“You know I’m not into that kind of stuff, and she’s fine with that…”

She gives him a teasing look, “Is she though?”

“Of course she is! So unless you or our cousins decide to go for it, our bloodline ends with us. Acknowledge that.” He jokes as he finishes up his hamburger.

“Hilarious…” Jen rolled her eyes as she continued eating.

After a few seconds, Ren then realized something as he began to send that unfinished text to Ai. “Y’know, if you’re so doubtful of me…”

He then whips out his phone and shows her the concert tickets.

“... Then you can ask her yourself.”

_________________________________________

Ai sees the text notification on her phone and breathes a sigh of relief as she and the rest of Franchouchou finally arrive at the concert venue. Her cheeks gained a tinted red as she read every word.

Hey, sorry for not messaging! It’s been rough lately, but hearing your singing will surely improve my mood! It always does… I’ll be there soon, break a leg out there! Not literally though, but you know what I mean. Love youuuuu!” ^_^ <3

A smile enveloped her face as she stepped out of the van and turned to the other girls.

“Let’s do our best today, everyone!”

The other girls giggled at her behavior, her cheerful tone making it seem like she was already in “idol mode”.

“Hee hee… Ai-chan’s getting all giddy, must have been a pretty sappy reply from Ren-kun.” Sakura says as she sees Ai twirl happily.

Junko nods, “It seems so. It’s as if all that worrying managed to turn into pure delight. So happy for her…”

“Ha, look at Ms. Serious Idol being so upbeat! Feels weird, but I ain’t complaining. Let’s do it to it, girls!” Saki pumps her fist and so does the others.

“Yeah!”

About an hour or so later, Ren and Jen arrived at the venue, with the latter not used to hyped up crowds. Tons of pen lights and fan signs were clenched in the hands of the fans as big bro hands a blue pen light to his little sis. She looks over it with a bewildered face.

“What are these for? Landing a plane?”

Ren shakes his head at her guess, “You shake these in time with the music, typical idol support. Come on, let’s find our seats…”

He leads her over to the front seats, being sure to greet some fellow fans who recognize him. Jenny was once again impressed by how well adjusted he was to speaking Japanese, and her head lowered in mild embarrassment at not knowing much of it. Ren high fives the two metalheads that usually came to Franchouchou’s shows and gives a quick side hug to a former member of the idol group.

“Yuzuriha-san, it’s great to see you again.”

Maimai beams while readjusting her glasses, “Ren-kun! Glad you made it, but who’s this girl?”

Jenny presses her fingers together awkwardly before answering.

“K-Konnichiwa… I’m Jennifer… his, um, imouto?”

“She mainly speaks English.” Ren whispers to his fellow fan.

Maimai nods in understanding before answering in Engrish, “Ohhh, hello! I am Maimai Yuzuriha, nice to meet you!”

“A-Arigatou…” Jenny shook her hand as the three of them sat down as the lights began to dim.

Observing the crowd, a puzzled Jenny raises an eyebrow and turns to her brother for clarification.

“Hey… I thought your girlfriend was supposed to be here, where the heck is she?”

He pressed a finger to his mouth and silenced her, “Shooooosh please, a-thank you.”

She pouted at him and was about to protest as the lights on stage turned on, answering her question. Franchouchou took the stage and Ai quickly grinned upon spotting her boyfriend. Ren greeted her briefly with a small wave as Jen looked on, baffled.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (12)

The group greeted the crowd before performing their signature song, Mezame Returner. Each time Ai did her “cut-in” motion, Ren blushed and melted into his seat. Jenny on the other hand noticed his eye contact with his romantic partner, completely focused on Ai. He was absolutely captivated by her, the usually so quiet brother she knew was now cheering on the girl he loves with pure excitement.

She should be happy that he found someone, in fact she was happy when he told her earlier. The last time Jenny saw him, he could barely hold a smile before removing himself from her life, but now he seems like he’s done a complete 180. With each song, he shook that pen light more and more… while she didn’t even do it once.

She shot a glare right at him, which he failed to notice, before sitting back down in her seat as she just watched the show. As much as she felt like she didn’t want to be there anymore, she could appreciate the good music and dancing at least. The feeling that was bubbling inside of her, her jade eyes signifying this well…

… Envy.

____________________________________________

Ai had texted Ren to meet her backstage after they finished up with the show, and so the siblings stood around waiting to meet up with the big brother’s sweetheart.

Ren then sought to break the silence, “So… how did you like the concert? It’s technically my second one, but it’s the first time I got to sit down and watch a full one in person.”

“Hm, it was good. Didn’t understand the lyrics, but the choreography was impressive…”

Jenny’s tone prompted her brother to put his hand on her shoulder and look her in the eye.

“Okay, tell me what’s wrong.”

“There’s nothing wrong.” Jen bluntly tells him.

He was not convinced, “That’s a load of bull, seriously… you can talk to me, sis.”

“You want me to say it that badly, huh? Fine, I’m gonna tell you all of it.”

Jen brushed Ren’s hand off her shoulder before lowering her eyebrows at him.

“The thing is… I want to be happy for you, I really do… but I can’t.”

“What?” Her brother was taken aback right away.

Jenny took a deep breath in before continuing.

“You left me behind, kuya. Do you know how hard it was to find people who liked me in school? Because everyone thought I was some stuck up rich girl, who thinks she’s better than them! You were my only friend for years… and even if Dad wasn’t as hard on me as he was on you, he was barely there anyways!”

Ren clenched his fists as he spoke up, “Look, I already told you I’m sorry. I know I can’t change what I did, but I just couldn’t stand living with him anymore, even if I enjoyed having fun with you.”

“You could have brought me with you! That card probably hasn’t even run out of money yet, and you have a job too don’t you? Then why did you not try to help me feel free too? Why do you have to be the only one not tied down by father’s expectations? Why did you decide to leave me, Ren…? Why?”

“Jen…” He tries to reach his hand out to her, but she pushed it away.

“You must be so glad to be far away from those responsibilities… but now it’s all on me!”

Ren’s eyes went wide at the implications of what she said, as Jen clenched her teeth.

“Dad’s gone, kuya… and I have to be the one to succeed him. I can’t just spend my days here, like you. Watching your little girlfriend sing on stage, eating good food, enjoying life… I have to run a freaking business. Why are you the one who gets to be happy, while I get to feel trapped?!”

The way she shouted at him, it was like daggers pierced his heart one after another. Despite being so distraught, he still sought to make things right. However, all that yelling Jenny did had caught the attention of a certain zombie idol, who was looking on from a short distance.

“Sis, Jenny, I really am sor—”

*SLAP!*

As soon as he took another step towards her, her hand collided with his right cheek and he stumbled back. Upon realizing what she had done impulsively, she covered her mouth and watched her brother begin to quiver. His breathing became erratic, he clutched his head and fell to his knees.

She unintentionally reminded him of what their father had done.

“Hey! Get the hell away from him!”

Ai ran towards her boyfriend, pure rage in her voice as she embraced him. She stares daggers at the girl she only saw as someone that hurt the boy she loved, even if she couldn’t understand their conversation she understood that she needed to leave.

“Don’t you dare touch him again… if you do, you’ll regret it…”

Her tone shifts to a quieter, yet still protective tone as Jen booked it out of there in tears. All while her brother was still in a state of shock, even with the love of his life holding onto him. The zombie idol gently rubbed his back and tried her best to reassure him.

“I’m right here, honey… I’m here… Breathe in, breathe out… shhh…”

“...”

It seemed her words weren’t reaching him and she tightened her hug on him. About a few minutes passed and the other Franchouchou members caught up with them, all of them worried about their friend.

Junko gasped, “What happened to him?”

Ai speaks softly to her love, “Ren-kun… we’ll take you home with us. Whatever happened there… you don’t have to tell us if you’re not ready.”

She pressed her lips onto his cheek to kiss the area he was slapped, and after a few seconds… he finally said something.

“... It doesn’t matter if I’m ready… I have to tell you, Ai-chan… tell you everything.”

Notes:

Well this took a turn that I did not expect it to take. Seriously, all this angsty stuff was not something I initially planned for this story. It was supposed to just be a cute continuation of Ai Means Love that has just as much fluff, if not more since it’ll have more chapters. So… what happened here? Well, I wanted to give Ren a backstory and not make him seem like a blankslate. This guy who was originally a self-insert nobody without a name has become one-half of a cute couple that I see as the best Ai ship, since I don’t like shipping the girls with each other. I really don’t know how to feel about giving him a backstory like this though, but regardless of what he’s going through… he’ll have his girl by his side throughout the pain. Was this too sudden a tone shift? Does this backstory feel too generic or out of place? What do you think of Jen? Let me know how you feel about this chapter in those wonderful comments of yours. Rest assured though, throughout this mini arc and the rest of these chapters… Ren x Ai fluff will persevere! See you next time for more, peeps! - Renegade Braveheart.

Chapter 5: Reconciliatory Relative Reunion SAGA

Summary:

Will the siblings make up?

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

< Third-Person POV >

About three years ago…

“Okay, just knock the disc back at him and blast that pump with paint! You got this…”

Ren instructs his sister as they play through a childhood favorite of his.

“Got it, just two more and he’s done, yeah? This is a lot more timing-based than that Clock Tower boss…” Jenny replies after successfully following his command.

Her brother softly chuckles as he watches her narrowly dodge an attack, “Yeah, well, that’s how certain games go. Harder and harder as they go along, the next boss even has three different ways of defeating him!”

Jen’s eyes widened after hearing that, “No kidding? Jeez, this morality system is something, huh? Defeating or redeeming your enemies… hm…”

As Ren takes a sip of a chocolate energy drink, he pauses to notice something is on his sibling’s mind.

“What’s up, sis?”

“Hm… well, I’m just thinking if it’s possible to redeem any bad person. It sounds dumb, for sure, but… seeing that we can make these villains change their ways then it doesn’t sound like it’d be a bad thing to try.”

That assumption made Ren sigh and shake his head, “I wish I could say that it might be true, but there’s a difference between people who can be saved and people who can’t.”

Jen paused the game and turned to him, “What kind of differences?”

“First off, people who can be saved haven’t done overwhelmingly bad stuff, feel heavy remorse for their actions, and want to be helped deep down inside. They may take some convincing, sure, but ultimately with enough time they can put in the effort into making up for their actions. Preferably with help of course, if they need it.”

“And for the people who can’t be saved…?” Jenny asked while nodding along with the explanation.

Ren drank more of his energy drink before continuing, “They don’t see anything wrong with what they do, and even if they know it’s wrong they feel like they’re too far gone and are unwilling to stop. They reject redemption and continue doing bad things, and even if they “feel bad” about it that doesn’t make what they do okay. They don’t try to put in the work to change, and if they do they probably just want something else for a selfish reason. They can’t be talked down no matter what.”

Jenny unpaused the game and after a few minutes of playing through another phase of the boss fight she stopped again.

“... What about dad?”

Ren scoffed, “What about him?”.

Upon hearing that, Jenny hesitated to continue, but she sighs before asking outright.

“Which of those categories do you think he falls under? Do you think… that I can convince him into treating you like he does for me? Equally…”

“... Just keep playing, you’re almost done.”

Jen looks at him with concern when he doesn’t answer the question and the two of them soon finish up the boss fight, eventually stopping after a checkpoint. After the console was turned off they sat in silence on the couch, the awkwardness of how that last conversation ended being clear as day… even if it was about midnight. Ren cleared his throat as he finally tried to provide some kind of response.

“Look I really am not sure, okay? All I know is that neither of us are gonna be like him, we’ll live our own lives and treat everyone we care about fairly. Yeah… we’re our own people.”

Jen sat up and stretched with her uncertainty showing itself on her face.

“How do you know that’s not the case?”

Ren shrugged, “I’m not sure, but I still doubt that you’ll act or do anything he would. I have more faith in you than I do myself, you know?”

Jen chuckled and began poking his cheek, “You need to get that fixed, kuya.”

“Hey, what ain’t broke…” He says while flicking her finger away.

“Ack! You jerk, I’m gonna mmmph! Mmph!”

Ren placed his hand over her face and kept pushing her back with a smirk on his face.

“Sorry, could you speak up? You’re sounding like a certain kid stuck wearing a big parka. Think I may need to bust out the translator…”

She soon frees himself from his grip and begins to head back to her room.

“Freaking asshat, I hope you bite your cheek whenever you eat your favorite foods!”

Ren just laughs softly, “Ha, hope you bump your leg on the door frame everytime you enter a room.”

“Ugh, good night brother . I hope the next time you watch an anime on a pirated website, you get so many ads that you can’t hit pause or play.”

“I hope you chip the end of your fingernail out of nowhere and end up accidentally scratching yourself. Love you too, sis, g’night.”

Jenny gives an annoyed grunt, albeit with a smile she couldn’t hide, before closing her bedroom door.

Saga Prefecture, Japan.

Evening.

“Ah!”

Jenny’s eyes shoot open and look around the empty apartment, placing her face into her hands and taking a big deep breath in and out. She falls back down on the couch, staring up at the ceiling as that pleasant memory she revisited fades away and is replaced by the thing she wanted to forget the most.

*SLAP!*

That noise rang out as loud as it did hours earlier. She still couldn’t believe she did that to her own brother. The look on his face when it happened, the way his girlfriend ran up to protect him from her, the fact that she ran away without apologizing… it ate her up inside. To top it all off, he had given her his keys and she was sleeping alone in his apartment.

What a rough reunion for the brother and sister.

She checked her phone to look at the contact finder app, seeing that he was at Franchouchou Mansion.

“So he’s staying with his girlfriend tonight… I don’t blame him.” She thinks to herself as she decides to sit up and get a drink of water.

Right as she’s about to enter the kitchen though…

*Bump*

“Agh! Son of a… huh?”

She bumps into the door frame before noticing something on the ground in front of the refrigerator. Turning on the light, she picks up two pictures off the kitchen floor.

One is of the two siblings at Halloween (Ren was wearing an outfit of a man with a baseball cap, jorts, a brightly colored t-shirt, and branded sweatbands on his arms, while Jenny was dressed as a white-haired fox girl with a seifuku like white uniform and white arm sleeves with blue ribbons.), while the other one was of Ai and Ren at a yakiniku restaurant with their cheeks nuzzling together. She stares at both pictures, trembling for about half a minute until she hangs them both on the fridge.

Clutching her heart as she realizes that she had ended up doing something that their father would do to him, feeling as if that faith that her brother had in her had dissolved.

She begins to sob, turning to both Rens in the pictures again before whispering:

“I’m so sorry…”

___________________________________________________

“I grew up in New York City with a typical family of four. Myself, my sister Jenny, my late mother, and… and…”

“... Your father?” Ai guessed as she clenched Ren’s hand.

She was right by his side as Kotaro and the other Franchouchou members listened in on his story.

Ren softly nodded, “Yeah, that guy… The four of us were upper class, lived in a penthouse where you could see the Empire State Building outside the window. No butlers or anything like that, but it was far above any cheap apartment you’d find in the city back alleys.”

Kotaro crossed his arms, “So you’re rich, huh? Didn’t think our precious Ai-chan would be such a gold digger… you got a ring ready, kid? Yow!”

Saki punched him in the arm, “Time and place, numbnuts!”

“Come on, we’d never be in debt again!” The manager defended his remark, only backing off when he saw Yugiri getting ready to slap him.

Ren pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing, “I didn’t have many friends growing up, mostly people I interacted with online. Only person I could bond with was Jenny, and she was the same. Social interaction was never my thing, while she tried and failed to find some kind of group. It was always just us… mom passed away and… he was always at work.”

“So your sister was your only friend? Well, Lily’s happy you’re friends with us now, Ren-kun!” Lily spoke up while leaning forward in her chair.

Her positive energy managed to temporarily put a small smile on Ren’s face, he gave her an affectionate head pat.

“Thanks Lily…”

Sakura then decided to ask a question, “Um, I hope I’m not prying too much by asking but… the reason you’re not calling that man your dad, is it because he’s…”

Hearing a question about that man made the boy’s mood shift in almost an instant.

“A complete jackass who put a lot of pressure on me while I was growing up? A bastard who made me feel like whatever I did wasn’t enough? An abusive SOB who once gave me this for bringing home a C in calculus?”

Ren took off his glasses and revealed a scar by his left eye, surprising the girls and angering them.

“How cruel…” Junko says while clutching her fists.

Saki slammed her own fist into her palm, “Alright, go ahead and invite your pops here. I wanna send him flying through a wall or three.”

Ren huffed, “He’s already gone, missed your chance. Not like I care about him anyways… he’s the reason why I moved here in the first place.”

“You moved to Japan all the way from America in order to escape that vile father of yours, what a story…” Yugiri nods along while she smokes.

Junko’s eyes then widened upon realizing something, “So then… you left Jenny by herself?”

“... I did. I just couldn’t take all of that crap anymore, and she was seen as the prodigy between us two in that man’s eyes. The longer I stayed there, the more I would disappoint him. I may have hated leaving Jen behind, but I had to go for my own sake.”

Ai thought back to what happened earlier before saying something.

“So that was her you were with earlier, I knew that you looked kind of similar.”

“Yup… my decision just came back to bite me, huh? I deserved that… I didn’t realize what would happen if I left her, she’s so justified in hating me…” Ren begins to berate himself, but Ai wasn’t having it.

“Hey, what are you saying, Ren-kun?! You left her behind, sure, but you were running away from an abusive household. You didn’t deserve to get smacked for that, and besides… you felt it was a reminder of what your father did to you, right?”

“...”

He doesn’t answer, Ai turns him to face her.

“Yes, you should apologize for abandoning your only sibling and friend, but she should apologize more for not considering the reasons why you left and hitting you. Understand? You’re not completely at fault, so please don’t say you deserved it…”

“You looked so scared back there, Ren-kun! She should definitely apologize first.” Sakura nodded in agreement.

Saki patted him on the shoulder, a bit hard from the looks of it.

“Maybe you should smack her right back, make it even!”

“N-No way! That would make things a lot worse!” Junko puts down that suggestion, “Just… try to talk things through the next time you two see each other, okay?”

“But…” Ren tries to utter out, but then Lily steps up to him next.

“Family shouldn’t fight with each other! Especially when you’re the only ones left!”

“Surely your fractured bond can be severed, Ren-san, after all she did come all this way to find you. Perhaps that is what she desires most…” Yugiri states.

“I…”

Ai takes a hold of both of his hands and looks him in the eyes.

“You’ll get through to her, darling, and I’ll be right there for support.”

Her face was filled with determination as he lifted his head up and saw it, he lets out a sigh before falling into his girlfriend’s arms and saying:

“Thank you… thank you… thank you…”

Ai smiles as she embraces Ren, softly blushing upon realizing the others were enjoying the lovey-dovey showcase.

An hour or so later, they brought out a spare futon for Ren, along with some of Kotaro’s pajamas for him to wear. He felt too vulnerable to head home when Jenny was there, so they allowed him to stay the night. While the girls slumbered however, the young man couldn’t help but wander out by the porch to watch the stars.

And it looked like he wasn’t going to do it alone.

“A lot on your mind, hm? I always come out here when I feel like that, you’re actually right in my spot.”

Ren let out another sigh at Ai’s question, “Am I really? Ha… it’s pretty soothing. But yeah, I still feel pretty guilty.”

He scoots over so she can be right next to him, shoulder to shoulder as the moon reflects off their faces.

“Did you ever think of asking her to come with you on the day you left?” Ai asked and he shook his head.

“I thought she’d be fine, but it turns out she wasn’t. Emotionally speaking, but since she’s taken up his position she’s probably been through the wringer when it came to business training. She’s way stronger than me though, I wouldn’t have survived.”

Ai grunts in understanding while slowly intertwining her hand in his.

“You certainly don’t seem like the person who can work in an office setting, what do you do for money though?”

“Well… ugh, dad, left me a debit card with a lot of cash that I haven’t nearly exhausted yet. Other than using that though… I organize manga in a bookstore, I chose it so I can get physical volumes early.”

She softly giggled, “Of course… I suppose I can count on you for recommendations then?”

“I’ve got a few in mind, look up Happy Kanako’s Killer Life sometime as my first one.” He chuckles as the two of them keep looking at the night sky.

“... Do you think she will forgive me? Or for that matter, apologize back?” He gives her a question.

Ai shrugs her shoulders in response, “Hopefully, but I have a feeling she will for both. Like I said earlier though, I’ll be by your side the whole time, just so you won’t be too stressed out.”

“I appreciate that, Ai-chan… I am definitely full of doubt at the moment, but I trust your own judgment. You always manage to steer me in the right direction in the end…”

Ai kisses his cheek and hugs his arm, “Just doing my job as your girlfriend. It goes hand in hand with working as an idol too, considering I perform for the sake of the fans happiness. Admittedly, it does feel a bit nicer to help you through things, Ren-kun.”

They admired the diamond dusted atmosphere above their heads for a while longer before heading back in as the air got too chilly. As soon as they step back into the main bedroom though…

“Hey, Ai-chan?”

“Yes?”

“You know… I may sometimes treat you like you’re a princess or queen, but I honestly consider you more as my knight.”

Her cheeks illuminated the dark room with their red glow as she softly giggled at his remark.

“I see, so I’m your knight, am I? Does that make you the damsel in distress?” She teases as he rolls his eyes in an unserious manner.

“Damsel no, distress kinda. Mental or emotional distress probably, since I can always count on you to save me from myself. You will always have my gratitude, my brave and beautiful lady.”

A warm smile spread on her face as the two jokingly bowed at each other.

“I’ll always be here to fight for you, my dear prince. Ahaha, alright that’s enough. You have some important things to take care of tomorrow, so it’s best you sleep now.”

Ren smiles back at her as he enters his futon, “I know, I know… thanks again, sweetheart.”

“Anytime, darling…"

Ai was about to lean down beside him and give a good night kiss, but then…

“W-Whoa! Ah…”

Ren had pulled her into his blanket and snuggled up by her side. Before she could protest, she heard him beginning to breathe softly. His resting form is now peaceful enough to prevent Ai from wanting to wake him up, so she gave a soft peck on his lips before pulling him into her arms.

“Good night, Ren-kun…” She whispers while hugging him like a big teddy bear.

The Heisei Idol felt very much content with having eased her partner’s worries, along with having an unexpected but very much welcomed cuddling session. Whispering reassuring words to her beloved while stroking his hair carefully, assuring that his next trip to dreamland was a much more pleasant one compared to recent visits. There was nowhere either of them would rather be than here.

___________________________________________________

The next day, Ren returned to his apartment alongside Ai and knocked on his front door. He took some deep breaths and his girlfriend squeezed his hand reassuringly, making him smile back at her and getting a kiss for good luck. Soon Jenny opens the door and sees them right in front of her.

“Hey sis…” Ren waves to her.

Ai waves as well, “Hello…”

*SLAM!*

The duo was speechless as Jenny quickly shut the door on them, wondering what was up before she slowly reopened the door.

“Sorry… I know it’s your door, kuya…”

Ren leads Ai in as the two of them remove their shoes.

“It’s fine, Jen, really.”

The three of them made their way towards the living room, the couple sitting down on the couch while Jenny sat in the chair to their right. The siblings gulped as they tried to find the right words to say, their hearts beginning to beat out their chests with their bodies tensing up. Seeing that this had to start, Ai nudged Ren with her shoulder and silently urged him to speak up first.

“Breathe in… breathe out…”

He repeated to himself in his thoughts as he took deep breaths, and soon after clenching his fists he looked up… and saw Jenny tearing up.

“... Kuya Ren… I’m so sorry for hitting you… I’m really, really sorry…”

Her brother’s eyes widened in response before they began to glisten like hers.

“No, no… I should have asked if you wanted to live here too, I shouldn’t have left you behind… I’m sorry, Jen…”

“You don’t have to… *hic*... I should have known you were still traumatized by dad… you didn’t deserve all of that… *hic*... I’m so happy you found a place to belong…” She sobbed.

Ren was crying into his arms as he said next, “You didn’t deserve to be left alone, Jen… I promise I won’t be a bad brother anymore… thank you for being so supportive….”

“You’re not a bad brother, Ren…. you’re the best…” She sniffles as the two of them etched closer and closer.

They still hesitated, which made Ai roll her eyes so she once again nudged her boyfriend so he could hug his sister. After a few minutes passed and the tears had all dried up, the siblings finally let go of each other with an awkward laugh.

“Ha ha… didn’t know you were such a crybaby, sis…” Ren teases.

Jen wipes away one last tear before choosing to fire back, “Says the guy who bawls every time he watches Endgame.”

“It’s a good freaking movie, and you cry too!” Ren scoffs.

Jen just placed her hands on her lips and laughed smugly, “The first few times, but you still cry your eyes out every time you watch the ending… or even just listening to the soundtrack, waaaaahh! Waahhhh!”

The back and forth between the siblings made Ai giggle to herself, which caught Jenny’s attention. She clears her throat and walks up to the zombie idol.

“Okay, let’s do this properly this time… Ohayou… gozaimasu, hajimemashite… you must be, Ai-chan…”

Jen held out her hand out to her potential sister-in-law and Ai took it.

“Yes… nice to meet you too, Jen-san. Sorry for… getting mad at you… last time. I… hope we become… good friends!”

Despite a bit of a language barrier, the two of them managed to communicate well. Ren smiles at the sight of the two girls interacting, relieved that everything turned out fine.

“Okay, now then, how about we grab some food?” He suggests.

“Yeah, I could eat!”

*POP!*

As soon as Jen pulled away from Ai, her hand went with her and the fingers were still wiggling.

Beads of sweat rolled down Ren & Ai’s faces as they saw her stunned reaction.

“Uh, um… Jen-san?”

“Sis… don’t freak ou—”

“.... KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

Too late, she ran all the way into the bathroom while still screaming her lungs out. The couple sighs as Ren picks up the hand and reattaches it to Ai’s arm, softly kissing the top of it.

“So… Drive-In Tori?” He suggests their meal destination.

Ai flexes her fingers while nodding her head, “Sounds good.”

The two of them went over to the bathroom, dreading the amount of time it’ll take for them to explain everything. At least they were going to eat some good chicken.

Notes:

Heartwarming, was it? I hope it was. I hope Jen’s introduction to this story was interesting, she’ll stick around in Saga for a few more weeks so you’ll get to see her interactions with the other Franchouchou members. And Kotaro… I can’t wait to write about their interaction. And there’s also another reason why Jen chose now as a good time to visit Ren, it’ll be his birthday + Ai’s. A joint birthday party for the lovebirds is coming up, don’t know if it’ll be the next chapter, but it’s coming! Really hope you liked this delving into Ren’s backstory, even if it wasn’t too long. I’ll see you all next time, peeps! Farewell, and I look forward to your comments! - Renegade Braveheart

Chapter 6: Casual & Cathartic Circumstance SAGA

Summary:

Ren gets to hang with Franchouchou for a bit, while Ai is out with Jen!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

< Third-Person POV >

Saga Prefecture, Japan.

Afternoon.

This particular day was not going the way Ren expected it to.

He wasn’t having a bad time, goodness no, it’s just kind of awkward for him. The young man wasn’t used to big group hangouts, much less ones where he was the only boy around. And to make it more difficult for him… his girlfriend wasn’t around to keep her idol friends in check.

“C’mon Richie Rich, you gotta use that cash you got! Move your ass, and let’s get some good stuff!” Saki shouts while tapping him on the back as Ren sighed.

“I never should have said that I had a lot of money…”

He mumbled to himself as Junko reassuringly patted his back. Just his luck that his sister decided now to get to know her potential in-law, bringing Ai along with her as she tries to enjoy her trip to Saga. As a result, Ai suggested that Ren hung out with the other girls for a change, which Ren accepted…

But as much as he enjoys being friends with Franchouchou and is a big fan of their performances… hanging out with them can be a bit overwhelming.

“Ren-kun, are you feeling alright?” Sakura asks him, concerned.

Ren blinks twice and awkwardly laughs before answering.

“I would be lying if I said that I was, but I’m only a little uneasy. Just need to get used to the camaraderie, that’s all.”

Junko turns to him to say, “If you’re feeling stressed out, just be sure to let us know. It means a lot that you’re willing to put up with this, and we don’t want to trouble you too much.”

“I’ll be fine for now, but I appreciate the concern. I won’t try to be rude, nor sugarcoat it if things aren’t going well on my end. I don’t want to end up insulting any of you, but I want to make sure I’m not fainting from exhaustion either, ha ha…”

Sakura nods her head in understanding, “Yeah! And just in case anything happens to you, we’ll call Ai-chan right away. She might come rushing over immediately if you end up in bad condition.”

Ren chuckles at this, “As funny as that image is in my head, I would prefer it if she doesn’t find out the other reason I’m here.”

Both Junko and Sakura tilted their heads at that and questioned him at the same time.

Other reason?”

He looks back at them and after thinking about it, he shrugs and takes a few steps back so he’d be in between the two girls.

“Hm, I suppose it would be best if I told you two rather than everyone. But you gotta promise to keep your mouths shut about it to Ai-chan, got it? Especially you, Sakura.”

“O-Okay…” The redhead utters as she scooches closer.

Ren lowered his voice so only the three of them could hear it.

“So… you know how Ai's birthday is coming up next weekend, correct?”

The girls’ eyes lit up at that and then vigorously nodded their heads after seeing where this conversation was headed.

“Her birthday present!” Junko exclaimed in a whispered voice.

“Indeed. And she’s probably out with Jen for the same reason, since my birthday is soon afterwards. We needed time to pick things out for each other without giving away the surprise factor. I also need help with making a decision, my indecisiveness could get in the way of choosing, even if I do have a vague idea on what to get her.”

The girls continued to nod along as they politely listened to his reasoning for going out with them.

“It has to be something that represents what she and our relationship means to me. Something as bright and awe-inspiring as the starlights I nicknamed her after, so are you two willing to assist me with this? I understand if you don’t want to—”

“Yes!”

“Of course!”

Sakura and Junko suddenly blurted out, which caused the other three girls ahead of them to look at them in confusion.

“Now what might you three be discussing?” Yugiri asks curiously.

Ren clears his throat, “It’s uh, a secret. My apologies, but it's just between us.”

Lily pouts at this, “Awww, that’s no fun! Tell me, tell me, tell me! Lily wants to know the secret!”

Ever the negotiator, Ren walks over and holds his hand out to the 12 year-old.

“How about I don’t tell you, but in return I bake you cookies. Deal?”

Lily squints at him before slowly taking his hand and shaking it, “Deal, but Lily’s watching you, Ren-kun…”

Saki shrugs with her shoulders, “‘Prolly something complicated, so no biggie if I don’t know. Now are we shopping or what?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Ren sighs as he rejoins Sakura and Junko, “So you’re positive about helping with this?”

“Absolutely! Ai-chan deserves a happy birthday, and an amazing present from her boyfriend will brighten up her day a whole bunch!” Sakura grins.

Junko thinks about his description once more, “Something that represents her and your relationship… something that’s as bright as the stars… surely we can find a gift with that description here. Although Ai-san would end up liking anything with thought put into it from you, Ren-kun, since she adores you with all her heart.”

Ren’s cheeks heat up in response, “Aww, thanks. I’m gonna do my best to try getting something special though, and with you two with me… we’ll be done in no time! Here we go!”

“Yeah!” Sakura cheered.

“Y-Yeah!” Junko followed up.

Ren raised his fist into the air and the other two joined him, albeit with Junko lifting hers a bit more awkwardly. After a second of thinking, Ren looked ahead and did a quick headcount.

“Hey, where the heck did Tae-san go?”

“Ragh!”

And right on cue, the Legendary Tae Yamada sprang up from behind him and began treating the young man’s skull as a chew toy.

“Guh!” Ren let out in shock.

“T-T-Tae-chan! Let go of him!”

Sakura and Junko panicked and immediately tried to separate the zombie girl from his cranium, finally succeeding with one final pull. Ren enthusiastically wiped the saliva dripping down his forehead with his sweatshirt sleeve and sighed.

“In hindsight, I should have seen that coming when I asked…”

__________________________________________________

“You should tell Ren to get his ears pierced.”

Ai looks up from her yakiniku and raises an eyebrow at Jen’s statement.

“And why would either of us want that?”

Jen points to Ai’s exposed right ear, “So you two could have matching earrings, duh. Doesn’t that sound Hawaii or something? Or… kawaii, my bad.”

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (13)

“Matching earrings…” Ai thinks about the image of Ren having flower earrings similar to hers and some light blush appears on her cheeks, “That’s not a… terrible idea….”

Jenny smirked, “Right? They’d look good on him, and next to you it would be twice as stylish.”

Ai pondered it more as she swallowed some of the grilled meat with a bit of rice.

“It’s a good idea in theory, but in practice… I’m not sure, I’ve seen him flinch a lot whenever there’s something sharp or pointy around. Even when cooking dinner he moves a bit slower and I have to help him out, so piercing his ear would likely freak him out.”

“Ah, right, he still has aichmophobia! It was fun seeing him whine and squirm every time he had to get a shot when we were young, hehe…” The sister softly laughed.

Ai laughs along with her, “Ha ha, I can imagine so.”

Jenny’s eyes then lit up as she then took out her phone and began to scroll through her photos.

“You don’t have to imagine it, because here he is!”

Ai leaned forward and took the phone in her hands, looking at the picture of Ren as a child at the doctor’s. He had tears welled up in his eyes, oh-so-pinchable cheeks, his tiny hands balled up and being held to his chest, and his blue t-shirt had the head of a 1920s cartoon rabbit on it. The zombie girl’s mouth was open as her eyes scanned the image for about two minutes until speaking up.

“... Please send me this photo and any others you may have as well, I need them.”

Jen chuckled at that reaction, “Right away, sis.”

When Ai received the texts containing the kid Ren pictures, she squeed before noticing the smug look Jen was giving her before putting her phone away.

“Ahem… he’s quite adorable.”

“Yeah, he was a cute kid…” Jen looked at the photo herself and sighed solemnly.

Ai noticed her change in tone and decided to bring it up, “Is something wrong?”

Jenny shook her head, “Nah, it’s just that the last time I saw him he was absolutely miserable. What dad put him through managed to strip away the innocence he had in these pictures.”

“Mm, I see…” Ai uttered sympathetically as she listened.

A grateful smile then began to form on Jen’s face, “But you really managed to turn him around, and then some. I’ve never seen him smile as much as he has when he’s thinking about you, or when you’re with him. Thanks a lot for taking care of him, big sis.”

Ai was taken aback by what Jen had just called her, but after letting it sink in she smiles right back at her.

“It’s my pleasure, I’m happy to have helped him out for what he’s done for me. Your brother really managed to win me over in a surprisingly short timeframe, you know?”

Jen tilted her head at that, “Really? How short was it?”

“Um… about a week.” Ai answered hesitantly.

Jen blinked twice with surprise, taking a second to drink some water before replying back.

“I’m sorry, a week ?”

“Y-Yeah… turns out he had a bit of a crush on me before we met, and after a few days we both fell for each other for real. As short as seven days sound, a lot happened.” Ai explains to her while returning to her meal.

That familiar smirk returned to Jenny’s face as she got into teasing mode, “Yeah, I bet a lot happened, hehehe...”

Ai’s face became as red as her eyes as she began to stutter.

“W-W-WE N-NEVER DID… D-D-DON’T YOU KNOW THAT H-HE’S… WE WOULD NEVER…!!”

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! I can’t believe you fell for that, of course I know! You two are both so easy to fluster when it comes to this stuff.”

“YOU….”

Ai stared daggers into Jenny as she continued to laugh her butt off, holding off the urge to strangle her.

“Haaa… sorry, sorry. I’ll try not to bug you too much about it though. Just a bit bummed that I won’t be getting any nieces or nephews anytime soon. You seem like you’d make a great mom, big sis.”

Ai settled down into her seat and sighed, “You… You think so? I’m not sure about that… and it’s way too early to think about this stuff.”

“Yeah that’s true. And hey, if you don’t think you’re cut out for it that’s all good.” Jen says before blowing on a piece of meat.

Ai nodded in agreement, “Yeah, with my life as an idol and… my condition, I don’t think I could be a mom even if I wanted to. I already have my hands full taking care of the other girls, at this point I’m basically the team’s mom.”

“I do not envy you there, girl. Ha ha…”

The two of them laughed as they continued to grill their meat to perfection before eating them. The girl talk helping them bond after their initial meetup not turning out the best. Jen however, was in awe of how quickly Ai managed to take care of her portion of the yakiniku.

“Damn, slow down girl. You eat enough of that meat and it’ll go straight to your… actually, now that I’m seeing them your thighs are actually—“

“B-Be quiet!” Ai shouted before she could finish that sentence.

__________________________________________________

Ren and the other girls were having a surprisingly good time together. Despite his wallet getting lighter by the minute, and him being stuck carrying most of the bags (he just couldn’t stop himself from volunteering), the guy was starting to get used to the group dynamic. Their latest stop was at the bookstore he worked at, choosing to make use of the employee discount on his day off.

“The fact that Kouno-san made chocolates for both Toru and Yuki… even though both girls had feelings for Toru…”

Sakura sniffles as she and Junko read a romance manga Ren recommended.

Junko wipes some tears using a tissue, “Supporting her friend, even if she had gotten her heart broken… poor girl…”

Ren smiles at the sight, “Yup, had that same reaction too when I first read that chapter… ack…”

The boy nearly drops the bags he’s carrying on his left arm and Saki notices immediately.

“Oi, if you couldn’t handle it you could have just said so, dumbass.” Saki tells him while taking those bags from him.

Ren chuckles embarrassingly, “Sorry, ha ha, I just wanted to show my gratitude by being of use to you gals. You all accepted me pretty quickly, and even gave me your blessing to date Ai-chan, so it’s the least I can do.”

“Ha, it’s all good! We’re glad to have you here, loverboy, you’re honestly a pretty chill dude. No need to thank us, man!” Saki grins and gives him a thumbs up.

Yugiri chimes in, “I agree, your efforts to pleasure Ai-han have truly been impressive.”

“Yugiri-san, phrasing again! But yeah, you’re really nice, Ren-kun! You care a lot about Ai, and the fact that you’re willing to hang out with us means so much too!” Sakura nods in agreement.

“Gawr! Gragh!” Tae lets out, presumably accepting him as well.

Lily joins in on the encouragement and even hugs his arm, “Ren-kun bakes us all sorts of things and accepts us for who we are! He’s the best boyfriend for Ai-chan!”

“Cannot agree more. We’re proud to call you our friend.” Junko tells him reassuringly.

The girls crowd around him as Ren lets out a sigh and rubs his eyes, “You’re really about to make me cry out in public, curse you all…”

The girls laughed at that as their shopping trip soon nears its end. After paying for the manga, the group starts walking back home with Ren, Sakura, and Junko watching the others go on ahead.

“Ah, sorry we couldn’t help you find a gift for Ai-chan, Ren-kun. If only we had gone earlier in the day…” Sakura apologizes.

Ren attempts to reassure her, “No worries, we’ve still got some time left until the party. And we can just go again if you’re willing to join me.”

“That would be great! Surely we can find something that she— Hey! Tae-chan, that’s not food!”

Sakura races after the other zombie girl as he and Junko are now left alone. The young man then turned his head after hearing the floofy-haired girl clear her throat.

“So… I didn’t mention it back there, but since you’ve been here… in my opinion, Ai-san has changed for the better.”

Ren’s eyes widened, “Huh, you really think so?”

Junko softly giggled, “I know so. She’s usually so focused on practicing for shows and doing research in order to boost our publicity as idols, but lately she’s been giving herself more breaks. Spending a lot of that time thinking about you at that, I’ve even caught her looking at photos of you more than once.”

His cheeks warmed up as he awkwardly laughed as they continued to stroll casually.

“As her closest friend, I truly appreciate what you’ve done for her. And I trust that whatever you manage to get her will be meaningful, as I said before.”

“Thanks… I’ll do my best for her sake. You care a lot about her too, huh?” Ren asks her.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

Ren took a second before asking this next question, “My apologies if I’m asking something too personal… but did you have feelings for her too?”

Junko stops walking and takes a moment to let that question register in her head. Her cheeks began to light up at how sudden it was.

“You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to, I just… was wondering, other fans really can’t help but assume and I just wanted confirmation.”

Ren patiently waited as Junko took a deep breath in and faced him.

“...”

“...”

“.... It may have passed my mind a lot, but ultimately… no. Not those kinds of feelings anyways…. I respect and care for Ai-san with all my heart, but the love I feel for her isn’t the same as what you have. I admire her determination, her selflessness, and her resilience. All of those traits making her into a role model, not just for me… but for all of us. We may have had our differences at the beginning, but now I want to continue to perform by her side for as long as my undead heart still beats…. And I want to support you as well.”

Ren was speechless after hearing all of that, not knowing what to make of it until another thought passed his mind.

“Y’know… I told Ai-chan this before we started dating when I asked a similar question to her, so I’ll tell you the same thing. If you did have the same feelings I have right now… then maybe I’d—”

Junko suddenly took his hands and looked him in the eyes.

“No, don’t even say it… you deserve her, okay? You do… It’ll do you no good if you believe that you’re not worthy of the love she has for you. You’ve done nothing wrong, Ren-kun, you shouldn’t be willing to throw away your own happiness so easily. Smash through that wall of doubt forming in your mind… Ai-san needs you.”

“...”

Both of their eyes glistened before they hugged each other tightly. After a few minutes of silent sobbing, they heard the others call them over and they began to wipe their tears. Ren and Junko manage to form smiles on their faces before shaking hands and hugging once more.

“Thank you, Junko-chan… sorry for making you cry…”

“No, it’s okay, Ren-kun… I’m sorry for making you cry…”

The pair softly laughed before preparing to make their way out of the shopping center… but not without Ren catching a glimpse at a nearby jewelry store.

“Hold the phone…” Ren says as he spots something that interests him.

He rushes over to the store, thankfully before closing time, with a confused Junko in tow.

“Sorry for the inconvenience, I’m looking for a gift for a special someone.”

The salesperson sighs, not pleased at getting a customer right before he gets to leave.

“Very well… what are you in the market for, sir?”

Ren looks at the selection of available necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings before deciding to ask something.

“I’m curious... Do you happen to have any of these in aquamarine?”

Notes:

Ah, we’re finally back to warm fuzzies after the small amount of family drama and angst found in the last few chapters. Feels great to return to it after only having a few moments of sweetness to counter the sad stuff… but I apologize if that last sad scene came out of nowhere and didn’t make sense. It’s there that I decided to sink JunAi in my interpretation, sorry to the fans but I really don’t like their ship. RenAi has grown on me too much and I can’t see Ai with anyone else now. To me, Franchouchou is a family and the only love they share is familial love. Nothing more, nothing less. Hope that didn’t come across as mean or anything, I seriously mean no offense. Anyways, the next big thing coming up is the couple’s shared birthday party, so hope you look forward to all the chaotic stuff that can happen with Franchouchou. And hm… I wonder what they could possibly get for one another? From what you know about those two, what would you want to give them as a b-day gift, peeps? Let me know if you want to and I’ll see you all next time! Farewell!

Chapter 7: Breezy & Blissful, Baking & Bantering SAGA

Summary:

A relaxing night with just Ren & Ai, nothing more and nothing less.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

< Third-Person POV >

Saga Prefecture, Japan.

Ren’s Apartment.

Evening.

Ai & Ren’s eyes were locked to the tv screen, their hands were clenched together, and they held their breath as they prepared themselves for what happened next. The girl on screen took a breath of her own and clenched her fist before looking up at the boy in front of her.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (14)

“I love you.”

Ren covers his mouth as he takes it all in, “S-She said it… oh my god, she admitted it…”

“I’m glad she did, but… what about Taichi’s response?” Ai says as her eyebrows lowered.

After seeing the boy not answer for a few seconds, the couple’s worries look to be confirmed.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (15)

“I’m really happy that you feel that way about me… but right now, I’m in love with Nagase.”

“Urk, a-are you kidding me, dude?! Inaba’s obviously the better choice than Iori!”

Ren covers his face with his hands out of frustration, but then Ai pulled on her boyfriend’s shirt collar to get his attention.

“Hold on a second, Inaba’s… laughing? She’s taking it rather well…”

That’s when they both shut up and paid close attention to the next part of the scene. Inaba calmly told Taichi that since it was only “right now”, she still had a chance to change his mind. The fact that she and Nagase were gonna have a fair fight over Taichi’s heart had RenAi intrigued.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (16)

“Agh, I have a love-hate relationship with these kinds of love triangles. The drama is spicy, but you feel bad about who gets their heart broken!” An invested Ren says to Ai and she nods.

“Right, and with what these kids are already dealing with, relationship trouble is just gonna make things more tense… Oh!”

They cut their conversation short as they see what happens, Inaba pressing her lips against Taichi’s before he could keep speaking.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (17)

“Oh my gosh…” Ai whispers as the duo watch Inaba walk away after that surprise smooch.

Ren lets out a whistle as he sits back against the couch, “Hooo… okay, she’s definitely my favorite.”

“Hm, so those kinds of girls are your type, Ren-kun?” Ai remarks and Ren notices her pouting.

Seeing an opportunity, Ren smirks.

“Yeah, the calm and serious type who is quite blunt at times… yet is deep down a sweetheart to those closest to her. Reminds me of… you.”

“Ack…” That manages to get to Ai as she turns away from him, embarrassed, “I-I-Is that so…?”

Ren nods and gives her a genuine smile as he scoots himself to her side.

“Absolutely, and look right here!”

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (18)

Ren points to the screen as they see Inaba in a secluded area of the school crying tears of joy and laughing. Feeling elated at having admitted her feelings and having kissed Taichi. Ren turns back to his girlfriend while softly chuckling.

“You were acting the same way on the night we became a couple, you were absolutely adorable…”

Ai starts to lightly slap his shoulder a few times in response, “S-Shut up! We both were giggling like love-struck idiots that night, don’t single me out!”

Ren continues to laugh at her while blocking her slaps with his arm.

“Okay, okay, sorry. I just couldn’t help myself, darling, meant no harm.” He kisses her cheek as he stands up and stretches.

“Hmph, I’ll get you back for that, you know…” Ai utters as the two of them head to the kitchen for some water.

“I know you will, but how about I fix something for ya to make up for it. Want a sundae with a freshly baked brownie?” Ren suggests.

His girlfriend finishes her cup before answering, “Hm… bribing me with sweets that could mess with my idol diet, you’re a cruel man…”

Ren rolls his eyes as he gets out the ingredients and places them on the counter.

“Yet you voluntarily indulge said sweets every time I make them, don’t try to make me the baddie, Miss Carb-Hater.”

Ai giggled at the terrible nickname, “Guilty as charged, but I did tell you about watching what you eat. So next weekend, you’re joining me for one of my morning jogs to burn the calories away.”

Ren let out a sigh, knowing how he had no other choice in the matter.

“Fiiiine… Alright, could you chop up some of this bittersweet chocolate for me please?”

Ai takes the bar of baking chocolate as she ties an apron around her waist, “I’m on it.”

Ren boils about a half a cup of water in a kettle, and when Ai places the chopped up chocolate in a bowl full of cocoa & espresso powder he pours the water on top. After mixing it, he adds in butter and vegetable oil. Once it starts to cool down, Ai adds in some eggs and vanilla extract. Once those are added, sugar and flour complete the mixture alongside some more chocolate and finally the brownie pan is in the oven.

“Ah… now we wait…” Ren uses his arm to wipe a bit of sweat from his forehead.

Ai leans against the counter and lets out a sigh of relief, “Yeah, only time will tell how well it turns out. For now, let’s clean up. Well done, sweetie.”

Ai and Ren high five each other before taking care of the dishes. This time Ai was washing, while Ren was drying them. With enough time the dishes were squeaky clean and the brownies were almost done baking. As the duo were starting to relax, Ai notices something and tries to hold back her giggles.

“Mmph, pff…”

Ren raises an eyebrow at her behavior and tries to get an answer.

“Hey, what’s got you all giggly?”

Ai snorts before shaking her head, “Oh nothing… hee hee hee…”

“Ai-chan?”

He gives her a puzzled look before Ai stands up and shows him what she’s snickering about. She takes her finger and gently swipes it across the tip of his nose before inserting her finger into her mouth.

“Mmm, delicious… oh, and the brownie batter on your face tasted nice too.” Ai says with a wink.

Ren’s face lit up in an instant and turned him into a stuttering mess, which made his girlfriend giddy with laughter.

“Ah! Y-Y-Y-You… gah!”

Ai flashed a peace sign towards him and smirked, “Revenge successful!”

Ren groans as he tries to hide his blush, “Ugh, I’ll let you have that one. Well played, Starlight…”

“Why thank you, darling…” She gives him a smug look as he crosses his arms and avoids eye contact with her.

“Hmph…” He grunts in a standoffish fashion.

Ai lets out a sigh at his behavior before poking his cheek to get his attention.

“Aww, don’t pout, honey… here.”

*smooch*

With one gentle peck on the cheek, it was enough for the guy to stop pouting. He kisses her back and hugs her.

“I really can’t be mad at you…”

Ai chuckles and wraps her arms around his back, “I know, and neither can I…”

As soon as they let go of each other, which took a bit of time because they just couldn't help themselves, the oven went off and the brownies were finished.

“Oh! There we go, I’ll grab the ice cream. Got some cake batter if that sounds good to you.”

Ai grabbed a bowl and scoffed, “Wow, a super sweet ice cream on top of an already sweet brownie. Surely that’ll be fine for your health, Ren-kun.”

“Gee, Ai-chan, I wish I had some batter options here for you. I just thought I’d fix you something like this, because you’re both cool and sweet, but I guess I’ll give you the secon-dairy option.” Ren tells her with a dumb smile on his face.

Ai literally couldn’t roll her eyes harder without popping them out of their sockets.

“You’re hilarious, darling… just get right to the point.”

“You mean… get right to the pint?” Ren snickers while handing her a pint of vanilla.

“UGGGGHHHHH… I hate you…” Ai groans loudly as she plops a scoop on top of her warm brownie.

Ren leans in closer to her, “You don’t mean that…”

“Tch, I do…” Ai focuses on eating her sundae while pouting herself.

“If you do, why are you smiling?”

When Ren points it out, Ai flinches before turning back to him trying to look angry.

“I-I’m not!” She denies it.

Ren pokes her cheek in response, “Come on… it’s just me here, and I won’t tell anyone about it.”

Ai lets out a sigh before finally giving him that smile, “... Fine, I admit it, I like your awful puns. Happy now?”

“Very happy, although with you… I always am.” Ren says sincerely while pecking her on the cheek.

Ai quickly returns the peck with her own, “You’re so sappy…”

“I know you are, but what am I?” Ren jokes.

“A dork. You’re a dork, Ren-kun.” Ai bluntly states with a giggle.

“And you’re a cutie, Ai-chan. Love you, cutie.”

Ren and Ai looked into each other's eyes and smiled warmly.

“Oh, you… I love you too, dork.”

Before they could press their lips together, they turned to their sides and saw their sundaes starting to melt.

“Shoot, eat quickly!” Ren says as the two of them spoon the brownie bits and ice cream into their mouths.

After they finish their sweets and clean up, the two of them return to the couch as they were before, checking the time and finding that it’s half past 7pm.

“Hm… I’ve got a photo shoot to do tomorrow, maybe I should leave soon.” Ai turns to her sweetheart, who sighs disappointedly.

“If you have to, I won’t stop you, but allow me to walk you home at least.”

“Oh, you don’t have to trouble yourself, Ren-kun. You probably have some plans for tomorrow too.”

Ren shook his head, “True, I don’t have to, but… I want to.

“Did you just…?” Ai picked up the reference he made.

Ren grins, “Yup. I thought I’d try my hand at saying it this time, I just needed to find the right opportunity. Now then, shall we?”

He offered her his hand, but after a minute of thinking… Ai sat back down on the couch to his surprise.

“Eh?”

“On second thought… I’m curious to see what’ll happen to the club members next. I can’t stop thinking about that last episode we watched, so do you mind if I stay a little longer?” Ai asks him.

Ren hesitates for a second, thinking about the consequences briefly… before ultimately deciding to say:

“Screw it, we have seven episodes left anyways. You sure about this though? It’s a bit unlike you to neglect your duties…”

Ai ponders on that before pulling him onto the couch and snuggling next to Ren.

“I get your point, but I’d rather make the most of the time we have together. There’s alway plenty of other gigs, yet each moment I spend with you feels unique in their own way. Is it a bad thing to make them last longer?”

Ren’s eyes widened at her statement, before a smile spread across his face and there was nothing stopping him from locking his lips with hers.

“Mmm…” The two of them hummed before letting go after a minute or so, when Ren finally answered the question she had given him.

“Not at all…”

Ai switched on the tv and leaned her head against his, thankful that she gets to have a chill night like this with the boy she loves. Their eyes often shifted between the screen and each other, both of them looking for reactions to the show on their partner’s faces. Obviously it got late by the time they completely finished the anime, but they didn’t care.

Time just seemed to stop when they were together, and it was all so perfect…

Notes:

Sorry peeps! I just felt like writing a more relaxing chapter before the birthday bash! I hope y’all liked this though, I know I did. Just kinda came up with this out of the blue using some leftover ideas I had that didn’t really work anywhere else. Plus, I just wanted a chapter with just these two dorks being cute again, you're all fine with that right? Look forward to Ren & Ai’s birthday party in the next chapter! For real this time, it’ll be next. Farewell for now, peeps! (Btw, the anime they’re watching is Kokoro Connect, great anime.)

Chapter 8: Unpleasant & Unfortunate Underdog SAGA

Summary:

The day of the party is here! What could go wrong...?

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

< Third-Person POV >

Saga Prefecture, Japan.

“Hm…”

Ren carefully piped out some frosting onto an already ganached cake, making sure not to leave any spot on it uncovered. Well, aside from the very top where he had planned to write his and Ai’s names on. This was his first time making something specifically for a party, so it was a lot of pressure on the young man. Not helped by the fact that his younger sister was attempting to make off with other sweets he had made.

“Put the cookie down, now.” he bluntly told her.

Jenny pouted before returning it to its container.

“Come on, I just wanted a taste test before we give them to the others…”

“You already had a couple of taste tests. You’re lucky I made two baker's dozen, Jen.” he retorted back.

She stuck her tongue out at him before peeking over at how the frosting was going. The chocolate ganache cake was now completely covered in brown butter vanilla frosting, and all that was left was the writing on top.

“Okay… almost got it… wait… shoot!” Ren lets out after noticing something.

Jen looked it over to see what was wrong, “What happened? It looks fine to me, pretty damn flawless.”

Ren shook his head as he pointed out his mistake.

“I forgot to include the & in between me and Ai’s names. Now it just looks like one word…”

Jen holds her fist underneath her chin as she looks at the cake once more before she responds to him.

“… It actually seems better this way. Feels right for some reason… Anyways, I’m gonna go pick out my outfit for tomorrow. Nighty night, kuya!”

Ren looks at the writing again and sighs, placing the cake into a container before putting it into the fridge. Deciding there was nothing else he could do, he washes the dishes and puts them away. As he finishes up and turns off the light in the kitchen, he thinks about what the writing on the cake said once more.

“Huh, RenAi…”

_____________________________________________________

Meanwhile his girlfriend was busy concocting her own cake, after all who could say no to two of them? Ai knew Ren’s cake was gonna be super rich and sweet, so she decided to go with something simpler: a classic vanilla that has some strawberries inside. Ren isn’t really a fan of fruit with cake, but she’s gonna try her damndest to get him to try these things, whether he likes it or not. And thankfully, she had help.

“Just a little more and it’s done. Careful, Junko…” Ai instructed her floofy-haired bestie.

Sakura is beside her to cheer her on, “Do your best, Junko-chan…”

Junko lowered her eyebrows as she squeezed the last bit of frosting on the tippy top of the cake. Wiping the bit of sweat from her forehead as the other two clapped in support.

“Great job! It looks so good, I really want to try it!” Sakura’s eyes sparkled as she moved from side to side, admiring the sweet treat.

Ai puts her hands on her hips as she takes a closer look.

“Now now, we can’t have anyone cutting into it before tomorrow. It won’t be fair to everyone else. Have some patience, Sakura.”

“Ah ha ha… sorry.” The redhead rubbed the back of her head awkwardly,

Ai smiled gratefully, “It’s fine, I’m honestly holding back on trying it myself. I couldn’t have made a better cake on my own, all thanks to you two.”

“It was our pleasure, it’s for you and Ren-kun after all.” Junko smiled back, and so did Sakura.

“Yeah! This is gonna be an amazing party, you two deserve it!”

Ai then caught a glimpse of the top of the cake and then pondered something.

“Hm…”

“Is something the matter?” Junko asked as she walked up behind her.

That’s when the Showa Idol gasped and saw the mistake.

“Ah! I’m so sorry! I forgot to put the & in between your names!”

Ai put her hands up in reassurance, “It’s okay, really! Not a big issue, it’s still wonderful, Junko.”

Sakura took a look at it, but then that’s when a lightbulb turned on in her head and she began to giggle.

“Huh? What’s so funny?” Ai asked her, confused.

Sakura points at their now connected names and grins.

“Don’t you see? It’s RenAi, romantic love! It’s so fitting for you two that it’s funny, don’t you think?”

After thinking about it more, it made Ai’s cheeks slightly glow red in embarrassment.

“Y-Yeah… it works unexpectedly well… it’s a strange coincidence.”

“Strange, yes, but it sums up the journey you two have gone on thus far. That you’ve grown closer and ended up in a strong romance, it’s something to be proud of, Ai-san.” Junko says to her as Ai leans against the wall.

“I am proud of our relationship… which is why I truly hope we both enjoy tomorrow. It’s a celebration of us, of how far we’ve come… the challenges we’ve faced and triumphed over… and the love we have for each other.”

Sakura clasped her hands together and let out an: “Awww…”

Ai then takes out the gift she plans to give to Ren tomorrow, still inside its small box to keep it safe. She holds it close to her heart before pocketing it once more and turning to the other two.

“Now let’s clean everything up here, we’ve still got plenty of work left to do before tomorrow! No slacking off, do you hear me?!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Sakura salutes her idol and Junko does the same.

“You can rely on us, we’ll do our best to make this party a success!”

Ai nodded as the two girls began to put away the ingredients, with her looking at the cake once more and softly whispering to herself.

“RenAi… ha ha, I guess it does sound pretty cute…”

_________________________________________________

The day of the party had arrived, with both siblings having dressed up in some snazzy attire. Violet dress with open-toes heels for Jenny, navy blue dress shirt with black slacks and dark brown loafers for Ren. The former was busy applying eyeliner as the latter just received a notification on his phone.

“Hey sis, can you take the cookies and head to the mansion by yourself?”

Jenny turned to him and raised an eyebrow, “Why? What’s up?”

“Ai-chan’s gift is ready, so I need to drop by the jewelry store and pick it up.” Ren told her while looking in the mirror and fixing his collar.

She shakes her head in disbelief, “Her present is just now ready? Cutting it real close, kuya. What about the cake?”

“I’ll take it with me. It’s not a hot day, so the frosting and ganache will still hold up fine. Go ahead and tell them when you get there, I’ll catch up. Later!” Ren reassures her as he puts on his loafers and leaves the apartment, alongside the cake in a large container.

Jen sees him off and takes the cookie container in her arms, sneakily trying to open it up to take a bite or four. But then she saw her phone vibrate and checked it to see the following text from her brother:

“If you eat a single crumb, you will regret it tomorrow morning.”

Jenny simply huffed and chipped off a piece out of spite before leaving for the party.

She arrived at Franchouchou’s mansion, her eyes going wide in amazement before entering the open gates and knocking on the door.

“Ah, Ren-kun! Happy Birth-oh… you’re here by yourself Jenny?” Ai opened the door with a wide smile before realizing her partner wasn’t there.

Jen decided to tease her as usual while she explains, “Kuya’s gift for you just got done being made, so he’s off picking it up. He’ll drop by soon… but are you disappointed to see me, big sis?”

“What? No, of course not!” Ai says in reply.

Her potential sister-in-law rubbed her eyes and shed some crocodile tears, “You’re too cruel to me, I thought we were getting along so well up until now… how dare!”

Ai rolled her eyes before letting her in.

“Just get inside before I do get cruel, okay?”

At the serious threat, Jenny immediately scurried in.

“So… did he say when he’d be showing up?” Ai asked her while adjusting the dress she chose to wear.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (19)

Light blue dress with some bracelets (including the one Ren bought for her) and heels to match it.

Jen answers as she admires the interior of the mansion, “Nope, but he’ll probably be here in about an hour or two. All I know is, whatever he got you… it’s gotta be something special if it took this long.”

Ai placed her hand over her undead heart as she and Jen make it to the living room, where all the other Franchouchou members (honorary member Maimai included) are still setting up for the party. Dressed in their own outfits too.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (20)

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (21)

“Tae-chan, no! Not until everyone’s here!” Sakura struggles to pull her away as Tae continues to try pouncing on the cake.

“Gragh! Ragh!”

Maimai tries to blow up a balloon, but ends up blowing it too big and…

*POP!*

“Eyah!”

The glasses girl gets startled before tripping onto a pile of more balloons and popping them as well. Ai lets out a sigh before going to help her up, with Jen holding back a laugh and Saki letting hers ring out loud.

“Bwahaha! Priceless, wasn’t it?! So you’re Ren’s sister, eh? You sure are prettier than him, even if he’s not bad himself, ha! Saki Nikaido’s the name, glad to have ya!”

Jenny gave her an arm hug and chuckled, “Jennifer Reyes. You all look pretty dolled up too, can’t even tell you’re all zombies…”

Saki smirks at the compliment, “Freakin’ sexy, aren’t we? But I guess we owe the makeup stuff to Shades… only thing he’s really good for, hehe…”

Kotaro scoffed at that remark as he set up the chairs, deciding now wasn’t the best time to use his usual indoor voice when guests were there. However, as soon as Jen got a good look at him… she couldn’t look away. She leaned over to Ai to ask her something.

“Hey, uh, quick question… is your manager single?”

“Huh?” was Ai’s only response after hearing that, while Sakura and Junko both spat out their drinks.

_______________________________________________

“Thank you so much, it turned out amazingly! I’ll be sure to come here again if I need any more jewelry in the future.” Ren bowed his head gratefully before placing Ai’s gift into his shoulder bag.

He checks his phone to see the time with his right hand, while his left arm held onto the cake container.

“Shoot, the bus already left, guess I gotta head there on foot. Maybe there’s a shortcut around here… aha!”

He found a pathway through an alley on his map app and off he went. Navigating the many twists and turns this way would take him before ultimately ending up in a familiar location.

“Wow, it’s been months since I last came here. The day I met her… neither of us would believe that we’d end up where we are now…”

He walks around the shopping center on his journey to the mansion, experiencing the nostalgia of their week “dating” before dating for real.

“Ah, right through here and it’ll be a straight path forward!” Ren exclaims as he looks at his directions.

“Nyeh heh heh, look who came crawling back here… and without that bitch too, musta dumped your ass, didn’t she?”

Ren tensed up as he came face to face with that same thug that he and Ai met long ago. The same one that tried to kidnap her before the eventual couple kicked his ass to the curb. Despite his heart beating faster than he would have liked it to, the young man swallowed before glaring at the jackass.

“As if someone like you would know how relationships work, now would you please excuse me.”

Mr. Likely Hasn’t Showered in Months blocked his path with his hairy and rank-smelling arm.

“Nah, I feel like serving up some delicious payback. And for dessert, that cake you got with ya… “

The scumbag stepped closer to Ren, making him back all the way up until his back bumped into two of the former’s fellow unwashed friends. Finding himself cornered, his breathing starts getting heavier and heavier. Their smug laughter filled the air as he shut his eyes, clenched his teeth and his fists, and took another breath in… but then Ai’s face popped into his mind.

“I need to see her… no, not just her… everyone…”

He gently placed the cake container on the ground behind him, noticing a large trash can lid in the corner. Reminded of a certain kid from Brooklyn, he stomps onto it and the handle meets his palm as he stares down the toxic, troublesome trio. Despite the nerves, he stood his ground and beckoned them to come forward.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (22)

“As a man that you can’t see once said… if you want some, come get some.”

As you might expect, three on one isn’t very fair, so of course Ren was getting beaten down with ease. Didn’t stop him from landing some good hits in here and there. Tossing the trash can lid like a metal frisbee was effective, but unlike that kid from Brooklyn, Ren could not catch for the life of him.

“Stay down if you know what’s good for ya!” The main asshole yells as he punches him right in the stomach.

Ren coughs hard, yet his wobbly legs were able to support the young man up, much to the trio’s annoyance.

“Hah… hah…. I can… do this… all day.” He boasted.

But before he knew it…

*WHAM!!!*

Everything went black.

Ren collapsed to the ground, his glasses shattered into pieces and blood running down his forehead. Creating a crimson mask over his face as the scoundrels surrounded the unconscious young man. One strike with a pipe was all that was needed to extinguish his spirit.

“That’s what ya get, you son of a bitch…”

The head creep snickered as he lifted his foot up to deliver a finishing stomp…

“Freeze, scumbags!”

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (23)

“Shit, it’s da fuzz!”

The rat bastards ran off, with Saga’s own Policeman A in pursuit on his bike.

“Hey, hey, hey! Slow down, will ya?! I can’t pedal that fast here!”

After they left, the ones that called Policeman A started to pick up the bleeding Ren. It was Maria Amabuki, and her two friends from the Dorami Dance Group. Maria wiped away a bit of the blood and gasped as she managed to recognize who he was.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (24)

“Hey, he’s the winner of that Franchouchou dating contest… Ben?”

“Ren.” Her glasses-wearing friend corrected her.

“Ren, yeah! Are you okay? We’re gonna get you to the hospital, it’s nearby so no need for an ambulance… hang in there, ‘kay? Migikawa, Sayama, help me carry this guy…”

Maria helps lead the way and carries the cake, as the other two each take one of his arms.

His vision blurred by both his nearsightedness and the blood dripping down his face, all Ren could muster to let out was only one word…

“Ai…”

___________________________________________________

Pacing around the living room, restless, Ai was getting more worried by the second. It was more than two hours since Jenny got there and yet Ren, her fellow guest of honor, had not shown up yet. All the while, there was some minor issue that was REALLY starting to bug her.

“I'm just saying, there’s nothing wrong with just one date! Let me borrow him for a day!” Jenny pulls on Kotaro’s left arm.

Sakura and Junko pulled on his right, “Not a chance!”, Sakura tells her.

Yugiri watches on with great interest, “I see, Lord Kotaro is planning to build a harem…”

“A what?” Lily tilts her head at that last word.

Saki boredly watches the tug-of-war go on, “We’ll tell you when you’re older, shrimpy.”

“I’m never gonna get older, and it’s Lily!” She pouted.

“Please stop…” Kotaro uttered softly as the three girls pulled him back and forth.

Junko refused, “Not until she gives in, we refuse to let her take you!”

Soon Ai finally has enough and shouts out, “WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT?!”

Kotaro then fell over as they let go, Junko and Sakura going to help him up.

“Ren should be here by now… if he doesn’t show up soon, then I’m going out to look for him. Agh… why is this happening today of all days?” Ai says everyone as she plops back into her seat, upset, holding her face in her hands.

The other girls instantly feel regret over not worrying as much as she was as they all go to comfort her. Junko gives her a hug and the rest join in to make it a full group hug. Ai felt her breathing slow down as she relaxed into the big embrace.

“Ai-san, it’s going to be okay. We’re sorry for the way we had been acting. Perhaps we should all come with you in finding Ren-kun to make up for it?” Junko suggests.

Ai shakes her head, “No, it’s fine. He’s my boyfriend, so I have to—”

Saki then chimed in to interrupt her.

“Yeah? And he’s our friend too! We’ll find the dude and drag his ass back here so we can have an awesome time!”

Sakura nodded her head vigorously, “We’re here to help you, Ai-chan, we’re a team after all!”

“I want you and Ren-kun to have a super happy birthday, so Lily will come too!” Lily holds Ai’s hand reassuringly.

“We can find him with all of us out there searching, I just know it!” Maimai said with a grin.

Yugiri steps up next, “Whatever trouble that boy may be facing, surely it can be stopped through our efforts.”

“So sorry for causing trouble here, even if you got a hottie for a manager I should have been thinking about my brother. I guess I’m still getting used to having him back in my life…” Jenny bowed her head apologetically towards them all.

“Hottie?” Kotaro’s mind lingered on that one word to his confusion.

Ai shakes Jen’s hand and the two girls hug it out… before Jenny gets an idea.

“I just remembered! I can find out his location by locating his phone, this’ll be way easier if we know where he is.”

Maimai pumped her fists, “Great! Alright, Kotaro-san, fire up the van!”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do, Number 7!” Kotaro yells at her.

Sakura questions his logic, “But didn’t she quit?”

“BE QUIET, SAKURA!” He shoots back at her.

As the group shared a little laugh, Jenny suddenly dropped her phone to the floor.

“Jen-san?” A concerned Junko approached her.

Jen placed a hand to her head as she soon stumbled into a nearby chair. Ai then walked over to her phone and picked it up to see what was going on. After regaining her footing, Jenny spoke up again.

“I-I-I’m okay… I just… I swear, I looked at Ren’s location and it said that he was in the hospital… T-That can’t be right, can it?”

“HUH?!” The others let out before hearing the door slam shut.

“A-Ai-chan!” Sakura cried out to her.

Kotaro placed his jacket on, “All of you, get in the van, now.”

_________________________________________________

She ran as fast as she could… not wanting to believe what she saw on that phone until she could confirm it herself. Not caring about any pain or injuries she could sustain, she removed her heels and ran barefoot the whole way there. None of that could compare to what she would feel when she got there.

“WHERE IS HE?!” Ai yelled as soon as she got there.

She ignored the confused waiting room patients who recognized her as she walked up to the front desk.

“Can… I help you?” The front desk lady was a bit unprepared for this.

Ai looked her dead in the eyes before speaking, “Ren Reyes… do you know what room he’s in right now?”

The other front desk girl gave her a nod as the nervous one looked up his name as Ai impatiently tapped her foot on the floor.

“We just checked him in about an hour ago, in room 2018… so are you related to him or…?” Ai ran off before the girl could finish.

She was getting winded, but she needed to reach him… just to make sure he’s alright… just to see his face…

She took the stairs up and dashed over to room 2018, stopping to check if the name was correct. After having it be confirmed, she took a minute to regulate her breathing and brush any gravel stuck to the soles of her feet. She soon stepped in and…

“Ren-kun…?”

The sight of him lying in that bed shocked her into silence. She hadn’t seen him without his glasses that often, but she knew that face of his too well. Bandages wrapped around his forehead, a few cuts on his arms, and two bruises on both sides of his face.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Today was going to be their first time celebrating their birthdays together as a couple.

A happy time… that got ruined out of the blue.

Ai tearfully cried out his name multiple times as her arms enveloped his unconscious body. His light breathing and heartbeat being the only things keeping her from feeling even worse, a reassurance that he was still there. Her forehead lightly pressed against his, as to not cause him any more pain, and she gave him a soft smooch on his lips.

“I’m here, sweetheart… I’m here… I love you, Ren… Stay with me, okay? I love you... I love you… I love you…”

Ai repeats it over and over, hoping that those three special words reach out and bring him back to her.

Notes:

My fellow writers, I am no stranger to putting my favorite characters through terrible events. That is most evident in my Danganronpa series, but when it came to RenAi it was more of some light relationship drama. Nothing too serious that could be solved in a chapter or two. Not to say it won’t happen here, but this? It’s so… unfortunate. I do feel bad for Ren & Ai, but I end up somehow enjoying it to just see how you as readers feel. So… tell me what you guys feel. And next time… we’ll see where this goes. In the meantime, next week I will be on my first ever cruise (can’t use the internet unfortunately, booooo!) Let me know what you think, farewell peeps! - Renegade Braveheart

Chapter 9: Grateful and Glorious Gift-Giving SAGA

Summary:

After Ren ends up in the hospital, what happens next?

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

< Third-Person POV >

Saga Prefecture, Japan.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (25) RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (26)

Art of Prince Ren and Lady Mizuno by my friend Zarius, miss you friendo!

“Ha… ha… ha… ack!”

After running deep into the dark woods, Prince Ren suddenly finds himself surrounded by a horde of rotten boar-like creatures. With his right hand glowing with pure white magic he immediately begins firing a beam of light directly at the leader of the pack, dealing decent damage… but not enough to down the monster. It snarled back at him as he took a step back.

“Tch, how disgusting… hah!”

He completely eradicates one of the beasts with another blast from his left hand this time, before striking another with a jumping back elbow when it tried to leap at him from behind. One of them managed to strike him across the face with its tusk, so Ren pinned it to the ground and struck it with a forearm to its skull. Unfortunately, that was simply a diversion.

“OOF! GAH!”

The prince was sent flying into the base of a tree by the leader, now recovered from the initial blast. Now it was getting ready to finish the job, charging forward with immense speed at the weakened young noble.

“Agh…”

The prince raised his right hand, wincing with pain as he tried to fire another beam of light. The magic flickering in his palm as the beat got closer and closer, until…

WHAM!!!

The boar-like beast was sent flying through the forest, as its remaining friends fled in fear of the sudden attacker. Ren tried to pick himself up off the ground himself before he saw the other person’s hand reach out towards him.

“You shouldn’t be running off without me, my liege. You’re lucky I managed to arrive just in time, what do you have to say for yourself?”

Lady Mizuno sheathed her baguette blade, her blue cape flowing in the breeze as she helped up her prince.

“You don’t have to call me that anymore, you won my hand in marriage so you’ve earned the right to call me by my name. And I was about to finish it off before you got here…” He tells her while dusting himself off and cracking his back.

Lady Mizuno scoffed at his words, “I have no doubt you could have, but you still would have been helpless against its remaining colleagues. I would never forgive myself if I found you beaten and bruised or even worse, when I should have been supervising you Ren.”

The two of them continued their trek through the woods with their hands clenched together as the prince let out a sigh, his head hanging low as his knight looked on worriedly.

“You shouldn’t have to protect me all the time… I don’t enjoy putting that burden upon you each and every time I leave the castle. I just wish… that I could be as strong as you, my lady…”

__________________________________________________

Ai watched Ren in his hospital bed with a dejected expression, despite her tears subsiding you could barely call it an improvement on her mood when she arrived. She clutched his hand tight, not looking to let go until he woke up (and even then she wouldn’t want to). Her eyes filled with worry over her boyfriend, even despite the lingering pain in her feet from running here with her heels off.

“I’m here, sweetheart, I’m still here…” She softly uttered to his unconscious form.

Soon, the others finally managed to reach the room and joined the girl by his side.

Jenny came closer and was close to tears, “Kuya… can you hear me…?”

When she got no answer, she softly sobbed into Junko’s shoulder. The floofy haired girl turned to her best friend and asked:

“What did the doctors say about him?”

Ai clutched his hand harder as she answered.

“Bleeding from the forehead, a sprained ankle, some bruises all over his face, and a mild concussion.”

“Christ… Okay, I’m gonna head out and find the bastard that did this to him. Who’s with me?” A pissed off Saki turned to the others with gritted teeth.

Jen nodded her head in agreement, “Nobody messes with my brother and gets away with it, count me in…”

Thankfully Sakura holds her arms out to block the two of them from charging outside.

“That won’t solve anything! You two could end up getting into more trouble, and we don’t need that now! Right, Ai-chan? Um… Ai-chan?”

The blue-haired girl sat in silence, her eyes not breaking away from Ren at all as the others looked on with gloomful expressions. What could you even do in a situation like this? Getting revenge for a failed concert is one thing, but getting revenge against someone who attacked someone close to them?

Yugiri broke the silence, “... As appealing as retaliation against the assailants that targeted Sir Ren may sound, our presence may be needed here so he could awaken sooner.”

“Tch…” Saki scoffed before sitting in one of the provided chairs.

Maimai then asks the question that’s on everyone’s minds, “So… what do we do now?”

After a few more seconds, Junko slowly approached Ren’s hospital bed with Romero in her arms, but to her surprise the zombie dog leapt out and landed near him.

“Romero?”

The dog softly whined and pressed his nose against Ren’s side, trying to get him to stir. When the young man didn’t budge, the undead canine patted the hand Ai was using to hold Ren’s before laying his head on the boy’s stomach. Ai used her other hand to pet Romero’s head as the others began to whisper among themselves.

Once they were done chatting, Lily tapped Ai on the shoulder.

“Ai-chan… how about we sing and cut the cakes? It’s still you and Ren-kun’s birthday party after all.”

“After that, we’ll leave you two lovebirds alone for a bit.” Kotaro adjusted his sunglasses as he told her.

After seeing the other members of Franchouchou were in agreement, Jenny as well, Ai nods and allows them to start vocalizing.

Kotaro snaps his fingers and says, “Vocals, come on…”, as the idol group gathered around the birthday couple and began to sing. Not too loud to disturb Ren’s rest, but enough so that he may be able to hear it in his dreams.

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Ren-Ai

Happy Birthday to you…

As they all finished, the group softly clapped before asking one of the nurses for something to cut the cakes with. They saved a few slices for both Ren and Ai to share together before leaving the room one by one, each of them stopping to wish Ren a full recovery.

“Hang in there, loverboy… you still owe me some video game rematches.” Saki lightly bumped her fist against his before exiting.

Tae gave a legendary message with her attempted repeating of his name, “Regh… Regh! Grawr!”

“We’ve got a lot more concerts to go to, Ren-kun! You can do it!” Maimai tells him before walking out.

Yugiri chose to speak to Ai in order to reassure her, “Surely if you keep giving him your hand, he will come to. You have him all to yourself, so do your best to take care of him.”

The ways Ai interpreted some of the words in that statement made her lightly blush as an oblivious Yugiri simply smiled without a care in the world.

Lily hopped up and smiled cutely at him before saying, “Get well soon, Ren-kun! Lily is sending Magical Lily Power to you right now, hnnnnnnn~!”

Ai smiled in amusement at the little girl squinting and rubbing the star in her hair to focus said “Magical Lily Power” towards him. Junko then steps up and bows her head to them.

“You’ll get through this… you both will”, she tells both Ren & Ai before whispering in Ren’s ear, “Smash through that wall… for her.”

Right after Junko was Kotaro, Ai briefly lowered her eyebrows at him. Expecting a snarky remark, her eyes widened when he simply patted her on the shoulder and walked away. Ai softly smiled at that unforeseen gesture before turning to Sakura and Jenny.

“You’ll take care of my brother, right?” His sister asked.

Ai finally started talking again to give her a short but meaningful statement, “I promise.”

“Ai-chan is super reliable, your brother is in good hands!” Sakura praises her idol, much to her embarrassment.

Jen laughs a bit before turning back to Ai, “I already know he is. Come on, I want to stuff this cake into my mouth hole.”

The others left with their slices as Ai sat and waited for Ren. After a few minutes of quiet, the Heisei idol soon found herself taking a quick nap by his side, Romero right with her as the exhaustion from running the whole way here started to kick in. Her head flopped onto his chest, still holding onto his hand despite the sweat beginning to form, enjoying the close contact she had with him after it’s been a while.

After more than an hour passed, Ai felt the bed sheets shifting from under her head as she looked up and saw her boyfriend beginning to open his eyes.

“Mm, agh…”

“R-Ren!” Ai exclaimed as she became the first thing he sees after awakening.

“Ai…?”

He blinked twice as she slowly wrapped her arms around him.

“Yes… it’s me. I’m here, Ren… Thank goodness you’re okay…”

He smiled as he returned her hug, but that smile slowly faded away… After a quick chat with the doctor he leaned back into his hospital bed and audibly sighed. Ai watched his conflicted expression with worry in her eyes, wondering what was up.

“I know you’re starting to get better physically, since you’re awake… but how are you really feeling?”

“... Not the best, as you could tell.” Ren shook his head, knowing that he couldn’t hide it from her.

Ai’s expression turns serious as she leans closer, “You’re still thinking about that attack… You didn’t deserve that, not one bit… If only I could have been there, then maybe…”

“... Then maybe something could have happened to you as well. You probably wouldn’t have gotten hurt too much, sure… but they could have taken you away. I don’t need you to fight my battles for me, Ai… not when you could be in worse danger than me.”

The zombie girl shook her head and placed her hands on his face to make him look at her.

“Ren, I am very well aware of the risks. I just don’t want you to get hurt like this… You’re not like me, so I worry so much about what could happen to you. And earlier today, my fears were proven true...”

The boy clenched his fists before he softly uttered in an insecure tone:

“But… what if I were like you?”

“What?” Ai asked in a stern tone.

“Ai, I’m obviously not as strong as most people. I’m… weak, honestly. I can’t run too fast or else my breathing gets heavy, I can barely lift furniture without my arms cramping, and I get easily hurt by walking into a coffee table. I was only able to take down that jackass in the alley with you by my side… while alone, it was like I was hit by a golden shovel. Buried into the sidewalk. But… maybe if I can talk to Kotaro-san, then…”

Ai cut him off by raising her voice, “No! We’re not discussing this again!”

“But Ai—”

*SLAP!*

Ren’s eyes widened in shock as Ai rubbed his cheek apologetically.

“Sorry, I really shouldn't have done that when you’re still injured. But you shouldn’t be so willing to throw your own life away like this, Ren… I’ll never forgive you if you do. I don’t want you to die and resurrect just to spend eternity with me. You’d be throwing away your own humanity, are you even hearing yourself?”

After a few seconds, Ren looked down at his legs as he responded back to her.

“I… I also wanted to do it, just so that you wouldn’t have to worry about losing me.”

Ai’s head lowers as she begins to visibly shake.

“I refuse to just wither away. I want to stand by your side for as long as I can… I don’t care if I’d have to throw away my own humanity, I want to keep making you happy. Because I know that if something happens to me…”

“Please… no more of that.”

“Huh?”

Ai clutches his hand desperately as he finds tears beginning to fall down her face.

“You don’t know if it’ll even work if you go through with it… We don’t even know how the process works, I can’t take that risk right now. Please Ren… don’t try to change yourself for my sake. That’s not how relationships work… I fell for you because of who you are right now, not who you were or how you see yourself.”

Ren let her words begin to sink in, little by little as she continued. Her hands rested on his cheeks as the tears continued to fall.

“I want my Ren, the boy that was willing to not run away after learning I was a zombie. A kind soul who would bake sweets or help pick up my eyeballs off the ground if they get knocked out. Someone brave enough to sing his heart out on stage by my side, even if you were scared out of your mind. I love you, Ren, and I want you to promise me you’ll always stay yourself.”

“Ai…” was the only thing he could say as she finished.

Not looking for that answer, she instantly replied back, “Promise me!”

After clutching his chest, he scooted closer to her despite the pain still lingering in him. He wiped the tears off her face, softly chuckling after he saw that he smudged her makeup, before finally giving his answer.

“I-I promise… You really did mean all that, huh?”

She let out a shaky giggle before a smile finally returned to her face,

“Yes… It’s the truth of what’s on my mind, completely honest and no bull. Ha ha ha…”

He smiles back at her, “Heh, just stealing my lines now, hm?”

“Is that a problem?” She asks with a bit of a smirk.

He nuzzles noses with her briefly before replying, “Not at all…”

They share a soft kiss, one that lasts about two minutes before they finally break apart and lean their foreheads against one another.

“Some birthday this turned out to be, huh?” Ren remarks and Ai laughs at that.

“Yeah, not how I wanted today to go at all. But at least you’re safe… Ah, I almost forgot!”

Ai takes out a small box and holds it out to Ren, while he gasps and takes out his own present.

“Happy birthday.” The both of them say to each other as they trade gifts.

Ren lifts off the cover of his present to find… an aquamarine bracelet! The base itself was silver, with aquamarine gems spaced out on every side.

“Ai, this is glorious…” He says in awe of its shine.

The girl smiled as she pointed at it, “Look on the inside.”

Ren turns it and sees a small message inscribed into the inside of the bracelet:

“To the one who showed me what love means.” - Ai <3

Ren slowly starts to tear up to Ai’s surprise as he hides his face in his right arm.

“You’re the best girlfriend in the world… I really can’t thank you enough… Agh, they won’t stop coming out…”

Ai hands him a few tissues before pecking him on the cheek.

“You’re very welcome, darling. I’m pretty sure it pales in comparison to your gift though…”

“I dunno, I can’t imagine it driving you to tears…” He said after he finished his crying session.

“I’ll be the judge of that… oh!”

Ai’s present is… a necklace with various aquamarine charms on it! Five of them to be exact.

Ren pressed his index fingers together shyly, “So… each of these charms are meant to represent the things I love about you. The popcorn—I mean flower is obvious, ah ha…”

Ai rolled her eyes at that before listening intently with a big smile on her face.

“The music note is to represent your lovely voice, not just in singing because your speaking voice is also music to my ears, heh…”

She giggled at his dumb joke as he clears his throat and prepares to explain more.

“A heart to symbolize that kindness you show not just to me, but to your fans and to your friends. A lightning bolt might be a little mean, sorry, but I used it to say that whenever I’m around you… the energy is electrifying.”

Ai pats his back reassuringly, “I’ll forgive you for that, ha… and this shooting star… your nickname for me, Starlight?”

“Right on the money, always shining down and giving me guidance when I need it… as shown earlier, thank you for that.”

“Aww… Ren, I love it. No, I absolutely adore it!”

She plants a big kiss on Ren’s lips before he could speak up about her referencing his confession, stealing his words again.

“Ah, I’m so glad you do… I really put a lot of thought into it, you deserved nothing but the best, sweetheart.”

Ai leans back into her chair and puts on the necklace, as Ren puts on the bracelet.

“You too, especially after today. And once again…”

“Happy birthday!” The two of them repeat themselves before laughing joyfully.

Ren then pauses after he notices something, “By the way, Ai, did you really run all the way here without your shoes?”

Ai looks down at her bare feet and lets out a sigh before nodding her head.

“Yeah… I was just so worried that I just didn’t care enough about that. Even if I kinda regret it now, ha… ow.”

“Hm… I think I owe you a massage after the stuff I put you through today. You‘ve earned it.” He tells her sincerely.

Ai tries to turn him down by shaking her head, “No no, it's fine. You don’t have to—”

“But I want to.” Ren cuts her off with a smirk at his own stolen line and Ai puts her hands on her hips.

“Oh, you dork… it better be a good one then!”

She says to him while tapping her toes on the cold floor.

“I’ll treat your tootsies well, just you wait!” He confidently says before looking off to his right, “For now though, cake?”

“I thought you’d never ask…”

The two of them happily ate their birthday cakes as their companions stood outside looking on. This private time looked to be their gift to the couple as they all quietly appreciated the wholesome display. Finally, it seemed like the time for tears was over, and the celebration could finally begin in earnest as it should have.

Notes:

I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter, peeps! Thank you all for reading! As I mentioned in my last chapter of Fictional Epicenter, I’m going to be really busy this upcoming month, so I probably won’t be able to write as much as I want to. Heading to Fan Expo SF this Saturday (wearing an Ai shirt obviously lol), and possibly getting a seasonal job too! I’ll try my best to upload something if I am able to as a holiday gift for you all, you deserve it! Just like how these two cuties deserve a happy birthday… almost nine months after their actual birthdays. Oh well, gift giving is still a common thing around this time so it fits. I’ll see you all when the next chapter drops, hope you all enjoyed this one! Happy Holidays if I’m unable to post anything! Bye-bye now! - Renegade Braveheart

Chapter 10: Longing & Lonely Lovesick SAGA

Summary:

Ai finds herself troubled when she learns that Ren is going on a trip!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

< Third-Person POV >

Saga Prefecture, Japan.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (27)

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…”

The other Franchouchou members looked on as Ai continued to practice the routine, despite the others stopping for a few minutes.

“Ai-chan hasn’t taken any breaks yet, I’m worried her limbs will go stiff and she’ll fall apart again…” A concerned Sakura whispers to Saki as Ai repeats the dance once more.

“This is just sad, it hasn’t even been a day yet and she’s letting it get to her. Girl needs to chill.”

Junko leans in to reply to Saki’s words, “Could you really blame her? She’s grown so used to him being around. Imagine being away from someone you love for a while…”

“Not only that, but her dearest is in a different country entirely. To Ai-han, it may feel like they’re worlds apart for more than merely a week.” Yugiri explains while taking a smoke.

Sakura nods in understanding, “Mm, and him having to leave not even a week after he got out of the hospital too… Ai-chan's probably worrying about his condition a whole bunch.”

After seeing Ai repeating the routine for the ninth time in the row, Saki groans and kicks up to her feet in order to talk to the bandaged zombie.

“Oi, Ai! Sit the hell down for a bit, we still got time!”

Ai’s concentration wasn’t broken, however, as she continued to drill each step into her mind.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…”

This annoyed Saki, who then got in front of Ai’s face to speak up.

“Come on, flowerhead, snap out of it! It’s not like he’s gone for a month, he’ll be back soon! Just stop for a sec and drink water at least!”

“... One, two—”

“Grrr… quit it!”

*POP*

Saki smacked Ai across the back and her head got knocked to the floor, to the other’s surprise.

“Ah! Uh, m-my bad…”

“Saki-chan, you dummy! You hit her too hard!” Lily calls her out as Sakura and Junko help reattach Ai’s head to her body.

Junko spins her noggin back onto her neck like she was a plastic doll before turning back to the biker girl.

“What were you thinking?! That wasn’t gonna help her at all! Are you okay, Ai-san?”

Ai brings her hand to her neck and suddenly gasps before frantically crawling around on the floor as the girls watch in confusion.

“W-Where is it? Come on, come on, I can’t lose it!”

“A-Ai-chan?!" Sakura lets out in bewilderment as Ai continues her search.

Upon locating what she had been worried about, she quickly makes her way over to the corner of the practice room, right next to the large broken mirror. She picks up the item and checks to make sure it was undamaged before sighing in relief and clutching it close to her chest. Ai takes a moment to look over it again as she reminisces for a moment.

“I kept it safe… for you.”

The aquamarine charm necklace, since she’s received this gift a few days ago she is rarely seen without it. She only takes it off before bed or during a bath, while cleaning it at night. And as of right now, it’s helping her through a current predicament she’s in.

But we’ll have to turn back the clock a bit to get the full picture here, so we’ll move away from today and visit yesterday.

__________________________________________________

“Ahhh, man, that was amazing! I’m so glad I didn’t watch any trailers before seeing it blind.”

“Ha ha, you were so lucky there was no one else around during our showing. You were getting pretty loud during those last thirty minutes, Ren-kun.”

Ren & Ai walked out of the theater all smiles after a successful movie date. Ren was wearing a dark gray hoodie with blue jeans and black sneakers, while Ai was in a light-blue fleece sweater with a cream-colored skirt and light-blue sneakers. Their hands clenched together as they walked and talked to their next destination.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (28)

“That definitely has to be my favorite of the trilogy, but did you have fun Ai-chan?”

Ai softly smiled before answering, “I did. A couple of scenes with the villains were too childish and goofy for me, but I enjoyed just watching you react the most. You knew so much about the story and characters…”

“Ha, I am a fan of the game series it's based on, but I am no expert. I rely more on EveryonecallsmeJoanna & GamesPrison to completely understand it. Your reactions were great too though, I know I saw a tear or two…” Ren lightly blushed while chuckling.

Ai blushed back before responding, “You got me, that relationship between the young girl and the ultimate lifeform really hit me hard.”

“Yeah, same here…”

All this back and forth, the memorable chit chat, these conversations that they have while together always manage to bring smiles to their faces. Though not as much as perfectly grilled yakiniku for dinner. Ren had gotten a lot of practice with cooking the meat on that small grill, mostly because his girlfriend’s meat-tooth always calls for it.

But even with the sizzling of beef and the sounds of chewing, the pair always found time for a chat.

“That new music video you guys did, excellently done as always.” Ren sent a complement her way as Ai swallowed down some meat.

“Mmm, it was a fun one to perform! The song itself stands out from what we typically release, so it felt like such a unique experience.”

Ren places another piece on the grill and nods, “Yeah, that song is still in my head after weeks of listening to it. Also, that one dance you did by the train… I feel like you tried to kill me there with how cute you were being. Was that on purpose…?”

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (29)


(This gif is made by my good friend franchouchou on Tumblr/@sagajeune on Twitter!)

Ai gives him a smug face before answering back.

“Maaaaaayyyybe… I do know how to push the right buttons to make your heart race like crazy. Like so, mwah~!”

She kisses her finger and points it at Ren like she was shooting the kiss like a bullet, right through his heart.

“Guh… you…” He utters, looks like a direct hit.

“Ah ha ha… gotcha.”

Ai winks at him for double damage as he clutches his chest, but he immediately snaps out of it when he hears his piece of yakiniku sizzle loudly.

“Ack, dang it! You distracted me, now this piece is all burnt and nasty…”

Ai returns to her own unburnt meat and takes it off the grill.

“Quit whining and just get another piece, sweetie, there’s still more there.”

“Hmph…”

Ren grunts as he places new pieces on. For a while, the two of them just eat in silence. Choosing to simply enjoy the taste of perfectly charred meat until they finished everything they had. After splitting the bill, however, one of the lovebirds found themselves fidgeting a bit…

“Hm? What’s up, Ai-chan?”

“Well… we kind of have been skirting around discussing something, and I wanted to just… talk about it.”

Ren’s eyes widened as she said that before letting out a sigh, “Yeah… okay, we should talk about it.”

He takes out his plane ticket for Los Angeles, California.

“This… is pretty much the reason why I wanted to see you tonight, before I go.”

Ai nods as she takes his hand in hers as they stroll back to the mansion.

“I figured… but what I’m wondering is, are you feeling well enough to make the trip in the first place? And you know you’ll be going on lots of dangerous rides at that theme park as well.”

“Well, you see…”

Ai’s eyebrows lowered as she looked at him stubbornly.

“Ren, I know you can’t lie to me, so spill it. You can tell me, so please?”

The young man clenches her hand a bit tighter before turning to her.

“I’m about… 70… er, 65% better.”

“Decent percentage, but that’s still not 100%. I know you’re dead set on going, so I’m just letting you know that you need to be careful over there.”

Ren lowers his head in guilt, “I know… I will, I promise. I’m not gonna call you out for being cautious after what happened, but I want you to trust me, okay?”

Ren stops walking and so does Ai as the former waits for her response.

“Ai, I know you’re stubborn, but I will be careful over there.”

“...” Ai continues to grip his hand as she formulates her thoughts.

“I just want to have fun with my sister after so much time apart. It's her last bit of vacation time before she heads back to work too. So… please, sweetheart?”

“... Fine, I trust that you’ll stay out of trouble. Ha ha, you’re pretty stubborn yourself too, you know?”

“Yeah, I do. Thanks Ai-chan…”

He kisses her forehead and she kisses him on his left cheek before they keep walking.

“And besides, I don’t even like thrill rides. Big drops scare the hell out of me, so the only drops I can stomach are the ones on the pirate ride.”

Ai giggles at his honesty, “I don’t think I could go on any fast moving ride with how easy we can fall apart, ha.”

“That sounds like a pain, trying to keep track of all your parts. It would be fun if you could come with me though…”

Ai shrugged at his statement, “It would, plus I could keep an eye on you. But for some reason, Kotaro prevents us from leaving Saga. Couldn’t even take any jobs outside this prefecture…”

“Uh-huh… that’s a letdown. But if we do end up going to any place with rides one day, let’s be sure to take the ferris wheel.” Ren suggests.

Ai’s smirks at him, “Oh, how romantic of you… just the two of us up high, watching the city lights… you been planning that out for us one day?”

“Nah, I’m just someone who plays a lot of dating sims. It’s a popular spot, but it does sound nice, right?”

Ai leans her head against his shoulder, “Absolutely…”

When they finally reach the gates of the mansion, Ai once again begins to fidget.

Ren raises an eyebrow as he questions her again, “Is something else the matter?”

“No, not really. I just… really want to spend the night with you, what time do you need to be at the airport?”

Upon hearing that question, Ren checks his calendar before looking back up at her.

“I think I can make it… guess I’ll borrow Kotaro’s pajamas again, ha…”

A wide grin spreads across Ai’s face as she yanks him into the mansion. After a brief camaraderie with the other Franchouchou members, Ai chose to sleep early tonight so Ren could be able to wake up on time in the morning. While fixing her futon, Ren put his hand on her shoulder to catch her attention.

“Hm?”

“Come on, sit down” He tells her.

She did as she was told and sat down on the futon next to him.

“Okay… now what?” She asked him, puzzled.

“I still owe you a massage, might as well do it before I go, right?”

Ai couldn’t protest, she did agree to it after all, so she put her feet on his lap and leaned back.

“Make it good!” She encourages him.

He nods back at her with a sincere smile, “I’ll do my best for you, and these cute tootsies of yours.”

She blushed at the little compliment before feeling him press his fingers into her soles gently. He gave each part equal amounts of attention, leaving no toe untouched. All the while, Ai’s eyes closed as she simply relaxed to the point where she was now lying down on the futon. After about five minutes, Ren let go of her feet and Ai sighed blissfully…

“Mmm… ahhh… thank you… I honestly didn’t expect much, but… that was great.”

“I did say I’d treat them well.”

Ren softly kissed the top of her foot, making her giggle and her toes curl as he shifted himself closer to her face.

“Hey.”

That simple greeting made Ai want to shift closer to him.

“Hello~.” She answers back.

She wraps her arms around him and nuzzles her cheek against his, Ren doing the same as they pulled the blanket over themselves to settle in.

Ren removes his glasses and Ai looks into his chocolate-brown eyes. Not willing to wait any longer, she presses her lips against his firmly. While initially surprised, Ren doesn’t back down and kisses back to match her energy.

As soon as they break, he has this to say, “You’re pretty eager, aren’t you? Usually you wait until I’m ready.”

“Well, it’s my last night with my Ren. I need to make the most of this time, like always.”

He softly laughs, “True, true. Also, I’m your Ren, hm?”

“Yes, my Ren, remember? You’re all mine. Mine, mine, mine. Is that a problem?” She answers while snuggling into his chest.

Ren shakes his head and hugs her back.

“Not at all, I’m all yours… and besides… you deserve to be a bit selfish after giving me so much. Thank you, my love…”

“No, thank you,Ren…”

The two of them kissed again, and again, and again… before the inevitable pull of sleep caught up to them. Ai was already pretty close after that massage, but the fact that they were cuddling in the same futon made them even more comfortable. They simply held each other in their arms, without either of them budging.

It felt that all was right in the world as long as the two of them were together…

__________________________________________________

… But that was yesterday, and we’re back to today… or the morning of today rather.

“Mmph… huh…?”

Feeling her arms grasping at the air, instead of the warm chest of her boyfriend, Ai slowly awakens in confusion. She sits up in her futon and turns her head to look all over the room, yet only sees her fellow zombie girls still snoozing away. She blinks twice before letting out a yawn while calling out his name.

“Ahhh… Ren…? Ren…?”

That’s when she felt a slight rumble on her outdated phone, with the light of the screen illuminating her face she gets her answer on where he is.

“Good morning, sweetheart. Sorry I had to go so soon, but I got the time wrong and needed to rush over to the airport. Jenny gave me a real earful for that, ha. I hated to just leave you without saying goodbye, so I gave your cheek a smooch before I left. See you in a week, Ai-chan, I’ll miss you tons. Remember to keep that necklace of yours safe, alright? I love you, Starlight, with all my <3.”

Ai softly rubs her cheek and feels the lingering warmth left by the smooch he mentioned, and then she steadily types out her response.

“I love you too, have fun on your trip! <3”

After hitting send, she notices something dripping onto her phone screen. Upon realizing that it was her tears, she quickly wipes them away before making her way to the nightstand. There she takes out the charm necklace and places it upon her neck, taking a deep breath in and out…

“I promise I’ll take good care of it, Ren-kun…”

Her voice was shaky, clearly affected by his absence. Despite the emptiness she’s feeling in her heart, she gets dressed for training and heads to the practice room. An idol’s gotta do what an idol’s gotta do, but right before she could get started… she softly whispers to herself.

“Please, come back soon… please…”

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (30)

And I can’t believe I forgot to post this, but thank you so much to @megu_art_ on Twitter for making this double-sided RenAi keychain and bonus art for me! Go commission her if you want to get one of your own!

Notes:

What a way to end the year, huh? After a crazy leadup to their birthday party, the couple finds themselves separated for a while. Everyone deals with lovesickness in their own way, as shown with Ai putting all her focus into her idol work. Hopefully by next year, the two of them will reunite… but who knows what ideas could spring up into my mind during the holidays. Anyways, Happy Holidays, peeps! I hope you thought that this was a memorable chapter to end the year on. Thank you so much for supporting both Ai Means Love & RenAi, I am truly grateful that so many people gave this oc x canon couple a chance. While I still hope that more Zombie land Saga fans manage to read through this, I am still glad I got a good number of people who loved these dorks in love. As always, I look forward to reading through your comments! I’ll see you all next year in January for more chapters, love you all! - Renegade Braveheart

Chapter 11: Resigned & Repressed Ren SAGA

Summary:

Ren and Jen make it to L.A., but how will the former handle being separated from his beloved?

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

< Third-Person POV >

Anaheim, California

Evening.

Ren sighs as he flips through the photos on his phone, which is one of the few things he can do at the moment. He forgot to buy a SIM card before traveling and even after leaving the LA airport, so all he could do was fiddle with his camera and watch videos or movies he had downloaded. His sister turns to him briefly before looking back to the road ahead.

“Really missing Ai, hm?”

“You read me like a book, sis.” Ren tells her while watching the palm trees outside his window.

Jenny snickers, “More like a billboard that reads ‘I wish I was back home with my babygirl, instead of with my boring sister!’”

Ren sat up and lowered his eyebrows at her.

“Okay first off, I’ve never called her my ‘babygirl’, and secondly I’m fine being here with you. Don’t try to guilt trip me, so you’ll get me to buy you ice cream or whatever, you’re not a little girl anymore.”

“Ha ha, I know, I’m kidding. Still, you didn’t have to come. You sure you’re gonna be able to walk around without any pain?” Jen asks, seriously.

“I am sure. Besides, it’s been years since we went to these parks, so it would be fun to refamiliarize ourselves with them. And also you bought the tickets already and I know how expensive they are, so I can’t refuse.”

Ren leaned back and returned to looking out the car window.

“I am still thinking about her though… how she’s doing.”

Jen nods along as she turns to the right.

“Lovesickness, that’s what you’re feeling right now.”

“Yeah… I guess. It’s just… ever since we started dating, we’ve never been apart this long. Despite her usually being busy, she’s always found the time to chat with me and invite me out. And now… I can’t even imagine how she’s feeling, it’s worrisome.”

Ren sighs again as he looks through his photos again. Stopping at a particular picture he and Ai took together: Ai had tried to lead Ren in a fun little ballroom dance at his place, yet when she dipped him down… he ended up slipping and falling onto the floor, dragging her down with him. As soon as they lifted their heads back up, they saw how disheveled their hair was and both started laughing, which was when the photo was taken. A wonderful memory, but a painful reminder of their distance.

Jenny glances over and sees the picture when they get to another stoplight.

“You two are so close that it’s sickeningly sweet. Seriously, I feel like I’m gonna get diabetes the longer I'm around you two, but what you’re saying makes sense. I won’t tell you to not worry about Ai, just try to find something to enjoy out here, okay? You’ll be back snuggling your sweetie in Saga soon.”

“Hm… thanks…” Ren says softly, appreciating her words even if he still feels down.

The two remain quiet for about thirty seconds, until Jenny suddenly gets an idea.

“How about this, if you can manage to have fun at the park tomorrow without worrying too much about Ai… I’ll let you borrow my phone to text her.”

Ren’s head suddenly snapped back to look at her, “For real?!”

“Better try your best if you want it… And here’s no punishment if you fail too, I’m not that mean.” Jen teasingly holds her phone in front of his face before putting it away.

Ren bit his lip and considered his options before shaking her hand to agree to the task.

“Deal. And I better have enough time to say what I really want to.”

“Sure, sure… by the way… I wasn’t trying to guilt trip you for ice cream earlier buuuuut…”

Ren bluntly answered, “Fine, we’ll go. Only because I’m hungry and wanna try a place that has good milkshakes.”

“Thank you, kuya~! I know just the place, it’s right by the hotel so we can just walk.” Jen smiles brightly as they enter a downtown shopping district near the titular theme park.

“… By the way, you’re paying. No takebacks.” Ren states smugly.

“What?! Hey!”

The two of them went back and forth before Jen ultimately gave up and chose to pay for their meal. They dropped off their luggage in their hotel room before heading straight to the restaurant and sitting down. Scouring the options on the menu, there was quite a selection on the lunch menu for both entrees and appetizers. A lot of it was uniquely American though, which is exactly what Ren was hoping for since he landed.

There were only two things that really caught Ren’s eye though and when the waitress arrived, he informed her immediately.

“Konnichiwa. Toryufubāgā o onegaishimasu!”

“Excuse me?”

Ren flinched as he realized his mistake, “Ack, uh, um… a black truffle burger please… And a cookies & cream milkshake too…”

Jen tried her best to hold in her laughter as she spoke up next.

“Ha, ha… Steakhouse burger and a cake shake please… hee hee hee…”

Ren rolled his eyes at his sister as the waitress headed back after writing their orders down. Minutes later, the two of them inhaled their burgers in no time. As Ren’s cookies & cream shake arrives at their table, the young man cracked his knuckles and Jenny’s eyes wide and her mouth agape.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (31)

“T-That’s crazy! How are you gonna—”

Ren spun his straw with his fingers, like a sheriff would with his gun before slipping it into the spiraled, cookie crumb-topped whipped cream tower before him.

“Ha ha ha… that black truffle burger was just the start. Time to shake things up!”

“Ugh, just for that I hope you get a brain freeze or a stomach ache.” Jen rubbed her forehead, annoyed.

Ren chews on the cookies and cream ice cream sandwich that was attached to his shake and basically pays her no mind as he’s in complete bliss.

“Mmm, so good… oh! Look there, guess you aren't any different than me, huh?”

Jen lifts her head up from her arms when Ren points to her cake batter shake… which had a slice of funfetti birthday cake on top.

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (32)

“Ack—I… I mean thank you…” She tells the waitress as she simply stared at the tall glass of sprinkles before her.

“That looks amazing, good luck!”

Ren returns to slurping down his milkshake without a care in the world as Jen’s hand trembles with hesitation as she pulls the dessert closer. It seems as though she didn’t look at the description before ordering. Jen takes a deep breath in, clearly intimidated by the size of the cake and shake, before exhaling and bringing her mouth to the straw.

“Mmph!”

The flavor goes off in her mouth like a party popper, which is fitting considering the rainbow coloring of the sprinkles all over it.

“Glad to see you enjoying it. How about we race to see which one of us finishes first?” Ren suggests.

Jen smiles at the challenge, and after making sure their shake counts were even, she agrees.

“You’re on, bro. I’m gonna suck off all of it!”

Ren raises an eyebrow, “Don’t you mean ‘suck all of it’?”

“I know what I said, let’s go!”

And away they went… for about two minutes. That was when Jenny got both a brain freeze and a stomach ache, while Ren polished off his shake and was scraping the vanilla frosting off the rim of his glass.

“Bleh…” Jen let out, with about slightly less than half her shake finished, “It tastes so good when it goes in… but when it went down, ugh….”

“Want me to finish it for you?”

Jen slowly pushes the cake shake towards him without hesitation.

“Please do...”

Jen’s head falls on top of their table, making Ren chuckle as he whips out his phone and snaps a picture.

“Ha, man… Ai’s gonna give you an earful once she sees… oh.”

Reminded that he can’t really send Ai any pictures, his expression falters. After a few seconds of silence, he pockets his phone and slurps up the rest of Jen’s shake with his own straw. He puts his sister’s arm over his shoulder and carries her back to the hotel.

As the day came to a close, Ren once again found himself flipping through his photo album, just to see his short blue-haired beauty’s smile again. He removes the aquamarine bracelet Ai gave to him from his wrist, rereading the sweet message she had inscribed into it. Taking a few deep breaths and clutching his chest, he places it on the nightstand alongside his glasses and turns off the light before crawling into bed.

Hoping that tomorrow’s venture will be able to block out the lovesickness he’s currently feeling.

*SNORE*

… Well, right after he blocks his ears from that ungodly noise coming from Jen.

__________________________________________________

The next morning…

“Hey, hey! Wakey wakey!”

“Wuh?”

Ren drowsily rises from his bed as he sees Jenny already dressed and bouncing on her toes.

“Get excited, this is our first time at a theme park as adults ! Going at our own pace, not having to keep up with a schedule someone else sets… it’s so wonderful…”

Ren stretches and puts on his glasses, “I sure do hope so… are we even going to meet up at all for anything?”

Jenny takes out her personal schedule on her phone, “For the parade and fireworks, obviously, but we can go on a few rides together before splitting up. I do need you on this one ride that requires teamwork to pilot a space ship though, other than that we can wander all over the different lands!”

“Mm, ‘kay.” Ren replies nonchalantly as Jen tilts her head in response.

“You good, kuya?”

“Yeah, my mind just needs to focus on today. I’ll be fine after a while.”

He softly smiles in reassurance, but Jen wasn’t entirely convinced.

“If you say so. Remember, try to have fun and I’ll give you your reward at the end of the day.”

“Hm, hm.” Ren grunts as he takes his clothes and enters the bathroom.

After they both got ready, they entered the magical place’s gates and already the atmosphere felt different. It was loud and overwhelming for poor Ren, sure, but the smiles on everyone’s faces and the laughter in the air made it difficult to frown. Especially for Jen, who was excitedly gathering all the merch she could in her arms, much to her brother's exasperation.

“No.”

She pouts childishly in response, “Hey, come on! I run a company, you can’t tell me what I can and can’t buy with my cash!”

“Look, even if you are gonna spend it all, you can’t just do it all in one place. Put some of this stuff down, and if you can find it somewhere else or something better than go for it. I’m gonna go look for souvenirs for the girls.”

Jen scoffs at his scolding as she places half of what she’s holding back on the shelves and sticks her tongue out at him.

“Hmph, you’re starting to sound like your girlfriend, you know?”

“I do know, isn’t it great?”

He sticks his own tongue back at her before going off to find a few souvenirs.

“Hm… Saki would probably like a sword, so I’ll hold off on her until we get to the pirates store… oh, Junko would love this one!”

Ren found a plush of a marshmallow-shaped healthcare companion and hugged him to test his softness.

The verdict? Comfy, so he got him.

As for the rest of his gifts, he managed to find four others in the surrounding stores. A feeding bowl for Romero, a fairy wand for Lily, a red and white polka dot bow for Sakura, a few packs of gummy worms for Tae to chew on, and a green comb hair accessory with a white flower on it for Yugiri. After paying for all of it, he waits outside for Jen.

“I’m here!”

When he turns around, he sees that she’s got two bags full of plushies, a bunch of collectible pins attached to her jacket, and a baseball cap with an angry duck on it atop her head.

“I… ugh, whatever.” Ren gives up trying to talk her out of things.

Jen simply grins and plops a hat with long black rabbit ears on his head as she leads the way to their first destination as a duo.

The siblings surprisingly collaborated well on the spaceship ride Jen mentioned before, yet the other ride in land from another galaxy was the one that had them most excited… even if the line was excessively long.

“The cast members performed so well there, it was like we walked right into the movies!” Jenny exclaimed with stars gleaming in her eyes.

Ren began to gush as well, “Yeah! It felt less like a ride, and more like being transported into another universe. Could have done without the line, but I guess we can’t FORCE our way through.”

“Let’s just go to Pirates and split up afterwards so I don’t have to hear that for a few hours.”

“Aye, aye…” Ren chuckled as Jen groaned.

After a quick seafaring adventure (with a good sea shanty that’ll get stuck in your head), the brother and sister split and went off on their own. After buying Saki that sword andKotaro a pirate hat and eyepatch (being aware of the many costumes he wears during his meetups with the girls), Ren decides to head towards a quaint little town for toons. On the way, he spots a Japanese tourist and her daughter sitting on a bench, but then the little girl’s balloon was about to float up into the sky.

Ren quickly jumps up and snatches it before handing it back to her.

“Hup! Here you go, hold on tighter to it so it won’t fly away, okay?”

“That’s so nice of you, now what do you say to him, Rika-chan?” The mother asked her little girl.

Rika clutched her balloon string gratefully, “A-Arigatou!”

“You’re welcome.”

Ren nods and smiles back at her, but before he could fully walk away…

“E-Excuse me! Are you the boy who danced with Franchouchou one time?”

“Ah..!”

Ren gasped as he thought back to that fateful day, gulping as he tried to get his bearings.

“I’m… sorry. You must be mistaking me for someone else. Goodbye!”

He awkwardly waved at the girl and her mother as he walked into the next land, trying his best to not think too hard about that day. Being reminded of the day of his confession is not what he needs on a day where he’s supposed to not worry about Ai. While he’s there, he spends his time on a train with some friendly mice, joking around with a goof, and shaking the hand of a sailor duck before heading off to his final land of the day:

One that represents the world of tomorrow… or what it was supposed to look like back then.

The young man gets in line for a space shooter ride, which was unreasonably long once again, so he was forced to flip through his phone once more. As much as he doesn't want to, and as much as he has tried to distract himself… he can’t stop thinking about her. He begins to tremble, much to the confusion of the other ride goers, as he whispers to himself a single name.

“Ai…”

But before he could let out a single sob, he got a tap on the shoulder.

“Eh?”

He turns around, tears poking out from the corners of his eyes… and sees his sister.

“Hey, I figured you shouldn’t have been alone right now. I was just so excited to check this whole park on my own… but then I didn’t think to consider how you’re feeling. Sorry, bro.”

She bows her head apologetically as Ren wipes the tears from his eyes.

“It’s okay… I should have done better with focusing on enjoying myself. Wanna come blast some targets?”

Jen softly smiles as they walk in, “Sure… it’ll be a blast.”

Ren proudly smiles at her pun as the duo give it their all to get a high score on the ride. The end result was Ren getting a score of 50,000, while Jen got 400,000. A big victory on the younger sister’s end, but our guy wasn’t sour at all about it, in fact he was happy for her… even if he had to carry her plushie bags as punishment. They continued to ride and have fun throughout the day, up until 9:30pm.

That’s when the fireworks show kicked off at the park! Bright colors filled the sky, in addition to dazzling projections on the castle and various other buildings, as well as a sensational soundtrack backing it up.

“Wow… the fireworks themselves aren’t as pretty as Imari Bay, but… everything else is helping it feel unique! Beautiful…” Ren says while looking up at the explosions above.

Jenny turns to him, before softly giggling, “Ha, now you’ve got tears of joy coming out of you now. At this rate, you’ll be a sprinkler when we get back to the hotel.”

Ren dries his eyes before answering back.

“Shut up, you… ha, but… thanks for earlier. I did have fun, even if I did fail in the end.”

“Well… I’d say you still deserve this after what you went through today. Here.”

Jen unlocks her phone and hands it over to him. Ren hesitates, but with his sister’s urging he accepts it. He holds it close to his heart, before turning his attention back to the fireworks.

“I waited this long… a few more minutes can’t hurt.”

_____________________________________________________

Hey sweetheart. I’m enjoying myself here, but I really want to see you again. Sorry I couldn’t reach you until now, Jen let me borrow her phone, but you’re probably worried sick about me. I’ll make it up to you, I swear. Once I get back… I’m gonna kiss you so much. So much that my lips might get sore, and then you’d be able to scold me for going overboard ha… Seriously though, I miss hearing your voice, whether it's when you’re scolding me or your adorable laugh. I can’t wait to hear it, and see your face. I love you Ai <3 - Ren

Ren sends the text message, and lets out a sigh of relief as he meets up with Jen once more.

“Alright, you done?”

“Yeah, thanks for letting me use it. Wanna head back now?” Ren asks after handing back her phone.

“Hm… well I know that you still haven’t picked up a souvenir for your sweetie yet. And based on what you’ve told me about her tastes, I’ve got an idea on what to get her…”

Jen grabbed him by the arm and led him to a nearby shop that was still open. Scouring the shelves, their eyes eventually land on one particular plush. Something that fits the moniker of creepy AND cute, that Ai would approve of… a small, green, and round monster with one eye.

“Perfect.”

Ren bumps fists with his sister as their day comes to a close.

Notes:

Happy New Year, peeps! My first chapter of all my stories has arrived. This chapter just makes me want to go back to Disneyland... by myself this time. Experiencing all of these things is great, but I want the chance to go at my own pace and have a blast without being forced to go on thrill rides that I will freak out on. Seeing fireworks shows like Wondrous Journeys and Happily Ever After would be something I’d want to do the most. Also, buying things that I can’t find anywhere else. I selected the souvenirs for each Franchouchou member based on personalities and preferences, but for Junko I had to include her Japanese VA’s love of Baymax. He’s such a loveable marshmallow, and Junko would love him too! I initially wanted to choose Randall as Ai’s Monsters, Inc. plush, but Mike really added the “cute” factor of creepy-cute. Plus he’s a character who’s hard work and education in Monsters University would endear him to her. Anyways, this chapter was showcasing what Ren is like without Ai around, while also making him feel empty without her presence. Hopefully it managed to leave an impact on you all! Next time, we’ll catch up with Ai and Franchouchou to see how they’ll help with Ai’s lovesickness. Gonna try to finish and release it by the end of January, then make their reunion chapter to post on Valentine’s Day. For now, I’ll see you later, peeps! - Renegade Braveheart

RenAi: Sincere & Sparking Shousetsu SAGA! - RenegadeBraveheart (2025)
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