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At a dock of a silent and calming beach, staring at the beautiful pink sunset, a girl sits. Her black hair is dancing with the wind, her purple eyes are seizing the sight.

And creeping behind her, sneaks a certain white fox who's silently approaching, unnoticed by the girl.

With the girl still distracted by the miraculous sunset, the fox takes his chance to succeed in his act of mischief. Behind her, he carefully and silently sneaks his hands just right above her shoulders.

"HEYO!" He pushes his hand onto her shoulders, causing the girl to yelp at the same time.

She turns around to him, pouting her lips as he chuckles.

"Ren, can you not? I could've fell, you know!" The girl complains.

"Ehe, sorry Aza, couldn't help it~" Ren giggles as he sits beside her, "What are you doing here anyways? Just looking at the sunset?" Ren asks, though the answer is pretty transparent for most.

"Well, what are you doing here?" She responds without answering.

"I didn't see you on the way home from school so I figured that you'll be here. This is your favorite place after all."

Aza sighs, knowing that his words didn't answer her question at all. But knowing Ren, who's now staring at her with a smile that are curved just the likes of puppies, it's best not to mention it.

Aside from the distracting flare of pink and purple hues the sunset sparks right in front of them, Ren notices that his friend is holding something tight in her hand; an old spyglass of some sort. It has a coat of iridescent, purple butterflies pattern that covers its black rod and scope. At a glance, it seems very mystical with it's iridescent appearance, changing colors with every tilt and bend made to it.

"Heh, you're playing pirates now? Let me see!" Ren requests ecstatically, not expecting his usually nerdy friend to have something as cool as a spyglass.

Azayaka denies his request. She keeps him away from reaching her possession with one hand pushing his cheek away, while the other holds it out further from him.

"No can do. This is my dad's. He'll kill me if this doesn't come back to him in one piece."

With that, Ren curves his lips in a bratty manner, "Bummer," He grunts as he leans his chin on his fist.

"Well, this is not what you expect anyways. It's a kaleidoscope."

At that, his ears perks up as he turns to her, "Huh? A what now?"

"A kaleidoscope. It's not like those usual toy ones. This one's more like a telescope, just that it'll make you see things differently, like when you ate a wild mushroom during that second grade field trip," She explains with a giggle.

"Don't mention that..." Ren requests, frowning his lips.

"Heheh... Well, this one is special. You see, this particular kaleidoscope is actually a remnant of an ancient kind of Fae technology. My dad said that it could detect traces of hidden magic too. So, that's why it's so precious. So much so I practically had to beg my dad to let me borrow it. Though I don't know if he actually trusts me with it or not."

Ren raises an eyebrow at the mention of her father. He had always seemed to be such a refined gentleman, though this was only based on the mere few times Ren actually saw him. He's been friends with Azayaka for years now, but her father just comes and goes, in and out of town. He just seemed... mysterious, "Oh speaking of your dad, he's a researcher, right? An archeologist?"

"Hmm... I don't actually know. But mom said that he is one of the most intelligent person she has ever met. So, who knows? I've seen some weird archeology-ish stuff like those squiggly blades from Mor' in his room though. But, aside from that, he does like to collect the usual antique stuff, so..." She explains far and beyond about her father.

"Huh, that's pretty cool."

After a giddy smile, Azayaka uses the device, positioning its peeping hole in front of her eyes as she closes her other. Within the few seconds of her using the object, she agape her mouth in a wide smile. Ren could only wonder what the world looks like under that scope.

"Hey, can I try?" Ren requests.

This time, Azayaka hums, nodding and smiling a gentle smile as she hands him the device.

As the waves ripple below them, he puts the device to its use.

And the next thing he sees is an overwhelming array of colors blaring right into his eyes as if a spotlight of every color possible were to be beamed right into them.

"Whoa," He flinches his eyes, pulling his head back, though soon he goes back into looking through the scope.

It was as if he's in some type of lucid dream, he had never used this kind of spyglass before. And certainly, he never once saw the world through the eyes of a fairy.

After the colors dims out a little, vivid butterfly wings start to rotate around his vision as he aims the scope around. Through the glass center, he sees the sun and the ocean circled by beautiful, iridescent patterns of ever changing colors as if hues of weaving auroras were to be kneaded as blankets for the sea and the sun to wear. It's all the same for all of the other objects around him.

It seems those colors he sees are the traces of hidden magical energy Azayaka had mentioned. As if rainbows itself were condensed in this one tiny rod, Ren found himself mesmerized, wowing at every sight he sees as chills fill every bits of his bones.

"So, pretty cool, right?" Azayaka mentions.

"Heck yeah it is," Ren exclaims as he looks around the docks with the device still attached to his eye. In wonder, he wows at every sight he can muster; pegasuses flying across the sea as they leave trails of rainbows, the tail of a sea leviathan splashing vivid colors in the distance as if the sea itself were made out of paint.

With the kaleidoscope, everything is absolutely hypnotizing.

"Hey, hey, Aza! You gotta see this!" He says as he continues to turn around and aw in wonder, though he doesn't glance at the girl.

And so, without him realizing it, seconds and minutes pass without a single sound.

Ren keep on looking through the glass with blissful ignorance, too hypnotized by the sight.

And when he turns the scope around to her direction with a giddy smile, he sees that she's no longer there.

Gone without any warnings, no sound, no footsteps, no nothing. Just the chilling shrills of the wind.

And soon, he senses a shiver of dread creeping up to his stomach.

Her sudden disappearance causes him to tighten his brow as he slightly agape his mouth. Slowly, his grip loosens without him noticing and, sure enough, his friend's magic spyglass soon slips out of his hands, "No!" He yells as he tries to catch it. Though when the sea splash its water onto his face, he knows that he already lost her precious object.

"Oh no... She's gonna kill me..." He weeps, putting his palms onto the side of his head.

But then, his ears perk at something. A hiss of the wind suddenly blows through them as it throws dust into his eyes. He closes them and rubs them a bit, but when he opens them, he finds himself now a lot taller with his tail a lot larger, standing in a quiet rural neighborhood of Sylvae.

With the roads silent and with the minimalistic, modern house complexes lifeless and empty, with the common, sky-blue parrots chirping as they latch themselves onto power lines that are spread across the streets and with the pink afternoon sky and the cold fog scourging themselves to be the only other witness, Ren finds himself in front of the house of his best friend.

In the distance, coming from the quiet sidewalk, two shadowy silhouettes approach slowly, soon revealing themselves to be little Ren and Azayaka in their grade school uniforms, walking side by side along the road.

"Aza~ you have a crush on Yamato, right? Right? Right?" The young Ren teases the girl with a cheeky, mischievous smile.

Hearing his words, Azayaka blushes as she pushes her bag to her face, "S-Shut up! Can we not talk about this?"

"Ehehe~ I knew it!" Ren giggles playfully, smiling to himself.

"Can you please keep it between us? If Yamato finds out... Then... It'll be so awkward..."

Ren only hums before cracking a victorious smile at her, "Don't worry Aza, You can trust me! And I can even set you up with him if you want!" Ren offers, still with that pure smile of his.

"I-I don't know... I think I'm too shy for him..."

"Heh, you're still worried about that? Come on! He's a good guy! I'm sure it'll be fine. And I can help you too! Like secretly signaling you what to say with signs like in those old rom-coms."

His playful, warming words flatters the purple- eyed girl, causing her to slightly blush, though he doesn't notice it, not even slightly, "I don't think that would work... But thanks."

"This dream again..." The audience of his own drama, adult Ren whispers to himself as the younger duo finally arrives in front of the girl's house; a simplistic, suburban-style house that sets it aside from its modernized cottage neighbors.

Azayaka steps towards her door with grade school Ren just watching her as she goes by.

In the background, the older Ren could only watch as his younger self carelessly let her in. But, of course, how would he know things would turn out the way it did?

"Please... Stop her..." He wants to screams, though his voice stays in his throat as if he's screaming underwater.

"Hey Aza!" His younger self calls in cue of what his older self is trying to yell.

"Hmm?" Azayaka glances back, stopping right in front of her door with her hand gripping the knob.

A pulse of short lived calmness hits spectator Ren though it soon crumbles just as easily as it arrived.

"We're still doing that assignment later, right?" Young Ren mentions.

"Sure thing. And, ooh! I'll ask my mom to make sakura mochi too! To have some later, okay?" Azayaka smiles.

"Yum! Ok then, see ya later," Young Ren says his goodbye before he starts to walk away, following the road towards the mist that surrounds his memory.

With his pupils and lips shaking, the older fox jumps and grabs onto his younger self's ankle. Though the memory's playback drags him along the concrete road as he begs his younger self to turn around and stay by her side only for him to continue moving without flinching, only walking on his path that had been set by his older self's memory.

A few seconds after, older Ren falls flat on his face, finally releasing his grip before he lets out a heavy sob as he clenches his fists tight.

'Goddamnit...'

As Ren rises up to kneel and opens his eyes, with the hope for this dream's ending, he finds himself in another memory. A worse one.

In front of him, he now sees a ragged wooden door that is covered with severe scratch marks. The door has a name tag that says; 'world's number one daughter'.

As the eerie creaks of the shattered window emanate, the dim moonlight allows him to faintly see his surroundings. He finds himself within a living room sprayed with both dry and fresh blood with its doors and windows shattered and books and furnitures scattered all over the floor.

As if the memory itself senses that Ren has realizes what's happening, the door in front of him opens, creaking slowly, just like the way he had once opened it.

But before anything can reveal itself, Ren closes his eyes, telling himself that there's nothing to see there, telling his curiosity that the sight he's forced to see is not worth the price.

Even with all that willpower, he still can't resist this unknown temptation to unravel his eyes. It's as if his memory itself is clawing his eyelids up with such brute forces, forcing him to experience his trauma all over again and again. Time and time again.

With no more power to resist the memory's temptation, he opens his eyes. The sight he sees... It is even more horrific than ever.

Within a dark, bloodied bedroom, a sight of horror awaits for only him; there lies a once lively and beautiful woman, only now her purple pupils are rolled to the back of her skull as her mouth stays agape, as if screaming a silent wail. Her lying wet on a puddle of fresh blood on the once warm and lively carpet floor, Ren is quick to recognize her as the mother of his best friend.

No... Why her? She was like a second mother to Ren. She was such a gentle soul; kindness was her only response to everything, even with the mischievous deeds he and Azayaka used to do. When other parents scolded her for letting her kids off with too much freedom, she'd always shrugged them off before telling them, 'Let them enjoy the brief moment of childhood'.

And now look at her; butchered as if she's just a farm animal.

Even if he had already witnessed her corpse many times within his haunted dreams, this particular moment turns his stomach upside down. It makes him fall onto the flood with pupils completely dillated as his furs jolt out.

Shivering, he hugs his knees as his fuzzy tail curls around him, trying to give the warmness it always gives to him, though it doesn't stop the coldness from creeping under his skin.

'God please... Make it stop...'

Ren pleads to his dream. He repeats that sentence over and over again, but only complete silence passes, that dreaded, long, harrowing silence.

...

...

...

...

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'Why? Why can't it just stop...'

...

...

...

...

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'If only I turned around...'

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...

...

...

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'Aza... I'm so sorry...'

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...

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...

...

...

"Ren..."

A mysterious voice calls out, fading and echoing so unhearably quiet.

'Huh...?'

...

...

...

"Ren.....!"

It calls once again, this time louder. Ren recognizes a faintly familiar voice, but doesn't quite know who it is.

'Who...?'

...

...

...

...

"REN!"

The voice of a certain vampire echoes directly into his ears, waking him from his seemingly endless nightmare. He jerks up on his bed, gasping with widened eyes as he looks around the room frantically.

He finds himself in his apartment's bed with Charlie, the pink eyed vampire, sitting on a chair beside him and looking at him with concern while, through the opened window, moonlight dims through accompanied by a cold breeze of air.

"Hey! Calm down! Lord... What were you dreaming about? I've never seen you like this before..." Charlie says with her hands holding his shoulder.

Ren huffs with widened eyes as he glances rapidly around the room until, finally, his blue eyes lock themselves onto the vampire's pink.

Without thinking, Ren wraps his arms around her, pulling her into his embrace. As he breathes frantically behind her neck, his sharp, straightened ears lay down, finding comfort in the cold temperature of her skin.

"W-wha!? What are you-" When she feels his pumping heart rate, she just... Sighs, hugging him back, accepting his embrace.

"It's okay... I'm here..." Charlie says, her tone forced and awkward.

Even then, he begins to sob, his tears wetting the crook of her neck.

The doorknob of his bedroom then creaks open. Slowly, the fragrance of marinara seeps into the room.

"Charls! The lasagna's ready!" A certain draconic's deep, brassy voice echoes from the kitchen into Ren's bedroom. Though after some minutes of silence, the lizard came to the door himself.

"I said... The lasagna's ready! If you, old hag, are not gonna eat, then I'll just-"

Charlie's glare is enough to shut him up. Ren is still wetting her shoulder, causing Niz's eyebrows to tilt in confusion, but just seconds after, as if realizing something, the lizard grits his teeth before punching the door frame in frustration.

"Fucking... God... That damn chief!" Niz curses out.

"Quiet!" Charlie sternly demands.

Niz, unlike his usual self who is always opposed to what Charlie says, complies for the first time. Though he continues to curses and grits his teeth silently in the background.

After a brief pause, Ren feels comfortable enough to release himself from Charlie as he wipes his tears.

"I'm okay now..."

"What happened? What were you dreaming about..?" Charlie questions.

"Hey, give him some space, will ya!" Niz warns the vampire, though she ignores it with a click of her tongue.

"No, Niz.. It's okay..." Ren says before he casually stands up from his bed, stepping past the draconic into the kitchen and wiping off the rest of his tears on the way while he sniffs back his overflowing snots.

"Oh, you guys made some lasagnas? Damn, it smells good..."

At Ren's covert tone, Charlie and Niz look at each other with tilted eyebrows. This situation was not what the lizard expected after the mess that the chief made.

It was after lunch break when he had taken a stop at the Intelligence Agency to deliver some paper to the chief herself. It was in the chief's office where he had discovered Ren lying unconscious on the floor with a certain green, floating guide and a masked jester drinking tea so casually together.

"Ren! W-What the hell happened here!?"

"Ah, he shot himself with a stunt bullet. He's a Kitsune, so he'll survive."

"..."

"Probably."

"WHAT!?"

The stunt that the chief had pulled was beyond questionable, but Niz had been quick to question and act. The doppelganger managed to gave him an actual coherent summary of the situation; basically, she made him do the old Russian roulette and he lost.

What a magnificent leader to an organization made to protect the billions of innocent lives, entrusted to them by the deities themselves.

Niz had managed to keep his cool and had quickly taken him to the hospital. Luckily, he had suffered virtually no injuries aside from a bruise from the stunt bullet itself, as well as probable migraines after he would awaken. Welp, things might've been worse.

Then, he ends up here with the old vampiric hag by his side, both equally confused on what's happening right now.

They follow Ren's footsteps to the kitchen, seeing him already grabbing a plate for himself.

"You guys don't mind if I eat some, right?" Ren says with little to no sadness left. Though his eyes retain some red veins in each of their corners.

"No! Eat all you want! You can even finish the whole thing if you want to!" Niz answers with a fatherly tone.

Ren hums in response, adding spoons of the fancy meal Niz just cooked into his plate, without any shame whatsoever. Who would blame him though? The lizard is surprisingly a good cook.

"Psst," Charlie hisses.

"Hmm?" Niz glances.

"Are you sure he's... Uh... Well? What happened to him? Do you know anything that might have caused him to, uh... Cry like that?" Charlie softly whispers not to disturb Ren's peaceful dinner.

"Well... One, he shot himself in the head. Maybe that's why? I don't know, man... Why don't you go ask him?"

"Wha? No! You ask him!"

"God, you fucking old hag... Okay, okay, fine!"

"You know you guys are right next to me... Right?" Ren suddenly says, causing the two to slightly jump.

But seeing his friends surprised with how he had cried rainfalls just now, he just sighs as if hit by a sudden realization.

"Huh... I figured maybe this is the best time to tell you guys..." Ren says as he coils his fingers together, looking down unsurely and softly.

As he's about to start, it seems like the draconic has another question to ask.

"Ren... Are you... Gay?"

The room falls silent after the lizard's intrusion. The two others are glaring at Niz with confusion from both sides.

"No..?" Ren says, equally as confused as Charlie.

Charlie then smacks the back of Niz's head with all of her vampiric power, almost knocking him straight to the floor.

Though after a brief argument with each other, his two friends then join him, both sitting at the table, ready to hear him.

And so, he starts.

"So, when I was a kid I met this girl. She was my best friend. My only close friend, actually..." He says, rubbing his thumbs together, "Her name was Azayaka, and she was the sweetest and the kindest girl I've ever met. And you know how Kitsunes are... Badly treated back in Sylvae, right? Yeah, she's a Dark Fae, and she more or less got the same treatment as me. So, I guess we both just... Relate because of that," With a soft sigh, he relaxes his ears as he leans on his chair.

"She was nice... And kind to me when others were not. And, I guess... I was the same way to her too. Ah, good old times..."

Charlie and Niz looks at each other for a moment, raising an eyebrow. Though, they soon catch back to Ren.

"But I'm getting off topic here. So I'll just get to the point. So, this one night, when we're like... Maybe twelve or thirteen and in grade school, we decided to do some school assignments at her house after dinner at eight PM. But when I got there, I found the inside of her house all messed up, like it got hit by a tornado. And I found her mom's dead body in horrible condition. And I... Didn't find her anywhere and it remains that way till this day. Not even the Sylvae's police had found her yet."

"What trips me up is that... When we were going home together at like, six or something, things were just fine and dandy. So, I figured something must've happened immediately after I... Left her."

"It's strange, isn't it? For the longest time I thought it all happened because of me. When in reality... I... I Really got nothing to do with it... But if only I turned around and checked on her, maybe if I wanted to borrow a pen or some notes for studying... Then, things might've been different," He swallows a spit as her purses his lips, "From that day onward, I kept having this dream of that same exact moment... All over again and again. I blamed myself so much when I shouldn't because of it..."

"So much so that I almost... Ended it."

Charlie slightly gasps with her eyes agaped while Niz only stares blankly in silence.

"But... I had this feeling that... She's still out there... Somewhere. And I came here with the intention of finding her..."

A small window of silence passes, with Ren's breath of relief ending it.

"So yeah, that's basically it. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk," Ren humors at the end, with no one laughing, though he still shows his glossy eyes about to tear up once more.

"Ren... I- Gosh... You went through all that? You're not thinking about that kind of stuff anymore, right..?" Charlie blinks with concern plaguing her voice.

Ren rubs his lips together, avoiding eye contact with her by looking down at the floor, before he quietly and unsurely answers.

"Welp, honestly... I don't know..."

Another quiet pause then fills the blanks, before one of the three, Niz, suddenly slams the table.

"!!!"

Charlie flinches while Ren stays silent as the draconic slowly rises up from his seat.

"You... How could you..." The lizard growls with his fists clenched, looking down before he glares at Ren, who only stares at the table blankly and silently.

"HEY! LOOK. AT. ME."

"Niz, calm down!" Charlie says, grabbing the draconic's muscular arm only for him to push her off without any struggle.

He ignores more of her pleas as his anger manifests itself into an aura that covers his whole body and ears. He then grabs the fox's collar, lifting him up as his eyes glare at him.

"You goddamn coward..."

Without a warning, the lizard punches the fox's face, knocking him out of his chair and onto the floor while the vampire could only spectate from the sideline.

"Well use your GODDAMN brain! Why the fuck would you end it when you aren't the one to blame!? Why kill yourself when you still have people that care for you!?"

"You fucking coward! Yeah i just said that! Come change my mind and fight me!"

Niz's furious words echo throughout the apartment and beyond like a dragon's roar, reminiscent of his ancient bloodline.

Still recovering, Ren stays defeated on the floor, wiping off the little blood that he spewed from the punch and only moving back as Niz approaches with heavy footsteps.

"NIZ, STOP IT!" Charlie's demands remained futile. She moves in front of the lizard only to get pushed away to hit the drywall with a simple swipe of his forked tail.

After Niz reaches the still recovering fox, he once again grabs his collar. He lets out his furious breath as he smacks his forehead onto the fox's, both with gritted teeth.

"And... That girl you like so much... SHE'S STILL WAITING FOR YOU!"

And with that, something sparks within the fox.

He growls back at the draconic as his once round pupils turn to thin slits. His ears fold themselves back as his tail puffs in aggression.

"I've never said that... I gave up on myself or her... You fucking jackass..." Ren whispers between his growls before he tightly grabs the wrist of Niz's arm.

The lizard only growls before he clenches his fangs even more, "WELL FUCKING PROVE THAT!"

And at that, the fox smirks.

Without a warning, he sends out a thunder-imbued palm to the center of Niz's chest; part of a draconic's body that's unprotected by their dragon-like scales, thus causing Niz to releases his grip as he gets blasted away to the other side of the kitchen, hitting the drywall with a loud thud as blue electric particles faintly follow his crash.

"Even if finding her is impossible... Even if she turned to someone I don't know anymore... Even if she's not even in this world anymore..."

"I would NEVER... Give up on her..."

As swirls of blue, wave-like energy hover around him, Ren unveils his tails; three slithering and large snow-white tails emanating a dim blue glow, displayed wide like a peacock intimidating its predator.

Feebly rising from the ground, Niz smiles with victory, coughing up some blood as he prepares his clash with Ren.

The sharp tip of Niz's forked tail pulses menacing red, emitting a crimson glow across the dim kitchen as crystal-like blood pumps itself into it, sharpening it into a huge claymore. He lifts the predatory tool like a scorpion preparing to lash its stinger, "HAH! BRING IT ON THEN, FOX!"

Once both of their aggression break through their boiling point, a miniature rain pours down within the apartment, distracting them both from each other.

Just on the sideline, in front of the stove where the fire detector is located, glares Charlie back at the two as her hand holds a lit match to the fire detector, though now extinguished from the pouring water.

"God! Is it that hard for you both to listen to me!?" Charlie yells.

Without any words from both of the boys, Charlie approaches Niz who only silently stares before she pinches and pulls his right ear without a warning, "O-Ow! What the hell are you doing you old hag!?"

Ignoring his complaint, she drags him towards Ren before doing the same to his ear, "Ow! Hey!"

The vampire then drags them both to the wet couch, sitting them beside each other and glaring at both of them as she crosses her arms together, "Now... Was that necessary?"

With the sprinkler stopping, Ren and Niz both huff away at each other.

"Speak up!" Charlie pushes just like an actual mom would, though both still stay silent to her dismay, "Let me repeat that. Was trying to kill each other necessary?"

"No..." Ren answers quietly while Niz rolls his eyes.

"Indeed. Now, I'm gonna go dry myself and when I come back, I want to see you both already apologized to each other. But, most importantly, I want to see you both... Civilized," with a huff, the vampire grabs her wet, fancy designer purse as she adjusts her blonde hair into a high ponytail. Then she walks out of the apartment, stomping the floor as she does so.

Now, there's only two left in the small and cheap living room; Ren and Niz accompanied by a lingering and excruciating sense of awkwardness between them.

Ren had always thought of Niz as someone who doesn't care about anyone but himself ever since the first time they had met in tenth grade. He was always such a loud, cocky and rude musclehead that only followed his own will. That made Ren question why he was friends with him at some point, but, of course, now, Ren was proven wrong.

He didn't expect the lizard to care or to change enough to be willing to literally beat some senses into him. Ren couldn't help but feel guilty. All these years, he thought of Niz... Wrongly.

This influx of emotions is conflicting within his mind. It all just feels wrong.

"Sorry."

Ren's ears perk up to Niz's uncharacteristically soft voice, prompting his glance.

"That I went too far... I guess," He adds as he looks away from Ren.

Ren let out a loose breath before smiling behind Niz's back, "It's all good... I know you meant well... And your punch was pretty good too."

"Heh, your magic shit is not bad either."

"It still stings, doesn't it?"

"Shut up."

"Heh."

"..."

"..."

"Hey... About that girl you're searching for..." Niz starts after another round of silence, "Maybe I can help... Since I'm close to the chief... Kinda."

Hearing that, Ren widens his eyes as his tail wiggles with excitement, "You're not joking... Right?"

"No, I'm just teasing you, my dude."

A brief moment of silence occurrs between them as Ren's expression transforms from a hopeful precious bean to a disappointed mother.

"Wha? Of course not! Why the fuck would I joke around about that? I know this is very important to you... And, uh... I want to help... Seriously."

Ren let out a loose breath again, aware that he should've seen that obvious sarcasm coming.

"Sorry... It's just that... Nevermind," Ren pauses a little before continuing, "Thanks, but... I'm really burned out from this topic right now. Maybe we can discuss this tomorrow? At the agency? Oh, speaking off, did I get accepted? I remembered the Russian roulette game, but... Still, I don't know if I... Got in or not..."

Niz closes his eyes as he crosses his arms, his lips pursing itself unsurely, "Don't worry about that. The chief said that you're now in her branch which means you'll be working directly under her. Don't know if that's good news or not. Also, Vivie's alive somehow. That's good, I guess," He leans back to the sofa, looking up to the ceiling, "Also... What do you think about the chief? Considering she had made you... Shoot yourself..."

"I mean... She did gave me a chance to back out, so... And I made the choice myself. But in the end, it all worked out, didn't it?" Ren explains with only the faintest sign of anger colliding with his words.

"I guess so..."

"..."

"Wait... How am I still alive..?"

"Am I dead!? Is this the afterlife!?"

Niz falls silent before he scoffs out loud, "Pfft... Calm down, dude... Don't worry, the bullets she used are not real. They're just stunt bullets."

"Ah..."

A few minutes of quietness passes. Ren decides to get back to eating, though the lasagna Niz cooked was now filled with water. Luckily, he kept a bowl of leftover yogurt mix in his fridge. Smelling the smell of honey and strawberry, Niz quickly joins him.

They both start talking as they eat. Niz tells Ren all the crazy stuff he had seen in the city and both laugh at each other's jokes like nothing bad just happened between them. So much so that they didn't realize Charlie was already seated at the same table with her clothes and belongings already dry.

"Aww, look at you two. Already laughing like this... Apologies? Check. Being civil? Uncheck. Go take a bath or something, you two."

"Fuck taking a bath."

And so, Niz's secret guide to body odor has been revealed to all with Ren nodding along with his denial, the reason being that both of their tails are too much of a hassle to wash, though they always stay clean without getting smelly somehow.

"Lord... So uncivilized."

"..."

"So... You guys wanna watch some movies or something?"

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