2026-06-09: Apologies And Problems
- Log: Apologies And Problems
- Cast: Ren Amamiya, Kanae Fuyuki
- Where: Shujin Academy Courtyard, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
- OOC Date: June 09, 2026
- IC Date: November 22, 2012
- Summary: Ren tries to take a nap, and Kanae runs across them while trying to be alone. Apologies spill out of her, and they notice that--but the two of them also get to talk for the first time in a long time. Morgana does not appear.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren really wishes they could get away with calling in sick to school, but they're too paranoid of retaliation and getting expelled for a triviality to dare. As it stands, they're really fortunate they have a deal with their homeroom teacher, or else they'd just get expelled for the triviality of sleeping in class instead.
It's been two days since Futaba's Palace was settled, and Ren is still exhausted. When lunch period comes, they abandon the classroom for an abandoned courtyard--being late November, it's too cold for most people to hang out outside--and lies down on one of the benches there for a nap.
Morgana naps with them inside their school bag, even though he can get away with just sleeping all day. That's the life of someone with the body of a cat and the face of a cat...
Either way, Ren is soon fast asleep, turned on their side to face outward, glasses folded atop their bag, one arm curled under their head for a pillow. Ren has always been good at falling asleep within seconds of settling in, and this is helping him now.
It might help a lot less if anyone comes by and bothers him, but there aren't many people who approach them anyway, so surely it'll be fine.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Kanae Fuyuki, of course, has no idea about Futaba's Palace. She wasn't there; she didn't have anything to do with it. She is, by her own will, not a part of the Wild Hunt.
But she still wants to be alone for a while. She made sure to give Touma his lunch earlier, but needed to go clear her head, so she went out into the chilly November air. She's in uniform still, of course, barely altered unlike some; her hair is down, as usual. And her eyes are distant. She steps quietly out into the middle ground, towards the vending machines, and...
At first, she doesn't see anyone. She isn't looking that hard. But the sound of the vending machine working might wake Ren, and then they'll find Kanae, having reached down to get her prize, looking at them with some surprise.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Kanae's biggest saving grace, really. Everyone in the Wild Hunt, in Ren's opinion, is an asshole (to greater or lesser degrees).
There is a clunk. It does stir Ren enough to crack one eye open, body a little tense; when they spot Kanae kneeling down for her drink, they mumble a low, "Mm."
Then they shut their eye again. They expect Kanae to ignore them and go along her day, so why sweat her presence?
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Clunk! And so Ren looks at her. But... ordinarily she'd just ignore him. But in the sort of mood she's in...
"...Sorry," Kanae says, and whether it's for waking them or for something else is not immediately clear. She picks up her drink, looks at it, and sighs, turning around to lean on the vending machine.
She looks up to the sky. "All that stuff they said about you..."
"It never was true, was it? You didn't change like Isabeau did. It was just Kamoshida trying to ruin yet another life."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Well. That's unexpected.
Ren cracks that eye open again when she apologizes; sees her lean on the vending machine, hears her sigh.
Then she launches into talk bout 'all that stuff they said about you.' Ren opens both eyes this time and, while they don't sit up just yet, they do watch her with those intense, serious eyes of theirs.
"...Something wrong?" they ask. If she's talking like this to them all of a sudden, it feels like something must be troubling her.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Kanae doesn't look back at Ren for long; she notices that intense, serious look of his, and hesitates after a moment, looking away.
"...Yeah," she says. "What's wrong is that I'm a coward."
"...I should've said something, back then. But I was scared. At first, that maybe it was like with Isabeau, and you really had changed while I was gone."
"...Then that you got Kamoshida's attention. I managed to get him to stop staring at me eventually, getting a boyfriend, but... I was always afraid he'd look my way again. That it wouldn't matter."
"Then I ran out of excuses, and I still didn't."
"So, I'm sorry."
"...I didn't expect to see you here, but since you're here, I should tell you that."
It's not everything, of course--but it's what comes to mind seeing Ren.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Huh.
Ren pushes themself up into a sit. To a certain extent, they think this is bullshit; Kamoshida had been long gone by the time the two of them ran into each other in Tokyo. However, Kanae acknowledges that much, and Ren continues to give her that level stare as they lean their wrists on their thighs.
Something ELSE wrong? they're tempted to say. She didn't go out of her way to approach them and say this; the two of them happened to meet. Still, she is taking the initiative to say it. They appreciate that much.
So: "Thanks," they reply. They could leave it at that, but... So she ran afoul of Kamoshida too, huh. Makes sense; she's pretty and an athlete. That would've put her in his proximity, even if she wasn't on the volleyball team, thank god.
"That sucks that Kamoshida harassed you too. Nobody should've had to go through that." They pause. "Are you doing okay now?"
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"...Right." She can't say 'you're welcome', since it would be weird in this situation, and she doesn't feel it was a good excuse. But still. Still...
"Thanks," she says. "He said my 'genes' might make me good at volleyball. It was stuff like that." A shake of her head. "I'm fine. I mean, I'm better than fine, mostly. Everything's good."
"...Except Isabeau's even more of a turbo bitch lately," she sighs. "...Sorry, I shouldn't..."
"Even after all that, you know? I thought... if I made trouble, went back and said something later, I'd end up like her. Alone."
"But you didn't, even though almost everybody avoided you. That's part of what made me think of it."
"...Of course, I ended up bugging you in your alone time, which was the same reason I came out here, but..."
"I still had to say it. It wasn't right."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"Gross," Ren says deadpan of Kanae's 'genes.' They're quite serious about it, though. However mixed their feelings about Kanae are, they are sincerely glad that her life has improved since his change of heart. That's why they and their friends did it, after all.
The mention of Turbo Bitch Isabeau Fontaine gets a brief, sharp snort. "It's fine," they reassure her. If they could share with her, they'd have a lot of things to say about Isabeau too. But they can't, so they don't.
Their eyes soften a bit; then they shrug. "Kamoshida had a lot of kids intimidated into silence. It didn't help that a lot of adults knew and didn't do anything to stop it." Kanae might acknowledge that this didn't include them, but they're not interested in tooting their own horn like that.
Besides, they actually did get convicted of assault. That they're innocent doesn't really matter--or at least, they don't expect it to matter to Kanae. There's no point in discussing it either way. Kanae might be apologizing, but she's apologizing on her schedule where no one but the two of them can see or hear.
"I can move," they reply of alone time, and indeed reach down to grab their bag and pull it up onto their shoulder. Morgana remains inside, out of sight, but there's a little green clover pin on one side. "Thanks for saying so. See you later, Fuyuki-san."
Fuyuki-san, not Kanae. In other words, they appreciate her apology, but this doesn't make them friends again. Why would she even want to be friends with them, when it might cost her the friends she's got now? They stand up and move to leave.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"Yeah. And of course, the staring..." She shakes her head.
At least they can all agree about how Isabeau is terrible. But still--Kamoshida was like that. "...But not you." She does say that. And well--Kanae doesn't know the details, and she'd still be pretty intimidated by the confession. But... when Ren moves, and she sees that green clover pin--no idea what it represents--
"Ah," Kanae starts. "...You don't have to. I mean, I'd like to talk a minute more, since... we're here."
"It's fine if you'd rather go, of course. I could stand to sit down a while anyway."
She pauses. "But..."
"I don't want to ignore you being around, anymore. Maybe I'm not as brave as you, but I don't have to be like that. And I'll tell my friends about... how things used to be."
"Either way, um... thanks. For hearing me out."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren pauses when Kanae invites them to stay and talk some more--more importantly, says that she'll stop ignoring them and speak up for them to her friends. They look back at her, expression neutral. They look away to consider it. Then they sit back down, bag set carefully down at their side.
"You're welcome." They rub the back of their neck, feeling a touch awkward. They were just assuming the worst of her. "So... what've you been up to lately?" they offer. If she wants to talk some more, that seems like a good enough topic to start with.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Kanae doesn't know there's a cat-shaped-person in that bag. ...This is probably for the best. She'd treat Morgana like a cat.
But that thought papers over a moment of anxiety for Kanae, who thinks Ren would be justified in just walking off, considering. When they don't, she lets out a breath she didn't quite realize she was holding. "Cool."
What has she been up to? "I'd say tennis, but... I actually got kicked out of practice yesterday for fighting with Isabeau again," she admits, glancing to the side a litle chagrined. "I had to make up the practice at home; we've got another meet coming up."
"Anyway, instead of practice I ended up seeing Pach Saw yesterday, at the theatre in Shinjuku. It's pretty good--I expected more jumpscares, but the director really forged a footprint of his own with his cinematic approach."
"And... I've got plans with Touma-kun later, though..." She sighs. "I might have to ditch after all."
"...How about you?" she asks.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Huh. She was really nervous about this, huh... Ren wonders again about her, this time with more heartfelt concern.
They get an idea when she mentions she was fighting Isabeau. "...oh?" If it was just yesterday, then... "What for?" A beat. "This time." Still, they nod. "It's frustrating when she shoves you off your rhythm, huh. Good luck with your meet."
The mention of Pach Saw gets them to sit up a little as they nod in interest. "I saw trailers for that. It looks good. I was thinking of asking one of my friends to see it with me."
Touma-kun... ... ... ....who is that? "To make up more tennis practice?" they ask instead.
The question reflected back at them is met with a shrug. "Part-timing, mostly."
(That "mostly" is doing a LOT of heavy lifting.)
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"She was being rude about the other members again--I convinced her to join up because we needed another strong player, but she gets mad that nobody practices as hard as she does--which is like, ridiculously hard. I want to succeed too, but I can't ask them to give up their social lives about it."
"It is. Thanks! ...I mean, usually it's fine, but... This time we knocked over the cooler."
Trailers! "Yeah? You should! Besides, movies are usually better with a friend."
But Touma... She flushes for a moment when she realizes she actually said something about that. "Oh, um. No, uh... girl stuff. Sorry, I wasn't thinking."
But part-timing. "Oh..." Part-timing. "That's cool. I guess it helps to have extra money, huh?"
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"Hm." Ren gives Kanae a skeptical look at the fact that she not only apparently went out of her way to get Isabeau to join the tennis club, but that Isabeau deigned to accept. Catty remark after catty remark shoots through their head; they voice none of them. Their neutral expression reasserts itself, and they remark, "When it comes to team games, being able to work well with others is also part of being a strong player."
Damn, though. They knocked over the cooler? Just how intense was that fight? Ren has to keep their expression schooled in neutrality to keep from snorting another brief laugh about it. Knowing Isabeau, it's unfortunately easy to picture, and Kanae doesn't back down from her either. You'd think she wouldn't want to be around someone that abrasive, even if she is a former friend, but... Ren knows a little something about being drawn to someone who gets on your nerves.
They tuck their hands into their pockets, where their smartphone hides, and think of how Akechi's still ignoring them.
"Yeah," they say aloud. "It's fun to have someone to talk to about it afterwards."
They watch her blush. Hm. Is 'Touma-kun' the boyfriend she mentioned...? They nod in silent acknowledgement.
She sure is apologizing a lot, though. Was she always like that...?
"Yeah," they agree. "Good for the movies."
And for making sure you won't be fucked if you end up homeless in the future. Ren doesn't mention that, naturally. It's kind of a bummer.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"I know, it was a bad idea. But we do win more than we used to," Kanae says, immediately a little defensive about the topic. "...But that's just it. That's what she doesn't get. In singles she does great, but in doubles... If she makes one more girl cry I'm going to--"
Pause. "Well, I guess I'm going to do what I already did," she says instead.
But indeed, Kanae is drawn to Isabeau, for reasons she can't quite explain.
"Right!" Kanae agrees. But they're right about who Touma is; unfortunately, since she still thinks of Ren as a boy, she'd probably die before explaining what's actually making her think of ditching for the day.
...And no. No, she wasn't always like that; Kanae has gotten a lot more withdrawn than she used to be in general, and a lot less prone to taking up space.
Kanae sure doesn't know about that part. It is a bummer! For her part, her trust fund ensures she can get by without part-timing... For the moment. And that's still a sore point with her aunt and uncle.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren gives Kanae another dubious look when she suggests that Isabeau making her teammates cry is a regular occasion. Once again, they think of sharp remark after sharp remark; once again, they choose silence, opting to simply nod.
Huh. Kind of feels weird to go back to being this reticent, and not in a good way. Ren bows their head for a moment.
Fortunately for Kanae, when she said she might ditch, Ren thought she meant the date, not school. Her sexy little secret, that may or may not be about sex... is safe. For now.
That doesn't stop them from worrying about her a little. It's never a good sign when someone outgoing becomes withdrawn. It can't be that she's changed naturally or she wouldn't be knocking water coolers over with Isabeau, and it can't be just Kamoshida or else she wouldn't still be like this months after his change of heart.
So they look back up at her. For a few seconds, they wrestle on if they should. Ultimately, they wonder quietly, "Did something... bad happen to you? Something bigger than what you already mentioned?"
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Maybe not totally regular, but not unheard-of. It's a problem! ...Doesn't happen to Kanae, of course; she'd never be caught crying about Isabeau.
She definitely meant the date--but it's the opposite of a sexy secret. She's thinking of ditching because of the same reason she has an empty pad wrapper in her purse.
But, Ren wrestles with a question, and eventually they ask it. Kanae blinks once--and opens her mouth, closing it again before she actually says anything. "I..."
She can't explain how many times she's almost died, or that her best friend turned on her because of a supernatural curse that was on her. She can't explain that the only reason her best friend came out OK after all is that she opposed some very scary, very competent people in how to solve it. And she can't explain a lot of other things.
"...It's just been hard living on my own," Kanae settles on instead. "I mean, it's not like my aunt and uncle wanted me around anyway, but Tokyo's a big place to be alone in. It's not so bad now that I have my boyfriend, but..."
"It was really rough, when I first came to Shujin. That's all."
That's true enough--and maybe more than she should say, but she feels she owes them a decent answer, even if she can't tell the whole truth.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
That's fair. There's a lot Ren can't explain either.
"Mm." Ren's gaze flicks down for a couple of seconds, before they nod. "I can relate."
They suspect she isn't telling them the whole truth--surely having difficulty living alone wouldn't be that damaging to her personality--but if she's not sharing, it's because she doesn't want to share.
They can relate to that part, too. They'll respect her privacy.
"I hope you've made some good friends here, at least," they add. "Makes it a lot easier."
They kind of suspect not there either, but they can hope.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Kanae wonders what Ren's situation is like. They have to be on their own--their parents sure wouldn't have moved out here. But... it feels a little too personal to ask at the moment.
Maybe she can tell them eventually. But right now, telling more people about 'that' kind of thing just puts them in danger if they even believe her to begin with.
"Thanks," Kanae says. "I have. ...I should trust them more. My boyfriend gets on me for being distant like that..."
A shake of her head. "But you seem to have, too. That's... good."
"Maybe one day I can be one again. ...For now, I guess I'd better go explain what I was thinking to him. ...I think I'll keep my plans after all, or at least, put it in his court."
She hefts her drink. "Thanks."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It's just as well Kanae doesn't ask. Ren would just give a minimum of details anyway, and that's normal for them. It took Kasumi months to learn they live in the attic over Leblanc, and she's easily the sweetest person they know. (Haru's sweetness is mitigated by her delight in bloodlust.)
They nod when she says she does, but that she should trust them more. Maybe that's her problem; maybe the problem is that her friends are less trustworthy than they would ideally be. Ren decides to take her on her word.
"Yeah," they say of their own friends. "They made things a lot easier than they would've been."
They don't remark directly on being friends with Kanae again. For now, they nod her off when she indicates she's going to leave. Good not to leave your boyfriend on read, they think, eyelashes dipping.
Once she's gone, they get back to napping. This time, they turn their back outwards.