Chapter 1 – Faith in a Fool


4/9

The bell chimed, the glass door opened to Café Leblanc. The elder-looking owner of the café noticed the sound of an arrival and closing of the door as a young man entered.

The owner had sat on one of his cafe stools; he had been reading the newspaper. He placed it on the café's counter and turned his full attention to the young man.

"Today's the day isn't it…"

The Café owner uttered to himself, the young man eyed the appearance of the older man, a rolled pink sleeved shirt with a striped brown apron. He then inquired about him...

"Are you Sojiro Sakura? If you are, please take care of me…"

The young man had sounded serious in his tone, the owner was quite befuddled by his own expectations. He honestly thought the young man would look more thuggish; He seemed like an average boy who wore his school uniform casually, frizzy black hair on his head.

"Uhuh... So you're the guy, right? Well, let's get this over with. What was your name again?"

Sojiro placed a hand to his chin with inquiry, and the young man answered him.

"Ren Amamiya, mister."

The young man had a country twang to his words, he was a boy from outside of Tokyo.

"Alright then, let me show you where you'll be staying."

The cafe owner led the young man from the country to the back of the vintage-looking Café. Four booths aligned the left side. To its right side, the counter with coffee siphons and kettle on top wrapped around a large shelf of assorted coffee bean canisters. A television that hung was playing near the back on the bathroom wall above a sink and to its left was a worn blue fridge.

"So what do you think? Your mother sent some of your things earlier for you."

Sojiro held a peculiar smirk to Ren as they had stepped into the attic of the Café.

It was dusty, household junk had piled up all over, there was a desk covered by a small tarp, a book shelf filled to the brim with older literature, and a sorry excuse of a bed in the corner near the attic windows; the bed was just a mattress and a pillow, all held up by milk crates. A familiar cardboard box sat right in the middle of the attic.

"Well, it's very big."

A somewhat jovial Ren voiced his opinion with some sarcasm.

"I know it's a bit cluttered, it's up to you to clean it up, though I gave you some sheets for your bed."

The Café owner added, placing his hand on his beard while he eyed the young man.

"You do understand the situation you're in, right? I know about your probation and it's my job to watch you. I'll throw you out if you cause any trouble for me, got it?"

Sojiro's tone was serious, although the young man looked drained rather than taking his words to heart.

"Got it."

The country boy answered tiredly, the owner of Leblanc let it off thinking it may have been a long trip for him.

"The Café is still open so try not to make too much noise. I'll meet with you again when I'm done."

After his small lecture to Ren, The Café owner headed down stairs to continue work in the café. Leaving the young man alone in the attic.

"Well, guess it's time to clean up…"

Ren proceeded to organize his new living space in the attic; fanning the drapes of the windows, removing all the books from the wooden shelf to free up space, removing all sorts of miscellaneous household equipment, mopping the wooden floor. After changing out of his uniform into some casual wear, he then shoved his cardboard box of clothes and necessities into another shelf near the stairs leading down…

By the evening, The country boy had shaped up his new room to live for a whole year in Tokyo. He heard the sound of footsteps coming up from the stairs, Sojiro had finished his business hours. As the owner stepped into the attic, he examined the place with a hand on his chin, nodding in surprising approval of the boy's effort.

"You know not half bad, I heard some noise coming from here but I didn't think you'd be cleaning."

The young man held a weak smile for Sojiro and chimed in on his own effort.

"Ah you like it? I worked my ass off and threw some junk out that window, convenient there's a dumpster there."

A smug Ren with his hands in his pockets, turned himself toward the attic window. The owner started contemplating all the things he must have thrown out. The owner of Leblanc led out an audible annoyed sigh. The kid probably threw out some valuables he left up here, though he could only blame himself for bringing in a troublesome kid.

"Alright listen up, tomorrow on Sunday we're heading to Shujin School to get your stuff for your first day. I'm closing up shop, and don't mess with anything, just head straight to bed."

After another lecture, the owner made his way out of the attic, the country boy called to him as he reached the top of the stairs.

"Sure, mister. One question, uh where do I wash my uniform for tomorrow?"

Sojiro thought for a minute, could have sworn they usually give students a spare; the school may already be unwelcoming to this kid on probation.

"In the back streets of my café, near a bathhouse with a vending machine. You can't miss it, I'll give you this window of time to get it done, now better get moving..."

He held a smug smirk as he uttered those words. It was somewhat amusing to see the young man scramble to get his uniform and dash out of the café to the laundromat.


4/10 Leblanc

Ren stood in his room early in the morning, he wore his clean Shujin High uniform rather casually, wearing a white long-sleeve button up under his black school blazer with Shujin's emblem on its breast. The number 2 button on the blazer's collar indicating his second year of high school. Sojiro was in the café and made his way up the stairs to meet the kid he agreed to take care of.

"You ready? let's get this over with, I rather not use up my Sunday. You should button up that jacket and fix your hair, it's better if you don't stand out."

The country boy noticed immediately that Sojiro dressed rather formally for the occasion, keeping the pink shirt with a white striped suit accompanied by a spiffy fedora. He answered him.

"I like dressing a certain way, don't wanna be too stiff with that. I may actually stand out more. You're dressed like you're going on a date by the way."

The country boy placed his hands in his pockets, looking rather amused by Sojiro's attire.

"It's my usual. Well then suit yourself, it's not my problem. I'll take you all the way to school just for today, better have your school pass in your hand next time."

Sojiro closed Leblanc, and the two made their way to his small yellow cabby car in a nearby parking lot just outside the backstreets. After the car trip, the two were standing at the school gate of Shujin.

"This is your school, Shujin. Again, try not to cause any trouble for yourself or others while you attend. We need to head to the faculty office."

Sojiro gestured toward the entrance of the main building. The two walked inside, Ren noticed the hallways of the school were pretty clean and the lockers looked like they were brand new.

"Prep school, huh? Much different from back home."

The country boy looked rather curious of the place as they made their way to the stairs leading up to the second floor, though Sojiro needed him to mind his own business.


Faculty Office

"He'll be living under your care for the school year, correct, Sakura-san?"

The stern principal sat at his desk of his office and inquired to the caregiver, standing by him was a female teacher with a yellow striped shirt and big curly hair.

"That's right."

Sojiro answered, Ren was standing with him. Looking around the place with much curiosity, it made the principal nervous.

"Just so we are clear on the written terms, if he causes trouble for our students, staff or the outside he will be expelled."

The principal recapped on the terms regarding Ren's situation to his guardian. He let out a small tired sigh.

"Understood."

The country boy answered a bit dejected to the principal of Shujin, not letting his warnings get under his skin. The female teacher stood forward to the pair to introduce herself.

"My name is Sadayo Kawakami, I'll be your homeroom teacher for classroom 2-D, Here's your student handbook and id. Please report to me first thing tomorrow…"

Kawakami placed Ren's credentials and handbook on the wooden desk, the young man took them up with his hands and into his pockets.

"If we all understand each other, excellent. Welcome to Shujin High School, Mr. Amamiya."

Despite the greeting, it was clear by the plastic smile of the principal the staff were never willing to accept him into Shujin unless the court ordered them to…

The two sat in Sojiro's car as traffic on the route home began to pick up, impeding their movement. The car's radio chimed in:

"A subway accident has occurred today, the train car derailed as it arrived at its next station, injuring multiple people, thankfully no reported fatalities. There may be expected delays for all service routes for the time-being starting tomorrow."

"Another accident? God traffic is not moving at all! You're taking the train the next day, so I hope you know your route to school since there might be delays."

Sojiro had voiced his frustration to the country boy from the driver's seat, watching the other cars ahead.

"Got it."

Ren answered unenthused, he seemed to have realized that he didn't have a fresh start in the city like he hoped long before.

"You don't speak too much, do you? What do you think of school, think you can handle it?"

Sojiro honestly wondered what the boy in the passenger seat was thinking of Shujin.

"Eh, we'll see."

Ren didn't want to get anyone's hopes up now, thinking people won't let go of the past. His guardian was only annoyed by the boy's tone.

"Man even if I got paid by your family to take care of you, I still wonder what I'm in for. Sheesh, there's been all sorts of accidents as of late. I heard on the news that two girls were almost hit by a truck last month. Don't get yourself killed."

Sojiro voiced his concern for the boy in his own way. Though Ren didn't want any of his pity.

"I'll watch my step."

The country boy responded indifferently to his words, his guardian again grew more annoyed with his attitude.

"You know what they said back there, any trouble from you and your life is over, you'll be back in juvenile hall, I don't care what happens but just don't poke your nose into people's business or drag others down with you."

Sojiro was visually angry with him, Ren clearly noticed his raised voice and decided to properly respond to not incite any more friction between them.

"I'll try my best to keep my nose down."

Ren answered quietly to his caregiver. The trip home was silent from then on.


4/11

Ren with his uniform, came downstairs in the early morning for school, it seemed that his guardian was preparing to open Leblanc soon.

"Morning, I made you breakfast before business hours start, so eat it quick before you're late to school."

Sojiro was behind the counter, cleaning up to prepare for the work day. The country boy approached the café's counter to find some peculiar choices of food the owner of Leblanc had prepared.

"Coffee and Curry? An odd pair don't ya think?"

Ren looked curiously at the plate of spicy-looking curry and black coffee on the middle of the café counter.

"Well, you can't really complain with free food, now sit down."

He took a seat on the café stool and removed his hands from his pockets to eat the meal. As he ate the curry, he noticed a very distinct flavor but also spicy aftertaste, it was very good. The coffee was roasted expertly; the owner was no slouch.

"How was it? Full of energy?"

Sojiro questioned the young man with a smirk, he lit a quick cigarette to smoke.

"Pretty delicious, thank you, sir."

Sojiro nodded in approval. Ren got up from the counter and headed to the door of the café. He seemed to have enjoyed the food.

"Good, remember what I said yesterday, don't do anything to stand out. Welcome to city life, country boy."

Sojiro gave a farewell to Ren before putting out his smoke, the young man was off to Shujin.

On the way to school, heavy rain began pouring all over the city. After getting out of the subway station, Ren took shelter at a store front near the direct route to school. He checked his phone for the weather later as he did not bring an umbrella, students of Shujin were passing by in haste. Suddenly, someone took shelter in the same spot with him, a young girl with a second year Shujin uniform. The country boy watched as she took the hood off of her white sweater that was under the school blazer. Revealing her big blonde pigtails, she was beautiful, she noticed the stare from him and gave a small smile.

"Uh… You're staring too much, you know…"

The light-skinned girl commented with a gentle tone slightly amused by him.

"Sorry, I just noticed some stuff in your teeth, miss. Probably some sweets you had."

The young man answered her rather bluntly, which caught her off guard.

"H-HUH…"

The young girl turned herself away from Ren to frantically check with a small mirror she had. Suddenly, a male Shujin student with spiky blond hair ran to the same spot for shelter, also trying to get out the rain. He wore a bright yellow t-shirt under his school blazer.

"Shit, this rain is really coming down… Hm? Who's this guy, Takamaki?"

The vulgar sounding male student gave a questioning look to Ren, who seemed to be just minding his own business, trying not to pay mind because he did not seek trouble from anyone.

"S-Some guy I just met."

Ann was quick to answer the vulgar boy, still checking herself.

"Uh, what's with you? Whatever, hey man. My name is Ryuji Sakamoto, I haven't seen you around, you a second-year?"

The spikey-haired blonde became curious about the guy, his arms crossed with a slouch. He seemed new to the school.

"I'm a transfer, I started today matter of fact. Ren Amamiya."

Ren answered as formally as he could, the vulgar boy noticed the twang in his voice.

"Man, your accent's weird."

He commented rather bluntly, Ann snapped at Ryuji after finishing her checkup.

"Like your Japanese is so proper! Don't mind him. My name is Ann, Ann Takamaki."

Ann returned her gaze to Ren with a smile for him once more. The country boy was only amused by Ryuji's reaction to her words, he held a smirk on his face.

"A pleasure to you both, seem to know each other pretty well."

The country boy commented on how Ryuji and Ann interacted with familiarity.

"You can say that."

Ann added somewhat dismissively, Ryuji was still panicky from earlier.

"H-Hey I didn't mean anything by it! Anyways, this shitty rain is coming down real hard, we might be late to class! God, I hate today…"

The spikey-haired blonde seemed frustrated, though Ren was only amused by his reaction after Ann had snapped at him.

"Well, I won't be. Thankfully I have my sweater, See ya at school. Oh and uh, try not to get sick! Ciao!"

A teasing Ann quickly put her hood back up and began walking her own way to Shujin, leaving the two boys alone.

"Wh-What! Ahh well there she goes, guess we can't wait out either, let's go. I know a route to keep us of the rain, there's some alleyways we can cut through."

Ryuji faced toward the direction on the way to school as well, he began walking in the rain quickly.

"I'm thankful to you."

Ren uttered his gratitude to his newly-made friend for helping him out, even the small praise got a small laugh from him. The country boy proceeded to follow him into the narrow alleyways of a few buildings near the school.

As they walk through a certain alleyway, they overheard unnerving noise to their left. Down another dark alley just off by a few buildings from the school entrance.

"Huh? you hear that, it sounded like someone crying in pain."

Ryuji observed the alleyway with a troubled look. Ren stood behind him closely and gritted his teeth, this could be trouble. Ryuji looked closer as the rain kept the source of commotion obscured. His eyes widened at what he was seeing, a fellow male student being beaten viciously to the ground by a group of four muggers in an opening behind a building, the men were punching and kicking him in the face, leaving him bloody from the nose and under his eye.

"O-Oh shit! that's Mishima! Assholes are beating the shit out of him!"

Ryuji and Ren watched in horror as the muggers assaulted the male student from a small distance, they needed to act fast to save their classmate, one thug stomped the helpless student's ankle, the young man shouted at his attacker to stop, another eyed his pockets, Mishima's wallet was visible to them.

"We can't just sit here and watch him get robbed, we have to do something now!"

The spikey-haired blondie was panicking at what to do; Ren became increasingly nervous of the situation; his probation was on the line if he directly involved himself. He then noticed the blonde boy inching closer to heading towards them.

"Sakamoto, we can go get help. We shouldn't get ourselves in trouble, I-"

The former delinquent tried holding him back, but an angered Ryuji shrugged off his grip on his shoulder.

"Well fuck it, you can go and get help, I'm going to help him right now!"

The spikey blonde-haired boy darted off down the alley to confront the assaulting men. Ren voiced his frustration audibly of being afraid to involve himself, but…

"Goddamnit, here we go."

Ren looked around quickly for anything to use against the muggers, he noticed a secured bike visible from a rack some little ways down the same alley. He quickly made his way to it and kept an eye out for anyone walking by. Flicking his wrist, an improvised lock pick came out from under his sleeve... One of the men from the group picked up and held Mishima by the collar.

"Hands off him you bastard!"

Ryuji came close to the thug and shouted in annoyance, the thug then pushed the beaten Mishima down before the blonde kid, the gang of men started to focus their sights on the brave idiot they see defending the weakling. Until suddenly and without warning, a large red sports bike came hurling at the men from above, hitting two and leaving one stunned temporarily… The country boy came running towards him and Mishima.

"Huh? WOAH!"

The spikey blonde was stunned by what happened, the bike had gone over his head like a dirt bike doing an awesome stunt. Ryuji tried saying something about what just happened.

"Shut up and go!"

Ren shouted at him to focus on getting them out of here. The country boy quickly helped Mishima try to stand, the boy was visibly battered and bruised in his face and arms…

"R-Right, come on Mishima!"

Ryuji aided Ren and the three made a run for it, Mishima was straggling behind but the two made sure he kept with them down the alley out of view of the men. The trio reached the previous alley and kept going.

"Sons of bitches!"

One of the thugs shouted at the boys running away and tried giving chase, the boys got away. After getting on the path school which was under a minute walk away, they gathered to contemplate on Mishima's well-being.

"Th-Thanks, Sakamoto and uh…"

The battered male student didn't know the name of the man who saved him from the muggers.

"Amamiya, you alright?"

Ren worried about his condition, closely inspecting his face, still bleeding from under an eye. The lickings Mishima received weren't very pretty to say the least from his view.

"W-Well, I only cried a bit. I-I think I'm okay, I didn't lose my wallet at least…"

Mishima uttered to them in pain from the mugging he took, the two did not judge him for his words.

"Well, that's good. You look like shit though, Mishima. Get yourself fixed up at the nurse, I can take you."

Ryuji chimed in bluntly but it was clear that he cared in his tone, intending to help his fellow classmate more than he already did.

"I'll be okay, if I'm seen walking with you, y-you might get in trouble…"

Mishima noted, Ren thought for a moment of what he meant by those words. Ryuji was probably another troublemaker like himself, it's better for them to not come into school together.

"Thanks Mishima, Sakamoto and I will wait a bit. You take care of yourself and avoid taking these short cuts from now on…"

Ren voiced his own concern for Mishima, the weakened boy nodded in agreement and slowly began walking to school on his own, it was still raining out. Ryuji voiced his astonishment of Ren's quick thinking.

"Damn Amamiya, didn't think you'd throw that bike so hard at them, you really saved Mishima back there…"

"Keep your voice down. We should get going too…"

A stern sounding Ren decided to focus on getting to school now, though he may be already slightly late to school…

"R-Right. I'll see you after school then."

A dumbfounded Ryuji added as Ren began walking away on the path. Ryuji followed him closely. The two boys parted ways as they entered Shujin. As soon as the former delinquent walked into the hall from the foyer, a heavyset male teacher made passing comments towards him.

"Late to class the first day, don't you care about being reformed? This behavior is probably a sign of how you will be like. Sheesh, boy."

As he spoke, Ren continued walking as if not hearing his words at all. He then headed up the stairs to the second floor, where he met with Kawakami in the faculty office.

"There you are, you missed most of the first period you know! You were given fair warning yesterday; will you pull yourself together? *sigh* anyways, let's get you introduced to the class."

Kawakami was tired, the two left the office and headed toward classroom 2-D. After explaining some of his situation with a small excuse for his absence, the female teacher assigned him near the back of the classroom. As Ren made his way toward his seat, he heard the whispers about him from other students:

"Is that him? I heard about the rumors online! He's scary as fuck."

"They say he stabbed the guy, then tried taking his car!"

"Why is he here? This is an elite college prep school not a place for trash like him!"

"I heard he also stole ivory from poor African Elephants and sells it!"

"What…"

Ren briefly noticed Ann Takamaki just before his own seat; the light-skinned girl looked down casted by something on her mind. Ren didn't think too much of it. More whispers came from the other students as the second period began.


After School

As the country boy made his way out of the classroom, Kawakami followed him out.

"Hey, I need to speak with you."

The homeroom teacher called to him, Ren stopped in his tracks with a tired look on his face, he did not like dealing with her anymore as school was now over; he reluctantly turned himself toward his homeroom teacher.

"It's better if you don't do anything after, just head straight home. Sakura-san sounded pretty angry on the phone. I also heard you were seen together with that Sakamoto-kun, he's trouble. It's better if you two-"

As Kawakami gave her lecture to the boy, Ryuji came up to them in the hallway. The vulgar boy went close to him.

"Hey, I need to speak with ya on the rooftop of the school…"

Ryuji uttered these words quietly, Ren probably knew what it was about. Kawakami held a miffed expression as the two boys sounded like they had plans together.

"Well speak of the devil, I heard you were seen cutting classes earlier, and you haven't changed your hair back to black."

Kawakami tried lecturing him as well, though Ryuji never took it to heart.

"Sorry bout' that… I'll be waitin…"

Ryuji made another passing comment to the country boy and proceeded to head up stairs, Kawakami sighed in exhaustion as it was really no use in bothering to tell these two boys on how to behave. The country boy followed him up.


School Rooftop

The two stood on the roof, Ren listened to what Ryuji had to say, mostly because he was trying to avoid Sojiro's wrath back at the Café.

"I heard about you. well, mostly about you having a record… no wonder you were so gutsy back there, still you did good with helping Mishima."

Ryuji crossed his arms with a smile of gratitude to the country boy, he looked surprised but decided to be cool about it.

"It was nothing."

Ren brushed off the gratitude, though the blonde boy could see that he clearly appreciated his words.

"You probably heard Kawakami say some shit about me like don't get involved with him."

Ryuji added on, he knew what the staff thought of him all too well.

"Said you were trouble."

The country boy responded and could see the blonde boy seemed used to hearing stuff like that.

"You and I are probably not so different then. Think you and I are gonna get along as troublemakers at this shithole, heh. Man, I can't wait to hear about your past!"

The spikey-haired blonde seemed excited about his new friend, he wrapped his arm around the country boy's shoulder like they were long-time buddies.

"It ain't too exciting, I assure you."

Ren uttered to him about not getting too eager. The two decided to walk home together, students around were watching the two and began talking of how this school year might be a pain because of them.