The first night in my new apartment told me my mother and I had similar house-choosing skills. The apartment was decent in size, but was in rough shape.

The walls of most of the rooms needed the paint redone, and in some spots there were cracks, probably from a mix of earthquakes and the foundation settling. The kitchen was bigger than most apartments would expect, but its counters were thick with dust and one of the cabinet doors had been knocked off its hinges.

The bathroom was in better shape, but clearly hadn't been cleaned in a while. I dropped my wet bag into the bathtub. I wonder if they just gave up on this apartment?

Though I had seen the discarded home once before, I had thought getting it for so cheap in a busy city like Shibuya-with permission to fix it up-was a dream come true. Sure, it would take some time to get everything the way I wanted, but it was an adventure; something fun to do between studying and trying to earn money.

Only now, cloaked in the rain and moonlight, it just seemed sad.

This is my life right now. And somehow the finality of it caught up to me. This was Shibuya. Miles and miles away from my childhood home, away from my childhood friends, away from the childhood comfort brought by my mother.

I leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. You've done this before, Yuki. This isn't the first time you've moved for school. But it was the first time I wasn't living at the school I was attending. But you have to look at the bright side. The apartment could, and should, be fun to fix. And everyone I've met today has been nice.

After composing myself, I walked to a short hallway that led to the two bedrooms of the apartment. One was smaller and clearly meant for children, and one was meant for the parents of a family.

I walked into the bigger room and sighed. The floor was covered in dust. My blanket was in my bag, and definitely in no condition to sleep under, and it was going to be chilly. A glance out the window determined that the rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon, and with it was the cold wind rattling against the glass. I wished I'd thought about this when I bought clothes.

Maybe I should stay at a hotel tonight. After a moment, I shook my head in dismissal. No, you can't do that. It's too late to go anywhere, and you don't have a job here yet. You only have so much in savings. It might be a rough night, but it'll be fine.

I couldn't bring myself to remove my sweater, so instead I arranged the night clothes I'd purchased from Ayame into a make-shift pallet on the floor. This was both to protect myself from any dirt, and to keep off of the cold wooden floor. I fought to get comfortable for some time, but eventually gave up and curled into a tight ball.

Fur would be a lot warmer.

But humans don't have fur.

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When I woke it was still in the early hours of the morning. I was still a little tired, but after a restless night I was ready to be up and about. I stood and picked up the clothes on the floor before straightening my outfit. I went to the bathroom and left the clothes on the edge of the sink before prying open my bag, which was still damp. The clothes inside were in worse shape. Aside from being wet, they were also starting to smell and would need to be washed again. Unfortunately, I didn't have the soap for that at the moment. Fortunately, if the movers were on time, I wouldn't have to worry about it for longer than the day.

Taking all of the clothes and my blanket out of the bag, I set them to one side of the tub and grabbed what I'd actually set out to find: my toothbrush. Well, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a hairbrush.

My toothbrush was purple with pink bristles, and was luckily saved from the rain by the plastic bag it had been sealed in. The typical tube of toothpaste was still closed despite the beating my bag had taken, but it was about half gone and I realized I'd have to buy more soon.

My hairbrush, regrettably, had not been saved at all. Its red spine was damp and sticky, a combination of the rain water and leftover hair product. I frowned at it and removed a not-quite-dry ponytail holder from around its handle before setting the brush on top of the damp clothes.

Rather than risk my hair turning into the consistency on the hairbrush, I combed my fingers through it and pulled it up. I didn't wear it up often, but I knew I had a long day ahead of me. After taking care of the rest of the morning hygiene the best I could, I nodded to myself in the mirror. Today is going to be a better day.

The rest of the morning was spent buying cleaning supplies. I didn't know for sure when the moving truck was going to arrive, but I didn't want to waste time. I needed to go job hunting too, but I decided to wait until I could look a little more presentable.

By mid-afternoon the bathroom and the kitchen had been scrubbed clean, but I didn't grab supplies to fix the cabinet door. I'd just have to pick that up some other time.

I went to the front door and stared down the hall, trying to decide what to clean next. The living area was still a mess and the bedrooms needed a thorough scrubbing, but in the end I decided it should be the bedroom I'm using to get the cleansing treatment next. At least if the living room was dirty I wouldn't be sleeping there, and it wasn't like I planned on having any guests.

I hadn't taken one step forward when a knock hit the door. I jumped, startled, but I turned around to open it anyway. Of course the truck would come before I finish cleaning.

But when I opened the door, the two people standing outside of it were definitely not movers.

It was Ren and Kaede.

Kaede smiled at me brightly. "It looks like you've been working hard."

For a moment I was confused. From where she was standing surely all she could see was the uncleaned living room. However, the confusion faded when I looked myself over and saw my semi-tousled outfit was now covered in dust from cleaning. I could feel my cheeks start to burn and I laughed nervously. I was even more embarrassed when I realized that my outfit, underneath the grime and dirt, was the same one they'd seen me in the day before. "The moving truck hasn't come yet, so I've been cleaning all I can."

Kaede nodded. "I figured as much," She started, "after you told me the state of your apartment yesterday, I knew you'd be busy. So busy, that you'd probably forget to eat lunch."

I blinked as my stomach growled in response. To my horror, it was very audible. Ren smiled at this and held up a plastic bag. "So we brought you food."

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Even after trying to convince them my house was in such disarray that they would probably puke from trying to eat inside; we still ended up on a blanket on the kitchen floor. Kaede had brought the blanket just for the occasion, and the meal they brought was less of a meal and more of a mix and match of items from the convenience store.

Despite this, I was still grateful to them for going through all the trouble. The meal passed quickly, but the chatter didn't stop with it.

Ren, who I'd come to think of as a quiet-if-not-awkward man, relaxed immensely as the meal went on, and by the time the food was gone he was speaking and laughing as much as Kaede. I wasn't sure if the change in him was due to him being more comfortable around me, or if it was just the affect Kaede had on him. Regardless, it was nice.

Kaede seemed to make me feel more comfortable as well, and she told me a little about her home life. Although she didn't seem overly enthusiastic about it, she still seemed happy. After a little time had passed, she looked to me curiously. "So where are you from, Yuki?" Ren looked over, clearly also curious, but not in a prying way.

I smiled lightly at them. "I grew up on a farm in a small town. It's very beautiful, but it's pretty far from here."

"You were a farm girl?" Ren couldn't quite keep the surprise out of his voice, and for once, I was the one who started laughing while the other party blushed.

I gave a light shake of my head as I stopped laughing, though my smile remained. "Sorry, I shouldn't have laughed. I know it's hard to believe. Honestly though, I didn't do much of the work. I helped out when I was small, but when I got a little older my mother did most of it while I focused on school. Ame helped her for a while too, but now that we've both moved out, she still keeps it going the best she can."

"Ame?"

"The best she can?"

Ren and Kaede asked at the same time, and then they both looked at each other as though trying to decide which question deserved an answer first. I decided for them. "My mother has always made a lot more than we actually need. She's in good health, but keeping it up is hard work. I'm not worried though. The farming keeps her strong."

Ren gave a nod of approval before asking once more, "Ame?"

I took a small sip of water from a bottle they brought as I stalled for time. Sometimes it was difficult to explain anything regarding him without revealing the truth. When I finished I looked at them both. "Ame is my little brother. He didn't enjoy school like I did, and it wasn't required for him to attend, so most of the time he just stayed home with my mother. He was more at home surrounded by nature than surrounded by people."

I unintentionally sighed. I missed Ame, and I knew there were so many things left unspoken. After a pause that was probably a little too lengthy I continued, "We're still quite the opposites, and I haven't seen him in years. We didn't part on the best terms." I realized too late that maybe that was opening up far too much to people I'd just met a day prior, but it had been a long time since anyone had asked me about Ame. Though, maybe that was because my friends knew it was still a tender subject.

Despite this, Kaede's gaze softened lightly, in a show of sympathy, and after a moment of clearly debating, she spoke again. "Do you…want to talk about it?"

I went quiet, but after what felt like eternity to me, and probably more so to them, I nodded. "One day we got into a fight. We used to be so close and…I didn't understand why we weren't anymore. He used to be such a shy kid, and I always thought that he'd just keep following me around, you know? But when he stopped coming to school and didn't make any friends there…it felt like we were living in two different worlds. And I just wanted us to stick together. I just wanted him to be…normal."

"….I don't think I really understood until after he ran away." I paused, deciding what more to say, and I noticed that Ren had gone very quiet. I realized the look he was giving to the floor didn't quite match Kaede's. His was empathetic where hers was still laced with sympathy. "I get it now. He is normal. And just because his normal doesn't match mine doesn't mean he was wrong. I just wish I would have told him that."

After a solemn silence, Ren spoke, hushed, but with a determination I didn't expect. "So why don't you tell him?"

"You see…my mother and I know who he's with, and that he's safe. But we don't know exactly where he's at, and we know that…that he doesn't want to be bothered." I sighed again. "I think if I met with him he'd probably think I was going to try and change him." I gave them both a soft smile that I knew didn't quite reach my eyes. "But it really does feel good to talk about it. Thank you, guys."

Kaede gave a solitary nod, and Ren looked like there was more he wanted to say but couldn't find the words for.

Before he could come up with the right sentence, there was another knock at the door.

I excused myself from our small picnic and went back to the door. I took a breath to retrieve my smile from the tense atmosphere, and opened it.

This time, it really was the movers.

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A/N Thank you to everyone that asked me to update, I really do appreciate it. I don't intend to abandon the story and I will do my best to have the next chapter up in a timely manner. I also plan to go back and fix a typo in the prologue, so sorry if you guys get a notification about that.

In this chapter we see more of Ren and Kaede, and get an insight into Yuki's feelings toward Ame, and in return, you can probably draw some assumptions about how she feels toward herself.

No Jutengai yet, but it should happen within the next couple of chapters.

This fanfiction is not fully planned out yet (There's a vague outline and an over all idea of how I want things to go), but since I know I have some readers now, I'd like to ask you if there's anything you would like to see in the future. Not to say that it will definitely happen, but feel free to make suggestions via review or PM. Likewise, let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer any non-spoiler-y ones.