The tangled mess of Ren Takakura's life gained another knot with the official arrival of Haru Onodera to Kuoh Academy a few days later. Kosaki's younger sister, Haru was a whirlwind of energetic determination and fierce loyalty, particularly when it came to her beloved older sibling. She was a first-year, her uniform still looking crisp and new, her demeanor a stark contrast to Kosaki's gentle shyness. Haru was direct, opinionated, and possessed a sharp, analytical gaze that seemed to miss nothing. And from the moment she laid eyes on Ren, particularly in the context of his new, highly publicized "relationship" with the notorious Chitoge Kirisaki, she had him marked.
"So, you're Takakura-senpai," she'd said, cornering him near the shoe lockers after school, her arms crossed, her expression one of profound suspicion. Her eyes, a brighter, more intense shade of brown than Kosaki's, narrowed as she looked him up and down. "The one who's supposedly dating that… Kirisaki person." She said "Kirisaki person" with the same tone one might use for a particularly unpleasant species of mold.
"Uh, yes, that's me," Ren admitted, already feeling a familiar sense of weary resignation. "And you must be Onodera-san's younger sister, Haru-chan?" He tried for a friendly smile. It didn't seem to work.
"Don't 'Haru-chan' me," she snapped, though there was a faint blush on her cheeks that belied her stern tone. "I've heard all about you. And I'm watching you. Nee-chan is too good, too pure. If you, or that… blonde gorilla you're inexplicably attached to, do anything to upset her, you'll answer to me." She punctuated this statement with a surprisingly firm poke to his chest.
"Blonde gorilla?" Ren repeated, slightly taken aback. That was a new one for Chitoge. He almost snorted, but managed to suppress it. "Look, Haru-san, I would never do anything to upset Kosaki-san. She's my friend."
"Hmph. We'll see about that," Haru said, unconvinced. "Just know that I have my eyes on you, senpai. And on your… 'girlfriend'." With a final, lingering glare that promised future interrogations, she spun on her heel and marched off, her pigtails bouncing with indignant energy.
Ren sighed. Another person to add to the growing list of individuals who viewed him with suspicion, disdain, or outright hostility. His social life was becoming a minefield.
Meanwhile, the other, more overtly supernatural elements of Kuoh Town were beginning to make their presence felt more directly. Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima, the beautiful and enigmatic president and vice-president of the Occult Research Club, had been observing Ren from a distance for a while, ever since his first accidental Flame awakening. Their interest, however, seemed to have intensified after the public gang standoff where Ren had unconsciously unleashed that strange pulse of Sky Flame energy.
It was Akeno who made the first overt move. She "happened" to bump into Ren in the hallway between classes, her smile as radiant and unsettlingly alluring as ever. "Ara, ara, Takakura-kun, isn't it?" she purred, her voice like warm honey laced with something a little dangerous. "We seem to keep running into each other. Perhaps it's fate?"
"Uh, Himejima-senpai," Ren stammered, acutely aware of her striking beauty and the almost palpable aura of power that seemed to shimmer around her. He was also aware of the curious stares of other students. Being seen talking so familiarly with one of the school's top idols was just another way to attract unwanted attention.
"Rias and I were just discussing you, actually," Akeno continued, her eyes sparkling with a mischievous light. "You seem to have… a rather unique energy about you, Takakura-kun. Quite fascinating. The President is very interested in meeting people with… special talents."
Ren's internal alarm bells, which were by now so overworked they were probably about to go on strike, started blaring at full volume. Unique energy? Special talents? This sounded suspiciously like the kind of talk that led to more trouble, more weirdness, more things he couldn't understand or control. "Special talents?" he repeated, trying to sound nonchalant, as if he didn't regularly shoot orange fire from his hands and wasn't being tutored by a homicidal infant. "I'm not sure what you mean, senpai. I'm just an average student."
Akeno chuckled, a low, melodious sound that sent an involuntary shiver down Ren's spine. "Oh, I don't think 'average' is the right word for you at all, Takakura-kun. Not anymore. The Occult Research Club is always looking for new members, you know. Especially those who might have… experiences beyond the mundane. You should stop by sometime. Rias would be delighted to meet you properly." With another enigmatic smile and a subtle wink, she gracefully glided away, leaving Ren with a rapidly beating heart and a growing sense of unease.
They knew something. Or at least, they suspected something. And the Occult Research Club… Ren had always dismissed it as just another quirky school club for kids interested in ghost stories and tarot cards. But Akeno Himejima's words, her knowing gaze, hinted at something far deeper, far more significant.
Reborn, who had been disguised as a rather unconvincing potted plant in the hallway (Ren tried not to think about how he'd managed that), offered his usual unhelpful commentary via their mental link. "Devils, Dame-Ren. High-class ones, by the feel of it. The red-head is particularly potent. Potential allies, or powerful enemies. Try not to screw this up too badly. It could be… illuminating."
Devils. Of course. Why not add actual, literal devils to the ever-expanding circus of his life? At this point, Ren wouldn't have been surprised if a dragon landed on the school roof and declared itself his long-lost cousin.
His attempts to process all this, to find some small island of normalcy, were constantly thwarted by Reborn's relentless "training." The baby hitman seemed to take a perverse delight in ambushing Ren at the most inconvenient moments – during class changes, in the middle of lunch, even once in the school library, an incident that had resulted in several overturned bookshelves and Ren being banned from the premises for a week, much to the librarian's stern disapproval and Reborn's quiet amusement. These "training sessions" were always carefully orchestrated to look like accidents or Ren being exceptionally clumsy, at least to any casual onlookers who weren't privy to Reborn's true nature. Leon's transformations were lightning fast, Reborn's movements a blur. To Kosaki, who witnessed one such "accident" where Ren "tripped" and somehow ended up tangled in a cleaning trolley, narrowly avoiding a concussion thanks to Reborn (who she just thought was a surprisingly quick-thinking baby Ren managed to shield), it just solidified her belief that Ren was accident-prone and perhaps suffering from extreme stress.
"You really need to be more careful, Takakura-kun," she'd said, her voice laced with concern as she helped him disentangle himself from a mop and bucket. "And maybe get some more sleep? You look like you're about to collapse."
Ren could only nod dumbly, his ribs aching from where Reborn had "accidentally" kicked him while supposedly trying to "help."
His past life, the memories of that other Ren who had died so senselessly, continued to haunt him, often surfacing during these moments of extreme stress or physical pain. He found himself wondering, with a weary sort of detachment, why him? Why had he been given this second chance, only to be thrust into a world that seemed determined to chew him up and spit him out? Was there a purpose to it all, or was he just a cosmic plaything, a soul yanked from one unfortunate fate only to be thrust into another, even more bizarre and dangerous one? These were questions with no easy answers, questions that gnawed at him in the quiet, lonely hours of the night, when even Reborn's sadistic presence offered no distraction from the swirling chaos in his own mind. The shadows in his life were deepening, and new figures, like Haru Onodera with her fierce protectiveness and Rias Gremory with her enigmatic interest, were stepping into the dim, uncertain light, each bringing their own set of complications and potential new threats.