The day before Miyako and the others started training, Reika texted Renji asking if he would like to go out tomorrow. Renji agreed and replied:
"It's okay with me, but where are we going?"
Seeing his curios reply Reika texted back to implying that its a surprise.
The next morning, Renji arrived at the place where Reika had promised to meet him. He was 20 minutes early, so he sat on a bench and waited her.
"Renjiiiii!"
Renji looked up and saw Reika waving at him. She was wearing a long white dress and a hat with red ribbon. Renji took a good look at her and said,
"You are looking gorgeous!"
Blushing, Reika looked down and said,
"Thank you. You're looking great too!"
After about 10 minutes, they arrived at their destination — an amusement park.
"An amusement park, huh?"
"Disappointed?"
"No, actually… I'm even more excited!"
"Okay then, let's have fun."
As a classic start, they rode the roller coaster first. after trying carousel and other lighter atractions they decided to go for the drop tower. Renji saw Reika shaking. He asked if she was ok
"Y-yeah… I-it's just… I'm scared of high places."
chuckles
"They're selling crepes over there. I'll go buy some."
"Okay, I'll have strawberry."
"Got it."
Renji went and bought crepes. They sat down on a nearby bench and started eating. Reika noticed something on Renji's cheek."Oh, you have cream on your cheek." Reika scraped off the cream with her finger and licked it.
"Got it!"
Renji blushed and turned his face away.
"Th-thank you."
Reika was curious about Renji opinion of Aoi and Byakuya so, she asked him what he thinks about Aoi and Byakuya getting along or even becoming lovers in the future. Renji thinked for a while and replied, "Hmm… Now that you ask, I guess I've never really thought about it until now."
"Huuh? She's your sister, right? Aren't you worried about her?"
"No, why would I? Byakuya's not the type of guy who would hurt a girl. He helped her once and they're really close. Besides, he's a kind guy. I don't think he'd ever upset her."
"You should be protective about your sister!"
"Let me ask you then—what do you think about your brother and Miyako?"
"Ughhh.... im actually concerned about my brother."
"Why? It looked like Miyako was going along with him."
"No no it's not about Miyako. Everytime they get close Byakuya looks at Takuya like he will eat him."
"Oh, I noticed that too. He's overprotective about his sister isn't he?"
"you should be like that too!"
"Ugh! I am!"
After riding a few more attractions, Reika asked Renji if he wanted to go shopping with her on the way home. Renji said sure, and they went shopping after the amusement park.
Reika said she wanted to try some new outfits and asked him to give his opinion. Renji agreed.
She selected a few trending outfits and went into the fitting room to try them on. First, she tried a light one-piece white dress with a pink ribbon at the waist.
"Oh! That dress looks beautiful on you, and the ribbon makes it even cuter. You have good taste."
"You're surprisingly good at judging a girl's outfit, huh?"
"I always help my sister whenever she goes out shopping, maybe that's why."
Next, she wore a black oversized hoodie and a black short skirt.
"You look so cute! Gothic style really suits you."
"You like gothic outfits?"
"maybe?—but not the ones with extreme makeup."
Reika wanted to try some summer outfits too. They had already been in the store for 2 hours. Renji was tired, but he was having fun. Seeing him tired, Reika suggested they take a break and treated him to some ice cream.
After finishing their ice cream, they went back home.
Meanwhile, Takuya and the others had finished their training. Byakuya sent Aoi home, then went for a walk with Takuya. They saw Renji and Reika walking together. Surprised, they decided to hide and secretly follow them.
When they arrived in front of the Kurobane's house, Reika thanked Renji and said something. Byakuya and Takuya tried to listen but only caught part of it.
"...actually I was surprised, you know… you were really good at it…"
"Huh?"
Byakuya and Takuya were confused. Good at what?!
They couldn't sleep that night.
The next day at school, when it was just the boys, Takuya asked Renji:
"By the way Renji, we saw you and Reika the other day while we were out walking."
"Yeah? What about it?"
"We heard you two talking— and we were definitely NOT stalking you, I'll say that in advance."
It definitely sounded like they were.
"Are you two, by any chance… dating?"
"No, no. Why would you think that?"
"It just… sounded like that."
"We just had fun at the amusement park and I helped her with her shopping. That's all."
A lightning bolt struck both Takuya and Byakuya.
"We totally got the wrong idea… but it really does sound like something only couples would do!"
When the group gathered, Renji asked if he could accompany Miyako and the others while they were training and studying. Reika said that she wanted to join them too. Miyako and the others thought it would be more fun to study together, so they agreed.
Reika and Renji kept up with the training and study program they had. Akira came in while they were training. She looked at Renji and asked if he was doing any kind of sport. He explained that he practiced judo for self-defense. After all, Renji had to protect his sister somehow.
"Hmm… that's interesting. Okay then, how about a mock battle between you and Byakuya?"
"Huh? No way! Look at his size—it's obvious I can't win!"
"Oh, don't worry. He doesn't have any martial arts skills."
Looking at him again, Renji noticed that Byakuya was full of openings. He could choke him, grapple him—even Byakuya's guard was bad. Renji finally agreed. Akira started counting as they took their positions.
"3… 2… 1… Start!"
Byakuya rushed forward and tried to punch him. Renji dodged the punch, slipped behind him, and grappled him. He held Byakuya's neck tight and started choking him. But Byakuya didn't care how tight the choke was; he grabbed Renji's arm and slammed him to the ground. Renji felt like one or two bones might have broken.
Byakuya raised his elbow, ready to smash him with an elbow drop, but Renji reacted quickly. He rolled away, got up, and created some distance. Is he trying to kill me?! Renji grew angry.
As Byakuya tried to stand, Renji caught his arm and dislocated it.
"Renji, don't try to grapple or strangle him—just hit and run! He doesn't respond to pain!"
"Huhhh?"
Byakuya got up and straightened his dislocated arm. He used the chance and grabbed Renji by his neck. "Oh... I'm dead!" he thought. Byakuya held him in the air like a cat. Renji looked him in the eye and said, "Put me down!"
Plop — Byakuya dropped Renji to the ground. Takuya, confused, asked,
"You said he has no response to pain, right? Does that mean he has CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis)?"
"No," Miyako responded. "He doesn't have CIPA. In his case, it's more like he feels the pain but doesn't care about it."
"Wait, no, no, it's not normal! I dislocated his arm, you know? The pain would have been unimaginable!" Renji was furious.
Byakuya looked at him and said, "Yeah, it was really painful. But it made me really angry, you know, so I don't care—even if my arm is cut off, I will fight back!"
"Huh? How can your emotional state have an effect on you like that?"
"It's a bit complex."
Miyako and Takuya's training time was over. Reika said that she wanted to talk about student council president matters, so they stayed after training.
In prestigious Shirokawa High School, being the student council president means you control the school. From subjects taught to clubs, everything is under the student council's control. The Student CP (Council President) is selected by students rather than teachers. To be a Student CP candidate, you need to score first in the midterms. This applies for first and second years. After the midterms end, first and second-year candidates need to collect votes over three months through various interactions. These interactions can be through sports tournaments, school festivals, debates on the improvements they promise, or direct interaction with students to get votes.
The first problem Miyako had was the midterms. If she couldn't pass gym class, being a candidate was impossible. So she had to train harder in order to be a candidate. Her scores in other subjects were already the best among the first years. Reika said Miyako was already recognized by the other students because of her looks. To be safe, she suggested participating actively in festivals and tournaments. Miyako wanted to investigate other students who had the possibility of becoming student council candidates and see what they were capable of. But all of those things were after the midterms, so they put them aside until the midterms were over.
At school, Ms. Eiri asked Byakuya and Renji to help her carry science equipment. Reika and the others were on their way to the science lab when they saw five guys coming out. Three of them were the ones who had been beaten up by Byakuya.
"Hey Karma, that's the girl I told you about. I don't see the guy around though," one of the guys whispered.
Karma didn't have any interest in his 'friends' problems. But when he saw Miyako, he had a mischievous smile on his face. It was obvious he had disgusting things on his mind.
"Hi, I see that my friends gave you a hard time. I would like to apologize on their behalf."
"That was a slow apology. Did something knock some sense into you?" Reika was not satisfied with that apology.
"That was harsh." Karma was forcing a smile.
"Oh, don't worry, it's not personal. I just can't help it after seeing that irritating face of yours."
"You shouldn't be apologizing, Karma. They are not worthy of your apology!"
"HUHH? You are the ones who made trouble for Aoi and Byakuya! You should get on your knees and apologize to them!"
"What did you say—"
"What's the problem?" Renji stood in front of Reika, covering her.
"Who are you? Stay out of it, CHIMP!" the guy shouted at Renji.
"CHIMP? Did I hear that right?"
"Yeah, you heard it right. Stay out of this, CHIMP."
Renji wanted to jump the guy in front, but Byakuya somehow held him back. Soon after, Ms. Eiri came and confronted the second-years. Miyako was silent during the whole lesson. Even at lunch break, she remained silent. Takuya got curious and asked her if there was a problem with that Karma.
Karma is a star student among the second-years. Good at every subject, good-looking, and popular with the girls. But it looked like Miyako knew something about him and was hiding it from them. Takuya asked her again if she was hiding something and said,
"You know, it pisses me off when you hide something from us like that. I don't know if you even consider us friends anymore."
"No, it's not like—"
"If you keep hiding something from us, I don't think I can call you a friend anymore."
Miyako's mood dropped even more. While they were walking back home, Miyako made up her mind.
"You wanted no secrets? Okay then!"
Miyako started talking about everything she knew about him. Other than being popular with girls, Karma liked to play around with them. He used his "girlfriends" to harass other girls. Sometimes he even took perverted photos of them and used those to his advantage. He is a selfish person who does whatever he wants without thinking about other people's lives.
Miyako was talking about him like she knew everything about him. This concerned Takuya.
"Miyako, how do you know all of this?"
"Hm, that's because he was my ex."
"EH?"