This story takes place after the manga. It includes an OC, and the events that take place are not canon. I do not own anything in my fanfiction except my OC. I plan on pairing this fanfiction with another one, centered on Shoko and Shoya.

Author's Note 4/20/20: I have been receiving a lot of requests to make Ren appear in Days and Years, which I couldn't agree more on. In order to do this, I am retconning a few things. I will try to change the story as little as possible. Feel free to reread for context! Thank you for all of the support, everyone :)

After Yuzuru Nishimiya had achieved her goal of setting up her two favorite people in the world together, she began to feel alienated from them. One was her sister, Shoko Nishimiya, and the other was her best friend, Shoya Ishida. Because they were both in town for the holiday, Yuzuru expected to enjoy a lot of quality time with them, as she would usually. However, she would feel the need to give them privacy a lot of the time, and force herself out of spending time with them. It didn't help that she had very few other friends at her school, which was not yet out for holiday.

Because of this, Yuzuru was often lonely, and she spent a lot of time looking for things to do. She usually wound up just going to the Ishida residence under the guise of "needing help with homework," but she actually just wanted to spend time with Shoko, Shoya, and Shoya's niece (Unfortunately, this was not always guaranteed, since Shoya and Shoko would go out frequently).

When Yuzuru wasn't at the Ishida residence, she tended to pass the time taking photos. She was only 15, but she was already an incredibly skilled photographer with an incredibly high-quality camera. Her photography skills had earned her scholarships, among other rewards. However, they could not do what she ultimately developed them for.

For context, a long time ago, her sister, Shoko, whom Yuzuru loved more than anyone else in the world, was bullied to a breaking point. Shoko expressed a desire to just simply die, to rid the world of what she considered to be a burden. Yuzuru would not stand for it, so through photography, she tried to capture the horror that was death, in hopes that Shoko would stop desiring such a fate. Despite the hundreds of photos that Yuzuru took of animal carcasses, Shoko still attempted suicide, but was saved by Shoya. Yuzuru was crushed that Shoko tried to go through with such a morbid act, and she felt that the photos were meaningless, so she threw them all away. She never stopped photography, but she stopped photographing death.

After school, Yuzuru went to the Suimon-Bashi Bridge, to feed the koi bread. After she depleted about a quarter of the baguette, she noticed something odd. When she looked into the water after she distinctly remembered throwing a piece of bread, no bread was there. It wasn't that the koi had eaten it already though- there was never even a splash in the water, because the koi had no bread to fight over. She shrugged it off as just her imagination and continued feeding the fish. This strange occurrence happened twice more during her feeding of the fish. By the time she finished feeding, it was dark, and she walked home.

A week or so later, Yuzuru was going back to the bridge to feed the koi. This time, however, it was after studying with Shoya and Shoko, so it was dark. Shoya was walking the girls home, so they all stopped to feed the koi together.

"Hey, Shoya…" Yuzuru began quietly. Her mind was drawn back to the previous week. "I want you to pay attention to the bread that we throw, okay?" She didn't want to drag Shoko into a weird situation, so she wasn't signing.

"What, like be conscious of how much I throw in?" Shoya asked confusedly.

"Sort of, I get the feeling that not all the bread that we throw hits the water." She replied.

Shoya gave Yuzuru a weird look. He wanted to laugh it off as one of her jokes, but her tone made him question this. It wouldn't be the first time he would be fooled, though; a long time ago, Yuzuru managed to make Shoya think that she was a boy for a few weeks. Because of this history, Shoya just shrugged. He decided against buying in to one of her weird pranks.

Shoya peered over the edge, as he always does, dubious that anything was amiss. Shoko, noticing this, peered too, catching from the situation that there must be something to be seen. After each throw of bread, they saw a faint movement from below, not from the koi. It was far too dark for Shoya to distinguish what exactly the movement originated from, though. The creepy, unidentifiable movement made Shoko gasp and look up at Shoya. It was at this point that Yuzuru pointed something out, "Hey, the bread didn't hit the water, am I right?" she asked, seemingly for reassurance. Shoya felt a chill run down his spine.

He quietly looked to Yuzuru and nodded. Yuzuru now had a scared look in her eyes, something that both Shoya and Shoko felt uneasy about. "Okay, you two… I've got an idea." She began, as she started to sign, conscious of whatever was under the bridge's potential ability to hear, as well as her sister's. They nodded, and Yuzuru exited the bridge to get somewhat of a side view. On her fingers, she counted down from three. On cue, Shoya and Shoko dropped the bread piece down, and Yuzuru snapped a flash-photo at the same time. From the flash, Yuzuru saw a ragged-looking teenage boy, balanced on a beam under the bridge. His arm was extended, and his hand was reaching out for the bread as it fell. His face had an expression of pure terror. After the noise of the camera shutter, a splash was heard from the Suimon River.

Ren was fourteen years old, had brown eyes, and had slightly curly medium length black hair. He was a skinny, short, and potentially delusional teenager. Because of these things, he was often inclined to hide in strange places. Often times he would climb into the trees of parks, or he would hide in crevices where he could stay dry. He was terrified of being found, especially since he had nobody to protect him. Though he can't remember the exact details, he knows that he somehow lost his family and his home in a fire, and instead of being claimed by his strict (perhaps to the point of abuse) aunt and uncle, he decided to take to the streets.

He was intelligent, but his knowledge of the real world was very limited. He was familiar with religion and folklore, and he knew about death as well as the consequences of malnourishment. Because he has gone so long without proper education, the real and the imaginary of it all blended together with him. This is where his paranoia kicked in. As it was previously mentioned, Yuzuru used to take pictures of dead creatures. Several times while she was taking the photo, Ren was nearby. He stared in awe at the technology in action. Cameras were not alien to him, but the action of taking such gruesome photos certainly was. Because of this, Ren had a strange theory about this photographer. She must be the Reaper.

Every time he had ever seen the small, dark haired girl, she was alone, photographing dead things. Never once had he seen her with another person, and only once did he see her taking photos during the day. Ren became incredibly fearful of her, and he did his best to avoid her. He must have done well, because she never knew of his existence. That is, not until now.

When Ren saw the light flash, he was startled. It's when he realized he heard the all-too-familiar noise of the camera shutter that he slipped and fell into the river out of fear. This was the least of his concerns, as he felt like he had been marked for death. He swam to the shore opposite to where the light came from and began running to the base of a staircase. Upon looking up, he saw a ghastly silhouette standing at its top. He could tell that it was her. Immediately, he got down into dogeza (formal bow of apology) position and pleaded for his life.

"P-please…" he began. "Surely my life isn't over just yet…" He seemed to be forcing himself to talk formally, as if he had known Yuzuru.

Yuzuru, as well as Shoya and Shoko, who appeared next to her to see what was going on, stared in a baffled silence. This silence only increased Ren's anxiety and paranoia. The tension was broken, however, when Yuzuru spoke up. "Are you on crack?" she said, only half jokingly. "What the hell are you talking about, man?"

Ren looked up just as Yuzuru turned on a phone flashlight. The light temporarily blinded Ren, but he took this brief moment of confusion as a chance to escape. He got up and started running the other direction, but his cold, wet, hungry body would not tolerate such exertion. He almost immediately fell over from exhaustion. Just as he drifted to sleep, he heard three voices calling out to him.

Ren woke up due to hunger pangs. Surprisingly to him, it wasn't a gust of piercingly-cold wind that shocked him awake this time. "You're awake, huh?" Yuzuru, who was in the corner of the room on a swivel chair, asked him. "You passed out, and we couldn't just let you sleep on the concrete." Yuzuru was all too familiar with sleeping in weird places, and she knew firsthand that it truly was not something a child should have to go through.

"Please don't scold me for asking such bizarre questions…" Ren began.

Yuzuru shrugged. "Go ahead."

"Is this the afterlife? Are you Death, or God, or neither?" he asked.

Yuzuru just laughed. "Neither, I'm the devil!" she said jokingly. Ren could tell that she was not really being serious, so it put him mostly at ease. "And nah, this is just my apartment. My friend and I carried you up here so that you wouldn't freeze to death." At this, Ren looked down in shame, for making such bizarre assumptions about this girl. Seeing this change in mood, Yuzuru broke the ice by saying, "My name is Yuzuru. My sister, who's currently preparing you some food, her name is Shoko. Her boyfriend, who is currently making you some tea, his name is Shoya."

"My name is Ren," he said formally. "I am very sorry for troubling you. You shouldn't worry about someone like me."

Yuzuru shrugged. "Well, I personally know that the streets aren't a place for kids to be sleeping. So, why don't we call your parents and get you home?" Yuzuru suggested.

"H-hey! I'm probably older than you…" Ren said, slightly offended about being called "kid."

Yuzuru stuck her tongue out. "I'm fifteen." she said Ren was about to protest, but he stopped himself and pouted, knowing that she's indeed older than him.

"O-okay, well on another note, I have no parents to call." Ren said, casual enough to change subjects. Yuzuru's eyes widened, but she didn't apologize, something that Ren was grateful for. He didn't want her pity, he wanted to be tough. "Look, the streets are more of a home to me than anywhere else, so I appreciate your kindness, but I should get going."

As he stepped out of the cot that he was sleeping on, he immediately fell over again, slamming against the floor. "Ahh, damn!" Yuzuru exclaimed as Shoya, who heard the commotion, came in to check if everything was okay.

When Ren woke up again, he was frustrated. He wanted to leave, but he was cold, starving, and achy. Inside, there was food, warmth, and somewhere to sleep. But he knew this was temporary. He could never stay here, so why bother wasting these kind peoples' time? Yuzuru looked at his frustrated face and giggled. "Insistent on leaving, eh?" she asked. "Well, since you physically can't leave, why not be our guest for the night?" Ren pouted and said nothing.

"Here you go." Shoya said as he brought Ren a tray with pleasantly hot tea.

Next, Shoko came up to him and set down the hot food she had prepared. "Pwease eat." she said, nervous about how her voice would affect things.

Ren was a little confused, but he realized pretty quickly that Shoko was deaf. He was stubborn, so he didn't want to thank them, but he knew it would be cruel to the polite, deaf girl, standing in front of him. A quiet, yet audible to Yuzuru and Shoya, "thanks" was heard from Ren's lips, which he made the movements of very prominent. Despite this, he made no active effort to eat. Shoko moved to go sit next to Shoya, and Yuzuru got out of her chair to sit in front of the boy.

"Eat it." she commanded. Ren looked away, embarrassed. "If you don't eat it, I'll make you eat it." Yuzuru explained casually, and Ren was even more embarrassed.

"I-itadakimasu…" Ren said quietly as he slowly began to eat his food. Yuzuru watched him intently, deliberately to make him uncomfortable. Ren faced away as he stuffed his face. He hated to admit that he was truly enjoying the food in front of him, the food that was more than just a piece of bread that was torn off of a baguette. Shoya and Shoko, who were holding hands and watching, glanced from the scene to each other and snickered at both of the teenagers' strange behavior.

"U-um… can I go to the bathroom?" Ren asked politely, despite the fact that he hid his face. Yuzuru nodded and led him there. After Ren finished up, he walked back out, feeling completely relieved yet full. "I guess it's time for me to head out…" Ren said, followed by a yawn. "Thank you very much, and please excuse me for my presence. I probably should get going now."

Yuzuru just clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Listen, it's freezing out there. You should sleep here tonight."

Ren began to say, "Thank you, but I don't want to waste any more of your ti-"

"Sleep. Now." Yuzuru interrupted as she pointed at the cot she and Shoya laid out for him. "Or else."

Ren had gathered that Yuzuru may not be supernatural, but she was quite scary. He was obliged to listen to her. "Y-yes ma'am…"

Shoya looked back and forth between these teenagers. He could tell that Yuzuru got a kick out of being called "ma'am," and having someone to boss around. "I should probably go, are you and your mother okay with having a guest stay the night?" he said while signing, addressing Shoko, who nodded and smiled. "I can probably take him into my house if I need to." he offered to both Shoko and Yuzuru.

Yuzuru shook her head. "No, Mom remembers how you took care of me, so she's feeling kind enough to let Ren stay the night. I already texted and asked her."

During this back and forth, Ren felt like a cornered animal. He was indeed being taken care of, but he felt like a burden, and this feeling burdened him. He wanted to leave, but his hosts insisted on him staying. He sighed. "Look, I appreciate it a lot, but I really don't need the help. I'd rather you guys don't worry about me, it would just save you the trouble."

Yuzuru just shook her head and stood up. In one swift motion, she propped a foot against Ren's shoulder and kicked him to the ground, his head landing on the pillow. "Just shut up and sleep!" Shoya took this as his cue to leave, and he hugged Shoko goodbye and signed a "see you later" to them both. "I may not know you and you may not know me, but just accept this favor and quit bitching about it! I've been fed and sheltered after sleeping in the outdoors, and I know how hard it is to accept. But it's better than the alternative, so at least for tonight, just sleep, okay?" Yuzuru said frustratedly.

Ren stared in awe. "You're scary…" he said absentmindedly after her rant. "I'm sorry, I'll go to sleep." He said immediately after Yuzuru shot him dagger eyes after he called her "scary." He shut his eyes and drifted to sleep almost immediately.

Yuzuru sighed and shut the door. She was frustrated. "Why is it so hard to accept help? Why am I even concerning myself with this kid?" she thought to herself as she sulked at the dining room table and drank shizo juice. She smirked. "He reminds me of me…" she thought as pictures darted in her head of the playground and Ishida's house. "Heh, I bet that's why mom's letting him stay the night…" she whispered to herself. For the rest of the night, until she fell asleep, Yuzuru watched videos on her laptop.

Ren was the first to wake up, bright and early, and he was ready to leave. He wished that he could erase his traces from ever having been there, but he can't un-eat the food he was given or un-drink the tea. He did, however, feel like he owed something to his hostess. He found a pen and a pad of paper.

After this, he left. He was off to find some work, something which he could earn the money to pay his acquaintance back with.

Yuzuru woke up early to get ready for school, and looked into the room where Ren was. He had left, vanishing seemingly without a trace. She then found a note on the dining room table, which said the following:

Dear Yuzuru,

Thank you so much for taking care of me. I will pay you back for everything you gave to me, I promise. Please tell Mr. Shoya and Ms. Shoko the same thing. I apologize for my rude behavior, especially for my hard-headed stubbornness and my calling you "scary." You're super, Yuzuru.

-Ren Fujisawa.

Yuzuru felt a mixture of emotions. First of all, she found it hilarious that he was apologizing for such a little thing as calling her "scary." In fact, she was glad that someone found her scary. Also, she wasn't particularly surprised that he left, yet she was disappointed. She was also pretty sure that he was not going to show his face ever again, so she felt doubly disappointed. She could not, however, help but be touched by the last sentence on the note.

"You're super, Yuzuru."