Ren checked his phone and was met with a ludicrous amount of text messages that were from an 'anonymous' source but he knew it was Futaba.

oeocnrmeid: DONT HURT ART BOY

fkrkejfjf: WE HAVENT DONR ANYTHING

There were similar messages to that degree and then one final text at the end.

fodocnvr: okay good you're not mad lmao and don't worry, dad has broken coffee machines

ren sakura: honestly im more scared of what you'd do to yusuke if he ever hurt you

Futaba had gone back to her actual number now.

orange gremlin: mwheheh

orange gremlin: i was going to tell you eventually but we didn't know the best way to tell you

ren sakura: you're fine, just glad to see the two of you happy

ren sakura: also any idea on how the cafes gonna be fixed

orange gremlin: uh no clue, dad took the day off from stress. think he actually went fishing LMAO

orange gremlin: i wouldnt stress tho, check your presents in the attic btw!

ren sakura: sure, your present doesn't have tracking devices right?

orange gremlin: OH NO LOOKS LIKE DAD NEEDS MY HELP GOTTA GO

The teen laughed at the sudden exit she made and took one last look at the cafe's first floor. It was clean for the most part, as all the debris and litter were neatly placed in bags. It looked quite empty nonetheless but he was sure that Sojiro would fix it somehow.

He made his way upstairs to see a neat couple of presents lined up in the attic. The attic itself was quite empty as he rarely was there but the bed was still clean for Ren's standards. It was a bit surreal to be back here after six months and see it as exactly as he left it. The old wood piece where he did pull-ups, the strange desk where he made infiltration tools, and the old electronics that he used with his friends. He looked at the sloppily wrapped present with an imperfect bow and assumed it was Ryuji's present. The color choice wasn't exactly the best birthday esque as the boy picked yellow and purple of all colors but it worked well regardless.

He unwrapped the gift carefully and inspected the bow to see that it was a pair of running shoes, specifically in all black. It came with a little note card as well that had the blonde's handwriting,

"now ya don't have an excuse not to run, we running back to my school and back! happy birthday bro! - ryuji"

Running with Ryuji was always something to get his mind off some issues that he had been going through when he first moved to Tokyo. The blonde felt like he had no one else to relate to before Ren arrived and it felt like the two were getting away from their troubles by literally running away from trouble.

Everyone at Shujin always looked at the pair as if they were the epitome of evil rather than just two normal students living their lives. It was the culture of Japan nonetheless; if you were seen as someone with a bad past, it would follow you everywhere. It was one of the reasons that Ren wanted to change the culture of the country, as individuals shouldn't be hounded for their past constantly and be forced terrible treatment solely because of a few mistakes. The important thing was learning from them and being someone that would help others.

Likewise, everyone had judged Ryuji for 'ruining' the track team and throwing away all of his talents. He was coerced into hitting Kamoshida so that the shovel-chin pedophile could easily retaliate and ruin Ryuji's chances of running. A broken leg, a ruined reputation, and disappointed glares followed as soon as the deed was done. The worst part for the blonde was seeing his mother breakdown and apologize for not being a better mother…

It killed him. The fact that she wasn't mad at him, but disappointed at herself for not being a good enough mom. It destroyed any spirit or energy the boy had towards running and of the entire school. His friends didn't want to hang around him and his classmates looked at him in fear, seeing only a violent delinquent. He was an outcast in every sense and he didn't really see the point in caring about anything. His grades dropped, he couldn't run, and most of all, he felt alone. The only thing he had left was him and his own thoughts of his own mistakes. It hounded his mind every minute, especially when he was walking. His leg still had the fear of stuttering and cramping if he pushed himself too hard, and he never wanted to feel that pain again. Not the physical sensation of the pain, but rather the pain of not being able to do what he loved at one point.

But, that all changed when Ryuji met Ren, two delinquents in the same pod (some teachers would probably say cell). Becoming quick friends and fighting against the so-called shitty adults in the world, that was the time of their lives. He wanted to help reform the world for his friends and so that no one ever feels like he did, even if Morgana argued it was to get girls instead. Even if the two were off doing their own things, they were still gonna run. Not to get away from the troubles of life now but to just live and enjoy the thrill of it.

"These are awesome, they're just like the ones that he saved up for himself. I hope he didn't spend all of his money on getting me this though, Ryuji without beef bowls is like Yusuke without art." He thought to himself.

He placed the shoes off to the side and opened the next present, a pink regal box with an even pinker polka-dotted ribbon at the top. It was quite obviously Haru's present without a doubt. The ravenette wondered what it could be exactly could be as the floof-haired girl spoiled him with luxuries thanks to her massive wealth. She truly was too kind but he tried to repay the favor when it was possible.

It was a tiny box but it had a jingle to it, it seemed like it was something metallic? He opened it up to see a numerous amount of small keys along with a small note from Haru.

"hey Ren! I know you haven't ever been on the sea before so I thought it was a good idea to get you your own private submarine and a cruise ship all for yourself! here's the address where you can get both and here are the keys for it! Hope you like it! - haru

"A whole boat? And a submarine? Dear God, the Okumuras are something else. Haru really is amazing though, maybe I can use the ship to throw our next get together though. Gotta find a spectacular gift for her the next time we catch up over coffee or something, Morgana certainly missed her presence."

The cat didn't like to admit it but he loved when people scratched him in the right spot. Heck, he'd purr and roll around like a normal cat if you rubbed right behind his left ear, a crucial weak point that only Haru and Ren used to calm the cat texted a thank you to Haru and Ryuji for their spectacular presents and looked at the other ones. He looked at a rainbow assorted box that was absolutely massive in size compared to the other presents, he wondered who's present it could be exactly. He opened it up to be swarmed in the number of sweets that were forced into the box. It figuratively exploded sugar into his face as soon as he opened it. He saw a tiny little inscription into the side that simply said

BEST SWEETS EVER FROM AMERICA & ANN!

"I'm gonna need Sumi's help to finish this."

He set off the sweets to see the remaining two presents and picked the more traditional looking one, as it's plain color frame was interesting. The person who gave it clearly was serious so he assumed it was Sae. Ren opened it to see an eloquent three-piece black suit with a tie, it was as formal as it would come along with a small piece of advice.

"Remember that you will have to dress the part for important events, working towards true justice requires proper representation. I hope this will help with that. - Sae Niijima"

A box with a brown, more old-school vibe caught the teen's eye as it seemed like something Sojiro would use. He opened it up to see a hat that was identical to the one that the man wore except it was a darker tone, pristine condition and all. Honestly, Sojiro was a better parent to Ren than either of his parents had been.

The worst part about Ren being arrested was the immediate abandonment. The look on their son with disappointment, even when he tried to tell them his side of the events. They refused to understand, they refused to listen, they never truly cared. He was their son for as long as he was alive until that moment but he thought back to all the times when they showed empathy for their own... but they hadn't shown it. It's easy to do the bare minimum for your child and for them not to notice. It wasn't exactly neglect, no... It was never having a proper connection to your own.

Not once before. Not once after. Not even now did they try to call him to check up on him. Even if Sojiro was cold to him at first, he at least cared and accepted Ren for who he was. He listened, he cared, and he felt human. His parents were robotic in nature and he certainly did not miss their spirit. He sighed remembering them but tried to move his focus away from them. There wasn't any point in thinking about them when they clearly weren't doing the mutual. Instead, Ren grinned at the hat, it felt nice to wear. It kind of made him feel like a younger Sojiro in a sense even if he didn't have the same level of charm the coffee master had.

After looking back at the box, he saw that he almost missed another gift that was placed at the bottom. It was a pretty big box and he failed to see the laptop someone had put in there. It was a light laptop but it looked customized in every way, it even had some stickers on the front that looked like it was four people. It was Ren himself, Morgana, Sojiro, and Futaba all happy together in a family portrait of the sort, sticker edition at least. Futaba wrote a tiny post note on it that said

Ur old laptop sucked, your welcome! - your favorite sister

ps i kinda forgot that birthday presents have boxes, so i yeeted this in sojiros when he wasnt looking. U should have seen how he was looking when he picked it out for u mwehehehe.

He had finished opening all of his gifts and he was touched by all of them. Each of them fit his friends' personalities and had a significant meaning to him, they cared a lot about him and he did as well.

Ren looked at his phone, looking at the black screen to see a reflection of how he looked with the hat. It made him feel a part of a family that actually cared for him, just like he said when he truly came home. It wasn't a place but it was the people he cared for in his life, the people that would always be with him.

A thought waived into his head after reading the note again. "Reminds me that Futaba still has me in her contacts with their last name... "

.

.

.

.

.

"That's what-

families have." He affirmed in his head.

Messing with the hat a bit, he tried to carry all of the gifts with him before organizing them in a bag from downstairs. Thankfully, there was a large enough bag that would be able to hold all of the gifts in their boxes and he went his way back to his house.

As he arrived, he saw Morgana jumping around the door excitedly.

"DID YOU BRING FOOD!?" The cat jumped with glee.

He kneeled down so the cat could hop on his shoulder as usual. "You wish. These are the birthday gifts from yesterday, I'm gonna put them into my room."

"Aw mannnn, I'm still hungry though." The cat groaned as the two made their way to the teen's room. It was technically both their room but the home did have a guest bed if Morgana ever wanted to not suffocate Ren with his fur every morning.

"We'll grab something to eat in a bit then. Do you want to do anything today by the way? I have some time before I'm meeting with Sumire's dad for a discussion on something."

"OOOOOHHHH, MEETING WITH HER DAD HMMM?!" Morgana exclaimed.

"ARE YOU GONNA ASK HIM FOR HIS BLESSINGS TO PROPOSE TO SUMIRE!?" He meowed.

He sighed before chuckling a bit. "Her mom would absolutely adore you if she could understand what you were saying."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll see the next time I bring you to dinner with them."

"Wait, I can tag along for that? Yay!" The kitty cheered.

He petted the cat's head. "Her mom was curious to see the chaos you would bring, so you won't have to be on your best behavior per se. Just try not to burn anything down though."

"Hey, I resent that!"

The two organized the presents with the clothing items going into the closet and the sweets being set on the table. The keys for the two new Okumura vehicles were placed onto Ren's keys along with the location to pick them up, being set on Ren's phone.

"Do you think we could go see a movie? There's a really cool superhero movie I saw on t.v., it was called Tupperware-man. It's about a man that gains the power of storage containers and uses it to stop supervillains!" Morgana cheered with a gleam in his eyes.

"That sounds kind of cool, I guess we could check it out. We can stop by that one cafe where we studied before big tests. Leblanc would be the first place but after yesterday…" The trail off piqued the cat's interest.

"What? It couldn't have been that bad, but Ryuji was break dancing pretty hard…"

"All the tables are broken and Sojiro had to take a day off to relieve some stress. I think it'll be okay in a couple of days, maybe. Oh also, don't hate Ryuji for what he might do in the next couple weeks."

"What's he going to do, tell Good Morning Japan that he's a Phantom Thief?" The black fuzzball joked.

It earned a chuckle out of the ravenette. "Maybe he'll go on there and show off his sick moves. Imagine we get Yusuke in there to paint the scene as it's happening."

"We certainly are a strange bunch, but no one's ever gonna be as awesome as us Phantom Thieves!"

"They're certainly not gonna be any weirder than us either." The boy quipped in return.

After leaving the house, the two made their way to the aforementioned cafe.