Inspired by "Find the Answer Sheet" by Hinarah59 and "One-Colored Promise" by Solpheri (both on AO3).

Ren couldn't help but find it funny: he had found just about everything in the backstreets of Yongen-Jaya except Sakura-san's house. He had found a bath house, a clinic, a café, a second-hand shop, some apartments, and even a closed movie theater. He almost laughed when he finally found it in an alleyway beyond the apartments.

Ren ran the doorbell and waited. Just when it started to seem like nobody was going to answer, the door opened and a young man with light brown hair stepped out.

The man stared at him for a moment before saying, "Can I help you?"

"…Is Sakura-san here?"

The man looked over Ren, as if scrutinizing him. "…Sakura-san is at Leblanc. Do you need directions?"

"No," Ren said, adjusting his bag. "I passed it on the way here. And even if I hadn't, I think the signs would be enough."

The man gave a dry chuckle. "That's true."

"Oh hey, since you're here," said a deliveryman that suddenly appeared, "could you take this?"

The man took a package out of the deliveryman's hands. "Sure. I'll let him know." He looked at Ren, who was still standing there. "Well go on."

Ren faltered for a moment before turning around and leaving.

0~*~0

Upon opening Leblanc's door, Ren was struck by how busy it was. Almost all the seats were full. Most of the customers were older adults, though he could see a group of girls in the booth farthest from the door. Despite how busy it was, it was quiet enough for Ren to hear the TV in the far corner.

"A public transit bus was driven down an opposing lane with its customers still in it! The citizens can't live in peace if this keeps up."

He slowly walked up to the counter and waited for the middle-aged man who seemed to be the manager to notice him.

Upon noticing him, the manager said, "What'll it be?"

"Is Sakura-san here?" Ren asked.

The manager did another look-over of Ren. "…Oh, right. They did say that was today." He motioned towards the back. "Head on upstairs. I'll be with you as soon as I can."

The manager then went back to working on customers' orders, Ren presumed. He did as the man said and went to the back, passing the booth with girls on the way, finally realizing they were wearing Shujin uniforms. He noticed a girl with a red highlight in her black hair staring at him, but didn't linger long enough to notice much else. He went up the stairs and was immediately confronted by the sight of a dusty, cluttered attic.

In the middle of the attic was a box, and a quick peek inside showed that it was Ren's stuff from home. Looking around a bit more, Ren noticed that the only clean thing in the room was a small desk with dust masks on it.

Ren sighed. Looks like I'll have to do the rest myself…

He honestly wanted to change into more comfortable clothing, but he had no way of knowing how long it would be before the manager came up, and it would be really awkward if he came upstairs while Ren was changing.

After waiting long enough for Ren to get bored enough to sit on the couch and start playing on his phone, the manager finally came upstairs.

The man sighed. "That took longer than I expected… Anyway, I'm Sojiro Sakura. You'll be in my custody over the next year. A customer of mine and your parents know each other and- Well, not that that matters." Sakura-san made a general gesture to the room around them. "This is your room. I'll at least give you sheets for your bed." A pause. "You look like you wanna say something."

"Did you give me those dust masks, too?" Ren asked.

"No, I think that was Goro," said Sakura-san.

Ren raised an eyebrow. "Goro?"

Sakura-san looked as if he just realized he had said something he hadn't meant to. "He's… He occasionally helps out here, so you'll probably see him pretty often. Anyway, it's on you to clean up the rest of the place. I'll be leaving after I lock up each day. You'll be alone at night, but don't do anything stupid. I'll throw you out if you cause any trouble."

Ren meekly nodded.

"Now then, I got the gist of your situation. You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her, he got injured, then sued you. Right?"

Ren noticed movement on the stairs, but decided against mentioning it.

"That's what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults. You did injure him, yeah? And now that you've got a criminal record, you were expelled from your high school. The courts ordered you to transfer and move out here, which your parents also approved. In other words-" He suddenly stopped and turned towards the stairs, but nobody was there. He shook his head and continued. "It's best not to talk about anything unnecessary. I am in the restaurant business, you know. Behave yourself for the year. If nothing happens, your probation will be lifted. Cause any problems, and you'll be sent straight to juvie."

"I understand, sir," Ren said.

"We'll be going to Shujin tomorrow."

Ren nodded. He was… pretty sure that was where he would be going to school, but he didn't exactly feel like asking.

"We'll introduce ourselves properly to the staff there." Sakura-san fidgeted uncomfortably. "Your 'luggage' arrived earlier; I left them over there," he said, motioning towards the box.

He then left, muttering, "I swear, even when he's not here…"

Ren stood up, waiting until he was fairly sure Sakura-san had gone back down the stairs before getting some clothes out of the box and changing into something more comfortable. He then put on one of the dust masks and set about cleaning the room.

At least that table's already done…

Partway through cleaning, Ren again noticed movement at the top of the stairs. He walked over to investigate and saw the girl that had been staring at him sitting on the stairs, looking as if she had been trying to discreetly spy on him.

Ren was quickly struck by her appearance. Her eyes were blue, almost unnaturally so, and the long black hair framing her face made it seem paler than it already was. She might've seemed ethereal were it not for her somewhat awkward position.

"Need some help with cleaning?" she asked quietly.

Ren would've jolted if she had been louder. "N-No, I'm fine."

"You're going to go to Shujin, right?"

Ren nodded.

"That's where I go to school. I'm a third-year there."

"Hey! What are you doing!? Get down from there!" Sakura-san's voice called from upstairs.

The girl looked somewhat pained as she stood up and said, "I'll see you at school," before going back downstairs.

Ren heard Sakura-san talking, presumably to the girl, but he couldn't hear what was being said. He went back to cleaning, unable to stop thinking about her. It would be nice to already know someone going into his new school.

0~*~0

He's moved in.

Who?

That Amamiya guy, obviously!

Oh. Him.

…You don't look surprised.

He stopped by earlier looking for Sojiro.

Wait, really? It wasn't the delivery guy?

He was there too.

…Wh-! Hey, are you trying to distract me!?

Maybe. Or maybe looking away from the screen while playing a racing game isn't a good idea.

…

Wh-! Hey! All right, you asked for it!

Ack! N-Not there! That's cheating!

0~*~0

The trip to Shujin Academy had gone… slightly worse than Ren was hoping, but he wasn't surprised. At least Sakura-san seemed to sympathize a little. Hopefully, his experience with the other students would be better.

"Traffic's not moving at all…" Sakura-san groaned as they sat in his car. "You're taking the train starting tomorrow."

Ren nodded.

"…So how was it? The school, I mean. Think you can manage?"

Ren didn't look at him. "…We'll see."

"…Now listen up. Don't even think of doing anything stupid. Still, you were expelled once already. To think you'd re-enroll at a different one. It's not like anyone will be sympathetic with you. …If that's what it was like at school, people might say stuff about me in the future too… What a troublesome kid I've taken in…"

"Why did you take me in?" Ren hesitantly asked.

"I was asked to do it, and I just… happened to agree to it. I've already been paid for it too, after all."

P-Paid!?

A voice on the radio interrupted Ren's thoughts. "Again, a subway has derailed at Shibuya Station, greatly affecting the timetable all across the—"

Sakura-san groaned. "…Another accident? So that's why it's so crowded. There's been a lot of those lately."

Their mostly one-sided conversation lulled, and the two sat in silence for several minutes.

Eventually, Ren decided to ask the question that had been on his mind for a while. "Um… How exactly do you and Goro-san know each other?"

Sakura-san gave an amused huff. "I met him through a… longtime friend of mine a while back. He's like a son to me."

The slight fondness Ren heard in his voice wasn't reflected in his expression.

So Ren decided to do something risky. "Is that why he was at your house yesterday?"

Sakura-san jolted and quickly turned to face Ren. "Why were you at my house?"

"I was looking for you."

His expression softened. "Oh… Right…"

There was a long pause. Too long.

"So, um…" Ren started.

Sakura-san seemed to think hard before answering. "I was expecting a delivery to my house, so I asked him to wait there so he could take it inside."

Ren had to admit it sounded plausible, at least on the surface, so he decided to not press the issue.

0~*~0

The sun had set by the time they finally got back to Leblanc, far too late to open the café. Ren couldn't help but feel guilty until he saw that the sign was flipped to "open." Once they entered, Ren quickly saw the young man from the day before behind the counter, wearing an apron.

"Thanks for opening the shop today," Sakura-san said to the man. "Hope the day wasn't too hard on you."

The man flashed a made-for-TV smile. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Glad to hear that."

The man took off the apron and gave a passing glance at Ren as he left.

Upon seeing Ren's quizzical expression, Sakura-san said, "I asked him to open the shop for me if we didn't get back in time."

"So that was Goro-san?"

"…Yeah. As I said, you'll probably see him pretty often over the year. Now head upstairs. There's something I need to give to you."

Ren nodded and did as he was told.

0~*~0

The next day, as Ren left Leblanc to go to school, his gaze was quickly captured by a splash of orange several feet to his left. It was a somewhat short, nervous-looking girl with orange hair that went down to her hips. Next to her was Goro-san, who was crouched down to her height and had a hand on her shoulder, as though trying to comfort or reassure her. They both wore Shujin uniforms and were facing away from Ren.

After a minute or so, Goro-san straightened and the girl clung to his arm as they began to walk off.

Ren moved after them. If they were going to the same place he was, he might as well follow them.

0~*~0

The girl seemed to hesitate at the sight of the crowded train, but Goro-san silently pushed her forward. Ren barely got through the doors in time, ending up a few feet away from them in the train. The girl stared out the window almost determinedly while Goro-san did something on his phone, seemingly unaffected by the train's swaying.

Ren glanced around. There are so many people crammed into this tiny car… It turns out the rumors about the Tokyo subway are true… He looked up. They're showing the news up on the LCD screen… It seems like there are still some lingering effects of yesterday's accident…

0~*~0

Ren followed the two of them through Shibuya station and the Teikyu building to the Ginza line and ended up uncomfortably close to them once they got on the train. As in, his and Goro-san's shoulders were practically touching. Ren hoped that the awkwardness he felt wasn't mutual.

The girl was once again all but pressing her face against the window, and, through her reflection, Ren finally noticed the large glasses she was wearing, along with what looked like a small bundle of cherry blossoms on the right side of her head.

Ren glanced back up, noticed Goro-san staring at him, and quickly looked away. He hoped the train ride wouldn't be too long…

"We're not gonna get into an accident," said a girl's voice, "are we?"

"…I think we'll be okay," replied Goro-san, sounding somewhat unsure.

0~*~0

After what was probably less time than Ren felt it was, the train finally stopped at their destination and Ren left the car a bit faster than was likely necessary.

He stopped and looked around a bit. This is Aoyama-Itchome… It took some time, but I finally made it…

As Ren walked to the ticket gate, he overheard some people mentioning rain, and sure enough, it was raining outside. Goro-san unzipped his school bag and fished out an umbrella, and he and the girl walked off together under it. Ren honestly felt tempted to ask to join them, but trying to fit three people under an umbrella of that size would've been awkward at best, and it seemed weird to get that needlessly close to two strangers, so he instead took refuge under a store awning.

Ren decided to bring up the map on his phone to double-check his route, only to quickly discover that the weird eye-app thingy he had tried to delete three times had once again appeared on his phone.

Ren sighed. He had a feeling it just wasn't going to be his day.

Feel free to ask questions, but be forewarned: even innocuous questions may be connected to huge spoilers.

I will not be including scenes that are identical to what happens in the game, unless people demand that for some reason.

I've already finished the second chapter, and it'll be up in about a week.

(Also, I swear that posting this on Valentine's Day wasn't something I had meant to do.)