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It goes without saying that, at some point in a person’s life, they’d dream of wanting to live with their friends. Not necessarily because they desire the domestic life, but because the close distance would mean consistent contact. It would mean the friendship would stay strong, it would prolong without worry.
It’s a ridiculous pipe dream, one which Anzu had parroted over and over before while the three of them—Rio and Ranmaru—had lunch on rooftops and their classroom. She’d say things like, “We’ll live in a nice, big apartment with a nice view and our own separate rooms.”
“Hah, and we’d be walking distance from the train station too huh?” Rio would snort.
“That’d be great!” she’d reply, so sincerely.
And Ranmaru would smile at her sheepishly, like they were only nodding along to appease her, not because they thought this was all possible. Anzu couldn’t blame them for thinking that way. After all, if it wasn’t financially possible, it’d be at worst silly.
A dream come true, Anzu told them. Ranmaru was more worried about the fact that they had just graduated college and weren’t even working adults yet.
“Oh, come on,” Rio had slung an arm around Ranmaru, gesturing to the big place. “It’s a free house. How can you say no to a free house?”
“It’s an apartment,” Anzu corrected.
“You want my help or not?” Rio deadpanned. She stuck her tongue out at him playfully.
“Okay, but,” Ranmaru wrung their hands together nervously, still skeptical about all this. “Isn’t this still a big step forward?”
“I don’t see a problem with it,” Anzu said curtly. “I mean, if you end up hating it so much. Just move out.”
The look Ranmaru gave her then was a mixture of defeat and irritation. But, in the end, they caved.
She would’ve done this a lot sooner if they had all gone to the same colleges, and truthfully it scared her half to death when she thought that would be the end of them. However, friendship prevailed, and now Anzu will never have to worry about their friendship again.
They’ll live together merrily, and till the end of time. Just the three of them.
And then Chidouin Sara showed up.
Anzu told herself then that it would only be for a couple of months. She just needed some time, that’s all. This whole streaming thing was fun and it seemed like it might be going somewhere. So when her mom said it was time for her to take up that position in her company that she was talking about…
“Haah? You want me to do it?” Ranmaru wilted.
“Pleeaaaaaase,” Anzu pleaded with her hands clapped together. “Haven’t you been looking for a job anyway?”
“Yeah, but…,” Ranmaru placed a hand behind their neck. “The position your mom is putting you in isn’t exactly what I studied for in college…”
“Don’t worry, it’s plenty similar enough,” Anzu shot them a thumbs up.
“Well, besides that. How am I suppose to replace you anyway? Won’t your mom know?”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got that totally covered,” Anzu grinned.
Anzu knew the ins and outs of her mom’s company well enough to pull a few strings here and there. And Ranmaru’s been over at her place enough times for Anzu to know that, even if they got caught, Anzu’s mom would simply sigh and shake her head with no further comment.
So Anzu did just that, and Ranmaru slipped in undetected, and Anzu continued on her side gig until it became her main gig.
The rest is pretty much history, though it lasted longer than it should’ve. Ranmaru ended up fitting right in, and conveniently Anzu’s streaming career was kicking off quite well. The only thing Anzu didn’t expect coming out of it was Ranmaru finding the love of their life.
Anzu likes Chidouin plenty and knew the lady was great right from the start. Not because she made them breakfast on her first night over, but because when their whole facade came to an end, Chidouin showed genuine worry for Ranmaru’s well-being without much prompt. Anyone that treats her friends right is a friend in Anzu’s book too.
There’s little to no reason for Anzu to dislike her.
Truly, things only started going wrong when Ranmaru rung Rio’s phone and went, “Have dinner without me. I’m grabbing it with Sara-chan tonight.”
Rio takes the news with little to no reaction, like it’s just another Tuesday when really the last time Ranmaru did this was when they were still going undercover as Anzu’s replacement. It’s one thing to ditch for work dinners, it’s another to ditch to eat with someone else for personal reasons. Reasons being preferences.
Preferences meaning you’d rather eat with someone else than your day ones.
Before Rio could put the phone down, Anzu grabs ahold of the man’s wrist and pulls, cutting in as she wails desperately, “Why don’t you just invite her over again? We can all eat together! I ordered pizza!”
The line is silent and Rio shakes her off, pulling the phone away as he says in a hushed tone, “Girl. They want to eat with their girlfriend. Alone.”
She clings onto his hand with a sort of look that shows she understands, but also not entirely. After a brief moment of silence, Ranmaru clears their throat and goes, “Maybe another time.”
Rio shoots Anzu a look like he just won an argument Anzu didn’t know they were having and the line goes dead after that. He pockets his phone, then looks at Anzu flatly, “What’s wrong with having dinner with just me?”
“It’s not that,” Anzu replies, taking a slice of pizza pitifully. “It just would’ve been better if we were all here.”
“Well you can’t expect us to always be together all the time,” Rio shrugs, taking his own slice of pizza. “One of these days eating together like this will become a rarity.”
Her mouth hangs open mid chew. He grimaces in disgust and closes her jaw.
“You’re acting like I’m gonna go ahead and get myself a partner just to prove a point,” Rio deadpans, before stuffing his mouth with pizza.
“And I’m not saying that you guys shouldn’t go ahead and find the love of your lives,” Anzu pouts, nibbling at the end of her pizza. “I just feel like it shouldn’t mean leaving the rest of us behind. We were here first, y’know?”
Rio stares at her with this unreadable expression, still eating his own slice, before finally going, “Wow. You’re stupid.”
Anzu grumbles, “I’m not.”
“Eat your food,” Rio swats at her.
There’s a word out there, surely, to describe what she feels about the whole situation. About Ranmaru making it a habit to eat with them less and less. Perhaps she is simply jealous, as some would put it, but she doesn’t feel jealous. It’s sadder than that. More harrowing. She hoped, for a long while, that the feeling would extinguish soon.
Yet it continues. To the point even Rio starts to feel it in the atmosphere of their home, and suddenly she understands what Ranmaru had meant when they said that the place seemed a little too big for just the three of them. Yes, the dining table does look longer, colder, without one of them there.
Eventually, Rio grows tired of her sulking—or something like that—and by the fifth night he finally speaks up about it.
“Maybe you should just bring it up with Ranmaru,” Rio tells her. They’re having ramen this time, homemade by his truly.
Anzu frowns as she plays with her food idly, “I wouldn’t know how to say it.”
“I know,” Rio says. “Something like, ‘Hey Ranmaru. I’ve been feeling left out ever since you got a girlfriend.’”
Anzu scrunches her face up at him, “I’m not saying that. Makes me sound…”
“Obnoxious? Entitled? Clingy? Desperate?”
Anzu glares at him with a mouthful of noodles.
Rio raises his hands defensively, then taps the tip of his chopsticks to his lips in thought, “It’s just how it looks like to me, alright?”
“There are better words to describe this,” Anzu looks away, then swallows her food. “I’m not jealous.”
“I never said you were,” Rio says, going back to his ramen.
“And I’m saying I’m not,” Anzu firmly adds on. “I don’t want to act like they’re being stolen from me. Because that’s not what’s happening here.”
“You sound like you’ve been repeating that to yourself as a mantra,” Rio deadpans.
Anzu shoots him a look.
“And it isn’t working,” Rio continues after tanking her glare with not much difficulty. “You’ve been more agro lately. You really gotta sort your shit out before your chat starts to notice too.”
She perks up in realization, like it just occurred to her that emotions are capable of being directly reflected on her face, and she finds herself feeling embarrassed for not noticing sooner. That’s right, isn’t it? She’s usually not this agitated over personal issues.
She’d apologize, but that would mean Rio would have one over her, and she doesn’t want that stacking over her other unsorted issues. Instead, she goes, “You’re pretty shit at handling other people’s emotions, y’know that?”
“It’s my signature,” Rio drawls, pulling noodles into his spoon gracefully. “In any case, you don’t have to worry about being upfront with Ranmaru about your feelings. You’ve never needed to before, why do you feel worried to do so now?”
“Because it’s never been about a person before,” Anzu says quietly.
“What difference does it make?”
“A lot, actually,” Anzu mumbles, even quieter.
Sensing that this is going nowhere, and Anzu is likely not going to overexplain herself, Rio decides to drop it. Their dinner is promptly finished in silence.
Shortly after Anzu’s mom had found out about Ranmaru swapping in, they managed to find a job someplace else doing the thing they actually studied for. Scouting material for a fashion magazine. Though that would technically make them and Chidouin rivals in the workforce, the two hardly made it a problem—as expected.
This means Anzu hardly sees Ranmaru around the house anymore, much like the time they had pretended to be her back in her mom’s company. This, combined with the fact that Ranmaru would get dinner with Chidouin after work, meant Anzu is basically restricted to ever seeing Ranmaru over the weekends.
That’s less than the hours she used to get back when they were in college. At least there were times when their classes wouldn’t collide and they could grab lunch or have a study session together.
Anzu’s stream schedule is pretty consistent. She tends to stream in the evening, all the way into the night. She tries not to go too late on a weekday, knowing her viewers would need the sleep for the morning after. On weekends, she’d start earlier and go on longer.
Weekends, as mentioned, are also the days Ranmaru would be free to hang out with her.
Her fanbase makes this apparent.
Anzu’s not immune to ego surfing, even as she’s tugging on the red highlights of her blue-dyed hair while the three of them are having a movie marathon in the living room. Rio had just gotten up to take a piss, so they’ve paused the movie to await his return. She took the chance to have some phone time.
She’s on the floor, scrolling through recent tweets that mention her name, and Ranmaru hangs from the couch and looks over her shoulder to take a peep. They’ve done this enough times for her to let it slide. Out loud, they go, “Why don’t you stream on the weekends anymore anyway?”
“‘Cause then I’ll be too busy for you!” Anzu answers promptly, turning her phone off right after. “Don’t ask silly questions.”
Ranmaru smiles at her, “You don’t have to do all that just for me.”
Anzu bites back a ‘I have to’ and grins out a, “I want to.”
Rio comes back with wet hands and wipes them over Anzu’s tee. She squirms and wiggles and groans, but ultimately doesn’t resist. Then he unpauses the movie, and that’s as much as the pair gets to unpack before they’re back watching their movie.
The back of Anzu’s mind tells her that she should say more before she has to take another week of duo dining, but the best she could muster is another shared smile when she brushed her hand against theirs when they had both gone for the popcorn. She feels a little pitiful.
By the end of the day, when they’ve all had their meals made by Rio once more—who loves to say he hates having to cook, but smiles so quietly to himself whenever he’s in the kitchen making something—Anzu finds herself lingering in the hallway to their bedrooms.
Rio has turned in for the night early, saying he has an early shoot tomorrow—he’s the only one with an inconsistent work schedule like that—so it was just Ranmaru and Anzu in the kitchen washing up when they were done eating. It was done mostly in silence, with brief and inconsequential exchanges.
“Well, goodnight,” Ranmaru says gently, watching Anzu rest her hand on the doorknob.
Anzu stares back at them, then smiles, “Sweetest of dreams Ranmaru!”
They laugh, push open their door, and that was the end of their weekend.
Anzu doesn’t realize it’s raining until she gets a phone call from Ranmaru, asking for her to bring an umbrella down to the bus stop where they and Chidouin are. With Rio still being out on his photoshoot, it seems like Anzu is the only one that can come save the day.
Fortunately for her, she’s yet to start her stream, so she was ready to get the move on the moment Ranmaru had called. Though she hesitates for a moment after hearing that Chidouin will be coming, purely out of reflex. But Anzu knows that deep down she doesn’t hate Chidouin’s company, she feels like it’s been ages since she last saw her too.
She heads downstairs with two umbrellas. One for herself, one for the both of them to share when they come up. The lift ride down feels excruciating long, and she realizes it’s because she feels excited to see her friends again. When she knows this, there comes a beat to her steps, and she steps in every small puddle before she gets to the bus stop.
“You only brought two?” Ranmaru says first when they see her coming. Chidouin greets her with a smile and a nod.
“One’s for sharing,” Anzu tells them, putting down her umbrella as she holds out the other. She’s standing under the shelter of the bus stop now, and it feels a little crowded with her opened umbrella held out to one side, taking up the space of another person.
“Oh okay,” Ranmaru replies and takes the umbrella from her hand, then passes it along to Chidouin. “Sorry, I guess I should’ve specified.”
“Specified?” Anzu asks curiously.
“Here, Sara-chan,” Ranmaru says, after they had handed the umbrella to her. “I don’t want you to get wet, so I’ll share with Anzu.”
“Sure,” Chidouin nods with a smile, then promptly opens the umbrella that was handed to her. “Lead the way then!”
The act came as so much of a surprise that Anzu was stunned to silence. She stands there dumbly as Ranmaru nudges her to get moving so they can head home already. It takes a second for her to fly into autopilot, holding up the umbrella as Ranmaru crams under it with her. It is a bit of a tight squeeze with two people, but they used to share umbrellas all the time back in school.
On their walk back to the apartment, Ranmaru would occasionally turn around to check on Chidouin, just to see if she’s fairing well, and she’d smile in amusement back at them, which would promptly make them flustered. Anzu finds it difficult to start any conversation with them in the pouring rain, so they mostly walk in silence.
When they get to their apartment, she finds one side of her shoulder drenched, and the same goes for Ranmaru. Meanwhile, Chidouin has completely avoided the rain altogether, safe for her shoes and socks, which are always unavoidable when it gets this particularly rainy. Anzu sort of understands why Ranmaru let her have the umbrella all to herself.
“Sara-chan, you can wait for me on the couch. I’m gonna get changed,” Ranmaru gestures to their wet shoulder, and she fires them a double thumbs up. They look towards Anzu before leaving, expecting her to follow them.
“Oh, right,” Anzu looks at her own shoulder. “I should too. I gotta start stream soon.”
“That so?” Chidouin perks with interest. “Did we delay that on accident?”
“No, no,” Anzu laughs, batting her hand dismissively. “You guys totally caught me in the right moment.”
As the two head upstairs, with Anzu taking the lead, Ranmaru suddenly stops her before she can disappear into her room. It’s likely that after she goes in, she won’t be out till way later, when everyone has gone to sleep—she already has bento packed in her room for when dinner comes up, made by herself.
“You only brought two because you thought I’d share with Sara-chan,” Ranmaru states. Anzu can tell it’s not a question, just by seeing how firm they look at her.
“Yeah, I thought that was obvious,” Anzu rubs the back of her neck awkwardly. “Er, I mean. I thought it was obvious that you would wanna share with her…”
Ranmaru looks at her for a while, probably trying to read her mind, which obviously doesn’t work, so they sigh in defeat, “Right. Yeah. Have a good stream.”
“Thanks,” Anzu, then before she ducks into her room, she doubles back and asks. “Did you tell Rio you were bringing Chidouin home? He wanted to buy back dinner.”
“Yep, I remembered,” Ranmaru taps the side of their head.
“Okay,” Anzu nods, then heads inside.
Every joint in Anzu’s body pops as she stretches out her body. The clock reads 1AM, which is later than usual on a Monday, but she had been so engrossed in the game that she had forgotten the time completely. She feels bad about her fans staying up this late, but it’s hard to really pin the blame on her. She can only hope they forgive her at least.
She leaves her room tiredly, holding her bento box so she washes it in the sink and finally gets ready for bed. The apartment is completely dark and quiet, given everyone has gone to bed, and not wanting to burn her retinas after being in the dark for so long, she decides to fumble to the kitchen in the dark.
Partway through washing her bento box, the light suddenly comes on, and Anzu yelps in surprise, eyes immediately falling into a squint as she tries to adjust to the sudden brightness. She mumbles about her eyes hurting as she turns her head to see who had decided to torture her so late into the night and finds Chidouin at the light switch.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Chidouin goes, though she doesn’t turn the lights off. “Why are you doing the dishes in the dark?”
“I didn’t wanna burn my eyes,” Anzu groans tiredly, but eventually her eyes come around to adjusting in the light and she no longer has to squint to look at Chidouin. “What are you doing up this late anyway?”
“I got thirsty,” she smiles sheepishly.
“Oh, lemme help you with that!” Anzu beams. She was practically done washing her bento box anyway. She dries her hands off and finds Chidouin a cup, filling it with water from a water jug on the counter, and hands it to Chidouin, who takes it graciously with thanks.
They awkwardly stand there as Chidouin finishes the full cup of water. Honestly, Anzu was half expecting her to just head back upstairs with this cup and fall back asleep. Guess not. They both stand there till Chidouin empties the cup out, letting out a satisfied sigh.
“Um, you didn’t have to wait for me,” Chidouin mumbles in embarrassment.
“Oh, yeah,” Anzu flushes, mirroring the sentiment. “It just felt weird to leave you here by yourself.”
Another awkward pause. Chidouin makes the move to wash her cup, Anzu lets her. She continues to stand there, watching Chidouin. It gets a little more awkward after that. Anzu isn’t even sure what she’s doing, just standing there. It just feels instinctive to linger. In the back of her mind, she imagines Rio telling her that it’s because she has unfinished business to tend to.
“I don’t have a ghost possessing my mind,” Anzu says out loud, in response to cognitive Rio chiding her.
“What’s that?” Chidouin asks, swatting her hands dry in the sink.
“Nothing,” Anzu says. “Um, well. So. Goodnight then, I suppose.”
“Thanks for keeping me company,” Chidouin nods her head, and they both quietly make their way upstairs after hitting the lights.
But, when they finally reached the hallway, Chidouin took another pause in front of Ranmaru’s door, and before Anzu can go inside, Chidouin tells her to wait. So Anzu listens and looks at Chidouin.
“I get this feeling that…something’s amiss,” Chidouin says slowly.
“Huh?” Anzu asks, bewildered.
“It’s just…you see a lot different from what I remember,” Chidouin continues, tapping her finger against the doorknob. “You’ve gotten somber, for some reason.”
Anzu gives her an awkward smile. For a girl that hasn’t known her long, Chidouin sure is perceptive to Anzu’s character. “What do you mean?”
“Did something happen between you and Ranmaru-chan?” Chidouin asks carefully, like she already knows the topic will be sensitive.
Anzu’s mouth clams shut.
“Ahh I don’t mean to butt in or anything,” Chidouin flusters, waving her hands frantically. “It just seems like it because whenever Ranmaru-chan calls in to say they’re having dinner with me, they get a little sad after hanging up.”
“They do?” Anzu looks at Chidouin softly.
“Do you, perhaps, wanna talk about it privately…?” Chidouin asks, gesturing to the door in front of her. Right, if they keep standing here, they’re bound to wake someone up.
At the same time. Does Anzu really want to talk about this with Chidouin? What if it turns for the worst, and Chidouin tells Anzu to let go. Let go of your best friend, because she’s holding them back from someone that makes them happy. Anzu’s lost enough friends to this to know how it’ll go, she can’t bear to lose another friend again. Especially Ranmaru.
Because what will Anzu do without them?
“Okay,” Anzu’s answer tumbles out before she knows what she’s saying. It’s reflex, at this point. Her body goes on autopilot, and suddenly they’re at the couch, and the moonlight falls in from the windows to illuminate Chidouin’s face. For a moment, Anzu understands what Ranmaru sees. Conventionally, she is a pretty lady.
Anzu wouldn’t mind losing Ranmaru to a girl like her.
“Don’t look so sad now,” Chidouin chuckles lightly. “I haven’t said anything. Do you think I am scolding you or something?”
“I just don’t know what to say or expect,” Anzu confesses, tapping her fingers together. “I’m a bit of a coward, actually. I said yes without thinking because I’m scared what would happen if I said no.”
Chidouin bursts into laughter and relaxes into the couch, “Am I scary?”
“It’s not that,” Anzu flushes. She’s blabbering because she’s nervous, she knows this. She can’t really stop. “I just feel like maybe I’d regret it if I didn’t say yes, or something like that. I’ve been avoiding this problem for weeks already and I don’t know. I don’t knooooow.”
By this point, Anzu has buried her face in her hands. It’s probably because she’s exhausted from streaming that she suddenly feels this way, like her whole world is crumbling apart and she needs to make peace with it now. At the same time. Isn’t it so embarrassing that she’s coming to an end with the cause and not the source? Speaking with Chidouin instead of Ranmaru feels like the coward’s way out.
“I’m sorry,” Chidouin suddenly says, still remaining relaxed, but her expression is a little more serious now. “I sense that this might be my fault?”
Anzu looks up in surprise.
“I mean, it’s only natural to reach this conclusion haha,” Chidouin laughs lightly. “I’ve always been told I’m pretty perceptive of other people’s emotions. But, this one’s a little easier to spot.” then she sits up, “Do you think that I’m, maybe, ruining your friendship with Ranmaru-chan?”
“I-I wouldn’t say that,” Anzu blubbers
“I wouldn’t either, it’s a harsh word,” Chidouin folds her legs. “But I’ve felt like that before with my friends before. It feels like things won’t be the same after, or something like that.”
Anzu’s mouth hangs in even more surprise.
“In highschool, my two best friends started dating,” Chidouin laces her hands together. “I started feeling left out and lonely, even though we were all still friends. It just felt like I was being cast aside for something that felt more important than me. I mean, it really sucked when they had to go on dates and I couldn’t come because it’s a date. What difference is there anyway? Aren’t we all friends? Aren’t I just as important?”
“Right!” Anzu suddenly exclaims.
“And then, my friend Joe, he asked me one day. He was walking me home after school. Ryouko—my other friend—was busy that day. He asked me if I ever felt like I was being left out, or something like that,” Chidouin continues, lying back down on the backrest of the couch. “I guess it was getting obvious that I felt upset about their relationship.”
Anzu nods along, feeling familiar with the story.
“And I don’t usually lie with Joe, so I just said yes upfront,” Chidouin continues, staring up at their very tall ceiling. “Then he told me: ‘Sara, we still love you a freak ton, y’know.’ and I just kinda…I don’t know. Something just clicked.”
“That’s it?” Anzu blinks in confusion.
“I guess it was the way he said it then, and maybe the way he looked at me,” Chidouin looks at Anzu from the corners of her eyes. “I just suddenly realized I underestimated how important I was to them, just because they got together. Like I was the only one that saw their romantic relationship as superior to our friendship because I was the one worried about things falling apart. Realistically, nothing wrong was going on. There were times I’d hang with them one-on-one too, as friends.”
Then she rubs her eyes tiredly as she goes on, “I guess it’s not much for comfort when I tell you this. But I don’t think you’re going to lose Ranmaru-chan to me. Truthfully, they love you a lot too. They talk about you a lot. You have nothing to worry.”
Anzu feels her eyes getting a little wet as she grips her hands together, feeling overwhelmed. “You’re good at this.”
“Hmm?” Chidouin tilts her head against the couch.
“You’re good at speaking,” Anzu sniffles. “Thanks.”
When Chidouin doesn’t answer, Anzu realizes it’s because the lady has fallen asleep.
Not wanting Chidouin to be alone when she wakes up in the morning—or cold—Anzu decided to put a blanket over Chidouin and sleep on the other end of the couch under her own blanket. By the time Anzu wakes up, however, the lady had long left, blanket folded neatly where Chidouin had slept.
On top, a note: ‘Went to work! Breakfast on the stove. Heat up and eat up! -Sara’
Anzu checks the time to find that she’s slept till a little before noon. Nothing out of the ordinary. She gets up and stretches, and it occurs to her that she completely forgot to brush her teeth last night.
“Did you get to talk to Ranmaru?” Rio asks when they bump into each other a little before lunch. He promised to make curry today, so Anzu was basically preempting herself by lingering around in the kitchen. She knows it’ll be time for him to cook when he chases her out.
“No, why?” Anzu asks as she slides away to the other end of the counter outside the kitchen.
“I caught Ranmaru in the morning ‘cause Chidouin made breakfast,” Rio says flatly. “They look like a weight was lifted off their shoulders. And, well, you were sleeping on the couch with Chidouin too.”
Anzu flushes in embarrassment, “Oh, actually. Maybe it’s because I got to talk to Chidouin-san last night.”
Rio pauses midway through putting on his apron, “What.”
“It worked out,” Anzu shrugs with a smile so sheepish it makes Rio physically frown. “I feel better about this whole thing now, and I guess Ranmaru does too when they saw I was getting along with Chidouin-san.”
Rio taps his lips in thought, “I feel like this isn’t the way things should end.”
“Why not? Problem’s over,” Anzu folds her arms.
“Not necessarily,” Rio returns to what he was doing, which is cooking. “I think you should still talk to Ranmaru about it. To, y’know, clear the air or something.” then a beat, “But that’s just my two cents, y’know? What do I know. I’ve never had any issues with the two of you.”
“Me when I lie,” Anzu mutters.
“I will poison your portion,” Rio points his knife at her.
“Eek!”
For the first time in a while, Ranmaru comes home after work without Chidouin.
In confusion, Anzu asks what happened. But, in the back of her mind, she feels it must be related to the talk she had with the lady last night about her worries over her relationship with Ranmaru deteriorating because of them and Chidouin’s relationship.
However, to Anzu’s surprise, Ranmaru answers with a coincidence, “Sara-chan is expecting family over tonight, so I decided to just come home.”
“Really? Usually its the kids visiting the parents, not the other way around,” Rio states as he preps leftover curry for dinner. “Unless you’re Kinashi Anzu and you’ve decided to commit fraud because you wanted to be internet famous.”
“You think I’m internet famous?” Anzu’s eyes sparkle at him.
“Ugh, I’ll never envy your lifestyle as an e-clown,” Rio rolls his eyes.
“Oh, not her parents,” Ranmaru clarifies. “I asked too. Her apartment’s real small so I was surprised to hear this. But apparently it’s like…a guardian…? She didn’t elaborate.”
Rio mutters something about how it must be that Chidouin was born from a mistress, but Anzu whacks him for being disrespectful. He takes it, knowing he deserves it, and doesn’t talk about poisoning her dinner.
“So, what are we gonna do after dinner? It’s been a while since we’ve chilled like this together. ‘Cept on weekends,” Ranmaru reels their shoulder dramatically, feeling rather pumped up for no reason.
“I have a stream later…,” Anzu mutters apologetically.
“Oh.” they say, looking fairly disappointed.
She frets and shifts, then produces her phone from her pocket, “I guess I can just cancel it, just for today.”
“Oh!” Ranmaru brightens as they watch Anzu write the announcement onto her social media. “Should we continue our movie marathon?”
“I wanted to get into that drama series, actually,” Rio says. “One of my model coworkers recently got casted as a background character in one of the episodes.”
Anzu perks, “You’re interested in what your coworkers are up to?”
“I need to be educated on my rivals so I can hate better. That’s why I watch your streams and read your magazines,” Rio replies nonchalantly.
“Aw,” Anzu softens, hands on her chest.
“Really?” Ranmaru brightens.
Flustered, Rio grumbles and begins swatting around his ladle at them, “Get out of my kitchen already! You’re distracting me!!”
They scramble on out of there, leaving their personal chef alone in his holy space. They find solace in the living room, which is far enough from the kitchen in order to not be heard by Rio. Anzu thinks of putting on some TV to pass the time, but before she can reach the remote, Ranmaru makes the move to speak.
“Um, Anzu,” Ranmaru starts, then immediately loses the confidence and falls quiet. Anzu stares at them for a long while, hand still hovering over the remote. Eventually, they open their mouth again. Only to close it. Then reopen.
“Fish.”
“Ya.”
She cracks a smile and so do they, which eases the tension well enough to bring Ranmaru’s confidence back up again.
“Sara-chan told me what happened last night,” Ranmaru says gently. “The talk you had, I mean.”
“Oh,” it’s not surprising in the least bit, but Anzu still manages to raise her eyebrows anyway. “What’d you say?”
“I just…wish you would’ve told me sooner,” Ranmaru folds their legs, knees to their chin. “I would’ve been okay with it. Talking about it, I mean. Did you think I’d be upset?”
“I just didn’t want to be misunderstood,” Anzu admits, hand dropping to her side. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Ranmaru smiles. “I mean, I knew you were off lately. I should’ve asked too. Sorry.”
“I’m okay about it now,” Anzu reassures.
“I know, she told me,” Ranmaru nods. “But, just so you can hear it straight from me, you’re my best friend, Anzu. I’m not leaving you for anyone.”
Anzu taps her toes together, then looks up at Ranmaru, and spreads her arms for a hug. Ranmaru pulls her in. “I’m not very worried anymore, Ranmaru. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”
“Okay,” Ranmaru snuggles in. “Same.”