kai had saved aichi before. he opened up his world by giving him blaster blade. kai frowned. that never happened to him in this life. was that the root of aichi’s suffering? were kai and aichi that important to each other? kai felt guilt settle like a rock in his stomach. he knew he couldn’t help what happened, but to think that his life was so important to another person’s, and that that person was doing so much for the claim that he would simply be happy … kai didn’t like it one bit.
“ i understand. this is more than i could have asked for, really. ” emi, shuka, and suiko probably didn’t know him well if it at all, and he could understand that. but they knew more about what was going on than he did. suiko had refused to give him any answers. he felt like he was just being pulled along by the whims of strangers. without warning, kai pulled ren into a hug, holding him tightly. he missed having someone he could rely on. he left his parents behind, miwa was trying to bring kai to ‘ sanctuary, ’ ibuki was gone, and he couldn’t bring himself to really trust the others. this loneliness should have felt new to him, but it didn’t. it was a deep ache that felt somehow normal. he was so grateful for the relief that ren brought him.
“ thank you so much. ” his voice cracked with tears threatening to fall again. before he could catch it, his stance became vacant and his voice took on a deeper, more serious quality. “ i’m sorry i left you behind again, even though i promised myself i wouldn’t. i didn’t want to, but that’s no excuse. i should’ve been stronger. ”
kai blinked. “ what was that …? ” he pulled away from the hug to hold his head. it started aching again. “ did i say something weird …? that’s been happening more often lately, sorry … ” he was apologizing to ren a lot. he felt like he needed to for some reason. he met ren’s eyes when he started talking about ibuki, and frowned at the nonchalance in his voice. “ … ah, ibuki … aichi just opened up a hole in the ground and he fell in. i was there when it happened. ” he tried not to think too hard about it. he didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that ibuki could be dead. he had only just reunited with him. kai sighed. “ so you don’t know where he went …? i didn’t tell the others, because they care about ibuki, too, but … what if something awful happened to him? he’s one of my closest friends … i’ve known him since we were kids … ”
ren was taken off guard by kai’s hug, and even moreso by his apology. deep down, he still felt guilty over the past, didn’t he? that was just like him. ren melted into the hug, closing his eyes for a few moments. “it’s in the past. i forgive you. it’s okay, kai.” he wasn’t upset with him about all that anymore. they had reconciled and were friends again. ren just wanted kai in his life again. he wanted to be apart of kai’s life. even if kai didn’t know what he was saying, he still cared about ren. it made him happy.
“it’s not weird...your memories are still vague, that’s it.” he reached to rub his back, hoping it could help ease his pain or at least distract him a bit from it. “suiko-san told me about what happened to bukki...i wouldn’t have expected that to happen. aichi-kun is really serious about keeping us away from you. i wonder if he’s the one that sent us away....” he mused quietly to himself. it would make sense if aichi somehow was able to send he and rekka away. he wanted them out of the picture. he wanted to break the group up.
“sorry, i don’t know where he is. bukki has talked about how important you and miwa-kun are to him. but i heard things didn’t end up too good about him either...” he wondered why someone like miwa was working with aichi anyways. he didn’t know a lot about him, but he knew how loyal he was to kai. the fact that he was opposing him now seemed unthinkable. “we can figure out what happened with both of them!” he took kai’s hands into his own. “bukki’s alive, for sure! he wouldn’t die that easily!” he didn’t want to think ibuki was dead.
“we have to get back into sanctuary...but we can’t barge in without a plan, either. i’ve heard those sandary nights are really strong!” of course, he misremembered the name of the group. “if we just go in now, they’ll probably capture you...so we need to figure out more about what’s going on. i know aichi-kun wouldn’t do this for no reason. it’s for you, but that doesn’t explain his hatred of vanguard. he never used to...something must have happened.”