The way to the bike parking spot is like walking on thin ice; Ren has been silent since then. 

“Hey,” Kaito begins after a while. The sky has turned indigo with clear dusk stars scattered brightly like fairy dust. “Are you okay? Do the girls’ words offend you? Don’t listen to them, they were just-”

Ren halts on his track with his back facing Kaito. “Why do you think I would be offended?” he asks.

/Well, because they are insulting gay people and you are…/ Of course, Kaito can’t say that out loud. So he remains silent. He’s not skilled in manoeuvring the truth and his moral compass won’t let him lie to Ren, whereas, his courage is still not enough for him to tell Ren the truth. 

To tell him that he knows Ren’s sexuality.

“Anyway,” Kaito decides to change the topic. “Don’t get involved with Yami again. He never genuinely thinks of you as friends, he’s just using you to get close to girls, selling your name everywhere to his benefit. He was bad news.”

“You hardly speak with anyone in school but you were hella chatty today, huh?” Ren chuckles humorlessly.

“What?” Something with Ren’s speaking tone sends Kaito off. 

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Ren still hasn’t let Kaito see his face yet. “I know Yami and others’ reasons for approaching me. I know everything.”

“If you know why you let them drag you into an uncomfortable situation?!” Kaito doesn’t realise he raises his voice. He has a prediction that Ren was not a fool who doesn’t notice something obvious, but why does he let others trample on him?

“Everyone has their reason to make a friend; whether they’re popular, rich, smart, good looking. It is just natural when you meet people blessed with advantages you will take it as a chance to improve yourself. Human nature is utilising the opportunity for their own good and greed after all”. Ren turns his body halfway. Nevertheless, Kaito is reluctant to get closer since Ren’s vibe suddenly changes. The warm halo around him has dissipated and changed into something cold and aloof.

“Hasegawa, sorry to break this to you. But my simpleton mind couldn’t grasp your complicated words.“ Kaito sighs. The truth is, he understands enough of what Ren is trying to say, he just can’t quite catch his way of thinking. “Do you also usually calculate your own benefit before making friends with someone? Your friendliness with everyone, the help you gave without getting anything in return, and your volunteer work as class president; did you calculate everything beforehand? Was that all fake?”

“Seriously, what’s wrong with you today?!” Ren swivels his head at Kaito just to frown at him. Another expression Kaito has never seen from him before. “I don’t see why this is your concern. You never give a damn about whatever happened in school. You never care whether your classmates are sick, bullied by the seniors, or drop out of school but suddenly you are so worked up by whom I am making friends with.”

“Are you angry because I saved you from those fools???” Kaito spits back.

“I never asked you to save me from anything.”

“What? If I were not here, would you follow that girl to her house?”

Kaito doesn’t miss how Ren flinches and his face crumpled into disgust. “Without you, I managed to through the worst. We just became friends hours ago, don’t act like you saved my life or anything. You don’t know me that well, Sato.”

“Oh wow~” Kaito scoffs in disbelief. “Would you look at that shitty personality? You should tell me beforehand that all your good image was just pretending. Then I shouldn’t feel bad about you getting involved with those motherfuckers, because, in the end, you are all just the same birds flocking together”

“What makes you different, Sato? You - who never makes an effort in making friends or lets others invade your personal space, suddenly follow me up here and agree to become friends with me, isn’t that because I will advantage you in the future? Because you see the benefit of getting close to me since I can help you with studying? See, We are no different. As fellow humans, our nature is also similar. Then why - you! - now! - looking at me like I was doing something despicable!” 

If the eyes could kill, Kaito is lying in his blood puddle right now. Ren’s bloodshot eyes glared at him with hostility Kaito never received in his life before. Not even his opponent he met in the fighting ring ever showed malice in the level Ren doing at him at this moment. It perplexed him enough to stunt him for a second.

/What the fuck is wrong with this guy? Has he gone mad? All I did was ask and he acted like I kill his family or something. I did all these stupid things to save him but suddenly I was the one to be blamed?/

“Ha! Ha..hahah” The absurdity of the situation makes Kaito laugh. “I don’t know why I was so surprised. I mean I had predicted your saccharine smile was fake all along.” Brushing his back while rolling his tongue on his inner cheek. Kaito snorts. “What on earth I was doing here? Wasting my time and all.”

“Don’t stick your nose in others’ business. And more importantly, don’t try to drive me away from my friends” Ren states flatly before taking his bike and riding it away. Leaving Kaito petrified, watching his figure slowly disappear.

/Friends? Did he call those goons friends? That dumbshit fucker seriously getting on my nerve/

This is the reason why Kaito refused for being attached to others; be it schoolmates, teachers, or people in this town in general. People are an enigma. In the ring, Kaito may read someone's movement perfectly; will they kick, jab, or tackle, even the slightest movement could be predicted by their stance. However, outside the ring people are just a bunch of theatre actors; what they think, what they feel, their malice inner thoughts, their good intentions - all obscure and unpredictable.

He has lost his trust in people a long time ago. But meeting Ren has thrown him into a sense of familiarity despite how opposite their personalities are. Kaito is sure that Ren also notices how sickening people could be, however instead of driving them away like him, Ren - with his naivety and stupidity - excused their fraud. Does he think kindness alone can turn an asshole into a noble in one night?

Kaito dares to bet with his life that something so cliche as that won’t happen in real life. Those leeches will likely squeeze everything left of Ren and leave him when nothing is left in him. 

/That’s right…rare to find genuine people who- wait a damn minute! wasn’t that what Ren was talking about before? People around just take advantage of each other. Wouldn’t that make me have the same mindset as him?/

Messing with his own hair while cursing, Kaito leaves to get his bike. “Dammit! This is the first time I was thinking this hard. My head hurts!”