Phantom Show

Shards of a Heart

"How'd it go?" Ren asked. He already knew the answer, but Sojiro looked almost childishly excited, so Ren figured that he'd let Boss have this.

"We won, kid!" Sojiro said. "Guess Tokyo's your home now!"

"That's great!" Makoto said. "I'm happy for you, Ren."

"I'm happy for you too, Ren." Sae said. "Well, I'll let you lot have your victory. I got some paperwork to do, and... well, so do you guys. With Sojiro taking over as your permanent legal guardian, there's a lot for both you two, and your parents to go through." Sae explained.

"Right." Sojiro said. "But, the paperwork has to be done, right? We oughta get started then."

"Do we have it?" Ren asked.

"Not yet. It's inside. A whole lot of documents. You're parents are already working on it." Sae said.

"Okay, let's get this over with." Ren said, as he and Sojiro returned inside.

"I'm glad he isn't leaving." Makoto said. "Inaba sounds like a lovely place, but Shido ruined any opportunities he had there. At least he'll be treated better here."

"Pfft." Sae chuckled. "Come on, sis. You're glad he isn't leaving because you can't stand seeing him any less then 5 times a day. You're happy you get to hold on to your boyfriend for longer."

"Well, of course I am. How am I gonna make sure he's safe if he's in an entirely different place? How am I gonna keep him from causing on unnecessary mischief? He's "Joker" for a reason Sae. Just last week, he dumped out Ryuji's soda and replaced it with black coffee."

"Yeah? Well seeing Ren more will be nice, right?" Sae asked.

Makoto sighed. "Yeah. It will be."

——

"Alright, I'll get started on my half. I'll assume you'll want to have a word with them?" Sojiro asked.

"Yeah, I probably should." Ren said, leaving Sojiro to work on his part of the large pile of paperwork they had to fill out.

His parents turned to him. Lao and Nori Amamiya.
They once again gave their son a sad look, and Ren returned a neutral one. He hasn't seen his parents look at him with anything that wasn't anger or emptiness. Not since he was 10. Thats when things turned for the worse.
His parents were never that prevalent in his life, up until he was 5, he got the usual coddling from his parents, through his young childhood up until 10, his parents started to become distant. No longer asking how his day went, or what he wanted for dinner. No more family time, no more bedtime stories, no more sleeping with his parents when he had a nightmare... nothing. Then they started fighting around when Ren turned 10.
He wasn't sure what caused them to start fighting, or how it got so bad. Neither of them were cheating on each other, and they were a pretty happy couple for the longest time. It's like Ren's age entering the double digits was too much for them to handle. Once he was 12, that's when things between him and his parents got to where they are currently.
That's when he began to stay away from home as much as possible. That's when his father started sleeping on the couch. That's when his father began working longer and longer hours, until he was hardly around. That's when his mother stopped caring.

"So. We have quite a bit to talk about, don't we?" Ren asked, and neither of his parents spoke.

"What do you mean?" Lao asked. "You are still on probation. We shouldn't even be in the same room together."

"Lao, shut up." Nori said, turning back to her son. "Well, I guess you're under Sojiro's care for good, now."

"Guess so." Ren said. "I can't complain though, he's been good to me. Taught me to brew coffee and gave me valuable work experience."