Red Line || Chishiya Shuntarō ✓

twenty-six

The first thing out of Sara's mouth was "I thought you got killed." Obviously, Sara didn't say that to Takeru's face. She worried about Ren when she didn't come back after the first night. When Ren and Chishiya came through the doors of the hideout, Sara sighed with relief. And the state of them was just fine, not even a scratch on them. There was slight bruising around their necks where the collars rested against their skin, but that was it.

Takeru was obviously happy to see his sister alive. He kept asking Sara where Ren was. Normally, games only lasted a few minutes to a few hours but Ren and Chishiya were gone for over a day and a half.

Takeru's head was on Ren's lap that evening, fast asleep. Ren was gently rubbing his arm, trying to keep him warm in the chilly hideout. Ren's arm was pulled away from Takura and the familiar white hoodie was placed over him. Ren looked up to Chishiya before he moved to sit next to her.

Ren just gave him a small smile before looking down at her brother again. It still killed her knowing that Takeru was in this world with her. He didn't belong there – none of the kids did. Ren was thankful for Sara being there to take care of all these kids who were stuck with them. She didn't know how Sara did it, sure she was a daycare teacher, but something like this, knowing that she could watch one of the kids die before her eyes... Ren didn't know how she handled all this.

Ren couldn't handle all this.

Chishiya stared at Ren, recalling the time when he went through her things to grab that picture. He had seen it before with Kuina. Kuina was gushing over the twins, but back then, Ren didn't tell them that Takeru was in the games with them. She probably didn't want Kuina to get upset over the fact that a four-year-old was in this world.

Chishiya's eyes fell onto Takeru. He was sleeping peacefully, despite his visa ticking down. He knew that Ren didn't want Takeru to experience a face card, but the days weren't looking good.

"He's really attached to you."

"He better be." Ren commented under her breath. "I just wish he wasn't here with us." Ren smoothed down some of Takeru's wild hair. Chishiya was starting to realize the same thing – some of the players were just too kind or in this case, innocent for these horrific games. Ippei's kindness really got to Chishiya.

"When did you get custody of your siblings?" Chishiya questioned.

Ren lifted her head up to look at Chishiya. She didn't recall telling Kuina anything about having full custody of her twin siblings. "I was fifteen." Ren had to go through hell to get that custody of Takeru and Kaida. It wasn't pretty having to through the system to gain full custody. Ren never wanted to do that again. "My parents were killed in a car accident." Ren patting Takeru's head gently. "They were able to save the twins before my mom passed away." Ren took a deep breath.

Chishiya lowered his head.

"Mom was actually in labor when it happened. According to what the doctor told him, my stepfather had died at the scene and my mom was unconscious. They tried to save her, but... there was nothing they could do." For a while, Ren hated her twin siblings for surviving instead of her own mother. Then everything started to pile up around Ren – the funerals, caring for newborns, finding out about Kaida's cancer, dropping out of school.

Ren was depressed and suicidal before the deaths of her mother and stepfather, but when the twins entered her life, those thoughts only increased. Ren peered down at her arms; the scars seemed more intense than normal. Maybe it was all the running around, maybe it was just walking out in the run.

Ren loved her siblings, she did, but at the same time, there was a part of her that wondered what her life would have looked like if they weren't around. However, now being in this intense, horrific world, Ren just wanted both Takeru and Kaida in her arms and pretend like this wasn't a real place.