The heavy wooden gate of the Ishikawa estate thudded shut.
The sound was deep and final, and Ren let out a slow breath he hadn't realized he was holding. The noise of the outside world—the school bells, the shouting at the club fair, Yosuke's non-stop, high-pitched analysis of Kendo butts, the clang of a basketball off a rim—it all just... evaporated.
Here, there was only the clean scent of pine trees and the quiet, rhythmic crunch of his own footsteps on the manicured gravel path. The contrast to the "Hall of Shame" was so total it almost gave him whiplash.
As he approached the main house, the large shoji doors slid open. Alfred stood there, his posture as immaculate as his suit.
"Welcome home, Ren-sama," the butler said, his voice as smooth and cool as polished stone.
"Hey, Alfred." Ren toed off his school shoes and stepped up into the entryway.
"I trust your first day was... acceptable?" Alfred asked, taking Ren's school bag.
Ren paused, thinking of Kaito's wall-slam. "It was... loud, Alfred."
"Ah." Alfred's expression didn't change, but there was a flicker of understanding. "'Loud' is often a sign of 'youth,' or so I am told. A hot towel and tea are waiting in your room, sir. Your sister is also home."
"Right. Thanks."
Ren headed toward his room, bypassing the main parlor. He could hear his mother, Akari, on the phone, her voice crisp and polite as she organized what sounded like a high-society charity dinner. He saw his grandfather, Genji, through a window, walking the perimeter of the koi pond with an attendant, his hands clasped behind his back like a general.
He just wanted to get to his room, put on his headphones, and decompress from all the... peopling... of the day.
His path took him past the study. The door was open.
"Ren."
His father's voice. Ren stopped.
He looked inside. Kenichi wasn't working. He was sitting in a large leather armchair by the window, a book open on his lap, a cup of tea on the table beside him. He wasn't "waiting," exactly, but he'd clearly been available.
"You're home," Kenichi said, smiling. "Come in. Sit down."
Ren's plan to decompress could wait. He walked in and flopped bonelessly into the chair opposite his father, his long legs stretching out.
Kenichi didn't lean forward. He didn't pry. He just asked, "So, first day. How was it?"
Ren thought for a second. "Loud."
Kenichi chuckled. "So I heard. Anything else?"
"I met some... guys... in my class." Ren thought of Yosuke's manic energy and Kenji's constant, weary sighs. "One of them... is the 'loud'."
"Ah. 'Acquaintances'?" Kenichi asked, a faint twinkle in his eye.
"I guess," Ren said. It wasn't a bad feeling.
Kenichi sipped his tea, the picture of patience. Then, finally, he asked the question, but he did it gently. "And... did you happen to see the gym?"
Ren let his head fall back against the chair. "Ugh. Yeah, I saw it."
"And?"
Ren let out a short, dry, humorless laugh. "Dad, it's a mess."
Kenichi's smile faded, but he just nodded, listening. "A 'mess' as in, 'they need work,' or a 'mess' as in 'a disaster'?"
"A 'disaster' is being kind," Ren said, rubbing his eyes. "It was... a circus. A total, three-ring circus. Yosuke—the loud one—he called it 'The Hall of Shame.' He wasn't wrong."
"What did you see?" Kenichi asked, his voice quiet.
"Where do I start?" Ren sat up, his "player" instincts kicking in now that he was asked to report. "This kid from my class, Kaito. He's fast. Like, really fast. But he ran straight into the wall."
Kenichi winced. "Literally?"
"Literally. A padded wall, but still. He just... forgot to stop. And the B-Team... the guys at the club fair? Just a bunch of clowns. One of them, Ryota, threw a pass into the bleachers during the scrimmage. Not near the bleachers. Into them. Ten rows up."
Ren shook his head, the memory still fresh. "It was... wow. No fundamentals. No brain. Just... chaos."
Kenichi was quiet for a long moment. He looked past Ren, out the window, at nothing in particular. He looked... disappointed. Not in Ren, but in the news.
"I see," he said, his voice heavy. He looked down at his hands, at the knuckles that were still thickened from his own playing days. "So, it's really... gone. That legacy."
The room was silent. Ren felt like the conversation was over. He'd seen the disaster, confirmed his fears, and now he was done.
He'd just go to class, hang out with Yosuke and Kenji, and have the "normal" life he'd decided on.
But then Ren spoke again, his voice different.
"...the girls' team is different, though."
Kenichi's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "What?"