Ren would never be able to say exactly what it was that woke him up that night, but he was all of a sudden wide awake with a feeling that something was wrong. He sat straight up in bed and ran his fingers through his bangs, ruffling the strands for a moment before sliding off his mattress and padding to his door. Cracking it open, he stuck his head out into the hallway but nothing seemed amiss. There was no strange smells, no strange noises. Even so, his protective big brother instincts had always been strong and before he went back to bed he would check on Chizuru.
His footsteps made no noise on the wooden floor as he made his way down the hallway to his step sister's door. He tapped his knuckles quietly and murmured, "Chii? Are you awake?" He didn't really expect an answer, but it was rude to walk in without knocking first. Since he was met with silence he thought it would be alright to peek in, just to make sure she was okay. But when he opened her door enough to poke his head in, she wasn't in bed. And her window was open. While that was strange, she could have just been hot and needed it open. Maybe she woke up hungry, or thirsty. At least that's what he told himself as he checked the rest of the house.
She wasn't in the kitchen, or the living room, or either of the bathrooms. She had gone somewhere, snuck out in the middle of the night and Ren was beginning to feel a tingling sense of panic in his chest. If he didn't know where she was how could he protect her? Rushing back into his room he grabbed his phone and with a few swipes of his fingers he was calling her. And calling her again, and again. She didn't answer and tingling panic turned into clawing, but he couldn't rush out on his own to search the whole city for her. The best he could do was sit, and wait, and hope she came home in the same condition she left. He sat cross-legged on her bed with his back to the wall and waited.
