Haru grabbed Ren
Haru lived with his mother in the Canadian mountains until he was eight years old, "to be honest, I don't wanna remember those days", after that, he decided to go to Japan to continue his studies. Later, as a sophomore, he returned to Canada to visit his "on the verge of dying" mother.
On their way from the airport, Rob told Haru that his mother had adopted a "new puppy". Haru thought his mother actually got a real puppy, but, when they got home, as Ren jumped out of nowhere on Rob's car, Haru thought Ren was Rob's grandson and happily greeted him, but Ren only bit his hand. Before greeting him, Haru was told to catch the brat, as Ren was going to runaway, or there'd be no dinner for him. Haru immediately grabbed Ren. "Food is serious business".
Ren[]
When Ren first came, three months before Haru arrived, his hair was long and Haruko cut it with a razor, in the bathroom, causing Ren something they called "bathroom-phobia". Ren was found when he was six, lying on the road. An orphanage took care of him until he was eight years old, when Haruko passed by that orphanage and saw him. She told Haru she didn't intend to adopt a child, but the dogs "loved that brat". Ren only knew his name and age/birthday, he didn't remember anything about his past. He was always playing with the dogs, tending to behave like them and rarely speaks.
Even if the message was "mother's on the verge of dying", Haru, as expected, found his mother was perfectly fine, therefore, he believed he should use that summer to "civilize" Ren. After five days, Haru managed to wash Ren, but discovered that Ren had marks of cigarette burns on the sole of his feet, wounds caused on purpose there by someone from the orphanage, somewhere where people wouldn't look or simply think the wounds were the kid's fault for not wearing shoes.
Haru kissing Ren goodnight
Haru[]
Haru's parents were divorced. His mother was a popular novelist, living in Alberta, Canada, and his father remarried and was living in Tokyo, Japan. Living with his father and his new family, Haru was taking good care of his younger brothers, the twins Aki and Shima. Haru had always treated everyone nice. No one ever received special treatment from him, as if no one was actually special to him.
Learning more about Ren, Haru began to understand him a bit better. Because Ren didn't sleep inside the house and preferred to sleep with the dogs, Haru remembered that, when his father remarried and saw his new family, he had the same "out of place" feeling watching them together.
Haruko[]
Haruko, Haru's mother, is half Japanese because of her mother, but she was born and raised in the U.S.. Haruko is a very eccentric person, always busy working because of the deadlines. She dislikes whenever Haru calls her "mother", demanding to be called "Haruko-san" and scares Haru to the point he even prostrates apologizing "for his insolence."
Because Ren, unaware, started to listen to Haru, he thought of Haru as a scary human being and he believed he shouldn't get involved with him, but soon, Ren began wearing shoes and even came home early if Haru told him to. One day, after he got a lunch box from Haru, Ren brought it back just as heavy as Haru made it, and while getting it from Ren, Haru believed Ren didn't eat again, only to realize the lunch box was full of berries for him. That made Haru extremely happy.
Ren eating from the lunch box Haru gave him
Haru's eye color, in the sunlight, reflecting the color of the river and sparkling, was different from normal and Ren called it "weird". Haru didn't realize what Ren meant by "weird" and he got slightly annoyed telling Ren that was because he had the same eye color as his grandfather.
One rainy day, only the dogs returned, causing both Haru and Haruko to ran out and search for Ren. When they found him, he was floating on a piece of wood, trying to get the lunch box Haru gave him from the river. Ren didn't want to leave the bag there because of the rice. Haru then realized he never asked Ren what he liked. Carrying him home, Ren asked Haru if he was going back to Japan. Haru reminded him there was still half of the summer vacation left and that they also still didn't go fishing nor played with the fireworks. Ren was so touched that he began crying and thought "I'm scared of kind people. That's why, of all the people I met, Haru is definitely... Definitely, the scariest."
Haru snapping
After that, Haru was the only one to catch a cold, so Haruko told Ren that she'd be counting on him to take care of Haru, while she went back to work. Even if Haru told him he could go out and play, Ren remained by his side, therefore, Haru asked him to come to bed. Much to Haru's surprise, Ren immediately jumped next to him. Also, Ren felt like he had hurt Haru's feelings when he told him his eyes were "weird", so, he told Haru that his eyes looked like blooming flowers back then. Haru also explained his behavior back then was because his classmates used to bully him because of his eye color, calling it gross. When Ren called it beautiful, Haru was so exited that he kissed Ren, for the first time, on the lips and asked Ren to come to Tokyo next time. When Ren only said he'll think about it, Haru turned it into a promise.
They both felt like they found someone special. They spent the rest of the summer playing together. But after that, Haru had to go back to Tokyo. In Japan, his father and his wife came to pick him from the airport, but then an accident occurred, causing Haru to forget about Ren.