The days following Marika Tachibana's dramatic arrival at Kuoh Academy were a whirlwind of relentless pursuit and escalating social chaos for Ren Takakura. Marika was, if nothing else, incredibly persistent. She accompanied him to and from school (much to Chitoge Kirisaki's barely concealed fury and Tsugumi Seishirou's heightened vigilance). She tried to join him for lunch every day, often engaging in verbal sparring matches with Chitoge over who had the "right" to sit next to "their" Ren. She even attempted to join his after-school "study sessions" with Reborn, a prospect that filled Ren with a unique terror, though Reborn, in his infant disguise, had managed to deter her with a well-timed bout of projectile baby vomit that even Marika's iron will couldn't overcome.
Throughout it all, Marika remained cheerfully, unshakeably convinced of their decade-old betrothal. Ren, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly desperate to find some proof, any proof, that this supposed promise was a figment of her overactive imagination.
"I'm telling you, Tachibana-san, I don't remember anything!" Ren insisted for what felt like the hundredth time, as Marika tried to "help" him with his math homework by covering his textbook in heart-shaped sticky notes with encouraging messages like "Ren-sama + Marika = Destiny!"
"Oh, Ren-sama, your memory must just be a little fuzzy from all the excitement of our reunion!" Marika chirped, undeterred. "Don't worry, I remember enough for both of us! It was a beautiful summer day, under the big sakura tree in the park near my old house! You had a scraped knee, and I gave you a special bandage! And then you promised, you promised, that when we were old enough, you'd marry me!" Her eyes shone with a fervent, unwavering conviction.
A scraped knee? A sakura tree? Ren wracked his brain, searching for any flicker of recognition, but came up empty. He'd had plenty of scraped knees as a kid, but none of them involved lifelong commitments to fiery orange-haired girls.
He even, in a moment of sheer desperation, asked his parents if they remembered him ever making any childhood promises of marriage. His mother had just laughed and said he was too busy trying to eat crayons at that age to be making romantic pacts. His father had looked vaguely alarmed and asked if Ren was "in some kind of trouble with a girl." Understated, Dad. Very understated.
Reborn, naturally, was no help at all. When Ren pleaded with him for any insight, the baby hitman had merely smirked. "Childhood promises, Dame-Ren? How quaint. Perhaps your past life involved a stint as a particularly charming seven-year-old Casanova. Or perhaps this Tachibana girl is simply… exceptionally determined. Either way, it's excellent training in dealing with unpredictable variables."
The Occult Research Club members observed the new developments with a mixture of amusement and intrigue. Rias Gremory, in particular, seemed to find Marika Tachibana a fascinating new addition to the complex ecosystem of Ren's life.
"She certainly is… spirited, your fiancée, Takakura-kun," Rias commented one afternoon, when Ren had sought refuge in the ORC clubroom, hoping to escape Marika's relentless pursuit for a few precious hours.
"She's not my fiancée, Gremory-senpai!" Ren insisted, his voice tight with frustration. "I keep telling her, I don't remember any promise!"
Akeno Himejima giggled. "Ara, ara, but she seems so certain. And a promise made ten years ago… that's quite romantic, in a way, isn't it? Perhaps there's a kernel of truth to her story, buried deep in your subconscious?"
"Or perhaps she's just completely delusional," Ren muttered.
"Delusional or not," Kiba Yuuto chimed in, offering Ren a sympathetic smile, "she's certainly shaken things up. Chitoge-san looks like she's about to declare war on her at any moment."
That was true. The rivalry between Chitoge and Marika had escalated into a cold war of passive-aggressive comments, competitive displays of (supposed) affection for Ren, and the occasional outright shouting match in the school corridors, much to the delight of the student body and the despair of the teaching staff. Tsugumi, caught in the middle, seemed to be permanently on high alert, her gaze darting between her mistress and the new, unpredictable threat to Chitoge's (fake) romantic territory.
Kosaki Onodera, bless her heart, tried to be a peacemaker, but her gentle attempts at mediation were usually drowned out by Chitoge's fiery retorts or Marika's cheerful, unwavering declarations of her undying love for "Ren-sama." Kosaki herself looked increasingly withdrawn and sad, a fact that didn't escape Ren's notice and added another layer of guilt to his already overburdened conscience. Haru, fiercely protective of her sister, had practically declared Marika her mortal enemy, engaging in frequent, if ultimately futile, attempts to "warn her off" Ren.
Then, one afternoon, Marika produced her "proof."
She cornered Ren after school, a triumphant gleam in her eye. "Ren-sama! I found it! The undeniable evidence of our sacred vow!" She dramatically presented him with a small, slightly faded photograph.
It was a picture of two small children, a boy with dark hair and a girl with bright, unmistakable orange pigtails, standing under a sakura tree. The boy had a bandage on his knee. They were both grinning at the camera. Ren stared at the photo. The boy… it looked vaguely like him, he supposed, in that generic way all small children look vaguely alike. But the girl… the girl was undeniably a younger Marika Tachibana.
"See?" Marika said, her voice filled with joyous conviction. "That's us, Ren-sama! The day we made our promise! You gave me this photo, and you said to keep it safe until we met again!"
Ren's mind reeled. A photo? He had absolutely no memory of this photo, of this girl, of this day. But the evidence was… compelling. Or at least, confusing. Could he have forgotten something so significant? Was his memory, already jumbled by the trauma of reincarnation, even less reliable than he thought?
"I… I still don't remember, Tachibana-san," he said, his voice hesitant. "But… that is you, isn't it?"
"Of course it's me!" Marika chirped. "And that's you! Our destiny, captured on film!"
Reborn, who had materialized beside them (this time disguised as a particularly dusty school trophy on a nearby shelf), made a small, thoughtful noise. "Interesting, Dame-Ren. Photographic evidence. Either this girl is an exceptionally dedicated con artist with access to surprisingly good photo-manipulation software for a ten-year-old, or your past is even more complicated than you imagined. Or," he added, a hint of something unreadable in his mental voice, "perhaps the promise wasn't made by this Ren Takakura at all."
That last thought sent a chill down Ren's spine. Could it be possible? Could this promise, this connection, be an echo from his previous life? A life he barely remembered, a life that had ended so abruptly? The implications were staggering. The mystery of the ten-year promise had just deepened considerably, and Ren had a sinking feeling that Marika Tachibana's arrival was far more than just a simple romantic comedy complication. It was another thread in the increasingly tangled web of his fate, a thread that might lead him to answers he wasn't sure he was ready for.