[ Realistically, this part should be difficult—coming up with a convincing story and laying out all of the details so that they can corroborate it on the spot, should they need to. But when Ryuji poses the question, Ren finds that he doesn't have to dig all that deep to find an answer. ]

How about… four months? [ It's long enough that it's not just a silly fling, short enough that it's realistic for Ren's parents to only be learning about it now. ] But we can say that we've liked each other since high school.

[ Maybe that's a bit too on the nose for him, personally. It's still all too easy to recall that time at the ramen shop in Ogikubo, the way his heart rate sped up for what wasn't the first time around Ryuji but first time that he knew he was seeing his best friend as something more than a best friend. Ryuji's speech about how free he felt with Ren resonated in just the right way to open his eyes to his own feelings. ]

We just didn't realize it's mutual until recently. [ Wouldn't that be nice? Ren couldn't have anticipated the way his heart gives a little squeeze as he voices a desire that he wouldn't be able to under any other circumstances. There's no way he could go and make this uncomfortable for Ryuji like that. ] We should probably decide how we figured it out…