Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“ Now arriving at Shibuya. ”

Ren sighed and got his things together as the doors finally opened. A voice endlessly replaying in his head .

“ Damn brat…I'll sue. ” he hasn't known peace since. 

He started walking through the station, looking at his phone for guidance and exactly where his guardian lived. He made it to the station square before long, looking at the GPS and looking for his father's message about the address, Ren knew he sent it if only could actively find it-

“Sorry,” Ren murmured as he bumped into someone, he didn’t get a response. In Fact, he didn’t hear anything at all. As he looked around he realized something.

Everything had stopped. Everything stood in place as time froze for everyone but him. He swallowed, throat dry, as the hairs on his neck stood on end. A sudden fire broke out in the middle of the square. Whatever this was, it wasn't normal, he needed to run. Where he had to go could wait. He needed to-

And everything was normal again. The fire was gone, and people were walking around him yet again…

Ren sighed and continued walking. He must have hit his head while on the train…

Looking at his phone , he found the red app once again. He sighed and deleted it. Ren really had to get that checked out eventually. Maybe if he was allowed a part time job…

It took around twenty minutes from the Aoyama-Itchome station to get to the street where he was supposed to live, looking around it was a lot different than what he was used to in his hometown. He headed to the place that matches the address his father sent and to his surprise, it was a house instead. It was quite modern with flower pots on both sides of outside the door on both sides; neither seemed to be in use however. With his heart racing quite a bit he knocked on the door. Quietly he straightened himself out before he heard the itdoor unlock. The door opened and a woman with grey hair and a serious face answered. She stood in high heels that made her the same height as Ren when he slouched over. Yet somehow she managed to look intimidating with how her red eyes pierced through him. Analyzing him.

“ You're lucky Ren, you’ll have a good guardian over the next year who is sure to fix your behavior, ” his mother had said as she finished the papers Ren would need when he moved to Tokyo. Ren  rolled his eyes at the time. Looking at the woman before him, she really was everything he had been told.

“Good morning,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Are you Sae Niijima?” He asked, pushing up his glasses. She nodded, eyes seemingly watching every moment he made.

“I take it that you’re Ren Amamiya? Welcome to Tokyo,” she said as she opened the door to let him inside. The front first room was a living room and kitchen, all whites and grays.

All except the two people sitting on the sofa facing himself. One was a woman with brunette hair and crimson red eyes, who was extremely neat and perfectly sat on the end of the sofa. Next to her was a boy roughly lalso the same age, though his hair was a lighter brown instead he had the same eye color. They seemed nice at the least. The girl seemed so polite it was almost forced. The boy however seemed a bit more laid back, meeting him with a kind smile that seemed to ease Ren a bit. Ren swore though he recognized him but decided to ignore it. Both stood up and smiled.

“So you're the guy who's coming to live with us,” the girl said, raising a hand to her chest, “I'm Makoto, and this,” she gestured to the boy next to her, “is my brother, Goro.”

“It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” heHe said. They looked nice at the very least.  Maybe they’d be goodnice roommates as well…

“You guys can call me Ren,” he told them said with a smile, finding himself relaxing with the two.

“I’m glad to see you three are getting to know each otheralong,” the eldest Niijima said as she walked over, “Me Goro and I will be out a lot more due to our work, so we may not be here all the time, Makoto, however, will be.” She said Ren tilted his head and looked at Goro. 

“I work with Sae-san and the police force as a detective,” he answered before Ren even got to ask. “Although I still attend school, Sae-san and I work quite a lot.” he said with a chucklechuckled .

“Don’t let that give you any ideas. I want to see some improvements in, I want to see some improvements from the grades you had in your last school,” Niijima said sternly. Ren shivered as her eyes fixated on him.

“Sae-san, why don't you give him a break to settle in today,” Goro attempted to convince her p said as he placed a hand on his hip. She sighed and relented.

“Alright, get ready for tomorrow, however, we'll need to go to Shujin Academy tomorrow to finish up the paperwork, I'll continue then.” Ren nodded along, and something told him that he'd better listen, any wrong stepfooting would be a bad idea. 

Makoto walked to the kitchen.

“I made dinner for the four of us if any of you are hungry.” She opened the pot and the smell alone made his mouth water. He hadn't eaten all day.

“I suppose it'd go to waste if I didn't have some,” Goro said as he went to grab several plates and looked back at his older sister. “It is certainly cheaper than sushi, don't you think?” Niijima gave a hum of approval as everyone sat down for an early dinner.

It was pretty quick and silent, not that it mattered to Ren. Dinners like this were the usual back home where the usual like this. If he had nothing to share with his parents, they didn't usually say anything at all. Goro toAkechi excused himself pretty fast, saying something about needing to make a phone call. Next wasith Niijima, she said she had more work to do before bed, . Leaving Ren with just Makoto. Both of them finish up pretty close to each other.

“I'll show you to your room,” she said, taking their plates to the dishwasher. Walking down the short hallway into 64 rooms, Makoto walked to the one near the end and opened it for him. “Here we are.” It was a pretty nice room with a comfortably sized comfortable-sized bed and a desk next to it, though it matched the rest of the theme of the house.

“Sis said to tell her if you need anything,” she said, “and with anything relating to our school you can ask me., I'm the student council president after all.” She said with a smile, it made Ren smile back.

“Will do, madam President.” heHe replied, looking through the box of clothes for some pajamas.

 Makoto left the room, leaving Ren to his own devices. by himself. He got changed and did his nightly routine before sliding into bed.

It wasn't too bad here, he had to admit he didn't mind this. They all seemed nice at the very least. It was comfortable lying down on the bed, better than the one he had at home.

Images of that night flashed through his head yet again. Different things he could have done, different ways he could have gone about helping that woman. A future where he just walked past…

No, he would’ve regretted that., Inin the end, he at least stopped him., anything he was planning definitely wouldn’t have been good.

His phone’s alarm snapped him out of his thoughts and he rolled over to look at his itphone, noticing the red icon staring back at him yet again. He sighed and deleted it, before searching for any virus that could download apps like this.

He awoke with a start to a dark ceiling, blue light filtering in through the… bars. He sat up slowly, belatedly realizing the weight he felt on his wrist wasn’t his imagination.

Shackles tied both his arms together with only a foot or two apart. Sitting over the edge he just had to take a moment. This was a dream, nothing else about it.

As he grappled with the fear rising in his chest, he heard a small chuckle.

So much for trying to calm down…

Footsteps came closer until soon two little girls appeared on each side of the doorway. Each stepped closer to the other showing a striking resemblance, most likely twins, each wearing some sort of police uniform, with light blonde golden hair and golden eyes. The only difference between the two is that one has brains and the other has twin buns on each side of her head. Both wore an eye patch on the opposite of each other.

Standing up, Ren tried to move closer only for one of his legs to be weighed down. A ball and chain tied around it. He dragged it along and tried to reach the bars anyway.

The twins slowly turned, letting him instead focus on a…man in the middle of the room.

Just looking at him was off-putting, his nose was too long and his mouth and eyes were just too wide. His hair was grey and balding but he could barely think about that with how hunched its position was. 

Safe to say it was not a person.

“Trickster, welcome to my Velvet Room,” he said in a freakily low voice.

“So you’ve come to, inmate!” the girl to his left yelledsaid, her voice a lot more demanding than what he’d thought.

“The you in reality is currently fast asleep,” the one with braids told him. Easily the calmer of the twosaid. She was on his left now. Her voice was a lot softer than her counterpartcalmer. “You are only experiencing this as a dream.”

“You're in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!” the one to his right scolded.

“Welcome, I am delighted to make your acquaintance,” the weird man started, “this place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a contract may.” it started tapping its fingers against the desk as it spoke. “I am Igor the master of this place, remember it well.” So he had a name, nice to know his dreams were creative at the very least. “I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well.”

“Important matters…?” He asked, confused.

“Still this is a surprise, the state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a “prisoner” of fate.” Ren’s hands tightened around the bars of his cell. This is just a dream he told himself, but it didn’t stop his racing heart.

“Ruin?” he managed to question, with a sinking feeling.

“Worry not there is a means to oppose such a fate,” Igor started, “You must be “rehabilitated.” Rehabilitated towards freedom. That is your only means to avoid ruin…” he paused for a moment, “Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?”

“I’d rather avoid ruin…” like he had much of a choice.

“Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation,” Igor said. Suddenly, both twins turned around towards Ren again. “Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here.” Huh, he knew his brain was naturally creative, but he never knew to what extent. 

“Try and struggle as hard as you'd like.” Caroline practically demanded.

“The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators.” Justine said, clearly the nicer of the two- “That is if you remain obedient.” Nevermind .

“I  shall explain the roles of these two at another Occasion,” Igor says, “Now then it seems the night is waning… It is almost time. Take your time to come to understand this place. We will surely meet again eventually…” a loud loud alarm rang through the room, nearly making him jump. 

“Times up,” Caroline announced. “Now hurry up and go back to sleep.”

With that, the world faded from view.

4/10

Ren woke up to his alarm the next day. What a weird dream… was all he could think. Standing up, he got on his school uniform and yawned. He rubbed his eyes and finished getting ready just as there was a knock at the door.

“Are you awake?” Nijima asked through the door.

“Yeah, I’ll be out in a second.” replied with a long sigh. He really should’ve brought more clothes.

They were on the road less than an hour later, taking Niijima’s car to the school. Shujin Academy was an ordinary prep school, somewhere he could easily keep his head down and maybe make some friends. 

When they arrived at the school, Ren took a moment to look at it. It was quite big, several stories high, and had multiple buildings.

“It's pretty nice,” he said, Niijima only offering a nod before they both headed inside.

Once they arrived at the office, the paperwork was quite easy. The principal eyed him suspiciously every second he was therether , e  like he expected Ren to try and steal something off his desk the moment he wasn’t looking. Next to him stood a woman with short curly black hair and eyes. She wore a yellow and orange striped shirt with a jean skirt that went down to her knees. She looked somewhat annoyed and tired as she stood there. Anytime could tell she didn't want to be there.

 To reiterate, just so we're clear,” The principal stated, “You will immediately be expelled if you cause any problems. In my opinion, you're nothing but a liability, but we had our circumstances to consider…” Great he already doesn’t like him, ”Whatever you might have gotten away with in your hometown… Those days are over. If you are thrown out from our school, there will be no place for you to go. Keep that in mind.” Suppressing a sigh, Ren nodded. The principal turned his head to the woman next to him. “This is the teacher in charge of your class.” He said, the woman looking up right after.

“I’m Sadayo Kawakami.” She said, “Here’s your student ID.” She put down the ID with his picture and information on the desk but for some reason, there were some papers underneath, unfortunately, he didn’t get to seesay anything before she hastily took them back. “Be sure to read the school rules,” she told him as he grabbed his ID, slipping it into his pocket. “Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office. And, if by chance you cause any problems, I won't be able to protect you at all.” she turned to the principal again, “...That is your promise, yes, principal Kobayakawa?” 

“Mm,” he nodded, “He is responsible for all his actions.”

“But really though, why me?” she said, “There should’ve been better candidates.” 

“It was a sudden transfer, and your class was the only one that had an opening.” the principal replied. Great to know I’m wanted… Ren didn’t have the self-control to suppress his sigh. Niijima cleared her throat as both looked at her.

“Thank you for letting Amamiya-kun attend your school, please, if there are any issues feel free to contact me,” she said shortly.

“Of course, Niijima-san please keep an eye on him, don’t let him cause any trouble outside,” the principal said, as if a threat. 

“Of course, we’ve already discussed my expectations now that he lives with me,” Niijima said.

“Come to the faculty office when you arrive at school tomorrow. I’ll show you to your classroom.” Kawakami said with a sigh. The meeting ended swiftly after that, leaving Ren and Niijima walking back to the car in silence. Ren could confidently say he wasn’t going to get into any trouble. But with how the staff already seemed to act around him, he wouldn’t be surprised if that didn’t matter to them.

He remembers it well, after the arrest. His old school had let him continue going while the court's decision was still being negotiated. He’d given up on trying to prove his innocence to anyone by then, instead letting them talk. In no time, other students wised up to what a criminal record could mean. Soon if he was near some sort of incident, it was his fault. Everyone stopped talking to him, so he stayed in his home all day and night, rarely showing his face outside.

But the other students didn’t know about his record here. He could live normally, and maybe things would be normal again. As his mom said the last time they talked, “Every cloud has a silver lining.” No matter what, he'd have to be the best Ren Amimya to ever walk the earth this year.

He could do this.

The car ride was quiet and slow, traffic seemingly picked up out of nowhere just as they were leaving the block. Niijima tapped the steering wheel impatiently, a thin frown as she waited the long minutes between each time the car moved. Ren stuck to looking at the different forums on his phone. Nothing in particular caught his eyes.

Just then her phone started ringing loudly, and both of them nearly jumped out of their skins before she picked up the call. 

“Hello?” She asked.

“Sae-san, did you see the news?” It took Ren a second to realize it was Goro on the other side of the phone, it was easy to hear the people around him panicking. 

“No, I’m still out with Amamiya-kun, why, what happened?” She sat up watching the road more intensely for any sort of opening.

“There was a crash in one of the train lines. It seems quite bad,” he told her. “The driver doesn’t remember just what happened…” He said, as if he was thinking as he did, trailing off into thoughts he left unheard. Ren listened on. What was happening? 

“Just like the truck driver from a while ago,” Niijima said, Goro snapped his finger.

“Exactly what I was thinking, maybe they’re connected.” he said, “Anyway, I’ll wait until you get home to discuss any more of this.” Ren sighed, somewhat disappointed with the lack of information. The conversation continued, mostly Niijima making sure Goro wasn’t actually near the crash, appropriately acting like the big sister before hanging u[p the phone. Ren had to suppress a laugh as Niijima sighed.

“So, what were you talking about?” Ren asked. Niijima sighed.

“We call them mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns, at the moment at least there’s been several different cases of it, but this so far has been the most moment destructive. “Currently I'm the one on the case.” Ren slowly nodded, that was interesting at least.

“Can you tell me more,” he attempted only to be met with a flat no. Sighing he sat back and looked outside the window for a while. The silence was fine with him but something had been on his mind since he arrived.

“Why did you take me in?” He asked, not looking at Niijima.

“I know your parents, that's all.” Ren nodded, choosing not to ask any more questions.

It took three hours to get back home, with the sun setting as Niijima walked through the door. By then, he was honestly way too tired to do much besides go to his room after setting out his clothes for the next day. Laying down on the bed as comfortably as possible, he drifted to sleep again.

4/11

He woke up early for the day to get ready for school and he practically died. He half expected to wake up to an empty house, but Niijima and Goro were in the kitchen. Goro was in a different uniform while Niijima was getting ready for work. Makoto seemingly left earlier.

“You like waiting until the last minute, don't you?” Goro said as he stood up, briefcase in hand.

“What do you mean?” Ren asked.

“You have 30 minutes before school, and it takes about,” he stopped for a moment, “23 minutes, give or take, to get there.” Needless to say, he didn't eat breakfast as he rushed out.

He was almost there when his luck turned for the worst. 

Rain. Of course, it would rain. Why wouldn't it?

He sighed as he looked up at the sky, hoping it would be over soon enough. It was like some type of omen, screaming “Go back home!” he usually would if it wasn’t his first day.

 With how much the world hates him, it'll continue all day. He'll be walking into his first class on his first day of school, already wet. Fantastic . 

He looked down at his phone, hoping the rain would let up in less than…10 minutes, when.

That damn app was back, he sighed, as it expanded over the map again. 

He didn’t have a chance to delete it before someone in a hood stopped next to him, hiding under the same store for shelter. He looked over just as they took off their hood.

A woman with big blonde pigtails and blue eyes, not really someone he’d see every day. She caught his eyes and for a moment (one filled with embarrassment) they stared at each other before she gave him a small smile and looked back out at the rain. He watched for a few seconds more before he looked back as well. She seemed about his age, maybe even the same school if he was lucky. She seemed nice at least.

A car pulled up in front of them a moment later, the window rolling down as a man with black hair and a surprisingly square chin leaned over to talk to them.

“Good morning.” the guy said, "who the hell was he?” “You want me to give you a ride to school? You’re going to be late.” He asked.

“Um, sure. Thank you.” She said, walking over to the car.

“Do you need a lift too?” 

“Huh? Uh- nah.” he gave a nervous laugh and waved his hand. Yeah, not a good idea at all. The moment the man looked away his smile faded. The window started rolling up but the girl looked…sadworried. She looked down but the window closed before he could see anything else. The car started driving off leaving without much fanfare.

But a second later a blonde boy ran over.

“Damn it. Screw that pervy teacher.” He cursed, coming to a stop. Pervy…what? Ren looked at the blonde boy confused.

“…Pervy teacher?” he questioned, the boy looked back at him with a hum.

“What do you want?” He said, walking over to Rent a bit menacingly. Ren stood up a bit taller, and images of the bullies from his old school flashed into his mind. “You planning’ on ratting’ me out to Kamoshida?” He questioned. 

“ Kamoshida ?” Ren asked, keeping his voice in check. Confused.

“Huh?” the blonde looked equally confused, kicking his leg a bit, “In the car just now. It was Kamoshida.” Oh, that makes sense…

Wait shit. That girl was in there with him. A sense of dread feeling like he was dunked in water. And there wasn’t anything he could do besides get to school.

“He does whatever the hell he wants.” the boy said, turning his head to look at the road. “Who does he think he is--the king of a castle ? Don’t you agree?” 

“ …What do you mean?” Ren replied.

“Uh,.” the boy watched him for a moment as he crossed his arms. “...wait. You really don’t know Kamoshida? Are you for real?” something told Ren he should figure out who that was soon. “You’re from Shujin, right?” the boy asked.

“YeahI think so…?” he found a strange urge to laugh. 

“…You messin’ with me?” Ren didn’t know how to answer, trying to figure out how to act with this guy. “You’re wearing a  uniform.” He looked him up and down, “Huh, a second-year, huh… we’re the same grade then.” he said, a strange amount of relief flooding through Ren at that statement. “Never seen youyou before though.” Suddenly his eyes lit up. “Are you a transfer student?” he asked. Ren nodded.

“Just starting today,” he answered. 

“Then no wonder you don’t know him. " He turned to the road again. “This rain ain’t too bad. Better hurry up, or we’ll be late.” Ren nodded, but before he could even step out from under the store, he felt lightheaded. Closing his eyes for a moment, he willed himself to walk. Probably just because he didn’t eat this morning, he’d have to get back into the habit of school life.

But the boy seemed to be feeling it too. Strange. 

“My head hurts…” he groaned.

“Let’s hurry to the school then…” Ren said, a bit concerned for the blonde, who nodded.

“I know a shortcut,” he said before walking down the street. Ren may have missed it before, but he noticed the boy had a limp has he walked. How strange.

So he followed this straight through a few, always stopping only when he thought he heard someone. I swear if I get murdered-

A yell broke his train of thought immediately. He ran over quickly only to stop in his tracks.

In front of them was a huge castle, and everything about it felt sinister, like they shouldn’t even be there. The sky was suddenly a lot more violent, a purple glow raining down and illuminating the rest of the space. A gate loomed over where, if Re wasn’t mistaken, the school gates were supposed to be. Eve then, just past that the castle  made them feel as if they definitely weren’t supposed to be there.

“We didn’t…come the wrong way though…” The boy looked around, apparently, the school couldn’t change like that. “Yeah this should be right…what’s going on here.” Ren shrugged.

“Does it usually look like a medieval castle?” Ren jokes.

“No, of course not.” The boy spat. Ren just nodded; with a slight smile could be seen if anyone looked hard enough. He sighed, “Might as well just go in and ask…” Was that a smart idea? No. Probably not. But-

When was the last time he actually went on an adventure with someone?

As soon as they stepped inside, the atmosphere was different. Looking around, it looked like any evil castle you could find in a movie. There were red carpets, and it was lit only by torches. Stone walls and stairs led up to, god knows, where. They stopped near the middle of the room, looking around for any signs that this was still their school.

“Th-that’s weird… Where’s the school?” the blonde said, probably just thinking out loud.

“Did we make a wrong turn?” Ren asked, looking around just as lost.

“No! This has to be it!” he yelled, before he faltered, “I mean, it… should be…” Ren shrugged and looked back at the entrance. They should leave, nothing good could come out of staying here. The boy looked down at his phone. “Out of service? Where’d we end up? The sign was for the school right?” 

“Yeah, I saw that too,” Ren confirmed.

“Right?!” but before they could say more something approached them. A huge knight it seemed, with sword and shield in hand. Over its face seemed to be some type of blue mask. The boy nearly jumped back when he saw it.

   “Geez… you freaked me out…” the boy said as if this wasn’t insane. Ren was close to grabbing him and running. “Who’re you? A student?” he asked as if that was even something possible. Ren could leave why the boy distracted me, it's smart. But no, it’d be shitty to leave someone to the wolves like that, so he stood his ground.

“Hey, we should…” Ren started, but the blonde didn’t seem to hear him.

“Man, your costume is impressive… is that armor real.” Ren watched anxiously as another knight came out of nowhere. The boy took a step back.

“H-hey what’s goin’ on?” the blonde said, confusion turning into fear.

“What is this,” Ren mumbled, finding himself taking a few steps back.

“…This shit’s real” the boy took another step back. The other knight followed causing the boy to jump. “C-calm down! Time out, man!” the boy looked at him “We gotta run!”  FINALLY. Ren turned and started running to the entrance.

More knights appeared in front of them. His eyes widened as he stopped. Looking around, he saw nowhere they could go. He was cornered. 

“Ugh, what’s with these guys!?” the boy yelled before the knight closest shoved him to the ground. He let out a painful yell. “You're gonna break my bones, damn it!” he yelled, Ren winced looking around for an exit that they could use. He could probably drag the other out he’d just had to think -

A sudden pain stemming from the back of his head.

Lights out.

When Ren’s eyes opened again, they were met with a stormy dark sky. Confused, he looked around, his eyes catching on the entrance of what seemed to be- no... it was a huge cave. He knew this. He’d been here before. He’s- 

“Must you panic over everything?” Ren jumped back, turning around to find a black-haired boy with curly hair. Something irked Ren about him, a sense of wrongness that told him whatever this was, it was definitely not supposed to be there. He took a few steps back, his eyes searching for a way out. “Dude…relax.”

“Where am I?” Ren asked. If a castle could form in the middle of the city, then maybe he could be transported…here.

“You know exactly where we are,” the boy said. Ren just shook his head, yet something was familiar about this boy. His…everything was way too similar to Ren's.

That’s when revelation dawned on him.

“Who are you?” Ren asked, his voice shaking. He hands grabbing at the grass.

“You know exactly who I am, Ren,” the boy replied. Yet Ren started, the wind seemed to pick up, ripping at him as if it wanted to push him over. The boy frowned. “I didn’t think this would distress you that much.” 

“This…this is a dream, isn't it?” Ren said. The humidity made his clothes stick to him, making him feel more trapped than anything. As he looked closer at the boy, he realized something.

A red flannel with grey jeans, and a yellow rope that was double-knotted around his waist.

It was the same that day…

Wasn't it? 

The thunder boomed overhead as rain began to fall.

The boy came closer, to the point where he could easily see him through the pounding rain.

“Hey, wake up!” It was a different voice now as he scrambled back. Except he seemed to somehow lose his footing, falling back with a heavy thud.

His eyes opened to a blonde boy in front of him. He looked…concerned. But as he sat up and looked around, he could see why.

They were in a cell, but that’s all he could think about. His head was pounding . He leaned on his elbows and covered his eyes. So this wasn’t all a dream. 

Well…the dream he had was but probably not the castle.

“You all right?” the boy next to him asked, Ren nearly forgot he was there. Ren nodded and looked up at him. He tried to ask how he was but his words seemed stuck at the moment. Still reeling from that cruel dream. 

Either way, the blonde turns to the cell bars.

“Looks like this ain’t no dream…” he said. “Ugh, what’s goin’ on!” he yelled. He ran to the bars, banging on them loudly. “Hey, let us outta here!” he yelled, “I know there’s someone out there!” it accomplished nothing, and the boy walked back, defeated.

“Damnit. Where are we? Is this some kinda movie set!?” Ren let him yell without comment. They didn’t have much of a choice but to wait for what might happen.

A sudden scream got them both pressing against the bars, looking around for the source. The person sounded like they were in horrible pain, giving Ren chills. 

“Th-the hell was that just now?” The blonde’s frustration quickly was replaced with fear.

The screams continued, a bit less loud but all the more disturbing. Ren's hand gripped the bar to stop itself from shaking.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…” the boy next to him mumbled, backing away from the bars. “You're shittin’ me right?” Ren swallowed and looked away from the bars and back at their cell. “This is really bad…!” the boy mumbled, “come on we have to do something.” He seemed to steel himself a bit to help look around.

And look what they did. For anything really, that could stop what may as well be their deaths.

However nothing was enough, they couldn't hide in the barrels and they had no sort of weapons. The chains were useless when you realized how bulky those “knights” were.

Ren was still investigating beds when suddenly- 

“huh…do you hear that?” The boy said, both of them turning to the bars in time to see the knights walk up to them.

“Be glad that your punishment has been decided on.”  The knight said, “Your charge is ‘unlawful entry,’ thus you will be sentenced to death.” Ren nearly fell back, forgetting how to breathe.

“Say what!?” the boy, understandably, yelled. A voice cut in, something familiar in tone.

“No one's allowed to do what they place in my castle.” It said, the knights making way for a-

Man with a red king's cape with pink hearts as a pattern, and his legs were bare which made Ren fear the rest of him was as well. 

“Huh wait…” the blonde gasped as he looked closer, “Is that you Kamoshida?” THAT'S THE TEACHER!?!?

“Kamoshida…?” Ren looked at the blonde in disbelief.

“I thought it was some petty thief, but to think it’d be you, Sakamoto…” the (teacher? King?) said, “Are you trying to disobey me again?” the man said with a smirk, “It looks like you haven’t learned your lesson at all, huh?” A shiver crawled up his spine when Kamoshida looked at him, everything in that moment screamed at him to look down and not associate with the boy next to him. So he did just that, despite the hum at the back of his head disagreeing. “And you even brought a friend this time…because you can’t do anything for yourself.” the man laughed. “At least he seems to know when to bow to a king.” Shame rolled over him in waves.

“This Ain’t funny, you asshole.” Sakamoto rocked the bars, seemingly trying to open it again. 

“Is that how to speak to a king?” Kamoshida yelled, “It seems you don’t understand the position you’re in at all.”  “Not only did you sneak into my castle. You committed the crime of insulting me–the king.” with the same disgusting smirk he continued, “The punishment for that is death.” Ren looked at the blonde, eyes wide. He wasn't doing himself any good, he needed to step in, he needed to talk down that king of  before he really did kill him. But before he could say a thing, Kamoshida yelled again. “It’s time for an execution! Take him out!” Ren’s heart sank, this was it. They were going to die here, weren’t they?

“St-stop it…” the blonde mumbled as he was backed into a counter by the invading guards. Ren stood there, forgotten as he could only stare.

“Goddamnit…” with a sudden bout of strength, Sakamoto rushed the guard in front of him, it fell with a large clang before he looked up at Ren with fierce determination in his eyes. “I ain’t down for this shit! C’mon, we’re outta here!” Ren almost followed for a moment before reality swept back in. A different knight walked over and punched the blonde in the stomach, sending him staggering to the wall, cradling his stomach, and letting out a painful groan. He fell to the ground. Helpless. 

Ren didn’t even know what he was thinking before he grabbed onto a knight’s unnatural arm, pulling with all his might to no effect. 

“Just go!” Sakamoto yelled, “Get outta here! These guys are serious!” but Ren couldn't do that. He didn’t know why but he couldn’t. Everything from the past 7 months flashed through his mind but still, he refused. 

“Oh? Running away, are we?” the king started, “What a heartless friend you are.”

“He ain’t a friend,” the boy said through huffs before looking back at Ren. “C’mon! Hurry up and go!” 

“What’s the matter? Too scared to run away!” Kamoshida taunted. But Ren was torn, learned self-preservation told him to do what the high authority said but…

“Humph, pathetic scum isn’t worth my time…” he smirked once again (no matter how you looked, it never got less gross), “I’ll focus on this one’s execution…” 

Ren was useless here. Forced to watch as guards held Sakamoto up as the king took turns punching him. Until finally the boy fell to the floor. He watches as the teen is picked up by a knight and thrown to the ground. 

“A peasant like you isn’t worth beating,” Kamosida said, hate obvious in his tone. “I’ll have you killed right now.” Ren couldn’t stop himself.

“Stop it!” he yelled, he regretted it almost immediately, as the king looked back, all attention focused on him.

“What? Don’t you dare tell me you don’t know who I am.” the king said. Stalking close Ren put on a brave face. The king invades his personal space before his face flashes with anger.

“That look in your eyes irritates me!” he says before suddenly kicking Ren in the stomach, he falls back against the wall. In the end, his attempt to help was futile… it always is.

“Hold him there… after the peasant, it’s his turn to die.” Still when Ren saw the knight start walking toward the boy something inside him screamed to move . He didn’t get far, and with a strangled grunt, he was pointed to the wall. He could hear the boy clearly. 

“No…I don’t wanna die…” he begged as the king walked to him with no mercy.

“ This truly is an unjust game…your chances of winning are almost none, ” a voice said. Before a white butterfly fluttered across the cell, nothing else seemed to see it. “ But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you… ” 

What’s the matter? Are you simply going to watch? A voice called out to Rent. Looking around he couldn’t see anyone.

Are you forsaking him to save yourself?

Death awaits him if you do nothing.

Were your previous decisions mistakes as well?

It wasn’t. He watched as the knight across from him held Sakamoto up in the air and pointed straight at him. And Ren felt determined for the first take in so long. Like a fire rekindled in his veins. 

Very well… I have heeded your resolve.  

Suddenly, pure agony pierced his head. Like he was being ripped apart but nothing could cause it. He struggled against the guards, unable to stay still against whatever torture this seemed to be. All he could do was struggle and scream out in pain.

Vow to me

I am thou 

Thou art I…

Thou who are willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice!

Call upon my name, and release thy rage!

Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!

“Execute him!” the words broke through the painful haze instantly. A feeling Ren hadn’t felt before rushed over him. 

“That’s enough!” Ren said, his voice felt more powerful than ever before. Kamoshida turned around, shocked and infuriated. Even the knight did the same. 

“What was that…?” Kamoshida said, but Ren knew there wasn’t any true confusion. The knight let go of Sakamoto and turned to Rent as well. “You desire to be killed that much? Fine!” he grinned, before nodding to the knight next to Ren. It lifted its shield and hit Ren with him. He fell back, glasses knocked off his face. Pain radiated from the side of his head as spears forced from against the wall, right against his neck. He couldn’t move as the sword was raised high.

Before it could come crashing down the pressure from before returned with a vengeance. He didn’t notice how everyone was forced back a few steps. His mind was occupied with the feeling of… something on his face. He reached up with his hands grabbing something around his eyes. Something he needed off. He needed to take it off , something deep inside would scream. 

Somehow it felt attached to him. It wouldn’t move. 

But eventually, he felt it give away, slow at first but quickly becoming easier. . His face burned as he ripped the mask off, warm liquid flowed down his face with a pained scream. Yet somehow Ren had never felt so free. 

He looked up at Kamoshida's  scared face as power seemed to consume him.

His clothes changed, and what was once a school uniform turned into something entirely different. Red gloves and a long black tailcoat fitted perfectly around a dark grey corset. 

He saw glips of the creature behind him, yet he wasn’t scared. He watched the knights fly into the walls and bars, crumpling to the floor and only narrowly missing the king. Kamoshida looked terrified and he scrambled away.

“What the…” Sakamoto mumbled.

I am the rebel’s soul that resides in you.

If you so desire, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this crisis. 

“Give me your power.” Ren said, looking up at the winged man (?)

Hmph, very well…

“Who the hell are you!?” the king said from the cell door. Ren forgot he was even there. “Guards!” all the guards that had fallen stood up, shaking for a second before transforming into some sort of creature similar to a pumpkin witch. “You'll learn the strength of my men!” Kamoshida yelled. 

Still, Ren strangely didn't feel scared as the creatures rushed him. 

This power of mine is yours!

The creatures lunged  towards Ren and, with agility he didn’t know he had, he dodged out of the way.

Kill them however you want.

Run wild with your heart’s content! Arsene’s voice yelled out around him. And he did just that.

He evaded a fireball before grabbing his dagger and going in for a hit. It landed straight on, cutting through the pumpkin easily before it retaliated and threw him away with a wack . Instinctively, he grabbed his mask, ripping it from his face with a confident smile. 

“Asene!” He yelled, power rushing through him almost instantly as dark matter seemed to engulf one of the pumpkin witches. It fell and disappeared a second later and only with a single hit, did the other one as well. 

He looked around, finding Sakamoto still on the floor where the guard had dropped him earlier.

“What…” the boy said, shock riddled his voice. “What was that just now?” Before Ren could even answer, the King came over again.

“You little…” Kamoshida said he looked like he was getting ready to summon guards-

Ren didn't notice Sakamoto get up and crash right into the king, eyes wide he found himself close to laughing. 

“You like that, you son of a bitch!” The blonde shouted at the fallen man.

“Get the key!” Ren yelled, they'd fallen when Kamoshida was pushed over. The blonde grabbed them quickly, and both of them ran out and locked the door behind them. 

“Okay. It's locked!” Sakamoto yelled.

“Damn you!” The king yelled, the blonde didn't pay him much mind before looking at Ren. 

“Hey, what was that just now?” He asked, Ren shrugged.

“Our way out of this place,” Ren replied, he didn't have much of an answer as he stuffed his hands in his pocket.

“and…Your clothes?” the boy said, confused. Oh right, his clothes did change, he almost forgot. He looked down at his red gloves and black jacket-

In a burst of blue flame, they were back to normal. Ren suppressed a sigh, Can't have shit in Tokyo.

“whoa, it went back to normal!”

“No shit…” Ren said bitterly. 

The two of them ran through the dungeon, confused and weary of any noise that sounded like footsteps. Ren looked around, the river (?) in the middle of the cells definitely made it harder to hear but-

“Hey, we gotta hide!” Sakamoto yelled, he nodded and hid behind some crates.

“Over there… they're lookin’ for us, right?” he said quietly, waiting for the guard to leave before continuing. “I ain't  around with this anymore! We gotta find a way out of this goddamn place!” He let his frustration out, Ren let him. It felt like they'd been here for hours…surely the day had passed and they'd been here all night. With a groan of frustration, he stood up again. His feet and back were protesting.

They walked up the stairs nearby, hoping it would at least change the scenery. But all that waited for them was the same long stretch of hallway with a river down the middle as where they had just come from.

“Oh come on…” Ren groaned.

“Dude…You gotta be joking’” The blonde said. “This isn't the exit?! What the hell is this place!?” he yelled.

“Hell. This place is hell,” Ren said, dragging his feet to look for the exit all over again. 

It wasn't long before they found a couple of cages, looking closer he realized they were wearing the same uniform. His eyes go wide.

“We really did hear people screaming…so we ain't the only ones that got captured.” He looked at Sakamoto.

“Recognize anyone in there?” Ren asked.

“Kinda, I've seen them around during school.” he looked concerned, “Is uh… is he okay?” Ren looked at the student, weakly gripping the bars, and shook his head.

“I doubt it…” They continued down the road, an uneasy feeling settling in their guts. They came across a statue of Kamoshida, and the bridge beside it was drawn. Thus, they were effectively trapped on this side of the dungeon until they figured out how to leave. 

“ …Hey, you there.” a smaller voice yelled out, making both teens jump nearly out of their skins. “Blondie! Frizzy Hair! Look over here!” it yelled, Ren got ready for some type of battle. In whatever hell they’re in it was totally possible.

Ren held his breath as  he turned  to face the supposed guard, it was nowhere to be found. Instead, the duo only saw some weird anthropomorphic cat thing with a yellow bandana. 

“What is this thing?!” Sakamoto shouted.

“You’re not soldiers of this castle, right?!” the cat immediately questioned. “Get me out of here!” Of course, Kamoshida would lock the cat in his palace, truly a monster in every way. Ren looked around trying to figure out if there was a way for the creature to escape. “Look, the key’s right there.”

“We’re trying to get the hell outta here,” Sakamoto said, somewhere between shouting and talking. “I mean, you obviously look like an enemy too!” The blonde had a point, this could easily be a trap.

“I’m locked up here, so how can I be your enemy!? Help me out.” Ren put his hands in his pocket, confused.

“Why would Kamoshida lock up a cat,” he asked.

“I am NOT a cat!” the creature yelled, just the look in its eyes left no room for discussion. “Say that again and I'll make you regret it!” Neither boy had any time to respond when they heard footsteps drawing closer. 

“They’re catching up already!” Sakamoto whisper-yelled, eyes wide as the both of them turned towards where the noise came from. He looked at his phone again, “Shit, there’s still no service. Ain’t there any way to contact someone outside?!” Ren looked at his phone silently, but it seemed about the same as the blonde’s. “How the hell do we get out of here!?”

“Hey, you two!” the cat-like creature yelled, instantly grabbing their attention. “You want to know where the exit is? Let me out and I’ll take you there,” it said, and hell, what other choice did they have?

“Fine,” Ren said. Simply, Sakamoto looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

“Are you crazy! This thing is probably lying’” Sakamoto reasoned.

“You saw that power I used, if it tries anything I'll do the same thing,” Ren reassured. The blonde didn't seem convinced but didn't put up an argument. 

A moment later the cell was opened and the cat-like creature bounced out with a grin.

“Ahhhh…freedom tastes so great…-” footsteps seemed to get closer, stopping the cat's celebration in an instant.

“Now, where's the exit, you monster cat!?” The boy asked hastily.

“Don’t call me a cat! I am Morgana!” the ca- Morgana snapped.

“Shuddup,” Sakamoto said, clearly getting anxious, “And hurry it up, do you wanna get locked up again?!”

“A-all right, sheesh!” The creature said, “Follow me and stay quiet.”

Neither boy objected as they followed the strange not-cat around the dungeons, it was their best bet of getting out of whatever the hell they’d managed to get stuck in. It seemed to know a lot more than Ren had thought, seemingly knowing how to answer the bridge problem.

Sadly that just seemed to make a new one. One that appeared as the three almost ran into a guard head-on. 

Once again Morgana seemed to know way more than either of them, facing the enemy with no fear.

“Tch…weakling!” it mumbled before turning to Rent, “Hey, you! You can fight, right?” Ren shook his head. He already felt out of his element.

“Hm? But you got a persona don’t you?” the creature, only to sigh at the confused look Ren gave him. “Well judging by the outfit change, I’m pretty sure you do!”

“The…” huh. It did change.

“Never mind that, help me deal with this, Save the questions for later!” the guard was splitting up, forming the same weird witch monster with a pumpkin for a head. And an… imp-like thing with a stinger conveniently placed to match the castle’s asthenics. 

“Come,” Morgana’s voice drew Ren’s gaze back, just to see blue flames erupt from around the catlike thing. “Zorro!” he called out before Ren was nearly blinded. When he looked up at the person… no the populations were too exaggerated, and its head was just his eye and a hate though it wore a large belt with a “Z” on the front. It waved it's…what’s that type of sword called again? Whatever it was, loomed over them all menacingly, but Morgana seemed used to it, almost like it was completely normal to him.

“You got one of those things too?!” Sakamoto said from his place on the floor. The creature didn’t pay him any mind as it crossed its arms and looked at the guard in front of it.

“Hmph, we will promptly shut them up!” and with that, the battle started. To say Ren didn’t know what he was doing was an understatement. He looked at Morgana who was mumbling something about how they were out for blood. He tried to focus, taking his dagger in hand, somehow it seemed to help a bit. 

“I’ll back you up, so fight like your life depends on it! Let’s go!” The creature said, surprisingly it brought some clarity to Ren’s already overcrowded thoughts.

“Right.” He mumbled. Just like earlier, he could do that. He focused on the two monsters in front of him and took a breath.

“ Arsène !” A rush of power filled him as he directed it toward the two monsters before they had time to attack. 

“I knew you were an Amature,” Morgana said before blasting them with what seemed to be wind, the pumpkin wish fell almost immediately. “Strike at a weakness to knock them down! Use that opening to strike again!” It explained, following through to hit the other monster after yelling  “Persona.”

Both enemies stood back up and came back to fight, one landing a hit on Ren as he nearly stumbled back for a moment. It was quick as he grabbed his mask and called out “Persona” the imp dying only a second later.  Morgana did the same with the pumpkin witch as if fell and disappeared into nothing. 

Ren opened his mouth to say something and he realized something was in his left hand. Looking down he found 200 yen. 

“Is this normal?” he asked. The creature looked at him.

“Yes, in most battles you almost always walk away with something.” Ren nodded slowly, at least he had some more money saved up after they escaped this horrible place. “Your persona’s pretty powerful, not bad.” the creature remarked. 

“Persona?” Sakamoto walked up to the two of them, “Y’mean that thing that comes outta you guys all dramatic-like?” he asked.

“Yes.” Morgana replied, “You saw how fizzy hair here ripped off his mask when he summoned it, right?” Suddenly blue flames surrounded Ren and he was back in his uniform... Damn it.

“Huh, he's back to normal…”

“Hm, it looks like you don’t have full control over your power yet.” Ren sighed.

“I was hoping to get a picture before it disappeared again.

“This crap doesn’t make any sense!” Sakamoto said, frustrated. Who wouldn’t be?

“Can’t you just sit still and listen for once, blondie?!” Morgana scolded immediately.

“Don’t call me Blondie! My name is Ryuji…” Sakamoto said, seemingly ready to fight.

“Actually, there’s no time for me to lecture you!” The creature looked back at Ren, “You wanna escape this place in one piece, right? Let’s go!” And with that, they were off again.

Ren found it a lot easier to move now like some power had been unlocked. Who knows, maybe that’ll carry over to the real world…

“Hold on a sec,” Sakamoto said behind him, Ren stopped to find the blonde staring at a call with a boy in their gym uniform.”I feel like I’ve seen what this dude’s wearin’ before…” He looked out a frustrated yell, “Dammit! I’m too flustered to remember anything right now!” Ren turned to him.

“We can come back later after we figure out how to leave this place,” he said, trying to calm him down.

“But… who are these guys?” Sakamoto asked.

“Do you really think you have time to worry about other people right now?!” Morgana interrupted, “ Besides they’re-”

“There!” The bridge lowering caught the group off as a guard came rushing through.

“You should’ve listened to me…!” It said, annoyed.

“Let’s do this,” Ren said, a puff of blue flames brought his outfit back as he readied his dagger.

“I’m glad you stick to your guns,” Morgana remarked before the guard split once again, this time into two fairy women.

The battle didn’t take too long,  and Ren found himself getting used to the way the battle flowed. 

It went perfectly, at least he thought it did with the limited experience he had.

“Alright, let’s get away before more show up,” Morgana said, Ren nodded before Sakamoto spoke up again.

“Hold on, we can’t just leave these guys here!” He said the concern for them was easy to see.

“You really don’t get it, do you?” letting out a frustrated noise he looked angrily at the blonde. “There’s no time to explain. Look, I'm going. If you don’t want to follow, be my guest!” Ren winced as it ran off, that was harsh.

“Dammit…fine, I’m coming!” The two dashed off after the cat creature.

After a bit, they arrived at a hallway to the side of the main room they got caught in earlier.

“We’re here,” Morgana said. 

“Finally we’re saved…” Sakamoto went to open the door only for the door to be locked. “It’s not opening…” he looked at the creature angrily. “D’you trick us, you jerk!?” He accused right off the bat.

“Don’t jump to conclusions! Over here!” it said before turning to the door next to it and going inside.

“Hey wait up.” the blonde said as the boys followed.

They entered a pretty empty room with no exit inside. Ren sighed, wanting nothing more than fresh air at this point.

“Where are we supposed to get out of here?! There aren’t even windows!” Ren was starting to feel his frustration.

“Ugh, amateur.” Morgana sighed, “This is the most basic of basics.” Ren looked around the room for a moment, spotting a vent on one of the walls.

“A vent…” he mumbled.

“That’s right!” Morgana said, startling Ren. “As I thought, you’re a natural at this.” Ren felt himself smile from the bit of pride welling up inside him. From there it was just managing to pull the metal off. 

It hit the ground with a loud bang as Ren paused to look at the door.

“Seriously, we’re finally gettin’ outta here!” Sakamoto said relieved. 

“You should wait on celebrating until you actually get out,” Morgana smiled, “Now, get going.”

“But… What about you?” The blonde asked.

“I still have something to do, so we’re going our separate ways.” the catlike creature said. Ren nodded, ignoring the small pang of loss he usually felt in this type of situation. 

“Good luck,” Ren said then grinned as he added, “Don’t get caught again,”

“Hey, that was a fluke!” Morgana sighed, “Be careful on your way.”

“Will do.” with a wave the two boys were off.

When Ren opened his eyes he found himself on the main street out of breath as his body felt like it might fall sideways at any time. Sakamoto was saying something but it was all behind the heartbeat still ringing in his ear. He looked at his phone.

Charged- check

Signal- check

Time- 12:23 PM.

Ren's breath caught in his lungs. Slowly he looked at the blonde who'd somehow started talking to the police.

Fuck.

“…Are you his friend?” Is the only thing he really heard of the conversation.

“Eh something like that,” he grinned trying to play off before he turned to Sakamoto. “We're neighbors and usually I wake us both up, haha guess we both overslept a bit.” He excused himself, laughing nervously.

“Dude tell them about-”

“Sorry, he's still in dreamland!” Ren shouted over him, watching the officers relax a bit.

“Well, you two have some running to do, the school days almost over.” The police officer nodded.

“Of course, Sir, we'll be going now.” Ren turned away and started walking, leaving no choice but for the blonde to follow. 

While some of his anxiety faded, the rest bloomed into something ten times worse.

He was late to school.

Something like this never would've mattered back at home.

Hell, he'd end up late a lot, most of the time when he WAS late, he'd just go back home and sleep the rest of the day.

That wasn't an option anymore, not with the threat of expulsion lingering over his head. 

And the subsequent consequences forced the point in further. Ren couldn't fuck this up.

“Why didn't you back me up just now?!” Sakamoto asked, the betrayal in his voice was obvious.

“They weren't going to believe two teens cutting class were they?” Ren countered.

“Well- no I guess not.” The blonde sighed as the conversation died between them. Reaching the school was a bit longer without the shortcut but it felt even shorter as Ren tried to figure out an excuse to tell the principal. 

“Oh, I got lost.” No, he'd seen through that.

“woke up late…” that just made Ren look incompetent.

“I accidentally wandered into a castle and got kidnapped by this king and his guards and-” Damn it, there was no point there. Maybe with any luck the school did actually turn into the castle for good-

“Is this for real…” Sakamoto’s voice cut through his thoughts like butter. Looking up Ren saw the school, the exact same building he saw yesterday.

So he was screwed. Magical stuff aside. That didn't stop the inevitable.

“I'm sure this is exactly where that shortcut took us…what's going on here?” Before Ren could even respond a voice came from the school entrance, and a man walked forward wearing a disappointed frown.

“That’s exactly what I wanted to ask you.” The man said, “We received a call from the police.” Ren's blood ran cold.

“Damn cop snitched on us after all.” the blonde cursed.

“It's rare not to see you alone,” the man hummed, “where were you running around all this time?” 

“Uhh…a ca- a castle…” the blonde said, really living up to the hair color. 

“So you have no intention of giving an honest answer.” The man said, dismissing the answer entirely. Ren sighed and dug his hands further into his pockets.

“What's this about a “castle”?” A way too familiar voice asked. One that made Ren's hair stand on end.

A muscular man with curly black hair and a very square jawline walked to the top steps of the school. Kamoshida stared down at the two of them.

“Kamoshida!?” Sakamoto yelled. Ren's eyes were glued to the man, he was different than he was in the castle. Notably, he was in regular clothes. 

“You seem so carefree Sakamoto,” the teacher said, “Quite a difference from when you did morning practice for the track team.”

“Shuddup! It's your fault-”

“How dare you speak that way to Mr. Kamoshida!” The man yelled before giving way to a disappointed sigh. “There's not much leeway left for you, you know?” 

“He's the one who provoked me!” Sakamoto defended himself but Ren could already tell the teacher wasn't listening.

“Do you really want to be expelled?” The man shook his head, “In any case you'll have to explain yourself! Follow me!” 

“What?! This is bullshit!” the blonde yelled.

“You're just making us later…” Ren said, his voice a lot stronger than he thought it would be.

“Come now,” Kamoshida started, “I should have been more considerate too, let's just say we're both to blame.” 

“Well if you say so…” the man said. Ren looked away from them, Kamoshida really was still a king, it seemed. “Still you're coming with me, it's undeniable that you're extremely late.” The man announced.

“Fine…” Sakamoto said, defeated. Ren only nodded.

“By the way, you're the new transfer student, correct?” Ren looked straight up, confused before nodding again. But the man didn't say anything else.

Sakamoto walked up first, Kamoshida watching him all the way and not even acknowledging the glare the boy had given him.

He then turned back to Ren, a sudden look of surprise crossing his face.

“…have we met before?” He asked, and it took Ren a moment to realize he probably was thinking of when he was in the car earlier.

“Huh, I remember that “ the man scratched his head, “Well, I'll overlook this just for today.” However, that friendly-ish look vanished an instant later. “I'm sure you heard from the principal, but cause any trouble and you'll be expelled, got it.” Ren swallowed thickly.

“Of course.”

“At any rate, go to the school faculty office, I'm sure Ms Kawakami's tired of waiting.” The man said before turning, “Good luck trying to enjoy your new school life!” He said in a way that could only mean this year will be nothing but hell. Ren sighed, he expected as much. 

He was led to class only a bit after meeting Ms Kawakami. She was reasonably annoyed, not buying any excuses he could have come up with.

“How could you have gotten lost for that long, it's almost lunchtime.” She sighed, “While it's probably true you're not used to the area yet…but you're still way too late.” Ren decided to stop paying attention a bit after that. Until he heard her saying something about Sakamoto.

“What's wrong with that?” Ren said, tilting his head, only to be hit with another sigh.

“Don’t get involved with him, okay? He's nothing but trouble.” Ren slowly nodded. “He wasn't like that when he was devoting his time to track and field though…” he looked back at Ren. “Breaks are almost over…classes will end after 5th period today because of the subway accident, I'll have you introduce yourself when class resumes.” She informed him.

It wasn't as long as he hoped it would be, in a flash, he was standing in front of the class.

“Hello, I'm Ren Amamiya, it's nice to meet you all.” He said his lines. But he could hear the whispers around the class as he stood there. Stuff about how he'd attack someone for insulting him. Or how he looked surprisingly normal. Or that he loses his temper easily. and that-

That he was arrested for assault…

He gripped the end of his shirt, panic rising as he stared at the ground. He nearly laughed, so much for a brand new start.

“You will be…” Ms Kawakami said before pointing at a seat next to the window. “Over there, the open one.” Ren stiffly nodded and headed to his seat to sit down. The whispers didn't stop as he sat down. 

“Sorry but can the people nearby share your textbooks for today.” He could hear the complaints already.

“Lies…”

Looking up finally, he saw a familiar set of blonde pigtails. The girl from earlier seems to have gotten to school just fine. Good thing from everything he knew about Kamoshida.

“Hm?” He hummed quietly, but she just looked away. Getting the hint, he sat down at his desk with no further preamble. He heard the whispers change, including the girl now. A pang of guilt at the fact he'd included her in this now.

“Do they know each other?”

“Eww, do you think he tried to hit on her before the transfer?” 

“That means she's cheating on him with Kamoshida!” Ren looked out the window, trying to not pay attention any more than he had to.

“Then again, this is Takamaki-san we're talking about…”

“For real…that side of the room is totally awful.” Ren closes his eyes. Stubbornly trying to ignore everything they were saying.

The last bell rang a bit later and almost instantly Ren was getting up to leave, eyes glued to the floor as he grabbed his bag and headed out the door.

“Amamiya-kun, may I talk to you.” He looked up to find Makoto in front of him. Swallowing his fear he nodded and nodded, following the older girl to a room marked for “student council.”

“Where were you earlier today?” She questioned immediately after the door closed.

“I woke up late.” He looked away at the table.

“Goro walked with you, so it had to be intentional.” She said, calling him out.

“I'm sorry,” Ren said, gripping his bag. “It won't happen again.”

“It most definitely won't, si- ahem, Sae was already notified and she will be coming home early to… have a talk with  you.” Ren tensed. When was the last time he actually got in trouble with a guardian?

Well, his parents were angry when he was arrested, but instead of yelling most other people would have experienced they just didn't talk to him anymore. In the end, his relationship with them remained entirely unaffected. 

This time he couldn't tell where this was going. Would Niijima actually kick him out? That would make staying in school for the year a lot harder. 

It only made him more anxious.

“Let's get going. I suppose I will have to walk you back home.” She told him, leaving no room for arguments.

Ren couldn't pay attention on the way home. He felt nearly sick as Makoto opened the door to the apartment. There sat Sae Niijima, with a stern expression on her face. Her arms were crossed as she seemed to be talking to Goro who sat across from her with a nervous smile. 

“We're home…” Makoto said, taking off her shoes. Ren quietly stood by the door, while Niijima focused on him.

“Goro, Makoto, can you leave the room for a bit,” her voice was stern and Makoto just headed to her room a little sad. Goro didn't at first before he walked away as well.  “You may sit down now.” She said to Ren, he did so immediately. He looked at her. She looked back.

“Um-”

“Where were you all morning?” She asked, the frustration in her voice was easy for anyone to hear. Ren didn't answer, instead looking at the floor. “Do you think offering no answer is better than the truth?” 

“No,” Ren said. 

“Then why won't you say anything?”

“You wouldn't believe me anyways.” Is all he said, voice dry of emotions.

“Hmph, try me.” She challenged me.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I and a different student got sucked into a different world where our gym teacher is a king in a castle and locked us both in the dungeon and it took us hours to actually escape?” he asked, and like he suspected Niijima looked confused before sighing again.

“Were you on something?” she asked.

“No.” Ren suppressed a sigh.

“Either way, I was hoping I could trust you to do what you needed for your probation, but I guess not.” Ren didn't look at her. “From now on you come straight home after school.” Ren didn't respond besides gritting his teeth. “You'll be studying whenever you're here.”

“Okay,” Ren said.

“You can go to your room now. I had to take time out of work just to come talk to you, so this better not happen again.” 

“Of course,” Ren said, standing up and grabbing his bag. “I'll go study, I guess.” He sped and walked away.

Sae Niijima sat on the couch and sighed. Was she actually too harsh on him? It was obvious he'd never had too much authority in his life and maybe she jumped the gun. She heard someone walk into the room and instantly knew who it was.

“That was surprising.” That was all he said before sitting down. 

“What about it?” She looked up at him, as usual, he was politely sitting back against the couch. 

“For someone with his track record, you'd expect a lot more of a reaction, wouldn't you think?” He posed the statement as a question, yet Sae didn't respond to it.

“Might just be a once-off thing,” she reasoned. “I remember when Father first took you in, you never got upset before you exploded that day.” the boy across from her winced.

“Sae-san, you must bring up the past,” he asked embarrassed. She laughed at the memories. Of course, at the time it wasn't funny but looking at her younger brother now, it was impossible to see the child with long brown hair who threw a book through a window over a broken pencil. “In any case, what you said may have been counterintuitive.” 

“Hm? Why do you think so?”

“Well, why not give him a way out of this punishment?” He said.

“hm…” she thought for a moment. It would be a good motivator. “Why not the midterms, if he passes them all at least 20 points above his scores from the last school exam he had, he can go out after school again.” 

“Seems fair to me,” he seemed to think for a moment. “I may need to take off from work for a week or two, my exams are coming up as well.” Sae nodded.

“Make sure everyone knows, it shouldn't be a major issue.” She said,

“Thank you, I'll tell him.” And just like that Goro sprang up and left. And for the second time this week, Sae Niijima realized how good Goro was getting at selling things to her.

????

Ren didn’t want to wake up. He was more tired than he thought and honestly what’s the point. But as he opened his eyes and saw the stars painted across the ceiling he nearly jumped.

This was…

How was he-

“Geez you really have to freak out everytime you wake up?” Ren whipped his head to his left only to find a boy his age. His hair was cut short while his glasses were cracked. He had a wide grin as he sat with his head resting on his hand.

“How is this…” Ren tried to speak yet just couldn’t. When  faced with his childhood bedroom. Complete with an older version of his brother to match. He laughed, because what else could he do when faced with such a vivid dream. 

“Is it that funny?” ‘Akira asked, an amused look on his face. Ren didn’t answer, his laughs dissolved as he buried his face in his arms.

“This isn’t real…this- how?” he looked up again, Akira just grinned. 

“Would’ve thought this would be a happy occasion.” Akira rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah this dream makes everything feel amazing.” he mumbled.

“Well, who said this was a dream?” Akira said. As if it could be anything else.

“I’m in my childhood bedroom, talking to my dead brother.” Akira stayed silent for a moment. 

“Well, I mean yeah, the bedroom thing is a dream,” he started, “But what if I told you I wasn’t.”

“It’d mean my brain’s become less and less creative.” Ren said dryly.

“Well, how could I prove that I'm real…” Akira thought out loud, before jumping up with a small “Oh” Ren looked at him again as he walked over to Ren’s bed. “Would a dead person really be able to form a bond with you?” Ren blinked a few times, confused.

“A bond?” He tilts his head.

“Yeah, I mean…um…have you not been told about them yet?” Akira asked, confused.

“Told by who…?” AKira looked at him blankly for a second before laughing a bit, nervously.

“Well, you’ll see if you just agree to something.” Akira proposed.

“Grandma always said never make deals with the dead.” Ren smirked.

“Well, if you agree, you wouldn’t be doing so.” Akira said, his face becoming serious. “You’ll have to trust me on what to do.”

“And you’re somehow 100% real?” 

“Yes.” The convection in Akira’s eyes was plain and easy for anyone to see. He wasn’t joking around. If this was a dream, it should be fine, shouldn’t it? Akira shouldn’t exist outside of it.

“Alright, what do I need for this “bond” of ours.” Ren asked. 

“Well it’s easy,” he replied before opening his arms for a hug.

“When was the last time you got a hug.” Ren stared at him.

“Childish much?” Akira gasped, mockingly offended. “It is not, how dare you utter such a thing?!” Despite himself, Ren still laughed and stood up. This did have to be some sort of dream, but still, a hug is a hug. It had been a long time since he felt any time of affection, he realized as they both embraced. He sighed, it’d be pretty said if his mind felt he was this lonely-

A voice suddenly crashed into his head.

I am thou, thou art I…

Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Universe Persona,

I have obtained the winds of blessing that

shall lead to new power…

A card appeared in his vision for just a moment before disappearing, instead being replaced for a small bit of warmth in his chest.

“What the fuck was that.” Ren pushed away confusion and quickly gave away to fear.

“You’ll find out when you go through that door.” Akira smiled as he pointed behind himself. There stood a glowing blue door, like the door to a cage it stood out like a sore thumb. “I’ll tell you more then they don’t want to talk to you.”

“Why the hell would I go there?” Ren asked. Akira just shrugged.

“It’s the nicer way, you’ll be inside no matter what anyways.”

“Right of course, dream logi-”

“About time!” A young girl's voice was yelling at him but honestly he could care less about it. He stubbornly kept his eyes closed until one of them banged on the cell and sent his heart racing. Sitting up he saw the two…wardens, and their master again. Just like the other dream. He read somewhere that people had multiple dreams a night but was it the usual that one and the other seemed to have connections to each other. Maybe he'd read up on it-

“On your feet, inmate,” one of them yelled. He sighed and stood up, dragging his feet the bars of his cell. First Akira and now this. Couldn't he have normal dreams anymore?

“Our Master wishes to speak with you.” The one with the braid said…Justine was her name, if he remembered right. “It's for your own sake that you take his words to heart.” he looked up at the weird looking man when he started speaking.

“First off, let us Celebrate our reunion.” he started. “Oh…? You've awakened to powers and a…bond. You're truly excelling in everything you've needed to escape ruin.” 

“Ruin?” Ren asked, letting go of the bars to let her arms fall to his sides. And a bond…? Did everything in that Akira dream really affect this one as well? He'd had dreams with Akira before but of course it was never this. 

“With this your rehabilitation can finally begin.” Is all he said, seemingly ignoring the question. 

“What rehabilitation?” Ren asked.

“You will see with time,” he didn't answer. “You will be training the power of persona, which you have awakened to. Personas are, in another word, a “mask”, an armor of the heart when confronting worldly matters.” he kept smiling, unnervingly. But at least the personal stuff was more clear? Was that what Arsene is?

“I have high expectations for you.” Igor said. Ren sighed, he hoped that whatever they were wasn't too difficult to achieve. He looked away. Choosing to not say anything. 

“You have no choice but to hone your strength,” Justine said, “It’s not because we're forcing you, but because this is your fate… Neglect it and you will die.” That should probably scare him more than it did. 

“By the way… have you come to appreciate the metaverse navigator?” Igor asked, “Using it will allow you to come and go between reality and palaces.”

“Thanks…” he said, as if it wasn't the reason he got locked in a dungeon earlier.

“I bestowed it to you as a means to train you into a thief.” Igor told him.

“The metaverse navigator is a gift from our master!” Caroline yelled, “You better take care in using it, Inmate!” 

“Devote yourself to your training so that you may become a fine thief.” Justine said, a lot more calmly. 

“It must be disheartening to make use of the metaverse navigator alone, should there be others who prove beneficial to you, I will grant it to them as well.” Igor told him, “this is all for you to grow as a most excellent thief.” 

“Great…” Ren mumbled, there was too much going on and he was really getting desperate to just sleep like he used to. 

“There is one more thing I'd like to discuss before you wake.” Igor said and it took every last bit of energy to just listen.

“During your journey to rehabilitation you can enter partnerships with others.” Igor told him. “Involving yourself with others is an important foundation for your recovery. You've done well.” Ren was barely holding on to the idea which was a dream at this point. “That said, I am not advising the formation of superficial relationships. It must not be a frivolity, but a ring of those who would, by morals or faith, lend you their strength.” 

“In other words, they are bonds with those who have been robbed of their place of belonging. The expansion of said ring will in return, help you mature as well.” 

“Personas are the strength of the heart…” Justine said. “The stronger the bonds that surround you, the more power your persona gets.”

“There are countless people in the city that have talents that a weakling like you don't.” Caroline told him, “you better wrap the noggin of yours and get them on your side. We'll change that into power.” …And here Ren was thinking it was some sort of metaphor…friendship is power and all that.

“Indeed, you should prepare to use even myself, or your ambition will not come to fruition.” he chuckled, “we have a deal then.” Whatever to get his over with, but he could already feel the weight of the new expectations on his back. Another voice pierced his head.

I am thou, thou art I…

Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Fool Persona,

I have obtained the winds of blessing that

shall lead to new power…

A card card appeared in his vision again, before turning into some sort of warm chest. Another bond.

Akira watched his brother disappear with little worry. He sat back on the bed and looked out the window. Outside it was quite dark out, but the stars glittering in the sky made it worth it.

Yeah, Ren would be okay. He will be. 

He looks over at the glowing blue door that… didn't belong in their bedroom. It was boarded up and barricaded, just the way he left it. He would switch rooms in a bit. Ren had a near infinite imagination, and it helped whenever the banging started again. 

When it started rattling he sighed and stood up. He never seemed to give up.

Chapter Text

Ren woke up slowly, his alarm blasted his eardrums as he sat up.

Right, his dream… the wardens…bonds…what else again? Oh.

A face appeared in his mind as he slowly remembered the details. 

Akira… just the name made him want to lay down again and cover his head like a child. With that name came a bitter taste in his mouth and a twist in his stomach. He could almost feel the rain stabbing his skin as he swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. Could that really have been him? Had he somehow gotten trapped like Morgana in that palace. 

“No Ren…you're just jumping at conclusions.” He took a few breaths as he grabbed the sheets.

A knock at the door snapped him out of it.

“Amamiya-kun, are you ready for school yet?” Goro’s voice spoke through the door, “Sae-san requested that you walk with Makoto to school, just in case you get lost again. I'm about to leave myself.” Ren nearly jumped up.

“Yeah just give me a minute!” He said before rushing to put on his uniform. He ran out the room a moment later to find Makoto at the door, waiting annoyed. She took one look at him and sighed.

“Are you ready to go?” She asked, glancing at the time.

“Yep, definitely!” He said, out of breath and slightly dizzy from getting up and ready for school so fast.

“Right, let's hurry.” She said with a sigh. He watches as she pulls out an umbrella. It was raining. Of course. 

The two walked in awkward silence. To tell the truth Ren was itching to get home, but sadly, once again that wasn’t an option. They were close to the school when a familiar voice yelled from behind him.

“Hey!” The two turned to see Sakamoto walk over.

“Hi,” Ren said a bit awkwardly.

“Do you two know each other,” Makoto asked, wearily looking between the boys. Sakamoto paused looking at Makoto.

“You hangin’ out with the council president?” Sakamoto asked, equally as wary.

“We're walking to school together.” Ren explained, digging his hands into his pockets.

“Right.” Whatever it was between the two of them seemed pretty tense and Ren wanted nothing to do with it. Looking away he played with his turtleneck, suddenly a lot tighter than he remembered. “Meet me next to the stairs at lunch, we need to talk.” he walked off, not looking back.

Ren turned to Makoto as she shook her Head.

“I suggest you shouldn't talk to him.” She told him. He only shrugged as they continued walking. “It’ll only make your reputation at shuijin worse.” 

“I don't care much for that anymore.” He said simply. It wasn't like it'd be the first time, and nothing could be done that the people at his old school hadn't already.

“The faculty will.” her voice was a bit more stern but either way the conversation died as they made it to school. Makoto split with him a bit after getting inside. Already he could hear the people whispering about him. 

He shook his head, nothing he hasn't dealt with before. 

Class was tiring. Just listening in and he had no idea what was going on. With a sigh he gave up on trying to pick it up and looked outside. The sun was hitting his face so he closed his eyes. It was nearly like a warm blanket and god was he tired…

He really needed to get used to this new schedule…

In his tired state his mind tends to wander a bit too much, and today was no exception. 

He jumped when something hit his head, hard. Looking Up he saw his teacher grumbling to himself as whispers erupted around the class, embarrassed he looked away.

Lunch came slower than he ever needed it to, but it was a better morning than yesterday. And the day could always be worse. He walked to the stairs, seeing Sakamoto waiting, leaning on the wall silently.

“Hey,” is all Ren said when he approached.

“Ready to eat some lunch?” the blonde asked Ren just nodded. They got to the roof a moment later and Sakamoto opened the door to a few desks outside as he walked over and sat down. Ren followed quietly, leaning against one of the desks and looked at the boy next to him.

“Sorry I didn't tell ya where we were going earlier, the student president is pretty strict.” He explained.

“It's fine.” He said simply. Looking up at the now clear sky, he took a breath, the lingering smell of rain dampened the air but at least it wasn't pouring anymore.

“I bet Niijima-san already told you stuff like, 'don't get involved with him,’ huh?” Ren shrugged.

“Same thing, different wording,” Ren said, playing with a paper in his pocket. “Trust me, I don't really care much about reputation.” The blonde let out a short laugh.

“We're pretty much on the same boat,” he said, “heard you got a criminal record, everyone's talkin’ about it.” The paper ripped in his hand as he stared at the ground. “No wonder you were so gutsy.” Sakamoto commented. 

“Don't get used to it…” Ren mumbled. It really wasn't just imagination. People were whispering about how dangerous he was, not because of his looks, but someone leaked his record. So much for a new start…

“…What was all that happened?” His voice dropped into a whisper and he leaned forward. He looked up at the blonde again to listen. “You know, how we almost got killed at a castle… it wasn't a dream…right? You remember it too, yeah?” He seemed just as unsure as Ren was last night.

“Yeah…I do.” Ren said quietly before looking at the fence lining the school building.

“Well, just ‘cause  we both remember it doesn't mean much though…” he said, before sitting up with his ankle on the other knee. “I mean, even if it was a dream, you saved me from Kamoshida.” He looked up with a grin, “So yeah…thanks, Ren.” 

Ren just blinked a few times. 

“It…it was nothing.” He said trying to play off the first time someone was genuinely grateful for his existence in years.

“But man, that Kamoshida we saw there…” the blonde's face hardened again, “You prolly don't know about it, but there are some rumors about him.” Ren tilted his head listening. 

“The guy we saw when we got here yesterday, right?” The boy nodded.

“That asshole who was all full of himself at the castle.”

“Right.” Ren nodded.

“No one says anything about him ‘cause he's some medalist who took the volleyball team to Nationals.” Ren could hear the frustration mounting in Sakamoto's voice. “The way Kamoshida was king of that castle felt crazy real ‘cause of that…” he seemed to fall into his own thoughts for a moment, “I wonder if we can go back to that castle again…” 

“I can try.” Ren said, the blonde eyes widened as he looked up.

“For real?”

“Yeah…” the blonde nearly shot up from his seat.

“Then meet me after school, we'll test it out then.” Ren winced and shook his head.

“Can't.” 

“Huh why not…?” The blonde asked, deflated. Ren felt his arm 

“Um…” he looked at the time, 30 minutes…he could maybe go to the castle just to show how it worked. “Can the questions wait till later. We have time now, don't we?” Ren stood up straight, eyes locked in his phone and he pulled up the mysterious app. Right in the search history was a few words.

“Kamoshida” “King” “castle.”

“…Are we sure about this?” The blonde looked uneasy at the thought. 

“We don't have any other time to do this, unless you want to tell my guardian to let me off the hook?” Ren looked up. Maybe he wasn't thinking this through entirely. Maybe, rushing into a castle just because of curiosity was a stupid idea. 

The Amamiya Twins were never really known for their wisdom, anyways.

“We have maybe 29 minutes before the bell rings. So it's your choice, Sakamoto.” Ren said, looking up at the blonde boy. He kicked his foot before looking up, just as determined.

“Just making sure this is real,” he agreed.

So Ren pressed the button.

Instantly the landscape around them changed. From an open sky to some facet of the castle from what the two of them could. There was nothing but a single door and stairs leading up and down. Torches lined the wall for night and looking outside they could see they were really high up. 

“Dude…” Sakamoto mumbled.

“It really wasn't a dream…” everything Igor and probably even Akira said was true. But how…and does that mean…? Ren immediately shook his head. He was over the denial stage of grief, and had been for years. No use setting himself back when he didn't know anything about this situation.

Sakamoto looked around while Ren set a 20 minute timer.

“We didn't see this yesterday…” he mumbled before looking at the door nearby. Ren followed looking at a plate hung next to the door.

The crying witch.

Defeated - March 3rd 2015

“The…crying witch?” Sakamoto mumbled.

“There's more…” Ren said, looking underneath the heading.

A foul witch who tricked all with her screeches. She attempted to manipulate the kingdom against the King. However our King provided justice against her lies! Defeated, she tried to flee, but was quickly defeated and captured by our King. Instead of disposing of her, our benevolent leader showed her the highest mercy, and let her live in this tower until she atoned for her treachery. This witch set the precedent for how many similar witches were treated for years to come, with our King’s endless mercy.

Ren had to think for a moment. He knew the story was false, of course. It read like any self-insert story where the author was particularly in love with himself. But, was there some trust to it…it wouldn't be the first time someone real seemed to appear here.

“This is back in 2015, I was just a first year at the time…” Sakamoto said before looking at the door. 

“Did you know of any girl that seemed to ‘hang out’ with Kamoshida a lot…” Ren asked, the blonde shook his head. 

“No one I knew…back then I wouldn't have paid attention.” He looked remorseful, guilt crossing his face at the idea. 

“We have around 21 minutes, we can go check out more of the tower or at least scope out the area around us,” Ren offered. Sakamoto nodded and took a few steps back to finally go to the stairs leading down. 

“Let's go down, and see if we can find any other prisoners.” His voice was dark, like he knew something he didn't want to say something out loud but it was clearly bothering him. But Ren didn't want to drag it out so he followed down the stairs.

It was surprisingly long; each floor they passed told of a feat. Each about him “defeating” a threat, no doubt one of his bravest victims. One told of a boy who happened to be stronger than him, Kamoshida “trained” him till he stopped showing up. A girl who tried to go to the principal about what he did, only to be suspended for misconduct. 

He felt like he might puke.

Finally they got to the second to last floor, as they went, the dates got closer to the current time but farther apart. Ren nearly thought they'd reached the end when Sakamoto stopped. He looked back to see the blonde go to the plate next to the door. 

The golden speed demon

Defeated - September 21st, 2015

“What…” is all Sakamoto said. Ren walked over, hesitantly reading what's on the plate.

When our King first took control of his castle, a group of demons threatened him and his knights. For years they went unchecked, until the King tried to help them integrate into society. These creatures couldn't understand much; and were angry with the assistance they received. Driven by these animalistic urges, their best and fastest challenged our great King. It was no difficulty for our leader, as demons such as these are useless without their legs. It stands that our leader can never be defeated!

Sakamoto didn't say a thing, just walked to the door of the cell and opened the hatch to see inside. Whatever it was had him seething.

“That bastard!” He shouted, startling Ren. He was trembling. “Is that what he thinks he did? He defeated me?” He glared at the door before suddenly running down the stairs. Ren followed without question, it wasn't his place to object until they were going to be late to class. Still, he was out of shape and he couldn't pull ahead of the blonde even if he tried. He just hoped they didn't run into any guards- 

“Shit!” He jinxed it.

An alarm went off as the two of them were backed into a corner, surrounded. It transformed fast, men on some sort of ghost horses stood around them. Ren backed up drawing his dagger as he looked back at Sakamoto. He didn’t have any sort of powers so it fell to Ren to make sure they didn’t die here.

“Look for an opening!” He shorted at the blonde and he deflected a blow that sent him back a few steps. But they kept coming, half his mind was still on the boy behind him as he ripped off his mask.

“Arsene!” he yelled out, magic flowed out his body but it felt like he was barely making any progress. “How strong are these guys…” he mumbled as he instinctively leaped out the way of another incoming attack only to feel a sharp pain across his back. He spun and went to grab at his mask when he froze.

A different knight was closing in on Sakamoto. He wouldn’t be able to run there would he? No, there's no time.

Why was there always no fucking time for anything?!

Ren knew himself, better than anyone else. And he knew he can't aim his powers while he moved.

So he’d settle for his dagger. He raised the razor sharp edge to ready for attack.

Clang!

It bounced off easy as Ren ripped off his mask with a call for his persona! Energy washed through him. focusing it all on the knight.

It fell away instantly.

“ha…Finally,”Ren mumbled.  He whipped his brow.

“Ren!” The blonde’s voice drew his attention immediately. Looking behind him he could see why. 

A glint of a trident raised high above his head came into view.

A miscalculation.

As the trident pushed forward  down he jumped back but it was too late. Pure fire felt like it exploded from his chest. It felt like something was in his lungs.  

It was all over wasn’t it. He’d die here. It’s over, the second half is finally gonna fall…

.

.

.

Air rushed his lungs as he gasped. Coughing as he rolled onto his side and cursing.

“You’re up!” a voice told him, opening his eyes he saw the cat-like creature from the day before. It Grinned, seemingly proud of itself.

“You woke up surprisingly fast, I thought you were a goner.” 

“I'm alive…?” That dramatic speech in his head was all for nothing…

“Yep, thank God too. Just a bit longer and I don't know if even my skills would have brought you back.” Ren slowly sat up, feeling a pang and pain in his chest. Noticing Morgana explained, “In the Metaverse your injuries can be healed but unless you have a really strong healing ability, you can't count on it to keep you alive.” Ren nodded.

“Oh, useful…” he said, looking around, they were in a dungeon of sorts, not in a cell at the very least. He could hear something down the hall but couldn't exactly pin what it was. 

“Where's-” he cut himself off. School. THE ALARM! He scrambled for his phone and looked at the time.

1:20PM

“Oh god I'm so screwed…” Niijima has already forbidden him from going out after school. What's next, taking away his phone. Was that something she could do? His ex-friends had that happen to them whenever they got in trouble so is she like that?

whatever.

Whatever. He'll figure out an excuse later.

“Where's Sakamoto…we need to get back to school.” Ren said, standing up slowly. He couldn't breathe in too much without some pain but he was alive otherwise. 

“He wanted to see the faces of the people stuck down here so that you guys could help them in real life.” It sighed and shook its head, “I offered to follow him but he said to stay here and make sure no one found you.” 

“Thank you, mind leading me to him?” Ren asked. Morgan nodded as it started walking. It was easy to spot the blonde but it was even easier to see what exactly he had been hearing since he woke up. Looking through the bars he saw students. Below them they were going through all different types of torture, strangely enough always involving volleyball. Sakamoto was staring down with a disgusted look on his face.

“I'm alive!” Ren jokes as he approaches him. Sakamoto looked up. 

“Dude, should you be up right now.” He asked, concerned.

“I mean I'm not bleeding out.” Ren replied, sticking his hands into his pockets.

“You got impaled with a freakin’ Trident!” Ren blinked a few times before grinning wide. 

“Pretty cool if you ask me.” Ren shrugged.

“Man you're insane…” the blonde mumbled. Ren laughed for a moment before getting back to the seriousness of the situation.

“What were you doing over here anyways?” He asked standing up straight again. 

“I was hoping to find some of Kamoshida’s victims, the cat said that they're just figures of his imagination.” The blonde slouched a bit more as he looked at the floor. “Still, it's better to try than not, am I right?” Ren nodded. 

“But when could we actually talk to the volleyball players, how would we know who's who?” Ren thought out loud, crossing his arms and he looked at the ground.

“You can see who has injuries,” Morgana suggested, Ren looked at the creature and thought. “Just because it's to the extremes here, doesn't mean it isn't happening to a lesser degree in the real world.”

“Huh, you really know a lot about this type-a thing.” Sakamoto said, shocked.

“Of course, I am the master of the metaverse.” The cat-like creature said with a proud smile. Ren cracked a smile before looking at the blonde again.

“So, did you memorize the faces of the people here?” he asked, Sakamoto nodded.

“Then let's hurry back to the tower…we're screwed the moment we leave.” Ren sighed, deflating.

“Huh?” The blonde took a moment to remember that they both were supposed to be in class at the moment before deflating as well. “Oh, right…”

They soon left the dungeon, Morgana teaching them how to find from the shadows wandering about, while teaching Ren exactly how to battle more effectively. Useful information all in all. They were nearing the tower, and no guards seemed to be around. The trio relaxed as they walked to the door.

Ren's hand was on the handle when-

“H-Halt!” Something yelled. Turning just a small boy, seemingly around his age. With short black hair and what seemed to be a rather lackluster version of armor on. Around his body, though, were bandages. Seemingly sloppily put on and already blood was coming through, he was bruised and battered and curled into himself. Yet he held a sword with both hands, shakily as he glared at the three of them.

“I-I-In th-the n-name of K-King Kamoshida, I-I or-order y-you to st-stop!” 

“Woah, Mishima!” Sakamoto's eyes were wide.

“It's just Kamoshida’s image of him,” Morgana sighed, as if they were supposed to know that. “It just means Kamoshida takes more notice of him than others.”

“St-stop c-con-conspiring!” The shadow Mishima yelled. His stuttering was getting really annoying, really fast. 

“We're not conspiring!” Sakamoto yelled back before looking at Ren and Morgana. “What do we do?” He asked.

“Please, this guy is a total weakling, leave it to me!” Morgana said. “Zorro, show your might!” A sudden gush of sharpened wind cut through the air and hit Mishima. He tumbled back, falling down as he looked up again, pure fear in his eyes. It looked too real.

“Kn-knights! H-help me ap-apprehend th-the c-c-criminals!” Suddenly two shadows appeared beside him. The knights from earlier attacked quickly stabbing their Tridents as Morgana and Ren dodged. Ren looked at Sakamoto.

“Get some cover!” The blonde nodded and moved to the side of the battle. But Mishima seemed to notice.

“W-were y-you all w-w-ways a c-coward!” A knight turned to the blonde and attempted to draw close when a gust of wind destroyed it. Ren killed the other shadow a moment later, out of breath and clutching his chest a bit. Every deep breath felt it'd tear him apart. 

He looked up and readied his dagger again. That Shadow needed to go, especially if it could call in backup. Tightening his grip he raced forward towards Mishima. Lunging forward he narrowed in on the small monster.

Something punched his stomach so hard he felt himself fly back until. Thud. He hit the wall, hard. 

He looked up dazed, the word was a blur of colors. He watched as a black and white blob was thrown back in a similar manner.

“Th-threat ne-neutralized.” The shadow said as the knight in red armor walked over to Ren, sword pointed straight at his head.

Ryuji watched as swords were pointed at his two companions. A giant red knight stood over him. He could do nothing to it through that armor. The fake Mishima turned towards him.

“Th-this i-is why K-Kamoshida was a-always s-s-so h-hard on y-you Sakamoto!” the faker said. “I-if you weren't so impulsive than Kamoshida could've helped you as much as he did me!” But then Mishima’s face twisted into a sneer. “But of course you all rejected his kindness.”

“ Kindness ? It nothin’ but abuse! He hated us, our team!” He yelled. Those days still haunted him sometimes, the pain of being shoved into the ground and slapped across the face at every lower score than his best was still fresh in his mind. Anger was rising up inside him and as much as he hated this entire damn place he knew he couldn't just go around and smash shit. No, that's what happened the first time? What was Kamoshida's excuse again…? “He threw the first punch, I was just defending myself.”  

“Maybe if you all stopped getting in his way he wouldn't have had to! You and that fake coach wanted nothing but to humiliate my King,” in a darker voice that didn't even seem to belong to the shadow it added, “it was only fair to discipline .” 

“What…” is all Ryuji could say. 

“This time maybe he should execute you. That'll send the message to all those who don't respect him!” The red knight turned towards him and he thought for a moment.

Is this really the end…?

“It really is over…” But it wasn't a huge loss was it?

“Really am good for nothing. I can't run anymore, Kamoshida killed the track team when he broke my leg.” Why not let them…

“So that's what happened…” and now both Amamiya and Morgana knew and they probably felt-

“Are you really going to let him win!” Ren shouted. 

He froze. What was he doing? Was he really going to lie down and take his execution? 

“You're right.” He looked up at the shadow Mishima. “Kamoshida took everything from me. Everything I cared about, he destroyed…I'll never get them back.” 

“Maybe you can learn like me, atone for your sins against our king! You'll have everything you've wanted-” 

“No.” Ryuji said, he slowly made his way to his feet. “I will never give into that bastard.” 

“Wh-what…” Shadow Mishima stuttered.

“You heard me,” Ryuji glared right at it, raising his hand to point straight at the shadow, “So you can shove that fake ‘atonement’ shit right up your ass!”

You made me wait quite a while.

A sudden pulse caught him off guard, pain banged at his head as he reached up to grab it. It felt like his head would explode as he was quickly knocked to his knees again. His fingernails dug into his skull, desperate from some reprieve from whatever was causing this. It didn’t happen.

You seek power, correct? Then let us form a pact.

He screamed as he shook on the floor, grabbing at the red carpet in some attempt to gain back some control over what force seemed to want him dead.

Since your name has been disgraced already, why not hoist the flag and wreak havoc?

The “other” you who exist within desires it thus…

I am thou, thou art I…

Ryuji was convulsing , his throat hurt but he couldn’t escape whatever voice was booming in his brain.

There is no is no turning back…

The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!

Blue flames crossed his face and as it went so did that pain. And in came a clarity he hadn’t known in so long. A new direction he could finally take. The red night just scoffed at him, turning his sword from Amamiya towards Ryuji.

"Nevermind bringing him to the king, he shouldn’t waste his time on someone so disobedient.” The shadow Mishima said, the red night nodded and started to walk over. 

Getting to his feet Ryuji grabbed at his mask with both hands pulling near desperately. It needed to come off, something told him. It had to get off-

It suddenly came undone, his face burning painfully as he let out a scream. Blue flames covered him yet they didn’t bring any pain. If anything it was a relief. His vision didn’t return for a moment out of breath; he looked up at the shadows, now knocked back a few steps. And he smiled. Looking down at himself he found yellow glows and a black jacket  and red scarf tied around his neck. The knuckles on his gloves had gotten better and his shoulders had metal pads as well.

“Right on…wassup, persona…” Ryuji couldn’t help being amazed. He looked up again, “This effin’ rocks!” He saw Morgana and Ren stand up, injuries seemingly healed. “Now that I got this power, it’s time for payback…” he watched his companions get into place in front of him. “Yo i’m ready…” he cracked his knuckles, “Bring it!”

“U-unbelievable, y-y-you dare d-do this to our king! I-I’ll make him proud and punish you!” The Shadow Mishima split up then and turned into some sort of a huge mouse with puppet strings attaching it to a disembodied hand. It jerked around as it got ready to attack. Yet Ren could hardly worry when he saw Sakamoto point directly at it.

“Blast them away…Captain Kidd!” 

As the battle started Ren realized just how much easier it was with three members in the group. The blonde has lightning themed skills, a direct opposite to Morgana in turns of strength and weakness. He didn't know when it started but he started issuing commands.

“Sakamoto, shock him!” Ren said after jumping away from a slash from the red knight’s attack. And the blonde just did so, the red knight was stuck in place so Ren focused his efforts on attacking the shadow Mishima, physically was the best option and luckily it seemed like the entire team had the ability. He didn't know how long the electricity would work on the knight but for long enough they could possibly defeat Mishima before he even needed to deal with it.

Of course it never would work out like that. The knight came back angrier than ever and they had to focus on it again. 

It took a bit, but finally the knight fell leaving just Mishima. Seeing the death of the knight he shook his head and stepped back.

“I-I must t-tell t-t-the K-King,” it attempted to run away. Mouse-like tail in-between its legs.

“Oh no you don't!” Sakamoto yelled, grabbing his mace and landing the hardest hit he could muster. The shadow fell apart under him and finally the battle was over.

Thank God.

They'd run out of medicine and even then, they were all tired. They had to walk back all those stairs to get back to the rooftop. Not to mention the hell that would be Niijima when she heard how he missed half the day again.

Ren sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets with some discomfort, Morgana and Sakamoto walked over.

“Let's get outta here…” the blonde said, looking like he wanted to pass out. 

“What happened to all that energy you had before?” Morgana jokes.

“Man, I'm gonna sleep for 800 years when I get home…” Ren laughed and pushed open the door for the other two to walk through. They walked slowly up the stairs landing at the one they started on when they got to this place. 

“I don't think I've been up here before.” Morgana commented.

“It has a bad vibe to it.” Ren said simply. He refused to read any plate on the way up and only looked up when they got to the right floor. Sakamoto stood next to him as Ren pulled out his phone. 

“Alright, I'll see you tomorrow!” Morgana said somehow cheerfully.

“Tomorrow?” Ren looked at the cat-like creature. 

“I saved both of you a number of times, it's your turn to help me.” Morgana told them. “That's why I was super nice about teaching you idiots everything.”

“Woah, we never agreed to that.” Sakamoto said. 

“And honestly I don't think I'm coming back any time soon…” Ren admitted with a sigh. Of course it was transactional, and he really would help if he could but. His chest still hurt and nearly dying twice was already a good enough reason to stop this.

“What?” Morgana exclaimed. 

“You get stabbed through the chest and tell me how much you wanna continue going through the castle…” Ren sighed looking down at his phone. 2:05 PM, fuck.

“Look, at least give us some time to think ‘bout it.” Sakamoto said. Ren looked back up.

“Exactly, at least 2 days to at least figure this out.” Ren compromised. Morgana seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding.

“I'll be here in two days. Be ready to help me.” He demanded. Ren sighed and decided not to fight it as he hurriedly tapped a few buttons on the navigator. He had no idea what he was doing but when the prompt asked: Return to what once was? With the options of yes and no. He chose yes.

The effect was instant as the word warped and gold took over his vision. Opening his eyes they were back on the rooftop.

“ Returned to the real world. ” His phone said. Sakamoto immediately sat down in his chair, looking worn out to hell.

Ren wasn't in much of a better state as he sat on the floor next to him.

“Thank God. We're back.” Sakamoto said between pants. Ren didn't say anything for a moment, mind still catching up on the idea of being back in the real world again.

“Sorry about earlier.” Is all he managed to say.

“Hm? What for?” The blonde looked at him.

“I forced you to go to the palace, didn't I? And we both nearly died.” He looked away, phantom pains stabbed at his chest. 

“You don't have to apologize,” he reassured, “We both screwed up.” Ren found himself laughing a bit.

“Guess so,” he said. They didn't say anything for a moment. Ren looked up at the sky as he felt the heaviness weigh on his limbs. He didn't even think he'd make dinner with how tired he was.

“Ya know,” Sakamoto started before looking at him., “Since i remember the faces of the volleyball players we can look for them tomorrow and get ‘em to fes up.” he grinned

“Why tomorrow?” Ren asked.

“You didn’t know? There’s a volleyball rally tomorrow.” Ren slowly nodded.

“Seems like the perfect day to do some investigating.” 

“I know right, this is getting good!” The blonde said, excited. Ren laughed a little before looking at his phone.

12:21 PM

“What the hell…” he mumbled, the time was wrong. “Hey Sakamoto, what time does your phone say?” He looked up.

“Uh, 12:21?” He realized it a moment later and he sat up. “Weren't we in there for way longer?” Both looked at their phones, waiting anxiously for the number to change. 

12:22 PM

Both let out a sigh of relief.

“Is that even possible?” The blonde asked, Ren only shrugged, they had around 18 minutes left before class and he'd do his best just relax the entirety of it. The silence was nice after the chaos of the castle.

Should he really continue this all? The castle, the personas, the battle. It feels amazing at the moment but if anything bad were to come of it. If he did something…it would surely end with him behind bars. But, Kamoshida is a piece of shit who deserves this, Ren wouldn't feel bad no matter how hard he tried if something happened to him. But would he throw everything away just to help someone else?

It wouldn't be the first time.

The bell rang and as Ren got up he noticed Sakamoto not moving from his seat.

“Not going to class?” he asked.

“Man I'm surprised I'm awake right now…” Ren laughed before grabbing his bag.

“Alright, see you, Sakamoto.” He went to leave suddenly.

“Wait!” The blonde yelled, a bit overkill considering he was only about a few feet away still. “Dude you can call me Ryuji.” 

“You want me too…?” Ren looked at him, keeping his face carefully still.

“I mean, it's up to you if ya use it,” he shrugged with a smile. Ren slowly nodded.

“You…can call me Ren…I’d prefer it actually.” 

“You got it, Ren.” Sak- Ryuji grinned.

“See you Ryuji.” He walked off the roof. Unaware of the smile on his face.

Classes passed quickly from there. Before he knew it, it was time to leave. He got up quietly as he grabbed his bag and headed to the entrance of the school. He felt quite happy for once.

Getting to the front of the school he saw Ryuji leaning on a wall next to the school gates.

“Hey Ryuji,” he said as he came over, the blonde looked up.

“Hey, was just thinking about gettin’ some ramen before heading home, wanna come?” Was it strange how happy he got from the question alone. He was even about to say yes when he remembered he wasn't allowed. He sighed to himself.

“I gotta get home, my guardian was pretty angry from yesterday.” 

“Ooh, that's why you couldn't go to the castle after school.” Ryuji said.

“Mhm,” Ren sighed. “See you around man” 

“Actually, let's walk together?” Ryuji asked. Ren shrugged.

“If you'd like to, be my guest.” 

The two of them ended walking home together and along the way, they started talking.

“It's been a while since I walked home with someone.” Ren had meant to think that they found a longer way home so that they could continue hanging out.

“Not any different for me, didn't have friends back home?” Ryuji asked, pretty bluntly.

“Um I used to, kinda.” He tacked on the last part a bit late. “To be honest I don't know if we were ever close enough to see each other outside of school. They didn't really try to talk after…everything.” 

“The arrest? Whatever happened with that anyway.” Ryuji asked before immediately walking it back with, “if you wanna tell.” Ren shrugged, it wasn't a story he was uncomfortable sharing, he had to many times over. He took a deep breath and started talking.

He'd seen a movie that night, he didn't have a curfew so usually he'd stay out late. He never really used that road, but it was lit up and his phone was nearly dead so he couldn’t risk the flashlight. He walked quietly when he heard two people fighting. Ren followed the noise and found a man trying to push a woman into his car. 

He couldn't just sit there could he? What would happen to her if that man won? So Ren stood up for her.

He had no idea how drunk he was. A simple wave and he'd fallen to the ground. Above all that night, Ren remembers the fury of that man, the look of pure hate at the idea that someone told him no. Blood dripping down his forehead he shouted the fraise that ruined everything.

“Damn brat, I'll sue!”

“It was all over after that,” Ren continued, “My family, my friends, they all didn't believe me. No one did.” He didn't notice his fist shaking. “At least I saw what a lot of people actually thought of me. I'm on probation for the next year so my parents sent me here.”

“The hell, man!” Ryuji startled him again. “That's so eff’ed up!” Ren blinked a few times then smiled. Was he really angry on his behalf?

“It's in the past now,” he said before looking at the corner store, it was a small family owned business. He looked through his bag, ignoring the small crescent shaped cuts in his palm. ¥12,000 is all he had at the moment, not too horrible but he wouldn't be able to get much.

“Are you for real?” Ryuji asked in disbelief, “if it was me I wouldn't calm down until I punched that dick in the face!”

“Thank God it isn't you then…it would've made things worse. Yelling isn't much better either, you just gotta live with it.” Ren said as he opened the door for the both of them. Ryuji walked in before he did. 

“Tch, all of that and you even had to leave your old town,” Ren nodded as he picked up a small bag of chips.

“I'm staying with Makoto-san and her family…my parents apparently knew her.” 

“Seems like hell…” Ryuji said.

“…Not that bad by normal standards, I think.” Ren's parents had never been great at parenting, he'd been punished before but after Akira… they just stopped caring about what he did entirely.

“Eh I couldn't tell ya ‘bout the normal parents shit,” Ryuji said, picking up a snack of his own. “I only got my ma with me and she's pretty lenient.” He smiled a bit, seemingly thinking of her. 

“She seems nice,” Ren said, grabbing looking at the price of a small bottle of pain medicine, ¥4,500…he'll have to come back later for this, especially if… “Hey dude pass me what you got real quick, I'd be cheaper if I bought it for the both of us.” 

“Huh, sure I'll give ya the yen for it outside.” He handed Ren the drink and chips as they got to the cash register. Behind the small counter was an old lady, her eyes seemed nearly glued to the front door before looking back at the two boys.

“Good afternoon,” she said before scanning the items.

“Good afternoon,” Ren pulled out the money and handed it to her. He said his goodbyes and thank yous before leaving the store with Ryuji shortly behind. He handed him the snacks.

“Wanna walk to my house or do you have a train to catch?” Ren asked.

“Nah let's keep walking, next train's not for a bit.” And so they did. It was a lot more refreshing that Ren thought talking to someone could be. Conversations were something he'd miss in his old town. During another low in the conversation Ryuji got quieter.

“Are you thinking of helping with all this? With Kamoshida?” He asked. Ren stayed silent for a moment, what was happening wasn't okay, but if they're caught or something goes wrong he'll have to go to jail…

Would that really have stopped him before? It's the right thing to do, and at the very least Kamoshida went to his school. Most likely he told everyone about his record so if anything his reputation isn't on the line.

“Of course, was that even a question?” Ren said before looking at Ryuji with a smirk, “That asshole’s going down.” 

“Hell yeah!” Ryuji grinned wide.

Suddenly the world seemed to stop as a voice boomed in his head.

I am thou, thou art I…

Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Chariot Persona,

I have obtained the winds of blessing that

shall lead to new power…

Ren blinked a few times a card appeared over his vision and the world faded back to normal.

“Here, why don't we share chat IDs so I can text you my plans.” The two stopped for a moment to do so before continuing the short walk back to Ren’s house. 

“See you tomorrow!” Ryuji had said before leaving. Ren smiles and waved, tired and ready to just nap for the rest of the night. He went inside quietly, closing the door behind him.

“You're back late.” Makoto's voice startled him as he looked up. She sat at the table, books and what not neatly organized around her as she worked on homework.

“Walked home a long way…” he explained, feeling weirdly anxious.

“Sae said for you to come straight home,” she told him again, “try to hurry up next time.” And that was the end of the conversation. Ren went to his room not a moment later and laid on his bed. 

3 bonds, he felt 3 bonds whenever he thought about them. And every time he did, some warmth spread in his chest. If he focused harder though, he could swear he saw the name of each. The universe, the fool, and the Chariot. 

Surprisingly comforting in a way.

The moment he closed his eyes, he almost instantly fell asleep.

????

“Rennn wake up!” Akira’s voice took him out at his amazing rest, opening his eyes he was suddenly aware of the grass around him as he sat up and looked at his brother. Akira was standing over him and the scenery around had shifted to a nice green field, trees surrounded it and he found himself oddly nostalgic.

“…Is this gonna happen every time I sleep?” he asked as he sat up. Akira just shrugged as he sat down.

“Dunno,” his previous smile was replaced by a serious look. “I have something I need you to do.” instantly Ren straightened up a bit.

“What's up?” he asked.

“So, I need you to start a bond with someone, quite literally as fast as possible.” Akira said.

“How fast are we talking…?” Ren asked, confused. Could you really force it?

“By, say…the 14th…” Ren's eyes widened.

“……”

“……”

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?” Ren said, confused.

“It's a challenge,” Akira said with a bit of an awkward laugh attached to the end.

“Right… I'll try,” Ren said, “What's their name?” Akira took a deep breath.

“Shiho Suzui.”

They talked through a plan for a while until Ren had a fully formed plan in his head. He could do this…

4/12

He woke up close to 10PM and sighed. He shouldn't have slept so early he sighed as he got up to go get water. The kitchen was quiet and the smell of food lingered on the air long after dinner would have been. 

He should've bought something to eat at the store…

He grabbed a cup and filled it with water thinking to himself quietly. 

It all hinged on one theory…

He leaned against the counter deep in thought. So deep he didn’t hear the front door open and a brown haired boy walking inside. 

“You’re up awfully late,” the sudden comment made Ren jump out his head.

“Could…say the same to you,” he replied looking up at Goro. “I didn't know you worked so late.”

“Yes, work does tend to lead straight into the night every now and then,” Goro chuckled.

“Seems fun,” Ren jokes, taking a sip of water.

“It definitely wasn't the most interesting part of my day,” Goro smiles politely as he looks at Ren.

“Somehow I set my clock 2 hours ahead.” Ren force for a moment. …He knew about that? No one else seemed to notice.

“How strange…maybe you just read it wrong the first time.” Ren suggested. The other boy put a hand on his chin, thinking to himself.

“Maybe, I could not shake the sense of déjà for the longest time though.” He looked back at Ren, putting a hand on his hip. “That's not all, Sae-san wouldn't stop talking about that ‘crazy’ adventure you went on before school yesterday.” Finally his eyes narrowed in on Ren's. “Just what Castle did you tell her about.” 

Ren's mind was blank. He didn't think anyone knew, how could he. He needed an excuse, anything. Now.

A sudden crash felt like cold water pouring over his head. Looking down he found the cup he was drinking from shattered on the ground.

“Oh-”

“Sorry. I'll pick that up.” Ren immediately started picking up the glass, this wasn't much of an answer but it was better than anything.

“I'll go get a towel…and a first aid kit.” Goro said, followed by footsteps away from the kitchen. Ren let out a shake sigh as he threw out the broken cup. Washing his hands he ignored the small cuts in favor of finding a way to get out of this.

He had just figured it out when the older boy came back into the room.

“I'll wipe this up while you make sure whatever cuts you have don't get infected.” He said, carefully.

“Right.” Ren said as he got to it. He sat at the table quietly as he put each bandaid on. This might mess with the plans somewhat…but that'll deal with itself seen enough. There was still a plan.

“I apologize for pressing you so much, I suppose I was still in ‘work mode’ as they say…” his voice sounded genuine and Ren looked up.

“That's not your fault, it's the consequences of losing myself in that type of lie…” Ren laughed a bit, self deprecating. “Truth is, I was just trying to lie, I didn't wanna get in trouble and all that…” Ren lied, quietly watching Goro who just sat up and looked straight back at him.

“Amamiya-kun, I am a detective. I know when someone tries to lie to me.” His voice was like steel, and his glare made Ren feel like Goro could see exactly what he was thinking. “I want to know more of what happened yesterday morning.” Ren swallowed dryly.

“It's an insane story.”

“I've heard crazier.” Was the only response Ren got as Goro slid into the seat in front of him. Ren just sighed and started talking.

.

.

.

Ren looked up at Goro after finishing the story, it was close to 11 now as sleepiness was starting to come back. Goro seemed to think for a moment.

“Similar yet different.” he thought out loud.

“Hm? What do you mean?” Ren asked.

“Well, our experiences with the other world are quite different, yet share a lot of similarities.”

“You…” Ren’s eyes opened wide.

“Yes, Amaiya-kun, I have the ability to go in and out of palaces.”

“You know about this stuff then!” Ren nearly shouted. Another Persona user would be so helpful, maybe he wouldn’t need to do this plan after all.

“Yes, Even down to the velvet room…but the way you decide it is a lot different than I remembered it.” Goro commented.

“How so?”

“Well for starters,” He put a hand on his chin again as he thought. “For me, the room is definitely no jail cell.” he chuckled, “The attendant's name is Felix, he's sort of a servant for Igor. The room itself is modeled after a banquet hall from the middle ages.” 

“Geez you got all of that from just looking around…?” Just how observant is he…?

“Of course, like I've said before, I am a detective.” He flashed a flashy smile before getting serious again. “Back on topic, you said you may go back to that palace within the next few days…unfortunately I'm not free until the 16th, could you hold off exploring until then?” Goro asked much to Ren's shock.

“You want to come? Are you sure, it's dangerous.” Ren asked.

“I've been in and out of palaces for years by now, I assure you that I'll be just fine.” he'd be helpful, that's almost a sure thing… he'd need to ask Ryuji first.

“I have to ask Ryuji first…I'll tell you what he says tomorrow.” Ren said, looking at the table.

“I'll be waiting for your response,” he said with a smile. Ren found himself smiling right back. 

“So… how did you get your powers?” Ren asked. Bored and no way to awake to go back to sleep yet.

“Oh, well about two years ago I had just started really working at the police station when I went to investigate a case myself. It was supposed to be reliably easy but let's just say I didn't make it to the building exactly,” he laughed under his breath. “The entire place was some sort of curiques.”

“So they can look different than a castle?” Ren was looking at him like some sort of very interested cat, wife eyes and all. Goro had lied, but Ren didn't need to know that. He'd seem to already trust him which was surprising by itself. 

“Of course, it all depends on the ruler, at least that's what I've found out.” Some part of him was a bit gleeful at the fact Ren didn't know too much about the other world. He shoved that down quite quickly.

“Hm…so you also sometimes dream of this blue room, the um…” Ren seemed to struggle for the correct term, looking at the table as he played with a cut in his finger.

“The Velvet Room?” Goro suggested, it seems to be right as Ren's head shot up with a nod.

“That's the place!” He shouted in recognition.

“Right, well I do see the room from time to time. Though I haven't in quite some time…” The sentence really made him think for a moment. When was the last time Igor had called on him. What about Felix? He was tempted to look at his messages again, just to check the timestamp on his last request, some egg noodles. Even earlier in mementos… 

“Do you have the wardens too? Um…Justine and Caroline.” Ren asked much to Goro's confusion.

“No, my attendant’s name is Felix, nor is he a warden.” The idea of it almost made Goro laugh. The attendant was barely fit enough to be a butler, in fact, he'd fallen asleep on the job countless times only to be awakened to the Detective's (somewhat) soft kicks. It was a miracle none of the general public could see him. “He is a butler in the Velvet room, though in my opinion he'd be better suited as a cook.” 

“That's so cool!” Ren said, making Goro chuckle. 

“It really is, mind telling me about the Velvet room you see?” Goro questioned.

“It's like a jail, I got this black and white prisoner outfit and chains on my hands and legs,” Ren shuttered. “One of the twins seems to yell a lot.” Goro drank in the information as Ren explained it. It seemed like his hypothesis was right, Velvet rooms did change through whoever it was made for. “But that's about it. Apart from the weird looking guy who sits at the desk in the middle. Goro knew only one person he could be thinking of.

“Igor?” He said, Ren nodded quickly.

“That's the one!” Goro chuckled. 

“That makes sense. He seems to be the only constant.” Ren nodded.

“You didn't tell me how the Velvet room looks for you though.” Ren reminded him.

“Ah right,” Goro mumbled. “The Velvet room in this huge dining hall, with a table and chairs for me and Igor. Felix is a butler who cooks food first and foremost.” Ren listened intensely and Goro  reveled in it. 

“That's amazing!”

And so the conversation didn't really stop. Only when Goro realized it was near 12 did he finally get up.

“Well I think I'll turn in now, good night Amamiya-kun-”

“Ren, you can be polite and stuff but just call me Ren.” He laughed tiredly, “Everytime you call me by my last name it feels like you're addressing my parents or something.” Goro just nodded.

“Alright, I'll see you tomorrow Ren-kun.” 

Chapter Text

4/13

The next day Ren sat in school nearly dozing off. He'd woken up earlier than usual and now was extra tired. Ms Kawakami came in and took attendance, class was normal up until they all went down to the gym, Ren spotted Ryuji and after a quick hello, the two sat next to each other and watched the game begin.

“So…”

“Yeah?” Ryuji looked up from where he leaned his head.

“I found another persona user.” That got the blonde's attention immediately, he sat up and stared at Ren. “Where'd you find someone like that?”

“Coincidentally, he lives with me,” Ren stated.

“So he's…”

“Goro Niijima is his name, and he wants to come with us next time he goes to the castle.”

“…Are you sure ‘bout this?” Ryuji questioned, looking over to where Makoto sat. “He's related to the council president ain't he.”

“He is, but he's pretty nice, ya know. Don't go here so it might be a problem trying to get in during lunch.” Ren explained.

“Right, well, we could use the help I guess.” Ryuji reluctantly agreed.

“Something else…”

“Hm?”

“I'm joining the Volleyball team-”

“WHAT!?” Ren jumped as the other people around him suddenly looked at them. Ryuji stopped yelling but didn't seem any less confused. “Didn't the castle tell ya enough to stay away from that bastard.” 

“Well I have a plan, maybe…I don't know how well this could work.” Ren admitted. “It's simple though, it's obvious ‘he’ has opinions on people that show up in the castle. So if I can gain a good standing in his mind, do you think I could help from within, maybe even prevent something?” Ryuji looked away for a moment thinking.

“Maybe it could work-”

A large boom silenced the both of them, gasps and cries could be heard around the room as everyone's attention was focused on the court. There laid a boy, someone Ren vaguely recognized from his class. Kamoshida ran over from his side of the court, concern plainly written all over his face.

“Sorry!” He shouted, sounding close to genuinely remorseful. “Hey, are you alright?” Kneeling down next to the boy, he put a hand on his shoulder before yelling for someone to take him to the nurse. A moment later he was up with barely a care. Ren didn't even notice the ball had rolled next to Ryuji until he threw it back.

“…What a fake.” He murmured. A moment later the game resumed with no problem.

.

.

.

Ryuji and Ren stopped in a corner of the courtyard to talk after the game. Ren used the vending machine while he listened to Ryuji vent his anger for the match.

“...It’s just a one man show for him to stroke his ego…” Ren grabbed the two drinks from the machine's opening and looked up again. “Oh and how he acted like he was worried for Mishima? What an abusive d-bag!” Ren nodded along, handing Ryuji a watermelon flavored drink. “Thanks.”

“Welcome, seriously how fake can one man get?” Ren said, leaning on the fence.  

“I know right! The whole act pisses me off!” he downed his soda for a second. “...well, anyways, now's our chance to go look for the guys I saw were slaves yesterday.”

“Know their names?” Ren asked, straightening up a bit.

“Yep,” Ryuji said, “We’ll be sure to find someone who’ll spill about Kamoshida's physical abuse. Just you wait asshole.”

“That’s one of us at least, I'll follow your lead, Captain Ryuji.” And the two were off.

The first was in class D, Ren’s own, finding him was easy the moment they saw all his injuries. He stood near the black board silently reading something as the two walked over to him.

“What?” He turned around to show a face full of injuries, bandages, one eye was covered with bandages and under his other was another, besides that there were obvious bruises.

“That's the guy.” Ryuji confirmed.

“You too, Sakamoto!?” The student looked between the two anxiously. “What do you guys want…?”

“I just wanted to know how you got injured.” Ren answered, slouched over a bit.

“It's from practice! What does that have to do with anything?” He said.

“Kamoshida did it to you, right?” Ryuji said, “Look, I ain't gonna tell anyone you squealed. Just tell us about how Kamoshida's abusing you.” He tried to persuade, yet the student didn't seem to budge.

“I-I don't know what you're talking about.” he stammered.

“Are you afraid?” Ren asked, trying to seem as understanding as possible.

“I'm not!” He said, “you guys are just talking complete nonsense!” 

“Don't try and’ hide it! We already know!” Ryuji tried to reason.

“You…you know? Do you have proof?” He sounded more disbelieving the longer this conversation went.

“Well, uh… I …” Ryuji stammered over his words, Ren looking away as he tried to figure out a way to salvage this.

“This is ridiculous.” The student started to turn back around. “Please, leave me alone. You're really bothering me.” Ren sighed and motioned Ryuji to leave the class. Once in the hallway he sighed.

“Could've gone a lot better.”

“Still that injury ain't normal! And he still won't fess up…” Ryuji said, the past failure did not dampen his determination in the slightest. “Crap. If we keep going at this pace, the game's gonna end…” 

“We should split up then, text me the description of the people and I'll find a half and you'll be the other half.” Ren suggested.

“Guess that'd be faster,” Ryuji grinned, “ I'll check the Practice Building for people before clubs start. You handle the Classroom Building.” Ren nodded. Ryuji quickly sent a few things before turning to the stairs, “I'll hit you up if I find anything. Seeya!” and Ren was on his own.

.

.

.

He had nothing but no information on the rumors about him. Once again about how murderous he was.

 The third year and his friend denied and excused every accusation possible leaving nothing Ren could do but walk away. A bit frustrated he leaned against a wall to look at his phone.

Ryuji wasn't having any better luck as Ren but at least found a new lead. A first year who'd just joined the team. Maybe his luck could turn.

Finding the first year was easy, just down a flight of stairs, the injuries he sported were lesser than the other two he'd seen, but still concerning.

“Um… hello I had a question,” Ren asked, intentionally a lot weaker than usual. 

“Whaddya want?” the first year asked, turning towards Ren, unpredictably, already on edge. 

“What are those injuries?” he asked, tring to sound as concerned as possible, but unfortunately it didn’t pan out well.

“Wha- what’s it to you?” He said immediately, “They’re just from practice, Kamoshida is really driving us to the nationals. That’s all!” He looked a bit unsure before continuing, “Though he’s a bit too hard on Mishima-senpai…” Ren tilted his head, another name added to a list of people he could ask.

“Who’s Mishima?” however the student refused to answer, instead being interrupted by an announcement.

“ Attention, Attention. All matches have concluded. Please get ready to go home for today… ”

Ren cursed under his breath as walked away to look at a new text from Ryuji.

Ryuji

Dammit, we’re outta time. 

How’d it go?

Me

Take a wild guess…

Ryuji

So no luck either… 

Mkay, let’s regroup for now. Same spot from earlier

Ren sighed and headed to the courtyard. It’d have to be fast.

Ren found himself waiting for Ryuji, debating if another drink was a good financial decision when he heard a new voice.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” Ren turned to find a blonde girl with big pigtails and blue eyes, instantly he recognized her from his class.

“What’s up?” he asked, confused.

“I’ll be quick, she assures. “Anyway, what’s with you? Like, how you were late the other day was a lie and all.” Ren put his hands in his pockets as the suspicion in his classmate’s eyes grew.  “…There’s that weird rumor about you too.”

“I’m aware…” Ren said, relieved at the sight of Ryuji walking over.

“Whaddya want with him.” The girl jumped and turned to find Ryuji walking over.

“Right back at you.” she replied after the momentary shock. “You’re not even in our class.”

“...we just happened to get to know each other.” for a second he looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“What're you planning on doing to Mr. Kamoshida?” Ren sighed, their actions really do not go unnoticed.

“Huh?!” Ryuji sounded more surprised than he looked before his expression turned sour. “ …I see. I getcha.” Ren looked on with confusion but chose not to get involved, Ryuji could probably handle it. “You’re all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida after all.” Ren winced, not what he was hoping for. 

“This has nothing to do with you, Sakamoto!” the girl yelled.

“If you found out what he's been doin’ behind your back, you’d dump him right away.” Ryuji said.

“Behind my back…?” She said, confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Ryuji watched her for a moment before sighing.

“You wouldn't get it.” Ryuji looked a bit disappointed at that.

“Anyway, people are already talking about you two.” she informed them, “I don;t know what you’re trying to pull, but no one’s gonna help you.” Ren looked away thinking, So she really was on Kamoshida’s side in all this. He was a bit disappointed, he wouldn’t lie. “I’m warning you, just in case. That’s all.” And with that she talked away, Ren unable to describe how he felt about the entire exchange. 

“Why’s she gotta be so aggressive all the time?” Ryuji kicked the ground.

“You know her?” Ren asked.

“We just went to the same middle school.” he said, “Anyways, that’s not what we’re here to talk about.” He sighed, “I had no luck on my end, what about you?”

“All i got was another person to find, which is a good lead but with this pattern…” 

“Well it couldn’t hurt to know more.” Ryuji said.

“True,” Ren agreed, “Mishima apparently get’s it worse than the other’s during practice.” Now that he thought about it, wasn’t Mishima the same guy who got hit earlier today?

“I do always see that guy covered in bruises…” Ren nodded.

“Think he’s still in school?” Ren asked, straightening up a bit. Ryuji nodded.

“Let’s go talk to him before he leaves.” The two headed for the main entrance.

The two arrived seemingly just in time to see Mishima walking out the door.

“Hey, gotta second?” Ryujil stopped him but the black hair boy didn’t answer back. In fact he didn’t even acknowledge them for a moment, just staring at the ground like he was debating even answering him.

“Yes…?” he answered.

“We just have a few questions to ask.” Ryuji folded his arms.

“Well, we heard Kamoshida’s been abusing you and the rest of the volleyball team.” Instantly Mishima shook his head. 

“No…Kamoshida has been nothing but helpful, I'm really grateful for him,” he said but his voice stayed flat.  His voice was nearly gone.

“Comeon man, we already know,” Ryuji tried to reason.

“I’m sorry but…” Mishima shook his hold again.

“What’s going on here?” Kamshida’s voice startled the three of them, he looked towards Mishima instantly. “Mishima, didn’t the nurse tell you to go home immediately after school?” he said sternly. 

“Of course…” the black haired boy mumbled.

“Feel better soon.” Kamoshida waved with a scummy grin as Mishima ran out. He looked at the two of them and it only grew. “Have a safe trip home,” he said with a fake happiness in his voice. Yet it only came across as a threat. “ See? I control everything, ” in a way Ren could see the other world’s version directly in that smile. There really was no difference.

“That was our last lead…” Ren sighed, a part of him wanted to say this was all useless, he wouldn't forgive himself if he just kept his head down but for now there was nothing he could do.

“I'm gonna go and try to convince the other guys,” Ryuji said with a sigh and Ren nodded. 

“I should head home, see you.” He waves goodbye as he leaves.

He found Makoto at the school gate and after a brief hello, the two started walking home.

Ren was getting ready for bed when he saw a text message from Ryuji.

Ryuji

I realized something.

All those guys walkin’

around with injuries.

Do their parents not

notice?

Me

They'd have to by now…

Ren wouldn't lie, the idea made him a bit angry. He looked up at the ceiling, how blind would you have to be to not notice some of the injuries those players had. Even the amount of bruising should be enough to raise some flags. The phone buzzed.

Ryuji 

That's what I was thinking.

Seems Kamoshita makes them too scared to tell anyone.

Me

Kamoshita? Lol

But same time, we gotta do something about him. Maybe through the castle…

Seems like our only bet, less you wanna try and find someone later. Got one last person on the list.

Ryuji

?

Who?

Me

Girl in the same grade as us. Shiho Suzui 

Ryuji

Oh she's in my class!!!

I'll ask her!

Ren winced, this was a vital part of the plan. He couldn't afford to scare her away from this.

Me

I mean, if you can be nice and maybe get her to meet us after school…I got a idea

Ryuji

???

Ren sighed and sat up. Niijima and Goro came home around dinner, much to both his and Makoto's surprise. So around an hour after dinner, Goro was probably in his room. Perfect. Getting up he set his phone in his bed as he walked to the other boy's room. 

He stood in front of it only a moment later and took a breath, knocking on the door.

“Yes?” Goro spoke through the door.

“It's Ren, I just gotta ask you something.” He told the other. There was a pause before he heard Goro say something again.

“Come in.” Ren pushed open the door to find a very neat room. Goro had a large bed, the frame a dark colored wood and next to it was a desk, both at the far corner of the room. His walls were painted a muted red as shelves held a few pictures. His desk held many papers and his suitcase, it's where he sat now. Near the door held a nice vanity desk and mirror, with products Ren didn't recognize mixed with a lot more makeup than he expected Goro to have. The floor was carpeted but didn't even seem to be walked in with how cleaned it managed to look. “Well?” Goro said, sitting at his desk, as he turned towards him.

“So,” Ren started as he closed the door behind him. “We have to move going to the castle, tomorrow is the only chance we have to convince someone to give us some evidence.” He told Goro and for a moment he saw his expression change, it was subtil, a blink and you miss it type of thing. But still Ren caught it.

“Alright, I can see if I can make it.” He said, polite as ever. “When is this?”

“Right after school.” Ren told him.

“You are aware of your punishment, correct?” Ren rubbed the back of his head.

“I'll try to convince her…?” He forgot about that while planning. He heard the brown haired boy sigh.

“I'll take care of it, prepare everything you need, I suggest a lot of food if you plan on fighting,” Goro told him.

“On it.” 

“And make a lot of coffee, I have the instant ones if you need it.” Ren nodded along, thinking. After a few more tips Ren left the room to prepare for the next day.

.

.

4/14

School was easy to overlook when he was waiting for it to end. He zoned out the full day, even earning a chalk to the head (seriously, how much does he have?) at one point. And after all that waiting…

It was only lunch time. Ren nearly slammed his head into the table with a groan.

Either way he had to find somewhere to eat, his classmates kept looking at him weirdly and at the very least Takamaki had left, so it was a better idea to just leave the room. 

His feet carried him to the roof again as he opened the door to go sit down.

But instead he nearly ran into someone. 

“Sorry!” He said automatically, stepping back to let them through.

“No it's alright, I should have paid more attention,” a sweet voice said. Looking up Ren found a girl around his age, her hair was short and brown, her eyes the same color. More noticeably she wore a pink sweater over her uniform and white leggings with stars.

“No it's alright too,” Ren said with a smile. “What are you doing up here?” He asked.

“I could ask you the same question,” she chuckled, “Truthfully, I got permission to start a garden up on the roof. I was checking the space so that I could choose what plants to grow this spring.”

“What for?” Ren tilted his head.

“I'm starting a gardening club, I don't suppose you're interested…” she paused, trying to figure out his name.

“Ren Amamiya, and sure I'm interested,” he grinned.

“Haru Okumura,” She told him, “I'm still working everything out but it'd be lovely to have a new member.” She clapped her hands together with a smile.

“Of course, just tell me when it starts.” He told her.

“I'll let you know as soon as I get confirmation about the scheduling.” She smiled. “Oh that reminds me, I had to drop that form off at the office.” She looked at him apologetically. “I must be going now, see you around Amamiya-kun!” And with a wave goodbye, Okumura was gone.

The rest of lunch continued in relative peace, only really texting Goro and talking to Ryuji about their plan the entire period.

Once they were back to class it truly felt slower than anything. He tapped his pencil endlessly as he watched the clock slowly move. 1…1:05…1:20…

He must've dozed off at one point when the bell rang and instantly he was in action. Standing up he grabbed her bag and walked out at a relatively normal but quick pace, looking around everywhere for a certain someone as Akira's voice spoke in his head, repeating words he'd heard already. A name rang and rang in his head as he looked everywhere until-

Bingo.

Goro was early. Surprisingly, when he swore it should've taken 5 minutes longer to get to Shuijin Academy, he waited in an alleyway. He heard students walking out, talking about their plans and whatnot. However Goro was watching his phone, waiting for a message to appear. 

5 minutes past the last bell and nearly 15 after Goro got there, he saw the message.

Ren

Going to the castle, the second highest tower. Seems easy to get to.

Keywords: Kamoshida,  king, castle.

Goro nearly smiled as he stood up and headed towards the school, careful to stay out of sight, lest someone happened to watch him fade out of existence.

He focused on the school, the people around him turned various shades of red, overlaying over what was reality. At the closest he could be without sight. Kamoshida's castle… it was harder than expected to differentiate between the castle and some other palace that occupied the same place. Focusing a bit more, and suddenly his words started to change.

Goro had noticed a key thing when talking to Ren the other night. He wasn't able to just travel into Palaces, not like Goro. He didn't need keywords or some mystical app, not when he could just walk inside. Satisfied with the change in scenery Goro looked around for something else. Something like a blue door.

It was near immediate, standing just in front of the castle was a door that seemingly went nowhere, it was grand, the type you'd see in some fancy build. And leaning against it was a tired man with a white hair. His head tilted down to hide any features, not that the man was short in that department. He was quite lanky, wearing an (extremely) unkempt deep blue button down short with gray dress pants. He had a belt with an intricate design, the pattern becoming more recognizable as Goro stalks closer. The man jumped up, tired eyes immediately looking at Goro before smiling.

“Afternoon, young master, do you wish for a meal-”

“ WHAT IN THE WORLD? ” A girl's voice screamed.

Suzui was a quiet girl. Scarily so but then again, she was lied to just a moment prior.

“Excuse me, are you Suzui-san?” Ren had asked,  feigning his fearful and anxiety ridden tone. He was naturally fidgety sometimes, and thus all he had to do was show it. 

“Yes…?” The girl nodded, her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, a pink clip keeping it from sticking up a bit but leaving bangs and the rest neat. 

“Kamoshida asked me to bring you to him…” Ren lied.

“Did he say why?” She asked.

“Um…no, sorry.” Ren said. She looked at the ground before nodding letting Ren lead the way. Through the halls and up a few flights of stairs, Suzui seemed more and more unsure as she went and just didn't say anything until he opened the roof door for her. Walking out only to hear it close behind her. She jumped looking behind her to find Ryuji and Ren standing side by side. 

“Um…where's…” started.

“In the PE office.” Ren asked in his normal tone. She took a step back, clearly uncomfortable and searching for an exit.

“Wait a moment!” Ryuji spoke up, she froze. “We just wanna know something, it's about your safety.”

“Why do you care…?” She asked, slightly relaxing but not much.

“Cause what’s going on is messed up.” Ryuji said, “So we’re gonna knock Kamoshida off his pedestal once and for all.” he talked back but Suzui didn’t seem convinced, looking away he sighed.

“Haven’t enough people tried that for you to know trying to hurt him was futile?” she looked down, her hands clenched into fists. “No one cares, no one will care.” she seemed so depressingly sure of it.

“That's not-”

“Sakamoto. Everyone knows what Kamoshida is doing, but it doesn't matter.” She sighed. “Just leave it be, you have to have known that this was useless right?” She started to walk towards them, the two parted to let her grab the door knob.

“We can help, please we know how to take him down but we need help.” Ren told her sincerely.

“Anyone who's tired has failed.” She stated.

“Well they don’t have the same method we both do.” Ren said, taking out his phone.

“What method do you have?” she said, confused. Ren, despite himself, started to grin.

“We could show you, if you'd like.” Suzui looked at them both before sighing.

“Alright.” Ren pressed the button and the world started changing around them.

Walls built around them as the sky turned an ominous red, it felt like they were moving higher and higher up and before they all knew it it was over. Suzui looked around, fear obvious.

“What…what the hell is going on!?” She ran to the window looking out at the school before turning to both the boys and stumbling a few steps back.

“Hey it's just us!” Ryuji tried to calm her. 

“But your clothes!?” She kept looking around, mind seemingly just not processing. Ren sighed to himself, yeah that makes sense, he thought to himself as he got ready to explain everything.

Goro had never encountered this before. A girl with blonde hair in pigtails stares up at the looming castle gawking at what surely couldn't (and most definitely isn't) her school. Taking a deep breath and focusing as he tries to figure out if he could leave and if I'd take her out with him.

But no, I'd tire Goro out, and he still needed to go to Mementos later that day. Still, it could probably be pushed off if he reworked his schedule a bit. So he started walking towards the alleyway when.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw that same girl walking towards the entrance. With a sigh he started making his way back, rolling his eyes when he sat Victor hold out a small box. Grabbing it and putting it away for later use as he jogged over the girl. 

“Excuse-” the girl jumped back and screeched. Looking over at him frantically. “Don't worry I'm a regular person, just with a mask.” He said cautiously, pointing to the long red beak of Robin Hood’s outfit.

“Who are you?!” She yelled.

“My name is Goro Niijima,” he said in an even voice.

“Goro…Niijima…?” gears turned in her head slowly coming to a conclusion many had lately.

“GORO NIIJIMA!?” She shouted before he could stop her. 

“Yes. Now please Ms, we can't talk too loudly here.” He told her in the most polite way he possibly could. 

“Right, sorry,” she said before looking around again. “Where are we…how did we get here?” she asked.

“I could ask you the same question.” A new voice popped up. Goro spun to see a……

What the fuck is that?

A creature bounced over, some sort of small cat hybrid thing with big blue eyes.

“Wha- who are you?” he quickly corrected himself, though his hand itches to grab the saber at his waist.

“Humph, I won't answer that until you both do.” The creature looks at them both, eyes lingering on the blonde longer.

“A…cat?” She questioned studying the small thing. 

“I am not a cat!” The creature stated quite sternly for how small it was. “Now I have a question,” it said looking at the both of them.

“Do you know Frizzy-hair?” it asked. 

It took him a moment to realize who it might've been, upon further inspection. This was most definitely the cat-like creature Ren was talking about that night. So Goro nodded before the creature turned to the blonde.

“What about you?” it said with a bit less force.

“Who?” She questioned, confused as all hell.

“Do you know Ren Amamiya?” She thought for a second before recognition lit her eyes.

“Yes, I do.” she said. Seemed like that was lucky, at least. He'd been told the plan Ren had but he knew the woman he was talking to was not a part of it. There's nothing he could do about that, returning to the real world would immediately make him feel exhausted and he has some things to catch up on before going to bed. Still he looked at the creature.

“Do you know where he is? I'm supposed to go meet up with him, but I can't seem to see the tower from here…” he said. 

“Hmm,” the creature thought for a moment. “What's to say you aren't lying?” At least it seemed smart. 

“Amamiya-kun told me everything from the past few days, if you'd like I can recount it to you.” Goro offered.

“Fine, do it.” The cat challenged. Goro nearly faltered before sighing. 

“Alright then…I'll tell you what happened when they got there.” Goro retold what he knew of Amamiya’s day in the castle. By the end the blonde looked shocked yet Morgana seemed more surprised and amused.

“Looks like you weren't lying,” obviously , Goro thought, annoyed. “And it does seem like you have a persona, as well.” Its eyes narrowed in on him. “How long have you been using the metaverse?” 

“Oh, around a year now.” He lied easily and yet the creature didn't seem to pick up on it.

“So you're just as familiar with this world than I am,” it smiled wide.

“Just what world is this?” The blonde asked.

“It's a place where someone's deepest desires manifest,” Morgana started.

“It doesn't always look like a castle, however, I've seen one that looked like a circus.” 

“Woah, you really have been through this before.” Morgana said with amazement, Goro couldn't deny the swell of pride at that. But nevermind that, he had a place to be.

“So wait, who's ‘desires’ is this?” She asked, Goro couldn't exactly blame her for taking a moment to wrap her head around this.

“Your PE teacher. From what I learned.” He caught himself answering and shook his head. “Nevermind that, you shouldn't follow the both of us.”

“What? You can talk about all of this and not expect me to want to come with you!” She said,

“We all have persona's, we have some sort of power and protection.” Goro reasoned. “Please just wait here so that you don't get caught. I can't guarantee your safety if you do.”

“Then that's a risk I'm willing to take!” She said, determination plain and easy to see. It was nearly inspiring.

“It wouldn't be the first time I've had to sneak around with someone with no powers!” Morgana seemed okay with it so Goro nodded.

“Stay close, if we have to fight anything and it gets out of hand, hide.” Goro said, somewhere in his mind he heard the same words from a different person. But that's all he was willing to think about.

“Got it, I will.” The girl confirmed. He nodded before pausing to look back at her.

“I'm sorry, I didn't ask your name.” He said.

“Ann Takamaki, nice to meet you Goro.” He nodded. It was normal for him to be called by his first name immediately. After all, he'd tell everyone not to use his last name, even in media appearances.

“Same to you Takamaki-san,” he smiled before the few headed off to the castle. 

“So, this is why the two of you were late a few days ago…” Suzui sighed as he sat on the wall across from them.

“Yep.” 

“And somehow you both gained magical powers.” 

“Mmhm.” Suzui looked at the boys as if they've grown an extra pair of heads.

“…This has to be some sort of…nightmare.” Suzui yelled, gesturing to everything in the room. “This is all insane.” 

“Yeah…it was hard to believe till you get hit over the head by a guard.” Ryuji groaned.

“Now we're just waiting for a friend to get here.” Suzui nodded and looked outside.

“I still don't know why you both brought me here…” 

“You're a victim too, so we decided we should at least try with someone we hadn't asked yet.” She nodded slowly. Ren's words turned in her head before looking back at them.

“You both plan on exploring?” she asked. Ren only nodded.

“You don't have to come with us, though.” Suzui stared out the stone window for a moment longer before speaking.

“I will.”

“You will!?” Ryuji questioned, a bit too loud for regular talking.

“I…I need to see this all for myself, if that doesn't change any of your plans.” She looked between the two of them.

“Don't sweat it, more the merrier.” Ryuji grinned.

“Thank you.” she seemed to have a bit more fire to her now.

“Of course,” Ren shrugged, just as the group heard a large boom coming from down the stairs. Ryuji and Ren shared a look before peering down the stairwell.

“What was that-” footsteps made their way up, almost silent at first but as more joined the first pair, both persona users stepped back, weapons at the ready.

“It's us.” A familiar head slowly came into view as it made its way up the stairs. Morgana bounced up the stairs followed by Goro and…

“What the hell!?” Ryuji yelled what they were all thinking. Takamaki stood at the top of the stairs, twisting one of her pigtails nervously.

“Oh hi guys…” she said with a wry smile.

“Ann!?” Suzui yelled, Ann looked surprised. The two locked eyes with a gasp.

“What are you doing here!?”

“I could ask you the same!?” The girls walked to each other, eagerly telling each other what'd happen while the boys gathered nearby.

“So this is the guy who's comin’ with us,” Ryuji asked.

“Mhm” Ren nodded. Strangely a little out of place with the amount of people in the room.

“Goro Niijima at your service,” Goro smiled politely.

“How'd you find someone like him, he's an expert!” Morgana exclaimed.

“Ah well it was really the opposite.” Ren dug his hands in his pocket. “Overheard me talking to my guardian after my first day of school and made the connections himself…” 

“Don't feel too bad, anyone else would have thought you were lying or insane,” Goro said, “I just have prior knowledge on this subject.” Ren smiled at the comment.

“True, I know my mom wasn't too happy when I got home.” Ryuji groaned, his form slumped a bit.

“Reminds me,” Ren sighed as he fiddled with the sheath of his dagger, “My guardian made it a rule for me to come straight home after school till after exams…”

“Wait, then how are ya not getting in trouble now?” Ryuji questioned.

“I told her I was showing Ren around today, just to make sure he doesn't get lost again.” His smile twitched wider for just a moment. “We should have a few hours before she wonders where we are.” 

“That excuse can only work so many times,” Morgana said, “We’ll really have to figure out how to evade her later.” Ren nodded before looking at Ryuji.

“Are you in a rush home?” Ren asked Ryuji.

“Nah my mom doesn't mind if I'm out late as long as it's not dark.” the three of them nodded before Ren looked at the girls. 

“Do you two need to go anywhere soon?” he asked.

“No, as long as some stores are open when we leave I should be fine.” Takamaki answered. Suzui on the other hand seemed to think pretty hard about it. Suddenly she looked up, eyes wide.

“I have to go!” She yelled. Ren cursed under his breath. Takamaki looked surprised however.

“To do what?” She asked.

“My parents are inviting a bunch of people over and Mom wanted me home to help out.” she mumbled apologetic apologetically. 

“Right, ‘course.” Ryuji sighed. The thought hadn't really crossed either of their minds.

“What if we came back tomorrow then?” Takamaki suggested. “We'll be a lot more prepared than today.” 

“Hmm, well I can't survive another day in this palace.” Morgana stated.

“I'll try my best to make time tomorrow after school.” Goro said.

“Same here.” Ryuji grumbled, annoyed with how much longer he'd have to wait. Ren nodded.

“Then let's get out of here-”

“Wait, it would be better if we went through the front entrance.” Goro said.

“Why?”

“Well it'd be conspicuous if we all walked down here from the roof.” Ren sighed, Goro wasn't wrong but the idea of trekking through the palace made him exhausted.

“It should be significantly easier with four persona users in the group, it’s your call, Leader!” Morgana said, looking at Ren. he looked around at the group confused.

“Um, why should the decision be up to me again?” he tilted his head, suddenly feeling the weight of everyone looking at him.

“I mean you were the first to get a persona,” Ryuji said.

“No, Goro has a lot more experience.”

“Yes, but I usually work alone, managing a team is not my strength.” Goro Replied.

“Plus isn’t this your plan?” Suzui stepped in.

“Hey, what told ya i didn’t come up with it!” Suzui leveled Ryuji with a blank stare.

“Much offense, Sakamoto I'd believe you’d come up with any sort of plan when pigs fly.” 

“Hey!”

“Well he did come up with some of it, it was a collaboration,” Ren shrugged. Ignoring how his part was mostly Akira’s ideas. (A small part of him wanted to scold himself for falling back into small routines.)

“Still if no one else wants to lead, it’s up to you.” Morgana told him.

“Right, fine…” Ren said, unsure. “I’ll try my best.” Ren sighed. He really wasn’t made for leading anything but if no one else was willing he was practically forced into the position. 

“Oh, that reminds me,” Ryuji said before grabbing something. He held out a gun.

“Where did you get that,” Ren asked, scanning it.

“Oh it’s just a model, doesn't shoot or anything.” 

“Ah so it’s useless…” Ren sighed, he didn’t know why he expected it to be real.

“It’s practically a toy!” Morgana jumped in.

“You can say that again,” Takamki sighed, just as disappointed. 

“I’m sure it has its uses,” Goro said, amused. It was different than earlier, in a way Ren couldn’t exactly place. He shook his head, probably just imagining it. “Well then, leader, would you like to carry it?” 

“Sure I guess,” Ren shrugged and took the fake weapon.

“Now then, should we get going?” Goro asked, placing a hand on his hip.

“right,” Ren nodded and looked at the two girls. “You both try to stay behind us, we'll probably run into enemies on the way there.” Both of them nodded.

“Right!”

“On it.” Ren then looked at the other boys.

“Ready?” Ren asked.

“Let's go kick some ass!” Ryuji yelled.

“So noisy…” Morgana mumbled. 

“I'm inclined to agree.” Goro sighed. Ren laughed a bit and motioned the group to follow him down the tower.

Goro walked near the front of the group as they snuck around the castle, he kept a special watch over his surroundings but gradually he found himself relaxing into following along in the shadows.

If he was alone he might've just brute forced through the castle. But now he has others around him and he definitely didn't need them dying. The walk back to the side entrance was long and frankly boring.

All until they saw an enemy that couldn't be avoided. Goro found himself grinning for a moment before he schooled himself back to the careful neutrality he'd shown most of the journey.

“Looks like we're gonna have to fight that one.” Ryuji said.

“I agree.” Goro whispered. Ren nodded carefully, gripping his dagger as he flew to the shadow and stabbed into it.

Instantly it split into two pixies.  Goro took out his own weapon as Morgana and Ryuji went into the battle as well.

“Ren, try shooting that gun!” Morgana yelled, taking the brunt of a fireball.

“Huh, alright then.” Ren whipped out the gun, just as Goro stabbed and instantly killed one of the shadows. 

Bang

The final pixie laid on the ground, seemingly terrified. 

“Surround it!” Morgana yelled as the 4 of them did just that. 

The shadow looked around at the slingshot, a bat and two…guns!? Ren looked at Goro, a pretty realistic gun held in his hand and steady trained at the shadow. His eyes squarely on the target.

“How dare you ransack Lord Kamoshida's palace!” The small shadow yelled, dragging Ren's attention away to look at it again. “Just who do you think you are?!”

“Thieves.” Ren said the first thing that came to mind. He wasn't wrong after all, he'd been looking for extra loot whenever he could.

“Ha! I can see that, just what do you want from someone like me?” The shadow sounded angry. He shouldn't piss it off more than necessary. But he wanted to keep talking, the idea that Shadows could say anything at all was interesting to him. 

“Empty your pockets.” Ren said, straight to the point. the shadow gasped 

“How mean! You- you…” a look of confusion crossed its face. Before its eyes widened in recognition. “I remember you! If you wanted to welcome me back you could've just said so!” the creature floated up with a smile as Ren froze looking up at it. 

“What’s going on?” Morgana yelled.

“I don't belong to just Kamoshida! I belong-” it suddenly turned into a blue light. Ren's eyes widened as a glowing mask came full speed at his head, he wasn't even given time to move before it just hit him.

And it felt like nothing changed.

“What just happened?” Ryuji put away his weapon as he looked at Ren. 

“I don't know…” Ren mumbled, instinctively feeling the front of his face. 

“Is that not normal…?” Takamaki walked over, Suzui following.

“Not in my experience.” Goro said, putting a hand on his chin.

“Maybe we should hurry and get out of here…just in case.” Morgana suggested. No one in the group objected.

A walked through the halls a bit faster and yet at every turn there was nothing. No more gods, no more puzzles, and no more loot. Looking around it was starting to get surprised. It was when the group had gotten to the main entrance it was empty.

“What’s goin on?” Ryuji said as they all walked towards the exits.

“I don’t know…” Morgana mumbled, looking around. Ren had a sinking feeling, one that just seemed to grow and grow as they got closer to the exit. 

“Let's just hurry…” he said, walking to the hall where they escaped the first day. He started to open the door when.

“Wait.” Goro said in a hushed tone, Ren force and looked at him. He was extremely focused, eyes glued to the crack that had opened. Ren's eyes widened as he followed his gaze. A small group of guards in Golden armor waited. They talked among themselves, not noticing the small shift in the door. Both guards had an oppressive aura about them, one that Ren didn't want to mess with.

“This is not good…” Morgana said before looking up at Ren. “Think we can take them?” He asked. Ren shook his head.

“Let's try the main entrance first…” he said, gently closing the door. 

“Alright…” 

The group headed back to the entrance. An uneasy feeling coming over them. Ren felt the worst of it as he tried to open the doors. It's fine , he told himself. Just gotta get out of here…

The door had only opened slightly before a blaring siren hit them from all sides. Ren could barely process it before they were completely surrounded by shadows, each one seemed to be as strong as the other they'd seen. But it didn't matter now…they'd have to fight through it anyway.

“Suzui and Takamaki, get behind us!” Ren yelled as a man, or rather a shadow walked through the crowd.

“A little birdie told me you pests were coming.” Shadow Kamoshida stepped in front of the teens, grinning. Around his arm was something ten times more shocking.

“Ann…” Suzui mumbled in pure disbelief. Takamaki herself looked sick as she watched on as her lookalike wrapped itself around Kamoshida's arm. She was wearing a skimpy bikini and fake cat ears, her face smiling but empty.

“What the hell!?” Ryuji yelled. Ren felt his heart pounding in his chest.

“I didn't think you'd actually attempt it.” the shadow laughed.

“Soooo dumb.” The fake Takamaki said. 

“ You disgusting bastard… ” Ren swears he heard Goro say.

“How dare you try to come in here and replace my princess and concubine with these fakes!” His grin vanished into anger.

“What!?” Takamaki took a few steps back as Goro stepped in front of both girls.

“Just hand over the fakes and I'll even be merciful,” it demanded.

“We won't be giving you anything.” Ren said, stepping in front of the two girls.

“Exactly!” Morgana yelled.

“Humph, very well.” Kamoshida shook his head. “Guards!” in an instant the shadows surrounding them transformed. Kamoshida grinned as he stepped away to let his henchmen do the dirty work.

The instant the shadows changed they launched forward. All of them seemed different with different weaknesses and strengths. Ren yelled for his persona as Goro shot a few shadows, they fell but there was no time to focus on them to finish it off before he was crowded over again.

“Protect Ann and Shiho!” Ren yelled. Their first names are faster to say right now. Ryuji struck a per shadow down before a gust of wind knocked him off his feet with a strangle yell.

“Morgana heal him!” Ren yelled before slashing at a shadow in front of him, it bounced off easily as he settled to use a curse attack on it. 

Morgana yelled as he was hit harshly to the floor Ren watched as he didn't get up again. Ryuji cursed as he was hit as well, barely holding on as the shadow advanced. Ren's eyes widened as he reached for his mask, a different feeling rising in his soul as a word came out his mouth before he could think about it.

“ Pixie! ” He yelled, the fairy appeared behind him before magic of a different type floated through him. Ryuji got up, cuts and such disappearing as he whacked the persona hard enough to dissolve. Ren's relief was cut short when something Goro was thrown back. He went to yell when a shadow blocked his vision. He yanked off his mask before summoning wind to deal with it.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Ren heard one of the girls scream. But, the moment he looked away from the shadow he'd seen he got hit down. His head spun as he attempted to get up before an ice warm spike hit him and he was out…

“The second time in the last few days? Really?” A hand grabbed his shirt as he was pulled up by some hand. “How did you even die…?” he was suddenly on his feet as he opened his eyes. 

Akira stood there with his arms crossed.

“You with me, Ren?”

Goro heard the yelling around the room and yet he couldn't get to the rest of the group, at least whatever remained of it. He just didn't understand how these stronger shadows got here. Goro knew he was above most of them. But an ambush was an ambush and, regrettably, he wasn't prepared. He'd realized early on that he'd have to switch to Loki sooner or later. He'd just hoped it'd been later. Still, it wasn't like he'd reveal his trump card just yet. Grabbing his red mask he quickly switched. His once Princely outfit turned into black and blue leather as gauntlets covered his fingers. His head now covered by a new black helmet.

“ LOKI! ” He yelled, in an instant the stripped persona appeared, slashing through the crowd and clearing the way back to the group.

Or what seemed to have remained…

The girls were gone. That's the first thing Goro seemed to notice. Secondly was how everyone laid on the ground, dead or unconscious. Either barely mattered when it seemed every shadow in the room locked in on him. 

But seeing as the rest of the group was at the very least unconscious…

He allowed a wicked grin to split across his face.

He lifts a hand to his mask. As he felt something in his soul gleefully squirm at what he was going to do.

“ Loki… ” he mumbled as he gripped it tightly. “ Call of chaos! ” The room had turned into an outright massacre.

When Goro came back to himself he felt like just falling to the ground. They were all dead, bodies gone but the history had been scrapped across the walls in a way it could never fade.

But nevermind that. Goro looked at the unconscious party members. It'd be troublesome dragging them all through Shibuya and that many trips in and out of the metaverse would tire him out in less than 5 trips. So he'd have to settle for what he could do.

then again. How bad would it be if he left the group outside while he went back in for the girls…

No. Too risky. He'd find a different way after replenishing his stamina and covering his injuries. He'd use the last bottle of medicine to heal the more dangerous wounds in everyone. Goro sighed, looking at the group once again.

This might take awhile… and as he turned his back to grab both Morgana and Ren, he felt a sharp ache in his soul. Like usual, he ignored it.

Chapter Text

Ann awoke to a bedroom. One with a huge fluffy bed that almost made her forget she wasn't in her room.

She forced her eyes open, she couldn't let herself sleep at a time like this! Next to her Shiho was sleeping peacefully. She looked relaxed in her dreams, calmer than anything she'd seen lately. She found herself reaching out for a moment before stopping. She deserves some more rest…

Ann sat up to look around. The room was huge and surprisingly decently decorated. Though of course everything leads back to the bed. There were no windows for them to climb from. Getting up she tried opening the door. She sighed a minute later when it wouldn't budge. What could that disgusting thing want with them? So she has to resolve herself to wait, she'd find out soon enough…

She wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

Ren and Akira walked along the grayscale version on his hometowns hiking trail. Except this place had been closed when he was twelve. Akira walked on ahead silently. Ren slower behind, picking a few flowers before catching up.

“Come on, Ren, stop looking at the flowers, we have places to be.” Akira sighed before looking at the small bouquet in his hands with a small frown. “Are you still picking flowers for that crush of yours?” Ren felt his cheeks heat up for a moment out of sheer embarrassment.

“No they just grew on me,” he pouted for a second before coming back to himself. Mentally scolding himself for his childishness. “Plus that guy broke up with me already.”

“You guys were dating?” Akira looked at him. Suspicion blatant on his face.

“Well I mean, you're in my mind? Shouldn't you know?” Ren did not want to talk about that guy.

“I don't like digging through your memories,” Akira said matter-of-factly. “But, I need to know how the hell that happened.” Ren sighed before shrugging.

“He dragged me out of the house when I was being all pitiful and crap, we did some illegal activities before I accidentally blurted out my feelings.” There was more of course, but that was the jist of it. Akira looked at him expectantly, and he sighed. “We didn't actually get together till I started actually feeling okay again. And then we dated, much to the hate of the group. And then we broke up…” Ren sighed. What was the point of talking about it? Distantly he could smell rain. 

“Huh? Why?!” Akira said, clearly itching for more.

“Fuck off, I'm not talking about this.” Ren said, growing annoyed with his brother.

“Oh come on did that dick leave you? Come on, I'm stuck here for the time being, it's not like I can kill him!” Akira begged as Ren just rolled his eyes and continued walking.

“Who cares. It was mutual,” Ren dug his hands in his pockets. “Where are we going anyways?” 

“Just walking,” Akira shrugged.

“It looks quite nice at least.”

“Just another trail we walked when we were younger.” 

“True,” Ren fondly looked back at the memories of walking around with their small group of friends.

They soon arrived at a white door. One you could find in any household.

“Why are we here?” Ren asked.

“This will bring you back to life.” Akira said, disinterested. Ren slowly nodded.

“How…?” Ren tilted his head.

“Magic.” 

“…Right?” Ren thought about it more. “So this isn't part of my mind?”

“Nope.”

“Is this-”

“Look, Ren,” Akira glared at him for a moment before his eyes softened. “I'll explain more of this but right now, you gotta wake up.”

“Oh alright then,” Ren looked away. “I'll talk to you later?”

“Of course.” Akira nodded. It was a bit reassuring but finally Ren reached out to the silver door knob and slowly turned it.

Knock knock knock

“Amamiya-kun? I know you had a long day yesterday but Goro said you promised to walk your friend to the train station.” Sae Niijima's voice was muffled through the door. Or maybe his hearing is off, it was anyone's guess.

Looking up at the ceiling, Ren blinked a few times before shooting up. The castle…everyone…Takamaki and Suzui… a wave of dread threatened to drown him as he sat up.

“I know, getting ready right now!” Ren lied as got up. His body aches . Like his entire being was one giant bruise. He got ready quickly before going outside his room. At the table sat Goro and Ryuji, quietly eating. The despair radiated off them to the point even Niijima seemed put off.

“You guys should hurry…if you're lucky you can catch breakfast and still have time to make it to school.” She attempted to lighten them up. Goro smiled, the same polite one as usual but it felt…strained. 

“Yeah, we might…” The two got up and started putting on their shoes. It was a wonder what they had said for Ryuji to be allowed into the house. The three headed to the door without a thought, it wasn’t like they couldn’t say anything. 

They waved and said goodbye as Ren picked up his bag. He wasn’t sure if it was how tired his body was but his bag was a lot heavier than usual. 

Disregarding it he walked outside, taking a deep breath of the fresh air. It didn’t carry the same effect as from the country but it definitely helped. Closing the door behind him Goro sighed.

“Let’s get going,” he said. 

“What are we supposed to do?” Ren mumbled. Goro caught them up to speed on what happened. 

Apparently he’d been knocked out bad after something hit his weakness, the same had gone for everyone in some way or another. Ren sighed, some leader he turned out to be.

“It seems that both Takmaki-san and Suzui-san were taken by that shadow.” truely, this was the worst possible thing to happen.

“Then what are we waitin’ around for?” Ryuji said a bit too loud.

“School for all three of us…” Ren replied.

“And the time travel you seem to have doesn’t work for me.” Goro added, looking at Ren, the gaze was hard to meet with this situation. It was clear that day what he was saying.

“I can’t risk being late like that, and with two missing girls…” 

“Yeah, figures…” Ryuji said, frustrated. Who could blame him? Guilt was a common theme between the 3.

“We do need a plan though…” Ren mumbled. “We need to find them later, no matter what.” Goro and Ryuji looked at him.

“What do you suggest?” Goro asked.

“Well…” it'd be simple, most plans were. They needed to go figure out where Kamoshida would’ve taken them. Next they’d have to sneak around, till they found it. They’d need food and water since they both probably hadn’t eaten since school yesterday. Then it was just a matter of getting out. Ryuji nodded.

“Simple enough.”

“One could say exceedingly so.” Goro added.

“I mean, what else could we do? We just gotta hope they make it in there…” The three fell into a depressing silence. Ren could openly hope everything would go right…

Mishima woke up late. His alarm hadn’t seemed to go off.

Oh right, that’s because he’d turned it off yesterday. Maybe it was a horrible choice when he heard his father yelling at him to “get his ass to school.” he sighed, long and drawn out. He couldn’t do this. Not since that email, not since he got forced into that stupid team. Not since Maki. but still he got dressed. He headed downstairs where his mother attempted to reason that he should stay home again. But once again his father rejected it.

“He needs to grow up.” he said, sternly. “Coddling him won’t make him pass and do something with himself.” the words stung but weren’t wrong. He did need to grow up. But it could wait a bit more before he did. His father told him to leave without anything to eat. To go make amends with Mr Kamoshida before he really kicks you off the team. Mishima didn’t want to tell him about the emails yet. He didn’t have it in him and he doubted he would any time soon. The truth was plain and simple, he’d been taken off the team on account of constantly (once) missing practice, and inappropriate actions towards female students (what his meeting with the principal at noon was about). To say Mishima didn’t see this coming was… correct. Obviously he never had done anything to his classmates besides lead a horrible man to them . But that wouldn’t stop what Kamoshida would say.

It was over for him.

“I’m sorry Maki…” he mumbled as he headed into school.

Shiho had never been more scared. Maybe that was an achievement of sorts, considering what she knew of Kamoshida. But now… hiding in an empty closet as guards searched the room for the two of them, it definitely trumped everything. They knocked over things as they slowly became more frustrated. Talking that Shiho couldn’t hear over her rising heart beat. Ann was sitting on the bed, acting as if she didn’t know where Shiho went but it was only a matter of time…

“I- uh…saw her leave the room when the guard was gone…” Ann lied. Somehow they seemed to believe it immediately as they ran out. With a sigh Shiho got out the closet and sat down next to her friend.

“I'm so tired…” she mumbled.

“That does make two of us…” Ann stared at the floor, twisting her ponytail nervously.

“Mhm…” Shiho thought for a moment before adding, “when we get outta here let's go to the one crapes stall you like so much, I owe you a shopping trip after bailing out all week.” 

“Yeah…yeah definitely!” Ann declared. “We'll make a whole day of it!”

“Yeah absolutely,” Shiho smiled, hoping it eased her friend’s worry just a bit.

Ren wished he could skip school again. He'd thought it everyday but it felt like today was the first he was tempted to. He felt useless sitting in class. Forced to look at the empty seat in front of him. Most students assumed nothing, others more nefarious thought she was out with some guy. Ren however just grabbed his notebook from his bag when his fingers brushed against something furry. Nearly jumping out his skin he stared wide eyed into his bag. There sat a black and white cat, peacefully sleeping between his books. What the fuck was he supposed to do with that…

In the end he walked to the roof at lunch carefully holding his bag as he gently put it on one of the desks. 

“What's up?” Ryuji asked. Watching Ren carefully taking out the cat. “Why’d you bring a cat to school???” 

“I didn't know it was here.” Ren smiled and he gently reached out to pet it. 

“Don't you find it a bit strange…?” Ryuji asked, eyeing the cat like it was some creature. 

“Aw please it looks so sweet…” just looking at it brought back nice memories from his childhood. “I used to have one just like this ya know? He was such a sweet cat-”

“Who are you calling a cat?” Ren jumped back a few feet. Staring down the cat as it cat up. Somehow it looked annoyed as it looked at him and Ryuji. 

“Wh-what the hell!?” Ryuji yelled. “Wait…Morgana?” Ryuji questioned. Come to think of it, it does sound like him.

“I'm not that unrecognizable.” Morgana looked unimpressed.

“What happened to not being a cat?” Ren tilted his head.

“I'm still not a cat!” Morgana cleared his voice, “Anyways there are more important matters or did you both forget?” Any levity in the air dropped as they both remembered exactly what they had to talk about.

“Do you think they're okay?” Ryuji asked.

“Assuming they ate full meals yesterday they should be thirsty and hungry but not deathly so,” Ren answered.

“Which is why we should hurry to save them!” Morgana yelled.

“What we need is a plan…rushing in could just get us ambushed again…” Ren told them. 

“How'd he know, anyways?” Ryuji wondered.

“I don't know…” Ren said unhelpfully. 

“Better we sneak around then, one bad call and it may be over for real this time.” Morgana suggested, sending a shiver down the teen’s spine

“Yeah let's do that, It'd be better to be a lot more sneaky than we have been.” Ren said.

“Then right after school we'll go, I'll text Goro to meet at the front of the school.” The others nodded as he sent a singular text to Goro.

ME

After school, alleyway.

Sending…

It was strange for something to get to Goro this much. He'd never carried about the happenings in someone else's lives but it irked him all day.

Suzui and Takamaki both were trapped in Kamoshida's palace and he had to wait for school to end before they could do anything.

Well, Ren and Sakamoto-kun had to wait.

Walking home he stopped off at the corner store and grabbed a few bags of chips and water and went to the counter to pay quickly. The old lady smiled at him as she usually did.

“What are you doing out of school at this hour?” She said in a soft voice. He was somewhat surprised, she'd almost never really spoken to him before.

“I have work, I intern at the police station.” He smiled politely.

“Work? Shouldn't you teenagers be in school,” she shook her head in disbelief, “You should be in school more.”

“I'll try to do it more often.” He humored the idea, but it wasn't feasible. He had a schedule, and he'd keep to it. For example, today he was supposed to take time to get information from a target. But instead he was forcing himself back into the palace. 

“Good,” she bagged the items before handing them to him. “Be safe now, I heard mental shutdowns are on the rise again.” 

“Of course, Ma'am.” He said his pleasantries and headed out. The whole interaction lasts longer than it's needed. He arrived home a bit later, quickly walking to his room.

He'd learned his lesson years ago now. Any suspicious items in his room had to be hidden. Yes, the household usually had a mutual respect for privacy but it didn't ever stop accidents. He unlocked the secret compartment on his desk and gently pulled out the drawer. Inside there were 3 items.

2 guns and some cards.

Only 1 gun worked as intended, it was easy to get with Shido's connections. The other gun he couldn't remember where he'd gotten it, but he kept it around regardless. The acronym printed on the side was familiar in a way he couldn't figure out. The last being a stack of cards he painstakingly printed. With few words on it:

The truth has been found.

He grabbed the real gun and a card before heading out again. 

It all went wrong. 

Bang

How could she let this happen?

Bang

“GOD DAMN IT, LET ME OUT!” Ann yelled as loud as possible. Her shoulder burned with bruises underneath her sweater as desperation clawed at her. She threw herself into the door again but it didn't even budge. It was useless. She fell to the floor as the images of Shiho dragged from the closet played on loop in her head. She couldn't even help her now. 

When was she? Ann has always been a useless friend. Tears streamed down her eyes as she hit the door. She wanted to yell more but her voice was nearly gone. She wanted to tell herself to stop crying and find a different way out. But what could there possibly be?

Shiho's capture replayed in her head. Ann needed to get up, Kamoshida was a disgusting man. She didn't have time to mope about her failures when her friend was in danger. Standing up she tried looking around one more time. She'd find a way, she definitely will.

Goro walked to Shuijin Academy as fast as possible, immediately warping himself into the metaverse. The castle greeted him as he sighed. He could let them die, he reasoned with himself. It'd be laughably easy to just let it happen.

But a familiar voice told him it would be wrong, and he'd feel guilty later. Surprisingly he wanted to listen to it.

He studied the castle, looking for an entrance that would be closer, ultimately choosing to scale the wall to a long window. He walked through the castle casually, whatever strong shadow this palace had was so much lower leveled than he was at the moment. He just had to be more careful to not be caught in a group of them. He'd done this for years, and he'd known better.

The castle was decently guarded with the shadows talking about how great their leader was. He rolled his eyes and continued on before he came to a door with a single stronger looking guard there. He sighed and walked up to it.

“Move.” He demanded brandishing his gun.

“King Kamoshida-” bang. The shadow broke apart, the gunshot hitting quite hard and it took only a few minutes for him to destroy it. While he may not have been able to hit it's weakness, just a few hits did the trick. It was almost suspicious how much worse yesterday had been, the shadows were clearly leveled a lot higher than the rest in the palace.

Pushing the thought away for later he grabbed the key from the floor and opened the door. Inside was a bedroom with no windows, a large bed with red sheets, a closet and a few paintings on the way. And sitting a way across from him sat a girl with two blonde pigtails. She was hunched up, holding her shoulder in an obvious attempt to soothe some sort of pain. She looked up slowly, exhaustion plain to see before relief showed through her eyes.

“Thank god…” she whispered.

Her shoulder was dislocated, no surprises with that. They sat down as Goro handed her some medicine he'd brought. She took them quickly but stayed quiet as her injury healed.

“Goro, be honest.” She said suddenly. He looked up at her as she played with the rug underneath her.

“Yes, Takamaki-san?”

“Is this my fault?” Before he even had a chance to respond she continued. “I know I wasn't a part of the plan yesterday…you were going to protect Shiho and you would've been easier if I wasn't there, right?” Her voice was beginning to shake. She wasn't exactly wrong but it wasn't like Goro could say it. So he quietly waited. “And now? Goro what if she's dead! Shiho may be…” her voice died as tears welled up in her eyes.

“…I know. But it isn't your fault nor anyone else in the group, there was no way we could have known what was happening.” he tried to comfort her. It felt more empty than he wanted it to but it's been years since he actually cared enough about someone to comfort them. Nearly 2 for the matter of fact. “We underestimated the enemy and are more knowledgeable, what matters now is finding Suzui-san and getting the both of you out of here.” Takamaki nodded and wiped her eyes.

“Alright, then we destroy that asshole.” Her voice was still a bit shaken but as the two of them then stood up Goro found himself smiling. 

“Absolutely.” It wasn't long before the duo started walking.

It was finally almost the end of the day, just 2 more hours and he could get rid of that horrible feeling building up in his chest. It was weighing on Ren worse than earlier, but maybe it was the cat he was (still) smuggling in his bag. He sent a text to Goro to meet outside the school. He'd come up with an excuse for Niijima later. 

Just then the speakers turned on.

“Please, all teachers keep students inside the classroom. This is a hold in place.” The woman repeated it a few times before it shut off, the students instantly talking amongst themselves about what may be the reason. He didn't think much about it and didn't care until the PA turned on again. 

“Class is dismissed and all after school activities are cancelled, please all students leave the school.” Ren secretly thanked the world as he quickly grabbed the bag and got ready to leave the school, meeting up with Ryuji on the way out.

“Should we wait outside for Goro?” Ryuji whispered as they headed out the door.

“Yeah definitely-” Ren's phone buzzed with a message.

Goro

Don't bother waiting for me, Kamoshida's palace is done. I will explain later.

1 hour ago  

An hour ago.

Ann walked through the hallways next to Goro silently. The longer they looked, the more enemies were taken down and more empty rooms they searched. Fear was gnawing on her. Shiho was strong, but this was some supernatural power. But as the two of them walked in through the corridors it was becoming more worrying. Goro was strong, extremely so as he killed each shadow with ruthless efficiency. It was a bit scary but it wasn't like she had nothing to defend herself with. Goro had given her his gun as a just in case measure, she never held one before this.

“What is this…” Goro questioned, obviously not expecting a true answer as he stared down a long hallway. Something about the floor and walls were changed, fast. Unfortunately then a shadow saw them, it broke apart as Goro readied his sword yet when it went to land a bit.

It froze, as the hallway was quickly engulfed in gray. But when Ann looked closer…it was stone. Everything around them had turned to stone, including the shadow in front of them.

Goro looked around, eyes narrowing.

“Do you know what's going on?” She asked. He shook his head.

“Let's just hurry, Suzui-san is still in danger.” Ann nodded and continued walking. 

It was a bit later when they finally came to a grand door. No shadows seemed to be able to attack and along the way Goro inspected one of them.

“They’re dead.” he said, grimly.

“Huh, how do you know?” She went to get a closer look. It looked and felt like a stone statue by now.

“Push it off and you'll see.” So Ann did just that, it fell and broke apart, staying every bit a stone statue. Goro seemed to watch it quietly before turning to the door. “Let’s just go.” He said as he opened the door.

Inside was a grander bedroom, a view of the outside of the castle.

But it didn't matter when Ann looked towards the middle of the room. She ran over without thinking fast, kneeling down in front of the sitting figure.

“Shiho!? Can you hear me?!” She almost didn't  recognize her, with the way her face was covered by a green and yellow mask and how her clothes had changed to some type of dress that she hadn't before. She didn't love and Ann was about to shake her till she did but slowly her eyes opened. Ann let out a breath as she hugged her. 

She couldn't get any words out before tears began to fall, she didn't want to let go for the rest of eternity. A moment later she felt arms wrap around her in turn, squeezing her tightly. She slowly relaxed as her fear subsided, everything was going to be fin- 

Something scaley slid against her head.

Jumping back a good 5 feet she looked up.

“Ew ew ew,” she rubbed at the spot as she saw Shiho's confused eyes. 

Above her head rose two snakes waving around as both stared at Ann.

“Shiho…slowly move over here…” she spoke cautiously, not taking her eyes off them.

“Hm? Why?” She asked.

“There's snakes behind you.” Ann whispered, Shiho blinked a few times before laughing.

“Those are a part of the outfit.” she explained. Ann took a moment before taking a breath, her face heating up a bit.

“Of all things,” she mumbled as she crawled over to sit next to her friend again. 

“Sorry to interrupt the reunion but, what happened to Kamoshida's shadow?” Goro asked, turning with a hand on his hip.

“Oh well…it's kinda a blur really.” She said nervously, like she was shutting herself back in again. Ann gently places a hand over her shoulder. That bastard was probably still walking around here.

“Alright…” Goro said, seemingly picking up on the same thing. “Let's get you both out of here.” 

“Yeah definitely…” Ann responded.

“What’s going on…” Suzui looked up at the school. Now obscured by medical personnel. It felt like it was confirming his worse theory. He shook his head.

“I'll have to figure it out later…” he looked at the girls, “for now let's just all go home.”

“Can we catch some Big Bang Burger on our way to the station…” Takamaki requested.

“Yeah absolutely…” Suzui said with a long sigh. The two started walking towards the alleyway as Goro raised his hand to wave.

“Are you hungry too?” Takamaki asked. 

“A bit-” 

“Then let's go.” He didn't even have much of a choice when Takamaki grabbed his arm pulling him forward.

“Ann, you shouldn't grab him like that,” Shiho laughed.

“Oh? But how else would I treat the two of you?” Ann smiles. Goro pulls his arm away to walk besides the two of them. 

It wasn't too long until they made it to Big Bang Burger as they ordered and sat down in the corner. Goro sighed as he looked at the time, about an hour or so until Ren and Sakamoto got out of school. He sent a quick text to Ren notifying him of the situation. Before he got a different one in return. What seemed like a normal number from someone you've never contacted hid something a lot darker. Instantly he pressed the button schooling his beating heart down to a normal pace as he read over the single line of text.

“ Did you see this? ” 

Below was a reporter speaking on a new mental shutdown victim appearing in the halls of Shuijin Academy. The victim: Kamoshida himself. 

Goro slowly looked up at the two of them with the most neutrality possible.

“What's going on?” Takamaki asked. He took a deep breath.

“Kamoshida is dead.” 

Chapter Text

The moment Shiho closed the door behind her she found herself in complete silence. That was normal, her parents had work, of course they couldn't drop everything to look for her. They wouldn't get a call about her missing school until 6.   

It was normal for her, after all, to be tired after such eventful days of school but she wanted a chocolate. Yeah, sweets could cheer you up!  

She reached for the small candy bowl her family leaves next to the door with a trembling hand. Picking up a small piece of chocolate, (her favorite that Shiho's dad always stole only to be scolded by her and her mom) she unwrapped it before just staring at the chocolate. I'm not hungry right now- No she is hungry and she is going to eat it. She popped the chocolate in her mouth. It tastes like sand.  

It was delicious like always. Next on the itinerary… homework. She needed to do everything from yesterday. Yet her feet carried her to her room. She couldn't deal with that right now, she was so tired. Naturally, yet she yelled at herself internally. She needed to stick to the schedule, that way…  

But it can wait till her parents get home, she could say it was a rough day. They'd understand, right…?  

That afternoon Ren went home straight away, Makoto walking besides him.  

“Do you know what happened?” He asked.  

“No, they didn't tell me anything at all…” She sighs.   

“Even you too…” he sighed. His mind kept going back to that text. Did Goro do something? He knew his way around the metaverse, there was no way he made a mistake. Right?  

The two got home a few minutes later, the pair splitting themselves to go to their rooms as Ren gently put his bag on the bed as he sat his desk chair.  

“So this is where you live…” Morgana said as he crawled out. Just watching the cat twisted his stomach harshly. Is this really okay? This isn't his house, he shouldn't have a cat inside, even if said cat wasn't actually a cat.  

“Yeah, for the year at least…” Ren fiddled with pencil.  

“Oh are you moving next year?” He asked.  

“Mhm, I'm only here for a year till I go back home.” He explained.  

“Why's that?” Morgana asked, logically but it still annoyed Ren to repeat the story. But it'd serve well to be honest from the beginning, so begrudgingly, he recounted the story. Morgana seemed almost as angry as Ryuji and it made Ren laugh.  

“Relax, this place isn't so awful when you're not in some teacher's castle.” He jokes.  

“But still!” Morgana exclaimed, “We should track down that horrible man and get revenge!”   

“No, I mean putting more people in danger isn't going to solve anything…” Ren sighed, it wouldn't change anything.   

“I'm sure that no matter how dumb Ryuji is, he cares about his friends! We both couldn't stand by while that guy ran free!” Morgana yelled, Ren's heart clenched uncomfort1©ably as he looked away. A hand twisting in his sheets.  

“Alright, I guess if I ever remember who he is.” Ren lied through his teeth with a nervous smile.   

“Hm…that is tricky,” the not-cat paced around in a circle for a moment. “Oh! Do you remember what he looked like?” Morgana asked, stopping in his tracks to face him.  

“No sorry…” Of course he did. But still Ren lied.  

“Ugh, alright maybe we will have to postpone this…” the poor guy deflated as he sat down. “If you remember any clues, tell us, alright?”   

“Yeah, of course…”   

“Good!”   

Makoto and Ren ended up eating dinner together that first night, the TV on quietly to the local news. The food was delicious, and Ren made sure to tell her that as best as he could convey it. As the small talk slowed Ren looked down at his bowl.   

“Do your siblings come home late often?” He asked, she nodded.  

“Particularly on days where a high profile mental shutdown occurred.” He looked a bit grim as she ate more of her rice.   

“Hm, how often is that?” Ren asked, it felt weird. Was it a personal question? Probably, definitely. But relatable all the same. She thought for a moment before sweeping a loose strand of hair behind her ear.  

“Not too often, it seems like it may be picking up.” She sighed worried and paused to eat.  

“ Now onto Mr.  Kobayakawa as he gives a speech on the steps of Shuijin Academy. ” Both teens immediately looked at the TV as the image of a suspiciously egg shaped man stood on the school steps.   

“ It's with great sadness that I relay this information to you all, ” he started, eyes showing a remorse that Ren could feel was real. “ Mr. Kamoshida, our well-loved school physical education teacher has died in our very own halls. ”  

“So that's what happened…” Ren mumbled, he struggled to sound worried.  

“How horrible.” Makoto said.  

“ We understand how this may affect our students and staff and will be moving forward to help their needs during this troubling time, ” he told the camera. He went on and on, talking about working with the police and then about how beloved Kamoshida was to the community. It made Ren sick.   

“Bull…” he mumbled, he saw Makoto turn to him.   

“What are you talking about?” she questioned.  

“Nothing. Sorry,” Ren said.  

“To be fair, a staff member died, I'm sure he's grieving just like everyone else that knew Mr. Kamoshida.” Makoto reasoned. Ren looked at the man again.  

“Yeah, he's definitely grieving…” Ren left it at that. Ren shouldn't be talking, he had no idea how the principle was anyways. Still, it left a lot of tension in the room as the TV drone on. Messages about how “amazing” Kamoshida was kept going.   

“I'm going back to my room,” Ren said, standing up with his plate in hand, he went to the sink and quickly washed his plate and fork.  

“Oh, alright.” Makoto nodded as he left the room and took out his phone shooting out a single message.  

Me  

Hey Goro?  

Do you know what happened to Kamoshida?  

Morgana was exhausted. But even laying down he couldn't sleep. Just what could've happened after they left yesterday, Kamoshida shouldn't have died because no one in the palace was a persona user…right?  

He stood up and stretched. Ren was dead asleep by now but left the window open. Just a few minutes of fresh air, he thought as he jumped out. Wondering around the perimeter of the house quietly, it wasn't much, there was a car in the driveway and  

A man leaning against the house. Morgana stopped in his tracks hiding behind the side of the house.  

“No, I really am prepared,” …was that Goro? Morgana couldn't recognize him, in a red hoodie with a black sweatpants, glasses on and his face was covered in freckles. He yawned as someone on the phone seemed to talk. “I'll be just fine, with how your fussing, you'd think this was my first job.” She seems to say something that made him laugh as he stands up straight again. “I should hurry up then, call me when I get there?” He nods a few times before hanging up.  

Morgana watched as he got a small bag and set off on the bike. Slowly be came out from his hiding spot. Just who was he talking to and where was he going. Ren mentioned living with another woman as his guardian. Was that her? Then he had an idea, maybe Goro had something in his room that'll answer his questions. Walking up to the window of the house, he spot one that was open. As he jumped inside and came to land in a hard wood floor.   

Looking around, he realized he was wrong. It wasn't Goro's bedroom but instead an office, one with so much dust he sneezed a few times. The furniture looked unused and photos lined the walls yet seemed extremely old. Of course Ren wasn't in any but Goro had a surprisingly little amount. One or two of them, seemingly appearing out of nowhere near the ones of two different girls. He wandered around the room before jumping up the desk, it laid bare, just two pictures and what seemed to be some keepsakes. Still he looked closely at the photos. A man was in one photo, one of a girl with long gray hair, a girl with a bit short brown hair, a pale and boney boy with shoulder length brown hair and a man with short brown hair with gray peppered about. The man's smile, even though frozen in time felt undoubtedly warm, the type of smile that told you he was kind. Morgana even felt a bit happier looking at it. But there was nothing else of interest in the room, he should get back to Ren's room at the very least.   

Ren's eyes shot open to the stone ceiling and dark cell. He sat up and made his way to the cell again. Head a bit dizzy from the sudden wake.  

“Welcome back trickster,” Igor said.  

“You've got a lot of explaining to do, inmate!” Caroline yelled, sending a shiver down his spine. Did he do something wrong?   

“You were supposed to redeem the King of Lust and yet…” Justine said calmly.   

“So this is what this is about…” Ren mumbled, he knew that logically he hadn't do anything but still. His heart beat sped. He moved his hands from the bars but this prison outfit had no pockets. Ren swallowed hard he already knew what was in store.  

“I…I don't know what happened,” his voice was cracking and we cause why wouldn't it be, he winced to himself his own thoughts harsh.   

“Were you and your companions not the one who orchestrated this?” Igor sounded just as confused but even more so doubtful. Ren knew this wasn't a fight worth arguing but-  

“Nobody I know was in the palace, two of them were kidnapped, yes, but they don't have powers like that.” He yelled, they didn't do anything! Why would he of all people be accused of this? He wasn't even there!  

“You thought you had me fooled. Didn't you?” Igor stood, his legs a lot more slim than normal. Ren swallowed hands grasping for something to grab on to but they-  

He watched as Igor looked towards the two wardens.  

“Execute him.” he said. Ren stepped away eyes wide as it felt like the world was spinning. This was a nightmare, right? This…this has to be-  

The cell doors opened with a loud clang. The two children started walking towards him saying something he couldn't focus on or hear for the life of him. He attempted to move farther but the shackle on his ankle wouldn't let him move. He fell back hitting his head, yanking on his foot repeatedly. It felt like it was being ripped off when something closed over his chest.  

“Holy spoiler!” A voice laughed before his vision went black.   

Ren awoke in a black and white space. Rain stabbed at his face as he played in a field. He stared up, memories flooding into his head. That was a dream right? He…Igor wasn't actually going to kill him…right?  

…  

Tears stung his eyes, he didn't mean to and truth be told Ren hoped it was because he hadn't looked away from the gray sky.   

He sat up shakily. He… he still wasn't breathing right. He needed to take a deep breath, he knew he did. Somewhere in that jumbled mess of a mind something was saying that. But Ren couldn't focus anymore.  

Rain tried to beat him down as every roar of thunder sounded too much like a person. To much to much to much-  

His chest aches as his lungs bring in breaths of air he just wouldn't- couldn't hold. Wheezes of air pushed out and yet it felt like nothing was gained. He was dying. He was going to die. It was- oh god oh god oh god oh god pl - he's mouth was moving but he just couldn't. Breathe.  

His muscles locked up and everything tensed till he couldn't move. Everything besides his fingers that tried to find purchase on something and he- needed- god-   

The thunder roared again and the words bellowed out through the colorless world.  

“How could you do this?” Something cried. He felt the eyes, the pity, the disgusted look of the crowd as the thunder boomed so loud it made him shake.   

Something cold touches his forehead and he hasn't even noticed he'd covered his eyes until that moment. It wasn't like he could stop, now everything was tensed to hell and back.   

Thunderstruck again but its voice was different. A growl instead of a roar but then the next nowhere near.  

“Ren…?” A woman's voice rolled through his head. It was…soothing? Something he could latch on to. It took him a moment to unlock his shaky hand as he searched blindly for it. He felt awful, his entire body jittery as he finally felt a hand in his. He squeezed it tightly as his heart tried to even out. It wasn't the same .   

“Uh Ren?” His eyes shot open and oh… Makoto stood over him, concern written on her face as his eyes slowly trailed down her arm to where his hand squeezed her tightly. Yet it didn't stop the shaking.  

“…Oh…” his voice was shaky and sounded like he smoked as both of the teens stared at each other.  

Ren sat at the table silently for a bit. His head felt…cloudy. Filled with cotton he didn't feel like picking out. He looked up at the girl across from him, still in pajamas and her hair a bit messy. She didn't look at him.  

“…When did you get a cat?” She tried to ask. And Ren…just shrugged. He felt drained beyond belief and any idea that came through his head felt partially trying to say out loud. But still, it was human to speak.  

“Palace.” the words felt like pure concrete in his mouth but he pushed it out regardless.   

“Palace?” she looked confused, only then did Ren realize what he told her. He looked at the table, struggling to get his brain in order. He was better than this…he slapped his hand before looking up again.   

“Sorry, wrong-” his words didn’t come out how he wanted. Amazing.   

“No…didn’t you say something like that to Sae?” Makoto said, thoughtfully. “About a palace you and Sakamoto-kun were stuck in…” Ren froze as he watched her, everything in his mind zeroing in onto her.  

If he was in the right head space he could’ve probably played it off, called it fake and maybe even throw her off. But Ren wasn’t. He watched her think with dread, she looked up again with semi-glare reminiscent to her sister’s. “That palace thing you were talking about…” Ren found himself trembling again. Images of the twins and Igor’s judgment flashes threw his mind. “Did you…?” She looked at him and paused.  

“…Did?” His heart was starting to hammer again…god he couldn't handle this again, please… his throat was dry as he played with a napkin on the table.  

“Are…you okay? Do you want more tea?” She asked awkwardly. Ren hastily nodded and a moment later she was pouring him some.  

“Ren…?” Morgana sat next to him. He just shook his head. Makoto came back and put down his mug in front of him. Obviously at a loss.   

“There's some late night movies, if you'd like to watch them?” Makoto suggested, “Only because we don't have school tomorrow.” She clarified. Ren nearly cracked a smile as he nodded. The two left there cups at the table as sat down at the couches. Ren sat in the corner leaning on the arm rest as the Morgana jumped up next to him to curl up nearby. Makoto sat on the opposite side as she turned on the TV, the volume just low enough to fade into a background as Ren let the kind emptiness take him.   

An episode later is when he finally found it in him to say anything.  

“Do this a lot?” His voice was quiet but she heard him all the same.   

“Only when my sister and Goro aren't here.” She said simply. Ren questioned her wording for a moment.  

“Happens a lot?”   

“Them both being out till late? Yes, though they do have important work.” She pondered continuing for a moment before looking up. “Both of them are trying so hard to fight this mental shut down case.” Ren… could recognize something in her voice. He couldn't describe it more than just…something he understood.  

“Do they have long nights often?” Ren asked.  

“Goro comes home more than Sae, but that's not saying much, he goes straight to sleep anyways.” She answered, tucking some hair out of her face. “Why do you ask?”  

“Relatable, I guess.” he mumbled, deliberating if telling her anything was necessary. “My parents are the same way most of the time, even when I was small they were rarely home.”   

“Ah that's rough,” she said. “I'm sorry.”  

“No one's fault for it, they were young and had twins so they were out working for the family.” Ren shrugged, it could never be something he held against them.   

“You have a twin?” Makoto question, clearly interested. Ren…didn't want to bring the mood down.  

“Mhm. Twin brother.” He…lied? Was he still a twin if the other half was dead? On second thought, he didn't want to know. “Haven't seen him since we were ten though…” now he was really lying.  

“What happened?”   

“Uh, long story but our parents got in trouble and he didn't want to be taken away so he…ran.” Holy crap those lies were awful!  

“Do you think he's okay?” She asks. And Ren couldn't come up with something this time. When he was younger he may have deluded himself into thinking he was but, he's old enough to know better.  

“No…not really.” He said. It was the full truth this time, Akira wouldn't have survived, couldn't have. The cave was too deep and the town was too far.   

“I'm…sorry for your loss then…” she told him in a somber tone. “Losing someone like that is one of the worst feelings.”   

“You understand?” he asked.  

“Yes…my mom died when I was really young but a few years ago, my father died as well…” she looked down and Ren looked away, he could swear he felt the water in the air.  

“I’m sorry…” he said, as genuine and sincere as he possibly could.   

“Thank you,” she smiles sadly. “It was difficult afterwards but I think we found a way for the three of us to move forward…”  

“That's all you can do…” she nodded in agreement as silence fell between them.  

“We don't know each other very well, but if you need anything, I'm here.” He said. “The house could be a bit more full if we hung out more.” He smiled.  

“Yes, that would be fun.” She smiled a bit herself, a little hesitant.  

“Great, I look forward to it.” Ren smiled a bit wider than usual then the world froze once again.  

I am thou, thou art I…  

Thou hast acquired a new vow.  

It shall become the wings of rebellion  

that breaketh thy chains of captivity.  

With the birth of the Priestess Persona,  

I have obtained the winds of blessing that  

shall lead to new power…  

He smiled a bit wider.  

It was around an hour later when Ren started to feel sleepy again. Still he watches the crappy late night reality show on the TV. Makoto steals a few looks he pretends to not notice before finally speaking.  

“Are you feeling better?” She asks.  

“Hm? About what?” He tilted his head.  

“The nightmare you were having.” She brushes her hair to the side again.  

“Oh um I guess so, yeah.” He stammered over his words as he felt his cheeks heat.  

“Good, we should get some rest anyways.” She said, standing up. “I won't stop you from staying up but even if we don't have school tomorrow, it's crucial for you to get an 8 hour rest.”   

“I'll try my best,” Ren smiled before turning to the TV. The Older girl left only a second later.  

“She seemed nice.” Morgana said as he walked over.   

“She was,” Ren agreed before turning the channel.  

“But,” Morgana hopped onto the couch. “She was right about getting some rest, you should go to sleep now.” Ren sighed thinking about the horrors that waited in his dreams. He'd rather never sleep again.   

“I think I'll stay up a bit longer.” he told the non-cat.  

“Then let’s go to your bedroom at the very least.” Morgana suggested before jumping off the couch and heading back to Ren’s room.  

“Alright,” Ren agreed as he turned off the TV and headed back.   

???  

“So.” Ren awoke to a voice, Akira's voice, “you may have fucked up.”   

“I um…I did?” Ren asked, confused. He awoke to a park, one he recognized by the buildings in the distance. He and Akira would play here when he was younger. It was a nice area.   

“Just a tiny bit,” Akira gestured with his fingers. “Kamoshida is definitely dead and that is not supposed to happen. Just a tiny fuck up.” his sweating face seemed to reveal it was definitely not a tiny fuck up. 

“I- we didn't do anything.” Ren said firmly, still fear pounded his heart at the accusation.  

“I'm not accusing you!” Akira raised his hands. “Just here to figure this all out.” Ren took a deep breath and nodded, playing with the grass around him. “Something attacked you back in that palace, planned and told Kamoshida's Shadow exactly where you were…” Akira seemed stuck, the look of confidence cracking just a bit. “ This hasn’t ever happened before… ”  

“What do you mean?” Ren tilted his head, the look of shock over Akira’s face told him he wasn’t supposed to hear that.  

“What was what mean?” he scratched the back of his head but shook it before Ren could even ask. “Anyways, it’s fine, amazingly fine, Kamoshida was easy anyways.”   

“Easy?”  

“Easy.” Akira answered without saying anything. “Your level…4…” Akira seemed to freeze in thought. “Not the best set up but uh, should be fine…” Ren was starting to think that this was not in fact fine.  

“What should be fine?” Ren asked.  

“Eh, we’ll find out sooner or later, right?”  

“Right-?”  

“Glad we agree!” Akira cut him off. Ren forgot how he did that.  

“So you’re not going to explain anything? Do you know what’s even going on?” Ren said calmly . Frustration starting to mount.  

“Of course I do!” Akira waved him off.  

“Then for the love of god, please just explain it!” Ren said a bit louder then he meant. Ren shut up at the look Akira gave him. Blank and…apathetic. A slight frown replacing the smile he had. His over exaggeration replaced with a cooler persona.  

“How ‘bout this,” Akira said, serious. “Defeat another palace master, and I'll explain a bit more.”  

“Explain what-”  

“No questions!” Akira snapped his fingers and suddenly he was gone. Ren blinked and suddenly he was on his bed again, letting out a long sigh.  

A man stands above a room illuminated by a blue light and smiles.  

“You were wrong, FYI.” He says, loud enough for the 2 “people” on the ground floor of hear. Both looked up, one in fear and the other with apprehension. Yet the person smiles all the same. Not much of an audience but then again, anything was nice.   

So the person jumped from their high advantage, doing a flip before they [majestically] landed on their feet. High heeled boots clicking on the long dining table. He grins, wide and cocky as he looks at the imposter in front of him. A perfectly replicated face twitching as he looked at his follower. The white haired man stared at him with a black expression, the person nearly lost his lines. Was he in on this play? Was he spoiled somehow? Nevertheless it didn't matter, he needed to advance the plot.   

“You there.” With a flip of his longer coat tail he turned to the white haired man. He was, to put it lightly, unkempt. Where was the makeup artist when you needed one, he was supposed to be more cleaned up than this!   

Sigh.  

The man just handed it over. A large book, something the person needed. A key item of sorts. And the unkempt man just handed it over. His acting was total dog shit, was he even trying?  

He was supposed to look scared, to look at the imposter for reassurance- but he just looked tired.  

Why doesn't his boss just replace him already???  

The person smiles wickedly, making sure to show teeth as he made his way to the end of the table.  

“Don’t worry,” he said to the only guests. “I’ll return it soon!!” and with a wave the person walked to the pale door hiding just beyond the shadows.   

Scene end.   

…Finally. 

Chapter Text

The next morning Ren woke up pretty late, he went to the kitchen finding a mildly stressed letting Goro looking at a laptop. 

“Ah good morning, Ren,” he said with a tired smile, looking up for a moment. Morgana had followed him from his bedroom seeing as no one else was home, it was safe. Goro went back to scrolling through his laptop and sipping a coffee while Ren went to grab some water. 

“What are you doing?” Morgana asked as he jumped up onto a chair. 

“Work mainly, I have a few things I must brush up on before I go into today's interview, not to mention reading my script.” Ren looked back and tilted his head.  

“Interview for what?” 

“Some broadcast station, dear God I can't remember the name for the life of me at the moment…” he trailed off as he read something. “Afterwards, I'll have to go shopping as well, truly shaping up to be a busy day.” He sighed and picked up his phone next, texting people before frowning.

“Could we help you with something?” Morgana asked. Goro, lost in thought, instantly chose to shake his head before stopping himself. 

“Perhaps…” 

“Are sure this is the right way?” Morgana asked from Ren's bag. 

“Maybe…?” He stared at his phone, looking over the directions a few more times as he walked the narrow streets of Yongen-Jaya. He was in the right place right? He looked down at the package in his arm then down a different street, a house with a walled fence, and a mailman stood out front while knocking on the door. When no one answered he sighed and went to leave, spying Ren as he walked out. 

“Are you looking for Sojiro Sakura as well?” Ren nodded, briefly showing a package. The man nodded in turn and sighed. “Well, you'll have better luck finding him at his cafe down the road.” Ren thanked the man as he walked away, heading towards the cafe now.  

They turned to a different walkway, one with a bathhouse and cafe on opposing sides of the walkway.  

The cafe's name spelt out plainly with red on white: Leblanc. 

With a door right beneath. This seemed to be it. 

The door chimed as he opened it. Immediately he smelt coffee in the air as a man stood behind the counter looked at him. 

“Good afternoon,” he said, giving Ren a quizzical look but not saying much else till he got closer. 

“Sorry to interrupt but I have a delivery for Futaba Sakura, I went to drop it off but the mailman said to try here instead.” He smiled his best polite smile. The man sighed and shook his head.  

“Leave it on the bench, thank you.” He grumbled. Ren did just that and was going to leave when his stomach grumbled, it wouldn't hurt to eat something, right? 

He went to a stool and sat down, looking at the menu. 

It was only curry and coffee… confused he looked up. Sojiro looked back like he was expecting the question. 

“Can I have a coffee and curry please, whatever you suggest.” Ren shrugged. Sojiro nodded, not much of a conversationalist but then again, who was during work hours. It was quiet for a bit, a small tv playing in the corner made some pleasant background noise. A bit later food was in front of him as Ren thanked the owner and ate just a bit. 

… 

Holy shit?? It was delicious!!!! Ren found himself scarfing it down in bliss as he drank the equally amazing coffee. Sojiro smirked as he watched. 

“Enjoying it?” Ren nodded quickly. 

“It’s amazing,” he grinned, ignoring Morgana’s wish for a bite.  

“Good,” the man nodded, he seemed to think for a moment. “Who is this from anyway?” 

“Oh a friend of Futaba’s, that’s what he told me at least.” The man nodded, seemingly lost in thought till his phone rang. Startled, he picked it up immediately, giving a smile when he answered.  

“Hello…The cafe’s open right now, I can give it to you later…do you really need it right this second? There’s a customer here,” he grumbled, shaking his head. “Alright, I'll get it as soon as possible.” he hung up, sighed, and looked at Ren. 

“I’ll get outta your hair,” he told him as he stood only for the owner to shake his head. 

“What about a gig instead?” he asked. Ren tilted his head. “I can't just close down at this hour, so if you want to make some extra cash, do you mind watching the counter for a bit while I get this package home and do a quick errand, can you watch the place till I come back.” Ren thought about it for a moment. It wasn't like he had school today, and money would definitely be helpful especially if Morgana ended up staying with him… 

“I'll do it,” Ren smiled as he stood up.  

“Good, I'll get you an apron.” He walked away to an upstairs area before coming back with a green apron. “If anyone comes in please tell them to take a seat and I'll be right back.” 

“I mean you only sell coffee and curry, if they ask for coffee I can probably get it done, how hard can it be?” Ren shrugged and he put on his apron and went behind the counter. 

“There's a lot that goes into a good cup of coffee.” The Older man said sternly, Ren immediately nodded, deciding not to ask but still confused.. The man smirked before he stepped out leaving Ren and Morgana to their own devices. Morgana left the bag sitting on the stool instead. 

“What do you think was in the package?” Morgana wondered, licking his paw. 

“Who knows,” he shrugged, not his business.  

“Aren’t you curious?” Morgana asks, “Maybe Goro will tell us when we get back home.”  

“That reminds me, we have to get you a bed…and cat food.” Ren thought to himself.  

“What? I can eat regular food!” he protested. Ren just shook his head and refused to take it farther. “Are you even listening?!” 

“I’ll get you wet food, how does chicken sound?” 

“NO!!” 

The door opened as two people walked in. He looked up to see Niijima and Goro, thankfully Morgana got into the bag just in time. Both stopped at the door, eyes wide as they saw him.  

“Ren, I didn’t know you had a job,” Goro said he smiled…politely? It didn’t quite feel the same as usual. His eyes darting around the room. Nijima seemed much more relaxed, although suspicious. 

“Since when did you have the time to manage this?” she questioned.  

“Just happened today,” he shrugged, “Boss is making me watch the shop as he runs an errand." Nijima nodded as she sat down, Goro taking a seat next to her. “He should be back soon so feel free to think about your order.” he said as helpfully as possible. Goro nodded. 

“I already know what I'd like, what about you?” Nijima said, looking at Goro.  

“Hm. I don’t think I'd mind anything in particular, any suggestions, Ren?” he looked up at him before his eyes shifted to the door again. 

“Ah I had the…” his mind blanked on the name as he shook his head. “I don’t really know your preference too well, really the boss is a fantastic cook, I'm sure you’d like whatever you’d choose.”  

“Then I guess I'll choose whatever you get, Sae-san,” he smiled. “Though I'm surprised you’d like such a place, let alone bring me with you at such a crucial part of the investigation-” 

“I’m working on it right now, as you should be.” She took out a laptop as Goro seemed to deflate and do the same. For a while, all that could be heard was the tapping of the keyboard as the two worked.  Ren bussied himself by reading over the names of every coffee bean on the shelf.  Until finally the door’s bell rang again. The older man came in again, looking at Nijima and Goro before huffing and going behind the counter.  

“Thanks for watching the counter for me, he looked down during the duel before putting a hand on his waist. “What can I get you both?” Niijima ordered as Ren took off the apron. Grabbing his bag Ren towards Goro. 

“Any more errands you need me to run?” He asked, genuinely bored, only to see Goro's eyes widen. 

“No no…that is enough,” he smiled awkwardly. Behind him the owner watched while brewing the coffee, letting out a hum of acknowledgement before focusing on making his food. “Actually…I wanted to tell you that Makoto's birthday is soon, if you want to get her a present.” Ren nodded. 

“Oooh! Let's go shopping, Ren!” Morgana yelled from his bag. 

“Any idea what she might like?” He asked, tilting his head. 

“Good question…” he put his hand on his chin, thinking. “Why not go hang out with her.”  

“No, she has to study right now, as should you be Amamiya.” She fitted him with a glare. 

“Of course, but I think your sister would be alright even with a break.” Goro said, “She studies almost non-stop, after all.” Niijima seemed to think for a moment. 

“Maybe you're right, Goro.” She said simply. Taking it as a yes, Ren stretched as he headed to the door. 

“Wait one minute,” the older man said behind him, Ren turned confused as he slipped a hand into his pocket. 

“Yes?” He asked, tilting his head. 

“If you want to earn a little money when you're not in school, you're free to work here.” He said before turning to clean something. 

“After your exams.” Niijima stated as she fixed him with another glare, this one somehow feeling more akin to a death threat. It didn't look like even Goro could make her budge. He shuttered and nodded quickly.  

“Of course Niijima-san.” He said quickly before waving as he stepped outside. 

“Wow, she is terrifying.” Morgana said from his bag, “but at least you know that you can work at Leblanc after your exams.” Ren could hear the smile in his voice. He wished he shared the same hopefulness.

“Probably not…” Ren sighed. 

“Hm?” 

“Nevermind.” He said as he shook his head. He wasn't going to pass that, in fact the chance he would even get a 50 was low.  

“Don't you think you'll pass?” Morgana wondered. 

“I haven't exactly gone to school for months before I moved here…”  

“What?!” The yell made Ren laugh quietly. It really was stupid.  

“I skipped a lot,” he smiled. 

“Well then you must study! How is our leader supposed to lead when you aren't able to leave the house!!” Morgana shouted, people were starting to look at him weirdly. 

“Hey hey, settle down!” He whispered. 

“Never mind getting Makoto a present, you should go home and study right away.” Morgana ordered, seemingly forgetting that Ren could just drop his bag and leave. But he wouldn't, because he'd feel bad a moment later, so all he could do was sigh. 

“Ehh there's no chance I'm passing that, might as well work on something actually useful.” Ren shrugged as he got a train ticket back home.  

“You don't know until you try.” Morgana said, Ren decided to stop talking by now and just sit down at his seat. 

The ride home was quiet and uneventful, Morgana commenting on the conversations around them as they continued on the ride. But soon he found himself lulled to sleep a bit, eyes fighting to stay open. 

“You’re tired?” Morgana asked before nodding as if to answer himself. “Why don’t you take a nap?” 

“I shouldn’t,” Ren sighed. He really needed to start staying up throughout the day. 

“What's the shame in a small catnap?” Ren simply shook his head, hearing Morgana sigh. 

They got home a while later and after taking off his shoes, he went to Makoto’s door and knocked. 

“Yes?” her voice came from the other side. “Come in.” Ren opened the door and stuck his hands in his pocket. 

“Hey uh... want to go shopping with me?” He mentally cursed himself for how awkward he sounded. She looked confused. 

“I need to study, exams are in a few weeks you know,” ...well yes, Ren did know. 

“Well, you’re really smart, I'm sure you can miss a few hours.” He reasoned. 

“The way to upkeep your knowledge is by studying, you know.” she said, more of a light tease if anything. 

“Well, a break is nice, plus it’ll only be a few hours," he tried. 

“Ren, if you want to hang out so much, why don’t we turn this into a group study.” she smiled yet it made Ren’s heart falter slightly before shaking his head. 

“it would be a good idea...” Morgana’s voice startled him. Wordlessly he shrugged. “If your aim is to learn more about her, hanging out would help.” Ren nearly sighed but shook his head and smiled.  

“Yeah, fine, but next time you’re free we should go window shopping.” He compromised, much to Makoto’s surprise. 

“You’ll study with me?” she asked, as if she needed to confirm. 

“Yeah, I might as well.” he smiled back, “I'll be right back.” he walked to his room, trying not to wince. It took all his power to try and remember what his teachers may have asked him or talked about. But it wasn’t anything he really understood. He cursed himself as he grabbed his bag and headed back to the room. 

“Wanna work in here?” he asked, he dug his hands deep in his pocket, there was nothing inside right now, just twisting the fabric around till he heard a stitch break. 

“Sure, I can sit on my bed, you can have the desk chair.” She stood up and moved her thing to her bed. Stepping inside he gently put his bag on the floor and sat down. 

“Do you know what you have on the exam,” she frowned when he shook his head. “The topics are usually online. If it helps, we can start there.” she smiled helpfully. 

“No, don’t worry about it,” he said, waving it off. “I got it.” she didn’t argue but just nodded.  

“If you’re sure.... tell me if you need help.” she said before turning to her work. Ren stared at his textbook and suppressed his sigh. He nearly gave up just looking at the math he was supposed to know.  

But this is fine, you’ve pulled off worse. So, he started working. 

Makoto didn’t mean to watch her new housemate, truly she was just making sure he didn’t need help. He tapped his pencil yet not answering anything. She sighed, maybe she should just tell him, it wasn’t too embarrassing was it, to not know something. Sis had talked somewhat about his grades before he arrived, nothing beyond a thought of getting him a tutor. 

“Need any help?” she tries to ask to no avail. 

“Nope, I got it.” he laughs before looking down with a look of regret melting onto his face. 

“Are you sure?” she asked. 

“Yes-” he seems to hear something, much to Makoto’s confusion. Before he sighs and looks up. “I have a question.” he says, with a grim look on his face. 

“What is it?” she asked. 

“Erm...” he looked at the still open door then back at his book, turning it towards herself. He looked uncomfortable, bending the page back and forth till it was nowhere near straight anymore. “I don’t remember how to do this equation,” he said quietly. 

“Oh alright, let’s see.” She tried her best to look at it. He seemed to have a good idea of what to do, just a few simple mistakes. Easy to fix and he didn’t get too far so it wasn’t much more work. She tried to explain that he nodded but didn’t say anything. 

“Thanks...” he murmured.  

“Glad to help,” she smiled. He nodded, working through the math silently as she returned to her own work.  

She didn’t expect Ren to talk to her much when he came in nearly a week ago. For a guy on probation, he had been nice. Quiet and... her mind turned to last night over again. She wasn’t sure if it was her place to ask him what he meant. What he was dreaming about. She was fine pretending it didn’t happen, nightmares like that happened in their family. Goro mainly but they usually let each other have privacy in these situations. Ren’s new and so she thought it would be okay to check in on him. She didn’t expect to find him…like that. Nor did she expect a cat there. And she didn't expect how silent it was after.  She wanted to ask but she learnt well enough not to ask someone about whatever nightmares they had. 

“I didn’t know you had a cat...” she attempted to start a conversation. Ren looked up with a grateful smile. 

“Found him on my first day, he...” he paused, as if he was thinking, staring at Makoto. “Quick question, how much did I tell you about my first day...?”  

“Oh, just something about a palace,” she said, getting a hold on herself before she could ask more. He blinked a few times before opening his mouth to answer. 

“Probably just still in my dream is all,” he paused for a moment, “Sorry about that, by the way.” Makoto frowned, even with how shaken he seemed last night. He sounded really sure of himself. 

“Oh,” she said awkwardly. He nodded silently. “What was the dream about...?” Wrong! A voice in her head scolded, Ren looked away with a different expression on his face. One that matched the face he wore when he sat at the table last night. 

“It was pretty dumb.” he stated before looking back with a smile. 

“Regardless of the content of the dream, most psychologists agree that talking about nightmares can help find the root of the problem.” she told him. 

“I promise, there’s no sense to me, plus I'd rather just forget it for now,” he said with a shrug. Makoto nodded, understandable. There was a moment of silence between the two, it wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but it seems that opinion wasn’t shared since Ren got up a moment later.  

“I think… I need a break,” he said simply, stretching before looking at her. “Want to go watch something?” He asked.  

“We haven’t even studied for an hour,” she smiled. "Give it a bit longer?” She suggested. He gave a drawn-out sigh as he sat down again and looked at a different book. 

“Alright...” he muttered before looking at a different book, history this time. Makoto could practically see him losing focus on the text before she sighed.  

“Why did you want to hang out?” She asked, if he hated studying so much there had to be a goal. It took him a second to look up again, staying silent for a moment before opening his mouth to respond. 

“I heard your birthday was coming up,” he said simply, “I thought I could figure out something you’d like by hanging out.” He looked back at the book in his hands, leaving Makoto to let her surprise settle down.  

“You’re new, so I don’t expect anything from you,” wait- “That came out awfully,” she winced to herself. 

“Maybe, but it’d be nice, right?" He smiled. 

“I don’t have anything I need at the moment," she reasoned. 

“How about something you want?” 

“Nothing I need." she said firmly. 

“Well, I saw an underground mall on my way here when I first moved in, why don’t we take a break and go there?” He had a picture-perfect smile for a moment before it gave away to something a lot more lopsided. She sighed and shook her head; it wasn’t like either of them were getting work done however... “I even got permission from your sister and brother too!” 

“Alright-” he immediately stood up and grabbed his books. Makoto sighed and put her things to the side for now. 

“I'll go grab my bag,” she said as she got up as well, watching as Ren ran out. 

A few minutes later they were out the door, Makoto giving Ren a strange look as he lowered his bag for Morgana to jump in.

“You’re going to bring him?” she asked.

“He’s a good cat,” Ren shrugged. 

The train station wasn’t too far and Ren was starting to see familiar signs around the house.

“Anything you think you’d like?” he asked as they boarded the train, finding a seat.

“Like I said before, I don't need anything at the moment,” she responded.

“Well, like I said before, it’s whatever you want, we can just go through a few places and see what you like,” he said, idlingly playing with the straps of his bags.

“It feels a bit selfish to make you go out just to find me a present,” she looked away for a moment, “Is there anything you need?”

“hm…Cat food probably,” he thought about it quietly.

“Just some fatty tuna would be fine,” Morgana suggested, Ren managed to keep a straight face as he ignored it entirely.

“Maybe dry food…”

“HUH?” Morgana’s horror accidentally got him to laugh, getting a few looks from others. At least Makoto joined in.

The underground mall was a nice place to start, the different vendors all had a nice variety. Quietly they walked through looking at the displays.

“Anything you like?” Ren asked, Makoto shook her head.

“Nothing in particular.” He nodded and thought quietly. 

“Hey, isn't that…” Morgana said quietly, Ren looked up to see two blonde pigtails close by.

“What is it?” Makoto asked.

“I see someone I know,” he smiled. 

“Oh that's great, are you going to say Hi?” She asked. Should he? He didn't know Takamaki too well either, so would she be bothered if he went over? Maybe it was better to stay in the side of caution-

“Hey!” Takamaki’s voice rang out in only a second before she was in front of him, a smile on his lips that got a bit strained when she saw Makoto.

“Good afternoon Takamaki-san,” Makoto said politely.

“Good afternoon,” she said back, turning to Ren again, "What are you both doing here?” 

“Gift shopping,” he smiled, "Unsuccessfully." Still, the blonde’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the idea.

“Need any help?” she said, excitement plain and obvious to see. 

“Well…” he looked at Makoto who nodded. “Sure.”

“Alright!” she stood back and looked between them, “We’re looking for a gift, right?” she waited for Ren to nod before continuing, “Alright, but for who?”

“Ren’s insisting on getting me something for my birthday,” Makoto answered.

“Alright, what are you looking for?” Takamaki asked.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out…” Ren laughed slightly. The blonde between the two sighed.

“Well, maybe we can look through other places, if you both don't mind the train money, that is.” Ren looked at Makoto, it was her present after all.

“I have enough, what about you Ren?” She asked.

“Um…” pulling out his wallet he looked down at it, he grabbed most of his money but really all he had was around ¥15,000…that should be enough for a gift right? “Yeah I should be fine.” 

“Great! Let's get going.” Ann smiled as she made her way to the stairs up. 

They ended up in Kichijoji a while later. Walking through the streets as they discussed different things, yet they all somehow agreed not to bring up Kamoshida. The streets were a bit empty since most people were at work, still however there were a lot of places around. Ren stood behind the two girls as he walked, looking through the shops silently, scanning the inside for a nice place to get new clothes after he actually got a job. Near the end of the block he found himself stopping, eyes glued to a window.

A long flowy dress stood on display, completely black besides some red flowers lining the bottom and was a belt like everywhere. A red coat hung off the mannequin’s shoulders with buttons shaped like flowers themselves and the inner fabric was a darker red.

“Hm?” Morgana hummed, seemingly feeling him stop as he poked his head out. “What are you looking at?” 

“Nothing, nothing-”

“Oh the clothes in there are pretty well made,” Ren barely stifled a shout when Takamaki seemed to sneak up next to him.

“Do you need more clothes?” Makoto asked, looking at the store as well. 

“Don’t think he’ll find any there…” Takamaki commented. 

“I just thought the dress was nice,” he shrugged, sticking his hands deep in his pocket, twisting the fabric. “Thinking of getting it for someone back home is all…”

“Is it someone special?” Takamaki teased. Crap-

“Yeah. My sister.” he managed to say. The two of them stared at him for just a moment. 

“Well then let’s go get it.” Takamaki smiled. Yet somehow… it felt more like a threat.

“I don’t have money for it,” he reasoned.

“I can spot you,” the blonde said before heading inside. Makoto followed with a laugh. Ren was left with no choice but to follow. 

Takamaki didn't know, did she…? Was his lie that obvious? Was this her way of calling him out? The blonde looked back at him after finding the dress in the shop.

“Think your sister would like the coat too?” She asked.

“You really don't have to, Takamaki, I promise I uh- I think she'd be fine without the dress.” 

“You just moved here, right? Wouldn't it be nice to send something back home?” She asked.

“Well, my parents would be upset if I spent that much on some clothes,” he tried, no they'd kill him if he even bought it at all. 

“Say it's a gift from a friend,” Takamaki said, completely unbothered before freezing and looking at Makoto. “You know what could be fun?” She asked. Makoto who was watching with an amused look in her face crossed her arms.

“What is it?” 

“If you guys are free, you can come over to my place and we can try on a bunch of clothes.” Ann grinned.

“Is- would your parents mind?” Makoto said, concerned. 

“They're away on a business trip at the moment, so they won't mind as long as we don't light the place on fire.” Takamaki said.

“Oh. Then I guess it could be fun, yes.” Makoto smiled and Ren felt an odd but not unfamiliar stab in his throat. He didn't say a thing while Takamaki started planning and looking through the store, seemingly forgetting about Ren behind them. So he tunes them out like he usually did in this type of situation, instead looking at the dress again. He shouldn't be looking at this… he shouldn't be thinking about this…he shouldn't be looking at the price-

“Do you really have a sister?” Morgana said, startling him. 

“Will you tell…?” Ren whispered, he felt like a pervert. Like he was doing something dirty and gross and he should just be-

“My lips are sealed,”  the not-cat confirmed. Would Morgana care though? Or will he scream and tell everyone in the damn store.

“Right…okay,” yeah. Right. Morgana didn't know about these things right? ‘Course not. “The dress is really pretty.” It was all he could get out.

“Yeah it is, you seemed to like it earlier too…but what does that have to do with your sister?” Morgana asked, confused.

“I don't have one…” he mumbled. 

“Okay…? Why did you say you did?” He sounded really confused now.

“I really want the dress… to- to wear…” he felt his throat dry up, determined to stare at the floor. 

“What's wrong with that?” He didn't get it…

It was wrong, it was disgusting and horrible and 

“It's disgusting Ren!” A woman's voice yelled. He didn't know exactly how she found out, and it really wasn't his fault when his cousins made him play dress up. He didn't mind the frilly tutu they put him in or the wig or the make up. It was just clothes right? 

Yet…

“Oh right!” Takamaki came over so suddenly it snapped him out of his thoughts. “Your sister, what size is she?” The blonde asked, looking over the dresses and coats.

“She's uh…” he had to think but before he could open his mouth.

“Didn't you say extra large?” Morgana helpfully supplied. “She's around the same height as you, so it would make sense.” 

“Same height as me.” He prayed that she didn't ask more.

“Oh got it,” she turned towards Ren and squinted. “Hmm…” she turned to where Makoto was looking at a blouse. “Niijima, I need your help with something.” She asked a bit loudly.

“What is it?” Makoto walked over quickly. Ren stayed frozen solid as the two looked at him.

“What size do you think Ren would be in this dress?” Takamaki asked.

“…What?” 

“…Why do you ask?” Both of them said at the same time.

“You said that you and your sister were the same height right? I'm hoping that I'll fit if it does on Ren.” Makoto nodded along while Ren was still a bit worried. Probably just teasing right? 

“It's a good thought, maybe it could work,” Makoto agreed, turning to study him just the same. Ren squeezed the inside of his pocket as he watched the girls think out loud about his size. 

“Oh wait, I forgot something important,” she turned so suddenly it looked like one of her pigtails would hit Makoto. “What color makeup does your sister wear?” 

“I don't know…” he said slowly, maybe thinking of his cousins. They were decently alike enough for him to imagine her makeup a bit of what it could look like. 

But his mind kept flickering to the last time they saw each other and suddenly he didn't want to think about makeup at all. He couldn't stop imagining his own face.

“Hmm…guess we'll have to experiment huh…” Takamaki sighed but it didn't sound all that annoyed or sad. Makoto looked at her confused then back at Ren.

“Do you not have any pictures of her?” She asked. CRAP-

“No not really, she hates photos…” he lied through his teeth.

“Got it then I guess we only got one option…” Takamaki said with a sudden serious tone.

“What is it?” Ren asked, worried.

“One full Ren Amamiya Makeover.” She clapped her hands together but Ren had a feeling this was going to be a nightmare. 

“Huh.” Was all Ren could mutter. 

It took them half an hour to get everything Takamaki wanted from the store and Ren shuttered at just how much it all cost. He walked behind the two girls again and walked silently through the streets,this time holding a bag. 

“Seems like you’ll get your wish anyways,” Morgana said happily.

“I guess so…” Ren said quietly. 

They all walked for a while before Ren heard Takamaki gasp.

“What is it?” Makoto asked, following her vision till they saw a crepe’s stall had opened up on the street. A banner on the front telling everyone it was new. 

“Do you want to get some?” The blonde said as if she wasn’t ready to bolt over to get one. 

“I wouldn’t mind a snack,” Makoto replied before looking back at Ren. “What about you?”

“I could go for something to drink right now,” he smiled.

“Alright then!” Takamaki was already headed to the stall as the two others followed right after. It was pretty quick service, though much to Ren’s guilt, Makoto paid for the order. It took about 5 minutes before they continued walking, Crapes (And in Ren’s case, a sugary drink) in hand, Ren looked idly at the stores going by. Most things seemed out of the price range at the moment, and it didn’t help that Makoto never seemed interested in much of it. Ren sighed to himself, it was starting to seem he wouldn’t be able to get anything at all.

“Oh-” he almost crashed into someone but as he opened his mouth he realized it was Makoto. She stared at the window before looking at him.

“Sorry I got distracted,” she said simply. The store window had a few older figures and posters, most having been discontinued years ago by the hefty pricing. 

“Wanna go check it out?” Ren tilted his head with a smile, as Takamaki, who’d just realized no one was walking with her, walked over and looked at the store.

“There’s no need,” Makoto tried.

“Nope, if you want something, let’s go get it,” Takamaki was already pushing her to the door as Ren followed with a laugh. The shop was small inside, filled with old figures and games, new and used alike. Down the middle was neat, short book shelves with older manga labeled by series. In the corner sat a man at a counter, he was older and wore a tan shirt. He greeted them as they came inside but kept to himself. 

The moment Makoto came inside she started gravitating towards a few figures labeled under some media that seemed a bit (well, alot) like a children’s show. The figures were mostly of a panda doing everyday things, like being a chef or gardening. He walked over Makoto looking at him when he did.

“Where’s this from,” he asked.

“Just a show I watched as a kid,” Makoto said, scanning the figures for something affordable. Yet even the used figures without a box were pricey, even compared to the clothes they bought earlier. 

“Looks cute,” Ren said, looking at one set up with a stage, on it were a few other characters and it seemed to be that one that kept catching her eye. He pointed at it, “Like that one?” He asked.

“Yes, but I don’t have the money for it yet, maybe another time…” she sighed slightly. Ren looked at the price and…

That could not be worth that much.

Jesus chris.

224,585.

That's insane.

“Do you like that series?” He asked.

“It's just…sentimental in a way,” she seemed to hesitate before sharing more. “I used to watch it when I was younger, my sister and father never enjoyed it as much but they still watched it with me.” Her voice was laced with sadness, but she had a small smile on her lips.

“Seems quite nice,” he smiled, hoping it sounded as sincere as he wanted it. 

“It was…” she looked at the figure again, eyes glued to it for a moment. Ren couldn't remember anything like that in his family, before Akira disappeared his parents were always away. Him and Akira didn't watch TV and spent time outside, Ren the cautious and Akira the adventurer. The Amamiya Twins, matching dirty clothes and socks with opposing holes. 

Maybe he did understand, in a way. He missed those simple days of hanging out in the forest around their town. Goofing off and crushes and what to eat for dinner were their biggest concerns and he missed it. It aches something in him.

And looking at Makoto, he thought she felt the same in a sense. 

That figure was…a lot. But it was a bit of a perfect present. The price was worth it, if he was able to make that much, that is.

“Maybe I can try to haggle with the owner…?” He mumbled.

“With how smooth you are, I'd be surprised if he didn't raise the price.” Morgana said, rudely. 

“You don't have to get that for me, I've said it before but you have no obligation to.” She reminded him. Something he brushed off immediately with a shrug.

“I can still try,” he grinned. 

“If you'd like…” Makoto didn't seem to believe him. But at least he had a goal now… he could figure it out. Yeah.

He'll get her the gift.

Turning around he noticed the words on the manga spelt out: Goal start!

Strange. 

Chapter Text

College is kicking my ass horribly, for that reason I'm putting the story on hiatus till January just so that I can 1. Catch up with my grades and 2. Catch up with a few more chapters being prewritten.

Maybe I'll post a short story or two but don't expect much.

See you in the new year :D