Back at it again with another chapter.

This support for this fic is incredible, thank you all for your continuous support. It's what drives me to start writing the moment I get off class.

If you've read the last chapter then you all know what's about to happen. This was probably the hardest chapter I've ever written for the fic although I probably shouldn't say that because we still have ways to go. The reason is this particular scene was really hard to stomach when I played the game so writing it out was even harder. But yeah, I did my best and I hope you guys like it.

No shoutouts for this chapter.

Without further ado, enjoy the 12th chapter.


After Ren arrived in Yongen-Jaya, he made his way to Leblanc. Odds are that Sojiro was waiting for him, it was getting late and since he didn't have a key to the place, the cafe owner was likely waiting for him so he can lock up and head home.

As he arrived, he prepared himself for another lecture and another possible threat of being kicked out. Once he steeled himself, he opened the door and saw said cafe owner reading a newspaper. Once the man saw that his ward had arrived, he frowned.

Wait for it. Ren thought.

"You're late. Where have you been?" He asked.

"Sorry, Sakura-san. I'm still trying to find my way around the city so I got lost." He gave his excuse.

"That so?" He crossed his arm, choosing to believe him for the time being. "By the way, you haven't been hanging around any bad influences, have you?"

"Actually..." He smiled, thinking about the past couple of days. If you look past his record getting leaked, the castle, and the whole Kamoshida nonsense, the past couple of days haven't been so bad. Maybe it's because of the people he's met along the way. "I've made a couple of friends."

"Really?" The cafe owner said in surprise. "They've gotta be pretty strange to want to spend time with you."

"Well, I owe it all to my good looks and charming personality," Ren smirked, adjusting his glasses.

"Yeah, sure." Sojiro rolled his eyes at his ward's antics, almost used to it by now. "Just make sure you're careful who your friends are if you don't want them ruining your life."

"That won't be a problem, Sakura-san. These guys, they're the good ones." Ren spoke favorably of his friends.

"Whatever you say, kid." The cafe owner yawned, tired from waiting on his ward. "Look at the time. Seriously, think about how I feel having to stay up here waiting for you."

"Sorry, Sakura-san." He apologized before walking past him to head to his room.

"Hey, I'm leaving," Sojiro said before putting the newspaper on the counter. "In the future, try not to come back so damn late. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Ren said his goodbyes as the cafe owner left the coffee shop.

Hmm? No threats this time? Wow, must be my lucky day. He shrugged before walking upstairs to his room.

Setting down his school bag, he changed into his pajamas and wrote down today's activities in the journal Sojiro provided him with. He put the journal down and then got into bed.

Today was a good day. He thought.

Thinking over his talk with Ann, he felt proud that he was able to provide her comfort when she was hurting. That girl was holding a lot in and with no one to talk to, he was glad she was able to open up to him and let out some of that pain. She seemed a lot happier because of it. Maybe because now she knows that she's not alone anymore.

Suddenly, he felt his phone ring. He pulled it out and saw that it was a text from Ann.

Ann: Hey, Ren. You still awake?

He sat on the bed, replying to her text.

Ren: Yeppers. What's up?

Ann: I wanted to thank you again for today. It really meant a lot to me, being able to talk to you about everything. I feel so much better now.

Ren: I'm glad I was able to help.

Ann: The truth is, I've never really had anyone I could count on. I've always had Shiho but, there was no one else I could confide in. But, I feel like I can confide in you.

Ren: Absolutely you can. After all, what are friends for? :D

Ann: Friends, huh? I like the sound of that.

Ren smiled, she was definitely feeling a lot better. But more than anything, he was glad to have forged a strong friendship with her

Ann: Well, I should be heading to bed. See you tomorrow?

Ren: Yeah. Goodnight Ann.

Ann: Night.

Once their text conversation was over, Ren set his alarm clock on his phone and placed it in his pocket before going to bed.

I promise Ann, we will stop him. He vowed. Together.


4/15 - Friday

As the two transfer students walked to school together, they found it difficult to start a conversation. Ren was still a bit miffed after learning what Kazuma had said to Ann, to hear that he called her weak simply for being afraid. He was definitely going to talk to him about it after school, he would have to since Ann would be helping them.

As for Kazuma, he found it a bit difficult to look Ren in the eye after their little talk the other day. It was mainly from embarrassment as he himself never expected to get so emotional. Then again, this was all Shiho's fault. Since meeting her, he had been rethinking why he chose the path of a loner and why he tried so hard to be alone. He thought he had it all figured out, but since meeting her, he didn't know what to think. In fact, he was starting to think differently now.

Speaking of Shiho, something was definitely off. He hadn't heard from her since yesterday, despite her last message to him saying they would talk again later. He pulled out his phone and checked but there were no new text messages from her.

He would shoot her a text himself, but he decided against it seeing as he would see her again at school. He decided to spend the rest of the time walking listening to his music. He put in his earphones and cranked up the music without a care. They had their method, it was only a matter of time before they utilized it and finally get rid of Kamoshida.

As the two kept walking, Ren, who was still capable of hearing, listened in on two 1st-year girls talking amongst themselves.

"I can't believe Suzui-senpai missed such an important meeting. I wonder what happened."

"Oh, you didn't know? Mr. Kamoshida asked to see her."

Wait, what? Ren frowned at what he heard. Why did Kamoshida ask for Suzui?

"You know, I've been hearing rumors that Suzui-san is dating that transfer student in 2-E. You think... she dumped him for Mr. Kamoshida?"

"Ugh, for real. As if this school didn't have enough sluts polluting it, with that skank Takamaki and all."

"Seriously."

Ren ignored the two ignorant girls who knew nothing of his classmate. Kazuma was right, the best thing to do is ignore them. Once they arrived, they went their separate ways with Ren heading to 2-D and Kazuma heading to 2-E. Once he was seated, all he could think about was what those 1st-years were talking about.

I wonder if Ann knows about this.


As Kazuma arrived at his class, he looked inside to see that Shiho hadn't arrived yet. He looked back out into the hallway and saw that she was nowhere in sight.

Is she absent? He wondered.

"Yo, Kazuma." He heard Ryuji call out to him as the spiky blonde approached him.

"Sakamoto."

"You ever gonna call me Ryuji, man?" He groaned a little as his classmate was still on a last name basis with him.

"Have you see Shiho?" Kazuma asked.

"Suzui? No, why?" The spiky blonde wondered.

"So, you didn't see her on your way here?" Kazuma asked again.

"No, dude. I didn't see her. Why? What are you so..." Ryuji's eyes widened as if he realized why his classmate was so concerned for Shiho. "Wait, so it's true?!"

"Is what true?" The boy crossed his arms impatiently, not liking the change in conversation.

"You and Suzui! People are saying you two are dating!" Ryuji brought up.

Oh, that crap. He rolled his eyes at those stupid rumors being brought up, having heard people speculate his relationship with Shiho when they first walked to class together yesterday.

"So are you..."

"Not important. Just never mind." Kazuma ends the talk as he walked into the classroom and took his seat. She was probably just absent or something, nothing to worked up over.

Still, why do I have this bad feeling? He wondered.


She had been watching from afar as her classmates kept pouring into the classroom, one by one until she had spotted her classmate, her newest friend, Kei Kazuma standing at the doorway, looking into the classroom and then back out in the hallway for her whereabouts before asking Sakamoto if he had seen her.

He had been thinking of her. He was worried about her.

She didn't want him to see her. Not like this. That's why she chose to hide. Away from him and Ann.

At least I got to see him. One. Last. Time.

One last time before it's over.

She then turned and walked up the stairs, heading to the roof to do what she came to school to do.

To escape.


Ren sat down in his seat as he waited for class to start. He had arrived a little early so students were still coming in. After being "late" on the first day, he made a point to come to school early, as if to assure Sojiro that he's taking school seriously.

As he waited, the one classmate he was happy to see walked in. Ann Takamaki, who walked over to her seat.

And seeing her greet him with a smile meant that their talk the other day really lifted her spirits.

"Good morning, Ren." She greeted.

"Good morning, Ann." He replied. "How are you?"

"I'm a lot better now, thanks to you." She sat down in her seat. "Kamoshida hasn't texted or called me since yesterday. In fact, he wouldn't even look at me this morning."

"That's a good thing, isn't it," Ren asked, glad that asshole was leaving her alone for the time being.

"Yeah, it is. But, um..." She muttered as she appeared to be worried about something. "I wanted to ask you something."

"What's up?" He questioned. The blonde looked around and leaned in close so only he could hear her.

"The other day, Shiho told me she would call me but I haven't heard from her since. She hasn't accepted my calls or replied to any of my texts. I'm worried something may have happened to her." She brought up which definitely got Ren's attention.

It might have something to do with what I heard this morning. Ren deduced. He's had this bad feeling in his stomach ever since he heard those 1st-years talk about how Suzui missed an important meeting because Kamoshida had called for her.

"Did you see her at all this morning?" He asked.

"No, I didn't." She said. "What should I do?"

"Well, don't freak out, okay? Maybe she's sick or something and is simply taking the day off." He tried to assure her.

"Yeah, you're probably right." She said as that seemed to have done the trick. "Jeez, I'm getting so worked up. Sorry about that."

"Don't be, she's your friend." He smiled.

Once Kawakami walked in, class was about to start.

"We'll talk about... you know, after school. OK?" He whispered to her and she responded with a nod.

While Ren knew he was going to face opposition from Ryuji and Kazuma for getting her involved, they would have to get over it. Because she was apart of this now.


As classes went by, Kazuma listened in on the lectures while Ryuji was on the verge of unconsciousness as the lecture greatly bored him. He looked over and saw that Kazuma's eyes were half-closed as if he were on the verge of falling asleep. However, the spiky blonde noticed that he was making a weird typing motion with his fingers as the lecture continued although he had no idea why.

Figuring that he wasn't going to get anything out of this lecture, Ryuji let out a quiet yawn before falling asleep.

As for Kazuma, much like Ryuji, the lecture was quite a bore. That coupled with this strange lingering dread he was feeling made it hard to pay attention. But he struggled to stay awake so he could input all the information into his brain.

"So, let's say you have two terms. 5x+4x. These are considered like terms. Whenever you have like terms, you're allowed to add the coefficients. 5+4 is 9 so 5x+4x=9x." Ms. Usami continued the lecture. "Now, let's see if you have another expression. 3x+-"

Suddenly, cutting of Ms. Usami in the middle of her lecture, the door to the classroom flew open.

"Yo, everyone!" A student popped his head in and yelled out to everyone. "Some girl on the roof's about to jump!"

As soon as that bit of news hit everyone's ears people started questing what the student had said while Ms. Usami trying to shush the class.

"Everyone quiet down now!" She tried but to no avail.

"Someone's about to jump!?" Emi exclaimed, worried as she jumped out of her seat and ran out of the classroom.

Kazuma had similar feelings as he got up from his seat along and followed after her. The constant noise and chatter caused Ryuji to awake from his slumber.

"Whoa, what's going?!" The spiky blonde exclaimed, wondering what the commotion was all about.

Kazuma didn't answer as he followed Emi out of the classroom to see who this student was that was on the rooftop. The feeling of dread he had earlier started to increase with every footstep.

Once he exited the classroom and looked out the window, his eyes widened at who was on the roof. Now that feeling of dread turned into horror as he recognized the individual who stood at the edge of the rooftop.

"Oh my god."


While Mr. Ushimura continued his lecture, Ren's thoughts were on other things. While he knew after school he would be telling Ryuji and Kazuma that Ann would be helping them, he knew he would face strong opposition from them but that wasn't the issue. The issue was whether or not to accept Morgana's method, in which case Ann's inclusion into their little investigation gang would be more difficult. No way was he going to take her to the castle, without a Persona, she could get hurt, or worse.

The risks Morgana's method posed were too great, the possibility that Kamoshida might die being the main one.

He thought over all the possibilities and the truth is, they were out of legal options.

"So, I assume all of you know about the separation of powers? There are three branches of our government." Mr. Ushimura continued the lecture. "The National Diet is legislative, the Cabinet is executive, and the Supreme Court is judiciary. This division of power provides checks and balances, which ensures no one branch becomes unstoppable."

Basic social studies. Ren thought.

"Have you made up your mind?"

"Wha?!" Ren screamed out but was able to shut himself up just in the nick of time as Morgana popped out of his cubby, startling him greatly.

"No matter how much thinking you do, there's only one option. You'd be better off just listening to me." He said matter-of-factly.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack, Morgana!" Ren kept his eyes on the Mr. Ushimura but kept his voice low so no one around could hear him. "Why are you in my cubby?"

"I snuck in a while ago." The cat said. "So, you in or out?"

"I'm..."

"Hm? Did I just hear a cat just now?" Mr. Ushimura stopped the lecture as he heard what appeared to be "meows" coming from his classroom. The students looked around but couldn't find any cat.

"Oh! U-Uh, Meow!" Morgana panicked.

That doesn't help. Ren complained as he kept quiet.

"Could that rumored cat be somewhere nearby?" The teacher questioned. Because of his comment, the students started talking amongst themselves which greatly irritated him. "Settle down! We're in the middle of an important lecture!"

Yeah, important. Ren rolled his eyes before looking down at Morgana.

"Did you forget that only me, Ryuji and Kazuma can understand you. Keep your voice down." He demanded.

"Well, excuse me for trying to make friendly conversation." The cat said sarcastically.

Before the lecture could continue, one of the students by the door stood up as he saw something out the window that caught his attention.

"Hey, what's that?!" The student wondered.

"Enough! This is a classroom!" Mr. Ushimura exclaimed, annoyed by the interruption.

"Wait!" The girl behind the student stood up as she noticed what he was seeing. "She's going to jump!"

Going to jump?! Ren didn't like the sound of that at all as he stood up, wondering just what was going on.

"Suzui?!" He heard Mishima say as the boy stood up, looking out the window.

"Shiho?!" Ann immediately got up from her desk after hearing the boy's words. She looked back at Ren who nodded and the two ran for the door.

"Hey! Stay in your seats! Do not step foot outside of this room!" The teacher ordered the two but they ignored him. The rest of the students got up from their desks and left to see what was going on.

As soon as Ren and Ann ran out of the classroom, the windows were already crowded by students from 2-E. As Ann pushed a student aside, allowing for both her and Ren to look out, the probationer heard someone close to him say something about what's going on.

"Oh my god."

He looked and saw that Kazuma was there, eyes glued to the outside as his face was etched in horror. Ren looked outside as well and saw that Mishima was correct.

It was Shiho Suzui, standing on the edge of the roof.

"Shiho..." Ann whispered, inwardly begging her not to do what it looks like she's about to do.

"W-What the hell is she doing?!" Kazuma exclaimed loudly as he slammed his hand against the window.


Shiho stood at the edge of the roof, her escape was there, all she had to do was take one more step and it would be all over.

She closed her eyes as she took that last step. Her final step.

Ann. Kei. I'm sorry.

And with that, she leaped from the edge.


At that moment, the only thing anyone could do was watch.

"NO!" Kazuma yelled out in horror as he watched Shiho fall, and as she hit the ground, he clenched his eyes shut from the horror. He thought if he opened his eyes, it would be just a bad dream.

But as he opened his eyes, it wasn't a dream at all.

It was a nightmare.

"Oh my god!" Ren exclaimed loudly, horrified by what he had witnessed.

"No... Why..." Ann wasn't any better as she saw her best friend attempt suicide

Suicide.

Her eyes widened in horror at that truth.

"Shiho!" She screamed out before running toward the courtyard, bumping into Ren along the way.

"No! Shiho no!" Kazuma refused to accept this! He refused to accept that Shiho would do something like this! It didn't make any sense! "NO!" And with that, he ran towards the courtyard.

"Whoa, what's going on?!" Ryuji ran out of the classroom as he heard the screams of Takamaki and his classmate. He looked out the window and once he saw Shiho's motionless body on the ground, he nearly fell back in horror. "What the eff!"

"Ryuji!" Ren got his friend back into focus. "We need to go! Now!"

"R-Right!" The spiky blonde agreed. "We should head to the courtyard too!"

Ren and Ryuji then ran past the group of students, down the stairs to the third-year hallway.

Once they made it, they saw that a bunch of students were crowded around the usual entrance to the courtyard so they took another route here it was least crowded. The two pushed their way through the cord of students as they fought to make it past them.

"Lemme though!" Ryuji demanded.

Soon enough, after a lot of pushing and shoving, they arrived at the practice building. The rounded the corner and found themselves in the courtyard.

Once they made it, they pushed their way through more students to see what was going on. They saw that an ambulance had already arrived and Shiho was placed on a stretcher.

"C-Class is still in session!" One of the teacher in the vicinity started to panic.

Ryuji looked around and was disgusted by the fact that some of the students were actually taking pictures!

"What the hell's wrong with these people?!" The spiky blonde couldn't believe how inconsiderate everyone was being.

"We need someone to go with her. Are there any teachers around?!" One of the medics asked

"I-I'm not in charge of her class though." One of the teacher's said.

"We should leave this to Principal Kobayakawa." Another teacher suggested.

Ren couldn't help but feel utterly appaled by the fact that none of the teachers were willing to go with Suzui-san. She was a student for christ's sake!

"I'll go!" He watched as Ann pushed her way to the front and volunteered.

"Please hurry!" The medic insisted.


Ann immediately ran to Shiho's side. She was alive but badly hurt.

Ann tried her best to keep the tears in check. Seeing her like this was worse than seeing her fall.

"Shiho... Why?" She pleaded, wanting to know why she would do something like this.

"Ann?" She opened her eyes and saw her best friend looking at her with such pain and despair in her eyes. She started to cry at the sight. "I'm sorry. I... I can't take this... anymore."

"Shiho?" Her eyes widened by what she said.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

Suddenly a scream of anguish was heard as the blonde looked over and saw Kei Kazuma roughly push students out of his way and sprint over to the other side of Shiho, falling down to his knees as he took his place at her side.

"Shiho!" He exclaimed, having finally reached her through that large crowd.

"K-Kei?" Shiho looked over and saw her classmate and newest friend on her right.

"What did you do?!" He demanded, his voice mixed with pain and horror. "What did you do?!"

"Kei. You came." She whispered.

"W-Why?" He questioned, wanting to know what compelled her to do this. "Why would you do this?!"

"I-I'm sorry." She apologized and started to cry again, tears rolling down her face. "But, I-I couldn't let him h-hurt you too."

"Him?" Ann looked on in shock at what she had said.

"It was Kamoshida?! It was him?!" He shook his head angrily, still not able to understand. "Why?! I promised I would protect you!"

"Protect?" Ann heard him say and wondered when he made such a promise to her best friend.

"I'm sorry, Kei." Shiho offered one final apology. "I-I guess we won't be able to f-fulfill our promises to each... other..." With those final words, she closed her eyes and slipped into unconsciousness

"No. No." Kazuma muttered as he used all of his strength to keep himself from breaking down but it was waning as the pain was too much. "No. Don't do this." He begged and pleaded for her to wake up, to talk, to show any sign that she was okay. "Open your eyes, Shiho!"

She couldn't, because she can't hear him anymore.

The medics lifted the unconscious Shiho Suzui into the ambulance and Ann followed after, still reeling from what she had witnessed between her and Kei Kazuma.

As for Kazuma, he sat there clenching his fist in utter rage from what he had learned. It was Kamoshida, he hurt her again and he wasn't able to stop it from happening again.

He wasn't able to keep his promise.

"Damn it!" He slammed his fist into the ground. "Not again. Not again." Kazuma whimpered to himself.


Ren and Ryuji had watched the whole thing from the crowd, both equally stunned by the sight.

"Kazuma..." Ren said, unable to imagine how he was feeling at the moment.

"Ren, did you hear?" Ryuji asked him.

"Yeah." He frowned, knowing just who was behind all of this.

Suguru Kamoshida.

"Return to your classrooms at once!" One of the teachers tried to maintain order.

Ren looked around the crowd before his eyes met with Mishima, his class rep. Once the boy saw that the probationer was looking at him, he ran away in fear.

"Ryuji." He pointed to the fleeing student.

"I saw him." The spiky blonde said as he along with Ren ran after the boy. "We're gonna make him talk this time!"

And with that, the two boys chased after the 2-D class rep as this was far from over.


Kazuma looked up at just the right moment and saw Ren and Ryuji chasing after who he knew was behind this.

"Mishima." He growled, knowing full well that he did it again.

He got up and ran after them, no way in hell was he letting him get away.


Ryuji wasn't a former track runner for nothing. He caught up to Mishima and began dragging him somewhere private, away from prying ears. They took him a storage closet that was empty. Once they were inside, Ren shut the door as Ryuji slammed the poor boy against a wall.

"Ow!" Mishima yelped in pain. "That hurts!"

"Why'd you run like that? Huh?!" Ryuji wasn't pulling any punches anymore. He demanded answers and he was going to get them

"I didn't run." He tried to come up with an excuse but that just angered the spiky blonde even more as he slammed his fist against the nearby locker, startling him

"She jumped and tried to kill herself!" He yelled out as if the boy forgot.

"L-Leave me alone," Mishima begged.

"You need to tell us what happened Mishima, right now," Ren demanded as well. "This is serious. Please, just tell us what..."

Suddenly, the door flew open. The boys looked to see if it was a teacher. It wasn't. It was much worse.

Kei Kazuma entered the room, slamming the door shut as he glared holes into Mishima.

"Get away from him!" He demanded as he walked over to the boy.

"Kazuma." Ren got in his way. "Calm down. We-"

He didn't finish his sentence as he was pushed to the side rather roughly by his fellow transfer student

Once Kazuma was close enough, Mishima started to shake as he was scared that he was going to hurt him.

"Tell me the truth." He started. "Did you do it again?"

"Again?" Ryuji questioned.

"I-I don't..."

Kazuma wasn't going to hear excuses and him trying to come up with one nearly set him off. He then slammed his elbow directly into Mishima's neck, pinning him roughly against the wall, causing him immense pain and cutting off his breathing.

"GAH!"

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you did it again or I swear I'm going to break your neck you cowardly piece of crap!" Kazuma threatened.

Mishima clawed at his elbow, gasping for air as he wasn't able to breathe properly.

"Dude, get off him!" Sakamoto tried to pull him off but he was pushed off.

"Kazuma stop it!" Ren got up and along with Ryuji, pulled their companion off of the boy as Mishima fell to the ground, finally able to breathe again.

"Tell the truth!" He demanded. "Tell me you did it again!"

"Kazuma! I said stop it!" Ren demanded as he and Ryuji used both of their strengths to restrain him.

"YES! I DID!" Mishima cried out. Unable to take this anymore, he yelled out what Kazuma wanted to hear. "I... I did it again."

"What?" Once the boy confessed, Ren released his fellow transfer student but stood in front of him in case he tried attacking the class rep again. "You did what again?"

"I... I..." The boy muttered, nearly on the verge of death, from the pain caused by Kazuma's attack and the overwhelming guilt plaguing his heart.

"We ain't tryin' to get you busted. We won't say you talked either." Ryuji pleaded one last time, hoping the boy will finally tell them the truth.

"Suzui," Mishima muttered her name as the guilt was too much. He finally decided to let it out all. The whole truth. "She was called out by Mr. Kamoshida!

"Wait, what?!" Sakamoto said in shock at the sudden revelation.

"So you did do it again, just like you did 3 days ago!" Kazuma called out. "You told her to go to his office!"

"W-What? B-But, how did you...?" The boy wondered how he could've known this before the transfer student grabbed him by his shirt and shoved him into the wall.

"Because I saw you, you idiot! I saw everything and I heard what he did to her! He punched her! How do you think she got that black eye?!" He revealed to the boy and inadvertently, to his companions.

"What?" Ren's eyes widened at his fellow transfer student's knowledge.

"Y-You knew all this?!" Ryuji exclaimed.

"Y-Yes, I know." Kazuma didn't see the point in hiding it any longer. "Kamoshida calls people to his office for 'special coaching' when really, he's abusing them to let out his frustrations."

The words hit Ren like a drum. "Special..."

"...Coaching!" The spiky blonde finished the sentence as his anger grew.

"Y-Yesterday, he called Suzui out of the blue. She didn't make any mistakes or anything." Mishima brought up. "Mr. Kamoshida seemed really irritated that day, so it must've been... worse than usual."

"Worse?" Kazuma questioned. "Worse how?"

"He... He... and Suzui... they... must have..." He didn't want to say it but everyone understood what he was implying.

"Oh my god." Ren gasped as he understood what he was saying.

"No..." Kazuma shook his head, not wanting to believe it. "No..."

"He didn't..." But Ryuji understood and that was the final straw. With what he had learned, he wasn't going to ignore this anymore. Kamoshida was going to pay! "That son of a bitch!" And then he ran out the door.

"Ryuji!" Ren called out, having an idea of what he was going to do. He looked over at Kazuma and the two nodded, leaving the storage closet and heading out with Mishima following after them.


Ryuji stormed out of the closet and ran in the direction of the practice room. They all knew he was going to confront Kamoshida so they ran after him. Once they arrived they rounded the corner and entered the P.E. coach's office with the spiky blonde already there, glaring at the man in utter rage who seemed unaware of his visitors.

"Hmm?" He turned around and saw four uninvited guests in his office.

"You bastard! The hell did you do to that girl?!" Ryuji accused.

"What are you talking about, Sakamoto?" Kamoshida replied in disbelief. "If you don't mind, I have..."

Ryuji didn't come here for excuses as he kicked the nearby chair over.

"Don't play dumb with me!" The angry blonde exclaimed.

"That is enough!" Kamoshida yelled out, the boys succeeding in getting his attention.

"W-What you did... wasn't coaching!" Mishima muttered.

"Oh? What did you say?" The P.E. coach glared at the boy's accusations.

"You ordered me to call Suzui here." He finished, finally honest about what the man made him do. "I can only imagine what you did to her."

Kamoshida stood up from his chair and face the four, arms crossed, and a hateful glare directed at each of them.

"You're going on and on about things you have no proof of." He brought up. "Basically, you're making these claims because you can't be a regular on the team, right?"

"That's not what this is about!" Mishima fired back.

"Even if it is exactly as you imagine it to be, hypothetically speaking. What can you do?" Kamoshida mocked. "We just received a call from the hospital. Suzui's in a coma, and her chances of recovery are slim. How would someone like that make a statement?" Everyone's eyes widened at the news. "There's no chance of her getting better, I hear. The poor girl."

"No. Shiho." Kazuma whimpered at the news on his friend's condition.

"You goddamn...!" Ryuji had enough of this man's smug attitude.

"This again?" The coach complained. "Does this mean we need to have to have yet another case of "self-defense"?"

"You shut your mouth you son of a bitch!" The spiky blonde yelled as he clenched his fist and threw a punch. Ren reached out and caught it just in time, keeping him from harming the scumbag. "Why're you stoppin' me?!"

"Don't let him get to you, Ryuji!" Ren exclaimed. "He's still a teacher!"

"But still!" Ryuji released himself from his friend's grasp, not wanting this man to get away with what he's done.

"Oh? You're stopping him? What a surprise." Kamoshida chuckled. "There's no need to hold back. Why not attack me? That's what you do, isn't Amamiya-san?"

"You don't know me, scumbag." Ren fired back.

"You're not going to get away with this, you monster," Kazuma called out which got the coach's attention. "Shiho told me everything. How you call people to your office, abuse them for petty reasons and I know it was you who gave her that black eye. It's over. You're finished."

"Oh, is that so?" Kamoshida questioned, finding these accusations amusing. "And, do you have any proof of this?"

"I was here, 3 days ago!" Kazuma angrily explained. "I heard you yell at her about her leg injury, then you punched her in the face! I heard everything!"

"Did you? Or are you just making it all up?" The coach approached the boy, looking down on him for his accusations. "Because who do you think the police will believe? An honest teacher or a filthy truant."

"Tch." He didn't want to admit it, but he had a point. No one would believe him and such accusations wouldn't hold up in a court of law without physical evidence. It's just as he said, everyone would just think he's making it all up.

"I'm really disappointed in you, Kazuma-san. I offered you a chance to try out for the volleyball team and instead, you chose to affiliate with worthless trash like them." He pointed to Ren and Ryuji. "I could've made you a star. I would've wiped away that disgusting attendance record from your last school too. You think any college will accept you with the number of absences you have? I'm sure your parents would be ashamed."

"You don't get to talk about my family," Kazuma growled. "I swear, you'll get yours soon enough."

"Ha! We'll see about that." With that final say, Kamoshida returned to his desk as he made an announcement. "Everyone present right now will be expelled. I'm reporting all of you at the next board meeting."

Everyone took a step back at what he had just announced.

"Wha-" Ryuji gasped.

"You can't make a decision like that!" Mishima argued.

"Who would seriously consider what good for nothing wastes of life like you say?" The coach fired back. "You threatened me too, Mishima, so you're just as responsible."

"No, I didn't! I..."

"To think you didn't know why I kept someone as talentless as you on the team." He scoffed before exposing a little secret of his. "You act like you're the victim, but you leaked Amamiya-san's criminal record, didn't you? It's all over the internet, correct? How terrible."

With that new bit of info, Ren, Ryuji, and Kazuma turned to the boy as they now realized how the students at this school came to learn about Ren's record.

"Mishima?" The spike blonde questioned.

"It was you," Ren whispered, not wanting to believe it.

"He told me to do it." Mishima reasoned, his knees feeling weak. "I-I had no choice, he said he would kick me off the team."

"You did have a choice! You could've said no!" Kazuma yelled at him. "You're a coward, Mishima! All the bad rumors people are making about Amamiya are all because you were too weak to stand up for yourself! That's on you!"

"I know!" The boy clutched his head, knowing just how much pain he put Ren thought by releasing his record.

"Hahahahaha!" Kamoshida laughed at how pathetic the boy was. "Now, are we finished here? You're all expelled." He finished with one last statement. "You're done for; your futures are mine to take. Now get out of my sight."

That was it, their fates were set. Because they opposed him, because they stood up to him, they were set for expulsion.

"Cmon guys, let's get out of here." Ren guided the others out of the coach's office, leaving a laughing Kamoshida behind. Once they were in the hallway, Ryuji slammed his fist against the wall.

"I can't believe that asshole's gettin' away with this!" The spiky blonde yelled out.

"We're not giving up Ryuji. We can't." Ren tried to give him hope but Ryuji was close to believing that they had lost.

"We still have "that" method after all." Kazuma brought up.

"Huh?" Ryuji questioned before realizing what he was talking about. "Oh, that!"

"Any objections, Ren?" He crossed his arms, using this opportunity to address his fellow transfer student by his first name.

"At this point. No." He shook his head, knowing that they had no other choice.

Mishima was confused by what they were referring too but chose not to interfere. They parted ways and returned to their respective classrooms to finish the day as their mission was far from over.

Kamoshida hasn't won yet.


Classes went by normally although the students paid little attention to the lectures as they were all talking about Shiho's suicide attempt. However, most were more concerned if this event would stain the school's rep to the point where their college applications might be affected.

Once school had concluded for the day, the three soon-to-be-expelled Persona-Users met in the courtyard, with Morgana waiting for them. Once they arrived, Ryuji got right to the point.

"We can't waste any time." He said, slamming his fist against the nearby vending machine. "We gotta hurry up and go to that world and beat the shit outta that asshole!

"We're not beating him up. We're simply stealing his distorted desires." Morgana interjected. "Can I assume that you've made up your minds about this? About how he might suffer a mental shutdown?"

"Damn right." Ryuji nodded. "Someone almost died because of him. I don't give a rat's ass what happens to him anymore."

"And you?" The cat turned to the probationer.

"We're not going to let him get away with this," Ren stated. "Let's do it."

"And you, Brown-Hair?" Morgana asked the other transfer student who had been silent this whole time.

He didn't answer, his mind was elsewhere as he thought over what he learned from Kamoshida. Shiho was in a coma, her chances of recovery were low. He couldn't help but think of the worst possible scenario. If she dies...

He clenched his fist at the thought, trying to hold back how badly he was hurting.

"Kazuma?" Ren approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder which snapped him out of his thoughts. "What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing. I'm fine." He shook his head, shrugging off his concern.

No, he wasn't. After what he saw earlier, seeing him rush to Suzui's side like that, there was no way he was fine. He was suffering as if he was blaming himself for what had happened. Kamoshida's taunts didn't exactly help either.

And speaking of his taunts.

"Hey, Kazuma." Ryuji called out. "What did you mean earlier when you said Shiho told you everything?"

"What?" He panicked as he realized that they remembered what he said to Kamoshida.

"You said, 'Shiho told me everything'. That's what you said. You also knew about her black eye too." The spiky blonde brought up, crossing his arms with a glare. "You keeping something from us?"

"I..." He knew he had been caught, but as of right now, even though he couldn't protect Shiho like he promised, he would still keep his word and not tell anyone. He owed her that at least.

Ren knew this would eventually lead somewhere off-topic and they have more important concerns than whether or not Kazuma was keeping information from them. He turned to Morgana to ask him a question.

"Morgana, how exactly do we get rid of Kamoshida's Palace?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I wanted to ask, how hard is it." Ryuji turned back to the cat. "I mean, you've tried it before, right?

"When did I ever say that?" The cat asked which sparked a reaction from the spiky blonde.

"What?! Were you just pretendin' to know?!" He fired.

"No, of course not. I..."

"Is it true your getting expelled?"

They all heard a voice that didn't belong to any of them as it didn't belong to anyone in this group. They all turned around and saw Ann Takamaki looking at the three with a saddened expression.

"Everyone's talking about it." She pointed out.

"Not you again." Kazuma groaned at her presence here.

"Damn it! That asshole's at it again." Ryuji growled before glaring at the intruding blonde. "So what, you here to rub it in our faces or something?"

"No, that's not it at all." Ann fired back. "If you're going to deal with Kamoshida. Let me in on it too."

"Ann," Ren whispered. Even though he wanted her to be a part of this, things had changed. Including her was now out of the question.

"I can't just sit back and do nothing after what happened to Shiho!" She tried to make her point.

"You have got to be kidding." Kazuma scoffed at her which got her attention. "You really think we would ever accept your help? You didn't want to help out before, why the hell would we trust you now?"

"Shut your fucking mouth, you asshole!" Ann replied with the anger she held for the transfer student. "If you hate me, fine! I don't care! Kamoshida needs to pay!"

"Hey, that's enough." Ren intervened, not wanting to cause a commotion here while there were still students here.

"This has nothing to do with you, Takamaki," Ryuji said. "Don't butt your head into this."

"But it does!" She exclaimed. "Shiho's my-"

"I said don't get in our way!" The spiky blonde demanded of her.

Ann felt herself losing as both students of 2-E were opposed to her helping them. She then turned to the one person she believed would be on her side who seemed conflicted even though he had asked her to join them. It was as if he had changed his mind.

"Ren?" She called out but he just gave her a regretful apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, Ann." He apologized. "But, you can't get involved. It's too dangerous."

"You...!" She felt tears form in her eyes as the boy she counted on just turned his back on her. She started to cry, now feeling completely alone. "You know, I thought out of these two assholes, you would be the only one who would understand! But you're just like them!"

"Ann, I..." He tried to reason but she wouldn't have it.

"Go to hell, Ren!" And with that, she ran away, leaving the group behind.

"Ann!" He tried to follow but she was already out of his reach, knowing that she probably felt betrayed. He then turned to the others and glared at the two for their treatment of her. "What is wrong with you two?! Why do you have to treat her like that?!"

"We can't take her somewhere like that," Ryuji informed him.

"That doesn't give you an excuse to treat her like that!" Ren argued. "Her best friend just tried to kill herself, show her some sympathy for crying out loud!"

"We don't need her getting in the way and slowing us down, Ren," Kazuma told him.

"What?" The probationer turned to him. He didn't like the way he said that or how he worded it.

"If she gets involved, she'll be a liability. We don't need her holding us back from-"

Ren wasn't going to take any more of his insults as he roughly grabbed Kazuma by the shirt and pushed him up against the vending machines, greatly shocking Ryuji. He glared at his fellow transfer student intensely, not letting him insult Ann anymore.

"Stop it, Kazuma! Stop insulting her!" He demanded.

He almost couldn't believe that this guy, who he believed to be some nice naive, goody-goody, could get so angry. Kazuma really must've pushed his buttons. Ren never liked the way he acted, how mean he was to people, and he wasn't going to listen to him insult Ann. Never again.

"Whoa! Calm down, guys!" Ryuji tried to get them to stop.

"Cmon you two. We're getting off track here." Morgana pointed out.

"Tch." Ren clicked his tongue in annoyance as he released Kazuma's shirt, letting the boy go. He didn't retaliate. He just stood there with his head down. "Ann told me what you said to her." He brought up but the boy didn't reply. He kept his eyes closed as if to avoid Ren's gaze. "I really, really hate how you treat people, Kazuma."

"She doesn't have a Persona. If she gets involved, she'll get hurt." Kazuma replied, opening his eyes, giving his partner a sad look. "And she's not the only one hurting right now."

When Ren finally cooled off, he understood that his partner was talking about himself. He really didn't mean to lash out at him like that, but between what happened today with Suzui, Kamoshida's threat of expulsion, along with the guilt of telling Ann not to get involved, he just... exploded. It left a bad taste in his mouth, he didn't like getting angry, even if Kazuma deserved it for what he said about Ann.

That, and he knew, in his own rude way, Kazuma was trying to keep Ann from getting hurt as without a Persona, she would be an easy target for the shadows. No one wanted that.

"I hope that she doesn't torment herself over this," Morgana added to change the subject and ease the tension. "When it comes down to it, women don't hesitate."

"We just gotta hurry up and deal with Kamoshida." Ryuji pointed out. "Let's go already!"

Ryuji put Morgana in his bag and left with the other two following behind. Before they went any further, Ren stopped Kazuma, wanting to talk to him privately.

"Hey." The probationer. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"It's whatever." Kazuma shook his head, believe he doesn't deserve an apology. "I deserved it anyway."

"Kazuma," Ren replied, seeing that he was still upset. "Are you okay?"

"No, no I'm not. All of this, it's all my fault. I failed her just like I failed them." He finished, walking after the spiky blonde, leaving the probationer behind to think over his last statement.

"You've changed." He thought, never thought he would see him so meek before. So... broken.

Hopefully, once they've dealt with Kamoshida's distorted desires, his partner will find peace. He then ran after the others, determined to end this chaos once and for all.


Little did any of them know that someone was listening in on the whole conversation. Despite running away after Ren told her not to get involved, she stuck around as there was no way in hell she was going to let this go.

She was surprised to hear Ren gets so angry with Kazuma, even if the jerk deserved it, she never thought she would ever see him explode like that.

Although she wondered what Kazuma meant by "Persona" and how she would get hurt if she didn't have one.

Nevertheless, she followed after them to see what kind of plan they had in store for Kamoshida.

I'm sorry, Ren. Ann apologized as she kept her distance from the boy in question so he wouldn't spot her. Even if you're trying to protect me, I can't just let this go. That bastard needs to pay for what he's done.


My god, when I saw that scene happen in the game, my heart broke. The only thing running through my mind was how I was going to make Kamoshida suffer for what he did and avenge Shiho. Looks likes our Persona-Users share the same feelings.

As you can see, Ann still holds anger towards Kazuma for what he said to her but here's hoping they can put that aside and clear the air, it's what Shiho would want.

Til next time.