Notes: I accidently uploaded chapter 9 again on accident!
Sorry about that!
7/8
Evening
Pi Pi Pi Pi
As soon as Ren entered Leblanc, his phone went off. He checked his phone and saw that there were messages in the group chat.
Makoto: I know this is late but I heard from sis that Kaneshiro turned himself in.
Ryuji: Hell yeah! When are they gonna announce it?
Makoto: Probably tomorrow.
Ren: Good work everyone. Now onto our next course of action
Ryuji: Wanna meet up at the hideout tomorrow?
Makoto: I feel like we should find a better place to meet up rather than the accessway…
Ren: Can you get us on the roof Makoto?
Makoto: I'll need to ask a teacher but I should be able to
Ren: Alright, I'll see you both tomorrow. Goodnight
Ryuji: Night!
Makoto: Goodnight everyone.
Ren put his phone away after closing the messaging app.
"The rooftop huh?" Morgana spoke up. "That seems like a good place to meet up until we need to deal with the next few palaces. That being said… can't you use that? Like what you did with the others?"
Ren looked at Morgana, puzzled for a moment before realising what he meant. "That completely slipped my mind… thanks Morgana." He went to his school bag and took out the star and made his way back to his bed.
He brought it close to his chest before muttering the name of their navigator.
"Futaba…"
…
…
Nothing happened.
`Damn it...` he cursed to himself. `Am I missing something?`
"What's going on?" Morgana questioned Ren after seeing his perplexed expression.
"I'm not sure… but it seems like we can't rely on this thing everytime." Ren replied as he stood up to put the star away.
"Do you think there's a criteria for the star to work?" Morgana asked.
"Criteria? You might be right… but what could…" Ren trailed off. "It doesn't matter for now, let's go to sleep now."
7/9
After School
"We did it!" Ryuji raised his fist in triumph. "I know this is what happened last time but it still feels good!"
"I couldn't agree with you more." Makoto replied to him.
"We can't get complacent though," Morgana chimed in. "next will be Futaba's palace."
"Wait… I've been thinking but can't you just do that thing you did with both me and Makoto?" Ryuji asked.
"I tried already." Ren rubbed the back of his head as he smiled weakly. " That didn't work so we'll need to prepare to infiltrate soon."
"By the way, I've been wondering but how did you bring us back?" Makoto asked.
Ren took out the star he had received from Jose. "With this. I was told it granted wishes, and he was right for the most part. It's not omnipotent though so I need to figure out the criteria for it to work, as it did with you two. I also don't want to rely on this too much. It came from Mementos and I think it's somewhat similar to how the gate's work."
"Does that mean it works off how many people think the Phantom Thieves are real?" Makoto questioned him.
Ren shook his head. "I don't know for sure but that might be one of the things it needs to work. We can figure that out slowly"
"Right, though we need to focus on exams first." Makoto glanced at Ryuji.
"Why are you directing that at me!?" Ryuji exclaimed. "Why not Ren as well!?"
"We both know Ren is at the top of the second years, he probably studies often enough to maintain those grades." Makoto shot back. "I swear I saw him going over college level stuff at some point…" she muttered with a face of defeat.
"For real!? Please help me study!" Ryuji pleaded with both of them.
Ren chuckled at the two's back and forth. "Alright, let's infiltrate after exams."
"Got it..." Ryuji gave in.
"Good." Makoto nodded in agreement. "Now then, it's getting late and we should all go home."
The group stood up, Morgana jumping into Ren's bag before he grabbed it. "I'll see you later." Ren said as he left the rooftop.
═════════•°• Take your time •°•═════════
7/12
Evening
Pi Pi Pi Pi
After locking up Leblanc, he received a text from Ryuji.
Ryuji: I know this is kinda last minute but can you help me study?
Ren: Sure, come to Leblanc. Want me to call Makoto as well?
Ryuji: As long as I get as much help as I can! I'll seeya soon dude!
Pi Pi Pi Pi
As soon as Ren put his phone away he got another text, he took his phone out once again and opened up his messages.
Sumire: Good evening Ren-Senpai, I was wondering if you have any time tonight. I want to talk to you about something.
Ren: Sorry but I'll be helping someone study for the exams tomorrow
Sumire: I see, sorry to take up your time senpai.
Ren sighed before typing again.
Ren: If you want to you can come to Leblanc and study with us. We can talk afterwards
Sumire: Are you sure? I feel like I would just be a hindrance though…
Ren: Don't worry about it, I'm calling someone else to help him anyway
Sumire: Then I'll take you up on that offer. I'll see you soon Senpai!
Ren texted Makoto before putting his phone away.
"Morgana, try not to talk too much tonight. I don't want them finding out that Sumire has been to the Metaverse as it'll give them more things to worry about." Ren looked at Morgana as he jumped out the bag.
"Don't worry, I get what you mean. I'll go hang around the streets of Yongen until you're done." Morgana replied as Ren opened the door to Leblanc, letting him out if the shop.
"Yo!" The first one to turn up was Ryuji. "Man, it feels like it's been forever since I've been here…"
"That's because it has been." Makoto said as she also walked through the door. "Good evening Ren. Shall we get started?"
"We have one more person joining us tonight, if you don't mind." Ren stated as he got up and headed to the stove as the others sat down in the booth, on the seats facing away from the entrance. "Are you guys hungry? I can prepare some curry for you if you want."
"Are you sure?" Makoto asked, prompting a nod from Ren. "I'll gladly take some then. It's been a while since I've had your curry."
"Hell yeah! I might actually get through tonight with this…" Ryuji grinned before remembering the reason why they were here before he noticed someone was missing. "Where's Morgana?"
"He said he didn't want to disturb because of the other person coming." Ren replied to him as he stirred the curry.
Ren finished preparing the plates of curry and brought them over to the booth where they were going to be studying. Placing down two plates before going back and getting more.
"Ren… are you going to be eating all that?" Makoto looked at the extra plate of curry that was on the table.
"Nope. The other person I was talking about should be here soon." Ren corrected her.
Right on cue the entrance chime to Leblanc sounded as the door opened. Ryuji and Makoto turned around and saw a red haired girl standing in the entranceway.
"I'm sorry for intruding." The red head politely bowed. "Good evening."
"Hey Sumire." Ren beckoned her over, prompting her to walk over, sitting down in the empty space next to Ren. "You already know Ryuji but this is Makoto Niijima. Makoto, this is Sumire Yoshizawa, though you probably know who each other are already."
"What's bonkin' Sumire." Ryuji sent a small wave.
"Hello Ryuji-Senpai." she courteously replied. "Hello Niijima-Senpai."
"Hello Yoshizawa-san. Please just use my first name like you do with Ren and Ryuji." Makoto put her hands up in front of her while flashing a semi-awkward smile.
"Then you can call Sumire! Nice to meet you Makoto-Senpai." Sumire beamed an innocent smile.
Makoto nodded. "Likewise, Sumire-san."
"Now that the introductions are done, let's eat the curry before it gets cold." Ren declared.
""""Itadakimasu!"""" The group of four called out before digging into their respective curry.
"Dude! Did you get better!?" Ryuji exclaimed before he shoveled more curry into his mouth.
"This certainly is better than what I remember." Makoto agreed with him. "I've been wondering though, Sumire-san, how did you meet Ren?"
"Oh, he helped me a while back." Sumire started before Ryuji cut in.
"Sounds like Ren alright." he said before eating more curry.
Sumire giggled a bit before continuing. "After that I didn't talk to him again until the incident with Suzui-san was it? I volunteered to go with Ren-Senpai as the teachers wouldn't go and ever since then we've been talking a lot, he's helped me so much since then. I don't think I will be able to pay back this debt for a long time… That being said I'm more interested in how the student council president knows Ren-Senpai and Ryuji-Senpai."
"Oh I'm not too sure if that's interesting, I was actually tasked by the principal to look into Ren here and keep an eye on him. He's basically branded as a criminal still but after getting to know him, me and the group just kind of clicked. It's a shame they all can't be here today." Makoto explained.
"Your group is bigger than this?" Sumire looked puzzled.
"Yeah, including us there's seven of us." Ryuji replied to her.
"Wow, I didn't know you were part of such a big friend group Ren-Senpai! Why have I not seen you talking to any of them until now?" Sumire turned to Ren who rubbed the back of his head.
"There are some circumstances." Ren then quickly changed the subject. "Now that we have eaten, do you want to start studying?"
"Let's get started." Makoto agreed as she took out her notebooks.
"Fine…" Ryuji sighed as he did the same.
"I forgot that was the reason why we even came here." Sumire added before taking out her class notes as well.
═════════•°• Take your time •°•═════════
"WE'RE DONE!" Ryuji exclaimed as he stood up, stretching his whole body.
"Good work today everyone." Makoto said as she put her notebooks away.
"Thank you so much Ren-Senpai, Makoto-Senpai, Ryuji-Senpai. I've managed to understand so much today!" Sumire expressed her appreciation.
"Nah, I didn't do much. If anything I was in the same position as you. Probably a bit worse though..." Ryuji responded as he took out his phone. "Oh crap! I should get goin'!" He quickly packed everything into his bag. "Seeya at school!"
"I should do the same." Makoto also got up. "Goodnight Ren, Sumire-san."
Ren and Sumire waved them both off as they left Leblanc.
"Do you want some coffee?" Ren asked.
"I-I'd love some." Sumire replied, a small grin creeped up on her face.
Ren got up and brewed a cup of coffee, after handing it to Sumire, he sat down on the opposite side of the booth.
"It smells delicious." Sumire exhaled after smelling the coffee. After taking a few sips she finally spoke up. "Now, onto what I wanted to talk to you about today. I wanted you to be the first person I notified."
"Go ahead." Ren urged her.
"Do you remember about that summer competition that I told you about before?" She asked.
Ren nodded.
"Well, I was chosen to be my club's representative!" Sumire flashed a bright smile.
"Congratulations." Ren smiled back.
Sumire giggled. "Thank you, this is only the beginning though. I still need to gain strong results at the actual competition!"
"I'll be cheering for you then. I might even come watch your competition if I have time." Ren replied nonchalantly.
"H-Huh!?" Sumire stuttered, her cheeks began to turn red.
"Senpai… coming to watch me…" she muttered so quietly that Ren didn't hear.
Is something wrong? What did you just say?
"N-Nothing!" she tried to refute before quickly changing the subject. "A-Anyway the competition is on the seventeenth of this month so if you are coming please let me know! I'll let coach know and she'll get you in!"
"I'll go, just tell me where the venue is and I'll be there .Is that all you wanted to tell me?" Ren asked as he tilted his head to one side slightly.
"W-Well, t-there's alshow…" Sumire fumbled the last word, prompting a chuckle from Ren. "I-It's not funny!" she pouted.
"Sorry." Ren said after stifling his laugh. "Carry on."
After a moment of Sumire psyching herself up, she looked and Ren straight in the eyes and opened her mouth.
"I-I was wondering if you wanted to go to the summer festival with me the day after the competition!" she finally got out.
Ren brought his hand to his chin and pondered for a bit. `The day after her competition huh… wait, isn't it gonna rain that day?` he glanced at Sumire who was looking at him with expectant eyes. `Shit.`
Ren closed his eyes for a moment before responding to her. "How about this. If you do well in the competition. I'll take you to the festival the next day, how's that sound?"
Sumire stared blankly, blinking a few times before snapping back into reality. "Y-Yes! It's a promise then!" she said as she got up. "I-I should really get going now! Goodnight Senpai!" she walked out, a light tinge of pink on her cheeks.
"Goodnight." Ren managed to get out before she exited the shop.
"Now then." Ren turned to the mess that was on the table. "Time to clean up and head to bed."
═════════•°• Take your time •°•═════════
7/16
After School
Ren stretched his neck after the last bell rang, signalling the end of the day. `The questions are exactly the same but it still takes a lot out of me.`
Pi Pi Pi Pi
Ren took out his phone to see a few messages in the group chat.
Ryuji: Do you all wanna go to the food festival tomorrow? Exams are over and all! I need an excuse to pig out!
Makoto: Sorry, I'll be busy tomorrow. I need to do a lot of shopping
Ryuji: That's fair… Ren?
Ren: Sorry, I kind of already promised someone something
Ryuji: Sumire, right?
Ren: How did you...
Ryuji: Dude, she's the only one you talk to outside of us lot, who else could it be?
Ren: That's...
Makoto: I've noticed this too Ren, you also invited her to the study session a couple days back. Is there something going on between you two?
Ren: We're just friends. Nothing more, nothing less. Anyway, Medjed will soon declare us as their enemies. We'll start infiltration soon after that, that all good with you two?
Ryuji: Alright man, just message me whenever!
Makoto: Likewise.
Ren exited the group chat only to get a private message from Ryuji, sighing at what the contents of the message entailed.
Ryuji: So what's actually the deal with Sumire?
Ren: What…?
Ryuji: Dude... a cute first year who's basically fawning over you. Don't tell me you haven't noticed somethin's up with that?
Ren: No? Like I said just a moment ago, we're just friends
Ryuji: …
Ryuji: Alright, whatever you say man. I'll seeya later
Ren put his phone away, half confused as he stood up from his desk. Slinging his bag on his shoulder before heading home.
═════════•°• Take your time •°•═════════
7/17
Early Morning
"So, the competition is today right?" Morgana asked as they ate breakfast.
"Yeah, Sumire gave me the address for the venue and what time it starts, it starts pretty early so we need to leave as soon as we finish eating." Ren replied.
"This competition will be a while right…?" Morgana asked, prompting a nod from Ren. "Yeah, I think I'll just hang around the area for a while… while I want to cheer on Sumire I don't want to sit still in that bag for hours on end…"
"That's fair enough, I'll drop you off before I go in." Ren said as he finished the last of his curry.
"Thank's Ren." Morgana sighed in relief before finishing his food.
Morning
Ren found himself standing in front of the venue Sumire told him about, he dropped off Morgana before heading into the reception area.
"Good morning sir." The receptionist greeted Ren as he walked in. "Are you here to watch the gymnastics competition or are you here for something else?"
"I'm here for the Gymnastics competition." Ren replied.
"Then please walk down this hallway and follow the signs, they will take you to where you want to go." The receptionist pointed in the direction he needed to go..
"Thank you." Ren bowed before heading down the hallway.
After following all the signs, he found his way to the hall where the competition was taking place. The stands were slowly filling up so Ren quickly made his way to an open space at the front and sat down.
He scanned the area and saw multiple girls in leotards on the competition floor speaking to their respective coaches. The middle of the area was covered in a mat with a set of tables and chairs on the sides, a few adults were standing near the tables. Three of them had special lanyards over their necks.
`The judges?` Ren thought to himself before he resumed scanning the area.
The sight of Sumire's red hair soon entered his line of sight from the far corner of the area. She wasn't wearing her usual glasses and her hair was tied up in a bun.
"Good luck." he muttered to himself before taking out his phone to kill time as he waited for the competition to start.
═════════•°• Take your time •°•═════════
Around an hour later, the stands had filled up a bit more but not many people were sitting around Ren.
"Attention, the competition will start shortly." A voice coming from multiple speakers around the hall said. "Please please make sure to turn your phones on silent to not disturb the contestants."
Ren complied, setting his phone to silent.
The judges were then introduced and shortly after, the first contestant was announced.
Ren absentmindedly watched all the performances while waiting for Sumire's turn.
"The last contestant of the competition today is Sumire Yoshizawa! Please step forward onto the mat!" The announcer exclaimed as Sumire nervously walked onto the mat as she looked around, locking her eyes on Ren.
Ren turned his brain back on as soon as Sumire's turn was announced and almost immediately noticed Sumire was looking at him. He shot a grin towards her and waved, she started fidgeting a bit before calming herself down. She walked to the middle of the mat and took up her starting position.
Sumire took a deep breath before she started her routine.
Ren watched intently as she performed, every spin, twirl, flip, jump, kick was ingrained in his mind. The motion of the ribbon in her hand captivated him as he stared in awe,
`She's been practising hard since the last time I saw her perform huh.` Ren smiled warmly as he looked at how concentrated she was. He glanced at the judges, all of them had impressed faces as they jotted down notes and observed intently.
Everything was going well until Sumire was right before the finisher, she was panting before doing a jump, her aim was off and landed on her ribbon, causing her to slip and fall.
Ren winced at the sight of her face planting the ground.
"That looked nasty…"
"She's done for."
"Damn dude, she was doing so well and everything."
"Serves her right, her sister should have been the one to survive."
Ren could hear some of the people around him talk about what just happened. He looked over to the judges who were writing stuff down while shaking their heads slightly.
He then turned his attention to Sumire who was on the floor, seemingly shell shocked at what just happened. He noticed tears had formed at the corners of her eyes as her body started to curl up.
`If she doesn't get up, she's finished…` Ren was trying to think about what to do. `I can't go down there and talk to her… damn it…`
`What do I do?`
Ren suddenly thought of something and stood up.
═════════•°• Take your time •°•═════════
Sumire lay there on the ground, her face hurting on the floor.
She could hear the giggles of the other contestants around her. They were laughing at her failure. She looked over to Coach Hiraguchi, who looked at her with a face full of worry.
`Why… I was doing so well, of course I had to screw up now…` She berated herself for being useless.
`Everything is over…` she felt her eyes water as she started to curl up into a ball. `Ren-Senpai even came to cheer me on… he's going to be so disappointed in me… he might even hate me...`
Sumire thought about Ren looking at her with disappointment, his sharp grey eyes piercing her soul.
`Senpai, don't go!` Her thoughts ran rampant as visions of Ren looked down on her, his face full of disgust as he turned around and started walking away before turning back once more. "Do you think Kasumi would have failed like you did?"
Even though it wasn't him saying that, just thinking about his voice uttering those words scared her. She started sobbing to herself as the judges stood up.
She looked up to where Ren was sitting to see no one there. Her face instantly fell as the one person that said they'd be cheering her on was gone.
`Makes sense he would go after that horrible failure... I'm done for…` was her last thought before a loud shout pierced through the air.
"SUMRIE YOSHIZAWA, DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP NOW!"
Sumire's face immediately shot up and looked around. The black haired boy known as Ren Amamiya stood at the entrance to the area where the contestants walked through.
"S-Senpai!?" She muttered, her face in complete surprise. "W-Why!? I had thought you'd left me."
Ren couldn't hear what she said so instead he put his thumbs up while flashing a beaming smile.
Sumire's eyes widened as she slowly got up. `Haha… I'm such an idiot... Ren-Senpai would never give up on me like that… I can't mess this up again…` She looked at the judges, who had already sat back down with their clipboards and pens at the ready.
She wiped her eyes before looking over at Ren once again, he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. `I can't let him down!` She steeled herself as she got into her starting position once again. `This is for you, Ren!`
Sumire took a deep breath before she started her routine from the beginning.
═════════•°• Take your time •°•═════════
`I can't believe I did that…` Ren chided himself for doing something he wouldn't normally do. `Well… if it cheered her up that's fine…`
He then focused on Sumire who got back up and back into her starting position. She once again started her routine. Every move she did was more graceful than the previous one, fully captivating everyone who was watching. She effortlessly got past the bit where she failed last time and finished the routine with a bow.
After a moment of silence, the whole hall erupted with cheers and clapping. The judges were hastily writing things down as Sumire made her way over to Ren.
"I knew you could do it." Ren called out to her.
Sumire froze up when she heard his voice. `He doesn't hate me…` she sighed in relief before meeting her eyes with his.
"T-Thank you Senpai! B-But I wouldn't have been able to do it without you here!" Sumire looked down while playing with her hands.
"I was just the one who gave you that push." Ren shook his head. "In the end, you were one who performed spectacularly.
"Sumire, that was amazing!" Hiraguchi walked up to the two while looking impressed. "Ren-kun, it's ok that I call you that right? Thanks to you Sumire managed to get back on her feet and finish her routine. I fully expected her to give up after the fall, she has weak self esteem after all. Well, I'm glad it worked out differently." she gave Sumire a pat on the back.
"Attention, the results of the competition will be announced shortly. All contestants please gather on the mat." The announcer cut their talk short.
"You should go." Ren urged them to go. "I'll speak to you after the results, alright?"
"Alright Senpai, I don't know If i managed to place because of that mistake but I'll talk to you later!" Sumire made her way over to the mat and stood in the line of other contestants.
"That performance she did was breathtaking." Hiraguchi spoke up after Sumire had left. "That little shout you did had so much of an impact on her it's almost scary… I'm only her coach so I can only teach her and give her advice on gymnastics and training. Thank you Ren-kun."
"Don't worry about it. She's my friend after all." Ren responded.
"Friends…? I thought you were more than that already…" Hiraguchi muttered quietly so that Ren couldn't hear.
"Sorry what did you say?" Ren questioned her.
"Nothing at all. The results are being said now so let's listen in shall we?" Hiraguchi quickly changed the topic back to the competition as the announcer called out.
"Thank you all for coming to today's competition. We will now announce the results." The announcer bowed towards the crowd.
"Now without further ado let us announce how everyone did." The announcer started.
What was a few seconds felt like years for Sumire as she waited on her name to be called out.
Name after name was being called out but Sumire's hadn't come up yet.
`Why hasn't my name come up yet, I'm pretty sure that fall I had damaged my score by a lot…` Sumire started panicking.
"In third place… Sumire Yoshizawa!" The announcer finally called out her name.
`Third place!? Me!?` Sumire was in shock as she walked up to the judges to collect her trophy.
After shaking the hands of all the judges, the last one who seemingly had the highest authority spoke to her. "It's a shame about that fall you had but the routine you performed afterwards basically knocked us all off our feet. I look forward to your future, especially if you have someone like him backing you up." The judge shot a smirk, causing Sumire to blush heavily before she said her thanks and walked off.
Endnotes:
Hello! Within the next few days, I'll be doing some edits on my earlier chapters
to make the formatting in my fic a bit more consistent. I don't think
it's worth re-reading when it does update but just letting you all know!
Thank you for reading!