Prelude To Fate II
The conversation with Harry at the shrine was surprisingly lengthy. Harry went over some of Chaldea's missions. After giving an offering to the shrine, Harry and Ren did end up walking to the nearest Big Bang Burger where the pair talked in great detail about what other places Chaldea operates. By the end of it, Ren's interest grew immensely. He soon found himself negotiating a contract with Harry.
The negotiating process was lengthy; Harry soon had to travel to Kyoto for another blood drive. He needed to cut a good deal soon. After a week or so of negotiations, Ren signed the contract and informed everyone about his new choice in career.
He told everyone except Sumire. He couldn't quite figure out how to break the news to his girlfriend.
—-
It has been three days since Ren signed up for Chaldea. Ren, all of his closest friends save for Sumire, Zenkichi, and Sophia gathered for another reunion.
Last Ren had heard, Sumire was over in another prefecture and won't be getting back until tomorrow. Zenkichi was busy with business with Public Security as he always. Sophia was visiting a seminar with her creator at the Tatsumi Port Island about developments and breakthroughs in AI.
Today, they were in the Wilton Hotel Restaurant in a private dining area reserved by Haru to celebrate their reunion and Ren's new job after graduation. The evening consisted of conversations of catching up, reminiscing about what went on during their palace heists, arguments about nothing, and last but not least, what the rest of the Phantom Thieves plan to do for their future.
"I spoke with Karou the other day," Ren said after Ryuji went over a play-by-play on what happened with the track team's last competition. Ryuji looked confused for a moment " Iwai Karou." Ren added, ensuring the blond understood. "You guys made it to the nationals last I heard."
"Hell yeah! Man!" Ryuji responded joyfully. "Get this; There was a scout from Tokyo U there that wants to sign me up for a scholarship. How awesome is that? Man its has been a tough year in rehab. It finally feels like I am where I want to be."
"A scholarship does sound good. Don't you have to keep your grades up?" Morgana said with a teasing tone in his voice. "I give it about a semester before you lose it."
"What did you say... Cat?"
"Hey, I'm not a ca-" Morgana yelled back. Before the pair could begin to argue, an unexpected arrival came in the form of a certain red-haired girl with glasses.
"Sumire?" Ren almost yelled as he stood up. In one swift motion, he rushed over to where she was, grabbed the red-headed girl, and pulled her into a hug. The entirety of the Phantom Thieves went silent as they began to observe the pair amusingly. "I thought you wouldn't be back until next Friday."
"Nationals are pretty much done on my end. I managed to get a ride back early." Sumire responded shyly. Her face was getting as red as her hair as her boyfriend tightened his embrace. "Oi… Senpai.; Please, not in front of everyone here!" the girl said. The rest of the thieves all wore smiles of amusement as Sumire gave the group a questioning look.
"You didn't tell him I was coming?" She asked
"We wanted it to be a surprise," Ryuji said with a chuckle.
"We also wanted to see that reaction," Anne said with a laugh of her own. "I've got to say red does compliment you well." Sumire shot the blond girl an exasperated look.
"Truly, seeing a young maiden in love brings me the greatest of inspiration," Yusuke said as he adjusted his hands over his head formed them into the shape of a frame.
"I was about to tell him right before we began eating. However, everyone was insistent that I hold off," Makoto added. Her tone is very apologetic.
"Well, grab a seat," Haru said, gesturing the table. "Ryjuji just finished telling us about his scholarship. I'm sure you have some similar going on as well…"
"Yeah, we can also fill you in on Ren's new job after graduation."
"New job?" Sumire quirked her eyebrow. "I thought he was going into a university.
"That right, I meant to tell you," Ren responded nervously, as several disbelieving looks pointed toward the leader of the Phantom thieves. I didn't have the time…"
It was going to be a long night. Ren thought.
—
After five more plates of food (Six plates for Morgana; He was savoring the fish dishes.) and Sumire telling her story of the places, she visited the topic soon turned to Ren to his sign up for Chaldea. Sumire notably remained silent through his explanation. While she did manage to hide it, Ren could his girlfriend was upset with his choice.
"It still seems a little sketchy to me. I'm not going to lie." Ryuji said after he swallowed a spoon of rice. He went for some pork using his fork. "I mean... don't get me wrong; You're getting a shit load of money plus that scholarship.
"How did you get that scholarship deal," Futaba asked while readjusting her glasses. "I've hacked into Chaldea's Japan branch servers; The contract they gave out to recruits did not mention anything about a scholarship."
"Wait... Why did you hack Chaldea?" Ren asked with a frown.
"Needed to make sure they were on the up and up," Futaba replied, then took a sip of her soda. "They didn't exactly make it easy either. Their cybersecurity is pretty advanced. So spill! How'd you sweeten the deal more?"
Ren sighed as the girl didn't seem to let it go. He began to tell the group about how he placed his negotiation skills to use.
"It wasn't that hard. The man seemed overly eager to get me to sign up in the first place, so It was pretty easy negotiating the terms of my contract. I hope he's getting that nice bonus. It feels like I'm getting more: A full scholarship to any college, paid overtime if the Organization had to deal with any ongoing crises. Takezawa-san even said I could even get a semester of college in before I begin my work properly with Chaldea. He even recommended a college closely affiliated with Chaldea in London. I'll be starting the General Studies program over there come this fall.
"And this is all legit?"
"Don't worry, I contacted Sae about this. she had an acquaintance look over the particulars of the contract. The Acquaintance sounded jealous that I'm getting a deal this good."
"It sounds like you're going to be away for a while. Are you even going to be able to come back during the holiday seasons?" Ryuuji asked.
"I probably won't be back until next summer," Ren replied.
"Oh...That's…" Sumire said quietly. Ren looked at his girlfriend, observing her, and quickly came to one realization: That him being gone for that long would be anything "nice"; He'll have to talk to her after the party.
"Hey man, Tokyo is pretty much a second home. Not to mention you can always keep in touch with us over chat." The blond teen said happily, throwing his arms around his shoulder. "Make sure to message or call us now and then. And remember: If you ever get into deep shit out there, call us. We'll come after you no matter where you are."
"Hell yeah!" Ann yelled.
"Well put Ryuuji." Yukuske said.
"Summertimes are going to feel pretty empty without you two," Makoto said with a smile. "Make sure to keep in touch."
"Hopefully, you won't be too busy out there to sent a text in group chat," Haru commented. "University courses are picking up; It's been getting hard for me at least."
"Don't worry. I'll be there to remind the group." Morgana said smugly. The cat then paused as he realized something about that statement. He spoke again and asked. "Are you allowed to bring cats with you?"
"I can contact Harry and see," Ren said. He figured he could squeeze one more concession out of the Chaldean staff member. If not, he could always leave him with Futaba and Sojiro for the year.
After the rest of the former thieves uttered similar statements of more congratulations and reminders to keep in touch, the next topic of conversation turned to what the rest of the former Phantom Thieves were doing for the rest of the year:
Ann was planning on another return trip to the U.S for a fashion show. Futaba became a Studen Council Treasurer. Makoto was making top marks in her university. Haru had for once learned to drive a little more carefully. Ren had wondered what Haru's definition of careful meant.
It was around Eleven at night when things finally wound down. The party had reached its end; The group parted ways. Ren and Sumire are the last ones to leave. The tension was high between them.
After figuring that there was likely going to be a need to talk about Ren's new development, Morgana wisely decided to leave with Futaba.
—
A cab picked the pair up. The silence was painful entering the car. The second-year girl and the third-year boy were both hesitant to start talking. After an agonizing five minutes of silence, Ren decided to speak first.
"I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you sooner…"
"No, it's fine," Sumire replied, her arms wrapping around Ren's arm as they walked to the train station. "We've both been busy. It's an awesome opportunity. It's just…"
"What we have planned is now no longer possible," Ren finished her sentence for her."At least not for the immediate future." He added
The pair were looking forward to seeing each other a bit more. Ren and Sumire even talked about setting aside days for dates. He was more than confident enough to get entry into a nearby University. Sumire was sure she'd be able to do the same as well. Signing up for a new career path that would take her boyfriend millions of miles away was a shock to her.
Ever since nationals began and Ren's third year kicked into full swing, it was getting increasingly harder not only to text and call each other but organize a time to visit the other. Sumire was always busy traveling and practicing before a competition. Ren was busy prepping up for entrance exams, communicating became harder and harder.
"Why did you sign up for Chaldea?"The red-haired girl asked
"Truthfully? I wanted to do get out in the world. From what you were telling me: The world outside of Japan was both wonderful, strange, and different. I'd personally like to go into the U.S Mainland and experience how wild things are. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit envious.
"You? Jealous of me? That's a little hard to believe."
"I've been jealous of the fact that you and the rest of our merry band of misfits have a full sense of where you're going with your lives," Ren responded, gazing at the window absently. "Me? After dealing with Shido and the Grail during winter and solving the Incident with Emma during the summer, I've discovered that I've only felt truly fulfilled being a Phantom Thief. Everyone else was able to discover and move forward after killing those false gods. Myself though; I still haven't exactly moved on. I'm hoping that getting away from Japan, helping others across the world will allow me to move forward somehow."
Another stretch of silence greeted the pair once Ren finished explaining his reasoning. Sumire expression throughout their entire conversation attentive throughout and turned contemplative towards the end. There was another long stretch of silence before the gymnast finally spoke:
"Thinking about it, I suppose it should not have come as such a surprise. Whenever you talk about breaking into palaces and Jails, you've always seemed to light up a lot more whenever we talked about something that was not school-related or hometown-related.
Ren had grimaced when his girlfriend mentioned his hometown. Despite having his name cleared, he was still subject to scrutiny and gossip. He still felt like an outsider in his hometown.
His only escape from that feeling was hanging out with Morgana and speaking on group chat with the rest of the Phantom Thieves whenever they were free to talk.
"You also sounded like you had a hard time deciding on what career you wanted to talk about with your homeroom teacher. Taking all of this account, you leaving Japan might be best for you." Sumire said, her expression growing sad. One could tell that saying it out loud was rather painful for the younger Phantom Thief.
"I can postpone my departure, maybe stay an extra few months. I can come in the semester after…"
"No," Sumire rejected, shooting the leader a sad smile."If you don't do this now, you may never really fill that empty feeling in your heart. I've been similar space before senpai. It's not good to let situations like that stagnate. Sometimes you have to do something drastic to move forward." Her hand wrapped around his and squeezed it.
Something drastic: Yoshizawa's words echoed into his head. Before his first foray into phantom thievery, he was simply a high school student who was dead set on getting into college and getting a decent-paying job afterward. Then after Shido's actions and getting drawn into a false god's game, Ren had found new meaning and purpose in becoming a Phantom Thief. Up until the Metaverse vanished for the first time, Ren legitimately thought he'd be changing hearts right into adulthood.
The reality is the Metaverse did vanish and only returned very briefly during the EMMA incident. Ren had to search for a new path.
For a while, he hadn't the faintest clue on what he was going to do. Then, Chaldea came to town; One blood donation later, and Ren sound found himself with the prospect of traveling the world and helping others at a much grander scale. True, he didn't have the power the change hearts anymore. From the way Chaldea operates, he'd still be helping many people through humanitarian work rather than supernatural means.
After a good few minutes, Ren nodded, smiled, and kissed the gymnast; It elicited a blush and surprise from the younger girl.
"Thank you." Ren softly spoke.
"Your welcome, Just promise me that if anything happens out there, you'll call for help," Sumire responded. She pressed her head to Ren's shoulder.
"Yes, I'll make sure to ask you and the rest of our team for their help should the situation ever arise," Ren replied.
To be honest, he couldn't imagine how in the world the other Phantom Thieves would be able to reach him if he was millions of miles away. Stranger things have happened. He wouldn't put it past his friend to perform some kind of miracle.
"That's all I ask," Sumire responded. With that said, the rest of their journey home passed into a more comfortable silence. The ride passed in a blink of an eye. Before Ren knew it, He was already kissing his girlfriend goodbye. Shortly after Sumire's departure, the cab soon took him back to Le Blanc.
—
"Thanks, Maruki-san," Ren said as the cab reached Yongen-aya and stopped a nearby ally way.
"Anytime Amamiya-san." The cab driver in glasses said politely.
"You do know you can refer to me as Ren now. We've known each other for a while." Ren chuckled.
"Only if you start calling me Takuto." The cab driver said with a smile.
"Takuto it is then.."Ren chuckled.
Takuto Maruki was at one point Ren's enemy during the Winter Break last year. When Yaldabaoth had fallen, Maruki ended up usurping his power. Using that power, he attempted to create an ideal world. He did it by robbing others of their will and freedom. Naturally, he came to blows with Ren and the Phantom Thieves. Maruki lost. After everything that's happened, Ren retains a strong bond and friendship with him.
Whenever he returned to Tokyo during his breaks, he would always call on the former school counselor to give him a ride back to his home. He did this mainly to speak with him and find out how he's been holding up. He even tagged along on Maruki's workday whenever Ren had any extra time to spare during school breaks.
"I'm glad you've sorted things out with Yoshizawa-san," Maruki said when he opened the door for Ren. Ren nodded and stepped out. "She seemed pretty upset when you both got in."
"I did make an impulsive choice without telling her," Ren responded. The pair leaned to the side of the parked car. It was their usual routine after Maruki would take Ren back home. They would spend time talking before Ren decided to retire to his bed. Meanwhile, Maruki was checking his Phone App to see if there are any other fares.
"That's right: You're joining Chaldea after graduation. They have been the talk of the town lately."
"You should join too."
"I don't think they require cab drivers," Maruki responded. He paused slightly. He considered how absurd it would be for such a wealthy organization to ask for a cab driver. Considering how Chaldea was spending its money, he supposed it wouldn't be that surprising. "Do they?" he asked curiously with eyebrows raised.
"I was browsing their job openings on their website. It looks like there is an opening for a Counselor at one of the Japanese branches." Ren replied. "Why don't you get back into it. If Chaldea isn't your cup of tea, I'm sure there are all sorts of places that still need therapists."
The former therapist's eyes grew distant at the mention of returning to work as a counselor; The idea had been in the back of his mind whenever he consoled a customer that was down on their luck. Still, the memories echoed during his time as a Palace ruler and his change of heart.
While he had moved on from losing his place as a top researcher in cognitive pscience, he had trouble moving on from losing his fiancé. That type of loss was an entirely different animal. Maruku's change of heart may have prevented him from robbing the world of its free will; It did little to erase the gap that losing Ruri left behind.
"Someday maybe," Maruki sighed. "There are still things I have to work out before I do so." The Cab driver replied.
"I'm looking forward to when that day comes," Ren said.
After speaking that last sentence, Ren stood up from his leaning position, began to make his way to Le Blanc.
"Although I gave up therapy, I'm still willing to you lend an ear when you need it," Maruki said to Ren. The former Phantom Thief simply smiled and waved at the man before he made his way back.
"Just remember what I said before: If things become too much for you, it's okay to take a step back and think things through."
"I'll always keep that in mind."
—-
Time passed in a blink of an eye for Ren Amamiya. One moment he was on a train ride returning to Aikgawa; The next moment, he was in homeroom in his usual seat at school with Morgana quietly sitting in his bag. Seasons came and seasons faded in what felt like a heartbeat.
Before the former Phantom Thief knew it, Ren and Morgana were soon on a twelve-hour flight to the United Kingdom. The journey was uncomfortable but reaching the destination all the more worth it.
Pretty soon, they were wandering the streets of London in search of their new home and new future.
"Hey, Ren," Morgana whispered.
"What is it? I'm busy?" Ren said, looking through his phone, trying to find directions to Chaldea's London branch.
"Do you think you'll find what you need here?"
After fiddling more with the GPS on his smartphone, google maps finally saw fit to load the directions.
"Found you!" Ren said triumphantly to his phone. Then he focused on the question proposed by the cat hiding in his backpack. "You mean finding a new purpose?"
"Yeah. That?"
Ren looked around at the bustling London crowds. It was ten in the morning when they flew in. It is rush hour. On the surface, the atmosphere was no different than in Tokyo but seeing different kinds of people and the different energy they give off was refreshing in its way.
"Truthfully? I may not find that same satisfaction I've spent the past year hunting. At the very least, I am helping others in some way. I know I'll never achieve anything close to what I did back in Japan. Maybe I can get close to it working for Chaldea. If not, I'll have plenty of money by the end of this contract. I can begin pursuing other options."
"Well, whatever happens, I'm with you until the end of the line." Morgana finished with a smile.
"Thanks, Morgana."
The pair fell silent now as Ren followed the directions outlined by the GPS. Within fifteen minutes, they quickly made their way to the London Headquarters first to orientation than to their assigned apartment to rest up for tomorrow and truly began the next chapter in their lives.
Little did they know. In a few months, the fate of existence would once again
lie in their hands. A new fate awaits this Wild Card. This upcoming battle will demand all the will and wisdom he had forged to this day.