Hello! Here again. This story is moving along quite slowly. Not really, just that I've got rewrites of confidants and the whole damn thing to do, so this is going to be one wild ride, ladies and gents!

No warnings, as per usual! :D

Chapter 3

April 13th, 2016 [Wed]

Ren, fortunately, is left completely out of the volleyball practice, being appointed to sit by the wall, watching Kamoshida spiking into everyone and everything, as if to vent out his rage, as if to fuel his ego to the highest reaches.

He lets Sakamoto's words roll over and off him, not bothering enough to try to hear what the other boy is saying, only managing to catch a glimpse of what he's conveying. Ren doesn't agree to the boy's plan of action to just ask everyone to confess – that will never work, that's something Ren knows all too well will backfire against them sooner or later – but he isn't sure what they could do about this. He has… an inkling of what he should be doing, but he doesn't want to go through with his instinct.

After hours of volleyball rallies, he ends up at the vending machine, pointlessly trying to secure himself a can of coffee he couldn't possibly afford. But his stomach is growling after all the shenanigans he has been up to these past few days, and Sakura's curry couldn't stifle his hunger anymore. He still couldn't find himself a job, so he's stuck with less than three thousand yen with his person. But before he could buy anything, he hears footsteps coming, and turns around to see Takamaki – the one that has introduced herself to him on his first day, the one who looks so sad and downcast all the time – approaching him with a contempt look, one of distrust and discontent.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" She says, hands on her hips, her eyes scrutinizing every bit of his being like a panther watching her prey. Ren feels himself shrinking back, every sinews and bones strained and strung in the open air, ready to snap at a moment's notice. He has to breathe deeply a few times to reign those wild thoughts in – not now, he couldn't afford to be expelled here, lest all of his flimsy, new-found resolves be turned into dust.

"…Sure," He decides to say, his voice low and raspy. He doesn't attempt to correct it.

His read happens to be, unfortunately, true. "What's with you? Like, how you were late the other day and lying about it? Not to mention the weird rumors about you—"

She's the same as everyone else. She sees and believes the rumors at first glance, but who wouldn't? Who wouldn't, when it came from a teacher, when it came from ones with authority? "If you want me to clarify the rumors, then yes, all of them are true (No, they're not true, but what's the point when no one believes you, would believe you?), and I'm a fucking murderer in the making."

She visibly flinches at the words that sound more venomous than he has intended, all the hostility melting away like a thin sheet of ice under the afternoon sun. She stammers a little, her face wrought with guilt Ren doesn't trust. "No, that's – that's not what I—"

"What d'you want with him?"

Ren is snapped out of his adrenaline-fueled anger, and feels the tension leaving him instinctively (no, that isn't a good sign, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't help feeling happy that someone's coming to his defense) as Sakamoto walks up, the limp a little clearer, perhaps because of all the ball boy role he has to do during the many rallies. After a long look between the two of them, Ren decides to say, walking over to the other boy, leaving a wide berth between him and Takamaki. "S'nothing, she just wants to clarify something, that's all."

"Oh? Clarify what?" Sakamoto says, the question isn't directed at Ren, but at her. He glances to see Takamaki biting her lip, her eyes looking away. That's not guilt, that's a face of someone who's been caught, is all, Ren thinks. They will never feel guilt, not the ones who believe only the rumors, not the ones who seems hell bent on knowing what kind of atrocity he has committed. "What're you making him say, dude? You want a go with me?"

"Wait – how's that has anything to do with anything?" Takamaki hisses, defensive. "I just want to know why he'd lie about being late. And I just—"

"He's my friend, Takamaki," Sakamoto hisses, voice low and dripping with aggressiveness that Ren is glad is not pointed at him. It makes every ending of his nerves singe, and he could feel himself running away – he probably would, had Arsene not stopped him with a pat to his spine to calm him down. "God damnit, I can't believe even you would fall for the rumors. What the hell."

"Hey, I didn't—!" She protests, her eyes glancing at Ren then back at the other boy. "I didn't mean that rumor! I mean the one—"

"I'm leaving," Ren says, looking at her briefly before trailing his eyes back towards Sakamoto. "You coming, Sakamoto?"

"Yeah, sure," The boy hums. "See ya. Or not."

He quickly walks away, mindful enough to let Sakamoto catch up with his bad leg. After they're out of anyone's earshot, Ren mumbles out. "…Thanks."

"For what?" The boy asks, as if Ren's saying something completely out of the norm, as if him thanking the other boy is something he shouldn't do. When Ren gives him an odd look, Sakamoto grins, reaching up his hand as if to pat his shoulder. He doesn't, in the end (probably because Ren flinches away, or maybe because he remembers himself), and continues. "I mean, it's what friends do for each other, yeah?"

"If you say so," Ren says. The concept of actual friends who do not come close to him for leverage or money or service or anything else is new and foreign, something out of a fairy tale, something that makes his heart dances with hope and makes his mind screams with distrust. It is new, and he isn't sure if he likes it, hates it, neither, or both. "Anyways… I've heard something."

"Heard what?"

"Everyone knows," Ren says. He has heard of it in passing, and has seen this happened before – to himself, at the very least – so he knows they can't just make the others talk. When Sakamoto looks at him, lost and dumbfounded, Ren clarifies. "…I've seen this before. The principal, the parents, they must've known for a while about this. But they choose to keep quiet."

"Wha – why? Why would they do that!?" He says, his voice rising, enough for some of the students to look their ways. His school life is fucked anyways, so Ren doesn't pay them much mind. "Why won't they—"

"Because Kamoshida's existence gives them a reassurance, a place in the world. It's a give-or-take," Ren explains, nudging the other boy's foot and pointing towards the corner where everyone else wouldn't pry. Then, when he's sure they're not seen again, he continues. "Human relation exists as a resource, like money – and they're allowing all of this because his presence here brings the school fame, and brings the member of the volleyball team a good name, that's all."

"For real?" The boy hisses. Something then flashes across his eyes, something like a recognition. One that melts into his being and slipping away like grains of sand through his fingertips. "Dude, I… I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Ren mumbles, scratching the back of his head. "Just… let's sleep on this, for now. If we're going to do something about it, we need to think it through."

"Yeah, you're right," The other boy sighs. "Man, this is so bullshit on so many levels. Why would anyone let this happen to their own children?"

His father would be delighted to have him under Kamoshida's command. His lessons would've been carried out splendidly, Ren thinks bitterly, the feeling of hand on his throat and knuckles on his face returning like a bolt of lightning. He bites the inside of his cheek as he forces the thoughts away. "…Anyways, let's go back for today. I'm tired."

"Sure, dude," Sakamoto says easily, a grin on his face. He seems like he wants to say something, but doesn't, in the end. "If you need help, text me, 'kay? I'll be there whenever you need me to."

Ren still doesn't trust anyone, but perhaps… this boy might be someone he could put his faith in.

(He just hopes that this faith won't come back to prove him wrong like that woman did.)

April 14th, 2016 [Thur]

"We can't tell the police, we can't sneak attack him… what do we do, man?"

They're sitting by the vending machine downstairs. Ren lets himself relaxes – something he never manages to do on his own for a long time, now – with Sakamoto beside him. As it is, he feels like he should try to take that leap of faith, just this one. Sakamoto seems decent enough, and he's proven himself a few times now that he cares more than he should, that he actually thinks of Ren as a friend without the need to get something in return. So, yes; he allows himself to relax just slightly in the presence of the other boy, his fingers twirling that bottle of lemonade, one that Sakamoto just promptly bought for him without Ren even asking.

"Maybe – that king in the castle?" Ren tries, uncapping the bottle and taking a long sip, letting the taste of bland and biting lemonade sliding down his throat and settling deep in his empty stomach. He hasn't been eating lunch for nearly a week, now, and it's starting to get to him. He ignores the growl of bowels, one that demands for more food to be delivered. "Morgana did say that place is born from a cognition, right? If something in there changes, would something here changes, too?"

"…I've never thought of that before, but… huh, yeah maybe—"

"I finally found you!"

Someone says, voice high-pitched and small, like a child. Ren frowns – that's definitely not Sakamoto, and the other boy seems to think the same. Ren then catches a glimpse of a tail – black, with white tuff and the tip, eyes as bright a blue as lapis lazuli, ones that shine with intelligence. Ren feels his jaw slackens just the tiniest bits before he murmurs out. "…Morgana?"

"Yep, that's me!" The cat says, eyes alternating between the two of them. "How dare you just left me the other day without paying back the kindness—"

"Don't kid yourself," Ren snaps, anger taking over rather than fear. It's a new feeling that's unpleasant and foul, one that makes him sick, one that he cannot stop from taking control as he lets the words pass between his lips like a stench of a rotting corpse. "Kindness? What you did isn't kindness. It's a trade, a give or take. My power for yours to use."

Morgana blinks at him, paws pulling back a little, his fur standing up on their roots. "Say whatever you want, but that, to me, is the act of kindness—"

"Sakamoto, let's go," Ren bites out, deep seated anger that he doesn't know what to do with settling at the pit of his stomach. "This thing will never admit it. Just like the rest of them." Just like those people who said they weren't taking from him, when all they ever did is to take something from him by pretending that it's something he should've done in response to their kindness.

If he wants to say something, Sakamoto doesn't in the end, clamping his mouth shut and nodding once, even if he's eyeing Morgana with something behind his expression, something like a plea, or a few words left unspoken. But before either of them could leave, Morgana heaves out a sigh. "…Alright, fine, how about this? I've heard you two talking about dealing with this Kamoshida. You can't do it in the real world, and you're thinking that maybe you could through the other world, right?"

Ren narrows his eyes – Morgana is a sly one, shifting his tongue as easily as breathing. A give and take, a favor for a favor. If that's how he wants to play, then that's how Ren will see him – as the same as those people, the same as his father and the rest of them. So, he simply nods, crossing his arms over his chest, his limbs tight and ready to run. "A favor for a favor. If we can deal with Kamoshida by means of that other world of yours, then I'm listening. What do you want?"

"I could tell you a thing or two," The cat says with a sly smile, one that Ren sees overlapping with his father's, and his mother's and his friends. He is beneath Morgana, is what Ren gleans from that subtle, nigh negligible body language.

"God, that condescending attitude!" Sakamoto groans, tipping his head backwards, mimicking what Ren is feeling down to the minutest of details. "There's no doubt 'bout it, this thing really is Morgana."

"You were still doubting me!?"

They, thankfully, quiet down upon hearing some teachers talking about finding a cat that has slipped through the cracks in the walls. Ren rolls his eyes, motioning his hand. "Let's get out of here first. I don't want us getting found out so early."

"…You're right. Here—" Sakamoto grabs the cat (the not-cat?) by the back of his neck, putting him up and stuffing him almost carefully (almost being the keyword) inside his bag. When Morgana squirms, the other boy just points at him. "—Look, this is the best way for you to hide. Now shut up, I'll let you out as soon as we find ourselves a place."

Ren sighs, allowing them to bicker and banter as he follows after Sakamoto as he leads them up to the rooftops – somewhere quiet, somewhere calm.

Once there, Sakamoto lets the cat out. When he's sure that the cat is not going to complain, he says, "So? If we can deal with Kamoshida in there, then tell us."

A favor for a favor. Your information for my powers, is what Ren has left unspoken.

Morgana seems to have picked that up, because his face, non-human as it is, suddenly sours. But he recovers quickly as he nods.

And then, Morgana starts explaining, what the Palace actually represents – that it is a way the Ruler sees the school, and that if they manage to bring down his castle, stealing his desires, they might be able to sway the man, too; destroying his distorted, dark desires that shouldn't have been. Ren doesn't really believe everything Morgana had said, because it could be a lie. He'll only believe it when he sees it for himself.

He allows Sakamoto to actually fall for that trap (it's always a trap. Even a favor for a favor, a deal for a deal, most of them would lie to get the leverage that they want), hanging back and rubbing at the scar on his shoulder, one that is burning, one that reminds him the danger of trust. But then, Ren realizes that Morgana is holding onto the most important piece of information— "How do we destroy the Palace?"

"By stealing his Treasure," The cat says with a small smirk, his whiskers shifting just minutely under the afternoon sun. "But I won't tell you until you agree to go ahead with this. Help me out, and I'll help you. What's your call?"

Ren doesn't want to take it – it's a deal weighted in Morgana's favor, one that they have no chance of balancing out, one that would leave the both of them at a disadvantage. But Sakamoto is hell bent on bringing Kamoshida down (it's the right thing to do, and it's what the strong would want to do, while the weak like him would just cower in fear and let it all happen), so Ren sighs. He decides to see this through, to actually have faith in Sakamoto, so he might as well go through with this. "Fine. What do you want?"

"Good, so—" A pause, one that seems contemplative "—One thing I should tell you. If we erase a Palace, there is no doubt that the person's distorted desires will be erased. But desires are what we all need to survive; the will to sleep, eat, those kind of things. So, if we take the desires—"

"—There is a chance that if we go about this wrong, they will lose that desire to live, and they'll shut down completely," Ren finishes, bile rising up to his throat, one that he promptly swallows back down against the burn at the back of his mouth. Of course, this has to happen, of course there would be some kind of catch to this deal. This a favor for a favor, like always, is weighted from the beginning, and not to his side.

"For real, though!?" Sakamoto exclaims. "Then they'd die!? And it'd be our fault!"

"Just – listen!" Morgana snaps, tail waving lazily back and forth. "This is your only option, isn't it? There is a chance he might end up dead, but we'll never be found out anyways!"

"That's not the effing point!" Sakamoto snarls. "If we do whatever the hell we want, we'll be no better than him! What about you, man?"

"…I'll have to agree with you," Ren murmurs, a finger on his chin. "But then again, this is our only option. No one will talk. If we want to deal with him, we might have to take this risk."

"…I'll come back when you've decided," Morgana says, pointedly looking at Ren with disdain, then back at Sakamoto. He then hops away, but not before saying, "Don't take too long."

Ren is then left with Sakamoto on the rooftop, with a distinct taste of bile and gastric acid in his mouth.

He tries to ignore Takamaki, he really does, but she is loud.

He could surmise from what he's heard that a teacher – probably Kamoshida, if he has to take a wild, half-educated guess – is arguing with her, something about another person's starting position. A favor for a favor, as it always has been, always will be. So, his gut has been right, all along; those sad looks in her eyes and the way she seems to break down right after the call confirms everything he thinks. She is the same as him – not quite yet, but she soon will, if given too much time.

When the call ends, she curls up into herself, crying just minutely under all the bustling of the underground halls of the subway. Ren just looks ahead, staring at nothing in particular, but Arsene's insistent nagging is getting to him. Ignore it, just ignore it, he keeps repeating to himself. But, in the end, he has to cave in when the Prince's laughter turns into angered roar, one that demands for his attention, one that makes him move, one that makes him do things he doesn't want to.

(In the end, that promise of freedom is not real. Arsene is just using him for some grand game that he wants Ren to play, and he has to abide by, because how could he focus with this kind of uproar in his own chest?)

"Kamoshida is using your friend against you, then?" Ren says quietly, just loud enough for her and her alone to hear.

She jumps, standing up with her arms up, guarded and careful, distrustful. Ren's seen it all too many times before in the mirror, on the water's surface, on his own reflection at the hood of a car he's cleaned to a mirror's sheen. He waits, and waits – tears are collecting at the corner of her eyes, and she looks like she will lash out the moment he twitches even the smallest of muscles. When he doesn't, she just growl, low and threatening. Like a cornered animal. "Were you eavesdropping?"

"Not by choice," He says, glancing back to the furthest wall, staring at nothing in particular. He could feel his own reflection starting back at him, of hands on him, of something disgusting everywhere, burning his skin to a crisp under its baleful touch. He remembers Shiho to be that volleyball player (Suzui Shiho, he thinks) with bruises that shape like fingertips on her wrists and her neck. "…A favor for a favor."

"…What?"

"You, for your friend's starting position," Ren says simply, garnering himself a look he couldn't quite place fully, but a part of it is clear enough – a look of fear, of contempt, of disgust. She doesn't like Ren finding out, and he doesn't like the way she's looking at him. He sighs, shaking his head – this is not his problem. He's doing this to see if his faith in Sakamoto would be right, not for her. For himself, for his chance to actually give someone else the wings of rebellion that could fly.

(His are featherless and chained and smudged with the tar of fear and indifference for far too long. That kind of wings cannot fly – but they could be used as weapons. They could beat in time with the thrums of his heart, calling for retributions from those who are wicked and cruel.

He will use his battered, broken wings as weapons to give people a chance to fly. Maybe she could. He doesn't need to like her (because she's just like everyone else), he doesn't need to know her, but maybe – maybe she could fly in his stead, could take herself off the ground with her own wings of fire that would rebel against the cold cruelty of a beast that has masked himself as a teacher.

Maybe… that's enough for him. Maybe that's okay.)

"…What?"

"…I am not doing this for you. I'm doing this for myself," Ren says, hearing the distinct whistle of the train coming to him. He ignores it, glancing towards Takamaki briefly before turning his attention back to the LED lights that shift and shine brightly against the dim light of the underground platform. "But I plan on taking Kamoshida down. And I'm going to see it through."

"What are you talking about—?"

Ren doesn't wait for her answer as he steps into the train, leaving her behind to cry her heart out on the platform that is cold and uncaring.

(He doesn't want Sakura to beat him up for returning late, after all. He just… doesn't want to.)

April 15th, 2016 [Fri]

Suzui is jumping.

He couldn't help but feel his gut twists into itself as he watches, helpless, as the girl jumps off the roof, the look of defeat on her face. Ren's seen all too many times that look she has worn before in the mirror, but he has never had the courage to do it. He wishes he was brave enough to put a bullet to his own head and end his miserable life with just a single pull of the trigger.

And the boy – Mishima, he remembers – knows something. He must've been used as a courier, to give Suzui the message. And when Sakamoto questions him, they get the truth that Ren has always been aware of – and with that, they seal their fates by confronting Kamoshida about the things that has happened. Ren doesn't like it, but he couldn't stop it. Not in time. But it changes nothing – not what he has to do, not what they all must do in order to put a stop to this.

The threat of expulsion is meek, compared to what he's been through before, but it is a threat that leaves his body numb and cold – because he knows the consequences of failing just mere weeks after coming here to correct his behavior. But what he has to do now has been decided upon the moment the threat leaves the man's lips.

He has to take him down, before anyone else falls prey to him.

The king… will be stripped of his title and his throne with his own bare hands.

As soon as that confrontation is over, he leaves with haste in his steps, pointedly ignoring Mishima as he grovels on the ground. When he's sufficiently far away from all of it, he looks to Morgana, then at the other boy, who nods.

"We'll take your offering. Teach us how to take away his distorted desires."

Before anyone could say anything more, however, a voice calls from behind them – a voice he doesn't want to hear, a voice that makes his scars itch and crawl. "…Is it true that you're both getting expelled?"

"Wha—Takamaki?" Sakamoto snarls. "What do you want, comin' all the way to tell us that?"

Despite Ren's expectation, the girl shakes her head, her eyes filled to the brim with fire and molten lava that are all ready to burn anything in her path to ashes. "If you are going to deal with Kamoshida, let me in on it, too. I can't just sit back and do nothing!"

"This has nothing to do with you," Ren snarls. He cuts her off before she could blabber about her friend and all the things that come with it. "I don't care about you. You're the same as all of them. I'm doing this for him and for myself – so don't get in our way."

She looks like she wants to say something, but she runs away in the end. As soon as she does, he hears Morgana whispers. "…Isn't that too harsh?"

"Did I ask for your opinion?" Ren says sharply, his words crude and biting, the words that sound not like his own. He bites his lip again, calming himself down just enough. His disgust and distrust are getting a little too out of control. "…I'm sorry about that. Anyway… let's get to this. We have a deadline now."

Morgana seems a little offended, but he doesn't voice his displeasure as he nods. "…Yes. Let's go."

Takamaki falls into the other world with them.

They promptly throw her out, of course, but when he does, he feels his skin burning from the fire of rage that simmer just under her fingertips. Ren decides to ignore it, instead focusing himself on their mission.

After skimming through the place and making their ways deeper into the depths, Mona decides to teach them that Shadows are born from the people's hearts – distorted, dark, inherently cruel – so they could talk. When they corner down one of them, he does as Mona's told him. Asking for money (like his father's goons always do), and asking for pieces of something (also something they always do).

And when the Shadow could offer them neither, Mona decides to kill them off.

It doesn't sit right with Ren, somehow – just killing someone because they couldn't give you what you want? Sure, in here, they are Shadows, just beings that reflect the hearts of the people, but here and now that they could talk… he feels like he doesn't want to kill more than necessary. He feels like it's wrong to not give them a chance. After all, they have hearts, they live, too. Just like Ren is.

(And who is he, to dictate the fate of someone or something? He is no master over their life and death, and he doesn't want to be. He wasn't given that chance. He's never given that chance. But here, perhaps, should they be willing enough to talk, to hear him out… maybe—)

"How about this?" Ren says, lowering his gun. The other two doesn't do the same, but Ren doesn't care as he carelessly steps into the Shadow's reach. Mona is giving him a disapproving growl, one that he lets slide over him easily. He kneels down in front of the Shadow, offering it a hand – because they're not humans, he could touch them without the lingering burn, he could touch them without hurting himself. "I don't want to kill you unnecessarily. What about you joining me? Helping me fight?"

"Joker!? What are you—"

"…Yeah, I guess," The Shadow says, reaching out her tiny hand towards him. Upon their fingers touching, he feels a jolt of electricity, the zings of bizarre energy coursing through him like wildfire – one that does not burn, but one that fuels his entire being with powers he never before feels. And then, he looks at the Shadow, who springs up into the air, twirling around, the dark smog that has been clinging to its frame suddenly melting away. "…Oh yes! I remember now!"

Arsene laughs, delightful. We are all the same, Shadows and Personas. Two side of the same coin. Two halves of a whole. I am Thou, Thou art I.

"What the – what's happening?" Mona cries out as Ren watches the fairy flying up to his face.

He smiles, as she did, her wings fluttering the melody of freedom that will never be his. She then declares with happiness that will never fill his heart, "I don't belong to just King Kamoshida! I am an existence that drifts about within the Sea of Souls – my real name is Pixie! I am Thou, Thou art I – from now on, I'll live inside your heart!"

She then turns into droplets of lights, one that is bright and powerful, and the pieces of her then fly over to him, melting into his mask and filling his body with power – and her name sits at the tip of his tongue, alongside Arsene's, interchangeable.

"What was that just now? What happened?" Mona says, Skull mimicking his dumbfounded expression, but with some sort of proudness, more than anything. "Joker, what did you do?"

"…I am the Fool, the one that is empty, yet holding onto infinite potential," Ren says, recalling Arsene's Arcana, one that drifts into his mind without being spoken. One that Arsene wants him to know. He had not known what the Prince had meant, back then, but now – now he does. "I am empty, without a heart that is truly my own."

(Because of that, he can change his face at will, shifting and putting on any masks that he wants. Just like back then, under his father, he could be anyone his father wants him to be, even if he failed, in the end.

And he failed because he tried to be himself, to be something he couldn't be.

He is the Fool, the empty shell, the beginning. And that's why his power is special

Because he is weak, he allows himself and his heart to change constantly. Because of that, he could be anything that he wants, as long as it satisfies those around him.

This kind of power… suits a weak-willed failure like him very well.)

And his theory is proven right when he could call for Pixie's power to thwart off the guards. Zio is strong against them, and Arsene laughs again, his fingers thrumming along his spine like a war drum, pulling adrenaline deep into him and causing his heart to beat just a little faster.

"That – is that even possible?" Mona says with disbelief, and… a stab of jealousy. "Only one heart exists per person! Even if you say you're empty, that doesn't mean you can have more than one heart!"

"True," Ren hums noncommittally. "Let's just not dwell too much on it. If I have this power, then I will use it to bring Kamoshida down."

Mona doesn't seem quite satisfied, but doesn't pursue the issue as they keep on going through the Palace, with Kamoshida's Treasure being their ultimate goal.

Takamaki is strung up onto a cross, arms and legs bound with chains and shackles.

Ren wants to throw up more than anything at the sight of the volleyball team being seen as nothing more than playthings. He feels his blood dropping to the cold that his veins couldn't hold, and suddenly, every single thing that has happened to him comes rushing back as lights and flashes, of broken images glued together like a fallen piece of art.

What Kamoshida is saying doesn't register as his heart beats painfully in his throat, his fingers twitching and his scars burning with the kind of absolute terror he doesn't want to feel anymore. His knees buckle, ready to give out, but then he feels Pixie's wings fluttering in his chest. The crisp, cool air of Dia washes over him. It couldn't quite get rid of the panic attack that's waiting at the edge of his consciousness, but it will do, for now—

—For now, he has to focus.

Don't be a useless piece of trash that he always has been. He has promised to see this through until the very end, so he damn well better – because without this, there will be nowhere left for him to be, there will be no point for his broken, crippled wings to exist—

"Takamaki!" He screams, his voice raspy and dry and it's painful to speak. The bile has already bitten into the back of his throat, but he ignores it. He will not allow anyone to fall, because that is what he has already promised himself to see through. "Are you going to just give in!? Where the fuck is that fire of yours!? Don't let them do what they please with you!"

Don't give in like I had, like I did. Please, fight. Spread your wings and fly.

She blinks, stupefied.

Then, she laughs, her voice cold but burning with the flame of passion and anger that Ren's seen beneath her eyes before. "You're right… you're right. What was I thinking, letting this piece of shit toy with me? I've had enough of this, you absolute piece of shit!"

"It's like I always say," Kamoshida says, scornful. "Slaves should just behave and—"

"Shut up! I've had enough of this!"

As soon as those words leave her mouth, another voice that is not his – feminine, fiery, with burning craving for vengeance and justice – fills the marrows of his bones and burning away the anxiety in the back of his mind. Arsene is laughing in delight again, informing Ren that this, too, is just like Skull. This is the birth of a Persona, the birth of the wings that would allow her to fly. And just like how Captain Kidd took his form, Takamaki's will of rebellion burns into her veins and scorching the shadow under her feet into the forms of crimson dress and smokes of will.

Takamaki then rips out the shackles, and screams into the wide hall as something shift within her. Her eyes turn bright gold, and the vow is formed – the vow that she, too, will fight, just like Skull is.

"Come, Carmen!" She cries, ripping off the mask of a timid girl, calling forth her embodiment of vengeance and justice. "You know what? I'm not some cheap girl you can toy with anymore. You stole everything from Shiho, so now – I'll rob you of everything!"

Her fire burns with the heat of the sun, and Ren has to shield himself from the scorching heat as she burns the guards into a crisp. Ren allows himself to fall back and watch as she fights, burning the demon into nothing but black smokes that soon turns into nothing.

He sees Kamoshida running away, but ignores him as Takamaki collapses onto floor. He doesn't offer her his help, simply watching as she asks questions, ones that he'd rather not answer.

After a whole lot of rambling later, they make their way back into the real world. Ren doesn't really like what had happened – not her getting caught, not them having to retreat, because that means they'll have less time securing the infiltration route. Their deadline is approaching, after all. But he decides not to say anything about it to her, simply listening to Morgana, who suggest them relocate to a safer spot.

He doesn't touch her, letting Sakamoto helping her along into a place that's not too far away from where they were, but enough that there'd be no prying eyes. He sits down on the chair, and she takes a seat away from him, silence falling between them. Ren has shoved Morgana into Sakamoto's arms as the boy go out to buy them all drinks (one he still couldn't quite pay, goddamnit), so they're left with unease and tension in the air.

"So, um," Takamaki says, fingers nervously twirling around her hair. Ren doesn't say anything to it, but hums just loud enough to let her know that he's heard her. "Anyways, I guess… I don't know, I just want to say I'm sorry."

"About what?" Ren says, shifting in his seat, his eyes looking down at his phone as he texts Sakura – who has mercifully given him his number – that he'll run a little late helping a classmate out. "You have nothing to apologize to me for."

"I do, though," She mumbles, scratching the back of her head slightly. "I mean, I kind of just jumped ahead and assumed that you were doing something bad, and I actually believed in the rumors – only for a bit, though – not to mention that I made you think that I want you to clarify all the stuffs about your records."

Ren hums, but doesn't say anything.

After a moment of dead air that he seems to be more comfortable with than she is, she sighs, shifting in her seat once more. "Just… I'm sorry. Could we, like, start over or something?"

Ren ponders on it. She is just like everyone else, after all – just like those who believe everything that everyone has said. Even if she has apologized, he still couldn't bring himself to trust her. People are all the same – she says sorry only because she's found out, because her wrongs have been so blatantly spread out in the open.

In the end, he just scoffs. Even if his heart disagrees, he will not allow himself to make the same mistake again. He only lets Sakamoto in because the other boy has never judged him, and even then, he still doesn't trust him fully – he will wait and see after all of this is over. He's taking a leap of faith, and if it comes to bite him in the ass, well… that would mean trust is something he shouldn't have had at all.

"…I don't know," He decides to say, leaning back against the wall, ignoring the half-incessant cry from his own heart, from Arsene. He stifles the Prince of Thieves' words with his heels, snuffing it out and putting it away from his sight. "We'll see."

She doesn't seem satisfied with that answer, but she takes it anyway. "Okay. If you say so."

(Even if he wants to trust someone, even if he wants to let her in, he won't.

He's been through enough to know that it'll bring him nothing but misery. Putting his faith in Sakamoto is already enough to make his gut twisting itself into a knot.

He'll not risk anymore, not until he could see that the wings that they have will not come back to beat him into oblivion.)