Disclaimer: I own Neither Senran Kagura nor Persona 5.
Homura didn't think that she'd have to fight against Asuka in a training match. But she gave her no choice. Losing that badly to Gessen and Hebijo before she got there? Absolutely pathetic of her rival. Seriously, what was she going to do with her?
There were things she was and weren't willing to tolerate. Asuka losing wasn't one of them. So right now she's training her to win against Hebijo.
"Don't tell me that's all you've got!" Homura yelled at her rival, slashing at her with her swords, matching her wakizashi before overpowering her.
"Are you seriously the same person that beat me before?" Homura asked her after seeing her fall down. "You're weaker than you were last time."
"Hey! I've been training hard since we last fought!" Asuka protested against her.
"Really? I don't believe you." Homura told her bluntly. "Otherwise you guys wouldn't have lost as easily as you did against them."
"Moh! We technically didn't lose!" Asuka protested against her. "And I was already thrashed when Miyabi showed up!"
"Riiiiiight." Homura said, while drawling the word out. "Real Shinobi don't need excuses.
"Moh! Well what about you! You had a clean shot at her from behind and still couldn't finish her off!" Asuka pointed out to her rival.
"Gah!" Homura said, wincing from the sharp point that she's made.
"W-well that's because I didn't want to win so easily!" She told her, making an excuse. "Just because I'm an Evil Shinobi doesn't mean that I fight dirty!"
"Riiiiiiight." Asuka said, drawling out the word like Homura did earlier with a smirk on her face. "Nice excuse. Guess you're not a real Shinobi either."
"Why you…" Homura started before calming down. "I've gotta say Asuka. You have some real nice skin."
Asuka was confused by the sudden praised that came out of nowhere to her.
"Uh, I d-don't see where this is coming from, but thanks." She told her rival in response to her sudden compliment.
"It's weird how you have no scars on it though." Homura continued, "Almost like you haven't been training hard enough lately."
"Wha-? Hey! I have training scars too you know!" Asuka protested against her, though Homura was still in complete doubt.
"Oh really? Where are these scars of yours?" She asked her.
"There on my butt!" Asuka responded fiercely, causing Homura to blank out for a bit.
"...Huh?" What did she just say? Maybe she said something else.
"My training scars are on my butt!" Asuka repeated herself loudly and proudly, not having any shame on this matter.
"Okay, why are they there?" Homura asked her, completely confused on the way that she's been training until now. Was she a weird butt masochist?
"So where are your scars, Homura-chan?" Asuka asked her, challengingly.
"O-on my inner thigh." Homura responded to her, embarrassed by it's location.
"Eh? How did you get scars there?" Asuka asked her, confused on how that could happen.
"Okay! Enough talking! Back to training!" Homura said embarrassed, before rushing Asuka with her swords with absolutely zero hesitation on her attacks. Asuka responded in kind.
Right now in a Shinobi Kekkei away from the ones at Hanzō, there were two members of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts fighting each other in a sparring match in the Shinobi Kekkei. A battle were Ren was pretty much dominating,
"Hyahh!" Morgana shouted as he made his own attacks towards Ren. Ren however dodged Morgana's sword strike by sidestepping him and responded by shooting at him from behind. Multiple times.
"Ah!" Morgana said after falling to the ground. Morgana then looked towards his training partner. Ren then slashed at Morgana, who managed to dodge, only losing a few strands of his fur in the process. Ren the rushed towards Morgana, infusing his knife with curse energy before slashing at him, getting more reach with his attack and managing to land a hit on Morgana who fell backwards into the ground. Ren then pointed his gun right in front of Morgana's face, marking his victory over the cat quite decisively.
"...You really hold nothing back, don't you Joker?" Morgana asked him after Ren removed his gun from his face. This was their 19th match in the last few hours they've been in here. And all of them resulted in Morgana's complete and total loss.
"Just wanted to get some good experience in this thing." Ren told Morgana calmly, putting away his weapons. "And we obviously need it." Ren told him.
"Yeah, guess we've been slacking off pretty hard since we left Tokyo." Morgana said in agreement while getting up from the ground.
"So, did Zorro give you any Master Arts yet?" Ren asked his cat. Ren told him about them
"Yeah, he's actually given me two. One when we were at Hanzō, and one one just a few minutes seconds ago now." Morgana told him. Though I haven't had a chance to test it out."
"Really?" Ren asked him. "Why?"
"Cause you wouldn't let up on me at all." Morgana pointed out. "You aren't easy for me to fight on my own, you know."
"Huh. Guess you have a point." Ren said as he thought about it. His body wasn't just larger than Morgana's, but he's physically superior to him as well.
"Didn't think about it too much since you always had no problem fighting alongside me and the others before after all." Ren told him. "Guess you're better than I thought you were." Ren admitted to him
"Of course I am. I'm far too skilled to let you guys show me up in any way at all." Morgana said in A slightly condescending manner to him. "But let's hope that we're good enough to beat them."
"We'll win." Ren told him confidently. "We've never failed a job before, so we aren't going to fail it now."
"Heh. Yeah." Morgana told him with a fatty smirk on his face. "It's be bad if we failed on our own."
Just then time seemed to stop for him and him alone. And then he heard a familiar voice in his head.
I am Thou….Thou Art I
The Magician Arcana has once
Again answered your call….
Let us fly together on our wings of freedom
Just as quickly as time seemed to stop, it started back up again. Morgana didn't seem to notice anything.
"Anyways, let's go. We've been at this for a few hours now." Ren told Morgana. Ren then raised his arm before saying,
"Kekkei Break," destroying the Shinobi Kekkei that they were in. They were then in front of Hanzō's sushi shop, back in the real world. Ren still had his arm raised before lowering it entirely. They then went back inside the building.
"So, how was training?" Hanzō asked them after they left the Kekkei. Ren turned towards him and said to him with the most casual response possible.
"Alright. But we should probably move out soon."
Ren then started to look at the futomaki rolls that Hanzō had made for them. They were way too thick.
Ren couldn't possibly imagine why Hanzō made them this thick. No, wait, an answer appeared in his mind, but Ren didn't want it to be right. Ren then picked it up and took a bite out of it. Ren then handed one to Morgana who ate it as well.
"This is pretty good." Ren told Hanzō, before taking another bite out of it.
"So, why, of all things you could've done after retirement, did you choose to run a sushi shop?" Ren asked him. It still seemed a bit strange that a Shinobi would
"Meh. I was pretty talented when it came to making sushi, and I just love making futomaki rolls." Hanzō told him simply, cleaning up his area.
"Why?" Morgana asked him, getting a bad feeling from this.
"With their size, girls have only one way to eat it." Hanzō told them, as if that was something to be proud of. Ren just decided to keep on eating while Morgana could only sigh.
"So, they're still here right?" Ren asked him, referring to the Gessen girls.
"Yes." Hanzō told him. "Though they'll probably move out by the day after tomorrow."
"So I should go after them now?" Ren asked him.
"No, they're still injured, but not enough that taking all five of them on at once would be a good idea." Hanzō told him. "They'll probably be at full strength by tomorrow morning."
"But waiting any longer than this and they'll be harder for me to stop." Ren pointed out to him. "Might as well do it when it's easier.".
"Power has bothd a sword and a shield. Tell me, what do you think itmeans."
"Simple. To protect your friends from all of your enemies that you face together." Ren told him with zero hesitation
"I see. You've answered correctly on your first try." Hanzō told him.
"My power comes from my friends, there's no way I wouldn't understand something that simple." Ren told him while eating his salmon roe.
"Power from your friends? Heh. I wonder if that could help her."
"Yumi truly has become troublesome hasn't she?" Hanzō
"I don't fully disagree with her answer, but mostly with her solution." Ren told him. "Forcing everyone to be the way that they want to be would make her nothing better than a dictator, and I can tell from just that conversation we had. She's far too kind too be one."
"Hmm. I see."
Ren then heard a gasp and turned around to see who it was. And saw that it was coming from two people that he never expected to see together at all.
"So, Asuka, why are we going to your grandpa's shop?" Homura asked her. After they completed training with them, Asuka suddenly insisted that they all go somewhere together.
"To thank you guys for helping us!" Asuka told them brightly.
"Eh!? Makoto-kun!" Asuka said in surprised.
"Amamiya-san!?"
"I have no idea who you're talking about." Ren said, telling the boldest lie that the Crimson Squad has ever heard.
"No! You're definitely the guy who treated us to meat!" Homura told him.
"Eh? Do you guys know Makoto-kun?" Asuka asked the Crimson Squad, surprised that they knew someone from her school.
"Makoto? No. His name is Ren Amamiya!" Mirai told her.
"I think you both got me mistaken for the wrong person." Ren told them again. They were really sharp to figure out his brilliant act, but he's got to remain strong and confident in it.
"Oh really? Then explain that cat!" Homura pointed out the cat that was on the counter eating sushi without a care in the world.
"I'm not a cat!"! Morgana said to her, though she unfortunately could only hear his meowing.
"He's my therapy cat." Ren told her. "He's help keeps me level. Ain't that right Morgana?" Ren said, petting the cat.
"The kitty's name was Morgana too!" Mirai pointed out, not forgetting the name of the black cat that she saw in his bag that day.
"Ah, his little guys a cutie!" Asuka said, fawning over there cat. Petting and rubbing him.
"Morgana is a very common cat name, like Kuro or Snowball." Ren told them another boldfaced lie.
"There's no way that it's common!" Homura shouted at him, getting more and more angry. "Mirai!" Homura shouted to the first year student, only to see that she and Asuka we're busy petting the cat.
"Why are you so insistent that you know me?" Ren asked her, before she could ask Mirai if it was a common name.
"Because- I- huh." Homura soon calmed down, thinking about it. Why was she trying to prove that she knew him? Simple, because him being here was suspicious enough, and that. But telling him this may tip him off on something.
"Why are you trying so hard?" Hikage asked her leader. "It's not like you to care so much about something like this."
"Where did you think you saw me anyway?" Ren asked them.
"Oh, out in the country." Mirai told him while petting Morgana.
Homura's eye twitched at Mirai giving away information so easily.
"
"Hmm." Yomi said, while looking at him calmly, with her eyes focused on him. Ren felt it before looking at her. It looks like she's not going to drop it just yet, but she also won't be doing anything either.
"My? What's with all the ruckus out here?" Hanzō asked, appearing from behind.
"Just chatting up with some girls, Pervy Gramps." Ren told him.
"Pervy Gramps?" Asuka repeated what Ren just called Hanzō. "I honestly wish that I'm able to deny it at all." She said with melancholic acceptance.
"Come now Asuka. Is it truly perverse to want to grope a young woman's boobs?" Hanzō asked her seriously, only to get the expected responses.
"Yes."
"There's no doubt about it."
"Eh, not really."
"How are you not on some kind of list."
"Uh-huh."
"You truly are the legendary pervert told in stories."
Ren thought that there was a response that didn't belong in there.
"So, what's your relationship with the old perv." Ren asked them, trying to act as if he's not aware of the relationship between the two..
"He's my grandfather." Asuka said while sweat dropping at the old perv comment that he's made, but it seems like she wasn't going to defend him either. Since she is his granddaughter his flaws must be much more obvious to her.
"I'm sorry that you have a grandfather like that." Ren said while bowing his head towards her.
"It's okay." Asuka told him. "He's calmed down in the last week."
"This is him being calm?"' Ren asked her, shocked. What he's like when he's excited. How many sexual harassment suits were made against him?.
"Zero." Asuka told him suddenly out of nowhere.
"Huh?" Ren asked her, confused on why she just said that to him.
"Sorry, it's just that I'm so used to hearing certain questions about him that I instinctively learned to answer with the number zero." Asuka told him. "Though I get the feeling that it isn't the right number." She added with a low mutter.
"Again, I'm sorry for you." Ren told her once more. Asuka could only sigh in response to that.
"Here are some futomaki rolls." Hanzō told them, bringing them the rolls they wanted.
They all then grabbed one and started eating it in a certain way.
"I see. You guys truly are innocent." Ren told them after seeing the way that they were all eating the rolls.
"Oh, I know." Haruka told him with a smile on her face. "I just won't tell the others what you're thinking of right now."
"Wait, what?" Homura asked her.
"Oh, it's nothing Homura-chan." Haruka told her trying to ease her calm.
While Ren and Morgana we're sleeping, someone began to slink into the back room, with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
"I know it's you!" Yomi told him, flipping the futon that he and Morgana we're in.s.
"Okay, what's going on here?!" Ren asked her,confused about what's happening..
"You gave us 50,000 and aren't expecting us to pay you back! You don't even want us to try!!" Yomi told him angrily while shaking him.
"She's crazier than I thought." Morgana said to Ren.
"Calm down." Ren told her after managing to break free from his iron grasp.
"Okay, you have too much...pride? Responsibility? It's one if those things, which surprises me, cause I thought it'd be impossible to confuse them." Ren said to Yomi, completely calming down after the initial shock.
Yomi however wasn't as lucky. "So you're going to make me do a job for you, and you're going to like it!!"
Ren then decided to ask for something simple. "How about you just massage my back, and then we'll be consider even, okay?"
"Hmm. Fine." Yomi said to him. That was a mistake in if itself. Because the massage she gave him was the worst one that he's ever received in his life.
Ren was once again in the Velvet Room. His body felt a lot better than when he's was being given Yomi's massage. Ren then looked towards the ones who summoned him.
"Welcome back to the Velvet room. How are you doing so far on your current journey?" Igor asked Ren.
"I think I'm doing all right so far." Ren answered him with his honest opinion.
"That's wonderful to hear." Igor responded. "Though I've summoned you here to talk about a new possibility that you have acquired." Igor told him with lavenza appearing with the Persona Compendium in her hands. And something started to rise out of it. A tarot card? But which one was it?
"A new possibility forms from the fact that there are no shadows to aid you in this journey, thus your bonds provide you with a new strength." Igor told him. "Truly interesting indeed."
"An unexpected possibility, truly one deserving of the Trickster." Lavenza told him with a smile on her face.
"What is it?" Ren asked them, not getting what they were trying to say to him.
"Any persona of the Magician Arcana that you used in the past can now be used once more." Igor told him. "Though you are only able to use one persona of this arcana at a time, it will surely help you along the journey that you are undertaking."
"Okay then, I call forth," Ren then thought about it, which persona did he want helping him during this time period? Well time to go for an old reliable one, "Surt!"
Ren the arcana then transformed into blue flames releasing a high amount of power from them, making Ren sweat from the heat alone. Though it couldn't even touch Igor or Lavenza's bodies or clothes. In fact Lavenza said in response to this,
"My, it's getting a little hot in here, isn't it?"
The persona that appeared was something that Ren definitely remembered using before. Surt.
"Trickster, once more I shall lend your mask my aid, and we will burn all enemies who oppose us." Surt said before turning into a replica of his mask and flying towards Ren face, entering his body.
"Surt, it's a pleasure to see you once again." Arsene told Surt from inside his mind.
"You as well, Arsene." Surt said in greeting towards him. "Though I see that you've added some new furniture since I was here last time. For example, that late 19th century furniture is new."
"Be careful when you touch any of them. I don't want them to suffer unnecessary damages like burns." Arsene told him.
What was going on inside him? Ren was left to wonder this fact deeply as they conversed inside him.