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Shackled to Freedom
Thursday—June 04, 2021
A/N: This chapter will kickstart the first plot of the story.
The Phantom Thieves...and others had settled into their townhouse quite nicely; it was a newer building that belonged to Scope Studies. The townhouse belonged to a small community of other apartments and townhouses, all in close vicinity of one another, all housing international students like themselves. Although, not all were from Japan; there were some from China and Korea, but there were others from Germany, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Ireland, and Italy. It truly opened Ren's eyes as the realization hit. He was only familiar with Japanese culture...while he did learn about other countries in his anthropology studies, he never got to fully appreciate just how big the world was outside the rather small island of Japan. He found himself missing home less and less the more his world expanded.
Ren, Ryuji, Goro, and Yusuke all stayed in one townhouse while Ann and Sumire stayed in one of the four apartments in a building about eight minutes down the block. Their apartment had two bedrooms, one for each girl, and was much smaller than the townhouse. It had a rustic, antique-like atmosphere that Sumire immediately fell in love with. She gushed about the decor in a very similar manner to Yusuke.
"Took a page from your book," Ryuji joked and elbowed Yusuke in the arm.
Yusuke hummed in approval and nodded, going on in his own words about the old wood and the old kitchen interior.
They had spent Tuesday and Wednesday resting, unpacking, and shopping for necessary supplies. Scope Studies provided a small allowance weekly, but it was strictly meant to purchase groceries, textbooks, and school supplies rather than items of leisure ("Ryuji!" Ann said sternly). Ren flipped the card over in his fingers, thumb running over the strange surface as he listened to all the reasons why Ryuji wanted to skip buying textbooks and save for a new gaming system.
"Don't be so irresponsible," Ann scolded. "Do I have to phone Makoto over here to keep you in line?"
"No, no, no!" Ryuji said, suddenly switching his demeanor completely as he held up his hands in surrender. "Groceries it is, damn…"
By Thursday night, everyone was nearly settled in. Ren and Yusuke stayed in the two bedrooms downstairs while Goro and Ryuji occupied the two rooms upstairs. There were two full bathrooms, one on each floor. They shared the kitchen and the living room amongst the lot of them. Ren had decided to use the desk in his room as a place to set up his laptop and school things. He could not afford many clothes let alone decor. Therefore, he shoved the dresser inside the closet and filled four of the six drawers, leaving the otherwise empty closet alone.
"You are honestly the most boring person ever," Ryuji lamented as he walked around, demanding to see everyone's room's setup to give himself ideas (or inspiration in Yusuke's words).
Ren joined Ryuji on his journey, taking a look at Yusuke's room, which was already covered in different artwork. He could admire the beauty behind the images, but he was never dedicated enough to take the time to hang anything. He pulled out of Yusuke's room and went back to Ryuji's, who had an amalgamation of things ranging from track medals to picture frames of him and the rest of the Phantom Thieves back home. He never pegged his friend as someone who was sentimental, but based on the pictures and their immaculate condition in comparison to the wrinkled clothes and scattered school items, he took immense precaution to keep them this pristine. Ren hummed to himself before stealing a glance at Ryuji, who was busy digging through his clothes to find a missing sock.
Ren ducked his head to hide the smile slowly forming on his face, unable to keep his eyes off the other as he began singing a bit loudly and definitely off-key. Ryuji had been his first friend and his best friend. The two misfits found solace and comfort in the company of each other; it was a warm reminder they were not as alone in the world as they initially thought. Ren held onto the precious and fond memories he made with Ryuji, whether it was fighting Kamoshida in the castle or scarfing down giant bowls of ramen...he certainly appreciated those times they spent together. Ryuji showed him what friendship was and since then, he never wanted to let it go.
"Ren-ren?" Ryuji asked again, clearing his throat. "Dude, you're starin' off into space again."
"Sorry," Ren replied and shrugged his shoulders, sitting back with one knee up so he could prop his arm on it. "Are you going to fold your clothes or shove them unceremoniously into the drawers?"
"Shovin' them unceremoniously into the drawers," Ryuji replied with a wide grin. He balled his shirts up and shot them as if they were basketballs, groaning as he missed every single shot except one.
"I'll pretend I didn't see that," Ren quipped, a smirk playing on his lips. "For the sake of your dignity.
"Fuck you," Ryuji said playfully and flipped him off, fixing the belt around his waist. "God, I hope we don't have to deal with shitty uniforms again."
"They're relatively the same as Shujin," Ren replied and rummaged through Ryuji's suitcase until he pulled out the blazer, white button down, black slacks and suspenders.
"Damn these suspenders!" Ryuji wailed and threw his head back in defeat. "I thought I got rid of you suckers in Japan."
"They followed you," Ren bantered for his own amusement.
This earned him another finger, but it was worth it.
.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
New York City had proved to be every bit like Tokyo but more. Ren had never seen such variety within a crowd before; he always knew he and his friends (excluding Futaba) were tall in Japan, but now he and the rest of them were quite average in America. Additionally, he always believed his criminal delinquency label made him appear tough, but something about Americans made him feel like the wimpiest person. When they first stepped foot in the New York streets, they all witnessed what a rally gone wrong looked like. Thursday night, Ren and his friends had all decided to explore the streets of New York City.
"What's that?"
"A rally," Goro explained to Ryuji and frowned. "They must hold protests in this area often given the size of this crowd."
"Let's listen," Ryuji said and flashed the others a grin. "Who knows? Maybe there'll be a palace or jail here."
"I don't know," Ren replied, uncertain. His eyes cast nervously around as if expecting to see trouble show itself before him. "We should keep our heads down for now."
"We don't need any trouble," Ann said in agreement.
"Just a little longer?" Ryuji asked.
"We should get going," Ren insisted.
Things went very wrong very quickly. The first fight broke out between two males fighting over a difference of opinions at the center of the crowd, not too far from where they were all standing. He watched the crowd circle around them, effectively trapping the group of students with them. Loud cheers erupted from every side, everyone craning to see or to get a piece.
"What's going on?" Ann gasped with her eyes wide with fear and shock as the two men began to attack one another.
"Get down!" Ryuji's voice shouted above the others. Just as he said that, the crowd hit the floor as the men began to shoot at one another.
Ren grabbed Sumire by the arm and yanked her down, Goro getting on the ground on her other side. Through the scrambling crowd, he could see Ryuji throw himself around Ann as Yusuke covered her back. Sumire threw herself in his arms, burying her face in her hands and pressing herself into his chest. Ren shielded her body with his own while Goro flanked her back, putting himself between her and the chaos to block her view. He counted the sound of eight shots going off, but it was hard to distinguish the popping over the turmoil of the screaming crowd.
Police came with guns and tasers brandished, sending them straight into the backs of both men and putting them on their knees in a few seconds. The crowd began to be apprehended, too. Ren paled and broke out into a sweat the moment he saw the gleam of silver handcuffs and immediately, his fingers flew to his wrists, which stung like someone had put a white-hot branding iron on his skin.
"Let's go!" Ren shouted to his friends, waving a hand to get their attention.
He had zero desire to get anywhere near police; he had had enough of those in Japan and he did not fancy a run-in with American cops, who seemed much harsher with their punishments in this reality. Sumire gasped, shaking, and unable to stand on own; Ren, who had no patience to wait for recomposure, scooped her up in his arms, and ran for her. Goro followed close behind, instinctively reaching for his gun he carried in the Metaverse. The crowd were all being handcuffed, shot, tazed, or whatever other means police used to force the people to their knees.
"Get him!"
Ren felt something harder than a frying pan hit him square in the face; his vision blurred and reddened as he fell to the ground, falling awkwardly to avoid falling on top of Sumire. She screamed and braced the fall on both her wrists, wincing as she curled her arms into herself. Goro seized her by the arm to get her to her feet before he tried going back for Ren. However, Ren was grabbed by the front of his shirt and picked up off his feet before being slammed back into the ground.
Ryuji roared in rage and went for the officer apprehending Ren, but Yusuke and Goro seized him around the arms, yanking him back.
"Are you stupid?" Goro hissed at the idiot. "Don't make it worse! We need to go before we're all caught!"
Ryuji howled in protest, audible over the screaming crowd. All of it from a simple protest that he wanted to listen in on...now he regretted everything. He wished he listened to Ren when he had the chance...they had no business being here but he had to be curious. He had to fix it. Ryuji lunged forward again, but it was Ann who stepped in front of his path to block him. She fisted the front of his shirt and shoved him backwards hard. She was doing her best to block out the weakening grunts as Ren was still struggling under the weight of a cop.
"This one's slippery!" the man shouted and seized Ren by the wrists, pinning them on the ground; he dug a knee in Ren's chest until he was forced to slow. "Get him cuffed!"
Ren's blood turned to ice as his wrists felt like they were being snapped in half. Blinded by fear and pain, he kicked out and threw the officer off his body; he did his best to pick himself up, but arms shoved themselves against his throat, cutting off his air supply. Through his ringing ears, he could hear people screaming...familiar voices, but he wasn't sure anymore. He was seized by the shoulders and flipped over on his front, face smashed against the cement as a boot or knee held him down. His arms were yanked behind his back despite his valiant efforts to keep them from grabbing them. Ren could feel the cold metal against his skin, which felt impossibly tight. He twisted his hands and arms vainly, trying to yank his wrists out of their restraints until he heard an audible snap.
"Kid!"
Ren's left arm exploded in pain and he had to look at it to know what happened. His hand hung limply and awkwardly as if held by...there he saw the dislocated, or fractured wrist jutting out in all the wrong directions. From past experience, he knew it had to be his scaphoid or his radius, the two bones he had fractured last time when he was in cuffs. But, the pain felt worse this time. He immediately slumped over, the fight leaving him.
"Bring him over with the others!"
Someone pulled him to his feet, surprisingly gentler this time, and pushed him to the edge of the street. The officer swept a foot out from underneath him and kicked the back of his leg, forcing him on his knees. Ren looked up at the officer, heart filled with a murderous rage as the shadow of Joker began to spark. He could feel the heat around his face burn so hot, he swore his skin was on fire. He could see flashes of blue as the flames began to lick his face, warming him and giving him the strength he lost—
"No!" Ren shouted out loud and forced the spirit of rebellion to wait. He could not afford to let loose here...not now.
Fortunately, no one seemed to pay him any attention, but his outburst caught the attention of an officer, who narrowed his eyes and frowned. He jabbed a baton in his chest and kneeled in front of him.
"Stay quiet, kid," he said, his tone kinder than the ones who had attacked him. "Stay calm. Trust me."
Ren curled his lip back but his expression remained unreadable as ever.
"Try to play it cool," the officer repeated, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Ren flinched. It was...soft...almost like it was meant to be a gesture of comfort rather than punishment. "It looks like you got mixed up in the wrong crowd at the wrong time."
Ren frowned as he looked down, heart pounding as he swallowed the fear. His body trembled with anxiety as he stared at the officers in blue; this was nothing like the Japanese police, but it did remind him of his time in the interrogation room. A woman a few people down from him was being subdued by a syringe; Ren tried getting up to move, but the pain dancing in his arm sent him right back to his knees, head reeling as he fought to maintain balance while kneeling. He couldn't stomach the thought of needles let alone the sight of one. It was never a fear of his prior to the interrogation room, but since then, he developed an unexplainable but debilitating fear of syringes.
"Ren!"
Ren's head did not lift to see who was calling his name. He could hear a chorus of echoes afterward, but he couldn't bring himself to see.
"Stay back or you're all under arrest for impeding!" an officer bellowed.
"That's our friend!" Ryuji's voice yelled right back.
"Cuff—"
"No," Ren said, finding his voice, which was unexpectedly strong. He finally picked up his head and stared at his horrified friends. "It's okay."
"Ren—"
"I'm fine," Ren interrupted, instinctively moving his arms. The cuffs rattled loud enough to disguise his gasp of pain from the sudden movement, but he shook his head, choking down the bile. "Go back. I'll meet you there."
"I'll wait," came an achingly familiar voice.
Ren's eyes flickered to Goro, who kept impeccably calm through it all. Not even a hair seemed out of place, but when was Goro's composure ever compromised?
"I promise I'll bring him back," Goro said in Japanese. "I studied the word of law in America."
He turned to the officer and adopted an uncannily polite smile, bowing his head in respect to the officer as he introduced himself.
"I've heard of ya," the officer replied with a nod of acknowledgement. "Real pleasure meeting you...pity under these circumstances, but you can't help your friend right now, okay?"
"I can," Goro said cheerfully and pulled out his old badge that he held onto everywhere he went. "While I know my power does not breach these borders, I am familiar with the court of law of this country. I believe you have a camera stowed away on your uniform? I would love to sit down at the nearest station and go over the surveillance of your officers taking down a teenage boy, who was carrying his friend to safety."
"Why—"
"I would prefer it if we did," Goro continued, unwavering under the murderous glare the officer was now giving him. "Please, I will leave my contact information with your Chief of Police before I depart. I will give you one, too, so that we may scrutinize the video...frame by frame is necessary."
"Why do you insist on making our jobs harder?" the officer asked in defeat, looking at Goro now with an expression of defeat. "I want to go home to my family...my children. I do what I have to."
"I understand," Goro replied with a nod of kindness, eyes filled with sympathy that Ren could recognize was feigned to perfection. He offered a small smile on top of it all. "Unfortunately, I respect this country's law to allow such slack in one's work performance. I insist we reach every corner to ensure no one is overstepping any boundaries, personal and legal."
The officer grumbled and pointed a baton at Ren, who flinched again and turned his head away as he expected another blow.
"The very one," Goro said and ventured over slowly to where his glasses lay, thankfully unharmed. He folded them neatly and held them in his hands. "And judging by the way he is favoring one shoulder, there may be a fracture. Under your care, the paperwork is immense, but under my care, his hospital visit is under my responsibility."
The officer grunted and rubbed the back of his neck. "You're slick shit. Both of you get the hell outta here and don't let me catch you getting tied up in this again."
"An honest mistake," Goro said with a deeper bow, eyes flicking over to Ren. "We are foreigners with no business in American politics...until we can fully immerse ourselves and understand the way things work here."
The officer sighed heavily and ambled over to Ren, who swelled once more, finding a spark in his heart to fight if he needed to...somehow around these cuffs. However, the officer was yanking them off his wrists, which sent a shockwave of agony that settled somewhere in the pit of stomach. Ren leaned over and expelled, gagging and coughing up and spitting out bile and blood. Goro walked over to Ren calmly although the moment the detective pressed his body against him, Ren could feel the other teen shaking.
"Thank you, officer."
Goro slung Ren's uninjured arm over his neck and stood up for the both of them. He dipped his head again and took Ren away with him; the injured boy tried his best to walk, but his feet dragged and they ended up stumbling more. Goro grunted and groaned with the extra weight before stopping in his tracks. Without warning, he swept Ren into his arms the same way Ren held Sumire, and began walking this way.
He walked like this until he reached the end of the block and around the corner, where he knew the others were waiting for him. Ren held his injured arm and wrist close to his body and concentrated on keeping a firm grip on Goro's shoulder although he was growing more tired.
"Stay awake," Goro said softly, voice hoarse.
"I am," Ren said, then cleared his throat the best he could, unable to keep his eyes open. "I will."
Ren could feel a smaller and much nicer hand on his leg while a larger but equally gentle hand on his injured arm.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit…"
"It's okay, Sakamoto," Goro said softly, his voice vibrating throughout his chest.
Wherever he was, something or someone else was pulling him in a different direction. The tug was irresistible though he truly had no fight in him left. He allowed himself to be swept by the promise of sleep, humming softly before slipping quietly.