All rights remain.

Something Like What?

Saturday—July 19, 2021

A slightly new perspective!

Shorter chapter, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless.

Futaba was in a relatively good mood coming home from school, but she did not want to turn in for the day like she usually would. Instead, she rushed to her computers and pulled up various windows and minimized others. She began typing away vigorously until she found what she was looking for.

She rang Yusuke on their video call, leaning forward excitedly; she felt bad for constantly waking him up, but she could not help but want to talk to him every chance she could get. With more free time, she was feeling bored and restless, dreaming now more than ever about traveling to America to find her friends or being reunited with her Persona and rejoining the Phantom Thieves.

"Futaba," Yusuke's voice said as his face appeared on the screen. "How are you calling here?"

Like always, it was pretty dark, but it was lighter than usual. Confused, she knitted her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side, trying to see where he was. There was a lot of background noise and overlapping voices.

"Inari? What do you mean?" Futaba asked, confused. "I...we always talk when I get home from school…"

"But we're not home," a muffled voice said, sounding far away. "So, that's why Sophie wanted to go into your phone?"

She caught a glimpse of white in the camera, coming to the realization she was staring at a white mask with red lines…Fox. Futaba gasped and shot forward in her seat, chair swiveling so dangerously, she nearly overbalanced and fell out of it. Yusuke flipped the camera and aimed it at the other Phantom Thieves.

"I can't believe it worked," Futaba breathed. "Honestly, I was just testing out the software—"

"We're in Mementos," Ann gasped, but it was impossible to read her expression through her mask. "How are you calling us from there?"

"With Sophie," Ryuji said and snapped his fingers, craning his neck to look in the backseat. "Hey, is that really a good idea to be messin' with that stuff when we're here?"

"Probably not," Morgana's voice said, sounding everywhere but being nowhere in sight.

"Joker, watch out!"

Futaba looked around her screen as if it would help her see through the camera better, but it was pale in comparison to actually being there. She could hear sirens blaring, music playing, and the cries of everyone else.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We're runnin from the cops," Ryuji said and stuck his head out the window, looking back with a howl of exhilaration.

"What?" Futaba squawked and put her hand to her headphones, trying to get a better sound.

"Get your head back in, Skull," Ann chided then waved a hand at the camera. "I don't think we should be on a call, Fox."

"Agreed," Goro said and stared out the back window.

Futaba could see mounds of green in the trunk of what she knew was the Mona-bus; she frowned and shook her head in disbelief, trying to wrap her thoughts around this.

"No, don't hang up," she said shortly and began typing away, changing the code of the video call so she could get connected to Yusuke's phone. "What's going on?"

"Ryuji thought it would be a good idea to steal someone's Treasure before taking out the rest of the Shadows," Haru answered and removed her feathered hat, running a hand to tame her hair flying in the wind.

"What?" Futaba found herself saying it for the upteenth time. "What d'you mean?"

She could now hear the sirens of the police behind them, but she could not see them. Instead, she focused on looking at the people in the camera, all who were hardly invested in answering her question.

Futaba could finally see Ren behind the wheel in Joker's attire, which confirmed her suspicions about calling Yusuke while they were all in Mementos—the masks and clothes were undeniable. She also spotted the large sum of money in the back, which were the mounds she saw earlier, and let the pieces fall into place. They were in the middle of an escape and she was able to see it through the software she had Sophia install.

"Hold on!" Ren's voice said, but his hand was hanging out the window, waving cheekily at the police cars behind the van.

"Pedal to the metal, man!" Ryuji shouted and cheered loudly, giving Ren a hard shove that made him roll his eyes and push his hair out of his face. "Pump it! They're catchin' up!"

"Fox!" Futaba said sharply, trying to get someone's attention. She was glad he had the decency to look at the screen. "What's going on?"

Yusuke turned the camera to the window of the van and revealed their setting; they were on a rather empty freeway, a few stray cars here and there, but they were driving into a city, whose tall buildings and neon signs lit up the roads and night sky.

"Skull, turn that blasted music off," Makoto reprimanded sternly.

The camera angle panned over to the inside of the van once more, shooting over the people in the backseat and the front.

"We're in the middle of a car chase, hell no!" Ryuji said and applauded their Leader as he threw a fistful of money out the window, looking back quickly with a smirk. "That's the way to do it!"

"Do what?" Goro snorted.

"Pull off the best damn getaway!" Ryuji said and drummed his hands on the dash.

"Do you need help getting out?" Futaba asked, scrambling to find the code she created for Sophia, but getting lost in her endless pile of unorganized files. "I can navigate—"

"You shouldn't be picking up calls at this time, Fox," Makoto said, sparking Futaba's irritation. "We need to focus on the task."

"I can help," Futaba snapped hotly. "I can get you out."

She was already pulling up a coded map of their location (although it was a little scrambled given it was a code for an alternate reality).

"It's fine," Ren said to stop an argument that was sure to spring up. He spun the wheel and took the van onto a highway ramp.

Yusuke looked at the camera and thus at Futaba, face hidden by his mask. He did not say anything, but he kept her on the call, which made her feel like she was participating in some way….somehow being useful.

"We're losing 'em," Ryuji shouted from the front and Ren dipped his head to the side in an acknowledgement of his words. "We gotta get out of here."

"Oracle, where can we warp out of here?" Ren asked sharply, but his harsh tone was not meant for her and she knew it.

Futaba jumped at being addressed but immediately leaped into action, pulling up a new code and typing away, trying to figure out its pattern of change. Finally, she stopped when she spotted Sophia's navigation and clicked on the series of numbers and symbols, smiling to herself.

"Get off the ramp on your left," she instructed, fingers flying across the keyboard with practiced ease. "You'll be able to find a warp light. Get ready to drive straight into it. It won't be as strong so be ready for an impact!"

Ren must have punched the gas because everyone lurched forward; she watched the green dot on her computer screen move faster as it closed the distance to the funky green blur not far off.

Her eyes went back to the camera where everything turned white. At first, she thought it was a glitch because everything on her computer turned grainy before going black. She jolted and began typing away again, even going as far as slapping the side of her tower to make sure it was still working. However, she looked back at the video call and saw glimpses of a living room she did not recognize.

"I-Inari?"

She could hear Yusuke groan, but the camera moved to reveal him and his face, unveiled without a mask. In fact, he was back in normal clothes, which meant they had made it back to reality.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Fine," Yusuke said and winced, looking somewhere off camera but most likely at everyone else.

"Everyone's here?" Ren's voice asked.

"Yeah," Ryuji whined from the floor; the camera turned to him. "Why are ya filming this part, man?"

"I hope Makoto and Haru made it safely," Ann said fretfully, running her fingers through her hair after it got tangled. "Next time we accept a request, we are not taking Mishima's advice."

"Mishima's advice?" Futaba asked, knitting her eyebrows. "What? What did he say?"

"It was someone close to him," Yusuke pointed out, vaguely and indirectly answering her question but not quite addressing her. "It was a favor for a friend after everything he has done for our publicity. It was the least we could do."

"I suppose," Ann said and flopped on a couch that was on her left. "I'm not moving for another week!"

Goro put a hand to his chest as he doubled over, grimacing as he shook his head. "I don't blame you."

"It wasn't bad," Ryuji said and threw his hands up. "There was no way we could fight 'em all so I just….took it real quick."

Ren grunted as he rubbed his back, leaning against the wall with one arm. He finally turned to face Yusuke, walking over to him and out of view. Futaba could hear the Leader murmur something to the taller teen, who sounded too solemn for it to be good. Futaba hissed in frustration.

"Hello?"

Ren grabbed the phone gently from Yusuke's hand and turned the camera to himself, pushing his glasses into place. Yusuke came around and stood next to Ren, standing shoulder-to-shoulder so they could both fit on the screen.

"Thanks for getting us out," the ravenette said and dipped his head gratefully.

"Sure…" Futaba said slowly and trailed off awkwardly. "But?"

"I dunno how you managed to call us when we were in Mementos, but…." Ren said and looked to the artist for support, or assistance. "I don't think it's a good idea to keep doing that."

"Well, not with that software, but once I do some upgrades and talk to Sophia again, I can—"

"Futaba," Yusuke said gently and held up a hand to stop her from going on a tangent. "It is too hard to keep you on call and fight at the same time."

"Only sayin' that 'cause you got your ass beat by three Shadows," Ryuji called from somewhere else.

"Shut up," Ann said firmly, followed by a whack. "They're talking. Don't interrupt."

"Anyway," Ren said and bit his lip. "I'm asking you nicely not to hack into our phones. It's an invasion of privacy for one and it's not safe for us to be….distracted."

Logically, she knew it made sense and she could not be angry, for the suggestion, but the sting of rejection threw all rationale out the window. She huffed and curled her lip back.

"Way to put it that way," she said coolly and steeled her expression. "Sorry I called."

Without giving either boy a chance to respond, she hung up and sat back in her chair, angrily chewing on her lip while hot tears sprang to her eyes and fell down her cheeks.

Futaba wiped them away and pushed herself away from her desk, not wanting to look at her computer. She ventured downstairs, heading straight for the cabinet for something to eat.

"Hungry?"

Futaba jumped at the sound of another's voice, only calming down when she realized she was looking at Sojiro, who was sitting at the kitchen table with a newspaper in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

"I made curry."

Futaba soon found herself staring at a full plate of food, fingers playing with her chopsticks, not even comforted by the smell like she usually was. She picked and pushed the rice around on her plate, eyes cast downward as she stared mindlessly at the food in front of her. Sojiro looked worried, but she could not bring herself to reassure him.

"Is everything okay?" Sojiro asked, setting his paper down and snuffing out his cigarette. "Sorry, I don't want you to see me smoking. It's a bad habit."

"It's fine," Futaba said wearily. "Ren does it."

Sojiro growled at that and shook his head. "Dumb, kid. He knows better. Anyway, what's on your mind?"

"Nothing," she said softly, not quite sure why she was holding back from telling him the truth.

Sojiro looked unconvinced. "You miss them, don't ya?"

Futaba looked up in surprise and felt her jaw slacken.

"They are a good group of friends, Futaba," Sojiro said knowingly and chuckled to himself. "That Amamiya...the one who seems to be the ringleader….he's got a good heart. I miss him, too."

Futaba looked down as tears began to pool in her eyes again; she was tired of crying and frustrated she let herself get so worked up so easily.

"I sure hope he's doin' better than when I last talked to him," Sojiro said and clicked his tongue. "And that dainty blonde—I see her in a few magazines here and there. She's a caring girl. It's good to have someone like her as your friend."

"Yeah…"

"And you….they're lucky to have you, Futaba," Sojiro said, catching her attention once more. He looked at her over his cup of tea before closing his eyes briefly. "You've always been there to support them. I'm just glad you've got friends who can treat you the same way you treat them. You've done good for each other."

Futaba sniffled and reached blindly for a napkin before giving up and wiping her nose on the sleeve of her jacket.

"What's wrong?" Sojiro asked, but this time, it felt like he meant something completely different.

"I-I just….I guess I needed to hear that," Futaba said through her tears and gave a watery laugh. "More than I thought…."

"Of course," Sojiro said and pointed to the plate of untouched food. "Eat up. Don't stay up too late either."

Futaba watched Sojiro get up and depart, most likely heading for his room or for another smoke break. She sighed and began eating, finding the familiar flavors a welcome gesture after everything. She closed her eyes and let herself find peace in the comfort of the man she called Father.

They may have gone, but she still had Sojiro.

.oOo.

Ren watched Yusuke pace around the living room, elbows bracing on his knees as he leaned forward. The artist looked terribly troubled, but there was nothing they could say to appease him.

"She needs space, Yusuke," Ann said from her seat on the floor, leaning against Goro's legs. She sipped from her glass of water and watched from over the rim of her cup. "Please don't go pushing her."

"I mean, I think she'll blow it off eventually," Ryuji said, unconcerned. He put a chin in his hand. "I dunno why everyone's making such a big deal outta this. She's gotta know we can't realistically have her on call when we're….ya know….fighting."

"I doubt she expects that," Goro said reasonably, frowning as he put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Although it does not make the rejection any easier to handle. If I recall, you, yourself, have trouble keeping your emotions in check."

"Unnecessary," Ryuji grumbled but he could not deny it.

Ren closed his eyes and looked hard at his knees. "I did the right thing, didn't I?"

"Don't sweat it, Renren," Ryuji said and tossed him a piece of chocolate. "Plus, she's gotta learn that hacking into people's phones is a definite no-go."

Ren ran a hand down his face and set the chocolate aside, too nauseous to eat anything. He wrung his hands as he stared at his phone, which still hasn't lit up with any notifications.

"Was it the way I said it?"

"Dude," Ryuji said before he could get too into it. "No. I don't like it anymore than you, but….it ain't cool. What she did. And she knows we can't film the damn thing either. We're busy."

"It comes down to the delivery, Ryuji," Sumire reminded him pointedly.

"Yeah, true," Ryuji said and threw up his hands. "That's why I didn't say anything, but we aren't in the wrong this time….right, Yusuke?"

"Of course not," Yusuke said earnestly and ceased his pacing to address the loud-mouth with seriousness. "But no one enjoys being told what they did was wrong."

"Especially women," Ryuji muttered, earning himself a pillow to the face courtesy of Ann's strong arm. "Well, what do you think he shoulda said then, huh?"

"Nothing," Morgana said and dug his claws into the fabric of the couch in frustration. "We'll talk to her later, but we aren't going to solve any problems right now seeing as she's ignoring our texts. We need to rest tonight."

"We were until you and Ren came parading around saying we need to go to Mementos right away," Ryuji said and sighed mournfully. "I think I burned off the dinner I just ate."

"Morgana's right," Ren said, rising to his feet and rubbing his lower back again. "We need to get some rest. We'll talk to her in the morning…."

He looked over at the artist, who appeared lost in thought.

"Yusuke?"

"Of course," the taller teen said with a nod of his head. "Until morning….yes—hear, hear."

Ren turned to the girls and waved a hand at them vaguely. "I'll take the couch if you want my room."

"Thanks," Ann said earnestly and slowly and stiffly rose to her own feet, stretching with a gasp of discomfort. "C'mon on, Sumire. Sophia's charging in my phone."

Sumire and Ann ventured down into Ren's room, while Yusuke and Ryuji went upstairs. He was about to throw himself on the couch, when he felt a hand wrap around his bicep.

"Come on," Goro said and tipped his head in the direction of his own bedroom. "You won't get rest on a couch."

Ren followed the other with a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He closed the door behind him and immediately went for Goro's bed, taking up residence on one side while the other just flopped on the other half, laying head-to-head.

"So….you'll tell me where to find Yaxley?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.

He could hear Goro rustle the sheets before he turned on the desk lamp, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Must I repeat myself so much?" Goro asked.

"Only one more time."

Goro inhaled deeply, but Ren knew he was far from annoyed. "I'm going with you."

Ren remembered that conversation clear as day, but he just liked hearing those words coming from the Detective; he felt his lips curve up, smiling to himself. He rolled over on his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows, nudging Goro.

"What about something like this?"

Goro sat up, too, and gave him a quizzical look, confused by the lack of context before the question.

"What are you looking for?" Ren asked, leaving the question open-ended.

"I'm not looking for a fairytale ending," Goro said haughtily, tilting his chin up stubbornly.

"Just somebody you can kiss?" Ren joked with a smirk and laid on his back.

"You need to go the hell to sleep," Goro grunted and shut off the light, engulfing them in darkness. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Ren said with a chuckle.

Tonight, he was able to fall asleep with a smile on his face.