"Well I've gotta say, this is a first." Ren stated as he ascended the steps to the plane.
"First time on a private jet?" Mitsuru asked, turning back to face him.
"Well yeah, but I meant it's my first time leaving the country with an hour's notice." Ren grunted as he lifted his suitcase over the last step. "Not that I mind really," He quickly assured his superior officer as the two entered the jet. "I mean Paris sounds great and I've always wanted to visit, I just thought it would be under different circumstances."
"Again, please allow me to apologize for the short notice. Running a company can be hectic at times. Our interpreter cancelled at the last minute and you're the only one on the team who's fluent. My French is… a little rusty, to say the least." Mitsuru replied as she took her seat.
The jet's interior was lush and full of accommodations for guests. The furniture consisted of two large couches, a coffee table, and several recliners. Alongside the furniture, a large flatscreen television sat on the wall near the door to the cockpit. From the open door, the pilot and co-pilot could be seen chatting with one another.
"Well I'm glad I can be of help." Ren stated as he took in the view. 'Damn, and I thought Haru was rich.' He thought to himself. "I'm gonna use the restroom before we take off, that cool?"
"That's fine, just be quick. Wheels up in 10 minutes."
The former phantom thief gave a thumbs up before he entered the bathroom. Just as he did so, a blonde short-haired figure dressed in a black business suit and red tie stepped out of the back of the plane before turning to Mitsuru.
"I have finished loading the luggage and am fully prepared for takeoff. I have also taken the liberty of loading several crates of ammunition and explosive ordinance into a safe compartment as a precautionary measure."
"Aigis, the crew asked you to stop bringing live ammunition on flights, it makes them nervous." Mitsuru shook her head before sighing. "Besides, there's no need. This is a simple business meeting to discuss a land sale, not a field operation."
"You say that, yet between the three of us we have two Wildcards and a first generation Persona user." Aigis countered. "An optimal team, should the need arise."
"There won't be a need," Mitsuru assured her. "There haven't been any confirmed Metaverse leaks outside of Japan. We're only building a monitoring tower out here to confirm that they aren't spreading over time."
"I will still be packing my ammunition regardless." Aigis stated just before the bathroom door opened.
"Hey Mitsuru?" Ren began as he stepped out, suddenly noticing the other person in the room. "Oh, hi Aigis." He waved to the robotic blonde before turning back to the redhead. "Um, do you know how long this flight is going to be? I want to know if I can get some sleep while we're in the air."
"It's going to be roughly 13 hours." The older woman replied.
"Oh...Okay then. Good to know." He gave a thumbs up, trying to hide how nauseous that thought made him.
When the trio finally landed at Orly airport, the sun was just beginning to set over the horizon. As they exited, Ren was surprised to find a luxury car already waiting to bring them to their hotel.
'God it must be nice to have money.' He thought as the driver took his bag for him, placing it in the trunk. Ren stepped into the car, taking a seat in the back passenger side with Mitsuru to his right and Aigis directly in front of him.
"So, who is it that we're meeting again?" He asked, wanting to know more about the deal that he would be playing a vital role in. He was sure someone had told him at some point but after 13 hours and several strong sleeping meds, he was a little foggy on the details.
Mitsuru was about to answer, but Aigis beat her to the punch. Not looking up from the tablet in her hand, she gave a quick synopsis of their purpose here.
"The man we'll be meeting with tonight is Louise Dupont, he's the COO of a large banking firm here in Paris. More relevantly, he is the owner of several vineyards in the French countryside, one of which has seen a significant decline in revenue over the past 3 years. It is our intent to purchase the land it is on from him in order to establish a facility to monitor potential Metaverse activity outside of Japan." She turned around to face Ren. "Does that answer your question?"
"Um yeah, all good." He nodded, giving another thumbs up before Aigis turned back to her tablet.
By the time the sun had gone down, Ren was in his room getting dressed for the night. In yet another display of Mitsuru's evidently bottomless wealth, the trio would be staying the night in the penthouse suite of a five-star hotel. At this point it came as no surprise when, upon entering his room, Ren found a black tailored suit lying on his bed for him.
As he finished adjusting his black tie for the evening, he checked himself out in the mirror. Even he had to admit, he looked good. Still though, his usual disheveled hair didn't exactly give off an air of professionalism. Grabbing some gel from the bathroom, he took a small amount and ran it through his hair, pushing his bangs out of his face.
His look set for the night, the raven-haired man walked out to the suite's lounge area. Spotting Aigis on the couch, he saw that she was wearing a suit as well, they were better suited to hiding her robotic body after all.
"Hey, is Mitsuru ready yet?" Ren asked, looking around the room.
"Just finished." A feminine voice came from upstairs.
Turning his attention to the stairs, Ren's eyes widened and his jaw nearly dropped as he watched Mitsuru descend the staircase. On an average day, the commander of the Shadow Ops was gorgeous, turning heads of everyone that saw her. But right now, Mitsuru Kirijo could only be described as a goddess.
Silky maroon hair flowed down her back like a waterfall and obscured her left eye. Her one exposed eye was highlighted by mascara and her long dark eyelashes seemed to beckon Ren forth every time she blinked. Moving his eyes downward, Ren's focus landed on, then away from, then back on Mitsuru's cleavage which her black dress showed off nicely. The dress ran down to her feet but was cut on one side, giving a generous view of her leg from the thigh down. As she descended the stairs her black stilettos clicked softly against the hardwood.
"Well, you certainly clean up nicely." Mitsuru commented as she reached the bottom of the steps.
"Y-Yeah." Ren replied, before shaking his head. "I mean, thanks. You do t-You clean up-err...You look amazing, is what I was trying to say." He managed to get out, rubbing his neck awkwardly.
Mitsuru giggled before pushing back a loose strand of hair. "Thank you."
"Now that we are all prepared, I suggest we depart within the next five minutes if we want to arrive at approximately 9:00pm." Aigis stood up from the couch, joining the pair.
"Right, we should get going." Mitsuru stated, checking the time on her phone. "We don't want to keep Mr. Dupont waiting."
The trio arrived at the restaurant at exactly 9:00pm as Aigis had predicted. The restaurant itself was incredibly high class, featuring live music and an outdoor dining space overlooking the Champs de Mars. As they approached the podium, Mitsuru stepped ahead of the group to speak to the maitre d', speaking flawless French, she asked the man if Mr. Dupont had arrived, to which a waiter arrived, leading the group to their table.
"I thought you said your French was rusty." Ren said, raising an eyebrow as the trio walked through the restaurant.
"Well, I never said I forgot the language entirely. It might be a bit difficult for me to keep up with a native speaker so that's why you're here." Mitsuru clarified, her makeup thankfully hiding her blush.
"Your table." The waiter stated in French, showing them outside to the balcony where the center table was laid out for them.
The table was immaculately prepared with a bottle of champagne chilled in ice, a series of dishes already laid out for them, and an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower lit up against the night sky. The most notable thing at the table however, was the young blonde woman in a white dress waiting for them to sit down.
"Um, can't help but notice that she doesn't look much like a man in his late 50s." Ren whispered.
"I noticed." Mitsuru replied before approaching the woman. "Excuse me, I think that there might be a mix-up of some kind. We're here to meet with Louise-"
"Oh my god! You must be Mitsuru Kirijo!" The woman said excitedly. "I'm Annette! When Daddy told me about this meeting I totally thought you'd be some old lady, but you're like, my age!"
"Um…Thank you?" Mitsuru was taken by surprise by all of this. She didn't even know Dupont had a daughter, let alone that she'd be meeting with her tonight.
The woman gestured for the group to sit, to which they complied. As they did so, she glanced at Mitsuru's companions, brushing past Aigis before her eyes rested on Ren for an uncomfortably long time.
"If I had known we were bringing guests, I would have brought un lionceaux for myself." Annette said, her eyes still on the only man in the group.
"I'm sorry," Mitsuru replied, confused. "That term you used, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with it." She turned to Ren for an answer, to which the younger man looked embarrassed.
With a flushed look on his face, Ren leaned in and whispered. "Well uh, given the context, I think she's calling me your…'boy toy.'"
Her eyes going wide, Mitsuru turned back to Annette. "N-No it isn't like that, Re-*ahem* Mr. Amamiya is simply an employee at my company."
"Oh really?" Annette seemed intrigued, turning back to Ren. "So how did a pretty boy like you get into such a…desirable position?" She asked, not so subtly licking her lips.
"I think we should return to the topic at hand." Mitsuru stopped her, a slight animosity in her voice as she pulled her tablet from her bag. "We came here to get your father's signature for the land rights, but if he sent you in his place, I can only assume that you have joint custody of the property?"
"Ugh," The blonde rolled her eyes, seemingly bored by the thought of talking business. "Yeah Daddy made me co-owner of his dumb vineyards last year. Apparently I need to start 'earning my keep', can you believe that?"
"That sounds terrible." Ren nodded his head. "So if we could just-"
"Right!?" Annette turned to him. "His own daughter! You know what we need? We need some drinks up in this bitch!" She tried to get the nearest waiter's attention, yelling loudly for drinks.
The trio turned toward one another with an exasperated look. Taking matters into her own hands, Aigis grabbed the tablet from Mitsuru and set it in front of Annette.
"Customarily, drinks are used to celebrate the closing of a deal. If we close the deal now, we may celebrate with champagne immediately."
"Girl you are way too uptight, just relax!" Annette assured her fellow blonde before turning back to try to find a waiter. "Besides, champagne? Boring! We need to get some shots going!" To emphasize her point, she grabbed the champagne bottle out of the ice bucket before chucking it off the balcony behind her.
Five seconds later in the street below, there was a loud shattering sound immediately followed by a car alarm going off.
"God, the service in this place sucks. Not to mention everyone is sooo stuck up!" The rich heiress suddenly gasped as an idea struck her. "You guys, I know the most amazing nightclub in the city, they're having a rave tonight and we HAVE to go!"
"Oh I don't think that's-" Mitsuru began but Annette was already getting up.
"Nonono just wait! You have to see it first, it's…absolutely insane, you'll love it." Before anyone else could protest, she grabbed the nearest person by the hand, Ren, and dragged him with her out of the restaurant.
Mitsuru and Aigis exchanged a look before following after the girl, the former placing a stack of bills on the table for the trouble they caused.
When they exited through the front door, the women spotted a police officer trying to calm down a very angry looking man as they both stood in front of a Mercedes with a broken windshield. To their right, the pair saw Ren and Annette walking to the girl's limousine where a driver stood waiting. As Mitsuru moved to follow them, she noticed Aigis moving in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going? We can send someone to pick up the car later."
"It is clear to me that we're not making any progress on this front. As such I will attempt to reach Mr. Dupont and collect his signature directly." The android stated.
Mitsuru pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a groan. "Okay…You do that, Ren and I will go with 'party girl Barbie' and try to get her signature. Contact me if you get your's, I'll contact you if I get mine first. Hopefully we can still salvage this deal."
"Agreed." Aigis nodded before walking to the car.
A short while later, Mitsuru, Ren, and Annette stepped out of the limousine in front of a warehouse with a large bald man standing outside of the front door. While the two Shadow Ops exchanged another concerned glance, the blonde approached the man with a wave as he gladly opened the door for her.
The trio entered the warehouse and immediately had their senses assaulted by the loud club music and bright flashing lights. The room was a sea of dancing bodies pressing against one another as they shook wildly in tune with the music. Annette guided the pair to the bar before demanding 3 shots of tequila from the bartender, slamming a gold credit card onto the table.
"C'mon you guys," She handed Ren and Mitsuru each a glass before grabbing her own. "Bottoms up!"
Mitsuru let out a sigh before drinking the shot, grimacing at the bitter taste. "Okay, we had a drink. So now if you could just sign the agreement-"
"Oh yeah girl, for sure! Let me just find a uh pen." Annette began searching through her bag.
"You don't need-i-it's a tablet."
"There it is!" The blonde smiled before pulling a small object from her purse.
"Uh, that isn't a pen." Ren pointed out.
"Nope!" Annette smiled before raising the object to her mouth and lighting it. Taking a large puff before she began to cough loudly. "Want a hit?" She asked, holding out the joint.
"Ugh!" Mitsuru stormed off angrily, leaving her two compatriots behind.
Forcefully pushing the door outside open, the redhead stepped out into the night air. Immediately feeling the rush of cold against her skin, Mitsuru began trying to warm herself before hearing her phone buzzing from her purse.
It was Aigis, hopefully calling with good news.
A few minutes later, Ren stepped out of the club as well, immediately spotting his commander's long red hair. As he approached her, he heard Mitsuru let out a sigh as she placed her phone back into her bag.
"There you are, I lost you in the crowd earlier." Ren spoke up, causing Mitsuru to turn to him in surprise. She had a sad look in her eye, one that clearly didn't bode well. "What's wrong?"
"I just got off the phone with Aigis. She said that Mr. Dupont was arrested on embezzlement charges last night."
"Oh my god." Ren's eyes widened. "Wait, doesn't that mean…"
"Yeah, we can't get him to sign off on the contract." Mitsuru nodded before letting out another sigh. "And since we're clearly not getting anywhere with his daughter, I'm calling off the deal. We'll go back tomorrow morning and I'll get to work trying to set up another monitor station-"
"No."
"Huh?"
"I said no." Ren stated firmly. "You've been working on this deal for months, I'm not about to let you give it up this easily. I know it's not why you brought me here, but I'm your teammate and more importantly I'm your friend, I'm going to help however I can. Give me the tablet."
Mitsuru was taken aback, but reached into her bag and did as she was instructed. "What are you going to do?"
"Just give me one hour. I'll get you that signature." He smiled, grabbing the tablet and running back to the door. "I'll see you back at the hotel!"
Later that night, Mitsuru sat on her bed in a tank top and sweatpants trying to get any kind of work done on her laptop but she couldn't. Her mind kept drifting back to Ren Amamiya and that stupid smile of his. Why did he always have to go and be the hero? It reminded her too much of…him.
Checking her phone she saw that it was nearly midnight, Ren had promised to be back an hour ago but there was still no word from him. Mitsuru was tempted to call him but worried that she might come off as clingy.
'Wait…clingy?' She thought to herself. 'What was that about? Why would I be worried if-'
*Knock* *Knock*
Her thought was interrupted as a knock came at her door. Panicking, Mitsuru nearly dropped her laptop as she scrambled to get up. Glancing over at the mirror, she quickly fixed her hair before answering.
"Y-Yes?"
"May I come in?" Aigis's voice came from the other side of the door.
Mitsuru slumped somewhat in disappointment, taking a seat on the bed. "Go ahead, it's open." She replied. The android entered the room, looking around before turning her attention to the redhead. "What's up Aigis?"
"I have come to inform you that Ren Amamiya has returned to the room." Mitsuru's eyes widened. "And Ms. Dupont is with him."
"What!?" Mitsuru yelled unintentionally.
"The two of them have entered his room and closed the door. Judging by the articles of clothing scattered across the floor, I calculate that there is a high likelihood that the two of them are currently engaging in coitis."
Mitsuru simply stared at Aigis with a look of silent shock. The blonde android stared back at her before tilting her head curiously.
"You seem disturbed by this news. Is it in regard to the unethical means by which Amamiya is attempting to secure the deal? Or is it perhaps jealousy due to your own sexual attraction towards Ren Amamiya?"
"W-What? I-I am not-"
"In several instances as of late, anytime you enter the same room as Amamiya, you have both exhibited a sudden spike in heart rate, heightened body temperature, and an increase in pheromones released. These are telltale signs of sexual attraction between two adults." Aigis explained.
"That isn't-wait, both?" Mitsuru shook her head. "It doesn't matter! I…I can't let Ren go through with this!"
Mitsuru raced past Aigis and down the steps to the first floor of the penthouse, rushing to Ren's bedroom. She stopped directly before the door to the room, hesitating as she saw the discarded shoes and bra lying on the floor in front of the door. Was she too late? Before she could knock, the door to the room opened revealing Ren looking slightly disheveled with his jacket gone and his sleeves rolled up.
"Mitsuru? What's up? I thought you went to bed already."
"Ren!" Her eyes lit up as she saw the younger man before she remembered the situation. "Look, I can't let you do this. I know I said that this deal was important to me, but it isn't as important to me as you. I won't let that…that strung out daddy's girl manipulate you into doing something you don't want to do!"
"Um, what are you talking about?" Ren gave a confused look. "Annette's in the bathroom throwing up right now. I was just in there making sure she didn't, y'know drown in the toilet."
"But the shoes and the…the bra?"
"She took those off on the cab ride back here. I had to make sure she didn't leave them behind. I tried asking her where she lived so I could bring her home, but I'm not sure she knows what planet she's on right now. Oh, but more importantly." Ren walked over to his jacket lying on the couch and pulled out the tablet from earlier, handing it to Mitsuru.
"Why is it sticky?"
"Annette may have spilled a few drinks on it. She also may have done some cocaine off of it, you should definitely clean it, but turn it on first."
Mitsuru complied, pressing the power button before gasping in surprise. "You got the signature!?"
"I did." Ren nodded, looking proud of himself. "You are now the proud owner of 50 acres of French territory. Thomas Jefferson's got nothing on me."
Mitsuru looked up at Ren with an indecipherable expression on her face. Her half-lidded red eyes staring into his grey ones before moving slightly down.
"Well?" He asked. "Did I do good or wha-mmph!?"
He was suddenly cut off as Mitsuru pulled his face into her's, their lips colliding in a passionate embrace that sent sparks through both of their spines. When the kiss ended, Ren stared back at Mitsuru with shocked eyes only to see her smiling.
"You did amazing."
[Shadow Operative File: 005]
Aigis
Codename: N/A
Status: Active
Species: Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon
Age: 19
Sex: N/A (Appearance Female)
Persona: Athena, formerly Palladion (Wildcard Status)
Description: Aigis is one of only two surviving Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons in the world. Initially created by the Kirijo Group for the sole task of hunting down and eliminating Shadows, Aigis has since discovered that there is more to life beyond her programmed task. Currently, aside from the Shadow Ops, Aigis works as a personal assistant to Mitsuru for the Kirijo Group.
Notes: Given her programming as a weapon created to kill Shadows, there was a difficult adjustment period when Operatives 019 and 025 joined the team as, while they are friendly to humans and can exist outside of the Metaverse, both are still considered Shadows.