"Well…that was incredibly awkward." Ren said to no one in particular as he exited the simulation room, leaving Yukari Takeba by herself.
He had no idea why kissing her was the first thing that came to his mind, but it seemed like a good idea at the time…Until 30 seconds later when she addressed him as 'buddy'. He internally cringed at hearing that word. The kiss had seemed nice at the time, great even, but if her reaction toward Ren at the end of the conversation was anything to go off of, she probably wasn't interested in him like that.
"This morning has been too weird. Maybe I should just go back to bed and sleep until tomorrow."
*RING* *RING* *RING* *RING*
Ren's phone went off in his pocket, startling him. Pulling it free, he checked the caller I.D., his eyes widening in surprise before immediately bringing it up to his ear and answering.
"Oh good, you're awake." The voice on the other end began. "I need you to let me in."
"What? What do you mean 'let you in'?" Ren replied, confused.
"I'm at the front door but the lock is manual. Can you come unlock it?"
"Huh?" Ren was suddenly cut off as a group of security guards rushed past him, following behind them was the team's resident martial arts expert, Akihiko Sanada. Managing to catch up to the older man, Ren asked him. "What's going on?"
"Cams just picked up an intruder at the front entrance. We don't know how they got past the security checkpoints but we need to consider them armed and dangerous, possibly even an enemy Persona user." Akihiko replied as the two of them arrived at the front entrance where guards stood on each side of the door with weapons at the ready.
"Goddammit." Ren sighed, shaking his head before walking up to the door. "Stand down guys. It's not an enemy, she's a…well I wouldn't really call her a friend per se."
"Ren, you know the intruder?" Akihiko asked, his guard lowering somewhat.
"Yeah, trust me she's harmless…mostly." He unlocked the door behind him and swung it open, revealing a smartly dressed woman with long brunette hair and a briefcase standing behind him.
"Oh, hello everyone." The woman gave a casual wave to the guards pointing their guns at her.
"Guys, this is Dr. Kuon Ichinose."
An hour later, Ren and Akihiko stood outside of the compound's interrogation room as security questioned the woman who had arrived at their doorstep earlier that morning.
"So, just to be clear, you did not invite this strange woman to our secret base of operations hidden away from the public eye." Akihiko eyed his junior judgmentally.
"I did not." Ren shook his head.
"Then would you mind explaining just how she found our compound?"
"I can answer that." A voice came from behind the pair. Turning to the source, they spotted Ichinose exiting the interrogation room with a smug smile on her face. "It was easy really, I didn't even need Sophia to tell me."
"Sophia?" Akihiko raised an eyebrow. He had met the sentient A.I. once before, it had been an…odd encounter to say the least, but not nearly as weird as the talking cat. "You know Sophia?"
"I should hope so, considering that I was the one who made her." Ichinose responded.
"What are you doing here Ichinose?" Ren inquired. "Is this about EMMA? Like I said in my text, we've already got our tech department looking into it."
"No, not EMMA, I came here about…" She looked over at Akihiko, her ever present grin falling from her face, then turning back to Ren. "Something else, may we speak in private?"
"I'll go. I've got other business to get to anyway." Akihiko stated as he turned to exit the room, but not before giving Ichinose a final glare as he left. "Make sure that you don't leave her unsupervised, Ren. I don't trust this one."
"Great meeting you!" The doctor called out as the door shut behind the older man.
Now alone in the room, there was an awkward silence between the remaining two people. Ren attempted to look anywhere besides Ichinose's face as the doctor seemingly bore a hole into his head with her eyes. Clearly, despite her attempts to become more socially acclimated over the years, the doctor still had a certain…intensity about her in one on one situations.
Trying to think of a way to break the ice, Ren decided that a change of location might be the best choice to begin with. Afterall, the windowless walls and concrete floors of the compound detainment center weren't the most welcoming sight for guests.
"Um, would you like some coffee?" He offered, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Or tea maybe? We've got a fully stocked kitchen."
"Tea would be lovely." The doctor smiled, following the younger man out of the room.
A short while later, Ichinose was sitting on the living room couch as Ren entered from the kitchen holding two steaming cups of Earl Grey. Taking a seat across from her, he set down both cups on the coffee table.
"So…I take it you weren't much in the mood to wait for a visitor's pass." Ren began. It was meant to be a joke, something to help ease the tension between them.
Ichinose didn't laugh, instead staring blankly back at him.
Chuckling nervously, Ren took a sip of his tea. He had no idea what to say to this woman. It wasn't as though they were friends or anything. She had once tried to enslave all of humanity after all, though to be fair, so had Dr. Maruki (kind of) and he still considered him a friend. The only thing that really connected Ren and Ichinose was…
"Um, so is Sophia here?" Ren asked. Maybe the A.I. could help bridge the gap here.
"Sadly no, she's spending the weekend with her friends." The doctor replied, taking a sip of her own tea.
"Friends?" Ren raised an eyebrow. "Are they-"
"They're human, if that was your next question. I thought it best to let her interact with other people outside of…all of this." She gestured to the building around her. "So I introduced her to a group of young school children who could hopefully match her energy. And so far, the results have been better than I could've hoped."
"Wow." Ren was speechless. He had never put much thought into it, but Sophia was still technically a child. And while the rest of the Shadow Operatives could go out, socialize and unwind, the living A.I. didn't really have that luxury. Or at least, until now.
Lost in thought, Ren didn't notice that he hadn't spoken for at least a solid minute. Snapping out of his musings, he turned back to Ichinose who, again, was staring directly at him. Realizing he had no idea of what to say next, he audibly gulped.
The two of them sat in silence at the table, Ren feeling incredibly awkward and unsure of how to continue the conversation when Ichinose finally decided to break the silence.
"Ren, I'd like to have a baby."
"Oh, oh wow that's…that's great. Congratula-"
"I'd like for you to be the father."
"..."
"..."
"...C-Come again?" Ren was certain that he'd heard her wrong.
"I want to have a baby and I'd like for you to be the father." Ichinose stated before elaborating. "With Sophia spending more time apart from me, I've found myself lacking something. Being alone never used to bother me, but now I've…well, I've grown accustomed to caring for someone." She admitted, shyly looking away. "I…I miss her when she's away."
"Ichinose…" Ren was tempted to reach over and comfort the older woman.
"But I realize that she's growing and needs to interact with more people. And while she's been making remarkable progress," Ichinose's expression fell. "My own social development has been rather…lacking."
Ren recalled the bits of Ichinose's past that had been shared with him. Her parents had been taken from her at an early age and since then she had shut herself away emotionally, choosing instead to put on a friendly facade to mask her misanthropic tendencies from the world. Since Sophia's awakening and the defeat of the Demiurge, she had made progress toward opening herself back up to emotions, but evidently not as much as she'd hoped to.
"S-So um," Ren gulped. "Why a baby?"
"Well, it's been proven that becoming a parent affects one's internal brain chemistry. The process of transitioning into parenthood creates heightened levels of serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine in the brain." The doctor explained. "And I believe that this could be exactly what I need in order to…feel again and perhaps even reintegrate myself into normal society."
"Okaaay." Ren nodded, somewhat following her logic. "Well, I guess what I'm really wondering is why me?"
"Well, to be honest, I didn't even consider you until I got your phone call earlier this month. But when I began to think about it, it continued making more and more sense to me. For starters, you're a prime physical specimen." She looked Ren up and down, the outlines of his muscles visible against his T-shirt. "You're someone who Sophia trusts implicitly and thus so do I. You have no family history of diseases or disorders. You-"
"Hold on, how do you have access to my medical records?" Ren raised an eyebrow.
"Not important. What is important is that you meet nearly all of the criteria that I'm looking for when it comes to a donor. And that's why I chose you."
Ren said nothing, instead deciding to take another sip from his cup of tea. This was a lot to take in all at once. Becoming a father was the last thing he expected at 21 years old. What would his friends think? What would his parents think? He didn't even know what he thought!
"Now, regarding the sex," Ichinose continued.
"PFFFT!" Ren spit out his tea. "THE WHAT!?"
"Sex." Ichinose replied, unfazed by his reaction. "I was hoping to have the baby naturally rather than through a medical process. It's nothing regarding personal belief but rather, I wish to experience the act of 'making love' firsthand as I theorize that it too will help me to better understand other people and their desires."
Ren was, once again, speechless. How could this woman say that with a straight face? She was suggesting sex with all of the formality of a business transaction.
"Is this a problem for you? It was my understanding that you aren't in a romantic relationship at the moment. Was my information outdated? Or is it perhaps an issue of money? I can assure you that you will have no monetary obligations toward either myself or the baby, as I'm sure you recall, I'm quite well off financially. But if you require further assurance, I've written up a contract that we could go over-" She reached into her briefcase, pulling out a manilla folder.
"Stop! Please…stop." Ren held out his hand. "This is…a lot. Too much."
Ichinose finally relented, a disappointed expression crossing her face. And if Ren didn't know any better, he could've sworn he saw a hint of embarrassment in her eyes.
"Right. I…I suppose I didn't stop to consider your feelings in this matter. I've been thinking about this for a while now, but you've only just found out about it today." She stood up from her seat, her tea long forgotten. "I'll be in town for the next few weeks. If you change your mind or have any thoughts or questions, you know how to reach me."
She moved to exit the room. Ren was tempted to stop her, but what could he even say? This was an enormous decision, not something to be made in the heat of the moment. Plus, he'd already made enough of a fool of himself earlier today, he didn't need to further add on to that pile.
He turned to get up and speak to the woman, unsure of what his next words would even be, all he knew was that he didn't want their conversation to end on such a poor note.
"...Ichi-" He began, but stopped when he saw the woman already facing him, their faces mere inches apart.
After an awkward moment, both took a step back from each other. Ichinose then once again held out the manilla folder that she had pulled out of her briefcase earlier.
"Here, read it over sometime." She said, handing the folder to Ren. "Maybe it will help you change your mind." With that, she turned and exited the room, leaving Ren dumbfounded, standing by himself in the living room
A short while later, Ren entered his room and almost immediately collapsed onto his bed. Feeling exhausted after his very eventful morning, he pulled out his phone to check the time.
It wasn't even noon yet.
"Ugh, can't it just be tomorrow already?" He asked no one in particular, letting his phone drop to his side.
He was tempted to just go back to sleep then and there, until his hand brushed against the folder that Ichinose had left him with. Sheer curiosity taking over, he decided to open the folder and skim through its contents.
It was mostly legal jargon, going over a lot of the same points that Ichinose had mentioned in their prior conversation. However, when he reached the signature page, he found that there were still more pages after that. Turning to the next page, it was completely blank save for three words written in the center.
'For Your Consideration:'
His interest piqued, Ren turned to the next page, his eyes widening in shock and his cheeks turning red. The following 7 pages were all photos of Ichinose dressed in white negligee, striking several very explicit poses.
From the expression on her face, he could tell that this was purely business for her…But then again, her face wasn't the thing his eyes were most drawn to in the pictures. He had to admit, for a woman who supposedly sat behind a computer for the majority of her time, the doctor had a very nice body.
"Whatcha got there?" The familiar voice of Morgana asked as he entered the room.
"N-NOTHING!"
[Shadow Operative File: 003]
Akihiko Sanada
Codename: Striker
Status: Active
Species: Human
Age: 28
Sex: M
Persona: Caesar, formerly Polydeuces
Description: Former member of SEES, and one of the earliest known Persona users, Akihiko is a founding member of the Shadow Operatives and has been an active member since its founding. Easily the best hand-to-hand fighter that the Shadow Operatives have to offer, he has even been chosen to lead the team's physical training routines and has elected to supervise the team's meal plans.
Notes: While firearms training is standard for all Shadow Ops members, Akihiko is the only member who refuses to wield a gun, much to the chagrin of team members and staff alike. He has insisted on several occasions that, 'Guns are for cowards who refuse to get their hands dirty. If everyone fought with their fists instead, the world would be a lot manlier.'