Persona X TWEWY X Kingdom Hearts

Summary: Trapped in an unfair game? Fighting against society? Changing the hearts of evil adults? Save the world? Discovering oneself? Nothing out of the ordinary for these teenagers.

Chapter Twenty-One:

Change.

*Early Morning: Monday 5/2*

*Deadline*

Taking his eleventh deep breath that is tainted with anxiety and his nerves on fire, the day was bleak and grey with the rain soon to be arriving. Ren checks his phone again out of pure desire to distract himself and even to see if his friends were in the same mental dilemma. He bites his lip and hissed through his clenched teeth before stuffing his phone into his pocket and clenched it tightly, nearly cracking it.

"Jeez…I can practically feel my own muscles tensing up…" Morgana says, popping his head out of the bag just as they exit the subway train, "Come on and try to, I dunno, ease up".

"Easier said than done…" Ren replied as he climbed the stairs to the surface, "For all I know I could be just walking into school just to get kicked out". The cat frowns and despite his assurance that the change of heart certainly occurred, his words came across as nothing but minor massages to the ever-growing ache in Ren's worried heart. Today is the day of the board meeting, and unless their efforts finally bore them the fruit of their labours, it will also be the day where Ren and others would be kicked out of Shujin.

He dreaded what would happen to Ryuji given his track record of being a rebel and hot head, and lord knows where he'd end up if Kamoshida had anything to say about it. He couldn't care less about Mishima, even if he was as much of a victim as his fellow volleyball teammates but Ren is still a little spiteful after his personal record got leaked. The Trickster knew deep in his heart if he was expelled from this place then his future would be taken from him. Prison would likely be the next and potentially final stop for him.

This morning before he left Leblanc he texted the others and wanted to know if anything of them were in as bad state of mind as he is. While nobody texted their thoughts on the subject, likely he deduced nobody wanted to think of the outcome if they indeed failed, he did hear some interesting news from the party. Neku and Beat, who had arrived at school earlier, overheard a few students talking about the calling card they had sent days before. Apparently they were very sceptical about the whole thing and even denounced it, calling it a prank.

"Least we're not being investigated yet…but wonder if this does work would somebody actually look into the calling card…" Ren muses quietly as he arrived at the school entrance. Ahead of him he spots Xion and Ventus just arriving, the raven with toast in her mouth and her messy, unkempt hair showed clear signs of her being a late riser. Their leader waved at them with a small and nervous smile on his face, just as Ventus' eyes showed worry and Xion innocence.

"Good morning…" greeted the older teen, "Late again?".

"All because this one over here," Ventus says, gesturing to Xion nibbling her toast, "Spent all night watching that weird show about superheroes in rainbow spandex…".

Xion argued back with her mouth full of toast, indignantly glaring at her friend while waving her hands up and down in protest. Morgana, boringly, told the girl to swallow her food and then speak, gesturing the crumbs spewing from her mouth. Xion swallows her food with a noticeable bulge in her throat before she wagged her finger at Ventus, defending her late-night actions. "No sleepy! I thought watching that show would help me sleep!". Ren chuckles as Ventus rolls his eyes at the insistence of the girl while other students entered the building.

Just then as Ren was about to suggest they get going and see what this fateful day holds in store for them, they were called out. Looking to the main entrance, they see Shiki and Naminé at the entrance, waving them down. "We're heading to the sport hall for assembly!" Naminé says, gesturing the building, "Almost everyone's heading there now". The three climbed the steps and followed the two girls to the hall, asking the two what they know.

According to Naminé the moment they were all about to settle into class suddenly the principal had announced there was going to be an assembly first thing today but didn't say why. "Given what's happened over the past two weeks, maybe it's about Shiho's attempted suicide…" the blonde says, "Or more recently the calling card might have stirred up something among the teachers".

"I mean the card was directed at Kamoshida, so you guys think that might be why there's a sudden assembly?" Ventus offers. Shiki gulps and even squeaks that it was a possibility that someone might have figured out it was them. "If anyone could recognize Ryuji's handwriting…then yes, we might have an issue…" Naminé sighed, "Should have let Ann do it…".

"Pfft, I think hers' is worse! Least you know who doesn't add emojis to her writing," Shiki teases. Together the five arrived at the hall and spotted Neku and the others in a group, Riku waving at them to come over. Once they all got close just enough to speak but not pose as a group, Ren stood near Sora and Neku. "Have you guys heard anything regarding this?" he asks. Sora shook his head and Neku replied with: "Your guess is as a good as anyone else's. Its all up in the air on what's going on".

"A few are saying its all about the calling card or Shiho," Sora added, "But not even the teacher, Kawakami, knows why Kobayakawa suddenly called everyone here". Their Trickster glanced at Ann, nearest to them with Kairi and Shiki, sighing quietly and rubbing her arm as the voices of the students carry throughout the hall. Just then principal Kobayakawa approached the podium and tapped the mic to test it, before clearing his throat, warranting the students to listen. He started off with at least some positive news, and it was regarding Shiho.

Fortunately the girl was going to pull through but would take time to fully recover. This at least brings a sigh of relief to the three leaders, despite Ann's constant updates. Shiho had woken up three days ago but was far from recovered thanks to the severity of her injuries both mentally and physically. Ann hadn't gotten a lot of time with her before she fell unconscious, but she was able to deliver the wonderous news that Kamoshida would finally get his just deserts for what he's done to her and everyone else.

The principal goes on about how each student has a bright future ahead and prattles on a spiel of "importance of life" and face-saving speeches while the three converse quietly. "Like he gives a shit about the students' futures..." Neku spits with a scoff, "He knew damn well what Kamoshida was doing, and didn't even alert the media about Shiho".

"Why would he? A student attempting to commit suicide would have reflected poorly on his performance as a principal," Ren counters with little sympathy, "And likely if someone even attempted to inform or alert the media he'd do everything he could to stop them". He didn't elaborate what sort of methods that fat man would use to silence them. Sora also added Kamoshida's influence over the students could have been used to either intimidate or even blackmail the students who'd speak up.

Just as the principal rambled on more, the doors opened form a distance. All eyes turned to see Kamoshida. The three tensed up the moment they laid eyes on that pervert teacher, until Ren notes that there is a drastic change in his body language. Instead of him with shoulders up high and strutting in arrogance, his shoulders were slump and defeated as if he has just lost the will to go on, and even his expression was a complete opposite to his normal looks of smug superiority.

The principal tried ask what he was doing here, but he couldn't even get the sentence out before Kamoshida spoke: "I…have been reborn…that is why I will confess to you all".

Even his voice had taken a massive change, softer and more resigned. He approached the stage and turned to the students, and when they got a look at him, the thieves could see there was more of a change than just his voice. His eyes showed a genuine sense of remorse and guilt, gone was that monstrous gleam of arrogance and cruelty. Amongst the voices of questioning students, the three thieves glance at each other with the same question lingering on their minds.

"Is this the change of heart?".

"I have repeatedly done things there were…unbecoming of a teacher…" confesses Kamoshida, and here he laid it all bare for the attendees of the gym. He confessed and admitted to everything that the rumours had said, the verbal, physical, mental, and sexual abuse towards the students, his volleyball team, and the female students. "I am the reason Shiho Suzui had tried to kill herself…I abused her and blackmailed her to her breaking point, I even thought she'd never pull through," he admits. He shook and fell to his knees as the students began to talk about this, and then some even started to call him exactly what he is.

"Is this…for real?" Sora asks quietly, "He's confessing to everything he's done…".

"Morgana was right…his heart did change," Ren says with a breath of relief, slumping his shoulders.

Kamoshida continued with his confessing, how he saw the school as his castle and even admitting that past expulsions were not because of genuine reasons or concerns but solely because he just didn't like certain students. Luckily he was going to rescind those, sparing Ren and the others from losing their futures. "I… I even forced Ryuji Sakamoto to hit me and blamed him for the destruction of the track team. He…he didn't attack me unprovoked and broke his leg as punishment…" confesses the teacher.

Apologies poured forth from his mouth like blood seeping from an open wound, his voice turns shaky and nearly a sob escaped him, the sheer shame and guilt in his voice almost, ALMOST, made even Neku feel a smidgen bit of remorse and sympathy for the disgusting pile of trash. He calls himself arrogant, shallow and a shameful person, yet even he thinks that's too good for him. Kamoshida even bowed his head and swore he'd take his own life just to make even the smallest amends for what he's done.

This was evidently the point of no return, and the principal demanded he get off the stage while a teacher orders the students to return to their classrooms. "Don't run, you bastard!". All eyes fall onto Ann, staring down the shamed teacher with renewed scorn in her blue eyes. "Shiho's still alive even after all the things that made her want to die! You have no right to run from what you've done to her and everyone else in this school!" she says.

Her words cut deeper into Kamoshida, cleaving his woe in two. Slowly he rescinded his promise to take his life, and decided if he should be punished and even have any chances to atoning, then it should be by the law. He started off by confessing his actions towards Ann, how he tried to black mail her by using Shiho and taking her off the team. In exchange to keep her on the team she would have had to have a relationship with him. The disgust from the students were voiced, cutting into him and everyone who has ever held disdain for him or was the victim of his abuse let out their hatred for him.

Kamoshida swore he would resign from his position as instructor and was willing to turn himself into the authorities. "Please! Someone call the police!" he begged, on his knees still and almost crying. More rambles from the students began to grow in volume, some shocked by the request from the teacher and then some started to even debate on the existence of the Phantom Thieves. Questions regarding the truth behind the calling card for example and more about whether they were actual thieves or they just threatened Kamoshida to confess.

Some debated on the matter, some argued that the confession was possibly based on a story that by confessing you're treated a little easier by the police but many agreed that Kamoshida's true self was a disgusting degenerate who deserved a life in prison. All the while the thieves could just watch in awe and breath easy now that the threat of expulsion was finally lifted from their shoulders.

Soon the room emptied and only the gang remained.

"His heart…really did change…" Ann says staring at the stage, "Morgana was right…".

"Yo…didn't really think it'd happen but shit…" Beat says, "Ain't no way that fatty principal gonna defend him from that".

"He'd lose his job and worse if he did…" Rhyme added, "Which means even if Kamoshida tries to go back to the way he is he has no aid".

Strangely Ryuji was silent during the whole talk, hands stuffed in his pocket and eyes down cast to the ground, thinking. Curious and worried that the one who hated Kamoshida the most, if not rivalling Ann, was being quiet and even a little conflicted, Eri pats his back. "Hey, shouldn't *you* of all people be dancing with joy that Kamoshida FINALLY got what he deserved?" she asks with a smirk. Ryuji huffs and says: "Hey, don't get me wrong, that bastard got what was comin' to him! But…was this really the right thing?".

"What do you mean?" Rhyme asked.

"Like…things are happening way to fast, ya know?" he explained, "I mean…all this confessin' to what he did, and now he's going away…I dunno…".

Riku sighed. "It was either this…or you three get expelled and he continues on doing what he did to Shiho and others," he says, "We really didn't have any other options other than flat our murdering him".

"Riku's got a point, but I'm kinda with Ryuji on this…" Shiki admitted, "Like, it was so sudden and…a little out of nowhere, you know?".

Then Xion squeaked and gestures the on-coming trio of teens. Led by Mishima. First he apologized to her, and even to Ren and Ryuji for what he, and the others, have done to them. He admitted they all knew what was going on but like everyone else just pretended to ignore it. The girl confessed that she was the one who spread the rumours about Ann and Kamoshida, and laments she had Ann all wrong. "You spread those rumours?" Kairi asked with disgust in her eyes, "What in the world…?".

"L-Look I…" she tries but falters at the glares she was getting from Ann's friends. Eri scoffs at her. "Well hope ya had fun with your rumour spreading, you have no idea what those stupid noise did to Ann!" she lectures. The other girl softly admitted she didn't even know half of what was going on yet made no attempts to save her friend. Ann, once again showing her bravery, excused them for what they did, reflecting on her own blindness.

A teacher demanded they go back to their classes immediately after the girls informed Ann that very likely there was more students who wished to apologize for their words against her. But before he left, Mishima turned to Ren. "I…I can't apologize enough for what I did…but I swear I'm gonna make it up to you someday," promises the abused teen before he walked away.

"Guess Kamoshida's heart ain't the only one to change…" Ryuji says. He turned to Ann and said: "But hey, glad for you. Those shitty rumours are finally going away".

"That didn't really matter to me…getting Kamoshida to apologize for what he did to Shiho was enough, for me," Ann says, "But, thanks for that". She smiles at Kairi and the other girls, each returning her smiles. "So I guess we did it…" Sora says, "Kamoshida's going away, the students got their justice and we didn't screw up his mind".

"About that…" Morgana says, quickly popping his head out of Ren's bag, "Maybe we should have this talk after school? Think there's a few things we should talk about in private". Everyone agreed and dispersed to attend to their classes…

*After School: Monday 2/5*

*Roof top*

The majority of the gang had arrived to the rooftop minus Ann and a few of the girls, everyone else gathered up to discuss the change in Kamoshida. Ryuji mostly relived that not only did he have a change of heart but they also managed to do it without causing him to have a mental break-down. "This was an A+ job!" Ryuji bragged.

"The only A+ you will ever get…" Riku chuckled, making Ryuji nearly fall off his chair and indigently glare at Ryuji while his friends laugh. Naminé folds her arms in thought, reflecting on Morgana's warning about the mental break down, and the info she was given after they reunited. "Morgana…when you said it was a possibility for Kamoshida to have a mental break down, what exactly made you think stealing his heart would have caused it?" she asked.

"Honestly Naminé, I didn't have a lot to go on. Like I said this was my first heist pulled off," he replied, "Guess I was wrong".

"So that means that its not the change of heart that leads to a mental break down, but the destruction of the shadow…" Naminé hummed, "Meaning all you would have to do is persuade the shadow and then take the treasure…avoiding the mental break down".

"So if we have a target, we just need to talk their shadow down and bam, no worries of murdering them by accident," Neku says, "Getting them to confess without any ramifications is good in my book".

Just as he says this, Ann and the others finally arrived, and started to relay some more info. Ann with teary eyes relays to the group that she just got a call from Shiho's mother that she regained consciousness again for a little while. It wasn't a lot, but Ann was able to tell the girl that Kamoshida had confessed to what he's done. But she said: "She apologized to me…I guess she figured out, or somebody must have said something, that I was flirting with Kamoshida for her sake".

"Even with her state, she still had you on her mind…" Kairi says with sympathy, "Poor girl…".

Ann holds herself and whimpered: "S-Shiho's mom is thinking of transferring her to another school after she recovers". The gang showed nothing but sympathy and remorse for this news, even if nobody had expected any different. Without Kamoshida here surely things would be a much better experience for Shiho, but the memories of what's transpired here along with some heartless rumour mills and even colder students, she'd never be able to live it down here. "The sexual harassment and attempted suicide, students will label her," Ann says, "And…I think Shiho has the same mindset…".

"That's so unfair…she was being harassed by that jerk-face and she's still gonna have to live with that…?" Xion pouts.

"But it would be for the best for her sake…" Ventus says with a reluctant huff, "If she stays here, who knows how long she'd last before she breaks under everything that's happened here". "But ya know, she's still alive. You can always go see her," Ryuji reminded.

Ann nodded weakly, looking down while Eri comforted her with a back rub, while praising her for holding back at Kamoshida's shadow from what she heard. The thief just admitted she wanted him to confess himself, that if he did have a mental break down he'd go on to the next world without facing some form of punishment for what he's done. Morgana compliments her restraint while Roxas added in that killing him would have left a very sour taste in her mouth, no matter how terrible of a human being he was.

"Or maybe you just wanted the best kind of revenge? Getting him to confess was probably way more satisfying then taking his life," Riku remarks with a savage smirk. Ann gave him an equally evil smirk, commenting that he'll be spending the remainder of his life grovelling for forgiveness that he will never get from his victims. Ryuji gulped nervous while Xion shuffled away from the scary lady, humming nervously.

"So on another topic, regarding the castle. Does anyone have any idea why Kamoshida was the only one to have that Metaverse thing? Or is it not exclusive to him?" Rhyme asks, looking at the cat. Morgana shook his head and clarifies that Kamoshida isn't the only one who can have a Palace. If someone's heart is distorted enough by their desires, but by saying that it made Ren turn to the guardians. "Speaking of hearts and Palaces, you mentioned the possibilities of him becoming a heartless once didn't you?" he asked.

Riku hums. "I thought it was possible after what he's done to Shiho but no. His darkness was deep and monstrous sure but it wasn't manipulated by someone, so no, there wasn't much of a chance of him becoming a heartless".

"Which is a relief, we really don't need a Kamoshida heartless running around Japan," Naminé concurs, "We'd never would have gotten a confession out of him".

"Still the idea that there could be more Palaces like Kamoshida…" Shiki hums, rubbing her arm, "Sounds really unnerving". Morgana offers the others to go find other Palaces to proves point, but Ryuji declines quickly and soon enough everyone else sided with him. On the wisdom of Ren, who pointed out that right now the whole school is talking about Kamoshida and the Phantom Thieves, and sure while there is no way to link them to the change of heart there is still the chance that Kobayakawa may connect them. Evidence be damned.

"Plus there's a rumour going around the school about us," Kairi says, "That apparently some of the boys threatened Kamoshida with violence if he didn't confess".

"I blame Beat and Ryuji for that," Neku sighed, ignoring the glares from the two blondes. "But the nobodies gonna believe in the Phantom Thieves that easily, a lot of people are talking about the calling card being sent by people who knew what he was doing".

"Well they're not wrong," Sora says, "But if people put together that we had a hand in it they might figure out we did something".

"I know we did it and I still can't believe it…" Naminé says with a hum, "But uh yeah, maybe we should lay low for a while". Then everyone's eyes fell onto the medal on the table between them all, and Naminé asked: "But what should we do with this?".

"Pawn it off, duh!" Ryuji says with a grin with his phone out, and after a few taps he found how much it was worth. A total of thirty-thousand yen. Ann cheekily reminds him he owed her money back in middle school, but the punk rebuked that he was a hundred percent sure he never borrowed that much from her. They indulged in an argument about interests and racking things up while the others just looked at the medal in thought.

"If it's worth that much, then between all of us there's no way to split it evenly…" Naminé sighed, "We'd at best share a total of a thousand each".

"Well we don't have to split it, but what if we used it to celebrate?" Sora offers, "I'm all for laying low and keeping our heads down but we managed to pull off a heist right? So what about using that thirty-thousand for a party or something?".

"A Phantom Thieves party celebrating their first heist over a tyrannical king? Sounds good to me," Neku concurs while Ren nodded. "But where exactly can we do with it? Any fancy restaurant is gonna take more than thirty-thousand to host all of us," Rhyme says after doing some quick maths in her head. Sora grinned and suggested if the others are willing, they can use the money to fund the ingredients to a dinner party he can work on. Kairi and Riku gave him unsure looks when he mentioned he'd cook, but Naminé implored the others to trust him.

"You sure you can do that spike?" Beat asks, "Mean I ain't no chef but that's a lot to work on your own".

"Sure, won't even bat an eye!" Sora assures. Ren and Neku glanced at each other before nodding and after their talk with the boy they figured perhaps it was a chance to put their faith in him. "So when do we do it? I mean this is Golden Week, so we have until May 6th to do this," Ryuji asked, "Like tomorrow?". Sora gulped at the word and Ren quickly suggested they do it on the last day of the week, reminding him about the amount of work he'd have to do. "Plus we could look at it as a way to energize us for school life," Ren offers, "And maybe improve your chances of passing an exam…".

"For real!? Even you don't think I can do it!?" Ryuji growls.

"Have you EVER gotten an A on any exam?" Riku asks with a raised brow. Ryuji growls and crossed his arms whilst grumbling at his friends. Kairi piped up that they could have the party on the 5th, Children's Day, so then they could have one day to themselves to recharge and relax. They agree on the day just as Xion asked their biggest concern regarding their finances. She pointed out that they couldn't sell something like this to anybody without getting some unwanted attention and even mentioned it could be impossible to sell the medal online.

"Yo, leave that to me!" Beat says, "That airsoft gun store outta take it". Ryuji seemed sceptical but Ren handed the medal to their hot-headed friend while insisting he'd maintain a low profile and have Rhyme come up with an alibi for it. Once everyone agreed to the date and plan while Neku texts Sora a list of places for ingredients if he was interested, the gang dispersed and headed home for the day.

*Evening: Monday 2/5*

*Café Leblanc*

No sooner had Ren entered his home, his phone vibrated in his pocket and after giving Sojiro a brief nod, he took it out.

Panther: "Question for you guys, is that gold medal real? When did it actually get into the Palace?".

Ren blinks and glanced at Morgana. The furball says: "No, that's a fake. Its more of a by-product of cognition. Its more likely Kamoshida still has the real one in his possession". Ren nodded and texted back to the group what the cat said, and more texts came.

Skull: "For real!? He's still got the real one!?".

Nightmare: "Who cares? Not like that's gonna be his meal ticket out of prison".

Scarlet: "Yeah, and sides can you imagine how crazy difficult it'd be to sell that?".

Joker: "I think the most important thing is we changed his heart. Whether we have the real one or not isn't important".

Jet: "Joker's aight. Sides ya think he'd even look at it the same way again?".

Tzu: "If his change of heart is anything to go by, I'd dare say he'd probably throw it away just to avoid being reminded of what he's done and lost".

Reaper: "He's never gonna be proud of that again. Personally if I couldn't even look at something I worked my ass off for again, that's worse than dying".

King: "Maybe Panther's more meaner than we thought…".

Panther: "EXCUSE ME!?".

Ren stuffs his phone into his pocket in time to see Sojiro placing a mug of coffee on the counter for him. He settles in and takes a gulp of it, gratefully consuming the wonderous beverage and looked. "Hey, something happened today," he says as Sojiro planted his own mug down on the counter, giving the bow a raised brow. Ren regales the older man about today's events, regarding Kamoshida's confession and the rumours about him having been confirmed true but the man himself. Sojiro's eyes narrowed, and then he asked if that was the same man who caused that poor girl to try and commit suicide.

"Yeah…she was one of his victims that just, had no way out…" he sighs as he clutched his mug, "And get this…he was going to expel me and two other students just because he didn't like us". Sojiro rubbed his forehead with a grunt. "Damnit kid, why didn't you tell me he was trying to expel you?" asks the coffeemaker. Ren rolls his eyes and asks him if he'd believe Ren or heck, would he just kick him out the moment he revealed his future in the school was potentially about to end abruptly. His caretaker crossed his arms and narrows his gaze at the boy, then said: "You really think I'd be that heartless?".

"You didn't exactly welcome me with open arms, you've even called me an idiot a few times, and dare I mention how blatantly clear you were regarding my behaviour and the consequences?" responds Ren as he faces his caretaker, "With all that, why would I mention expulsion to you?". Sojiro sighed and replied: "I'm supposed to report to your parole officer, remember? So imagine how it'd sound if I inform them my ward didn't bother to mention he was being threatened with expulsion by his coach?".

"Considering how quickly everyone labelled me as a thug the moment I even set foot into the school? I'd be more amazed if the parole officer didn't burst through the door and arrest me the moment you sent the report," Ren says as he finishes his mug. Sojiro opens his mouth to argue, but then he relents and sighs, taking his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose while Ren just glowers at the counter in thought, feeling frustration and unwanted stress building back up in his back again.

"…I'm heading to bed…" he says quietly before taking his mug and approaches the sink to clean it. However before he does, Sojiro speaks up. "Look kid…I get you've got issues with trusting adults these days…and I…I get that I haven't been welcoming to ya," he confesses, turning to him, "But you gotta understand why this is a big deal".

"I do-

"No you don't," cuts off Sojiro, starting to brew another coffee for them. Once he does, he gestures Ren to sit down at the booth and offered no other option to the raven. "Somebodies in trouble~," teases Morgana. Ren "gently" dropped his bag near the stairs, making the cat yelp as he approached the booth. When he settled down, Sojiro speaks first.

"Look, if you told me about that expulsion I would have had to report it to your parole officer, no way around that. And yeah, you've got every right to believe it'd look shit on you," admitted Sojiro, "But you know what else could have helped you?". Ren waits for him to explain and Sojiro sighed, that if Ren did in fact tell him the moment it happened, Sojiro could have asked the officer for an investigation on the matter. "Why would they waste resources on something like this? Wouldn't they just label me as a lost cause or something?" Ren asked.

"Not exactly. Sides that coach may have some sway in that school as you say, but the police wouldn't give a shit, especially if I threw in my reports about you," Sojiro revealed, and he gave him examples. Perfectly following the curfew for example, going to school, socializing with reputable students, and now added helping him around the café. "So on top of all that, your coach has little to no proof of you being a shithead, what do you think he'd be able to do?".

Ren looked at his care giver with wide eyes and even had his mouth open, speechless while Sojiro sipped his coffee. "So with all that, he'd probably be arrested earlier when it came to light he was expelling students with ease and who knows? They'd probably would have discovered his other abuses," Sojiro lectured, "And all ya had to do was say it".

"…".

Ren looked down at his mug, yet not a word comes from him, and his eyes were clouded with concern and even guilt. Sojiro looked at the boy, his face soften with understanding as he thought back on his current situation and the things that happened to him up to this point. "…look, you probably have a low opinion on adults, and…giving what happened, I can understand it," Sojiro says, "And…maybe I could have been a little more, I dunno, open minded". "But listen, whether you like it or not, we're both in this situation. You mess up, it looks bad on me and I'll probably have more shit to deal with even after you're gone, and well, we both know what'll happen to you if things head south".

"Its on my mind every day…" Ren admitted, sipping his coffee.

"So listen to me, I want to help you get through your parole, but you gotta need to learn to trust me," Sojiro implores. "But that also goes both ways…".

"…I understand…" Ren says, and added, "So…I'm gonna be off for awhile so if you want…we could start my training here?".

"Perfect, tomorrow sound good to you?" Sojiro asks. He nodded and settled into a comfortable conversation between them. Their talks make the boy ponder on the trust he and his mentor/caretaker had, and the bonds he shares with the others.

*Sakuraba Residence*

"Already made it to the internet?" Neku asks, approaching his bed.

"Yeah, just got off the phone with Eri and she says a lot of students already posted the story on their social pages. Some even had recordings of his confessions online," Shiki replied on the other end, "Wish they showed this much effort in calling him out as opposed to brushing up their media pages".

Neku grunts in agreement and laid on his bed, sighing as Shiki gave him the rundown about what she and Eri found. "It's pretty likely this will be on the news tomorrow, can't imagine how the principal is gonna handle this…".

"He'll play it off as if Kamoshida was able to hide all of this from him. He'll deny any involvement and play the blind victim, as usual," Neku says bitterly, "A real kick to the balls that he's gonna get away without any consequences…". Shiki sighed in wholehearted agreement that the ball of lard did get away with his involvement but added that the reputation for Shujin would certainly plummet and considering he's the one in charge, he will get some backlash for it. "I mean if I made him a principal and he epically screwed up, I'd be super upset and make darn sure he'd make up for it," Shiki says.

"Yeah…still pretty shitty, you know?" Neku replied, "But hey, least we did take down Kamoshida".

"And Shiho's gonna make it, all the better, right?" Shiki added. Neku concurred and with a yawn, he wished her good night before hanging up. He closes his eyes for a moment and exhales softly…and then immediately his eyes shot open. Quickly he sits up and snapped his head to his right…and there he was.

"Congratulations are in order I see…" he says, nibbling on a pokey stick, "Your first game in two years and you passed with flying colours".

Neku glares at him…

Joshua just smiled…

A/N:

…hello.

Sorry this was a week late, work obligations were a thing. Also, I'm gonna be working on some original stories for a little while so I may be a little late on updates. I have no intention of stopping this story, but I do wanna do some other stories here and there.

Questions:

Q1: Thoughts on this chapter?

Q2: Sora cooking for the team?

Q3: Sojiro in this?

Q4: Joshua?

Q5: Have any ideas what you wanna see up to the meal?

Q6: What do you wanna see in future chapters?

As always everyone, thanks for reading. Sorry this was one was a short one! Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!