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-Three:
Mementos.
*Evening: Thursday 5/5*
*LeBlanc*
Ren only manages to lay down on his bed before his phone beeped, and upon looking he sees it was a slew of messages from his team.
Skull: "The Phantom Thieves huh? I'm liken the sound of that!".
Nightmare: "So you've mentioned…four times since we formed them?".
Scarlet: "Nightmare be nice! Its nice that someone's super excited about being superheroes".
Panther: "I just hope we can still help people…also I'm really curious about the Phantom Aficionado Website too".
Joker: "Yeah, I've been wondering about that for awhile now…anyone have an idea who made it?".
Tzu: "I've been doing a little sleuthing around the page but haven't found anything. Apart from the owner going by the name "Phantom Minister".
Roxas: "…really hope "phantom" isn't gonna be the code name for everyone involved…".
Ventus: "Also there's a survey on it…and I dunno how to feel about it…".
Scarlet: "Sheesh! An approval rating and only six percent like us? Harsh".
Eri: "Maybe…if we show off fan service…".
Naminé: "WE ARE NOT DOING ANY FORM A FAN SERVICE!".
Eri: "I didn't say it has to be us girls…".
Naminé: "…go on?".
Joker: "NOT gonna happen Eri…".
Skull: "BACK to the approval! Don't you guys wanna get that approval up?".
Nightmare: "Skull's right. We take down the same scummy adults as Kamoshida and we'll be getting approvals left and right".
King: "Sounds good to me! Be heroes in the night, give hope and more people liking us, win-win-win!".
Skull: "Oh hey! Got a pic for you guys!".
Joker looks and sees in the chat, Ryuji posted them a photo of the gang. It was a selfie-styled picture with Ryuji in the front while in the back at the end of the table is Ann trying to keep her cake away from Xion while behind them Shiki was plucking the cake from Ann's plate with her fork from. At the table on the right is Kairi and Sora watching and laughing and finally Ren with Neku posing for Ryuji's selfie pick.
Ann texted back angrily, chastising the two cake thieves for their greed. Xion argued that she ate her strawberry treat without her knowing and Shiki texts "all's fair in love and war". "Next time Ann I think you're better off eating away from those two thieves~" Kairi teases, "Or at least get Sora to make extra!". Ren added a few more thoughts to the group chat before his eyes grew too heavy and sends everyone a good night before turning in for the night.
*Velvet Room*
With a light gasp, Ren's eyes open to see nothing but the abyss of darkness and chains. "Here again…" he mentally groaned, getting up from his bed and turning to the cell bars and like all the other times he had come to this place, Igor was sitting there awaiting for the Trickster to awaken. Justine and Caroline standing by his cell looking at him with the same expressions that seemed to be cemented on their childish faces. Deciding he'd get this over with, Ren approached the cell bars and grasped them.
"First off…I'd like to begin by congratulating you," Igor greets with that forever plastered mad smirk on his face. The twins remarked on their master blessing their prisoner with praise, both aggressive and passively ridiculing the Trickster. Igor praised the boy for finding allies who shared the same ideals as he does and found his place within reality. "My place…? You mean among the Phantom Thieves?" Ren asked. "Correct…thieves who steal the hearts of the distorted, and bring their deeds to light," Igor answers.
With a single raise of his hand, the crooked smiling man reveals that thanks to his hard work Ren's rehabilitation could finally begin soon. "You've mentioned that so many times, but what exactly is my rehabilitation?" inquires the raven. Like clockwork, Caroline slammed her baton against the bars, demanding he shut up and listen. Ren rolls his eyes and with a deep sigh of bitter acceptance, he crossed his arms and "graciously" awaited for Igor to speak.
"You have special potential. However, that must be refined into a more useful power," Igor says, "It is currently too weak right now, but through refining it, that shall grant you strength to stand against ruin". Ren listened and pondered on his words, even during Igor's lecture. "So that's my rehabilitation…but is that part of this "Reapers Game" you and Joshua have going?" asks the Trickster. Once again Caroline slammed her baton at his bars, livid that he has the gall to ask such a question.
"Ahh…I see the Composer's chosen Player has told you about the game then…and tell me, are you aware of the Guardian's true self?" asks the spear-long nosed man. Ren's brows furrowed, but with reluctance and careful consideration, he answers truthfully about their history with things such as these. Igor chuckles deeply, commenting that it has taken some time for them to reach this point, but the benefits of the revelations is clearly showing in Ren's heart. "There are various means to gain power to resist the ruin, and evidently, you have found a way".
"You mean, bonding with them?" Ren asked.
"Indeed… be they fighting shadows together, exploring the roads you all walk…" Igor explained, and even the twins offered some form of insight about empowering himself with the relationships he has with his team. Ren placed a hand on his heart, sensing the connections between him and the newly formed Phantom Thieves. He could feel the warmth of these connections but two stood out the most, pillars of strength that he feels empowering his heart. "Through these bonds…I'll be able to avoid ruin…and gain the power to face the opposition ahead of me?" he thinks.
"It would appear the rehabilitation is going well…a joyous occasion," Igor remarked, "I eagerly await what comes next for you…". Ren's world turns dark once again, and slowly he succumbs to slumber…
*Friday: Morning. 6/5*
*Shujin Academy*
Taking down more notes as he indulges Kawakami's lecture, as one of the head leaders of the Phantom Thieves, Ren quietly scribbles down answers for his homework he neglected to do following the start of Golden Week. Not he normally does this, working on other assignments while in the class of another teacher, it was only because Kawakami was going over a message relayed to her by the principal. In short of a overly long spiel, it was basically an order to the students to NOT talk about what happened the week before with Kamoshida's confession.
From what Kawakami understands, the police was still investigating Kamoshida and she, and like the other teachers, couldn't say anything else regarding the situation. Then she confessed she was ashamed that as a teacher she should have noticed what was going on with Kamoshida and the students, and assured the others while she wasn't defending him, she just couldn't believe he was capable of such actions.
Ren pauses his writing and glanced at the teacher and caught her looking at him for a brief moment, their eyes meeting and a secret message was granted to the boy. A small nod of understanding from the boy prompted her to resume her lecture, talking on about a psychology question she learned about how people can have multiple personalities hidden in their subconscious. Not exactly multiple personality disorders per say, more on the lines of a different gender or even age difference. The leader hummed in thought about it as she goes on.
Looking at Morgana, the cat speaks softly: "You know she's kinda right when you think about". Ren's raised brow poses the question, and the cat elaborated that when they were in the Metaverse he and his friends were different. Ren was more mischievous and confident with a hint of a show off streak in his strides, Ryuji being more aggressively wild and rebellious, and Ann three times more confident and sexy. "…and your affection towards Ann has nothing to do with that added piece?" he asked dryly.
"…maybe?".
*After class*
It ain't much but looks like there's more postings on the Phantom Aficionado site," Ryuji says as he, Beat, Rhyme and Naminé stand near the stairway was classes emptied. Naminé quietly hummed as she looks through the posts, but unlike the ones from last night and even this morning, these weren't about thanking the thieves but extremely petty requests. "But most of these posts are so petty and ridiculous… like this one is just: "I want my friend to apologize for not returning my stuff". Goodness sake…" she sighed.
"A really big contrast to what we received last night…and a mass downgrade compared to what Kamoshida did," Rhyme says as she scrolls through more petty comments, "It's like they're not taking this seriously…".
"Fo' real…" Beat agreed, "Like dude…they ain't the student council, sort that shit out yourself!". As he grumbled, two girl came out of a classroom talking about the Phantom Thieves. At first the girl was talking about the change of heart but the other, far more pessimistic and downright logical, argued that the real reason Kamoshida couldn't keep his criminal activities up because of the guilt he had for causing Shiho's suicide. The other girl, conceding, was more upset that their school was going to be known for the shady things their previous coach caused and feared their college entrance exams may be compromised.
When they left, the four blondes quietly conversed. "I suppose it was a big far fetch to expect everyone to believe the thieves exist with just one change of heart…" Naminé lamented, "There's also a lot of debate on whether or not Kamoshida just couldn't bear the knowledge of causing somebodies death…".
"Considering how big of a coward he was here and in the Palace…I guess there's a good argument there…" Rhyme sighed. Ryuji huffed and assured his friends that all they have to do to convince the world the thieves do exist is to take down a big head or two. "Think on it, maybe if we bring down two or three famous dickheads, the world's gotta believe in the thieves!" he argued. "Yeah man, but uh…do we even got a lead?" Beat asked, "Mean…we don't even know anyone who could a shady asshat…".
"It also doesn't help that right now the rumour about us threatening Kamoshida is still fresh…" Rhyme reminds, "I think for now, until things blow over and we find a target, maintaining a normal student life is a must".
Ryuji grumbles at this, lamenting that they formed the thieves and they couldn't even find a target. Naminé curtly reminded him of the risks posed against Ren's freedom and insisted they just keep low but still COULD look for a target without raising suspicion. With that, Rhyme offered to check online with Shiki and Ann while Beat offers to hang around with Ryuji to see if they can dig up something or find a jackass worth taking down. They all split up and go off to their next class.
Naminé walked through the school hall quietly and slowly as she heads for her free class (teacher was out), eyes glued to her phone in deep thought with a frown. On her screen was an invitation to an art display show that she had been invited too to show off her winning piece. To display her art piece at the Bunkamura was such a privilege and an honour, especially to show the world she, a nobody (socially) is able to create a beautiful piece.
During the waiting for the change of heart, in her spare time Naminé went back to doing what she loved and that was to draw again. Sure she never gave up that hobby while she trained in the Land of Departure, but it went to the back seat during the period of time she remained there in order to help her friends. Now she was back on the bench and with more free time she started to draw and paint, exploring new avenues of the artist's world. Lately her drawings were based on her dreams and memories, and one that helped her win the artist world's attention was the Castle of Oblivion.
The place where she was born, the place she was held captive, and the place where she met the boy who taught her the meaning of true friendship and the power of choice. Compelled to paint was one of the reasons she choose that place to be her first gift to art, drawing it then painting in the colours of the bizarre place. When she completed it, her first idea was to hang it up on her wall and then reflect on it, but then when she was browsing the internet for an ideal location to create, she spotted a contest hosted by the managers of Bunkamura.
Naminé didn't know what wild spirit compelled her to submit her piece, a photo of her work with her initials, and hope for the best. She hoped she'd be recommended to a mentor or even some prize money for second or third place or heck even a coupon for a convenient store…
Instead…she came first.
Two days before the change of heart occurred, she received a phone call from one of the managers of the gallery, confirming she was in fact the winner of their contest. Prize money aside, she was also asked if she could come in to display her piece and give a lecture on it, as he confesses he's never seen any castle looking the way she had crafted. Stammering nervously like an anti-social girl whose never taken part in social gatherings, she stammered a "certainly" and was now expected to come in on Saturday the 14th to show her work.
"Maybe I could say I'm sick… no that's too rude and insulting…But what if they expect me to give a lecture in front of dozens of people…!?" she thinks frantically, biting her lip and pacing on the spot. Then during her short moment of calm, she overhears something, mostly voices. Turning to the door, which was the principal's office, she gently sneaks closer to it. Even if she lacked the same superior hearing her friends possessed, the guardians, she still had a better sense of hearing then the average human.
From what she could gather from the closed door, Kobayakawa was talking to Makoto about the rumours circulating Kamoshida's change of heart. Like they had all suspected, the rumours centred around the students who have a history with Kamoshida, even though neither could put a pin on who it was. Yet Naminé was more fixed on the principal's tone regarding Kamoshida and still added the "kun" honorific to him, and his tone seemed more out of frustration and disappointment. But not the kind of disappointment in his character, but rather he was caught.
"That piece of filth caused so much pain here, and all he cares about is the damage he left him to clean up…" the girl huffed, listening more as best as she could. It seems he wanted to have a better grasp on the idea on what caused Kamoshida's change, apparently it would help him show the media and police "he" handled it to the best of his ability. Naminé scoffed in disgust, he could have had that monster exposed from day one but choose to keep him in the system because of the glory he brought to the school, students be damned.
Then from what she gathered; he was asking Makoto to investigate the matter. "Her? Can you even ask a student to do that?" she asks herself, having a bad feeling that was a red flag. Here she hears more about the student president's achievements, top of her class, great conduct and the teachers favoured her, and to sweeten this arrangement the principal even offered to write her a great recommendation to any college she applied to.
"So he's getting Makoto to investigate into this…and he's apparently not above bribing her…" she thinks with disgust in her eyes. She shakes her head and storms off, worried they may end their meeting any second now and she didn't want to risk getting caught. However this provides a whole new problem for the gang, especially the ones who were seen going up against Kamoshida regularly. "Ren's already still suffering from the rumours that pervy jerk spread about him, and Ryuji is not much farther away from getting exposed. If that Makoto finds out about our connection to Kamoshida's change of heart then that tubby principal can easily report us to the police…" she thinks, "Meaning if we want to continue being the thieves, we shouldn't do anything suspicious on or in the school".
As she approached her class, she sends a text to everyone.
*Class*
In Mr Usuimaru's class, Sora, Kairi and Ventus were listening to him drone on about whatever subject he taught, but because the man loved the sound of his own voice so bloody much he didn't even notice the entire class had zooned out on what he was saying. The three glanced at their phones beneath the desks to see a slew of texts.
Skull: "The police are really here… I saw'em at the entrance".
Nightmare: "Yeah, saw one talking to Kawakami earlier and I think that language teacher's next to interview".
Reaper: "Think they'll ask a few students to talk? Maybe the volleyball team?".
King: "Wasn't there already an interview earlier this week?".
Skull: "Dudes…this whole change of heart thing seriously amazing, huh!?".
Panther: "Really hope they don't find out we're responsible for this…".
Scarlet: "You heard what Mona said, Kamoshida's got no memory of what happened in the Palace, plus even if he did, how is he gonna prove it?".
Nightmare: "WITHOUT sounding like he belongs in the nuthouse?".
Panther: "Okay…but those rumours about half the group threatening him, that's still a thing!".
Joker: "Panther's got a point. But considering he was threatening us regularly and even used expulsion, forced a student to reveal my criminal record and with the abuse, he only has his word against ours. And considering what he's done versus speculation and unproven rumours about me?".
Reaper: "He may as well say Tzu set his car on fire for all the difference it'd make".
Naminé: "While I think we're in the clear during this investigation, we might have a problem".
Naminé: "I overheard Kobayakawa talking to that Makoto girl, and he's having her investigate the change of heart situation. I'm worried she may have already set her eyes on us".
Sora and Kairi exchanged a look between each other, the former in front of the girl, frowning at this news. They quickly looked at their phone and see Ren had already texted the group that from here on out, they would need to law low and keep ANYTHING relating to the thieves to the bar minimum so long as they were in school.
Joker: "She has nothing to go on, but that's going to change. Everyone keep your heads down and just focus on school until we get out. Also, avoid using the school rooftop too. If she's that much of a stickler for the rules then we don't need to give her any ammunition or even a hint of our dubious double lives".
Scarlet: "Got it, we can always use Wildkat as our HQ".
"YOU THERE! Are you listening!?".
Kairi jumps and raised her head to the now annoyed teacher, who has his gaze fixed on the princess with indigency and insult. "Is that how you listen when someone is talking to you!?" he roars. Kairi gulped when he sees him readying his supposed legendary throw of chalk. And he does so.
Except unlike his previous victims, before the chalk could breeze past him, Sora's hand shoots up like lightning and catches the chalk. His grip tightens and he crushes the chalk into dust with an audible crushing noise. The teacher's eyes fall to the boy and he freezes at the sheer determination in Sora's eyes, deadest glaring at the man who DARED to throw something at Kairi. The entire class gossiped over his speed and chivalry towards Kairi.
Said girl was sitting there with wide eyes and blinked for a second before looking at Sora's outstretched hand, dripping with dust. The teacher scoffed and insisted they resume their class, unable to face Sora. As more of the girls gush over how heroic and speedy the boy was, Kairi rolled her eyes at them, but then her phone vibrated. Quickly she glances and sees a message from him.
Sora: "Nobody throws chalk at your pretty face and gets away with it".
Kairi turns beet red and looked to see Sora hiding his face from her, but when she leaned to the side and sees Ventus, he was smirking and pointing at Sora's face, mouthing the word "red" at Kairi and gestured his cheek. Kairi's smile warms and she giggles innocently before texting Sora back.
Kairi: "My hero~".
She heard him gulp and squeak, and she swears she saw steam rising from his head.
*Afterschool: Friday. 6/5*
Packing his bag with his books while his cat lazes beneath his desk, Ren stands up and readied himself to get going before Mishima approached him. The boy greets him without the tremor in his voice and his face was free of the black eye that besmirched him in the past. He even looked a thousand times better then when Ren last saw him.
"Hey Mishima, everything alright?" asked the leader with a friendly smirk.
"Yeah…yeah, I'm good. Uh, have you seen the Phantom Aficionado website?" he asked. Ren nodded and added Naminé, and Rhyme were talking about yesterday. The boy confessed he was the one who started and owned the site, to Ren's surprise. And to add further shock, Mishima looked around to make sure he wasn't being eavesdropped, and leaned in and asked: "Are you guys the Phantom Thieves?".
Morgana almost yelled in shock but Ren quickly turned his smirk into a scowl and narrowed his eyes at the boy. More so because he needed personal space and Mishima was not respecting his space. "What…exactly tells you that?" he asked, crossing his arms. "W-Well…it makes sense doesn't it? I mean, you just showed up right as Kamoshida changed his ways…and you and Sakamoto are pretty tight with the new students, aren't you?" Mishima asked.
…this boy was too clever for his own good.
Ren softens his glare but keep them narrowed, and asked: "And what do you intend to do with this? Tell the principal?". Mishima shook his head. "And then what? Get rid of the people who took down that monster?" he asked, "Kobayakawa only cares about looking good in the public eye, and if he managed to figure out who the thieves are then things could just go back to normal or he'll find someone worse as a coach".
"Hard to top Kamoshida but I see your point…" Ren concedes.
"Look…Kamoshida made me do something terrible to you and the others, and I know I can't do much to make amends for it apart from saying I'm sorry…but if there is anything I can do…just let me know," he swears.
"Appreciate it but why did you create that site?" Ren asked, leaning against the desk, "Seems like a lot of work went into it".
"Well, there's a lot fo evil adults like Kamoshida out there, so I thought maybe if the Phantom Thieves knew about them maybe they could help? Like people can comment and post their problems. Who knows? Maybe people are excited to see what the thieves next move is," he explained, and showed Ren the anonymous forum. Apparently he also created a poll where it asked the visitors if they believed in the thieves existence.
Ren approved of the freedom of having people decide on the existence of the thieves, but then points out that most of the questions and "problems" are just petty ones that don't even scale an inch to Kamoshida's evils. But then a thought occurred to Ren as he explained the flaw, and suddenly a brand-new idea came to mind. Even as petty as SOME of the posts were now, surely someone will come forward with a bigger and way more serious problem that could involve a distorted desire and if Mishima was in Ren's contacts, he could relay the information the Phantom Thieves.
"We solve the problems from the forums, and then Mishima keeps us in the loop for updates on the change of heart, we'll gain more traction and attention to the site. Sooner or later, we might find a bigger target…" he thinks and then decided to relay this to Mishima, who excitedly agreed that he could keep his partner updated with the posts. So in the end, the Phantom Thieves gain a new ally.
He bids his new hero goodbye and heads off just in time for Ryuji, Neku and Roxas to join in. They confess they have heard everything the overly excited victim, lamenting their failure of remaining anonymous in less than a day. "Damn…dude's a lot more uh, what's that word?" Beat grumbles, "Per…purr…".
"Perceptive…" Roxas sighed, "But yeah, Beat's got a point. If Mishima can figure out that quick who the thieves are, then we gotta step up our game and get better at hiding our identities".
"Yeah, so we gotta find a new target fast!" Ryuji said, punching his fist into his hand, but then he paled and lets out a loud: "OH SHIT!". He caused his friends to jump in shock, and then he dropped a bomb. "WE HAVE AN EXAM COMING UP SOON!".
"FO'REAL!?" Beat all but cried, "SHIT MAN! I DIDN'T STUDY!".
"Aww man…an exam already?" Roxas groaned. Ren rolled his eyes and said: "I think we should focus on our exam first and laying low before we consider taking on a new Palace ruler. We won't have much time to play cops and robbers if we're lacking behind on our education".
The party decided to split after Roxas and Ren suggested they have one quick study session before the exams come up, assuring the two punks that they may not entirely be doomed to failure if they crammed. Soon the group separates and the school day ends.
A/N:
So remember how I said we have until the 6th of May? YEAH…I think everyone was waiting for me to realize that that was literally the next day and are probably face palming at my lack of attention to detail…sooooo…oops…
Sae will get her time soon, I promise!
I'm not sure where I am going with half of what I'm doing, especially with Bahamut and the summons so please bear with me.
Questions:
Q1: Thoughts?
Q2: Naminé's bit and intro to story arc?
Q3: Sora and Kairi fluff moment?
Q4: How do you like Makoto's scene being taken out of context?
Q5: What do you wanna see in future?
Q6: Study session?
Again thanks for putting up with my erratic posts. Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!