"Hey, what happened to your uniform?" some student asked for the hundredth time that day.

"It got damaged, I'm still waiting on a replacement," Ren replied for the hundredth time that day.

And he walked right on past the student, pretending not to notice the whispers.

"He must have torn it getting into a fight."

"Maybe he got blood on it and didn't want anyone to notice."

"How has that creep not been expelled yet?"

Thankfully he didn't have to deal with the constant questions for long. Today was the Volleyball Rally, so he'd be spending the day in gym clothes anyway. Unfortunately, he now had to deal with endless chattering about Kamoshida.

Ren wanted to say that he hadn't paid the man much thought, but that would be a lie, because Kamoshida was the only thing anyone at this school ever seemed to talk about. You know, when they weren't calling Ren a hardened criminal or calling Ann easy. He knew pretty well that the volleyball team, under his coaching, had been Shujin Academy's biggest claim to fame and the rest of the faculty treated him like a national treasure.

He wasn't impressed.

It quickly became apparent that this was less of a fun sports competition, and more for the gym teacher to stroke his already overinflated ego. Luckily, by scanning the faces of the other students, he realized he wasn't the only one who thought so. That tough looking dyed-blonde student looked even more frustrated than normal.

Ren wasn't much of an athlete himself, and didn't have any interest in watching the game, so he had time to stew in his own thoughts.

Futaba's Palace…

It became clear to him that for Futaba to see her own home as a tomb, something must have happened to her, or worse yet, was happening to her. This wasn't just ordinary depression. This was advanced depression.

Stop referencing American children's cartoons, Ren, this is serious!

According to Sojiro, she almost never emerges from her room, and if that argument or whatever was any indication, rarely, if ever lets Sojiro in. And for whatever reason, Sojiro didn't won't Ren to know about her.

A horrible thought began creeping its way into Ren's heart.

What if Sojiro is the cause of her problems?

What if he's abusing her?

As he processed this possibility, he quickly thought better of it.

Of course he isn't like that. Even if he isn't exactly the warmest fellow ever, he never mistreats the delinquent he's been stuck with. Heck, he was really under no obligation to take me in in the first place. Well… I guess he was being paid to, but it's not like anyone would care if he abused his position. He's taking his job as my legal guardian seriously, so why would he mistreat his own daughter?

He shook his head. There's no way Sojiro would do something like that.

But still, Ren wondered...

He was jolted out of his thoughts when a meaty THWACK echoed through the gym. Ren soon realized the cause- one of the student volleyball players whose name Ren couldn't for the life of him remember had just been nailed in the face by a volleyball serve. As the poor kid fell to the ground, the students and faculty began freaking out before it was dismissed as an accident.

Yeah right, Ren rolled his eyes. The Olympic Gold Medalist just accidentally injured someone. I think I'm done here. With a scowl, he sauntered out. He was half expecting the other students to erupt into whispers about what kind of crime he was heading off to do, or maybe even somehow accuse him of that student's accident (whose name he heard as Nishima), but thankfully everyone seemed distracted by the injury so he made it to the restroom uninterrupted, where he sulked for a while.

As such, he was unaware of the two people who did see him leave. One with concern in her eyes, the other with a suspicious glare.

Once he heard the sounds of people in the halls again, Ren decided it was time to leave the restroom. He went downstairs to grab something from the school store when someone walked up to him.

"Excuse me… Amamiya-kun?"

Ren turned to find himself facing a female student with long black hair in a ponytail and a worrying number of bruises. It took a moment for the recognition to kick in. "Oh, Suzui-san. It's you. Where's Takamaki-san?" he asked. "Don't you two usually hang out?"

"I didn't see her anywhere after the game," she explained. "But… I saw you leave early, and… the rumors aren't getting to you, are they?"

"No," Ren shook his head. "I don't let them get to me. They're getting worse, though, like even I didn't know I've committed this many crimes. Did you know that I once stabbed a Destinyland mascot and used its costume to mug park guests?"

Shiho let out a laugh at that, a sound that Ren relished coming from someone who tended to look so downtrodden all the time.

"I never took you for the type," Shiho chuckled.

"In all seriousness," Ren said, "Why do you even bother talking to me with all the rumors going around?"

Shiho's smile fell. "It's, uh… it's because Ann is… kind of in the same boat."

It took Ren a moment to recall what she meant. Of course he'd been trying to block the rumors out, but some of them slipped through. Mostly about him of course, but he remembered one that stuck out. It was whispered before class had started the previous day, an event completely forgotten in the wake of ending up in Egypt somehow.

"Hey, you think I've got a chance with Takamaki? You know, given how easy she is?"

"Don't be stupid, you know she's doing the nasty with Kamoshida. Do you really think she'd lower herself to you?"

"But isn't she cheating on him with the new transfer student?"

"Nah, Amamiya probably blackmailed her or something to get her to sleep with him."

Amamiya made a conscious effort to not look anywhere in Takamaki's general direction until Ms. Kawakami entered the room and started class.

"I… get that," he managed, not quite surewhat to say. "Sounds rough. It's because of her foreign looks, isn't it?"

"Well that's… part of it, yeah," Shiho admitted, looking downcast. "But mostly, it's just how this school is. They'll latch onto the first loose end you give them and devour it like a wolf."

"So I've noticed…" Ren responded, feeling like she was leaving something out. He was about to press her on this when the both of them noticed a figure stomping towards them.

Ren only had a moment to recognize that student with the dyed-blonde hair before he grabbed Ren by the arm and dragged him outside the door. That was when Takamaki herself caught up to them, watching the events play out

"Ryuji?" Takamaki asked in confusion, a sentiment echoed by the startled look on Shiho's face. "What-"

That was as far as she got before the school door closed behind them. Ryuji turned around a corner and slammed Ren's back against the wall of the school, dazing him.

"Okay, buddy," Ryuji growled, "What the hell were you doing to Suzui?"

"I- I wasn't-" Ren struggled to respond.

"Did Kamoshida put you up to this? He usin' the kid with the criminal record to keep the volleyball team quiet, is he?" he pressed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Then what were you doing with Shiho?"

"We were just talking," Ren insisted, prompting Ryuji to shove him into the wall again.

"Yeah right! You've been going around threatening the volleyball team so they don't say nothing about Kamoshida!"

"Where would you get that idea?!" Ren replied, exasperated.

"Ryuji, lay off him!"

They both turned their heads as Ann and Shiho both caught up to them, rounding the corner themselves, Ann in particular looking pretty angry.

"Ann? But he-"

"We were just talking," Shiho said. "That's really it."

"But," Ryuji stammered, "His criminal record, he-"

"He's not a bad person," Shiho insisted. "The rumors about him just got way out of hand, just like they did Ann!"

Ryuji looked at Ren with a look of surprise and a little shame before letting him go, the bespectacled teen falling to the ground in a heap. He stood back up and readjusted his glasses, glaring at Ryuji for a second or two. "I'll be going then," he said, walking straight past the three of them back into the school.

The three watched him leave, Ryuji rubbing the back of his head. "So… he wasn't taking orders from Kamoshida?"

"Of course he wasn't, you idiot," Ann snapped. "Don't tell me you bought into all those rumors about him!"

"...I might've," Ryuji said, having the decency to sound ashamed of himself.

"What's all this about Kamoshida?" Shiho asked cautiously.

Ann sighed, figuring she'd just have to slap some sense into Ryuji some other time. "Well, it's like this…"

"My answer is no," Takemi said with finality.

"Come ooooon," Ren replied, sounding whinier than normal. "You're the only other person who knows about this other world, and there's no way in hell I'm going back in there alone."

"And there's no way in hell I'm going back in there, period," Takemi maintained. "You might have that weird mask ghost power thingy, but I don't. I'm not putting my life at stake, okay?"

Ren huffed as Takemi turned back to her paperwork behind the counter. He considered giving up and just going in alone. But after what he'd been through in that other world, giving up wasn't a thing he did.

"So you're just going to let Futaba go on suffering then?" he pressed. He felt a little guilty about shaming her like this but he didn't really care. "Traveling into her mind might be the only way to help her, and you're just going to refuse."

Takemi didn't respond, acting as though she didn't hear him as she filled out some forms.

"Some doctor you are," Ren threw out as he walked back to the door. He was just about to walk back outside when Takemi spoke up.

"I need a guinea pig."

Ren turned around with a raised eyebrow. Okay, better than nothing. "Come again?"

"That experimental medicine that suit was grilling me about yesterday… it's real. But it's incomplete. It needs more testing, more data. And it seems to me you're the picture of health. You've got a fairly normal body type… perfect for me to do trial runs." She stood up and looked him in the eye. "If you agree to be my test subject for perfecting this formula, then I'll go with you into the other world and do what I can to help Futaba."

Ren considered her offer. This was a pretty shady back-alley clinic, after all, and it seemed that she had something of a reputation if yesterday was anything to go by. Then again, shady or not, she was still a doctor, and trying out untested medicine couldn't be any more terrifying than facing down shadow demons. And he needed all the help he could get.

"All right," he said. "It's a deal."

Once Takemi had closed up shop, not that she got much traffic anyway, they opted to enter the Metaverse from in front of Sojiro's house, since that was what became the tomb in Futaba's dream world. Takemi had changed out of her labcoat into something more casual, a blue dress with a white spider-web pattern and ripped leggings. She also wore a black spiked collar. When she gave the go-ahead, Ren activated the app and the world around them rippled into a new form. And just as predicted, when the city around them morphed into a desert for the second time, the pyramid was right in front of them instead of off in the distance.

"Well," Ren said, readjusting to the feeling of the black leather, "Let's go in. I'll do my best to protect you from any Shadows that show up, okay?"

"I appreciate it," Takemi said. "Let's just get this over with."

They entered the palace, ascending the stone steps to the entrance of the tomb. On opening the large, imposing doors that stood there, they were greeted with the familiar sight of the central chamber, with the strange computer code appearing and disappearing into the stone walls.

And there, once again, was standing the Pharaoh of this land, Futaba. Or more accurately, her Shadow.

"You came back," she noted.

"Of course I did," Ren said, trying to sound reassuring in spite of his intimidating appearance. "I want to help you."

Futaba shook her head. "There's nothing you can do. There's nothing I want you to do. I'll spend the rest of my life here, and I will die here. It's what I deserve."

"I don't buy it," Ren said. "You're, what, 15? No way you deserve any sort of mistreatment, let alone death."

"You don't understand," Futaba said, her neutral voice beginning to quiver. "I… I have done unforgivable things… I don't deserve to live… I shouldn't be alive!"

The cognition of the pyramid began to flicker again, but this time, there were voices beginning to echo through the chamber.

You killed her!

"N-no, please…" her voice began to quake even more.

This is your fault!

"P-please, not again," Futaba weakly pleaded.

Why won't you say something?

"Futaba, please, get ahold of yourself," Ren pleaded. Takemi could only watch in horror as she began to break down, sobbing, quivering, curling into herself and making herself as small as possible.

Futaba hated days like this. She was just at her computer like usual when the hallucinations began. She covered her ears and curled into herself, but there was no stopping the voices.

She wanted to cry out, like she had the other day, but that just caused a scene and caused Sojiro to come running, asking to be let in.

Sojiro couldn't help. He wouldn't help. He had no reason to feel anything but disgust. After all, he had been close to her mother. Why wouldn't he hate her?

"Please… stop…" she begged the empty room around her, knowing deep down she deserved to suffer like this.

The pyramid flickered again and began rumbling. Suddenly, dark patches appeared on the ground before erupting into more shadows, which once again took the form of those humanoid insects looking things. Futaba seemed to fade away, vanishing before the shadows advanced on Ren.

"It looks like those things are drawn to negative emotion," Takemi observed.

"I think you're right," Ren said, brandishing his knife. "I'll take care of them."

The shadows transformed yet again. One of them took a form that was vaguely human-looking with a moon for a head, another transformed into a woman with the lower half of a snake, and the last one became what looked like a baboon dressed in robes and holding a book.

Ren charged at the snake lady and slashed at her, only to get blown away when the baboon created a burst of divine energy. Takemi wasn't even standing near the combat, and yet she had to brace herself against the shockwave that came from it.

The shadows advanced on the downed Ren, who was struggling to get to his feet, while Takemi backed away.

I don't know what I was thinking, Takemi thought. I'm not going to die here, there is no way I'm going to die here.

What about Futaba? Aren't you going to help her?

Takemi started at hearing a voice suddenly echo through her mind. It as a feminine voice, one colored by royalty and power.

How am I supposed to help her anyway?!She thought, having no idea why she was answering.

You are a doctor, are you not?

Hardly. I barely even qualify as a quack. As far as the world is concerned, I do more harm than good with my practice.

There is blood on your hands. Whether or not it was any fault of your own, or if the world put it there, you still need to wipe it off.

As she pondered those words, Takemi looked as Ren, this person who was still in high school, stood back up and held his knife defensively. He was putting his life on the line not only to save Futaba, but to protect her. She saw him as this stubborn, annoying kid, but it was like a whole different person was standing in front of her.

She clenched her fists as they began to shake.

You already care little for appearances. Will you give yourself in the care of others again? Are you willing to wipe the blood from your hands?

She nodded. "I am."

Then we are ready to make a vow.

Suddenly, searing pain erupted in her head. She gripped it and tried to keep it at bay, only barely noticing Ren calling her name in concern. It was like a part of her that had been missing for decades was clawing its way back in whether her mind wanted it there or not.

Her vision was briefly obscured as something appeared over her face, almost like a vapor. When it solidified, it became a jet black plague mask, albeit a little shorter than the ones she was familiar with.

All the while, the voice continued.

I am thou. Thou art I. Plague to thine enemies, lifeblood to those who need thee. Tear off thy mask and call upon my name!

Takemi tore off her plague mask and, in a shower of blood, cried out the name of her Persona.

"LADY MACBETH!"

In an eruption of red light, almost like a spray of blood, Takemi's outfit had changed. Ren already noticed the goth, punk rocker aesthetic of her street clothes, but her new appearance cranked that up to eleven. Her outfit consisted of a blood red tank top that looked more like it had the sleeves torn off as well as a bit of the lower part, revealing a slight amount of midriff, below which were torn red shorts with a large black belt around her waist. She retained the spiked choker from her normal outfit, but she now wore long red rubber gloves much like Ren, but these appeared more surgical in nature. These also had spiked wristlets around them. She wore black high-heeled boots that went up to her knees, under which were leggings that had the same spider-web pattern as her dress in the real world. She also had a pair of large black earrings that each had a black feather hanging from them. To top it all off, in her left hand was a syringe containing a strange liquid while her right hand was carrying a bonesaw.

Then there was her Persona, Lady Macbeth. The first thing Ren noticed was her head, which was covered by a silver knight's helmet that seemed to morph into a crown of long spikes. Behind her head was a mass of long, blood-red hair that flowed around as though she was underwater. She appeared to be wearing a long, white dress with black plate armor over the chest and shoulders. She didn't have arms connected to her body as far as Ren could tell, but she did have hands, seeming to be formed of a liquid that he was 99% sure was blood, looking almost solid at the finger tips and becoming more unstable and formless as it went up until disappearing completely at the elbows. In the Persona's left hand was an ornate metal dagger.

Takemi grinned with a sinister edge. "I know this goes against the Hippocratic Oath and all… but I'm so going to enjoy this."

Now that I think about it, is the Hippocratic Oath even a thing outside the west? I never really thought about it until now.

Anyway, I have a good chunk of the story planned out, up until Kaneshiro actually. More likely than not I won't retell the entire game, but maybe I'll change my mind.

Giving Takemi a Persona was pretty much the entire reason I started this story in the first place, and it was always going to be Lady Macbeth. Though considering Haru's Persona is called Milady, should I shorten it to just Macbeth to avoid confusion?

I've also narrowed down the candidates for pairing with Ren, but I won't say just who yet.