"Dormina!" Takemi cried out, prompting Lady Macbeth to wave her hand and sending one of the Shadows to sleep. This was followed up by an Eiga from Ren to another. Then the sleeping Shadow was struck by another attack from Lady Macbeth, this one called Kouha and taking the form of bright, glowing needles.

Soon all three Shadows were dispatched, and Ren stopped to catch his breath.

Takemi seemed to get over the adrenaline rush that had overcome her and was now taking in the sudden change in her appearance, plague mask and all. She wasn't freaking out so much as she was bemused.

"Ugh, it's like my trashy teenage years all over again…"

"Hey, I think you look great," Ren said hesitantly.

"I've been complimented by a delinquent. I'm flattered," Takemi said flatly. "Never mind, we've got more important things to worry about."

"Like what?"

"Futaba's gone."

Indeed, the red headed pharaoh had vanished without a trace, leaving the two alone in that corridor.

"We'd better find her," Takemi said.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Ren questioned.

"Didn't that papyrus from our last trip have a map on it?"

"Oh… oh yeah."

They went over to a torch on the wall and used the light to get a better view of the layout.

"This place is confusing," Ren said.

"The mind of a troubled teenager is bound to be."

"I guess that's true. Let's go."

The shadows they encountered slowly became more and more familiar. Ren discovered that pulling off their masks before they transformed gave him and Takemi and edge, and each encounter became a choreographed dance routine practiced during each prior battle.

But experience didn't change the fact that they were running out of steam. It seemed that Arsene and Lady Macbeth could only do so much before they were forced to rely on Ren's dagger and Takemi's sawblade.

As they made their way through the pyramid, they soon came across a mural that had been scrambled, and they deduced that they had to solve it before they could unlock the door to the next chamber.

"You think the mural means something?" Ren asked.

"I'd say so. The girl in the mural is obviously Futaba."

"Then who is the black-haired woman?"

"I can't say. It's someone from her past, I know that much. Whoever it is, I'm pretty sure she has something to do with whatever's eating Futaba."

"Let's head back to reality and sleep on it then. I'll try and find out what I can from Sojiro," Ren said. "He's gotta know."

"To be honest with you, I doubt you'll get much from him. I'm a regular customer of his, and he never talks about personal stuff like that. Whatever you've gotten from him in the past, you got lucky."

"Right. I'll… I'll figure out something."

"I agree that we should take a break though. I'll give you a call tomorrow to set up our clinical trial."

Oh, that's right, Ren thought. Our deal. "I'll be there after school," he promised.

The next day Ren had a hard time paying attention. Even after getting a well-deserved night's rest, give or take another visit from that creepy Mr. Burns lookalike, he found it difficult to concentrate in class and even fell asleep at one point. A piece of chalk to the face solved that at least.

It was at lunchtime when someone approached him.

"Amamiya-san? Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Ren looked up from his meal to look at his visitor. She had short, dark brown hair with a hairband designed to look like a braid, piercing red eyes, and wire a black vest over a white shirt as opposed to the normal black blazer.

"And you are?" he asked.

"What? Oh, right, you're new here, you might not know. My name is Makoto Nijima, student council president. I'd like you to come with me to the student council room, it won't be long."

Ren stiffened. The student president? And she wants to talk to me? What does she- why is she- oh crap am I in trouble already?! "S-sure," he said, looking down at his half-eaten rice and worried one of the other students would mess with it. "Can I bring my lunch with me?"

"If you want. Just don't make a mess."

He got up and followed, not oblivious to the whispers.

"Is he finally being expelled?"

"Is Nijima really going to be okay alone with that creep? What if he does something to her?"

"Serves her right, the teacher's pet…"

Thankfully the whispers were blocked out by the door to the student council room. Ren sat down across from Makoto apprehensively.

"...so, Amamiya-san… it's come to my attention that-"

That what? I'm a menace to society? That my presence is distracting the other students?

"-you haven't been acclimating well to your new school environment."

...wait, what?

"I'm aware of your criminal record, as is the entire student body, I'm sure you already know. But the rumors are getting out of hand and it's negatively affecting your school environment. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Ren looked at her, taken aback. Makoto watched him expectantly as he turned over her question in his head.

"Principal Kobayakawa put you up to this, didn't he?"

Whatever Makoto was expecting, it wasn't that. "What?" she responded, looking a little hurt.

"Look, I know the school only took me in as a charity case, to make themselves look good by reforming this dangerous criminal. And I'm willing to bet that the principal wants you to help with that. So unless you can somehow stop the student body from being annoying gossips, I don't think there's anything you could do even if you did want to help me."

Makoto went quiet. It was true that the Principal had asked her to make sure Ren didn't fail, but that didn't mean she was doing this out of pity. She was student council president, after all, and helping the students with their problems was part of her job.

So it really hurt to know how little trust Ren had in her. Is it just how he is? Makoto thought. Or is it me?

"I'm just trying to keep my head down and not cause trouble, but that doesn't seem to be working."

"That might be part of the problem," Makoto suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe your lack of involvement with the student body is contributing to their hostility. You did duck out early from the volleyball rally, after all. If you actually participated more with other student activities outside of class, you might be able to reverse your image."

"What would you have me do then?"

"Why not try joining a club?"

Ren shook his head. "As if anyone would let me."

"You could always start your own," she threw out there.

Ren opened his mouth to retort, but the idea sounded decent enough. He doubted anyone would join, but if they did, he at least had someone he could hang out with. After what happened with Ryuji, he didn't feel like spending time with Shiho if that was how her other friends would act.

"That's not the worst idea I've ever heard. What do I need?"

"A teacher's signature and three other members besides yourself."

"I think I can manage that. Could you help me put together some forms and whatnot?"

"I'd be happy to."

For the rest of the lunch period they stayed, Makoto walking Ren through the steps of starting his club. He decided pretty quickly on what he wanted- the Gardening Club. He always had sort of a green thumb and he even had a potted plant in his room he was taking care of and quickly growing fond of, so this would be pretty easy, he thought.

Once the forms were printed out, Makoto looked up at the clock. "Class is starting in 5 minutes. You should get off to class, I'll post these on the school bulletin board."

"So I can go now?" Ren asked, already standing up.

"If you want. Oh, and one other thing," she added as Ren began to leave, his cold lunch now forgotten. "I'm available for tutoring if you need the extra help."

"...I'll think about it."

The rest of the school day went without incident, thankfully. After school, he decided to make himself scarce quickly so he wouldn't be kept waiting. On the way, he passed by Shiho looking seven different flavors of nervous and upset, but he brushed it off. She had Ann, didn't she? And after what happened last time, he figured he should just keep his distance. He was lucky the incident with Ryuji didn't escalate and land him in further trouble so for today he decided to let sleeping dogs lie.

"So… you want me to just drink this?" Ren asked, holding the cup in front of him and eyeing it curiously. The liquid inside didn't have much of a smell. If he didn't know any better he'd think it was some kind of fruit punch.

"Don't go getting cold feet on me now," Takemi said. "I already went with you into the… wherever that was. Now to fill your end of the bargain."

"I wasn't backing out," Ren said defensively. He looked down at the mixture again. Sighing in resignation, he brought the cup to his lips and downed it in one gulp. He had been bracing himself for a disgusting taste like cough medicine, but to his surprise the taste was incredibly weak. He'd describe it as chalky and only slightly bitter. When he put the cup down, Takemi was looking at him with a surprised expression that bordered on shock. That's not a good sign. "Was I not supposed to drink the whole thing?" he asked.

"Well, I mean, you were, just… I figured you'd swallow it in increments, but this works too."

Ren sat down on the clinic's exam table as Takemi began to look him over and write stuff down on her clipboard.

"So tell me. Are you feeling any side effects?" she asked.

"No, I don't feel anythiiiiiiiiiii…." Ren slurred before flopping over on the bed, going out like a light.

He awoke a few hours later. Takemi told him that she'd gotten what she needed out of the examination and that she'd work on the concoction for the next trial run sometime next week.

"All right," Ren said, woozily. "Does this mean you'll keep helping me with Futaba?"

"That was our deal," she nodded.

"Got it. I'll let you know when I feel ready to go back in."

"I'll keep my schedule open, not that I have much to clear anyway…"

Ren nodded, regained his balance and made for the door.

"By the way," Takemi said with a smirk. "Did you know that you talk in your sleep?"

He froze, then looked back at her with a nervous expression.

"What exactly did I say?"

"I won't say," Takemi said playfully. "But from the sounds of things, you have some interesting dreams, Mr. Amamiya."

When Ren walked into the cafe red as a tomato, Sojiro never got a straight answer as to what was up.

Ren was acing his assignments. He was looking forward to starting the Gardening Club, since out of all the students in this school, at least one of them would have to be both into gardening and skeptical of the rumors about him. And he had the stuff with Futaba to give him purpose outside of just keeping his head down. Sure, it was kinda terrifying to face down the shadows, but even still, it was exhilarating when he got the hang of it and he couldn't wait to go back now that he knew the ropes, more or less.

For a moment, he dared to hope that this year might not be as bad as he first thought.

And then Shiho jumped off the roof.

Everything passed by in a blur. The class stampeding to the window, then to the courtyard where Shiho had landed. The paramedics pulling up to the school. Takamaki riding with her in the ambulance, absolutely beside herself with worry. Ryuji marching off somewhere with a fire of righteous indignation in his eyes, dragging along that other kid whose name he couldn't remember. The faculty's utter apathy for the whole situation.

Everything kind of melded into one big malleable mess in his mind and he couldn't sort through it properly.

Shiho, one of the few people at this school who he was able to have a conversation with, someone he freely admitted was really sweet, attempted to kill herself.

Ren stared at his food, not bothering to touch it even as the students were abuzz with speculation over these recent events, as though their classmate's life wasn't hanging in the balance.

Why did I avoid her yesterday? Ren thought, quivering. If I had stopped and said hi to her, if I had bothered to see how she was instead of just giving her space, would she have still jumped?

She looked utterly miserable yesterday. Did something happen to her?

On some level, he knew that he alone saying hello to her wouldn't have prevented this. But all the same, he couldn't help but feel like he could've done something. He was in this whole mess because he had gotten involved in someone else's business and tried to help them, so why didn't he do so this one time?

He barely registered the bell ringing, letting everyone back into class. Ren didn't budge, his mind focusing on the look Shiho had in her eyes. He didn't pick up on it the day before, but she looked… scared wasn't really the right word...

Haunted? Yeah, that's it.

Come to think of it, he could swear he'd seen a similar look before, somewhere else, but he couldn't quite place it…

"I will die here."

He gasped as he made the connection. Shiho had looked just like her.

"I don't deserve to live! I shouldn't be alive!"

A horrifying thought occurred to him at that moment, one that made his blood run cold.

How close is Futaba to reaching that same breaking point?!

At first, his interest in visiting that pyramid again had been motivated by mostly curiosity. Some concern for Futaba, yes, but mainly it was a puzzle for him to solve. But now? He realized that Futaba's life may be at risk.

But he wouldn't fail Futaba the same way he let Shiho down.

With his knowledge of the Metaverse, with the power of Persona, and with Takemi at his side, Ren had the unique opportunity to see inside Futaba's heart, to see and perhaps affect the way she views the world. He had the chance to save her life.

And he wasn't going to squander that opportunity.

"Excuse me? Amamiya-san?"

Ren was jolted back to reality by the soft but stern voice. It was Nijima, who wore an expression that looked a bit like a concerned but strict mother.

"The bell rang. Lunch is over, you need to get back to class."

"Nijima-san! I, uh, I'm sorry, I was just…"

"No, I get it," Makoto sighed. "I'm upset about Shiho too. But you'll be late for class."

Ren nodded, tossing his forgotten meal in the trash and walking briskly back to his classroom, vowing to himself that no matter what, he would save Futaba.