A/N Hello everyone and welcome to the first chapter of my Persona 5 and Batman Beyond Crossover, The Dark Knights Rebellion! I can't wait to dive right in, but before I do, I need to say a few things.
First, I would like to thank patrickthenobleman for helping me make this story possible with all of his ideas and suggestions he gave me. Without him, I wouldn't have the courage to write this story. Give a round of applause to him.
Second, this is gonna be my most challenging story ever. I did an outline of it, and I came out with over 50 chapters! That was way more than I expected. But I'm excited to write this all the same. It may seem a little wonky and poorly written, but keep in kind, this is my first attempt at doing a fanfiction from the beginning of the source material instead of jumping in at a specific point, namely near the end, which is what I usually do. So go easy on me.
Third, this story will be darker than the other ones I've done. I won't have any inappropriate scenes though, but the confidants chapters will be darker than they were in canon Persona 5.
Fourth, I've decided to combine Tokyo and Gotham together, much like how Big Hero 6 combines San Francisco and Tokyo to be San Fransokyo. I thought of a few names for new this city (like Gotokyo or Gothokyo), but I decided on calling it Nippon-Gotham (Though I may call it Gotham for short), once again thank you patrickthenobleman for your help in coming up with that name. It will have a mix of all the different types of buildings between Gotham and Tokyo, even the districts especially the Narrows and Shinjuku. I will have the school system be similar to that of Japan, mainly to help flow the story together.
Fifth, I do not own Persona 5 or Batman Beyond. They belong to Atlas and Warner Brothers Animation respectively.
Now without any further comments from me, let's dive in.
Nippon-Gotham.
A city filled with a whole mix of culture and races from all over the world. A Victorian and Asian architect masterpiece, perfectly mixing the two different societies, as evident by the tall neon skyscrapers and menacing gargoyles watching over the city.
But the city architecture wasn't what it was so famous, or more accurately, infamous for. It was the crime rate. Nippon-Gotham had one of the highest mix of culture and population density in the world, and that meant it also had the highest variety of criminals and gangsters flowing into its ports.
For generations, ever since the city's founding, crime lords and corrupt politicians had run this city. Choking the citizens for profit and money, leaving the poor and needy to suffer pointlessly at the non-existent mercy of those in power. This cycle of corruption and greed had continued for generations, poisoning the city and ridding it of any good people it had in it.
At least, that's how things used to be.
Decades ago, a mysterious figure suddenly emerged from the shadows. A dark knight. A warrior that punished the guilty and protected the weak, striking during the night. In his reign, the citizens of Nippon-Gotham experienced a new era of their lives. They felt that they could finally live their lives in peace and joy on the streets of their great city.
But the emergence of this figure, also led to the emergence of a new breed of criminals. Monsters, metahumans, maniacs. This changed Nippon-Gotham forever.
In his time, this warrior took on a number of Knights to help him protect his city. Some lost their lives in this war, others lost their mind and became as insane as the monsters they fight. Some merely left the guardian to find their own paths.
But the Dark Knight remained steadfast in his devotion to protect his city. Even after fighting for over three decades, he still committed to keeping his city safe. Even if he had to do it alone, with the death of his greatest adversary, the guardian would not falter in his protection of Nippon-Gotham.
Until that fateful night.
"Big news in the financial world today!" A news woman announced in a not-so deserted airplane hangar located on the outskirts of Nippon-Gotham, showing two businessmen pictures. One was an old and tired well known face in Nippon-Gotham, while the other was an ambitious newcomer looking to make a name for himself. "Once again billionaire Bruce Wayne has recently avoided another attempted takeover of his company by Kunikazu Okumura, head of Okumura Labs. Mr. Okumura has assured that this won't be the end of his crusade, as both businessmen's company stocks have reached an all time high."
The screen then shifted to show an image of a beautiful young woman in a red dress with red hair. "In other news, still no word from the kidnappers of deputan Bunny Reidman following a ransom payment of 5 million dollars…"
"Hey kid!" A tall, muscular man counting large amounts of money into a bag called out the the young woman currently tied to a pole off to the side and gagged. "You're on TV!" He mocked as he then laughed.
Indeed, Bunny Reidman saw her picture on the television and looked down helplessly in despair. She was just coming out of a bar she went to visit for a drink when she got jumped by these men and held for ransom. With her family being one of the most popular and wealthy in the city, it made sense for her to get kidnapped, but she never actually believed it would happen to her.
Currently, the kidnappers were collecting their money and preparing to leave the city on the plane they had stashed in the hangar. Once they were done loading up all the money, Ms. Reidman knew she wasn't gonna be kept alive for long. Was there no one coming to save her?
Outside, a guardsman was currently smoking a cigarette without a care in the world. He always hated being on guard duty, but he kept losing at rock-paper-scissors, so he had to come out here. He took the cigar out of his mouth and let out a puff of smoke, thinking that maybe it was time they changed how they would decide on the guards.
A sound then filled his ears, and not that of a cricket, as he had been previously hearing, but footsteps. He threw the cigar down and turned in the direction of the footsteps. Only to be met with a powerful punch in the face that knocked him out in an instant.
As the figure stepped out into the moonlight, they revealed a tall and strong individual dressed in all black, save for the white eyes and the blood red symbol on his chest that strongly resembles a bat, much like how the long ears off the mask gave that appearance.
This was Ms. Reidman's savior, the very guardian of Nippon-Gotham himself: the Batman.
Batman turned up to the roof of the hangar and fired off the rocket boots that sent him flying into the air. He spread forth wings from his arms, blood-red like the bat symbol on his chest colored the inside and dark as night black on the outside. His shadow loomed over the roof before landing close to the skyline and peering into the hangar.
There were 5 of them. All armed with at least a handgun, and off to the corner was Ms. Reidman, looking hopeless. Batman narrowed his white eyes as he then looked back at the kidnappers.
The leader of the group had finished counting the last of the money and threw it into the bag. He then picked the bag up and made his way into the plan. He then looked over to one of his lackeys. "It's all here," He began before he gestured over to their captive, "Take care of her."
The lackey he addressed had a sick grin on his face as he pulled out his handgun and walked over to her. Ms. Reidman looked up and eyes wide in fear as she began to whimper for mercy. The thug held no mercy as he cocked his gun and aimed at her head.
Then, something flew through the air, knocking the gun out of his hands. Batman then dropped down from above and began to pumple the thug with a series of punches and kicks. The others heard the sound of fists meeting flesh and gasped as they saw who it was.
"Batman!" One called as he and the other two besides the boss moved to kill the caped crusader. Batman delivered a powerful uppercut that sent the thug he was currently dealing with flying as he impacted a group of barrels where the TV rests.
As one of the remaining thugs pulled out a gun, Batman quickly slugged him across the face, and delivered a roundhouse to another, as the third one then grabbed him from behind. The first one he punched began to recover as he grabbed the gun. Seeing this, Batman swung the thug latched onto him into the one raising his gun before twirling the former around and throwing him over one of the plane's wings and onto the boss that was trying to escape. The two thugs collided and were knocked off the stairs leading into the plan, money flying all around.
Batman straightened himself out and took a deep breath. He then began to turn to the woman when he suddenly lost his breath as he clutched his chest over where a person's heart should be. He groaned in pain and his eyes wavered as he fought through the pain and moved to help the young woman.
He knelt to the ground and began to undo her bonds. "Are you alright?" He asked her. She looked to him in silent awe for a moment before her eyes widened with fear and she muffled a warning. Batman turned to see the leader was already back on his feet, and with a large wrench in hand, he swung the tool like a golf club and knocked Batman away from the woman and onto the ground.
Batman quickly got back up and began to rush the leader. But that unbearable pain flared up in his chest again, stopping him as he hunched over in pain, clutching his chest and falling to the floor. He could hear his faint heart beating in his ears as he struggled to breath.
He looked up to see the thug with the wrench in his hands, having a victorious grin on his face as he looked down at Batman. "Ever since I was a kid, big, bad Batman's always been making life hard for guys like me." He said as he raised the wrench high and brought it down on Batman repeatedly. Ms. Reidman winched in sympathetic pain as she looked away from the sight before her.
The thug took a step back as he then delivered a kick that sent Batman rolling across the floor towards another batch of fuel barrels. Batman moaned as he started coming to his senses, his mind still hazy. He then noticed what appeared to be a gun on the floor in front of him. Seeing the thug was trying to kill both him and the young woman, Batman made a call he would never normally make.
As the thug raised the wrench for another swing, Batman lifted up the gun and pointed it at the thug. The man stopped in cold terror. He's never heard of anything like this happening before. Batman actually using a gun, even to intimidate someone. That thought and action was beyond terrifying to some common thug like him.
In his fear, he dropped his weapon and backed away. "No! Don't!" He cried as Batman's hand was twitching uncontrollably. Not wanting to see if he would pull the trigger, accident or not, the thug rushed towards the exit and out of the building, determined to get as far away from Batman as possible.
As he looked back towards the building, the sound of police sirens entered his ears and the flashing light of cop cars pulled up in front of him. "Freeze!" One of the officers shouted as he trained his gun on him. The thug complied and raised his hands, honestly preferring their judgement to what Batman would do to him.
Back at the hangar, Batman uneasily stepped out of the building, breathing heavily, a trail of blood flowing down his mouth. He then ripped off his mask to reveal an elderly Bruce Wayne. He then brought up his other hand, the one that held the gun in it, and began to tremble as he looked at it in pure terror.
He had almost used a gun. He had almost broken his sacred code all because of his old body. His biggest fear in his crusade would be the day he would become like the criminals he fought. But he had always believed he would die before resorting to such cowardly methods such as firearms.
But tonight had proven just how far he was willing to go if he continued on this path. He then dropped the gun and began to walk away from the building and back to the Batcave in shame.
Something had to be done. In order to ensure Nippon-Gotham didn't have another maniac it was powerless to stop.
The Batcave was filled with numerous trophies and relics that Bruce had acquired from his years in crime fighting. One of which happened to be a robotic dinosaur. As bats began to screech from above, Bruce had begun storing away the latest Batsuit in the display case that held other costumes worn by him and his former partners in crime fighting before they eventually left him.
His current batsuit was honestly the most advanced armor anyone on Earth could possess, and could still possibly be that advanced decades into the future. But after tonight, no one would ever see it or touch it again.
As he was about to close the glass panel, Bruce took one final look at the suit, almost doubting if he was making the right choice, before his determination became firm and he closed the case. He couldn't falter now. He had to stop all this before he became any more of a monster.
He then walked up the stairs up to a row of switches. He took one final look at the Batcave before saying, "Never again." And then he began to flip the switches. One by one, the lights of the cave began to switch off and darken. For good.
And so with the fear of becoming as monstrous as the devils he fights, the guardian of Nippon-Gotham hanged up his cowl, never to be picked up again…
…Until now.
20 years later
"Attention! This is the last stop before arriving at Nippon-Gotham Central Station! All passengers that wish to exit the train must please do so now." The feminine A.I. voice said as the doors opened up and passengers exited and entered the train. As the newcomers got settled and the train began moving again the train then went back to the current news story that was playing before it was interrupted.
"Making news today, as everyday. Nippon-Gotham's own financials Kunikazu Okumura has acquired several local industrial firms. Everyone loves a winner, huh Kim?" The male anchorman asked his female counterpart.
"That's right Tom." The woman known as Kim agreed as she continued the story. "In the third Wayne-Okumura takeover this year, the CEO of the company has again crowned himself as Nippon-Gotham's most dynamic corporate Kingpin."
However, all these reports and news stories fell deaf on the ears of a young man. He was 16 years old. He was tall and thin but he had an athletic build to him not most young men his age do. His black hair was unkempt, yet it fit someone like him perfectly. He had a pair of round spectacles on his face, giving him the appearance of someone unremarkable, despite his handsome features.
However, no one seemed to pay any special attention to him as he continued to sit there, dressed in a Shujin Academy's boy's uniform, one of the most prestigious schools in Nippon-Gotham. It wasn't his usual attire, but he figured if he dressed in it, then the man that was supposed to take him in would recognize him if he wore the uniform of the school he was supposed to be transferring into this year.
As he looked down with a contemplative frown, he couldn't help but think what he would encounter when he got into the city. What would it be like when he stepped off this train?
He was pulled out of his thoughts when a newcomer on the train began to cause a commotion. Looking up from the ground, he noticed a tall figure dressed in red with a spray can in his hands. The figure then began to spray green paint all over the screen before turning around and bowing, as if he was accepting congratulations.
"Thank you! Thank you!" He said as he looked up and everyone except the young man, who gritted his teeth in anger at the man, gasped in fear as they saw his face covered in clown makeup. He was a Jokerz, a gang of deliquiets that modeled themselves after the legendary maniac. Their crimes ranged from public disturbances to terrorist bombings.
He then eyed a certain woman at the side and leaned over to her. "You smiled. I saw you smile. Yes I did. Yes I did. Now pay up." He then laughed as he held out his hand expectantly. The woman merely looked confused, so the Jokerz explained, "For the joke you bought. I give you funny, you give me money."
"I didn't buy anything!" The woman cried as she looked toward those sitting next to her for support. They merely avoided their gaze, acting as if they couldn't see it.
The action of the onlookers disgusted the young man, but what made him furious was the dreg in the clown makeup. If no one else would do something, then he would. He took off his glasses and put them away in his bag, he didn't need them to see anyway they were just for show, and walked up to the clown with a determined look in his eyes.
"I see, your just shy." The Jokerz concluded as he reached over for her purse. "I'll just help myself." He said as he took her purse and stood up, triumphantly laughing. He was suddenly interrupted when the young man grabbed the arm holding the purse and twisted it behind the Jokerz's arm, causing him to drop the purse.
"Get lost clown!" The young man demanded as he then threw the man into the television screen, causing it to crack.
The jester whipped his face as he began to stand back up. "Oh you wanna play huh? Let's play!" He then rushed the young man, but he ducked under a punch and delivered his own that sent the clown flying at the screen again, breaking it more. The clown was now looking very angry as he stood up, the look in his eyes made it seem he was ready to commit murder.
"Okay, that's it! You asked for it, punk!" He then began to perform a series of mediocre kung-fu moves along with noises to try and intimidate the young man, only for him to shut the clown up with a kick to the face followed by grabbing the back of his head and slamming it into the television screen again for a third time, knocking him out.
"You disgusting filth." The young man spat as he let out several breaths to calm himself down and stop the rage building in his chest. When he finally calmed down he then turned to see the passengers were clapping in celebration for him. But he didn't feel like celebrating as he sat back down in his spot and ran his hands through black hair, a look of horror on his face as he did so.
'Slaggit! Are you an idiot Ren Amamiya!? You know you're not supposed to be getting into any fights! Let alone on your first day of probation!'
After arriving at the station, the Nippon-Gotham Police Department, or the N.G.P.D. took statements from those on the train. Ren was terrified that he was gonna get in trouble because he stepped in to help someone again. Thankfully, the other witnesses testified in Ren's defence, and considering it was a Jokerz, he was let off with a warning that if he did this again, to a normal citizen or even another Jokerz, he was gonna be sent to Juvie, or with his luck and where he was, probably either Blackgate or Arkham.
As he finally stepped out of the station, he took a moment to admire the skylight of the city from a railing on the edge of the train station. The flying cars moving through the air, the crowds of all different kinds of people filling the streets, and that terrible factory smell that would bother any newcomer to the city. Ren took a deep breath, and felt that stink hit him hard in the nose. It was bad, but he was used to it, after all, he was no newcomer.
'Smells like home.' He thought as he smiled out at the city. 'The prodigal son returns.' He was a Gothamite, born and raised in this city up till about 5 years ago. That was when-
He shook his head to clear the bad memories away. This was no time to be focusing on why he left the city, all that matters is why he was back. As for that, if a person was to ask, the official story is that Ren Amamiya was here on probation after assaulting a man, a woman even testified on the man's behalf. The real story, if one were to ask Ren, is that he was sent here after his attempt to to help someone backfired.
Ren shook these thoughts out of his mind as he refocused on the present. It doesn't matter. All that mattered was getting through this year and getting his life back together. If that was even possible. With a sigh he then readjusted his bag over his shoulder and began to make his way towards Yongen-Jaya, where his new home for one year awaits him.
The Next Day
A train sped across the rails as it zoomed across the city, carrying passengers of all kinds. Most businessmen who had important meetings and deals to get to, others were families who were trying to get home in time for supper.
Suddenly most of the passengers braced themselves as the train began to speed up to an unsafe pace. Multiple people began to cry out, asking what's wrong. One passenger moved up to the front and tried to bang on the door to the conductor. "Hey, what's happening?! Slow down!" He called.
But the conductor was trying to do just that. He tried and failed multiple times to use the emergency brake to stop them. But no matter what he did the train continued to increase speed to a dangerous rate. If the man wasn't so consumed in his panic, he may have noticed the strange, bat-like device connected to the main terminal of the train before it was too late.
The train impacted with Shibuya station and tore through most of the underground section of it, killing everyone on the train and in the immediate area.
Above Shibuya station and a flood of police cars, a lone figure stood above the carnage with a device in their hands that recently read 'lost signal'. Despite that, the figure merely smirked and opened up a phone line.
"Mission complete." They said, a sick glee was in their voice as they said it. "The train will continue to inspire fear. I made it to look like the work of the Jokerz, and we know how they love attention, so they'll eat it up."
"Very good." The modulated voice said from the other side. "Lay low for now, we can't have anyone suspecting our moves."
"Understood." The figure said as they closed the communication and made themselves scarce.
"Breaking News: Apparently a gang of Jokerz managed to hijack a train heading into Shibuya station and sent it on a collision course with the station, leaving 32 injuried, and over a hundred dead. The N.G.P.D. are currently investigating how this could be possible."
"Oh for the love of…." Sojiro Sakura, Ren's guardian, muttered under his breath as he heard the report from the radio of his small taxi-like car as they were currently stuck in traffic on the ground level of Nippon-Gotham. While most citizens owned flying cars, some people like Sojiro, preferred to drive in cars that still had wheels. Ren believed that it was because Sojiro was a middle-aged man who owned a coffee shop located in a hole in the wall somewhere in the slums of Yongen-Jaya. At least it wasn't in Shinjuku or the Narrows.
Speaking of said coffee shop, or Leblanc as it was called, that was where Ren was currently sleeping. To be honest, when Ren learned he would be spending a year in a coffee house, he wasn't all that pleased. At least he had a bed.
Sojiro Sakura was a strange man. He claimed he took the job because a regular was friends with his 'parents', and that he was paid to do it. Sojiro seemed indifferent to him. He didn't hate or dislike Ren, but it also didn't seem he was fond of the kid either.
They went to Shujin Academy today. Sojiro had complained about not being able to open his shop for most of the trip. Ren had met the principal, Kobayakawa, and his homeroom teacher, Ms. Kawakami. Kobayakawa was a fat dreg who only cared about making Shujin this great school, which was probably the only reason he accepted Ren, to make it seem like Shujin was generous enough to give delinquiets a second chance, Ren usually hated these kinds of people, but at least he had a place to go to school.
As for Ms. Kawakami, she seemed mostly slagged during the entire exchange, with dark bangs underneath her eyes. She didn't seem to be fond of him either, as she had asked right in front of his face why she had to take him. Kobayakawa explained that hers was the only one with an open seat. So she caved.
"Looks like the trains will be delayed tomorrow." Sojiro said, shaking Ren out of his thoughts. "You'll have to leave early to make it to school on time."
"Yes sir." Ren said as he looked back out the window and saw the street they were currently on. They were close. "Hey." He spoke up. He might as well visit them. "Can we make a quick stop before we head back to the Cafe, it's not far?"
Sojiro gave him a look that said 'are you kidding me' and asked. "Where would you want to go in this dump of a city?"
"My parents." Ren said, leaving Sojiro confused. He was told one of the terms of the probation was that the boy wouldn't have any contact with his parents for the whole year, yet he wanted to make a stop to see them. And why would he even be sent to Nippon-Gotham if his parents live here.
Sojiro was about to say no, but… there was something in the boy's eyes that he couldn't deny, a kind of yearning, like he needed to see them. So the old man sighed. "Well, it's already too late to open the cafe anyway, so why the heck not?"
Ren smiled, grateful for Sojiro's kindness. Maybe the old middle-aged man wasn't so bad after all.
As they followed the directions given them, they finally arrived at their destination. Sojiro had been annoyed when the kid had stopped them to grab a thing of flowers from a vendor selling them in the street. For a second, he thought the kid was lying about wanting to see his parents and merely wanted to impress a girl. But Ren then revealed that these flowers were his mothers favorite.
But when he said that, the kid had a sad smile on his face as he did. And now that he saw the gate of their destination, he understood.
Nippon-Gotham Cemetery
Sojiro had followed Ren as he navigated his way around the headstones of graves, as if he knew where he was going, despite the large number, and it was a large number, this was Nippon-Gotham after all.
Finally, they arrived at two small headstones, and Sojiro now knew why the kid thought it would be okay to see his parents.
Mary Amamiya
Age: 36
20XX-20XX
A Beloved Wife and Mother
Warren Amamiya
Age: 38
20XX-20XX
A Beloved Husband and Father.
Ren set the patch of flowers down gently between the two headstones and just stood there, brooding (Sojiro sweared). Sojiro didn't know what to say, and figured that he shouldn't say anything, and just stood there in the distance.
After a long moment of brooding, Ren took a deep breath and began to make his way back to the gate where Sojiro's car was waiting for them. Sojiro watched the retreating form of Ren, a thousand questions running through his mind. But, he decided against it. Whatever the kid was going through, no way would he open up with a stranger, even if that stranger took him in and gave him a place to sleep.
But Sojiro had to admit, he was wrong about the boy. He was a good kid who was hurting a whole lot on the inside. And Sojiro, no matter how much it annoyed him, couldn't let a good kid stay hurting forever.
So with a new determination to really help the kid in his custody, Sojiro followed the boy back to his car and they drove back to Leblanc, they were silent the whole way back.
The next morning Ren woke up to a strange sight. Breakfast was waiting for him, and it wasn't necessarily that it was waiting for him that was strange but rather, that it was curry for breakfast. When Ren asked his guardian why he was having curry, Sojiro explained with pride that curry was energy food. That it, along with a good cup of coffee, can energize someone to go throughout the whole day.
Ren doubted the man's claim, but after tasting the curry and the coffee, he found there may have been some truth in that statement. He quickly finished the meal and began to move toward the door. "Thanks for the food Mr. Sakura." He thanked Sojiro.
"Just call me Boss kid. Everyone else does." Sojiro said as he lit a cigar and began to smoke. Ren smiled. As he opened the door and began to make his way to Shujin Academy. His guardian turned out to be okay, maybe school life won't be so bad.
After one week into Shujin Academy, Ren quickly decided that school was the worst part about his probation. Apparently, some dreg twip had decided to leak his entire record to the school. That was supposed to be private! That eventually led him to be an outcast by many of the students, with tons of rude and ridiculous rumors about him being spread throughout the school.
The rumor that had angered him the most had to be the one where he used to be a part of a Jokerz gang. As if he would join those monsters!
However, there was one bright side. Due to his new reputation as a delinquite, he soon found common ground with a boy named Ryuji Sakamato. His hair was blond, he had a track athlete build to him and a hot-blooded temper that made him infamous. Ryuji had apparently been blacklisted among all the students because he had attacked a teacher, Suguru Kamoshida, and gotten the whole track team disbanded. In truth, the act was a ploy by Kamoshida to get the track team disbanded so he could bring attention to the Volleyball team. He had insulted Ryuji's mom in an attempt to make the hot-head lose his temper, and it succeeded, leaving Ryuji with a broken leg, and an infamous reputation.
And so, the two so-called deliquients of Shujin Academy had become now the best of friends. With Ryuji to hangout with, it made life at Shujin bearable, at least he would have someone to eat lunch with.
Speaking of lunch, Ren was currently rushing to grab some from the lunch lady before she ran out and all he was left with was some stale bread.
He turned a corner and collided with someone, causing them to drop their papers. He immediately bent down and began to pick them up and apologize profusely. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going." Ren tried his best to sound as sincere as he could, his reputation could do without him being called rude.
"No, it's fine. I wasn't paying attention either." A female voice assured him, a girl around his age probably. As he finished gathering up the papers closest to him, he turned to hand them to the girl then continued to bolt it to grab a decent lunch. At least, that was the initial plan before he saw her face.
Her smooth and milk white skin, her piercing red eyes, and her short brown hair with a braid in it. Now Ren had seen girls growing up in Nippon-Gotham, heck he was even sitting behind the school idol Ann Takamaki in his homeroom class, but he never met one as beautiful as this one in front of him. Granted while she was not as attractive as Ann, she had something in her that Ren couldn't help but be attracted to.
It took him a few moments to realize he was staring and that she noticed he was staring. He quickly began to try and focus on something else. He looked off to the side and saw the last piece of knocked out paper and reached for it.
However, as he did, his hand collided with the pretty girl. They both quickly retracted their hands, red on both of their cheeks and Ren just couldn't keep himself from admitting to himself how cute this girl was. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Ren moved and grabbed the last paper quickly and handed it, along with the others he gathered, over to her.
"Here you go." Ren said, trying to break the awkward silence anyway he could.
The girl took the paper and nodded. "Thank you." She said, her voice meek and embarrassed. Before she or Ren could say anything else to embarrass themselves further, she quickly maneuvered around him and made her way up the stairs.
Ren couldn't take his eyes off where she went. 'Now that's a girl I wouldn't mind having lunch with.' He thought with a smile. At the thought of lunch however, he then remembered he needed to hurry and bolted down to the cafeteria.
"So why did you only get stale bread when yesterday you said it would be the last time we would be eating this slag?" Ryuji asked as he ate his portion of the bread on the roof with Ren.
"I…." Ren trailed off, not sure if he wanted to hear Ryuji teasing him about that girl he met. "Stopped to help someone." True, but that wasn't the reason he only got stale bread.
Ryuji knew there was something more, but decided not to press the issue and continued to eat his bread. "Whatever, we got more important things to focus on. Like Operation: Dreghole!"
Ren rolled his eyes at the name. Since they had both suffered at his hands, the two were currently working to find any evidence or witness to expose Kamoshida as the piece of slag he is. They tried talking to the students, because if they went to the teachers it would bring problems and suspension to Kamoshida's ears. But given their reputation as delinquent, no one would be willing to talk to them or share information with them.
The only big breakthrough they had was when they discovered packets of Slappers in some of the players' lockers. Slappers, a drug that increases a person's physical strength and stamina, and from what they've seen of the last few games and the players according to Ryuji, Kamoshida encouraged them to use it.
But that lead was a dead end. Apparently before they could bring this before the Principle, Yuuki Mishima, a reserve member on the team and a rather quiet fellow in Ren's homeroom class, told them that the principal already knows about it, and has green lit Kamoshida using the drug. When Ren and Ryuji asked why he would allow that, Mishima explained that so long as Shujin Academy wins, the Principal doesn't care how they do.
So they were back to square one, if they were even ever at square one in the first place.
"Well the only thing we know for sure that's happening is that he's using a drug to help him win the games, but even the principal knows about this, so we can't go to him." Ren summed up what they already knew.
"You sure we can't just go to the cops?" Ryuji asked, and when he saw the look Ren gave him, he caved. "Or… you know… nevermind." He then took a sip of his fiz.
When he first suggested the idea, Ren had been completely against it. His experience with being arrested and the fact that he was on probation talked Ryuji out of it. If they went to the police with the drugs, Ren believed that they would think it was his and send him off to Arkham in an instant. So they then decided to go to the principal, but since he knew what Kamoshida was doing and supported it, that left him out. So who could they tell?
Ryuji then groaned as he rubbed his temples. "All this thinking and planning is making my head hurt." He complained. His eyes then lit up as an idea came to mind. "Hey, you want to go see this new movie that's out in theaters tonight?"
At the sound of a movie, Ren smiled a bit. The last time he went and saw a movie in theaters with a friend of his was… well never. "Sure. I'll just have to clear it with Boss." Ren said as he took one of the tickets.
The bell signaling the end of lunch suddenly rang and the two sprinited to class before they could get into more trouble.
After school had let out, Ren had returned to Leblanc to finish some homework and get ready to go out. He had traded his school uniform for a grey T-Shirt, a black jacket and a pair of blue jeans. He also removed his glasses, as it was more than likely they wouldn't be running into anybody he may need to seem meek in front of while at the movies.
After getting a quick bite of curry for dinner thanks to Sojiro, and getting his permission to go, Ren boarded the train that would take him to East Nippon-Gotham, where the theater was. After disembarking from the train, he decided to cut through an underground mall, as a way to try and avoid the large crowd of people uptop.
As he was halfway through the shopping area, he spotted someone he recognized. 'Is that… Takamaki?' Ren thought as he stared at the blond student in surprise. What was someone like her doing in a place like this at this time of night? From what he remembered when he still lived in the city, the East Side was a pretty rough neighborhood, especially at night. It wasn't some place to be alone, especially if you're a teenage girl, a well fact known by all.
So why was this one going against all those established facts?
Out of concern, or maybe curiosity, Ren decided to follow her. He followed her through a few stores, though she bought nothing. From the look on her face, it seems as if she was trying to stall for something she was dreading, Ren knew that look all too well. Suddenly, she then glanced downward and bolted in a new direction full of people.
Fearing he would lose sight of her, Ren chased after her. He weaved and squeezed through a bunch of people, trying not to lose sight of her. When he finally got to the other side, Takamaki was nowhere to be seen. He looked around a bit more before deciding to give up and make his way to the theater.
However, just as he turned around, he began to hear her voice. "I'm sorry. I-I'm not really feeling well. So I can't come over now." Her voice sounded meek and timid, like she was trying to put on the act of being sick. He turned toward the side and saw her standing in a dark corner of the store. She was on the phone talking to someone, and from her facial expression, it seemed like she didn't want to talk to them.
Her eyes then widened in shock as if she heard something unbelievable. "Hold on! You're gonna cut Shiho as a starter!?" Shiho? That was the first name of Takamaki's best friend. He had interacted with her a few times, mostly just a hello. She was one of the very few people that were nice to him at school, which honestly meant a lot. And from the way Takamaki sounded, it seemed like she was pretty defensive of her best friend.
"But this has nothing to do with that! So why would you-" She stopped her panic pleading as the conversation suddenly ended as the other person hung up. She then had a look of defeat on her face as she slumped down the wall and curled up in a ball. "Shiho." Takamaki cried as she looked back to her phone, almost about to call the other person back.
She then glanced upward and finally spotted Ren watching her. At seeing her glare, he now felt like a child trying to sneak a cookie out of a jar. "Were you eavesdropping?! You were, weren't you?!" Takamaki accused as she stood up to face him, a fire seemed to be reignited in her eyes.
"No I wasn't! I was just…" Ren trailed off as he held his hands up in defense. There was no way he could talk his way out of this one. He did indeed eavesdrop.
However, Takamaki had just decided to look down in defeat again, the fire that was in her eyes had gone out again. Ren, wanting to find some way to cheer her up, while also getting on her good side, offered a suggestion. "Wanna grab a smoothie?"
After having a cool drink in a cafe nearby, Takamaki, or Ann, she asked him to call her, had told Ren the whole situation. Apparently Kamoshida had a thing for Ann, which is what he heard from the rumors, but considering how outlandish the rumors about him were, he decided to ignore them.
Ann had managed to get out of doing anything too much with him with the excuse of her part-time model work. But Kamoshida had his limits in patience. He wanted her, and he wanted her soon. So he began using Shiho as a means to get to Ann and force her to comply with his demands. Ann had done what she could bear so Shiho didn't have to suffer, but she had reached her limit.
After she finished unloading it all on him, she had broken down and began crying her eyes out. "What should I do?" She kept repeating as she cried.
To be honest, Ren didn't have an answer for her. He knew what he would do, but he didn't know if it was the right option. So instead, he decided to offer her a distraction. "You want to go to a movie with me?"
At the look Ann gave him, he quickly added. "D-Don't take this the wrong way!" Ren said, slightly sweating. "I'm not trying to take advantage of your crisis to go on a date with you. I'm honestly not interested in you in that way. I just think stressing about this too much will cause you to break, so it might be a good idea to go do something unrelated and unimportant for a while, just to calm you down. And besides, it wouldn't be just the two of us. Ryuji Sakamato would be with us too. And he's not exactly someone I would use to impress a girl." He finished with a sheepish grin as he rubbed the back of his head.
Ann stared at him in awe for a moment before she giggled at the joke he made at the end. After she finished, she whipped the rest of the tears from her eyes and smiled at him. "They're wrong."
"I'm sorry?"
"The rumors. They're wrong about you." She clarified as she stood up and finished the rest of her smoothie. After she sucked the cup dry she gave a satisfying sigh and threw the cup in the trash and made her way to the exit.
She looked back to Ren who was still seated and looked at her in bafflement. "Well what are you waiting for? The movie's starting soon, isn't it?"
Shiho had stayed late after school.
She had to practice as hard as she could for nationals. She didn't want to be one of those kids who would resort to using Slappers. She wanted to make it on her own strengths.
As she was about to spike another volleyball, the door to the gymnasium opened.
"Uh… Suzui." A timid voice called her name, she looked over and saw the blue haired Mishima. "Mr. Kamoshida wants to see you in his office." She knew what that meant. "I'm just the messenger!" He then quickly left the room, leaving the girl alone with her thoughts.
Ryuji was waiting outside the theater for him when Ren and Ann finally arrived. When he caught sight of Ren, he opened his mouth to greet him, but no sound came out as he noticed Ann walking beside him.
"Hope you don't mind if we have one more." Ren had a playful smile on his face as Ann stood awkwardly by his side.
"I-I don't have a problem with it." Ryuji said, feeling just as awkward as Ann as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from her. "I only had enough money for two tickets, though."
Ann looked as if she was going to decline the invite now, but Ren spoke up first. "I can pay for the extra, it's no trouble at all." 'Though I should probably think about finding a part-time job, my wallet's getting thinner.'
"Okay, that's great." Ann said as she looked away. Ren looked between the two students. Ryuji had told him they've known each other since middle school, but was there more to it than that?
As Ann glanced off to the side, she then caught something that caused her to break the silence. "Hey, isn't that the Student Council President?" She asked out of the blue as she pointed off to the line for tickets.
Following her finger Ren looked in surprise to see the same beautiful girl he ran into earlier that day waiting in line for a ticket. But what was more surprising, was that Ann had said she was the Student Council President. The prettiest girl he's ever known was the President of the student body that hated him?
"Holy slag, that is her!" Ryuji shouted, eyes widened. "Wonder what she's doing in this part of town?"
"Why don't we ask her?" Ren suggested as he moved to talk to her, but Ryuji and Ann suddenly grabbed him by both arms and pulled him back.
"Are you crazy dude?!" Ryuji asked him and a loud whisper. "You don't just talk to the Student Council President! She's a serious ice queen and super scary if you get on her bad side!"
"Really?" Ren asked with a cocked eyebrow. Ice queen and scary wasn't the vibe he was getting from her earlier. Maybe cute. Definitely cute.
"Really." Ann said, adding her two cents. "She's so unapproachable that no one dares to talk to her unless she wants to talk to them. That's why she doesn't have any friends."
At that, Ren looked toward the girl in sympathy. He knew what that was like, not having any friends, so it must have been lonely. But on the other hand, the fact that she didn't have any friends…
"Sooo… does that mean she doesn't have a boyfriend?"
"No she doesn't." Ann confirmed. "She is so cold, calculating and ruthless that I wouldn't dar-Why do you have such a stupied hopeful grin on your face?"
Before Ren could make an excuse, an unexpected noise entered the trio's ears.
*HONK HONK*
Turning toward the source of the sound, they saw a group of people approaching the crowd on multiple motorcycles. And who they saw riding them, had immediately turned Ren's smile upside down as he gritted his teeth.
A gang of Jokerz.
They had begun to circle around in front of the crowd. The supposed leader of the gang, who resembled the original Joker the most, stopped in front of the crowd and addressed them. "Evening boys and girls! Who's up for some laughs?"
At that, the rest of the gang went wild and began to knock multiple objects like garbage cans to the ground, vandalizing cars. One Jokerz managed to put his bike on top of a car and bounce up and down on it.
The owner immediately walked up to him and demanded. "Get off my car you twips!" He was then suddenly hit in the back by a female Jokerz with a spiked turkey.
"You're not smiling." She said as she turned around.
"Knock it off!"
"I would if you hold still." She then gunned it towards him and smacked him with the turkey, knocking him to the ground.
Suddenly, the lead Jokerz grabbed the pretty girl from her place in line and brought her up on her motorcycle and began to tickle her.
At that moment, Ren decided enough was enough. He already despised Jokerz with a passion, and seeing a girl he knew in their hands sent him over the edge. So ignoring the pleas from Ann and Ryuji, he began to walk over to the bike that had pulled to a stop.
Makoto Nijima couldn't believe how bad her day had gone.
First, she got a 99 on her Calculus test! And all because she just didn't put the units of measurement for one problem. No one ever said they had to do that!
Second, she had run into the infamous transfer student, Ren Amamiya, during lunch, and she couldn't keep herself from admitting that he looked quite handsome than the rumors made him out to be, and a lot more kind. But that could all be an act.
Third, one of the council members had quit today, leaving her to pick up their work.
And just when she finally thought she would catch a break when she finished all her work and still had time to go see this Yakuza movie she had wanted to see, a gang of Jokerz showed up. She knew she should have probably gone to a theater in the less crime infested grounds of the city (If there ever was), but this was the only theater in the city that was still running showings of the movie she wanted to see. She had put off watching it because of school and Student Council work and this was her last chance to see it.
This had to be by far the worst birthday she ever had.
And now here she was in the arms of a filthy Jokerz, currently being tickled against her will. There was nothing more she wanted to do at that moment than to unleash her Aikido training on this dreg.
But someone unexpected beat her to the punch.
"Hands off, dreg!" An unfamiliar voice filled her ears as one of the hands used to tickle her was grabbed by another's hands and used to throw them over the person's shoulder and into the side of a car.
Makoto finally got a good look at her savior, and gasped as she saw it was the transfer student she met earlier that day. What was he doing here in the East side of the city? And where did he learn those moves? And how does he look so much hotter without his glasses?
The last question caused her blush, though he seemed to be too focused to notice it on her face.
The other Jokerz then began to form up, laughing as they did so. One even pulled out a mace with a chain attached to the spiked metal ball and began to swing it. "Spliticize!" He cheered as he and the others charged Amamiya.
Makoto was frozen still for a moment before a touch on her shoulder from Amamiya brought her out of her mind. "Get back!" He told her. Seeing no room for argument, Makoto complied and began to move away from Amamiya as he ran in the opposite direction toward a nearby light pole. He then turned to face the charging Jokerz.
The one with the mace swung the weapon at his head, but Amamiya ducked the weapon, causing it to wrap around the pole. As the Jokerz was still holding on to it, he was then pulled viciously off his bike and landed hard on his back. Seeing another two incoming, Amamiya leaped onto the pole and spun around it to deliver a kick to the first one, sending him flying into the other, causing them to crash.
Makoto was amazed. Such coordination and agility. The transfer student knew exactly what he was doing and how best to use the environment to his advantage. But that also made Makoto slightly upset, if he could fight this well, does that mean some of the rumors have some truth to them.
She then gasped as she saw more Jokerz approaching. "Fun time!" The lead Jokerz shouted as he had gotten back on his motorcycle and began to rev it up.
"Run!" She called over to Amamiya. He listened as he straightened out a bike that one of the Jokerz had fallen off of and then sped off down the city street with the entire gang chasing after him.
The whole crowd just stared off at the retreating gang in amazement for a long moment. Then, a student she recognized as Sakamoto broke the silence. "Uhh, is this the part where someone calls the cops?"
And Makoto did just that. She could only hope and pray that the cops could reach Amamiya in time.
As he flew down a busy overpass, Ren was glad that the previous owner of the bike had left the helmet, he didn't need to get into any more trouble than he already was by not wearing a helmet. He now had it on his face as he drove down the street.
He looked behind him, and saw two approaching Jokerz, both with a swinging mace in their hands. He managed to hit the deaccelerator to pull back, causing them to tie their weapons together and begin to lose control.
He turned back to see the gang of Jokerz still in relentless pursuit. He had to lose them somehow. He then maneuvers the bike on top of the trunk of a pickup truck and then drives onto the ledge of the bridge then jumps off the bridge down one of its supports. He jumps off the support, impacting with a truck carrying broken down cars and lands with a skid on the ground before he continues down the road.
Three Jokerz tried to follow after him, but they weren't as skilled as he was driving a bike. They began to lose control as they tried to stop themselves from going into the river beneath the bridge. Two of them managed to stop before they went over the ledge, but the third crashed into them and knocked them all into the water.
The lead Jokerz followed Ren's path and saw that he was heading along that road that led to the harbor. He and the gang continued their pursuit.
As Ren continued to fly down the road, began to leave the skyscrapers and tall buildings behind in favor of trees and a clear view of the ocean. He took a sharp turn into a pathway that led up a hill with many trees to the side. After ascending the path, he stopped the bike and took a glance behind him to see if he lost the Jokerz.
He didn't. The Jokerz continued to follow him down the path he took. Revving up the bike again, he then turned and continued down the path. Hopefully, he could lose them in the trees and-
His eyes widened as he saw what appeared to be an old man in his path. He then squeezed the brakes on his bike and tried to swerve out of the way. He lost control and with a shot, he went flying off the bike as it skidded across the ground and crashed into a gate.
Fighting off the desire to fall asleep then and there, Ren stood up and pulled the helmet off his face as he stared down the Jokerz gang that had surrounded him, laughing as they did so.
"Ahh, the no-fun boy had an accident." The lead Jokerz mocked as the others laughed.
"Let's put a smile on that face!" Another Jokerz said as he unfolded a knife and held it out.
Ren gritted his teeth and clenched his fist at his predicament. He doubted he could take them all on alone, even though he wasn't that bad in a fight, and with how they surrounded him, he couldn't run away either. As they began to close in on him, he couldn't help but note that his innate desire to help someone got him in trouble, yet again. Mr. Kurusu had always said that desire to help someone would get him dead one day. And it looked like today was that day.
"Leave him alone!" Or not. As everyone turned to the source of the voice, they saw a silhouette standing in the darkness of the trees. The figure then stepped out into the light of the full moon to reveal an old man with white hair using a cane to steady himself.
"And get off my property. You're trespassing." The old man threatened. The Jokerz merely had an amused smile at the sight, Ren's was one of worry. He didn't care what happened to him when he did something stupid, but he never wanted to get anyone else hurt because of him and his decisions.
"Ah, is that so?" The female Jokeerz asked rhetorically as she turned her bike to him.
"Just get outta here. I can handle this." Ren tried to shoo the old man away. He wasn't actually sure if he could handle this, but he didn't want to get an elderly person hurt.
The lead Jokerz stepped off his bike and walked up to the old man with a sick smile on his face. "Who do you think your talking to old man?" He asked rhetorically as he then grabbed the old man by the collar. "We're the Jokerz!"
The old man merely had a mocking smile on his face as he replied, "Sure you are."
The sent the leader off as he threw a punch at the old man who, to the surprise of all, dodged and then began to hit the Jokerz with the end of his cane in the face. He then targeted the stomach before he swung the cane and sent him flying back at least three meters onto the ground. The other gang members went to inspect their leader.
Seeing that the old man wasn't the weak and frail person he first thought, Ren quickly moved to stand beside him and the two faced the Jokerz. The rest of the gang then charged them.
The one with the knife charged the old man, who blocked the attack with his cane, then disarmed him with said cane and knocked him back. He then swung the makeshift walker/weapon at another incoming Jokerz and flung him back.
A Jokerz charging towards Ren with a baseball bat swung the weapon horizontally. Ren leaped over the bat and delivered an uppercut that knocked him back before he could get in a follow up attack.
The old man parried a punch from another clown before hitting them with the cane, knocking them into a Jokerz standing behind them.
Ren threw another uppercut to a Jokerz before jumping and delivering a kick to one who used a motorcycle as a vantage point.
The old man knocked the cane on the forehead of a clown before swinging the cane to trip him. The female Jokerz then tried to ram him with her bike and hit him with her spiked turkey. The old man dodged the attack then swung his cane into her rear, knocking her off the bike.
The lead Jokerz then rose from his place on the ground, baseball bat in hand and then moved to catch the old man by surprise. And without even turning around, the latter knocked him in the head with his cane back to the ground.
The entire gang groaned in pain as they began to pick themselves up and make it back to their bikes. "Come on!" The lead Jokerz said as he limped his way onto the bike and drove away from the crazy old man.
The rest of the gang followed him as the old man glared at them as they left. Ren also sent a glare their way before turning back to the old man in amazement. "Man, you're something." Ren said with a wide smile as the old man made his way back to his house. He brought his hand up to scratch the back of his head. "I've never seen anyone…"
He trailed off when he saw that that man had dropped his cane and began to lean against the wall, panting heavily, almost like he was about to stop breathing.
"Are you okay?" Ren asked with wide eyes as he tried to help in any way he could. Guess this old man wasn't as invincible as he thought.
"M-my medicine." The old man struggled to say, as he was about to fall over had Ren not caught him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a controller. "At the house." He said as he pressed the button.
The gate to his estate opened and the two, with the old man's arm over Ren's shoulder, using the other one to help stabilize his walking with his now retrieved cane, moved through the path up to the house.
Off to the side, a sound was heard rustling through the bushes before a large black dog hopped out in front of the parir and began barking at Ren. The boy was frightened, worried the dog would bite his face off.
"Down, Ace!" The old man commanded, "He's okay." The dog obeyed as he moved out of the way to let the pair pass. As they did so, the dog known as Ace sent a growl Ren's way.
"Nice dog." He told the old man, trying to make some conversation, hoping the dog would like him.
"Not really." The old man admitted as they continued to the house.
Ren had never been in a house this big before, though he was slightly disappointed by what he saw. Almost everything was covered in tarps, obscuring them from view, and the house looked almost as if it was abandoned, not a lot of cleaning done. But he guessed the old man couldn't really do it all alone.
As he came down the stairs, a glass of water and a pill in hand, he moved over to the old man who sat in a chair. "Here you go." Ren said as he presented the two objects to the old man, who took them without hesitation. "Uh, the pills were right where you said." He took the medicine and gulped down the glass of water.
When he swallowed he handed the glass back to Ren and leaned back in his chair with a sigh. An awkward silence then enveloped the two.
"Well, then," Ren spoke up, trying to break the awkward silence, "I guess you're gonna rest now, huh?" He winked at the man. "You go right ahead." He then turned and placed the glass down on the covered up table. "My guardian's probably waitin' up for me anyway. I'll just let myself out." He then began to turn back to the man. "Hope you feel better Mr…"
He trailed off again, both because it just occurred to him that he didn't know the man's name, and that he had now fallen asleep, as was evident by his snoring. Deciding to let the man rest, Ren began to make his way to the exit of the house. He made his way to the entrance and opened the door-
"ARF! ARF! ARF!"
-And closed it just as quickly as to not get mauled by the guard dog. "On second thought, maybe I should just give Boss a call." That would probably be the best way to ensure he lives through the night. He pulled out his phone to call, only to see that it was broken, probably from the crash he had. He sighed as he then moved over to where he saw a phone earlier and picked it up. "Here's where I'm sent off to Arkham."
Before he could dial in the number however, a strange sound filled his ears. A high pitch screeching that no old furniture or dog should make. It sounded like an animal. It was close, almost like it was in the house, or even the same room as him, like it was right behind him.
He turned and his eyes widened when he saw the source of the noise trapped in an old clock. "A bat?" Ren said as he moved to open up the inside of the clock to try and let it out. Why would the old man have a bat locked up in a clock, and how could he do it?
"I'll get you outta there, just don't bite me." Ren reassured the flying creature as he tried to find some way to open up the face of the clock to let the bat out, but it wouldn't budge. He must have pulled on something or triggered some mechanism because the next thing he knew, the clock moved to the side and opened up a pathway down a flight of stairs that the bat retreated to.
Ren looked wide eyed down at the staircase. He thought this kind of stuff only happened in the movies. His instincts were telling him to leave it alone, but his curiosity got the better of him and he made his way down the flight of stairs.
The howling of the wind gave the corridor a creepy vibe that made Ren's skin crawl, but he pushed forward. No turning back now.
He then found a control switch and began to flip the lights. The lights turned on in a series to reveal a massive cave with a familiar looking car and a massive computer.
"Whoa!" Was all Ren could say. What was the old man hiding?
Bat continued to screech from above as Ren hopped down from the stairs. He heard a noise behind and and moved to strike at the supposed attacker, only to be met with a sight that made his blood run cold.
It was Batman! Or at least, one of his costumes. Ren looked down to see more costumes of Batman's entourage. Nightwing, Red Robin, Batgirl, Robin, etc. Ren moved down to the end that held what appeared to be the original Batsuit.
"Jeez! No wonder he could fight." He said in amazement as he stared at the batsuit. He was embarrassed by this secret, but when he was younger, he was a huge Batman fan. So hopefully in exchange for getting his medicine, the Batman could allow him to play in the suit, if just for a little while.
As he reached out for the suit, he was suddenly hit in the back and knocked to the ground. He then looked up and almost wet himself when he saw the person he now knew was Batman was standing over him, an expression that made it seem like he might just kill Ren.
"Get out!" He demanded as bats screeched above. Now Ren knew why all those criminals were so scared of Batman.
Ren was shoved toward the gate by Ace. "Alright I'm going!" Ren said as he passed through the gate as it closed. He then looked back to the house, specifically at the room with the light still on. "It's not like I did anything wrong!"
The light then shut off. "Freak!" Ren said as he placed his hands in his pockets and began to make the long walk home. He would be getting an earful from Sakura when he got back.
The Next Day
As Ren made his way through the gates and up the stairs of Shujin Academy, he felt and looked like a zombie. After getting an earful from Boss (thankfully he didn't kick him out), Ren couldn't sleep that night. The revelation had finally sunk in.
He knew who the legendary Batman, his childhood hero, was!
Not being able to sleep, Ren then did some research on a laptop he brought with him to see if he could learn anything more. The old man was named Bruce Wayne, a billionaire and former bachelor before he became a recluse a couple of decades ago, around the same time that Batman disappeared.
After reading some old news articles about Bruce Wayne, Ren figured that the persona Bruce presented to the public was a facade, something he used to make sure no one suspected they were the same person. And it seemed to work for decades.
But now lies the biggest problem. What the heck was he gonna do with such a big secret now in his mind?! Expose it to the police in exchange for his probation being lifted? Blackmail the old man for money? Do nothing? Ask to be the new Batman? Ask for his autograph? Does he even give autographs?!
He was so absorbed with these questions that he jumped and gave a frightened yell when someone tapped his shoulder. He turned around to see Ryuji, who had a surprised look on his face, probably because of the sound Ren made. "You okay man?" He asked with concern.
Embarrassed, Ren quickly cleared his throat and answered. "Yeah, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" He then gave a nervous laugh that Ryuji just raised his eyebrows toward. He wasn't buying it.
"Oh I don't know?" Ryuji began sarcastically. "Maybe because the last time we saw you was when you went riding off into the sunset with a gang of Jokerz following after you and you never responded to any of my texts or calls?!"
Ren winced. He probably should've let Ryuji know that he was alright. "Sorry about that." Ren scratched the back of his head. "My phone was busted when I crashed the bike trying to get away from the Jokerz."
"What happened man? Did you beat them all up?!" Ryuji asked, his voice slightly excited. Ren shushed him and shot him a look that told him to keep his voice down. He didn't want anybody talking about it. If the cops found out, then he would be sent to jail.
"I had a little help." Was all he said. He decided he would share the discovery of Batman's identity. Ryuji was already a loud mouth, he didn't need him exposing Batman's secret identity.
"Amamiya!" The two students turned to see Ren's homeroom teacher Kawakami walking towards the two, who looked in surprise to see someone who was even more tired than her on a school day. "Are you alright Amamiya? It looks as though you've been partying all night."
Ren scratched the back of his head nervously as he tried to come up with a convincing lie. "W-well, I was studying for exams all night and the next thing I knew, it was morning."
Kawakami didn't buy any of it, because exams were at least a month away. But, she decided to ignore it, as not to get too involved in a student's personal life. Not again anyway. "Well, I've come to inform you that you are to report to the Student Council room before the first period." She told him as she made her way back up the stairs of the academy.
"On whose authority?" Ren asked, confused at what the student council would want with him.
Kawakami answered, "The President."
As Makoto Nijima stared at the entrance to the Student Council room, she couldn't help but fidget in her in place slightly. Why was she so nervous? No, she wasn't nervous, at least, not how most people were. Rather she felt… excited?
'Why, though?' She thought with a furrowed brow. 'I mean sure I checked and double checked to make sure my clothes didn't have any frills or wrinkles in them, but I do that every day. Though I guess the triple and quadruple check might have been a bit much. I also tried putting a ton of make-up on to hide the fact that he couldn't tell how tired I am. But I had never used make-up before, so I ended up making a mess and had to wash it all off! I'm just trying to thank him for helping me, even though I didn't need it. Come on Makoto! You can do this! You're the Student Council President, this should be a-'
Knock Knock
She gave a small 'eep', blushed in embarrassment before she worked quickly to compose herself again. "Who is it?" She asked, hoping her excitement wouldn't make itself known through her voice.
"It's Ren Amamiya." The voice revealed. "I was told to come here by the Student Council President."
Makoto took another breath to calm herself down before she spoke again. "Come in." Ren opened the door and entered the room and shut it behind him. The two stared at each other for a long moment, taking note of how tired the other looked, and feeling slightly relieved for it, before Makoto spoke up.
"Please. Sit if you want." Makoto said as she gestured to an open chair.
"Thank you." Ren said as he took a seat and began to fidget in his place. Makoto followed soon after and looked at him. The two continued to be in silence, now they were just sitting.
Eventually, Ren decided to break it by asking. "Uhhh… why did you call me here?"
Makoto then blushed as she had totally forgotten the reason why she called him here. She then cleared his throat and spoke. "Before we get into that, let's start with introductions." She proposed, as a way to stall so she could remember what it was she wanted to call him here for. "I'm Makoto Nijima, a third year student and the Student Council President."
"I'm Ren Amamiya, a second year transfer student. But you probably already knew that."
Again, silence enveloped the two students.
"I called you here today… to thank you." Makoto said, surprising Ren. He certainly didn't expect this. "For what you did the other day I mean."
"Oh! It's no trouble at all!" Ren assured her as he waved his hand in dismissal. "I just did what anybody would have done in that situation." 'Unfortunately, in this city, not many people do that.' He thought to himself.
"Still, I'm grateful for your assistance. And I have to admit, I'm a little impressed." Makoto said, surprising Ren. "The way you moved and the agility you had… not many high school boys your age would have that kind of athletic capability."
"Well I have been involved in a lot of physical extracurricular activities since I was 12." Ren explained, embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head. "A few martial arts classes along with some gymnastics. I never really committed much to either of them. It was mostly just a distraction so I wouldn't think about…" He trailed off as a sad look crossed his face.
Makoto noticed this and decided to drop the subject. 'I guess it's a bit too personal.' She thought as she got back to the topic. "Regardless, thank you again for helping me." She repeated as she gave him a grateful nod. "And know that if you should ever need something, my door is always open to you."
"Thank you Miss president." Ren stood up and bowed as he began to move to the exit.
"One more thing Amamiya." Makoto called out as Ren reached for the handle. "When you saw me surrounded by those Jokerz, what did you think I was?"
"A defenseless girl in need of help." Ren answered without hesitation. And suddenly he felt the room drop a few degrees.
"Defenseless, huh?" Makoto said, the kindness and warmth he felt in her tone gone. In its place was a sweet but icy voice that sent chills down his spine. She then stood up from her chair and walked towards him. He felt himself shaking as backing up against the door as she approached.
"I'll have you know I've trained in Aikido and have reached the level of master." She said as she was merely inches away from him. "So if you ever assume such things about me again," She then cracked her knuckles and had an almost bloodthirsty smile on her face, and her red eyes gave her the appearance of a demon, "I'll just have to give you a proper demonstration as to why I'm anything but. Are we clear?"
"Y-yes ma'am!" Ren cried out as he began to leave the council room. As he made his way to his first period class, he now knew why she had such a reputation as an ice queen. But surprisingly, that didn't frighten Ren, at least to the degree where he'd want to avoid her, because honestly who wouldn't be scared of those red eyes glaring at you.
In fact if anything, Ren found her to be just that much more attractive, so much more that whenever he thought back on that moment, he blushed.
Back in the council room, Makoto had leaned against the wall and sunk in embarrassment. 'Why did I do that?!' Makoto screamed in her mind. 'Now he'll just be too afraid to even talk to me!'
As homeroom rolled around, Ren couldn't stay focused on the lecture, his mind was still distracted by the revelation from last night. What should he do about this knowledge? He could just keep quiet and do nothing with it, but that didn't feel right. Nor did turning him over to the police or blackmailing him, Ren wasn't raised to be that kind of person.
But what should he do?
He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a commotion outside the classroom.
"Hey look over there!"
"Is she gonna jump?!"
Ren stood up from his seat and moved over to where the students were gathered. He looked in the direction they were pointing and gasped.
Shiho was standing on the ledge of the roof, a look of defeat and giving up marked on her face. She took a deep breath-
'Don't do it!'
-And she jumped.
Ren was moving before she hit the ground. Sprinting as fast as he could as he made his way to the courtyard, cursing himself as he got lost a couple of times on the way, he should have memorized where everything in this building was by now.
He finally arrived outside as a huge crowd of students surrounded the body. Ann was on the outside, desperately trying to get through.
"Move it!" Ren shouted, and the student body compiled as he led Ann through the crowd and over to Shiho. Ren quickly went for a pulse and sighed in relief when he found one. It was faint, but it was there. Ren moved quickly to call an ambulance, but cursed again when he remembered his phone was still broken. He then turned to the closest student. "Give me your phone!" He demanded.
The student seemed shocked, but Ren then explained with impatience. "Mine's broken, so give me yours so I call an ambulance!" She then quickly did so and handed him the phone. He dialled 911 and gave them the incident and location before hanging up and handing the phone back to the girl.
As he looked up from the crowd, he saw Ryuji and that boy Mishima walk back towards the school, a determined frown on Ryuji's and terrified look on Mishima's. "Slaggit!" Ren cursed as he got up and sprinted after them. He didn't want to leave Ann and Shiho, but he had to stop Ryuji from doing what he knew he was gonna do before it was too late.
It was already too late by the time Ren reached him.
Ryuji had bursted in Kamoshida's office, who didn't even seem fazed in the slightest by what had happened. He then began spouting off about Ryuji and Ren doing drug deals through Shujin and selling students Slappers for money, and that they had come in to try and assault Kamoshida. He also revealed that Mishima was the one who leaked Ren's record to the school, after Kamoshida made him do it.
Ren could still feel his hands shaking with rage at the smug smile that Kamoshida had when he began boasting that he would have the two of them expelled by the next teacher meeting, which was less than a week away.
But that wasn't the only reason they were shaking. Seeing Shiho's body lying there on the ground, motionless, almost like life had left her brought up a lot of painful memories for Ren. Memories of-
"Hey man! Are you listening to me?!" Ryuji's voice shook him out of his daze as he then refocused on the present. School had ended early today because of what happened, most of the students were already on their way home. Shiho had been taken to the hospital, apparently stable. Ann went with her.
"S-sorry. I just… blacked out for a second." Ren said, shaking away the memories of Shiho's body. Currently, the two of them were hiding in an alley outside of school, discussing how they were gonna solve this problem so that they wouldn't get expelled and that Kamoshida would go to jail. But so far they've come up with nothing.
They couldn't go to the school board, they'd cover for Kamoshida. Nor could they go to the police, they wouldn't believe two high school delinquents over a world renowned olympian, especially one with a criminal record.
"We can't do this ourselves though! So what should we do?! Can we do anything?!" Ryuji said as he began to kick the alley wall in frustration.
It was that moment that Ren was struck with an epiphany.
"Maybe we can't do anything." Ren admitted, Ryuji gave him a look that said 'I just said that'. "But I know someone who might!"
Without explaining, Ren immediately bolted out of the alley and made his way down the street to call for a cab, ignoring Ryuji while doing so. There was one person that would always make sure justice was served, no matter what lines had to be crossed.
By the time he had finally made it to Wayne Manor after running out of money to pay for the cab, it was already nightfall. Storm clouds began to cover the landscape and lightning flashes in the sky, illuminating the estate.
He glanced up at the house and pressed the call button located at the side of the gate. "Come on! I know you're in there!" He stated. He got no response as bolts of lightning flashed over the house.
Ren gritted his teeth and continued. "Listen to me! Someone really bad is out there, hurting people! And he's getting away with it all! No one is even trying to stop him! You're the only one who can!" He was getting desperate as he began pleading. "A girl tried to kill herself today because of him! There will be more! You have to do something!"
No response.
He held his head down in disappointment and clenched his fists in anger. "Yeah, I should have known you wouldn't care." He said in a low voice before he screamed in anger towards the mansion. "You're no Batman you wacked-out old fraud!"
He then turned and walked away from the gate. With the way the clouds were looking, it seemed like it would rain soon, so he better at least try to find some shelter to wait it out. Then tomorrow he and Ryuji could-
The sound of metal screeching halted his thoughts and he turned around in shock to see the gate to Wayne Manor opening. It seems like his words did reach the old fart after all.
As he crossed the gate, he was met by Ace, the bat-hound he guessed, who growled at him. Ren wasn't intimated however as he motioned with his hands to calm down. "Back off Scooby, it's me." He told the dog as he began to make his way up the hill towards the house with Ace trailing from behind.
From a window above, Bruce Wayne was watching as the boy who discovered his secret began to make his way up to his house. He honestly didn't know what to do with the boy, and thought about turning him away even. But something in him stopped Bruce from doing so.
There was something strange about this boy. Something familiar, yet different. It was worth taking a chance on. Who knows, maybe this might prove to be an interesting turn of events.
A/N: And there's the first chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it.
Obviously I skipped over a couple of parts in the beginning, like Ren's meeting with other people, but just assume the things I skipped over were the same as they were in the anime/game.
Now I don't know if I've said this before, but I'm not going to touch on any supernatural stuff, Batman or Persona otherwise. This is a crime/cyberpunk story, so no supernatural stuff okay. Just wanted to make that clear.
So yeah, Ren is originally from Nippon-Gotham. I believe the aspect of being a Gotham native is an important characteristic of what makes Batman who he is, Gotham is his home and he wants to protect it with his life. A newcomer to the city wouldn't have that kind of care of commitment.
Also his parents are dead in this story. Now that doesn't make him as messed up as Bruce, because unlike Bruce, Ren didn't see his parents die in front of him. He did stumble upon their dead bodies, and it did mess him up, but not as much as Bruce that he closes himself off from everyone. Though he definitely does have trouble fitting in.
Also he does have some fighting and athletic abilities, mainly as a way to keep busy so he didn't have to focus on his parents death. His prowess may be around his canon Joker abilities without the use of his persona, but he will get better over time.
As for where i got the Batman Beyond slang heres a link: story/3941080/Secrets/6
Also, if I'm doing the characters wrong or anything like that, please let me know and help me try to fix it.
Here's a preview of the next chapter:
Rebirth Part 2:
As Ren works with Bruce to expose Kamoshida's crimes, Ren plays a dangerous gamble that puts a classmate in danger in order to save them all from Kamoshida's tyranny