Welcome back, I'm gonna skip the disclaimer this time because we all know I don't own shit.
First off a couple of thanks/ welcomes are in order.
I would like for you to give a hand to my new beta NJGrasshopper, without them these chapters would have been much rougher and unclear
The second is asdfo789. He's the author of "The Charming Joker" Me and them have been workshopping and bouncing ideas back and forth. Without them, there wouldn't be a Ryuji POV in the next chapter. Go check him out and read his story it's really good
The last announcement is sadly RIP Billy Kamtez AKA: Dr Maruki, His voice work absolutely made Royal's third semester. If you haven't heard it go listen to his introductory speech. It really rings true even now with all the craziness going on in the world today.
Now on with the show,
"Why do I have to do this! This is extremely high level: like optional dungeon high level. Why can't Ryuji dooo thiiisss. If we're that desperate for money, just have Inari sell some of his art." Futaba whined as she struggled fruitlessly against the two older teens gripping her arms.
Ren couldn't help but snort in amusement. "Yusuke. Art. Sell. HA!" His two companions also lightly chuckled at the image of the artist guarding his collection as fiercely as Fafnir did his gold hoard.
"Yeah, that sounded dumb to me too, as soon as it left my mouth."
Ann tightened her grip on the left side of the bespectacled girl as they made their way through Grand Central Station. "Futaba, we've been here for over a month. You've spent way more time in the den than the rest of us. I know there are monster attacks and we're not in Tokyo anymore, but that's no reason to lose all the progress we made."
Ren pushed up his glasses with his free hand and nodded in agreement. "It'll be good for you. Besides, me and Ann will hopefully be working there too in case something happens." He then shook his head. "Besides, Ryuji's English isn't on a customer service level yet…" Ren thought about Ryuji's first time using conversational English with someone other than the group. Needless to say, the stranger replied with a "Fuck you too" and kept walking.
Futaba slumped, resigned to her fate, even her ahoge wilted a little. "Fair point," her eyes then gained a mysterious spark as she lifted her head and looked towards Ann. "That explains me, but what about you? Why do you want to work there?"
Ann's eyes swam as she searched for an answer "Uh-Uh-Um-I-N-no reason. No reason at all!"
Futaba's glasses gleamed, not unlike Ren's when he was conducting his own mischief, "Mwhehehe, you just want to stuff your face with sweets don't you?" Her laugh was honestly more fitting for an old man than a 16-year-old girl.
"No, that's NOT true," the pig-tailed blonde denied.
" Give it up Ann, It was kind of obvious. Despite your skills improving, you're still easy to see through sometimes."
"The stuttering doesn't help either," Futaba pointed out in addition to Ren's comment.
Ann sighed. "Okay fine, you caught me. We seldom get sweets from the store and even when we do it barely lasts more than two days between the ten of us. That's even before you remember we live with Ren, Yusuke, and Sumire."
Futaba nodded her head in agreement and pointed to her right at Ren "That is true. We seem to have more than our fair share of gluttons."
"Right?! So, I figured if I work here…. I could have all the sweets I could ever want, and not have to worry about who saw it first."
"I've always wondered how you were able to keep that model figure….in fact…" Before Ann could register what was said, Futaba had broken free of Ren's admittedly slack grip, and her hands were groping Ann's waist, stomach, and hips.
"T-uh-Qui-Damnit Futaba, stop it! People are going to stare!" The taller girl exclaimed as she pried Futaba's hands off her.
"We stick out anyway Ann, we're three teenagers out on a school day. Not to mention one of us has vividly dyed hair. We're lucky drop-outs aren't uncommon here. Even if we did attract attention, you could just use the mist to ward them off." Sure enough, just as the orange-haired girl remarked, it seemed like not one member of the New York general public paid them any mind as they walked through, aside from the occasional leer at Ann or Futaba. One hard glare from Ren or the sight of the girls occasionally clinging to him sent most starers packing though.
"Ladies, we're here," Ren gestured in front of him and the two let go of one another. In front of them was the store Sweet on America. The word sweet was cursive with a small "on" next to it, both printed on top of an outline of the country above the doors and windows. Ren wondered if it was a subsidiary of Dunkin Donuts, he'd sometimes see a commercial for. As for the store itself, it was a rather small store, it wouldn't look out of place in the Shibuya underground mall.
He opened the door and ushered the two girls in. The trio was met with rows upon rows of sweets. It was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. Nerds and taffy, bubble gum, and airheads. Then there was the chocolate, Hershey and Twix, Reeses, and even…Almond Joy (Ren hated coconut), all the essentials to keep a kid up until 3 am. The impressive part was as one looked further in, the store had both an international section and a selection of baked goods.
He saw that Ann's eyes had latched on to the crepes while Futaba's had found some Pocky. While impressed with the sheer variety of the store, his eyes zeroed in on the woman currently at the counter. She had long brown hair and startling blue eyes and couldn't have been no more than 35 at a push. What caught Ren's eye is that she was currently staring at them with her face twisted in a frown. Her eyes were marred with worry, confusion, and…was that fear…and rage? Unlike the Rasta-capped boy Grover, she did not attempt to hide her expression. Her eyes switched between each of them but held a bit longer on him.
He took this as an opening to introduce himself. He donned the warmest smile he could and approached her almost as if he was trying not to scare a small animal. "Hello, my name is Ren. Me and my friends here-" He gestured to Futaba and Ann who were still mesmerized by the ample sugar selection. "-are looking for the manager. We're supposed to have an interview today?"
She snapped to attention as if coming out of a trance and put on a stiff smile "Y-y-yes of course…. Just…Follow me, I'll take you to his office." She then walked from behind the counter and over to a white door off to the side, and the three teens followed behind her. She then pulled out a pair of keys and fumbled with them before accidentally dropping them. With a sheepish smile, she stooped over and tried to pick them up but her hand jittered and knocked the keys further away. They skittered towards Ann, and she bent over to pick up the keys, but as soon as she extended her hand and tried to return them to the woman, the woman in question flinched before gingerly taking the keys out of Ann's hands. She also hurriedly adjusted her sleeve as she stood back up, a very out-of-place gesture in Ren's eyes. Ann's expression morphed into something unreadable.
She muttered a small thanks, stood back up, and inserted the key into the door. The tumblers turned, and with a soft click, the door popped open. The group walked inside, and the woman led them down a short hallway, passing a door labeled 'Janitor Closet' and another labeled 'Break Room' and one labeled 'Kitchen' until finally at the end, there was a door in front of them that said Manager's office. The woman knocked on the door and an absent sounding "Come in" filtered through.
The woman motioned towards the door. Ren inspected her name tag and it said, Sally Jackson.
"So, this is Percy's mother." He filed that information away for later.
"Thank you…um… Sally," Ren said with a short bow. Sally replied in turn with a curt nod and left towards the register once again.
After she left out of view, Ren grasped the door handle and pushed it open. It was quite a bizarre sight that greeted his eyes. The office was littered with Destiny's Child's posters that looked straight from the 90s and the newer ones were that of Beyoncè. Ren had of course heard their music since coming to America, and he thought they were pretty good, comparable to the Muses of his own world. But this? This was a straight obsession.
In the center of the office sat a man with black hair that appeared to be parted to the left. Ren couldn't tell for sure because the man currently had his back to him. He was facing a CRTV up on top of a cart. He was watching an anime that featured a boy with featureless eyes wearing a beige shirt and dark brown shorts standing in a partially destroyed arena. The boy was looking around before all of a sudden, another boy burst from the ground wearing orange and blue. He then landed a monster of an uppercut on the first boy making him spout blood and he fell to the ground unmoving. Ren could have sworn he'd seen this before but couldn't place it, he'd ask Futaba later. Before the scene could progress any further the man turned off the TV with his remote and turned around to face them, Futaba looked disappointed.
The man indeed did have a part in his hair, he also had glasses and a big wide smile on his face. He also screamed unprofessional from the simple black T-shirt he wore, that said 'Got sweets, man?' in bold white letters.
" Come in and sit," he beckoned them in. They each took a seat in the three foldable chairs in front of his desk. " Man, I love that scene, wouldn't it be cool if ninjas were real." The man paused and started scanning the area, hands clutching his head. "Wait what if they are! They might be after me!" He then gripped the desk and took a forced deep breath. " Anyways, my theories aside. Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm Todd Schmidt and I'm the manager here, you guys must be the applicants/new hires I've been looking for. It's nice to meet you." His eyes swam in confusion again. "Wait, I already said that. Ren, Ann, and Futaba, correct? Well, what makes you three want to work here?" He finished with a smile on his face again.
Ann took the lead. "Well, we were just looking for summer jobs before we head to college, and we were passing through the station and saw you were hiring. We thought you were a perfect fit because we just looove sweets and can easily go anywhere when we get off."
Todd adjusted his glasses and nodded in response. "True, True this is a very convenient location, I was lucky the Triumvirate cut me a very good deal to sponsor me setting up shop here."
"Triumvirate? I thought Grand Central Station was owned by the Underwriters?" The question naturally slipped out of Ren's lips, he was a man who did his research after all.
"Hmm? That is true, the Underwriters do own the place-for now that is. However, Triumvirate Holdings bankrolled me with a loan allowing me to buy this shop here. So, they are technically the owners, cause I haven't paid them back fully yet. It was either that or go into the family business of pharmacy/convenient supply stores," He shuddered as if the mere thought scared him. "Running one of those stores in this country is just asking to get robbed. No thank you I say. I like my meals 100% lead bullet free. That stuff is bad for you, you know?"
"We have a friend who can happily agree to that," Ren said with some mirth in his voice. Ann rolled her eyes and Futaba was still eyeing the remote, sitting with her feet in the chair.
"Poor guy." Despite the sarcasm Todd managed to sound genuine in his concern.
"Tch," Futaba scoffed at his response. Very uncharacteristic for her Ren noted, but she couldn't be blamed. Now that things slowed down, the fact she was living with her mother's murderer had sunk in.
Futaba and Haru kept a relationship of necessity with Akechi, not that of rivals or acquaintances. He was trapped just like they were, and that was all there was to it. They avoided his room and even refused to address him directly more often than not. That was part of the reason Ren let him roam around a bit, despite his information-gathering skills. it broke up the tension in the Den.
"Anyways, you three are…. hired!" He accentuated his dramatic pause with two thumbs up. The goofiness of the gesture served to break up the unstable atmosphere Todd had unknowingly created.
Ann's eyebrows raised almost to her hairline "Just like that? Aren't you going to ask us any more questions?" In response, Futaba elbowed her in the stomach, and she doubled over "Ow!"
"Even though I have the paperwork, don't ask unnecessary questions," Futaba whispered in her ear.
"Eh, I was looking for a couple of teens for the summer, I was gonna hire you on the spot either way. It's the time people do the most traveling after all. As for uniforms…um..uh… Just ask Sally. As long as you have the apron, I don't really care what you wear, as long as it isn't explicitly inappropriate. Also, ask Sally to show you around too, she'll give you the rundown on how things work."
Futaba sent the man a glare "Aren't you pushing a lot off onto her?"
Todd didn't even flinch under her stare, as he shrugged his shoulders, "Eh. She's got it, she's the best worker I have. Today's my day off anyway."
"Why are you here then?"
The man then pulled out a purple Gameboy Advance and pressed the On button. "Tammi, my girlfriend, kicked me out of the house, and where else am I going to play my games and watch anime?" He informed them without even looking up from the plastic screen of the handheld console, as he furiously mashed a button.
Ren and Ann simply looked befuddled while Futaba turned towards the two with a smile on her face "I changed my mind, I like this guy!"
"Of course, you would," Ann said mockingly, then turned back towards Todd, "Mr.…Schmidt, was it? Is it okay to leave her by herself with three new hires?"
"Yup," he popped the p "She's totally got it. Now off with you, the SAX isn't going to hunt itself now, is it?"
With that, the three walked back out to the front counter where they found Sally waiting for them already, with three aprons in hand
"Todd is pushing off his duties and being generally irresponsible again, isn't he?" They nodded their heads at the older woman's question. "Playing games or watching anime?"
"Both," Ren replied in a flat tone.
Sally simply looked tired at the revelation. Seems it was a common occurrence. "I see…Just put these on and I'll show you around. We're supposed to wear this," she gestured to her shirt which was red, white, and blue, "but as you can tell Todd doesn't care."
"How can you be so laidback about this?" Ann asked Ren as they were putting on their aprons.
"I've had weirder bosses…"
"He was mister six jobs back home, Ann. Even though I spied on him I still don't know how he did it."
Sally turned towards Ren slack-jawed, with a fixed gaze. "My goodness! Did I just hear that right? Six jobs? How did you do it?"
Having finished doing his apron before the others, Ren shoved his hands in his pocket and relaxed his posture. "What can I say? I do what needs to be done."
A challenging spark entered Sally's eyes. To Ren it was reminiscent of the times Makoto was chasing after them before she joined the team. "Oh, trust me, I know that all too well," She then shuffled toward Ann, who was having the most trouble tying her apron, and assisted her. "If we're all set, let's get moving."
Sally went ahead to walk them around the store, showing them the different sections of sweets, and the various duties which included re-stocking, sweeping, mopping, price checking, and everyone's favorite: bathroom cleaning. Though Ren noted she was borderline droning, moving, and talking as if she was on auto-pilot. Ren also noted she tried not to look at them unless necessary.
She did show them some of the advanced stuff such as the meager kitchen, just enough to cover the muffins, crepes, slices of cake, and cookies the store displayed. She even had them take turns doing each of the duties. Ren and Futaba fared pretty well from having experience in Leblanc. Ann on the other hand was a bit clumsier.
"And that's how the cash register works, though I'm sure you know how to work it," She sent a playfully pointed look toward Ren after she finished explaining the last part of their duties. Although she smiled at him, it did not meet her eyes, it was more akin to a wolf staring at another for entering its territory. "With that, we're done for the day. You can go home, keep it simple for today. It's getting close to six too, I need to go home to my husband, I shouldn't keep him waiting…" she trailed off as she rubbed her arm. Ann's face turned to that same unreadable expression from earlier in the day.
"You sure you don't need us to help lock up?" The blonde volunteered.
"No, no, It's okay. You guys go, enjoy your time off" She somewhat pleaded with them.
"You take care then, we'll see you tomorrow." With a wave of his hand Ren turned and walked out, and Futaba scurried behind him, almost clinging to his side in the face of the homegoing New York crowd. Ann took one last glance at Sally over her shoulder before she too left to join the others.
"It's so unlike you to just leave her just like that Ren," Ann said as she caught up to the other two
Futaba looked up at him from clinging to his shirt. "Yeah, Ren. Usually, you get them talking to you and give information or hints or something. Like you did with those other NPCs back in Tokyo."
"It's pointless to try with her right now, she's way too guarded. Borderline hostile actually," Ren reasoned with the girls.
Ann's face scrunched up, "Even though she just met us?"
"Yeah, she was pretty distant, not something you'd expect for a first meeting."
Futaba waved her finger in a circle "Screams 'Red Flag' to me, though I wonder why?"
"The only way we can find out is to keep coming back, gradually get her to talk. Rome wasn't built in a day. Kawakami didn't open up to me immediately either. Speaking of Ann did you notice anything? You were staring at her a lot."
"I've…got some ideas," She paused, choosing her words carefully. "But as you said, I need to talk to her more," When they got on the 4 subway headed to Brooklyn, she immediately sat down on the side bench, crossed her legs and situated her knuckle under her chin, deep in thought.
Ren occasionally looked over at the girl the rest of the way to Brooklyn and back home. Seeing the normally bubbly, sometimes airheaded blonde this guarded herself worried Ren. He hadn't seen her like this since those bygone when they first started out against Kamo...shi…da. His eyes widened as the pieces fell into place.
"Wait, the flinch. The way she talked about her husband. Could it be…?"
Ren's brow creased as he looked at the girl while a multitude of emotions went through his mind. Anger and worry for Ann were the most prevalent.
"It's better to leave it be for now. Let her confirm it and gather more information. But why though?"
On instinct, he coiled his arm around Futaba protectively, who was curled up beside him. She squeezed a bit closer to him in response on the semi-crowded subway line. It wasn't easy but he tried to push the thought out of his head for now, not before making a mental note of asking Futaba to look up her husband later.
The Next Day
When they again entered the store for their second shift, Sally greeted them with expressions equal parts bored and amused. When her eyes settled on Ren her face went a little slack and both her eyebrows raised.
"He-ho!"
"Don't you mean hello, Ren?"
"That too, Mrs. Sally."
She rolled her eyes and sighed in mock exasperation. "Don't call me Mrs., I'm only 34. That makes me feel old. Just Sally is fine."
"What do you want to have us do today?" Futaba asked.
CLANG
Just then a crash boomed out from the chocolate aisle. The abruptness scared Futaba and she jumped behind Ren.
The three teens looked over to find no other than Todd standing in the middle of a mess. Multiple stands and shelves had been clattered to the ground, scattering a mountain of sweets. Todd himself stood sheepishly clutching a giant bag of skittles in the lone spot of cleanliness for at least four isles worth of stuff.
"Uh…Heh heh… oops." He scratched the back of his head while he flashed a toothy smile.
The three sweatdropped at the scene "I take it back, this guy sucks" Futaba muttered under her breath.
"He might be worse than the time Makoto and I worked at that maid cafe." Ann seemed genuinely impressed at the sheer destruction their boss caused in a couple of seconds.
"For starters, I want two of you to go help him clean that up," Sally didn't even spare the boss a glance as she talked to them. "Then I want one of you on the register while I go do some baking."
Ren raised his hand to volunteer "I'll do the cash register. I'm used to it after all." He flashed a smile to Sally, who was strangely looking at the spot next to him.
"I guess that leaves me and Futaba on clean-up duty." Ann then grabbed Futaba's arm and started dragging her to the monstrous mess.
"But why Ann? The NPC is the one who caused this!"
A Cheshire smile appeared on the older girl's face "And it's our job to fix it!"
Futaba muttered something unintelligible as she began to gather the product in her arms. Though Ren caught the words "Make-up" and "Scramble." He decided to stay out of it lest his glasses "mysteriously disappear" again.
He fell into his role behind the cash register just like he did back in Tokyo. It was pretty smooth sailing for the first hour. Sweet on America had a pretty steady stream of customer traffic. Nothing too oppressive like Ore no Beku, yet it wasn't too calm like Leblanc during the summer. After about 2 hours he spied Sally coming out of the kitchen with a batch of muffins and cookies to put on the pastry racks. The odd part was that they were all completely blue
She must've noticed him staring because she raised an eyebrow in his direction. "I was just wondering why they're all blue."
She chuckled lightly at his question. "It's an inside joke between me and my son. His favorite color is blue, so I try to make him blue stuff. But my husband didn't think it was possible, so I made it a point to eat almost everything blue. Guess at some point it spilled over to my work. Although it helps in attracting customers." He noticed her eyes had that same fire, the same sparks of rebellion, he'd occasionally seen yesterday.
He sent her a light smile of his own. "I understand, Futaba is constantly bothering me to make her curry whenever I can." He looked at the girl in question as she bickered with Ann over proper mop usage. It ended with her throwing down the mop and walking off with Ann in pursuit.
Sally put a hand to her chin, "Oh, are you two related? I could tell she dyes her hair, if she showed up with it black, I'd bet you two would look just alike."
Ren's heart went warm at the statement and his smile widened "Thank you for the compliment, but no we aren't related, though she might as well be family at this point. I worked at her father's cafe for a while in exchange for room and board, and that's how we met. Also, where I learned to make the best coffee and curry you'll ever taste,"
Sally smiled back at him and for the first time, Ren felt it meet her eyes. "Someone is full of themselves. It takes a damn good cup of coffee to impress a New Yorker."
He cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders. "I'm always happy to have a challenge."
"I might have to take you up on that," her face then switched to a pensive expression. "By the way, you mentioned you lived with that guy you worked for. If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your parents?"
He waved his hand "I don't mind," but then his brow furrowed "Me and my parents don't have the best of relationships. I got into a bit of… trouble," He looked up and saw she was giving him the mom look. "No…no it wasn't through any fault of my own. My body moved on its own and the next thing I knew, I was being thrown out of the house."
She shuffled the pans of pastries in her arms "You sound like my son. That's his excuse for everything, he has ADHD so he can't help it sometimes: never anything malicious. You've got me curious though, what was so bad you got kicked out?"
"I got arrested," he said with no mirth in his voice. Sally's face froze but her body suddenly jerked back and caused one of the muffins to fall off the pan. Ren caught the muffin in mid-air and put it back in its place. "I told you it was through no fault of my own." He then turned away towards the window. "I was walking home from school late one day when I came across a man trying to force a woman into a car outside a bar. He was drunk and the woman was struggling to get away while she kept yelling 'no' and for someone to help. So, I did. I told the man to leave her alone. The man didn't like that, and as he took a step forward, he fell on his ass and hit his head."
Her expression softened "You did the right thing, not many people would have been as brave as you to intervene like that."
He turned back towards her and smiled but there was no warmth to be found in it at all. "I quickly found out why they didn't. He called the cops and told them I assaulted him. The worst part was that he coerced the woman to match his story, and I was arrested on assault charges." He saw Sally's teeth clench in anger, that fire looked like it burned even brighter in contrast to her ocean blue eyes.
"To make a long story short he had friends in the police and the courts. Managed to make sure I was convicted, and his name wasn't mentioned. Even my parents didn't believe me, so they sent me away to save face. I think my sister does, but she stopped talking to me anyway. Futaba's father took me in, and the rest was history as they say."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that, the system is so corrupt sometimes."
"Damn right. But I'm okay now. I have Futaba and Ann, as long as I have them and the rest of my group, I know we'll make it through somehow."
"I'm glad to hear that, I feel the same way about my son." She then looked down at the pans of pastries still in her hands. "Darn, we'll have to talk more later, I have to put these on display," He watched her walk away quickly.
"Usually, people unload their problems onto me. Maybe opening up to her will get her to open up to me. I feel we connected in that conversation."
The rest of the day passed without incident. Well… a major incident. There still were a couple of times Todd knocked over a display or dropped a drink, or just generally were klutzy. By the end of the shift, both Ann and Futaba looked unified in a desire to inflict as much bodily harm on their boss as humanly possible. Before either could act, Ren grabbed the collars of their shirts and dragged them away.
The next day they rotated. Ann was managing the register with Sally while he and Futaba worked the floor. Having learned from yesterday Ren figured he should keep tabs on Todd at all times, the man seemed to be a magnet for workplace accidents. Ren wondered how he hadn't accidentally burned down the station by this point.
Around noon Todd wasn't paying attention and slipped on the freshly mopped floor, ignoring the sign. However, before he fell Ren channeled his persona and caught him by the scruff of his neck. He held him up in the air as if he was a newborn kitten. Then he put him down on his feet and dusted him off, slapping him on the back for good measure.
"Hahaha... Thanks Ren, you're a real lifesaver. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were some kind of ninja. Wait, are you?!"
"I've been asking that question for a year now boss," Futaba interjected from behind them.
"Thanks again Ren, I've gotta get to the back and file some restock orders for the international stuff."
He walked past the cash register which had Ann scratching her head in puzzlement at the machine, while Sally was openly gawking at him. Though she seemed to be looking through him rather than at him. He was about to ask her what happened, but he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked over at Futaba. She beckoned him over to the aisle she was currently working in, by restocking the starburst
"You know that was really smooth. I also wanted to ask you something." He nodded his head in consent. "I heard what you said yesterday. I still have the bug y'know. I heard you while I was hiding in the bathroom from Ann." The corner of her mouth twisted "Do you really think we'll make it through this?" Ren almost didn't catch the last part as she said it so softly with an undertone of fear.
"I'm positive if it's the last thing I do, I'll get us back. You'll see Sojiro again before you know it." She then clung to his chest, thankfully they were partially obscured by the aisles.
"I miss him, Ren," he could see the beginnings of tears in the corner of her eyes.
He patted her head in response "There, there. Until you see him again you always have me. And you'll always have the others."
She sniffed, "Except that rival character."
"Except that rival character."
"Ren!? Can you come over here for a moment?" They jumped apart at the voice of Sally echoing across the store.
Futaba used her left hand to lift her glasses while she used her right arm to wipe at her eyes."You should go, Ren." She picked up a small cardboard box containing starburst and continued stocking the shelves
When he walked to the counter, he noticed that Ann's eyes were flickering between him and Sally, emotions differing between the two looks she was giving. A knowing, almost teasing look towards him, but a somberness mixed with anger towards Sally.
"Hey, Ren, you know how to cook right? Can you make some more crepes to put on display? Also, make some of them blue so I can take them home later."
"Sure."
Later that night Ann had locked herself in her room. Not even Ryuji's offer of his share of the crepes Ren had brought home could coax her out.
The day after they shifted their positions once again, Futaba was manning the register with Ren and Ann working the floor. Futaba was hesitant at first until Sally promised to stay beside her for most of the day. It didn't take long for chaos to ensue. Surprisingly it wasn't Todd. There was a big rush of people coming in through the station due to a freak thunderstorm. The influx of customers freaked out Futaba enough to where she'd donned a huge Wario head mask to wear. When Sally first saw the mask, she accidentally punched Todd in the face who happened to be walking with her. Todd mentioned he gave it to her since his girlfriend wouldn't let him keep it in the apartment. Sally was currently trying to coax Futaba out of the mask…to no avail.
"Um, hey Ren, while they're distracted can I talk to you?" Ann called while nervously rubbing her fingers together.
"Is it about Sally?"
"Yeah..it's..how do I put this?" She looked fidgety as if she could dash off any second. "I.. I…I think… she's being beaten, Ren," she said the words as if it physically hurt her to say.
"I kind of figured, I haven't seen you look this way since our first mission. I take it, you found some proof?"
She deflated a little and let out a sigh as she leaned back on the shelf, "You always could read me so well, Ren." She turned her head to look at Sally who was still struggling to pull the head off of Futaba. "I saw it yesterday, Ren, she's wearing make-up. Not an even coat either, she's using it to cover just one spot on her face: on her cheek-like, she's been slapped."
At her words, Ren activated his third eye, and sure enough, her right cheek was blue, and he could see the underlying red and purple on her face.
Ann kicked the ground aimlessly with her converse high-tops "Shiho used to do it too, at first when Kamoshida first took over. That was just the confirmation, there's everything else too, the flinching and the way she talks about her husband. I bet her son, Percy doesn't even know, that's probably why he's at a dormitory school: so, he doesn't catch on."
She looked up at him with clear eyes as she stood up straight. "I want to help her too, Ren. If I don't, I would be turning my back on the reason why I became a Phantom Thief in the first place. To make sure more people like Shiho don't happen, whenever I can!"
Ren took over the conversation. "The hard part is going to be to get her to talk about it. If we expose the husband and she denies it, the police aren't likely to do anything, but I bet Futaba can pull up some dirt. Usually, guys like that have their hands in multiple shady practices. In the meantime, I'll keep talking to her," Ren's mind was already formulating a plan to take down her husband, his personas hummed in agreement at his thoughts.
Ann's head reeled back a bit. "Wow, you got that look in your eye like when we planned to dupe Akechi, it's honestly scary Ren, that and hearing you talk so much. But, thanks Ren." She accentuated her point with a quick kiss on his cheek, a spur-of-the-moment decision, so Ren didn't have time to react or prepare himself.
Ren could not compute what had just happened and he felt his face start to go red and all he could do was stammer instead of speaking in a coherent sentence "Tha…d…um…I"
Ann closed her eyes and smiled "It's not so funny when the shoe's on the other foot, huh? For as much as you flirt with us," she pretended to fawn over him as she slowly annunciated each word "It seems the big, bad Joker can't handle a little sudden teasing in return." She then studied his face, in the same trick Makoto pulled about a week ago the sight of her eyes was too much for Ren before he could put up his hands to block them.
"Holy shit! Your glasses actually fogged up! Snrk…Pfft..Hahaha!" She held her stomach as she laughed.
He couldn't help but join in with her laughter. He had seen both himself and Maruki with fogged-up glasses and he had to admit….it was pretty hilarious.
Just then Sally finally managed to pull the Wario head off of Futaba, but it slipped out of her hands as she stumbled backward, only for it to land on Todd's head, and he immediately started doing poses.
"Never a dull moment with us is there?" Ann asked as she started to walk back towards the front of the store.
"Nope, and that's why I love you guys," Ren agreed, rolling up his sleeve so he could help Todd.
When they got back to the Den that night, Ren requested Futaba look into Sally's husband. Seeing a chance to showcase her skills she dashed to the top-floor den in which Ryuji and Sumire were currently lounging, having swapped out on monster duty with Fox and Mona. Haru was on dinner duty, Makoto was training, and Akechi was simply missing. He had mentioned something about Boston and that he'd be back in a couple of days.
Futaba plopped herself down at the metal table across from Sumire, who was currently eating an obscene amount of spaghetti. Ren and Ann took the seats beside her as she opened up her laptop and started typing.
Futaba pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose "Easy enough, let's see…"
"What are we doing?" Ryuji asked, tearing his head away from an episode of Spongebob and walking over. The show was surprisingly funny and laced with adult undertones that made it even funnier. The show quickly found its way among the favorites of American television that they watched. Even Yusuke loved it for the undersea aesthetic despite not being an avid TV fan.
"We're looking into Sally's husband," Ren informed the blonde boy.
"Why? Is he some kinda scumbag?" Ryuji questioned while he put his hand on the back of Ren's chair.
"We have reasons to believe he is hitting his wife," Ann said bluntly.
CLINK
CRACK
At her words, Sumire paused eating, fork falling to her plate and splattering flecks of sauce on her glasses and blue sleeveless blouse. Ryuji crushed the top rail of Ren's chair accidentally, channeling the immense strength of Seiten Taisei. Having noted Futaba's wide eyes at the action Ren decided to speak up before Ryuji scared her more without meaning to.
"Don't worry, we're looking into him to see if we can find some other charges against him."
Ryuji looked down tentatively, seemingly becoming aware of what he had just done. "Oh…Oh shit, I'm sorry, Futaba. You guys know how stuff like that gets to me,"
"It's okay, Ryuji, it happens to us all." Futaba's voice sounded a little shaky and uneven as she returned to typing.
"Is the son involved? You know the demigod?" Sumire followed up while rubbing her glasses on the hem of her shirt. Ryuji intently focused on Ann and Ren as they waited for the answer.
"We don't think so. He's at that dormitory school remember? We believe he's there now, so he won't find out."
Ryuji's hands clenched "That might be true, but we still don't know if he's hitting him when he is around. Actually, that would make it even harder to confirm, cause any physical evidence might've cleared up by now," he pointed out as he made the effort to keep his voice under control. "But then he might also deny it if it is happening, the best way is to ask the mom and get her to leave him," he trailed off at the end.
"That's what we thought as well, I figured if we could find if he committed any more crimes, it'd make it easier to leave him," Ren explained.
"Can you bug his phone, as you do to us?" Sumire held her smartphone up
Futaba looked up from her laptop "Eh." she looked back down, resumed typing, and held up a finger which she wagged in the air "We're in 2006 remember? My bugs work through an app, something Flip-Phones and Blackberries don't have. A physical bug would work but that would involve me getting my hands on his phone personally, which I highly doubt we can do this time."
"So, you're saying we can do shit?" Ryuji said dejectedly as he hung his head.
"I didn't say that. I can look at his text messages via hacking his service provider. Or I could just straight up go old-school and do some classic wiretapping." She then turned her laptop towards them, "I did find out some stuff though. Heh heh heh too easy, helps there are more holes in the security this time."
"Gabe Ugliano, age: 37, high school drop-out, manages a Cadillac linen service, started up by the owner by taking a loan from Triumvirate Holdings."
"There's that company again," Ren thought to himself.
"That's not all Ren, look at the financial records for the company." Futaba almost vibrated in place for a second, her fist clenched in anticipation. "Ah-screw it, you're taking too long, I put his bank statement up for reference too. Tl;dr he's embezzling funds. Odd, because his bank account isn't any bigger, if anything he seems to be losing more money-he's not using a card either like with his other payment: just straight cash loss."
Ren leaned back in his now damaged chair. "If I had to guess he's probably gambling, wiring money just leaves a trail in case the cops pick up on it."
"Sooo, it's illegal then," Ann presumed
"And how exactly do you know this senpai?"
At Sumire's accusatory tone Ren shot her a predatory smirk he was sure would make the girl flush. "Who knows? Maybe I'm an underground crime lord?"
Ryuji rolled his eyes. "Dude that was lame fer' you. Million-yen move, hundred-yen finish."
Ann pressed her lips into an exasperated frown. "Yeah Ren, we all know it's because of the airsoft job you worked back in Tokyo. We did a mission for him, remember? He's a former Yakuza that was being extorted by one of its current members," with a sound of agreement Futaba also nodded her head.
"Just how many people do you know about, senpai?"
"I've been asking that question for a year now."
"Pretty sure you already said that Futaba." Ren then drummed his fingers on the table "Anyways, now that we have a crime, I'll try and bring it up to her as soon as I see the chance,"
"I trust you, partner," Ryuji slapped his shoulder in an act of solidarity
As the next two weeks passed the weather got progressively worse and more spontaneous. To quote Ryuji "The effin weatherman is useless as shit" as he powered the generator. The winds were especially fierce, culminating with the need for Morgana to cause a counter-gale with Mercurius to make sure the Den was untouched. Akechi also informed them that missing planes over the Bahamas had also drastically gone up. Even a tornado had touched down in the Hudson Valley. (Thankfully they didn't have to work those days.) It was almost a guarantee that the conflict between Zeus and Poseidon was worsening.
Unfortunately, Sally was less than cooperative, and Ren wasn't making much headway. After he had told her of his past, she seemed more open than before. She had mentioned that Percy's father was "lost at sea" and she had got married to Gabe Ugliano, and even the curious mention of his poker habits every once in a while. No word or hint of the divine, however, though as the storms worsened, he did make an off-hand comment about a storm god being angry. He had made it in jest, but Sally had gone as white as a sheet and remarked, "You might be right."
As it got closer to June, Ren knew he was running out of time so he decided to confront her directly.
It was the day before the weekend, May 26th to be exact. Sally was scheduled to leave early to go on vacation, so Ren knew he only had a small window to strike. He asked Todd if he could take his break early so it 'happened' to coincide with when Sally was about to leave. Todd seemed more concerned about S-ranking Advance Wars' hard campaign, so he absent-mindedly agreed to the request.
He leaned back against the glass window just next to the door waiting for his target to appear. About ten minutes into his break, he spotted the somewhat familiar brown hair with white streaks poke her head out the door. "Hey, Sally?" His voice startled the woman as she was walking out.
"I wanted to ask you something important." She slowly faced him. He noted she was clutching a pamphlet in her hands. Ren could only make out the first word which said 'Camp.'
"What can I do for you, Ren? I'm really in a hurry and-" he cut her off.
"The gods are real, aren't they?" She froze and her face went stony at his words. "And they're blaming your son for the thief of the master bolt, aren't they? He's being framed, isn't he?"
The air went frigid all of a sudden. Ren could have sworn Yusuke was nearby. "Ever since you walked in, I've been trying to figure just what the hell you are," Ren was slightly taken back by her switch in language and tone.
"What do you mean?" Had his cover been blown?
"I...I can see them you know, on you and your friends." Ignoring Ren's confused face, she continued. "It's faint, but I can see it. Some days it's just an outline, others like a blurry picture, sometimes nothing, but I know it's there. Ann, there's a woman following her, she's about 8 feet tall, red-skinned I think, and has two dogs with her? Then there's Futaba, there's a flying orb around her with a creepy smile on it," She pushed the corners of her mouth to imitate Prometheus' smile. Her gaze then settled on him and hardened. "Then there's you."
Ren's confusion morphed to amazement, to think someone could actually see the personas. No monster so far had been able to, and Akechi made no mention of Pomona being able to: she only recognized him by scent. He schooled his features as he decided to play dumb, with a little bit of an edge of steel to his voice. "What about me?"
"Don't play dumb with me, you're the worst one. When you first walked in there was this big winged man behind you. Then the next day it was this snowman with a hat, the next it was a man with samurai armor, and it just kept changing. Even today you have a giant dragon behind you." The shock of his Personas also mirrored his own.
"She can see us?" Black Frost verbally voiced out what the others were thinking.
"It should not be possible by normal means," Satanael mused.
"But it's not impossible. Sometimes a mortal is born with the ability to see the divine. One of the most famous myths from my pantheon is of Adriandne's string, but it was her and not the string that guided Theseus through the Maze.'' The shield bearer's voice echoed through the mindscape. Ren had indeed heard that tale, she was one of his personas before, after all.
"So she finally speaks! I was starting to think you were mute and we'd have to interpret what you say from how fast your shield orbits you, but I guess I can't expect much from a-" Her teasing was cut off and from the sound of it, the shield-bearer had pulled out her spear and put the love goddess underneath the point. "H-Hey trickster?" He could hear her gulp. "I have an idea. How about you swap me out for Fafnir? You know? Put to the test if she can really see us?" It was obvious to Ren she was trying to save her own ass, as evident by the sniggering from the other personas, but he saw no reason to reject the idea. He shifted his mask to Ishtar and watched as the right side of Sally's face gave an annoying twitch.
It seems she's correct, though not normally visible, when we are 'active' we are a part of the real world," Satanael hypothesized.
"Are you mocking me? It's a woman with horns now. Mind telling me just who the hell are you and what do you want?"
"I'm sorry Ms. Jackson, this is a give-and-take relationship. I'll answer your questions if you answer mine, I am for real this time."
She sighed heavily and her shoulders slump "Like I haven't heard that joke a million times. I guess I'm lucky I have a son instead of a daughter."
"To start with, we're part of a group of demigods living on the street, there's 10 of us living together. I'm a special case among them, Ann herself is a daughter of Hecate, and her blessing is clinging to her. The storms have been affecting our home, so we wanted to get to the bottom of why, after we heard rumors from some monsters." He decided to tell her a half-truth while steering away from his identity. It wasn't like she'd believe him if he said he was from another world. "Preferably before our home is destroyed."
"But why me? Seems like a bit of a reach don't you think?"
He sheepishly scratched his cheek "Well we happened to see your son slay a monster with water at the museum earlier this month, and we heard his full name, so we looked you up."
"Shit, Chiron told me that happened." She crossed her arms, and she then looked at him in interest. "Speaking of, if you're a demigod, how are you not a camp? You guys shouldn't have to live on your own like that if the others are as young as you."
"Camp? We've never heard about a camp,"
She averted her gaze by dropping it to her crossed arms "Yeah…There's a camp for kids like you and your family. It's protected from the outside by magic only other demigods can get in, even the weather is perfect, you wouldn't have to worry anymore." She reached over and handed him the pamphlet she was looking at.
He gingerly took it from her hand and inspected it. It said Camp Half-Blood on the cover and featured an image of clear skies, blue water, and smiling kids in orange t-shirts, and in the distance, a bunch of buildings in classic Greek architecture could be seen. It said it was located on the northern shore of Long Island. He was surprised he had achieved his main objective that quickly. "Why are you telling me all this? Normally people would be a lot more apprehensive to us," he said as he tried to hand the paper back to her.
"No, you keep it, I'm done with it." She waved her hand in refusal, then relaxed her shoulders. "I've worked with you guys for a couple of weeks now, I think I've got a good read on your intent. Besides, what you said to start with stuck out to me." His eyebrow raised in confusion, but she continued "You said my son's being framed. Most gods and monsters wouldn't question it and just tell me to hand him over, or call him a future threat and try to kill him, but you?" A smile stretched on her face. "You believe he's innocent, which in that world is worth more than its weight in gold. Now, I believe you said you had some questions for me?"
"This one is a tad…more sensitive." She tensed up again and adjusted the collar on her red, white, and blue uniform. "Ann, she has experience in spotting it. Has your husband been getting… physical with you?" Sally took a half step back and grabbed her shoulders "Why are you staying with him?" he pressed her, despite knowing the risk of her clamming up.
Her eyes darted before she relaxed. "What gave it away?" She rolled up one of her sleeves just enough to reveal the start of an angry red bruise on her bicep. "I'm staying with him for my son," Ren was about to retort but she kept talking. "I've taken pictures of everything by the way. To be frank, he's an asshole who deserves to rot in jail,"
"I sense a but coming," Ren thought to himself.
"But he's a mortal. That man is so indulgent with all his vices it affects his natural smell." Her face then lit up in what Ren could only describe as sick glee "He stinks so bad, he completely covers up Percy. No monster or god would ever find him as long as he's around. If I have to put up with a little pain to keep him safe, then so be it."
"But you deserve happiness too, nobody should have to go through that!" The retort automatically came from his mouth.
"You're not the first to say that." She shuffled her weight onto her back foot. "Poseidon…he offered to build me a temple in the sea where Percy and I could live safely: but I turned him down. How could you say you're truly living if you are constantly under someone else's thumb, doing the same thing forever? Because that's all it was: a gilded cage, so he could keep an eye on us." She sighed. "He meant well but…I don't know." She kicked at the ground, then continued. "Gods and mortals have different senses of value. Maybe it's different for them because they live forever and things seldom change. But that's the fun of being mortal if you ask me. Facing those sudden changes."
It shocked Ren how much her ideology matched Akechi's on why he wanted to stop Maruki. Listening to her words he could close his eyes and there wouldn't be any difference between the lady and the former detective prince.
"Besides, I'll leave my husband soon. Percy's becoming more aware of who he is. I'll have to send him to that camp, probably after our trip to Montauk this weekend. I don't want to, but I don't think I have a choice. Once he goes over the property line he'll be safe. But I might not ever see him again." Her voice had gone shaky at the end of her mini-speech and Ren saw the pain it took for her to say that.
"We can help with that, when Ann noticed your bruises, we looked into your husband. He's caught up in fraud, embezzlement, and illegal gambling. We have the evidence and everything to put him away." Sally tilted her head up at him.
Her face untwisted from before. "I knew about the gambling, he uses our apartment as the den for the whole block after all. But embezzlement and fraud? Unexpected but not surprising, he doesn't let me handle any of his money." She massaged her temple. "I might take you up on your offer, but not now, not while Percy is still with me."
"At least take my card, it has my number on it in case you change your mind." He handed her a black card with white writing on it with a logo of his mask being held by his glove that said Joker on the back. He had Yusuke draft it up the night before just in case. She took the card and inspected it both front and back
"Joker, huh?" She tilted her head at him.
He fiddled with his bangs. "It's the nickname my friends call me."
"For you, it seems…fitting. I honestly don't know why I told you all this, you're just really easy to talk to once you get past those things floating behind you"
"I get that a lot. Ann said it to me when we first met." She chuckled a little.
"I believe it…" She then shuffled awkwardly a bit "I-I have to go, I need to get home before my son does." She then turned her back to him and started to walk away. She went about five feet before she paused and looked back at Ren and bit her lip. "If anything should happen to me, please at least make sure my son makes it to the camp."
Before Ren could ask what she meant, she dashed off, blending into the midday crowd. Ren could only stare at the pamphlet she had left him, he couldn't shake the bad feeling the end of that conversation left him either. He sent Ryuji a text letting him know they were going out that night and walked back to the store to finish his shift.
Makoto's Notes
#4 Ariadne
Reckless: that's the only way I can describe this persona. Everything about this persona screams that one word. This persona specializes in a high-risk, high-reward battle style. Its signature attack is "Beast Weaver" which sends a giant construct made of magical yarn at the enemy. This attack leaves Joker absolutely drained offensively, and takes a big chunk of his health to boot. At least the damage he deals out usually compensates. It really lives up to Joker's cry of "Blast Off!" whenever he uses it. However when he misses… it's up to me, Mona, and sometimes Ann to cover his ass.
As for his personality, he likes to talk in this ridiculous accent that's a cross between American Brooklyn and Cockney. The others sans Crow and myself tend to join in and butcher the Japanese language. Just listening to them makes me want to break out my textbook.
Hnng… I can only hope Joker changes that one out soon.
AN:
That Todd guy reminds me of someone, I wonder who? Anyways he's just there to bridge the gap since we got next to no info on Sally's workplace.
Chapter 4 was so big I had to split it into 2 parts so be on the lookout for 5 later today. Combined it was around 15k, to begin with, but the split allowed me to flesh out what went into Chapter 5.
Overall, I did have fun writing both chapters. It turned into a pseudo-case study for Sally, Ryuji, and Sumire. I'll go over the latter 2 in the next chapter. Sally, when viewed through the light of Persona 5, is the epitome of a rebel, matter of fact one of Percy's first descriptions of her is "She has a rebellious streak" then when you take into account all her decisions and she is essentially a benign version of Crow. She'd rather die than live under someone's thumb.
Next, I have to mention there's no set schedule for this story. When it comes out it comes out. My life is way too hectic to put a deadline on this. All it would do is cause me to agonize over it, miss it, then lose sleep over the missed deadline, then rush out a shitty chapter. Also, it would compromise the point I'm writing this story which is for pleasure and relaxation.
Anyways, please review and comment, I really want to hear your thoughts and get better with every chapter. See you in Chapter 5, Takamura out,