The Phantom Thieves (and Naoto) went their separate ways after returning to the real world, Naoto leaving with a promise to make up a list of all of the people she knew from the old world. All of the people who wielded persona and likely had their old selves held hostage by Xochiquetzal.

Ren didn't go home right away despite the increasingly late hour. He wanted more time. Time for his new life to come into focus. And if doing that let him re-examine this world with both sets of memories, so much the better. Approaching a situation from multiple viewpoints was only good sense. The deity looming over his head in the other world was a worry, but one he could do nothing about for the moment. A concern he would need to become accustomed to.

Shibuya looked a little more like the Shinjuku Ren remembered. Plenty of mundane stores selling ordinary things just as in the old world. Bookstore, DVD rental place, arcade, diner, movie theatre, convenience store. The only differences being those ordinary shops had an expanded range for 'adult' customers. The bookstore and DVD rental place having porn and hentai on open display (uncensored), and the arcade had a game 'Iku Iku Climax' that was like a lewd DDR. A life-size sex doll where the objective was to make her climax by touching the right spots when prompted. Despite the outlandishness of it to his perspective, the people around gave that sort of thing no more notice than anything else. It was utterly mundane to them, to the point he was getting some strange looks for staring so obviously.

Unbidden, a memory appeared in his mind of the several times he had played that Climax game last year. And the time he brought Futaba and she spent ten-thousand yen on the damn thing. She hadn't wanted to leave until she could get it to cum in less than a minute.

He tried not to look like he was fleeing the arcade as his embarrassment got the better of him. Only made worse when he remembered Shinjuku. How Ryuji somehow got caught up in some sort of... Gimp parade?

He was getting a headache, decided to go home. Getting groped on the train by a woman who looked to be in her fifties didn't help him any. He felt relief as he pushed upon the door to Leblanc, heard the bell that might as well have chimed 'welcome home'.

"Hey, coming home a little late tonight, huh?" Sojiro greeted him with a smile, one that faltered at getting a look at him. "You feeling alright? Futaba said she saw you leaving with a girl but you're looking a little worse for wear."

"Just a headache," Ren waved off his concern, "It'll pass."

"That rough, huh?" the laid back cafe owner sympathised, "Come on and sit down. I'll get you something that should help."

Ren almost declined, but honestly he felt like he could use a little kindness after being put so far on the back foot by this absurd day. "Thanks." He dropped heavily onto a stool, his bag on the floor next to him. "Any sign of Morgana?"

"No?" Sojiro asked as much as answered as he filled a cup with coffee and slid two pills over the counter. "I thought he'd be with you. Is he missing?" He glanced at the bag, the place he expected to find Ren's feline companion, while Ren swallowed down the painkillers.

"Haven't seen him since..." His new memories provided an answer. "Yesterday."

"Hrm, well, cats know how to fend for themselves, Morgana more than most," Sojiro tried to reassure him. "If he doesn't turn up by morning I'll try asking around."

Ren offered him a tired smile. "Thanks, Sojiro." His phone buzzed in his pocket. Pulling it out he saw a new group chat. Akechi, Sumire, Naoto and himself.

"My thanks for all of you giving me your contact information." Naoto, her chat icon a picture of herself with her head down facing the camera, her hat partially obscuring her eyes. "While compiling our list, I took the liberty of discerning the identities of your old accomplices, for the sake of completeness of course."

Ren shook his head, laughing quietly. It was just that easy, huh? "That's fine."

"Ever the industrious one, Shirogane," Akechi jibed.

Ren let the conversation run, putting his phone away. Those text chats had a tendency to just go around in circles.

"Was that the girl?" Sojiro asked with a knowing smile. "She cute?"

"It was a girl," Ren acknowledged, "But nothing like what you're thinking happened."

"You mean like Futaba thinks happened," Sojiro corrected with disappointment in his tone. "Ren, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"You can tell me to butt out but I feel like maybe asking outright might get you asking yourself at least. When you started seeing Futaba, you stopped seeing that other girl, Ann. Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate what you did for her. I know it wasn't easy and so does she. But with Futaba feeling more comfortable, going out on her own, even going to school with you, she's doing so much better." The words started coming faster, a tell of Sojiro's. He was building a head of steam, making himself irritated. "And now she's pushing you to let yourself loose again, yet you're still holding yourself back while saying it's for her sake." He stopped. Collected himself. Shook his head. "Ren... Is it really for her sake?"

"Yes," Ren, both Rens answered.

"Because if it's not, and if you're really not putting yourself out there because you don't want to, that's not fair to Futaba. Using her difficulties as your excuse–"

"Sojiro," Ren said, looking the other man in the eye, "It's not like that. It's... I was going to, but some things happened, got in the way."

Sojiro leaned back, let out a grumbling sigh. "Sorry. Futaba said you were acting a little odd today. Anything I can help with? I'm always here to listen, you know." He scoffed good-naturedly, "Not like there's anywhere else I need to be, right?"

"No. Thanks, but," Ren shrugged helplessly, "I'm not even sure what it is yet to talk about it."

"Alright, well, Futaba's waiting for you upstairs. Wants to tell you all about her first day and uh, get the details of whatever happened with yours," Sojiro informed the teen with an apologetic look. "Don't know what your issues are, but it's always good to be honest with the people you care about, and who care about you, right?"

Another buzz from his phone. A message from Ann.

"Hey, so, Futaba told me some things and..."
"Can we talk?"
"I mean, not right now. In person. At school? After school."

A longer wait between messages.

"I miss you."

"Yeah," Ren nodded. "We need to talk about some things."

"Alright, well," the cafe owner sighed, rubbing his neck, "I guess I'll wish you luck. Remember not to get her pregnant yet."

Ren rolled his eyes, "You say that every... Time." His pause was caused by the realisation that yes, in both worlds Sojiro had said that often, though in the old world he didn't add 'yet' and was mostly joking. Here it was said seriously but with a tone saying it would be less than ideal if he did, but not the end of the world.

It was not ideal that the new version of himself had often daydreamed of a pregnant Futaba. With a baby bump, her breasts swelled with milk, a warm smile on her face as she felt the baby kick, reading it some sort of scientific journal or something equally absurd...

"I understand kids need reminders for this sort of thing," Sojiro smiled, looking over his shoulder, before waving goodbye. "Remember to wash any dishes you use." Said with the same tone as the suggestion to not get his teenage daughter pregnant.

The bell chimed again as the door closed. Ren took the moment to make sure the door was locked before he headed up to his room.

"Come on, come on! Stupid– UGH!"

He didn't expect to get her attention the second he got upstairs. Futaba wasn't that kind of girl to be anxiously waiting for her man to get home. She always had to be doing something, or multiple somethings. And once she started, it was difficult to get her attention. At the moment it sounded like she was playing Star Forneus based on the sound effects coming from the dingy TV he had up here. And on seeing her he noticed she was wearing headphones, probably listening to some thing, audio book maybe or a video. Guaranteed either some niche otaku thing or something academic and well beyond Ren's IQ or academic level.

"Freakin'... Stupid... UGH! How the hell did he do it! Some kinda frame perfect, pixel perfect BS!" she ranted to herself, curling in on herself and thumping the controller on the floor. But as she raised her head again she saw him. "Ren!" she cheered, getting up, "Hurk!" only to get pulled back from her headphones, quickly disentangling them and dropping them on the floor. "You're home!" Still cute as a button as always wearing only a tanktop and shorts, she ran over to hug him.

"I am," he answered with an indulgent smile, taking in the scent of her hair. "Sorry I'm so much later than usual."

"Neh-heh!" the ginger girl laughed in that unsettling way she did sometimes. Her hand slipped right down his pants immediately. "Well since you finally listened to me and let Little Ren out to play I can forgive it. So the redhead and the detective huh?" she asked, stroking his cock with her palm, imagining it had recently been in another girl. "He's in my class. Kinda stuffy. Didn't think he'd be the type to double-team. Didn't think you'd get back on the horse with something like that either."

His mind conjured a very different scenario to what Futaba was imagining, brought on by her teasing voice and her soft and warm hand fondling him. Sumire had been one of his jerkoff fantasies in his first life when she was Kasumi. Of course she was, red haired gymnast? Couldn't not be. Using her gymnast flexibility to enjoy some truly unique positions. And knowing Naoto was actually a girl, he imagined her as that sort of tomboy that secretly had giant tits. So bashful about them but easily cajoled into wrapping them around his–

... This world was getting to him again. "Futaba, nothing like that happened."

"Come on! You finally did what I asked! I'm happy!"

She thought he was being coy. "No, Futaba, really. It wasn't like that. We left together but it was entirely platonic."

Her hand stopped. She gave him a look. Her eyebrows drew down and inwards, her eyes narrowed, her mouth turning harshly downward. "Platonic?" she asked flatly. "Picture perfect kohai with eyes begging you to hold her hand while pounding her into a mattress, and you didn't tap that?"

Was Sumire looking at him like that? Well maybe– Wait, no that wasn't the point. "No, I didn't. I wasn't about to start fucking other girls without even telling you, Futaba." He gave her a slight frown of his own. "And since Ann messaged me a few minutes ago, I wish you hadn't told people I did."

Her hand retreated. She retreated. "You... You didn't?" she asked, sounding strangely vulnerable. Then laughed nervously. "You're still not going to," she realised and somehow of all things that sounded like it broke her heart. "It's me, isn't it?" she asked. "You think I can't take it. That it'll hurt me." Her questions continued in a smaller, much more vulnerable voice. "Haven't I been doing better? I go outside, I can go shopping by myself, I'm going to school, I barely even go back to my room anymore. I spend all my time here! So why," She hiccuped, not quite crying but too close for Ren to bear, "Why do you think I can't take this?"

"Futaba," he fought not to grimace. His old relationship with her had been simple. The greatest hardship was leaving her behind when he went home. But here, the different relationship dynamics made things even more complicated. His reputation had once been that of a psychopathic criminal who carried a knife everywhere and a bad case of crazy eyes (despite all evidence to the contrary). But his reputation changed over time. After Kamoshida, after he started doing well, fitting in at the school, after Kobayakawa died and especially after he was outed as the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Even if the legal chicanery meant he was never prosecuted for his actions and his original conviction was overturned, his reputation remained. And in this world, that reputation as some sort of gentleman thief superhero meant he had myriad opportunity to do well with the opposite sex.

And he let it all pass him by. For her. In the old world it would be romantic. In this one it was condescending. Acting like his significant other couldn't handle him having an active sex life outside of her. And with it being condescending, it was easy for Futaba to draw the obvious conclusion. That he was giving up opportunities because she was too fragile, too broken for them to have a proper relationship built on trust and understanding.

And so Ren resolved to consider something half of him never would have accepted. "You jumped the gun."

"Huh?"

"I was going to surprise you today," he admitted truthfully, "I was going to ask you at lunch who I should go for. But some things came up that I couldn't ignore. I never got the chance."

"So..." Futaba began, expression uncertain but hopeful, "You are going to?"

"As long as you're comfortable with it. If you ever change your mind just say so and I'll–"

"Yes!" she cheered, before blinking, "I mean no! I'm okay with it! More than okay with it! My Ren's gonna fuck all the bitches this is gonna be awesome! What did Ann text you?" She didn't wait for him to answer, just grabbed the phone out of his pocket. "Ooh-hoo! She's still got it bad! See?! This is why you should've listened to me before and Ann could've been happy with you so much sooner! But now that Ann and Makoto know you're on the market, nee-hee-hee!"

"Makoto?!" Ren asked incredulously. "You told Makoto too?!"

"Uh, obviously? She's had squishy feelings for you ever since you broke into my house!"

Okay well he knew that. For being so proper Makoto had trouble hiding her more tender feelings. But more importantly, "Do you really have to call it that? We weren't breaking in, we were..."

"Entering a building without the permission of the owner or tenants?" Futaba asked with a smirk, her earlier vulnerability forgotten before Ren even had chance to realise it. "Besides, we're gonna make all kinds of use of your bad boy hero image! In fact, target number one!" she announced, pointing dramatically at the poster on his wall. "Well, behind Ann and Makoto, I mean."

The poster wasn't quite the same one from the old world. The tasteful depiction of a twenty-one year old Risette in blue replaced by a gravure shot of her as a teenager. Which in this world, she was. "Risette?"

"She's in my class," Futaba confided with a grin. "So cute I wanna die. You know, figuratively speaking. And since she's an idol she has to try and stay celibate so horny losers can daydream about popping her cherry. Wouldn't that be amazing?!"

Ren decided to ignore that self-burn. If he pointed it out she'd just tell him to shut up and ignore him anyway. "Please tell me you did other things at school than just ogle your female classmates in hopes I'd have sex with them."

"Of course I did. I got into an argument with Ms. Usami when she got a mathematical proof wrong," she answered without shame. "Now stop talking about boring stuff! I wanna talk about who you're gonna screw first! I think Makoto said that girl you were with was a gymnast so she can be on the list too."

And so Ren once again managed to eventually get to sleep. But only after getting thoroughly swept up in Futaba's energy as she described in vivid detail how she wanted him to fuck their friends.

-(-)-

And as he blinked his eyes open once again, he should have known he'd end up here again. Though the here had in fact changed considerably in the past day.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, treasured customer," the man in blue offered as Ren found himself standing in an entranceway decorated in deep blue.

"Welcome!" several women echoed the greeting as they bowed, forming two columns flanking him.

Some of whom he recognised. "Lavenza?" he asked. She was clearly older for one. And, "Justine and Caroline? Wait, how is that possible?" Lavenza offered him a smile, Caroline a frown and an upturned nose, and the three women left him behind. Soon followed by the three from the other column. "Hey wait!"

"The master, ah, my apologies," the golden-eyed man bowed again, "The owner would like to meet with you in the VIP area if you would allow me to escort you."

At a guess that had to be Igor so, "Sure," Ren answered. He had quite a few questions.

It only took climbing the stairway to the VIP area, seeing over the balcony the layout of the newly redesigned Velvet Room, with booth tables only and lights dancing across the room, for Ren to realise what this place was. The pale, yellow-eyed man bowed as they approached Igor's table, taking his leave. "Ren Amamiya," Igor greeted, "Welcome to the Velvet Room."

"A hostess club," Ren stated flatly. "Better than a prison but... Really?"

Igor chuckled. "I believe the temporary master of this room once told you, this place represents the truth of your own heart. You felt yourself to be imprisoned, and so you were imprisoned here. And now you find yourself in the position where this most aptly represents your state of mind." The old man, if he even was a man, waved for Ren to take a seat as he poured a glass of something that might have been alcohol. Not that it would matter since all of this was in Ren's own head. "I believe your understanding of your situation has grown drastically since our last meeting, hm? You wasted no time."

"Waiting for things to play out last time meant letting them play out how Yaldabaoth wanted," Ren answered, sniffing at the drink placed in front of him. Didn't smell like alcohol. "I still don't understand how it all happened though. How did Xochiquetzal change the world like she did? Did she go back in time or something?" He waited for an answer, but Igor simply continued to smile enigmatically. "Oh, right. You... Don't really give straight answers, do you."

"Our guests seek truth and enlightenment for themselves," Igor chuckled. "Though since you are in the strange and unenviable position of being our guest twice... Time is a cognitive construct. A method for humanity to understand the world around them."

Ren felt he was in danger of entering a conversation better left to Futaba. But Futaba wasn't here. "So... If time is a cognitive construct, and Xochiquetzal is also a cognitive construct, she isn't constrained by time? Or, wait, wouldn't that mean she would be even more constrained by it? Or–"

Igor laughed, giggled to himself. "We shall leave you to draw your own conclusions beyond that, I'm afraid."

Ren supposed it wasn't that important. It happened and understanding the exact mechanics wouldn't help him undo it in the slightest. "She had a lot to say about someone else interfering. That was you?"

"It is the purpose of the Velvet Room and its attendants to allow humanity to determine its own fate." Once again, no real answer. "I believe there is someone you would like to see." Igor waved his hand in a beckoning motion.

From over the back of the booth seat sprang a black furred creature with a white muzzle. "Morgana?!" Ren asked, delighted to see his friend was alright. At least until a set of claws raked across his face. "Oww, what the hell?!"

"That's for what you did to Lady Ann, you cad!" the cat scolded the teenager. "You tore out her heart and stomped on it! A beautiful flower like her deserves a better man, like me!"

"You're a cat though." Claws slashed across his face the other way. "Yeow!" Ren hissed in pain, "Okay, I was asking for that one. I'm glad you're okay."

"Hmph!" the cat sat on the table, looking away. "... You too, I guess."

Igor leaned forward, drawing Ren's attention back to himself. "I would not wish to consume your limited time with us, my guest. And there is another who would dearly like to speak with you."

"Damn right I do!" Morgana yowled, "You made Lady Ann cry!"

Igor gestured toward the stairs and Ren took it for the dismissal it was. Morgana jumped on his shoulder, verbally tearing him a new one for his poor conduct and chivalry. "So why are you here?" Ren asked, not really interested in hearing someone tear him down for things he already felt guilty about. "Even in my new memories you were right there the night before."

"Hmph. This new one is prickly about us getting involved. Even more than any of the others were from what the attendants say. Apparently they're usually good sports since they expect to win no matter what. Not this time though." He gave the cat equivalent of a shrug, getting comfortable on Ren's shoulder. "As soon as this place stabilised I knew to come here for my own safety. Probably would've been missing for a whole other reason otherwise."

The claws digging into his shoulder were familiar. Ren gave his feline companion a scratch behind the ears, just to let the cat know he was glad that hadn't happened.

As Ren turned back towards the entrance, he was stopped by the male attendant he didn't know the name of. "Excuse me, sir. Your table is ready."

"My table?" Ren echoed.

"Oh," Morgana muttered. "Heh, guess when Igor said someone wanted to talk to you, he didn't mean me." The black cat leapt off of Ren's shoulder, gracefully landing on the edge of a partition wall. "Next time you're here I'll be around, okay?" With that, the cat leapt off to the other side of the wall and out of sight.

"This way, sir."

Ren followed him, having learned that just going with it was the best bet in the Velvet Room for the most part. The escort was kind of pointless since 'his' table was the closest to the entrance anyway but that was how these clubs worked in the real world so that was how this one worked.

Only as he sat down did he realise what it meant for his table to be ready. Once again he saw Lavenza, emerging from the back room with a faint blush to her cheeks. As she stepped up next to the table she curtseyed in her aquamarine dress. "My name is Lavenza. I will be your hostess for the evening. Please take care of me."

"R-Right, um, me too?" For all he knew how these places worked he wasn't sure of the etiquette. Well, a lot of guys didn't really show any etiquette in these places but Ren wanted to. Thankfully, the girl smiled, shuffling her way into the booth seat to sit beside him, close enough her side was pressed against his. "Lavenza, I don't understand. How are you- No, if you're still here, how are the twins here? And how are you older? And who were all of the others?"

"Hm, well I thought we would get to know each other first," the pale girl frowned, pulling out a tiny notebook and flipping through it, "I did not think you would skip ahead this far."

"I know you though," Ren reminded her, "And you know me. You were there for me from the start, remember? I'm just worried for you."

"You are worried?" she asked, looking to him with wide eyes. She looked down, then back up again, nodding to herself for coming to a resolution. "Then I must allay your fears." Her head turned to once again face him, one hand resting on his thigh. She glanced down and adjust the position of her hand slightly, nodding again in satisfaction, for some reason she felt the slight shift was meaningful. "When this form of the Velvet Room was forming, it was determined that more attendants were needed than usual for the purpose of..." she trailed off, blushing.

"For the purpose of...?"

"Th... That is not important," she deflected. "All will be revealed in time." And he felt like that was straight up stealing one of Igor's lines but she quickly moved on. "When it was determined that we were two short of our needed number, I volunteered to have my second self divested to become Caroline and Justine once again."

"Your second self?" Ren frowned.

"We attendants too have been changed from the rewriting of the world. Only the master was entirely immune."

Ren's frown eased a little, but his eyes still spoke of uncertainty. "As long as you're alright..."

"Oh yes! I am very well. I lack the knowledge of this new world, while Caroline and Justine lack that of the old world. But we are all perfectly well! As for your other question," she gestured at the man still standing at the podium near the entrance. The man bowed slightly on being pointed out. "His name is Theodore. It was determined he would serve best as the floor manager of the club. As for the others," she hesitated, "I believe it would be best for you to get to know them all in your own time."

"Alright, but... I'm still not sure why? I mean I remember this all worked fine with just you. Or even Caroline and Justine. I just don't understand why there are so many–"

"ALL WILL BE REVEALED IN TIME!" she shouted with a furious blush, wielding the sentence like a shield. "A-Ahem, all will, all will be revealed in time," she repeated more quietly, hands clasped in her lap.

"Sir," the man, Theodore kneeled before the table. "I'm afraid your time is up."

"I look forward to seeing you again," Lavenza said, still blushing, "I hope you choose me again in future."