"Futaba, you're so tight!"

The slim, ginger girl giggled at the familiar compliment. Her pale skin covered in a thin sweat, her glasses askew from how vigorously she was riding her boyfriend's cock. Her hands rested on his abdomen to support herself as she rolled her hips. Her giggle turned into a moan as she felt his manhood rub a particular spot inside her. "You keep saying that!"

"It's always true!" he defended, palms rubbing her hips and ass.

She bounced a little as she felt his hand quickly spank her once, "Ooh!" she giggled again, "There's an advantage to being petite!"

With a sudden surge, Ren rolled his girlfriend backwards, pinning her to the bed with her legs raised. "On top of being absolutely adorable," he told her as he started pumping his hips, fucking her into the bed eagerly as he leaned in for a kiss.

"Mmh," Futaba moaned as her doting boyfriend professed his love for her in a most physical way. She quickly adjusted her glasses that were in danger of falling off. She liked to wear them during sex even if they were awkward. She wanted to see him. See the desire and passion in his eyes, every instant of his feelings for her and the pleasure she gave him written in his expressions. He grabbed her hands as they came away from her glasses, laced his fingers through hers. "I love you, Ren," she spoke through heaving breaths as his cock delved into the deepest parts of her.

"I love you too," he answered, though he didn't need to. She could see it all, feel it all, but hearing it was nice. "I love you, Futaba!" he repeated, his thrusts quickening as he came close, kissing her again. Their lips were still locked together as his hips drove home one last time, spending his release inside her, his cockhead kissing her cervix to send the spurts of white cum where they were always destined to go. The liquid heat inside her was precious, soothing.

Futaba sighed happily, enjoying the afterglow as Ren's cock slipped from inside her, her boyfriend taking just another moment to rest beside her. They had a little time before they had to get ready for school. "So, who's first?"

"Who's first?" Ren asked, brain not quite returned to full capacity yet. Little surprise that his genius lover was already firing on all cylinders and already had thoughts to explore.

"Come on, don't tell me you're backing out again! Which girl! Which girl!" she demanded, squeezing him insistently as though if she did so hard enough the answers would pop out.

Oh, right, he realised. He hadn't really thought it through beyond agreeing last night. But there was an obvious answer. "Ann wants to talk to me today so... That only makes sense, right?"

"Right! That makes sense. Bring her home if you can. I mean if she's okay with it. I want to play with her huge boobs."

Ren couldn't help the bark of laughter at her words. "Really?"

"Come on! Look at what I'm working with here! I wanna know what boobs feel like and I'm sure not gonna find out on my own!" she complained as she groped her own flat chest.

"Hey, you've got a beauty all your own," Ren tried to reassure her, his hand sliding up and down her back.

"Yeah? Obviously?" Futaba gave him a flat look. "But I wanna feel hers!"

Ren honestly felt a little silly for thinking she was being down on herself. That wasn't it. After the destruction of her palace and her recovery she had an oddly iron-tough kind of self-esteem. After spending so long blaming herself for something that wasn't her fault all on other people's say so, she had taken to treating any negative sentiments directed her way as suspicious. Criticism was hard for her to accept without investigating it herself. It left her headstrong, self-assured and maybe a little arrogant at times but it was usually warranted. The only people she was truly willing to listen to on such matters were people she loved and trusted. Him, Sojiro, to a slightly lesser extent the rest of the thieves.

That she had gotten into an extended argument with a teacher on her first day of school said as much. He could easily imagine the scene. If the teacher was wrong she was wrong and Futaba wouldn't back down just to respect authority. Ren expected there were a lot of calls from the school for Sojiro in the near future.

Regardless, the idea that she would feel self-conscious about her body was just stupid. She had pushed this hard to have him expand his intimate relationships after all. If she was insecure about anything she wouldn't have pushed hard enough to get mad at him over it.

"Do you think we could get her to wear a cow outfit?"

"Maybe don't get too ahead of yourself."

"Mkay."

The two cleaned themselves up and headed downstairs. Ren made sure to let Sojiro know that he had found Morgana and told him not to worry about it.

As they waited for the train Ren had to pull Futaba back up as she tried to drop to her knees in front of him. "But I'm still hungry!" she whined, hoping it would entice him. They both knew it was a damn lie but a pretty girl hungry for him was more than a turn-on for him.

"The train'll be here in less than a minute and there's no way we'll be done by then." He didn't care how much she pouted.

Though it spoke volumes about how much his perspective had changed over a single night that getting to school on time was his only objection. Not the only one that would work on Futaba, the only one that mattered to him.

-(-)-

Class with Ann was awkward. There was no way it wouldn't be. But they had agreed to talk after school. When they would have time. It was going to be another long day, because the lunch break had an entirely different important meeting.

It was only three instead of four, naturally. Akechi went to a different school so was unable to attend in person. It only occurred to Ren at the meeting that his old rival should have graduated already but, like Makoto, was once again a third year. However, he was able to attend by voice at least, Ren's phone sitting between the three with the teenager detective on speaker.

"So what Xochiquetzal was talking about regarding interference," Naoto mused, "She was referring to your mysterious benefactors? I would be concerned that you claim they only exist inside your mind but given the circumstances..."

"I didn't say only," Ren corrected, "But they're at least temporary residents." His expression shifted to a confused frown. "Or I'm a temporary resident. It's difficult to wrap my head around. But the point is they did what they could and a little more on top, so now they've been pushed away from this round of the 'game'. That I can even talk about them is evidence enough. Before whenever I brought them up I'd get blown off by people suddenly changing the subject."

"With this information I can't help but think you cheated in our confrontation, Amamiya," Akechi's voice came through the phone. "Getting outside assistance."

"Says the guy who had the backing of Diet members," Ren shot back. "Besides, knowing what you know now you'd rather have won?"

"... Touché."

"So they helped but they can't do it again?" Sumire asked.

"No more than they did previously once the game began. They'll help me make the most of my persona abilities, but that's about it."

"Unfortunate," Naoto lamented, "But it seems we are on our own, for now. So for the sake of resolving that," she pulled a folder out of her bag and handed it to Ren, "These are all of the past persona users that I could recognise. I admit I didn't know all of them personally so there may be more. I have also rated them in terms of priority based on what I know of them and their abilities, mundane and not. I also took the liberty of sending Akechi a copy."

"Indeed. Fascinating reading."

"I organised them based on the generation of persona user they came from. As such, your compatriots are toward the back, but you know them all already. And certainly better than I how beneficial they would be."

Ren flicked through the file. The first section marked in blue had a couple of names he recognised. Mitsuru Kirijo, heiress of the Kirijo Group in both worlds, though the company had a much less troubled history in this one. Yukari Takeba? "Featherman Pink was a persona user?"

"Indeed," Naoto nodded. "She continued to operate as one alongside her acting career."

"Huh. Kirijo is high priority?"

"Due to her position she has access to resources that would undoubtedly be beneficial to us. She also has excellent planning and organisational skills."

He kept flipping through the pages. A few names he didn't recognise at all. Junpei Iori, low priority. Akihiko Sanada, medium priority. "Fuuka Yamagishi?" he asked, questioning why she was high priority.

"Incomparable support abilities," Naoto explained, "To my knowledge no other persona user is as capable a navigator as she is." And that was the end of the blue file, presumably the end of Naoto's knowledge on that group as there were several plastic sleeves left empty between it and the yellow. "The next is the group I was a part of and as such has the most complete information."

"I recognise him," Ren noted as he saw a picture of a boy with grey hair in a bowl cut. "And him," another boy with brown feathered hair.

"They are all students here," Naoto noted, confused as to why he would single those two out.

"Oh, right. Sorry, when I first saw them they... Made an impression." Seeing the two of them walking through the train station holding hands was one of many eye-opening moments of that day, though admittedly a minor one.

"Oh?" Naoto uttered, confused for a moment until her regained memories explained it for her. "Ah, yes. I understand. They had to be discrete about things in the old world. Not so in this one, it seems."

"Oh!" Sumire exclaimed blushing. "That... They'll be really hard to convince, won't they?"

Naoto looked away. "I would like to believe they would understand the severity of the situation. But..."

That was unfortunate. Yu Narukami could wield multiple personas much like Ren could. That ability allowed Ren to be a force on his own. To have another like him would be an invaluable benefit as noted by his high priority rating.

"Well, we could always not tell them."

The suggestion has a mild chilling effect on the discussion. "No," Naoto gave her firm refusal. "If any attempt is made to deceive them I will cease cooperating with you. Attempting to hide the truth from any of my friends is something I will not tolerate."

"Is now really the time to be sentimental, Shirogane?" Akechi asked impatiently. "We are facing a god. If we wish to succeed, surely foregoing one's principles is a small price to pay."

"No, she's right," Ren agreed with Naoto, "This game," It hurt him that it was becoming easier to call it that, "It's about humanity making a choice. Trying to deceive them... How do you think Xochiquetzal would respond to that? How would you respond to that?"

There was silence from the other end of the call for a good few seconds. "You raise a fair point. Were I in her position I would use that deception to maximum effect, revealing it at the worst possible moment to deny us allies, or even worse turn them to enemies. Well put. I withdraw my suggestion."

Naoto gave Ren a look, one of suspicion and dissatisfaction that Akechi had only relented on practical grounds. Ren responded with a helpless shrug. He knew Akechi. The young man was practical-minded more than anything else. Sentiment and principles were a lesser concern for him if they were a concern at all. There wasn't much point appealing to his better nature. If it existed, it was buried under an avalanche of coping mechanisms.

"Kanji Tatsumi," Ren read with a frown, "He's low priority but it has a star next to it. What does that mean?"

The newly teenage detective across from him blushed. "That... He is of personal priority for me, though I cannot in good conscience portray him as such when in purely practical terms it isn't true. I would like to restore him when possible, but I can give you no better reason than as a favour to me." An exaggerated sigh through the phone that drew a glare from her.

"We'll be getting as many as we can," Ren assured her. "We'll consider him medium priority."

"I can't reasonably ask for more than that," Naoto acknowledged with a grateful nod. "Thank you."

Ren returned to the files. Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi, both low priority. Rise Kujikawa. Risette. High priority. It didn't take much to guess why given the reasons so far. She must have been the navigator for Naoto's group. But the second to last file for the group was... Strange. "Err, what is this one?" he felt compelled to ask. Name of only 'Teddie', no photo, just a sketch of a strange mascot-looking thing.

"Teddie was our first navigator before Rise awakened to her own power," Naoto explained readily. "Given his nature he could only be a high priority."

"A shadow?" Ren asked, baffled by the concept. "A living shadow?"

Naoto grimaced. "I admit, I have no idea how we would track him down given the circumstances. However, should we find a method of doing so, he would be invaluable for his insight into the other world."

"A sapient shadow. One with a mind of its own, completely divorced from the psyche that spawned it," the voice on the phone mused. "I can't imagine how such a thing came to be in the old world but would it even be possible in this world?"

"We had only theories. Of all of us, we saw all but Yu's shadow so it would be plausible for it to be his. His persona Izanagi was given to him by Izanami after all. In truth, with it being a largely unsolvable mystery and one Teddie did not especially want solved, we gave up." Naoto grasped her chin as she considered that theory again. "If he was Yu's shadow... I believe he must still exist in this world, but as his original self. As an ordinary shadow."

"But if that's the case, what would restoring either of them do to the other?" Sumire asked.

Naoto sighed helplessly. "Concerns based on conjecture are dangerous. It remains a possibility that the theory was wrong. But I can't ignore the worry that such a concern is warranted."

Ren decided to bring things back into focus before they got even more distracted by theorising. "It doesn't matter. Until we have any sign of Teddie, or decide to pursue restoring Yu we have other things to focus on." He flipped to the next page and, "Nope." He looked up from the file at a confused Naoto, pulling the page out of the file.

"I'm not sure I follow," Naoto frowned at the page Ren had handed to her. "While much like Teddie I can't confirm her status I believe Marie would be invaluable. One goddess facing another."

"So her name is Marie, good to know," Ren filed that information away, "But much like Morgana she's been removed from the field. She's in the Velvet Room."

"I see," the detective spoke with sorrow tinged with relief. "Well, at the least I can be glad that she's safe. Could you tell her so for me? I'm sure everyone will say the same once we restore them."

"I will."

"It seems we have run out of past candidates. Time to look through your own compatriots, wouldn't you say, Amamiya?"

"Why do you sound so amused?" Ren asked with furrowed brows, even if Akechi couldn't see it. He flipped through the pages and it seemed all correct. Naoto had simply set all of them as medium priority for not knowing their capabilities but... Oh. On double-checking he pulled out yet another page to hand to Naoto. "He wasn't a persona user."

Naoto blinked as she looked at the information on Mishima that she had collated. "Oh. My apologies. He merely fit the pattern well enough that I assumed–"

"Don't be shy, Amamiya!" Akechi prodded, not quite laughing but certainly having fun at his rival's expense. "You don't want to acknowledge your dear compatriot Yuuki Mishima? But you went on such daring escapades together! I bet you trust him with your very life!"

"Okay, there's no need to be mean," Sumire chided the absent participant.

Ren did his best not to remember the only 'daring escapade' he had gone on with Mishima. He wasn't particularly happy that he knew what the guy's junk looked like thanks to his second life. "But yeah, he's not a persona user. As for the rest, Futaba and Haru are high priority for the same reasons as Risette and Kirijo, respectively."

"As a word of warning I believe Rise would prefer to be addressed as such, not by her stage name," Naoto gently corrected. "Futaba Sakura was your navigator?"

"She was... I think she should be who we try to restore first."

"Certainly no bias there."

"It's not bias," It was partially bias, but only a very small part. "It's the practical choice. We could more than use a navigator. Without one we're working half-blind. And of the three available she's the only one we have a personal connection to, at least one she remembers," he added for Naoto's sake. "Rise knew Naoto once but doesn't know her now. Futaba trusts me implicitly and she still remembers people messing with the metaverse. She'll barely even need convincing."

"Yes yes, the girl who happens to be your lover is the most ideal choice, I understand."

It took a great deal of restraint for Ren to not simply hang up the call. "If anyone has a reason it should be someone else let's hear it."

Sumire looked to Naoto, not having a worthwhile reason herself, nor a particular stake in the debate. The only person who truly mattered to her in this respect was already here. "The reasoning is valid," Naoto granted. "Okumura would also fit most of those parameters. The only question would be whether it were more valuable to have a navigator or greater resources. As it happens, I agree. A navigator should be our highest priority."

"Great!" Sumirie spoke before Akechi could offer another snide comment to purposefully irritate Ren. "So now that we know who we're targeting... How do we do it? How will we find her original mind or soul or whatever it might be?"

"I have a theory." The first bell for returning to classes rang as Ren was speaking. "But it'll have to wait. Is everyone available to meet up tomorrow after school?"

"Not today?" Sumire asked.

"There's somewhere else I have to be today."

-(-)-

The leader of the phantom thieves old and new tried his best to hide his nerves, his indecision. There were two selves inside him and they were fighting a war as he sat in his favourite booth at the Shibuya diner, his former lover and trusted friend Ann sat opposite him. She was fidgeting. Nervous. Toying with a lock of wavy blonde hair as if begging him to notice it. That she had worn it down like he liked. As if he could somehow not notice. For being casual, for day-to-day, she would wear it in the twintails she was so used to. But she had learned the charms of a woman, the kind of look that could steal a man's breath at a moment's notice. Ren had noticed. Her modelling agent had noticed. Photographers had noticed. She had started getting more and more acclaim in recent months, to the point juggling work and school was becoming an issue.

The modelling industry was learning what Ren had learned eight months ago from their first time together. That Ann Takamaki was a singular woman who could shine like diamonds with just her smile. And even with all that admiration, here she was sitting across from him waiting for him to say something, anything.

And inside him, the war raged on.

When he was in front of Futaba, when she was right there nearly in tears for wanting him to be with other girls it had been easy. Both selves ached at seeing her hurting, his emotions writhed at being the cause of it. In that moment it had been absurdly easy for his old self to cave, to do things in the way this love-devoted world pressed him to. He just wanted to make Futaba happy. And having received that message from Ann, remembered the heartbreak he put her through, imagined the desperate hope that shone through her words, he wanted to make Ann happy too.

His old self would say that was selfish. His new self would ask why. His old self would call it vain, wanting more women to himself, that he could never truly love them both. But there was no response needed to that. It was a lie. Ren could feel the love he had for both girls. How much was the idea of dedicating himself to one woman a cultural one and how much was a genuine requirement of a 'real' relationship? It was impossible to argue the latter with all of the evidence near literally everywhere he looked. His old self gave up that argument. It was a lost cause. Both sets of experiences told him he wanted this no matter how much he would try to deny it. Even in his first life he had occasionally wondered what it would have been like if he had responded to Ann's not quite flirting. A might have been that suddenly was.

Even if the emotional argument failed though, what about the practical one? He might have wanted this. Futaba wanted this. Ann wanted this. But that was in this moment. What about when he restored their old selves? Would they be so accepting then? Would they come to the same conclusions he had?

"C-Could you say something?" Ann finally asked, his extended silence demanding she say something if he wouldn't.

Or would they see it as him taking advantage of the situation? He didn't know.

But he would find out.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, hands clasped as they rested on the table, his shoulders hunched, as unconfident as when he first came to Tokyo. "I know I hurt you. Bad. And even knowing that I can't lie to you and say I would do anything different."

"I know!" The words come out harshly, like a reprimand. Ann shuddered slightly as she forced the strong emotions back. "I know that," she continued in a more measured tone. "I know you love Futaba a lot. If we were like, fifty years ago or so, she'd probably be your one and only, right?" Her words became breathier. "But it doesn't have to be like that, right?" Her eyes were pleading. She knew this was the last chance, her last chance to be with him again. "I'll be happy if I can have a place in your heart. That's all I need."

He reached out a hand across the table towards her. With a growing smile, she offered her own. He took it, raised it to his lips and kissed the knuckle. "You already do. You never left it."

It was a reckless choice. He treasured her friendship. He didn't want to be the one to cause her even more hurt when her old self was restored. They would promise to take things slow. To not rush back to how they were before Futaba. It would have been the right choice for their relationship, but it was also the choice that let him stall for time. Futaba. He needed to restore her. Getting her informed perspective was crucial. It was the only way he could have any kind of assurance that he was doing the right thing.

Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough.

-(-)-

A/N: Okay. So. I'm aware enough at this point, been around the block enough times to know this one might ruffle some feathers. So let's just get this out of the way.

Yes. Yu and Yosuke were and are in a homosexual relationship in this story. Yes, that directly goes against canon (at least for the released game. Half-finished and cut content doesn't count). Those of you who have seen me around or read my other stories you might know already my policy is internal consistency is king. That means so long as the author doesn't contradict themselves, anything is fair game.

So here's my reasoning. I wanted to have many perspectives on this new world and its comparison to the old one. Naoto and Kanji's relationship in the old world will be pretty important to those characters' paths in this story. So I looked at an alternative. Yosuke... I'm gonna be real, he does come off as the protesting too much brand of being in the closet in canon. As for Yu, he's bi here.

Now, if you have a problem with this, that's fair. I can see that coming and am somewhat braced for it. That said, if you wish to express that dissatisfaction please do so respectfully and ideally give reason for your thoughts. Though if those reasons are related to deviating from canon there's not really much discussion to be had there.