May 8th, 20XX
Ren woke up the next day in the Velvet Room, sprawled across a plush couch. The ceiling was high, and there was a peaceful air about. The usual casino-and-bar decorations were nowhere to be seen. He glanced over at Lavenza, who was sitting there with a clipboard and was wearing his glasses. She was wearing a white lab coat with a turtleneck the usual shade of blue, silver glasses over her eyes.
Guess she bought more than I thought.
She crossed her legs and peered over her notes, looking into his eyes.
"Good morning, Trickster. Thank you for coming today."
He gave her a sort of look, and said, eloquently, "Uh… You're welcome?"
She nodded, looking completely out of character. "Let's get started. Please relax, and tell me anything comes to mind." She held out a hand and gestured for him to lay back on the couch.
He did, albeit still confused, and clasped his hands over his chest. "Well I- We- changed the hearts of everyone at Shujin."
"Very good. And how did that make you feel?" She exuded an odd intensity.
Ren suddenly remembered seeing this joke play out in every show, like, ever, and snorted. "Accomplished."
"Why do you feel that way?"
He thought back to his pseudo-philosophical monologue and cringed a little. "Because I helped people, I suppose. There won't be as many issues at school now, and maybe I can relax and be done with—" Yusuke's collapsed form suddenly popped into his head. "Wait, no. But I'll still have less problems with other students."
"Would you say that you get pleasure from doing good, Trickster?" She scribbled something down on her notepad.
He 'hmm'ed to himself, before answering. "I like being able to help people."
"Why do you want to help people?"
He stopped to think, and scratched his cheek. "Because… Well, because I can." He laughed quietly to himself.
"Is doing good your goal in life?"
"That's… A bit of a hard question, Lavenza. I mean, I'm in high school. I'm supposed to figure that out over the next few years, right?"
She gave a non-committing nod, before continuing. "Would you like to continue doing good?"
"What is good?"
"You said it yourself, to help people is to be good."
"I… Well, I did say that. Hmph."
"Would you like to continue helping people, then?"
He looked up at the ceiling, before weakly nodding. His neck was in a bit of an awkward position.
Lavenza had stood up, and walked next to him. He looked at her in the corner of his eye. "Would you like to help me then, Trickster?"
Walked right into that one.
"Well… I'm still a bit tired, and I'd like to just rest today." He said, with half-lidded eyes.
"Completely understandable," she nodded. "May I assist you?"
He didn't completely understand the question, but shrugged in a way that said, "Eh, why not."
"But there must be a more comfortable place for rest, surely?"
"I'm not picky."
She sighed, before picking him up and flipping him over her shoulder.
"Hey!" His face turned a deep shade of red. She started walking off, carrying him with a tight grip on his back.
"Your health is of the utmost concern, Trickster. It wouldn't do for you to foolishly disregard it for the sake of ease."
"Well, yeah, but—you don't have to carry me!"
"I believe I do. If you are tired, walking around will only increase your fatigue."
I really walked right into this one. Damn.
She carried him out of the room and into the casino part of the Velvet Room. Not that he could really tell from his current view. Though he was almost certain Minatos was laughing his ass off. Igor too, if he was there.
"I didn't know there were different parts of this place."
"The Velvet Room is a representation of your psyche. Your recent attempts to discern your meaning resulted in the new section becoming necessary."
"Is that why you decided to cosplay as Sigmund Freud?"
She stopped, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"I mean—everyone has seen that set-up before, the couch, the notepad, the doctor's outfit!"
"I simply thought it was necessary for your growth. I do not believe that it was told to me by any other."
"The collective unconscious is a bitch, Fool."
"Shut up, Minatos."
"Aw, come on? After all the help I gave you?"
"I think what you gave me was a headache."
She put him down outside the Velvet Room, in the midst of the sympathetic looks he was getting from some passerby. He didn't quite get what it was, but they probably just thought he pissed her off somehow.
"I insist that you follow me, to minimize your fatigue." She turned to him and clasped his hand in her own.
"I'm really fine, even if I'm a little bit tired—"
"Your health is not a matter of ease, Trickster." Her voice dropped to a low tone as she turned away. "...Not to me."
"Huh? What was that?"
"Nothing of importance. Let us commence on our journey."
She dragged him through the central street of Shibuya before he actually thought to ask if she knew where they were going.
"I read about it in that travel pamphlet you gifted to me."
"Gifted?" Eh, strange way to put it, but no great harm in it.
"Just this way, Trickster. I believe I know of what you seek." Looks like they had switched who was playing tour guide.
Ren didn't think this was how he was going to celebrate the utter decimation of Cognitive Shujin. Imagined a meeting with everyone else, perhaps a wrap-up party of sorts with curry and coffee and blackjack and booze, even though Makoto would definitely get on his case about the latter two.
But hanging out with the attractive and nice lady who'd been bending over backwards as of late to help him out of his brooding and angst was more than acceptable.
If a little scary.
"Lavenza… You know this is a red-light district, right?" Ren looked around at the prefecture's neon skyline, as it was rapidly becoming more and more familiar to him. He'd been there before when Ann invited him to a shoot.
She nodded and flicked through the pamphlet again. "It says here that there are many spots to 'relax with those close to you', and it has a little heart next to it. Can you tell me what this means, Trickster?" She held it in front of his face, so he could get a better look. He ignored the skimpy swimsuit model on the next page and read over it.
'Come to Shinjuku, home to the be-e-est hotels in Tokyo! Sleep a few nights in one of our premi-e-er hotels, and spend some time with your spe-e-ecial someone.'
Why did you assign an accent in your head?
Don't ask me, I'm you.
"Well, er, it does say that, but- I think you missed the point."
She perked up a little, curious. "How so?"
"See, I can't tell you without having to explain... Uh, the birds and the bees, and that's not even a conversation I've (officially) had before."
It's amazing what one can learn through unsupervised internet access.
"The… What do birds and bees have to do with hotels?" She asked, confused.
"Let's just… Go somewhere else."
The implication that she would have slept in a hotel with him, that kind or otherwise, was completely lost on him.
Because he was actually conscious of his surroundings this time around, he managed to show Lavenza some parts of Yongen-Jaya. She ran up to the second-hand shop nearly immediately after they left the station. The old man, a Hierophant, was pleasantly surprised, and was happy to let her look around. It seemed like she'd forgotten her reasoning for dragging him around.
Ren leaned against the wall as she fiddled with an old Rubix cube while kneeling on the faded rug.
"Interesting girl you got there, kid." The old man padded over with a cane, grinning below his glasses.
He shook his head, still in denial. "Come on, it's not like that."
"Better get your act together," the old man hooted. "You're lucky enough that a scrawny kid like you got a date in the first place."
Ren hung his head, chuckling, "Don't I know it."
"Oh, Trickster!" She hopped up, quickly straightening her dress, before holding out the now-solved cube. "Did I do it correctly?"
The old man whistled, scratching his gray goatee. "Smart too."
"Don't get any ideas of your own." He patted the old man's shoulder before standing upright, and turning towards Lavenza. He held out a thumbs up.
She smiled, handed him the cube, and moved to keep looking around.
"Like a kid in a toy-store." He eyed the toy, before handing it over to the shopkeeper, so he could ring it up.
She wasn't too interested in the books, but she did flick through a few. From past experience, he really should have been more scared of that possibility.
Eh, what's the worst that could happen.
He showed her along the side-street, wisely trying to keep her focus off the bath-house and on Leblanc.
"Yeah, so Boss serves coffee here, and-" He cut himself off, seeing all the people inside.
Boss, Makoto, Ryuji, why's Yusuke here, oh, there's Morgana, Ann, Shi- Ho, fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck fuck.
"First off." Boss stopped grinding beans and pierced through to his soul with one of the angriest glares he'd ever seen. "You did not come home last night. So I thought, hey, kid can take care of himself, it's Saturday, he'll get some sleep later. But then, you weren't here this morning. Now, I don't care what you do with your spare time, or who you spend it with. BUT!" He pointed a finger straight at the group of students. "Your friends have been here all day, waiting for you to study, and it's noon."
"..."
"Excuse me, Sakura-san, allow me a moment?" Makoto stood up stiffly, an eerie grin on her face. Not like the ones in Mementos, it was infinitely more terrifying.
"Knock yourself out." He seemed satisfied with letting Makoto deal out the punishment.
She walked up to him, making him flinch back, involuntarily.
"Where. Were. You?"
That's literally a question I can't answer without outing myself as a Persona-user, and there aren't any other alternatives.
He gulped and gave the fourth-worst answer, right behind that, 'Lavenza's house', and love hotel. "Honestly, I don't know either."
"You. Don't. Know?"
Ryuji felt a pang of sympathy, but kept his gaze low to keep her attention off him. He grabbed Morgana's scruff tighter and kept him from jumping over the seats and complicating things further.
"I think I fell asleep after school, you know, Mishima needed something and the photography club dragged me around…" He awkwardly laughed, trying to ignore the tension. "I was pretty wiped out yesterday, so I just… You know?"
She didn't seem quite satisfied by the answer, but it looked like she understood it was the best one he could give with Boss around. Regardless, she grabbed his hair and yanked his ear right next to his mouth.
She whispered quickly, "If I ever find out that you've been doing things, or going places that a student has no business doing or going to, I am going to shove my foot, so far up your-"
"Hey, hey, I got it!" He jumped back, shooting his arms into the air to placate her.
"And care to explain why Lavenza-chan is with you? And why it took you until noon to get back from school?"
"Uh… Another mental shutdown messed up the train schedule?"
Sojiro flicked on the TV, and switched to the closest news channel. There had been another one.
But it was on a bus.
Ren settled to let himself take whatever punishment was going to be doled out to him, and switched to a Persona with physical resistance. He could have tried for one of his Priestess or Hierophant, but he couldn't use both.
Ann and Shiho sat back, constantly glancing at each other to make sure they were seeing what they were seeing. Seriously, when had he become such good friends with the student council?
"Okay listen, it's a long story, involving multiple gangsters, getting held up in an alley, getting lost in the backstreets in Shibuya, and missing a few trains."
That… Actually seemed to convince them. Makoto crossed her arms, but considering it had happened before, was inclined to believe him.
Boss remained skeptical, scoffing. "Am I really supposed to believe you got in a street fight again? You're not even injured."
"I wasn't last time, right?"
"You're teetering on breaking your probation, punk. You think that you'd get to stay here after getting in fights over and over?"
"..."
"Excuse me, sir," Lavenza walked in front of him, shielding him with her shoulder. "My Trickster doesn't fight, it was completely my doing."
"Trickster? The hell?"
"I am completely at fault, I apologize." She bowed, clasping her hands at her waist. Her voice dropped to an inaudible whisper. "He doesn't fight, he simply beats you to death."
"..." Boss shook his head, looking off to the side. His face tightened, "Damn it, fine!" He suddenly slammed a hand on the bar, issuing a loud 'bang' in the cafe. "We're talking about this later, got that?" He stalked past Ren and towards the door. "Lock up after your friends leave. You better not fail your midterms, or you're done!" He left, leaving the cafe in silence.
"..."
"...Guess we gotta study…" Ryuji started scratching at his notebook, breaking the silence.
Ann laughed, clutching her stomach. "Oh my god! That was-"
"Ann…" Shiho warned, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Makoto turned towards Lavenza. "You're still serious about transferring into Shujin, aren't you?"
"Yes, Johanna." Ann and Shiho looked up, staring weirdly at Lavenza.
"...What's with the names?"
Ren chose then to jump back in, "See, Lavenza's foreign, y'know? Her Japanese is still a little off, so she uses English names."
"That makes sense, I guess." Ann looked back to her paper and scratched her head with a mechanical pencil.
He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, as he pulled up two stools to the table.
Him and Ryuji were the odd men out, as they didn't know much English in the first place. Ann and Shiho apparently had conversations in the language in their spare time and Makoto was too diligent to not know.
Lavenza turned out to actually speak a variety of languages.
"So, you can speak English, Japanese, Mandarin, French, and Latin?"
"Among many others." She nodded, not seeming to know it was impressive.
"Isn't Latin a dead language?" Ren looked up from his study sheet.
"Is it? I wasn't aware. Of course, I'm not aware of who taught it to me either." Everyone did a slight double take.
"...Sure," Makoto sighed, getting used to the weirdness factor of Ren and his… Attendant, was the word she'd previously used.
Lavenza wasn't the best at math, but she was certainly better than Ren. She seemed to have a predisposition towards statistics, likely a side effect of the common state of the Velvet Room. Not much knowledge of sciences either.
She had basic details of history down, but nothing too specific. She knew some from every countries' history, causing Makoto to go down a rabbit hole about an African earth deity, called Bathala. Guess she would have a fair amount of knowledge on mythologies as well.
So as it turned out, she was the one who ended up tutoring them, (mostly Ren and Ryuji), letting Makoto elaborate when necessary.
"Wait, Yusuke, why are you here?" Ren noticed the quiet boy was sketching something instead of studying.
"I was invited." His pencil didn't stop scratching on the page. Ren leaned over his shoulder and yanked the paper out of his hands.
"You can't draw people without asking!" He could understand why Ann would be an attractive model, that literally being her job, but come on!
"I was simply struck by the muse." He turned to Ann, who had a blank look on her face. Shiho was outright glaring at the blue-haired boy. "I apologize, I am Yusuke Kitagawa, Kosei academy year two, and the student of the master artist, Ma-"
"Oh, you're an artist!" She slapped her forehead lightly, and laughed. "I get it. Still, I would've appreciated it if you asked."
"I'm… Very sorry." Yusuke bowed his head.
"Ah, don't worry about it."
"Though… Would you mind modeling for an art piece?"
"Really? Well, I guess." Ann leaned back and tapped her chin with a pencil. "After midterms though."
"Are you sure? Thank you," he said, with a surprised look.
"Hey, we're all friends here, right? Any friend of Ren is a friend of mine!" She made a thumbs up, as everyone glanced at Ren.
He awkwardly sat there during the ensuing silence, shying away from the attention..
"So… Where exactly were you earlier?" Ann asked playfully. "You told your old man you were at school, but I don't think he bought it."
"Boss isn't my dad, come on."
"Could've fooled me," she shrugged, slyly looking at Lavenza, who was just sitting there, watching the group interact. "What were you doing with Ren?"
"I was taking care of him," she said, matter-of-factly.
Thank god I didn't let her explain things to Boss.
He felt a hand grab his collar from behind and twist it slightly.
"How so?" Ah, looks like Makoto is really playing the older sister well. Or would that be the 'team mom'?
"It is my duty to make sure all of his needs are fulfilled."
The collar tightened.
"His- His needs?" Shiho cut in, acting in place of Ann, who was clutching her sides and cackling silently.
"Of course, I don't believe I should speak of them with present company."
"She means Personae, she means- AH! Fuck, Makoto, I can't breathe!" He whispered out, his collar nearly collapsing his windpipe.
"...I think that as long as you all study until testing begins, we can end this here for today." She let go of his collar, letting him nearly collapse for some oxygen, and stood up.
"Yeah, I think we should be going too…" Ann and Shiho got up, letting Ryuji out of his cramped corner. Yusuke sensed that he should be going, and got up as well.
That left only three of them in the cafe.
"Lavenza-chan, would you mind leaving us be for a moment?"
"He seems to be in danger, however I will oblige." She bowed and walked up into his room. Not that Makoto noticed, with her back turned.
"So. You're not doing anything immoral, are you?"
"I'll be honest, I just woke up in the Velvet Room."
"..."
"..."
"...Oh my god! Why didn't I think of that!" She clutched at her face while she cried out in embarrassment.
"Well, I couldn't say it in front of the others."
"Ugh. Fine, just keep it PG whenever you're doing… Whatever you two do. I remember the hot springs, so I know you've taken her outside the room."
"No, I haven't at all, actually."
"What?"
It appeared that both of them were operating under different meanings of 'taken'.
He's a teenage boy, can you blame him?
"...Regardless, I should be able to trust you, even if you are on probation, isn't that right?"
"I'll do my best."
I am thou
Thou art I
Thou hast acquired a new vow. It shall become the wings of rebellion that breakth thy chains of mortality.
With the bond of the High Priestess Arcana, Thou will obtain the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.
That one was a bit late, wasn't it? Must be a thing with the wording.
"Is it okay if I do stuff like that if I'm outside my school uniform?"
"What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing."
"Oh, Lavenza-chan, before I forget."
The attendant poked her head downstairs. "Yes?"
"You can start attending classes if you bring in that paperwork before Wednesday."
"Alright, thank you, Johanna."
"We're not doing that stuff right now, you can just call me Makoto."
"Oh, but I couldn't! It would be quite improper for me to be so informal."
"If you're going to go to school, you will need to loosen up a little." She stopped, thinking for a moment. "That does sound strange for me to say, doesn't it?"
"Yep."
"Ha. Well, goodbye for now." Makoto swiftly left the two of them.
"..." Ren sat down at the counter to think about how he was going to play this.
"You want me to take on another boarder? And a girl, no less? Are you stupid, or just plain crazy?" Boss stared at them while he crossed his legs at the bar. They'd placed the paperwork in between them on the table, already filled out to the best of their ability. Lavenza said she would handle whatever they left blank, whatever that meant.
"I can use the couch and some blankets," he offered.
"If it's a matter of funds, I can provide compensation, sir."
Ren gave her an odd look out of the corner of his eye, but continued, "She's transferring into Shujin and needs a mailing address, but her folks are overseas and don't have a home around here." That wasn't even a lie, he just didn't mention it was the Sea of Souls in particular.
"This is completely ridiculous. I can't allow two teenagers to sleep in the same room unsupervised."
"I'll buy drywall and wood glue." He'd find a way. Considering that he could take some stress out on the shadows in Mementos anytime and get paid for it, he'd be just fine. "Hell, I'll buy a door and a lock."
"This is completely- Your eagerness gives me more reason to not trust you, can't you tell?"
"I'm just trying to help out my friend, Boss. Do you have space in your house?"
The man started glaring. "That's none of your-"
"I know, I know, that's why I suggested here first. Really, if you're that concerned about it, install a sound recorder or something."
"You watch your mouth. You don't get to make demands of me."
"I'm just saying-"
"Excuse me, if I may?" The two men turned towards Lavenza. "I can take care of myself, but I would be ever so grateful for your grace. I really would like to learn what school is like, so please, allow me to stay here?" She bowed, causing Boss to look away.
"Damn kids… Fine, fine. I better not hear anything strange from the store's cameras until you're done setting up the separate arrangements, got it?"
"Yes Boss, thank you." He bowed his head, letting the older man pass judgement.
...
"You know, he didn't say anything about after."
Shut up, Minatos.
Ren stared up at the ceiling as he lay on the couch with a loose blanket. He could get some shopping done before midterms started, if Makoto didn't bug him too much about studying.
The sounds of Lavenza's soft breathing traveled from his old bed, the sheets long since changed. They'd mutually agreed to face away from each other while changing into their nightclothes, because there were cameras downstairs, and y'know…
He could only barely make out the wooden beams, from the little midnight lights that leaked through the window.
"...Lavenza… Are you awake?" He whispered.
"..."
"..."
"...I am, yes… Do you need something?" She whispered back, the sounds fading into the worn wooden paneling.
"I was just wondering… Can you call me something else when we're at school?" He felt a bit ridiculous asking, but he was a bit too far past the impossible to quit while he was ahead.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… Just say my name... Calling me 'Trickster' all the time could cause some problems…"
"I believe I've told you before; I cannot be so informal with your title…"
"You should. It's a school, not everyone is uptight all the time, y'know?"
"...I see. Thank you, Trick-"
"Come on, you can say it." He laughed a little, as she sputtered.
"Re- Ama- Oh! I've read that first names are only used with affection, are they not?"
"Sometimes, I guess… It's really fine though, most of my other friends call me Ren." Whether it gets them in trouble or not.
"Are you certain?"
"Yeah, totally."
"Ve- Very well!" She quickly said, only a few tones above the whisper. "Goodnight, Re- Ren."
"Goodnight, Lavenza."
Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personae of the Strength Arcana.
...
Tomorrow was judgement day, the day they would see if all of their efforts in the cognitive world would pay off.
He turned over again and tried to go back to sleep.
AN:
God damn, the tension in that cafe was tough as a brick, I was caught in a slump trying to get rid of it after. Guess that means I need to work on tone, I dunno.
Thank you to NoRoleModelz for beta'ing this chapter, he always does a great job, and his works are honestly some of the most interesting bits of fanfic I've seen, even if he doesn't finish them (as he has said himself).
I have gone back and added a quick summary of 3FES by SamJaz to the prologue for posterity's sake and so that people don't have to read a seven-year-old series of fics. Also so that more people can read my blatant wish fufillment- I mean huh, what? Crossposting on AO3 has begun as well.
Review, you know the drill.