So! Back again with another chapter!

A bit filler-y, but hey, we need one of those, right?

Also don't worry about me spewing out oneshots after another... I'm 12 chapters ahead as of the moment I posted this, so you guys have guaranteed 3 months of content lmao.

Also, to Ray2o-san, I'm glad I make you spit water XD I hope the laptop is still okay...?

Then, onwards!


Chapter Seven: Calm and Chaos

March 19th, 11.50 pm

Deafening silence fills the air between them.

Ryoji doesn't say anything and Makoto doesn't know what to say.

He just… he wants to talk normally again. But the guilt that weighs heavily in his chest and the uneasiness still linger. His throat feels dry.

He can't say anything. Not after all that has happened.

He just sits in his corner of the room, the Evoker in his hand. The steel is cold, the object heavy. His gray eyes just stare at it, his fingers tracing its outlines. He ignores the throbbing in his head, or the water running in the shower, or the cars outside. He shuts off everything and just focuses his attention on the damn gun.

A part of him wants to just throw the thing into the river and be done with it. But another part knows better. He needs this thing if they're going to get anywhere with their investigations. His grip on the gun tightens, and he tries to slam it to the ground. In the end, he just lets out a frustrated groan and presses his forehead against the cold steel.

He drops the gun onto the bed and curls into himself, arms hugging his legs to his chest as he rests his head on his knees. He wants to cry, to scream, to do something other than being like… this.

He doesn't move when the bathroom door opens. Ryoji pads closer to his bed, takes the gun off it and puts it on the table. He watches as the taller boy goes over to his own bed and sits down, towel ruffling at his hair.

To his surprise, Ryoji speaks up, a small smile on his lips. "I'm sorry, Makoto."

His breath hitches slightly, but he doesn't say a thing.

With a sigh, Ryoji gets up and sits at the foot of his bed. He looks up, pales eyes locking with sad sapphire before the other looks down at the ground. "I'm sorry for giving you the cold shoulder… I just… can't really deal with it, you know?"

"Deal with… what?" He inquires.

"Death," Ryoji says with a sardonic laughter. "I was Death's Appriser. But somehow, right here and now, beside you… the aspect of death — your death — terrifies me."

"Ryoji…"

"It's a stupid joke," Ryoji continues, still not looking at him. "I was an existence beyond life and death before I met you all those years ago, on the Moonlight Bridge. Then, I gained a bit of humanity. And the time with you, after you died — I think I have become something more, but also something less."

Makoto frowns slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I'm more human," He says with a mirthless chuckle. "And less an Appriser. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be."

"Ryoji, I don't fucking care what you are," Makoto snaps slightly, uncurling himself and ruffles Ryoji's hair hard with the towel. The other protests weakly. He lets the towel slides to the floor as he grabs both of the taller boy's shoulders and looks him in the eye. "You are Mochizuki Ryoji. That's all I give a damn about."

"Still," He says, avoiding Makoto's gaze. "I'm afraid. This is the first time I'm afraid of death — someone else's death. And I'm not sure how I should feel about it."

"Then feel human," He responds. "You are my shadow, true. But you're also human, right? Right here, in this very moment… you're you. A human. And fear of death is normal."

That draws out a weak laugh from the other boy. Makoto smiles thinly as Ryoji looks straight at him. "Yeah. You're right. I'm afraid, but…"

"That won't stop us," He finishes. "Now cheer up, you goddamn mochi, before I beat some sense into you."

"Why are you calling me a mochi," Ryoji protests, but he laughs a genuine one. The deafening silence is gone, replaced by a lighter atmosphere. "I… was a bit lost. Sorry."

"You helped me tons of times before," He says. "Just repaying the favor."

"Alright," Ryoji says. After a while, he smiles slightly. "Hey, Makoto?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks."

He smiles back. "You're welcome."


"I'm glad I can summon two of you this time."

Ren turns to the familiar voice, and much to his relief, he sees Igor. But something in that sentence makes little sense to him – two of them? Who –

"Your Velvet Room looks like a prison."

He turns to see Narukami, who looks as confused as he is, standing just right outside his cell door. He looks down and let out a small laugh, thanking whatever gods there is that give him casual clothing instead of prisoner strips.

"It is a prison," He says, standing up from his bed.

Beside Igor is Lavenza, his own attendant. The other is a taller female, blonde and slightly curled hair, a sharp look in her gaze. He shivers slightly. That must me Narukami's attendant. He bows slightly at her, and she gives him a gentle smile.

It is fortunate that Igor summoned them, Ren thinks. At least they don't have to find a way on their own, since their accesses to the Velvet Room are restricted after their Journeys were finished.

"It is regrettable I cannot summon her… she's a bit preoccupied, at the moment," Igor says with an uncharacteristic sigh, his eyes shifting between the two of them for a moment. "Something had invaded the Velvet Room and is making it quite impossible for me to say most things that would give you too much of a hint to what is going on. For that, I apologize."

"It's alright," Narukami says, rubbing the back of his neck. "But what did you mean by something had invaded the Velvet Room?"

"An Entity," He says. And by the looks of things, that seems to be the only thing he could tell them. Ren frowns; he doesn't like the outlook of this one bit.

"What hints can you give us, then?" He asks.

"Find the key," Lavenza says. She snaps her fingers, and forming into her hand, an Arcana of the Fool. "The key to everything. You must learn of the Dark Hour, and from there, you'll know what to do."

"What is the Dark Hour?" He inquires.

"I'm afraid I cannot say more," Igor says. "But you will know of it when you experience it. The Dark Hour is inevitable."

"That… doesn't really help?" Narukami says reluctantly. "If you can't tell us much, it means this Entity is strong… is it a god?"

There's no answer.

"Well, shit," Narukami mutters.

His thoughts exactly.

"The Velvet Keys are now in your possessions; the entrance to the Velvet Room in Tokyo. I trust you to bring Yu-san to it, Ren-san?" The tall woman addresses him, the tome close to her chest.

"Yes," He nods firmly.

"Then, until we meet again."

.

The one thing he always hate is whenever he wakes up from the Velvet Room, he sees blue for a solid fucking minute.

Great.

His phone rings and Ren groans, hands fumbling around to find the device. When he manages to grab it, he squints his eyes and looks at the screen.

It's from Narukami.

March 24th

You can take me to the Velvet Room later.

Gotta discuss all these with my team first.

Ren blinks away his drowsiness and sits up. He stretches and yawns before typing a response of his own with one hand.

Sure.

I've been meaning to ask, but…

Do you know anything about this Dark Hour business?

No idea.

I'll message you when to meet up later.

Let us gather our own information for now.

No point holding a meeting without information.

Alright. Good luck.

Oh! And one more thing.

What is it?

Igor said something about another person, right?

Do you think he means another Wild Card? Like, maybe… this Artemisia?

Possibility is high, I wouldn't rule that out.

I'll be going now. Good luck.

He puts the phone down and slips around Morgana as he gets out of bed. The morning is quiet, so at first, he thought maybe he should let them rest for another day. But the he remembers the foul stench and fouler Shadows they encountered down in the Mementos.

He's torn between moving as fast as they could and pacing themselves. Moving too fast and you'll burn out, moving too slow and you'll be too late.

He sighs and messages Makoto instead.

It takes four seconds for her to call him, and he picks up right away.

"Hey," He greets her as he pads his way towards the bathroom.

"You have a lot on your mind, haven't you?" She says. Ren just knows he can never hide a thing from her. He hums in confirmation, and Makoto sighs. "What we saw in the Mementos is unsettling. But let the team rest for a few more days might be a good idea."

"Yeah," He says. "You wanna hang out today? I want to just relax for a bit."

"Sure," She replies almost instantly. "How's the preparation for your senior year going?"

"It sucks," He says with a chuckle. He starts brushing his teeth and plucks out some of Morgana's fur from his hair. "But hey, it's done now. My things are ready in the attic, and my girlfriend is not so far off. I'll survive."

He hears Makoto hums. "That so? That's good then. I'll meet you at Leblanc?"

"Sure," He mutters. "See you in a few, Makoto."

"Alright. See ya."

He finishes his business after the call and gets change into a more comfortable outfit. He left his glasses on the table — he's not going to need those before the semester starts, anyway. He then approaches Morgana, who's still sleeping, and wakes him up.

"What," He drawls, hindfoot scratching his ear. "Leave me alone."

"Just saying I'm hanging out with Makoto for a bit. Food's on the table."

"Okay."

Ren just sighs at how quickly Morgana can just go back to sleep and heads downstairs.

He needs a fucking break.


"The Dark Hour, huh?"

He tells Makoto everything, and his Priestess nods, gathering the information in her head. He munches on his burger as he leans against the back rest. "Don't know what it is either. Igor only says I'll understand it when I experience it, and it's inevitable."

"We'll have to be a bit more vigilant," She says. "Right now, we can't even form a hypothesis."

"True," He groans. "Ugh, what the hell did we get roped into this time?"

"Another gigantic actualization, probably," She says, sipping her capuchino. "Might be a good idea to talk to doctor Maruki again, you know?"

"I don't think this is an actualization," He frowns. "Don't ask me how. It just… isn't. It feels different."

"Huh," She lets out a sound, hand tilting the cup back and forth. "Then we start by looking for this… Dark Hour thing? Or rather, experiencing it?"

"Probably," He says, resting his head on her shoulder. She giggles and cards her fingers through his messy mob of black. He closes his eyes and relaxes. "I can't think of anything."

"Then let's think together when everyone's calmed down a bit, shall we?" She offers.

"Mhm," He hums, exhaling.

They spend time like that for a while, Ren half-asleep on her shoulder as she pats his hair. It's been quite some time since all the shit show start, so he's in need of some brakes. The others, too.

Then a familiar voice jolts him out of his musings. "Surprise seeing you here, Amamiya!"

He opens his eyes and look up to see striking sapphire staring right back.

Three seconds later he finds himself on the ground.

"What the fuck!?"

"Oops. Sorry?" Mochizuki offers, scratching the back of his head. Yuuki bows at him and exchanges a quick greeting with Makoto who looks at them in half-surprise. The taller boy walks over and helps him up. "Sorry again. You were sleeping so peacefully and all, that's my bad."

"It's no problem," He says, raising a hand.

Yuuki elbows Mochizuki hard. "Don't enable him, Amamiya."

He laughs. "It's okay. But that scared the shit outta me."

Mochizuki gives him a not so apologetic grin while Yuuki bows at him and Makoto again. His girlfriend gets up from her seat. "It's a surprise seeing you two here. What gives?"

"Just loitering around," Yuuki says with a small shrug, hands in his pockets, an earphone in his left ear while its pair rests in Mochizuki's. "We got nothing better to do until school starts anyways. Except for finding part time jobs."

"But we aren't keen on starting one yet, so," Mochizuki laughs and returns the earbud to Yuuki. "Here we are, I guess. You two dating?"

He splutters and Makoto quickly looks away, red to the ears.

You don't need to point that out, Ren thinks.

"Sorry," Yuuki quickly says, reaching up to grab Mochizuki by the head and forcing him to bow down. "This guy is a bit hyper today."

"I can see that," Ren coughs. After a short pause, he adds. "Wanna join?"

"Sure."

.

They settle down at a restaurant not far from Shibuya station. Makoto is talking with Yuuki, who quietly nods and answers only when prompted, which is a stark contrast to Mochizuki's spontaneity. Seriously, Ren doesn't even want to begin to imagine how these two become friends.

Yuuki seems normal and healthy to him, save for some occasional winces whenever Mochizuki speaks a bit too loudly. He remembers Yoshizawa telling him about the boy being voice-sensitive, so he guesses there's that. Mochizuki still wears his yellow scarf even though the weather's not that cold, and his one-sided conversation with Yuuki makes Ren notes, in the back of his head, that the reason these two are so close must be because of their differences.

Huh.

"I've been meaning to ask," Mochizuki begins, looking between him and Makoto. "How long have you two been datin—Ow!"

Yuuki promptly pushes his head to the side hard while Makoto blushes furiously. Ren also feels his face turning a bit hot. Yuuki then mutters, "Sorry. Where the fuck did that come from!?"

"I'm just curious!" Mochizuki laughs.

"Half a year," Makoto answers, still red. "Some… stuffs happened. He saved me. And then it's kinda just… spiral from there?"

He smiles at the memory. He also winces, remembering Makoto's wake up slap.

His hand unconsciously caresses his cheek.

"I'm jealous," Mochizuki says, resting his cheek in his hand as he drinks from a cup. "Make me wish I have a girl to fall in love with too."

Yuuki rolls his eyes. "You're stuck with me forever, Ryoji, so suck it up."

"Meanie."

Makoto laughs, and he turns to look at her, tiling his head in surprise. The other two exchange a confused look, then turn to him for an explanation. He just shakes his head, but luckily, Makoto decides to speak up. "Sorry, it's just… you two seem so close and open around each other."

"We do?" Mochizuki says. He then grins. "We do!"

"Ryoji, please stop being hyper for a minute? Good god," Yuuki sighs exasperatedly, but there's no real annoyance to it. Well, maybe a little, but not much. Yuuki then sips the tea, and —

"What happened to your hands?" Ren asks, incredulous. His nails look like they've been ripped off.

The boy winces. "During one of my spar sessions. Long story."

"What spar sessions?" He narrows his eyes.

"MMA," He replies without missing a beat. "I kinda space out during a bout."

"You do MMAs?" Makoto asks, face lights up instantly. A tiny voice in his head says oh no.

"Yeah, both of us just recently started, though," Mochizuki says, smiling. "I didn't take you for a martial artist. Do you have any tips or tricks for us, Niijima-san?"

"Oh yes, definitely!"

And then Ren is left out of the conversation.

He knows his girlfriend is a bit of a, huh… fight maniac, but to think she could endlessly talk about how to punch people's faces in is borderline ridiculous. He just sits there and listens while Makoto and Mochizuki talk animatedly. He then catches Yuuki's eyes, and a conversation passes between them.

Congratulations, you're now also left out because Ryoji is a spontaneous talker.

Congrats to you too.

They laugh.

.

The meal went by in a blur, and by the time they finished the sun had already set.

"It's already this late?" Makoto says, looking at her phone. "Oh my god, sis is going to kill me."

"She won't," Ren says, squeezing her shoulder slightly. He turns to look at the two boys who are talking about something in hushed whispers. He just shrugs.

"Hey, Amamiya," Mochizuki calls, snatching an earbud from Yuuki. The shorter boy doesn't seem to mind. "You too, Niijima-san. It's nice having a meal with you two. See you again soon!"

"See ya," He says, waving slightly as the two boys share their playlist and walk off into a different direction.

His eyes follow the two for a moment longer before he turns back to Makoto, who's smiling slightly.

"What?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, it's just," She begins, red eyes following his two new friends until they are out of sight. "They seem pretty similar to us, aren't they? Very close and… maybe a bit disjointed?"

He snorts a laughter at the last part. "Definitely."

"You take care of them too, since they're going to be your schoolmates in a few weeks," She says.

Ren nods and kisses her forehead, making her yelp out in embarrassment. He then grins down at the tomato-red Makoto. "You bet I will."

She clicks his tongue, but soon smiles and lets him takes her hand.

They intend to go for a bit of a stroll (since Sae-san is going to be pissed no matter what anyways) and maybe dropping by at Leblanc for a warm cup of coffee before he accompanies Makoto home.

That was the plan, anyway.

They were about to cross the intersection when someone whose expression looks empty, like he has no thoughts or wills behind his action, walks into the traffic.

He's not going to wipe the image of the man's body being flung ten meters into the air before hitting the asphalt, or Makoto's horrified screams, out of his head anytime soon. And before he actually reaches the earth, Ren has the unfortunate luck of getting a brief look at the man's expression. No pain, fear, nothing… his face is just blank, devoid of emotions.

And then a pang of pain, follows by a voice of his other self.

Shadows did this.

What in the world…?


He sits at the stool in complete silence, Makoto shaken by his side.

The first one through the door is Akechi, his bangs sticking to his face and clothes soaking wet. He pants for a few seconds before walking over, eyes hard. "What the hell happened?"

"Raoul told me," He begins, gripping his head and looking down at the coffee cup. "A man threw himself in front of the car. Shadows did it, he said."

Akechi's eyes narrow at that. He takes in his and Makoto's state, opens his mouth, but decides to silently sits next to him. He looks at his trembling hand for a few seconds before saying a bit gentler, "Shadows make a man kill himself? Like the Psychotic Breakdown?"

"Most likely. I dunno, He—" Ren gulps. "He just blankly walked into the car and got catapulted into the air. Didn't get a good look."

"Alright," Akechi says slowly. "We can still work with that. Have you called the others?"

He nods.

Akechi watches him for a moment longer before he goes upstairs, saying nothing else.

"Ren," Makoto murmurs, almost too quiet for him to hear.

He doesn't reply with words; he just looks — at her still terrified eyes, and her pale face.

"Just what… is going on?"


There, that's done! :D How was it? Lemme know!

Also questions will be answered... later, I promise, the fic is planned! D:

Announcement; I have a plan for 3 part series, soon, and it might push the update timing for this fic a little... but worry not, that'll not happen at least until a few weeks after!

Be well, and see you all soon!