Ren laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling, the events of the day before replaying in his mind and not letting him sleep. After they had gotten back from Mementos, Rise promised that she'd explain things but they needed to get some answers themselves before she could explain everything. Yu remained silent the entire time, the expression he wore was one of someone that had failed. Ren knew that look all too well, for he had seen it in his own eyes before he had come to here Tokyo. That was probably why he adopted his glasses, for he had been sick of seeing that look every time he caught his reflection. At least the glasses hid his eyes…

Ren turned over on his bed in a vain attempt to get comfortable, even if the thing that was bothering him by far wasn't his position on his bed. The sudden shifting of the bed stirred the other occupant as Morgana lifted his head to look at his 'owner'. Ren tried to get comfortable in his new position but like a thorn in his side, nothing he did relieved him of the distant stare that Yu held in his arms as his friends dragged him way or the burning fury glare he had given the reaper. It was unsettling.

"Can't sleep?" A voice cut through Ren's inner thoughts as Morgana put his paws on top of Ren's legs and stared at the teen.

"Yeah…" Ren admitted in defeat.

Morgana jumped over Ren's legs and sat down just in front of his stomach, curling his tail around his front paws as he looked at his companion. "We forgot to tell them about Shido didn't we?" Morgana slightly cocked his head as he spoke.

Ren nodded. "We did forget. We should talk to them about it."

"I wonder what they will think. Going after a politician definitely has risks, but the more I think about it. This is what we need to do…" Morgana resolve was clear as day in words. "But this isn't what is keeping you up is it?"

Ren looked away from the cat towards the windows above his bed. "No." He replied simply.

Morgana followed his gaze flicking his tail against his front feet as he did. "It's about what happened today isn't it? I mean it only natural, we took on a reaper and won." Morgana looked intently at Ren before continuing. "Or does that look haunt you?"

"…" Ren didn't quite known how to answer but turned his gaze to his feline friend.

Morgana's ears went flat as he pressed them against his skull seeming to think of the right thing to say. "I see. What exactly about it bothers you?" His ears perked back up.

Ren let out a sigh he hadn't realized he had been keeping in. "That look of absolute defeat. From everything I've heard about Narukami, he is a champion that led his friend through the fire. I got the impression he is stoic and cool under pressure, but to see someone lose it like that." Ren turned over on his bed to lay on his pack, his eyes locking onto the beams of his rafters. "Is that the price of leadership? Is that what I will become after this is all over? What will this ruin take from me?" Ren reached up as if to grasp at something before his hand feel back upon the bed with a soft thud.

Morgana gave Ren a sorrowful look. "I can't answer that, but Narukami can." Morgana hopped over Ren and onto the shelf next to his bed. With a flick of his paw he knocked Ren's phone from the shelf and on to the bed next to Ren.

Ren picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts until get upon the number the detective had left him. There was the soft feeling of Morgana jumping back on the bed as Ren just stared at the number for several long seconds. To be honest Ren didn't quite know how to start the conversation, he was far more the person that listened then started a conversation. Still his thumb finally hit the text button and a blank text blinked at him in the dark of the room.

Joker: Can we talk?

It was simple, but a start Ren figured. Letting his phone fall to his chest, Ren closed his eyes. He wasn't expecting a reply. After all it was past midnight and no doubt Yu was already sound asleep like any normal adult at this time. However that was not the case as Ren quickly learned. Not more than a few minutes after the text had been sent, Ren phone buzzed with reply.

Kingpin: We really should. Alone.

Ren had to reread the text as if half expecting to realize it was a dream. Alone. Yu wanted to talk alone. The leader of the phantom thieves turned towards Morgana who was perched at his side, reading the message from his location by Ren's pillow.

"Alone? Ask him when." Morgana encouraged putting his paw on Ren's shoulder.

Joker: When?

Kingpin: Now? I'm not going to sleep.

Joker: Over text?

Kingpin: I can be there in 15 minutes.

Joker: I'll get dressed.

Morgana yawned and scratched at his ear. "I doubt boss wants you running around at night and I'd say we should just go to bed, but just this once I'll let you stay up. Don't put yourself at risk, remember you are supposed to be dead."

Ren reached over and gave Morgana a scratch on his chin before getting up. Morgana gave him a passive look before curling up into a ball and attempting to get back to sleep. Ren moved through the attic as quietly as he could changing and grabbing his everything he needed. Once he was done he glanced around the room trying to remember if he had everything only to spot Morgana holding up his glasses with his tail. The cat was still curled up and looked very much asleep except for the fact he was holding up the black framed glasses. Ren took them from his feline companion and put them on his face as he raised his hood over his shaggy black hair.

Moving through the quiet café and out into the cool air of Yongen-Jaya. Ren locked the door behind him before heading towards the street cars normally parked. Sitting down on a bench, Ren kept an eye out for anyone who might see a teenager and think he was out of place. Luckily for said teenager, the streets where silent and not a soul seemed to roam them, except for the occasional car that passed down the street. Ren just stayed there until black SUV pulled up to him and a passenger opened. Getting to his feet, Ren got into the car and it quickly took off once he was safely inside.

Yu looked normal again Ren noted as the older man pulled the car back onto the street and proceeded back down the street. For a moment the teenager tried to find words but nothing seemed to fit, so instead Ren leaned against the door and stared out into the quiet Tokyo night. Yu didn't seem to say anything either as he pulled the car from the backstreets of Yongen-Jaya and onto far busier road. For 20 minutes they sat in silence, either man speaking to the other before Yu pulled into the parking lot of some 24 hour hole in the wall Ramen shop.

Ren got out and followed the older man into the shop. The shop was mostly empty except for some salary men clearly hung over clinging to bowls of ramen. They looked miserable. An old TV in the corner of the shop blared some early morning soap opera. Yu directed a smiled to the shops single attendant, a woman that didn't look much older than Yu herself. Yu held up 2 fingers as the woman gave Yu an unimpressed look before moving towards the back of the shop, which was quickly followed by the sounds of cooking. Yu turned and headed towards a slightly secluded table in the corner of the shop. Ren followed and sat down across from Yu at the small table.

Yu leveled his gaze off at Ren before finally breaking their silence. "The owner of this shop is a cousin of one of my friends back in Inaba. I hope you like ramen." The comment was simple but as a sudden change in wind direction can suddenly bring about a storm, Yu expression seemed to darken. "Let me ask you something Ren-kun, when you look at me who do I remind you of?"

Ren raised an eyebrow at the question and without even putting too much though into the response he simply replied. "Myself."

"And Goro Akechi?" Yu pressed.

A slight pause but the answer came again without much thought. "In a way... Us."

Yu nodded as if he had been expecting that answer. "That's because we are all the same. We either become the wild cards or are used to become the villains. A man by the name of Adachi was the unwitting pawn of Ruin in my time. His actions outright killed two people and he indirectly hurt so many people I personally care about. My cousin Nanako being probably the thing that hurt the most, she almost died. I love Nanako like my sister you see and I'd honestly do anything for her. In fact I came close to killing an innocent man myself because she almost died."

Yu put his elbows on the table and folded his hands under his chin as he talked. The stare the older man gave the younger one, added weight to his words without making the younger feel oppressed by that intense look. Ren lean forward, his interest peaked in the story as he folded his arm in front of him on the table. Yu seemed to take that as conformation that he had captured his audiences' attention and continued.

"Now if you ask my friends, they all hold either hold a hatred of Adachi or a pity for him. I know they think I hate him, but the truth is. I neither pity nor hate the man. I understand him. That emptiness that spurred him to push people into the TV. That thrill of something different happening in your life that could break the monotonous cycle of grey that has become your world. That's what I understand because that was my life before I went to Inaba. When I came to Inaba, it had been my 6th time I had moved because of my parents. They were both always traveled a lot for their jobs. Either overseas or across country, both very successful, but my home life was a grey place. Don't get me wrong, my parents loved me but they were distant, always distracted with their professional life. I never really had friends growing up but I learned quickly that being seen but not heard, being calm but decisive, that I could become the kind of person that could blend into any situation. Despite that, I've always had my own code of honor, my own sense of justice if you will. My whole goal growing up to that point was to just study, get into a good college and follow in my parent's footsteps. A blank slate, which is why I was able to accept the power of the wild card. I had a personality but the only thing I felt I was a core belief of mine was that sense of Justice. Something deep down that was unfaultable. Does any of this sound familiar to you Ren?" Yu asked dropping the suffix on Ren's name in the face of the depth of conversation they were having.

"Yes." Ren took a deep breath. "That feeling of the world being a great machine that you are but a single gear that will be bent to it will and that no matter how you struggle it is futile. My own personal sense of justice was the only thing that I could use to rebel against the machine, but I began to doubt it after what happened the night I got my record. It was the awakening of my persona that I begin to cast off that imagine of the world and believe wholeheartedly again in my sense of justice. This way of thinking was further discarded as I developed relationships with my friends."

"It is the same for me. My friends faced their own shadows and came out stronger for it, but I never met truly meet mine. To make up for it, though, I've had my friend help me mature. It's my companions that I draw strength from in all this. Honestly it probably that sense of justice we hold that made us the heroes in these situations and that corrupted sense of justice that makes Adachi and Akechi the villains." Yu explained as the woman who was running the shop came over and set down two large bowls of Ramen in front of them. "Thank you." Yu smiled at the woman before she turned and headed back to the front counter. Yu turned his attention back to Ren. "Eat up, if we aren't going to sleep then at least we can fuel our bodies other ways."

Yu broke his chopsticks and dug into the bowl of ramen. Ren mirrored him and also started to eat. This time a more comfortable silence enveloped the table. It wasn't as if Ren now had a new prospective on the man across the table, quite the opposite in fact. Ren now had simple conformation that well both different; deep down Ren and Yu were both the same. Also if anything new could have been gleaned from the conversation it was Ren held a far firmer belief that Yu was someone he needed to trust. After both bowl sat empty did the silence once again start to lift.

"Ren what would you do for your friend?" Yu asked clearly already knowing the answer but asking anyways.

"Whatever it takes." Ren commitment was clear as day.

Yu nodded. "We are the same… The reason why I went after that Reaper yesterday was because I almost lost everyone I care about to one of those monsters." Ren perked up at this revelation. Yu took a deep breath as his eyes faded into a distant unpleasant memory. "I told you about Nanako my little sister. Well, she was thrown into the TV realm by a man by the name Taro Namatame, he was under the mad belief that throwing people into the TV would save them. A lie given to him by Adachi and perpetuated by our actions saving people once he threw them in. Nanako was 7 at the time and not someone I would ever want in that other world. Her father Dojima had been hospitalized in a vain attempt to save her after she was kidnapped by Namatame but he never realized how powerless he was to do anything for her. My beloved little sister's safety rested squarely on my shoulders. I entered the TV realm as soon as I was able to, my friends followed me without question. Nanako… 'palace' manifested in the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." There was a pause before Yu continue.

"Heaven"

Yu let that word hang in the air for several long seconds, as Ren felt the weight of them. "The palace was born out of 7 year old desire to see her mother who had died a few years before when she was a victim of a hit and run. That was all she desired, just to see her mom one last time. It was heart breaking to me who fully understood the context. I charged into that palace without hesitation, with one single minded goal. To save my sister. My friends followed me without complaint, understanding my anguish and fueled by their own rage for they cared for Nanako as well. The shadows within the palace were nothing but road bumps to achieving our goal. We slaughtered them without as much as a second thought, that's what probably summoned it. The reaper. Our normal protocol when we heard that sound of those chains was to leave the palace. We always had some time to save those trapped in the palaces, and normally one more day was nothing the grand scheme of things. This time, we didn't retreat. It appeared as we were getting ready to ascend to the higher reaches of Heaven where I knew my little sister was. That grotesque monstrosity stood between me and Nanako. I charged, my friends followed."

Yu put his hand to his face, as the distress of the memory started to show on his normally calm demeanor. "It was a one sided massacre, we stood no chance against that demon. I watched my friend fall around me one by one. In the end it was simply me and Rise verse death incarnate. I only had one option, I ran; gambling it would rather follow me then finish off my already knocked out friends. My gamble paid off as it took after me giving Rise precious time to revive my friends and get them to the next level. I don't know how long I ran with literal death on my heels but I managed to loop around and head up to the next level. For whatever reason, the reaper didn't follow me up and I was able to meet up with my friends. We still managed to save Nanako from that place, but that experience… It haunts me. It was no doubt cemented in my mind because after we saved Nanako… She was rushed to the hospital and her heart stopped beating for a while and she was pronounced dead. By some miracle it started again... But I almost lost her, and I almost killed Namatame in my grief right after she was pronounced dead. Ever since that day… I keep having a recurring dream about that day the only difference is the reaper never follows me. I watch as it kills my friends one by one and I'm powerless to stop it, the last thing I always hear in that dream is the sound of Nanako's scream as it kills her too..."

Yu hand had curled into a fist before he slams it on the table. The sound spooks one of the salary men at a table not too far away from them. The surprised man looks around in his drunk stupor before stumbling from his table and goes to pay for his ramen before leaving the shop. Ren watches Yu carefully not quite sure about what to say. The words slowly came to him, but the teen didn't know if they were quite the right words but it was all he could think of to say.

"Well you killed it this time. It should hold no power over you now." Ren said not sure if that would help the older man's distress.

"Not by myself. I needed to rely on everyone's help." Yu sighed.

Ren gave the Yu a sharp look. "We are only as strong as the people around us, you should know that better than I do Narukami-san!"

A great chuckle echoed from Yu, instantly cutting the tension that had formed in the air between them. "You are right Ren. That was always the answer wasn't it?" Yu bemused express cut through Ren's sharp one. "Call me Yu after all you are one of my trusted friends."

"If you insist Yu-senpai." Ren replied his own smirk starting to form at the corners of lips as he put emphasis on the 'senpai' when addressing Yu.

"You're a cheeky one aren't you? I don't suppose I could convince you to just call me Yu?" Yu asked in an impassive tone, when he didn't get an immediate response from Ren he cleared his voice and gave Ren a half serious look. "Is there anything I can mentor you on as your 'senpai'?"

Ren froze for a second something immediately flashing to his mind but still unsure if it's a question he should ask. His eyes dropped to the table as, he felt his cheeks heat up slightly. All pretense of the strong and dashing phantom thief leader instantly fading. Yu was quick to pick up the change in his young companion and set upon Ren with a defense penetrating stare. Ren could only squirm ever so slightly before he took a deep breath and leveled his gaze once again upon the more experienced adult.

"The girls… How do I pick just one?!" Ren aspiration clear as day in his voice. "I mean… I'm not blind, I know they all like me, but… Ryuji's my best friend and I don't want to leave him out to dry." Ren sighed running his hand down his face. "There is also the fact that if I pick a favorite then what will the others think. I hate to sound like Ryuji but I am a young man in the prime of my youth, damn it!"

Yu looked surprised for a long second, trying to suppress a chuckle. Yu could tell just by Ren voice that it was something he had been brooding on for some time and honestly Yu didn't blame him. As far as good looking teenage girls go; Ren's group was certainly not lacking. Poor kid, he remembered himself in a similar situation granted Rise more choice him than anything else really. The older man couldn't lie to himself that he hadn't thought about the other girls in the investigation team.

"That's it? You don't want to know about the ruin you face? But about the girls in your group?" Yu pressed but was quickly silenced by the deep scathing glare he got from Ren. Yu quickly put up his hands to try and defuse the look but was unable to keep the grin off his face. "Alright. Alright… I can try and help you with this. Is there one you like more than any of the others? Perhaps one that draws your attention more?"

Ren put his hand on his chin as he thought but the answer came far quicker then he thought it would. "Makoto. Ann and Ryuji would date if they just actually looked at each other and stopped nitpicking. Futaba I think of more like a little sister, someone to protect. As for Haru… She secretly scares me some times. I pretended to be Makoto's boyfriend to help one of her friends from school and it seemed way too natural to be nothing…" Ren let out a long sigh. "But they are all my very dear friends." Ren let his head hit the table with a decisive thud.

"Well you already have your answer then. You'll make a cute couple." Yu stated very plainly.

Ren glared at him as he picked himself up from the table. "You're no help at all." Ren's words were venom.

"Oh?" Yu asked before leaned forward putting his right arm upon the table as he leaned. "You are thinking too much about this, so what if they get a little jealous? Be honest with your friends. That's always the best policy. Furthermore do you have bonds with them that are that fragile?"

Ren didn't know how to respond. He went silent as his brain took a second to process exactly the ramification of Yu's words. In the silence, Yu rose to his feet and collected the two empty bowls. Bring them to the counter and paying for the meal before returning to the table to find Ren still deeply contemplating his words. Yu let the boy linger in thought a bit longer before Ren finally looked up at the older man.

"It's that simple?" Ren asked clearly still a bit shaky on the idea.

"It's that simple." Yu reaffirmed to his younger counterpart.

Ren just shook his head dismissively before the old TV caught his attention. The soap opera must have run its course because now the TV displayed the early morning news. Shido face was on the screen as he expertly and decisively talked to the reporter that was interviewing him. Standing up, Ren couldn't keep the glare off his face as he watched Shido public persona woo the reporter. Yu instantly picked up on the hostility Ren was giving the TV and stared at the screen and the man on the screen.

"It's been decided we are stealing his heart next." Ren kept his tone low so it only reached Yu's ears and wouldn't travel beyond them.

"Come on, let get going." Yu announced in a normal tone as he moved towards the door. This was clearly a conversation that needed to happen more in private.

Yu headed out to the SUV with Ren and quickly unlocked it. As they got into the car, Yu took notice of his phone which he had purposely left behind now was flashing which indicated he had several messages. Picking it up as he closed his door, Yu found 12 messages glaring at him. 6 from Rise, the others were from Yosuke and Naoto respectively. It would appear his sudden disappearance to talk to the kid had been noticed. He had been hoping Rise would just sleep through the night and he'd arrive back at her Tokyo apartment by the morning. Yu looked at Ren.

"Tell me about Shido in a minute, but before that I need to make a call or two." Yu reported before he took a deep breath and called his girlfriend's number.

It picked up after the first ring.

"YU NARUKAMI WHERE ARE YOU?!" Rise yelled into the receiver. "DO YOU KNOW HOW CLOSE I WAS TO CALLING THE COPS TO FIND YOU? NAOTO TALKED ME OUT OF IT!"

The sound was so loud that Ren heard it from his seat next to Yu. Ren shot his mentor a sympathetic look as he leaned against door and listened to the drama start to unfold. Yu winced at the volume as his mind worked overtime to try and find the correct words to consult his clearly very upset girlfriend.

"I'm fine. I'm with Ren." Yu tried to explain.

"WITH REN-KUN? YOU HAVE THAT POOR BOY OUT THIS HOUR OF THE NIGHT?" The voice continued to thunder from his phone.

"Rise, calm down. Look, I'll head over there now I'm only like 10 minutes away." Yu tried to negotiate as he looked towards Ren hoping the young man wouldn't mind. Ren smirked and gave a nod which seemed to communicate that he was okay with this plan.

"Fine…" Rise voice lost most of the fury it had a second ago.

"I love you, I'll be there soon." Yu hung up before things could get heated again and started the car. "Sorry about that Ren."

"No problem," The teenager said as he pulled out his own phone. "I'll text Futaba to tell Sojiro that I'm with you by leaving him a voice mail."

Yu nodded as he pulled the car onto the road. "I'll have to apologize to him for abducting you."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Ren shrugged as he put his phone to his ear.

Now that Royal has a release date, I suppose I should go through and figure out a proper schedule for updating. You guys want it before or at royal's release?