The Mystery of Ren Amamiya

by Lightning99

As another way to help and inspire her fans, famous model Ann Takamaki starts an online stream. She invites somebody from her life or the wider world to join her every so often, providing a glimpse into the Phantom Thieves' early adult lives. But when rumours start spreading in the chat, everything spirals out of control as they try to uncover the mystery of Ren Amamiya.

5. Stream 5: Yuuki Mishima

The Mystery of Ren Amamiya - Lightning99

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Stream 5:

Yuuki Mishima

'And at no point are you to reveal that I'm a member of, or have any connection to, the Phantom Thieves, got that?' Ann said, concluding the probably-too-long rant she had given Mishima during the five-minute countdown before her stream.

'R-Right, I got it!' Mishima shouted, sitting so rigidly in his chair that he looked like his spine had locked in a straight line. Ann realised then, by the sheer terror on his face, that she was glaring. She dropped it with a sigh and the hope that he got the message.

'Sorry about last month. Nobody found out, but I didn't mean to risk revealing it. I… was too excited.'

'No need to apologise,' Ann said, waving her hand. 'That wasn't entirely your fault, anyway. Ryuji's to blame for shouting about it. He does that far too often.'

Ann glanced out the window at the leaves of a tall tree in the park below that were yellowing slightly at the tips. She moved her gaze up one of the surrounding buildings, the lower half tinged grey, the upper orange, its lights on but not yet illuminating anything.

'I–I can still talk about the Phantom Thieves, right?'

Ann looked back at Mishima. 'Yes, of course. I'd love that. It's the main reason I asked you to join me. Like I said, just don't mention us, ok?'

'Yep, ok, I got it.' Mishima's posture relaxed, and he shuffled around in his seat. 'Thank you for inviting me, by the way. I was surprised to receive your text.'

'Really?'

'Yes. I don't think I've done enough to warrant being on your stream.'

'Oh, come on, I'm not that big a deal,' Ann said.

'You hit about two thousand viewers last week. Your modelling has helped that, of course, but I'd say that's a fairly big deal, and the numbers keep growing. I've looked.'

Ann frowned, crossing her arms.

'How did you look, exactly?'

Mishima's face faltered into something resembling a cringe.

'Uhhh… well…' Ann pointedly widened her eyes and raised her brows, tilting her head forward. Mishima looked to the side, scratching his cheek with his index finger. 'F-Futaba logged into your account, and we did a little digging while some of you were out in the New Mementos last week.'

Ann could have complained, but she decided to pinch her eyes instead, shaking her head. 'Of course, you did. How does Futaba even know my password?'

'Ah, I have no idea. I think she hacked your account.'

Ann sighed again.

'In any case,' she said, 'don't look down on yourself. You're plenty good enough to join me.'

She slid her chair to her monitor and looked at the last thirty seconds of the count down, each neon-pink number fading into the next.

'Alright, are you ready to begin?'

'As I'll ever be,' Mishima said, sitting up straighter than was necessary but not as straight as he had been during Ann's lecture. This was more like he was facing off against a group of stern board members.

'Lighten up,' Ann said, smiling at him.

'I'm not good at public speaking, is all.'

'Oh, come on. You speak just fine. Your rambling is unmatched.'

Mishima chuckled. 'It's a little different. You saw me try and do a presentation in Kawakami's class. I know what I have to say. It's just the eyes on me that make it difficult.'

'Well, it's just us here, so there's no need to worry. Here we go,' Ann said, grasping her mouse. She changed the display to her camera, which captured her, Mishima, and the Phantom Thieves poster she had moved for this occasion in the frame – it was hung between them on a canvas that Yusuke had let her borrow. She waved as enthusiastically as always, Mishima made an action that should have been a wave but looked more like a robot mimicking a wave, and the stream began.

'Hi, everyone,' Ann said, trying her best to catch as many comments as possible. Despite the slightly faster pace at which the chat moved, she had been catching a lot more lately. Maybe those late-night trips with Ren to the batting cages did have an effect. 'Hi Kitten, nice to see you. You too, JackBros, Maid. How are you doing today?'

Those she named responded in kind. Ann continued browsing the chat, greeting and laughing and answering questions – her favourite of which was about a magazine she featured in that was released the previous weekend. Then she saw a short exchange between viewers, and her stomach twisted, yet an amused smile climbed to her lips.

Endlave2011: Wait… Is that Ren?!

MiracleGem: Endlave2011 I was thinking the same thing! Does he fit the stories?

Endlave2011: MiracleGem Hmm. I dunno.

Ann's smile dropped, then, when another person added to their conversation.

1Runner2: Nah, he doesn't look cool enough to fit the stories.

'Hey, Runner,' Ann snapped, 'don't say things like that! We aren't here to insult people. Futaba, you see anyone say anything like that again, you know what to do.'

Alibaba: Got it, hehehe. Fear me, chat, for I am all-powerful!

'It's ok, Ann, I–' Mishima tried to say, but Ann threw her palm up, glaring at him. He flinched, arms locking straight, head dipping, and stopped talking.

'No. I've built a nice community here. We don't need that kind of talk.'

MidnightSword: Savage

Featherman616: Oooof

AnnFann101: Oooh, name drop!

TheGhostlyMaiden: That's embarrassing, really.

THEInabaBOY: Only nice people here, please!

'Now that that is cleared up,' Ann said, folding her arms with a huff, 'no, this isn't Ren. He isn't that well known despite being the creator, but this is Yuuki Mishima, the author and writer of the popular documentary, The Heart of the Phantom Thieves. He's a good friend of mine.'

Ann looked at Mishima. He flinched again, turning to the camera.

'Uh, yes! It's nice to meet you all. I'm glad to be here,' Mishima said, his voice cracking between his usual tone and a more high-pitched one. In the next moment, however, his bottom lip stopped trembling altogether. Instead, it rested ajar, creeping further from his other lip with the passing seconds.

PhantomThiefRai: NO WAY! I LOVE YOU AND THE DOCUMENTARY, MISHIMA! AHHHHH!

Akiharabaki: That's amazing! Good work!

Red55Dragon: I binged it all in a day! AMAZING!

OrbOfRain: Oh, nice! It was six years ago, but I think you captured the Phantom Thief craze perfectly. Exactly as I remember it.

The comments just kept coming. Seeing his speechlessness, Ann thought Mishima was handling the praise rather well for Mishima. Then he started twitching and shuffling, rubbing his neck, and his face flushed red. Ann smiled, thinking perhaps that thought had been premature and watched the chat too.

Most of the viewers said they enjoyed it with varying degrees of vigour – in other words, varying amounts of punctuation and capitalisations – while the more analytical and thoughtful viewers praised the style, storytelling, and even the vibrant, red-filled colour scheme and the music. Collectively, everyone seemed to agree that it re-justified their love for the Phantom Thieves and verbalised all of their thoughts.

'T-Thank you, everyone,' Mishima said, grinning in the way he did whenever he talked about the Phantom Thieves. The way, Ann realised, she had come to revel seeing in all of their fans.

'For those that don't know, The Heart of the Phantom Thieves is a documentary centred, as the name suggests, around the Phantom Thieves' debut year, which ultimately concluded in the downfall of Masayoshi Shido. I'm sure I don't need to tell you who the Phantom Thieves are,' Ann said, allowing herself that little self-praise. 'Towards the end of the documentary, it suggests that a large event occurred within Tokyo, but little information is known about it. Though that's only speculation, right Mishima?'

Mishima nodded, exchanging a glance with her. 'Right.'

Truthfully, framing the incident with Yaldabaoth as mere speculation was Ren's idea after reading Mishima's first completed draft. Mishima had been adamant about including it in his story, but only the Phantom Thieves and those closest to them, those that Yaldabaoth couldn't change, knew the truth. So, after discussing it with all of the thieves, that was their compromise so as not to unveil the Metaverse or cause any unnecessary unrest. That was their unanimous decision.

But Mishima's documentary said nothing of the fight with Maruki, for they, the Phantom Thieves themselves, were the only ones that knew about it. Once again, by unanimous decision, they had decided not to tell anyone, not even those closest to them: not Mishima, not Shiho, not even Sojiro. They wanted to, at first. But ultimately, after a lengthy discussion after Ren's release, they decided to avoid putting people through the pain of wondering what could have been and what had been taken from them. But most of all, they didn't want to villainise Maruki because, in the end, was he really a villain?

'Would you like to give us some more background information about the documentary?' Ann asked, pushing that particular memory out of her mind for now.

'I'd love to!' Mishima said, becoming suddenly more animated and verbally coherent. Apparently, talking about the Phantom Thieves was his detox. That passion of his truly was abnormal. 'It's as Ann said. It's a documentary detailing the Phantom Thieves' debut year back in 2016. One reason I decided to create it is because I am a huge fan of the Phantom Thieves, but my second reason is a little more personal.'

Mishima looked at Ann, and she could see remorse and a reminiscing sadness in his expression by the shape of his eyes and the tilt of his brows. She parted her lips but couldn't quite find anything to say.

'You probably all know about The Phantom Thieves' very first case involving Shujin Academy's volleyball team. I was on the team. We were all going through a tough time, and I–I even sold out one of my friends in a way that ruined their life, all because of how terrified I was. But that's no excuse…'

'Mishima…' Ann whispered, placing her hand on his shoulder.

'Sorry, that's a little dark,' Mishima said, chuckling humourlessly and rubbing the back of his neck. 'But The Phantom Thieves, they… When they dealt with that problem, they saved my life. I'm sure they saved more than my life. No, I know they saved more than just my life that day. From that moment on, I became their fan, and my life turned around. How could I not love them, you know? They're amazing. I've experienced the effect they have on people first-hand, and I wanted and still want everyone to feel the same. I followed their journey the entire time and ended up creating this documentary.'

Ann smiled at Mishima. She turned to the screen, dropping her hand. She didn't need to say anything.

A moment after looking at the chat, Ann's smile widened even further because of one comment:

RyujiSkullington: Mishima, man, you made me tear up here.

'He nearly got me too, Ryuji,' Ann said.

People in chat started typing Ryuji's name as they did whenever someone from a previous stream appeared among them. Ryuji, especially, was like a celebrity for some strange reason.

At that moment, Ann couldn't quite tell what she saw more of: people greeting Ryuji or a plethora of emotional emojis, including faces tearing up, ones with tiny smiles, and chibi versions of Ann and her guests wearing a variety of expressions. She had commissioned those chibi stickers from a reluctant Yusuke, who had ended up wasting the money she paid him on a rare variant of lobster.

'For those who don't know, Ryuji, Shiho, and I were also involved in the Phantom Thieves' first incident. So not only did we have Ren to help us out but the Phantom Thieves, too. To talk about the Phantom Thieves and how they have helped us all is why I asked Mishima onto my stream today.'

The Shujin alumnis' moment of emotional reminiscence was met with an even more emotional reaction from the chat, as per usual, as well as a few people questioning if they should change schools. It made Ann smile; she saw Mishima doing the same.

And then Ryuji typed again.

RyujiSkullington: Wait, what the shit?! Why is my username RyujiSkullington?!

And so returned the laughing emojis, which only worsened with the next few messages.

Ren_Amamiya: :)

Alibaba: :)

RyujiSkullington: You assholes! Change it back!

Both Ann and Mishima started laughing along with the chat. Then they began questioning whether Ren was that Ren, and whatever melancholy that had imbued the stream for a short moment vanished. Trust Ren, Ryuji, and Futaba to bring back happiness.

Thankfully, the Ren fascination didn't last too long today, allowing her to spot a genuine question somewhere amongst the speculators.

Featherman616: This is completely random, but why don't you call Mishima by his first name, Ann? I thought you said you were close.

'Ah, interesting question, Featherman,' Ann said. She looked at Mishima, who was looking anywhere but at the camera or her. 'We, as in our whole friendship group, call him Mishima because it feels most natural. And, well, Mishima gets weird about calling people by their first names. He called a friend of ours, Haru, by her first name, and while she was fine with it, he got it in his head that she had a cru–'

'O-ok, I think they get it,' Mishima said hurriedly, waving at the air. Ann chuckled to herself. She slid her chair forwards and sat back.

'But yeah, as Mishima said, The Phantom Thieves have impacted our lives a lot, which is what I want to talk about today,' Ann said. She felt herself smirk before she continued. 'You know our stances, but what do you all think of the Phantom Thieves?'

The chat seemed to stutter a moment, caught between the stream's natural delay, and then it sped up to such a degree that the usernames didn't even hit the side of the chat box before the next lines jolted it upwards and out of view. Ann found it hard to keep up with the barrage of messages. Still, she saw enough words of compliment, enough capital letters, and enough exclamations to discern their collective stance perfectly. And it made her smile wider than she had all day because they weren't just complimenting The Phantom Thieves. They were complimenting her and her friends. They were validating all of their efforts.

Ann had to look away from the screen for a moment to collect herself.

'I thought as much,' Ann said whence she had forced her smile to a less suspicious degree and ensured her eyes weren't watery. 'Then it might interest you to know this other little bit of information. Are you ready chat?'

Ann held that suspense there for a moment, observing the eager messages.

'I've already mentioned that Mishima is the creator of The Heart of the Phantom Thieves, but he is also the creator of something else you might know: The Phantom Aficionado Website, otherwise known as the Phan-site.'

FrozenFire: WHAT?!

TrueLord: NO WAY!

GodHandV: :O

AnnFann101: HOLY SHII-

'Ah, yeah, that was me,' Mishima said, reverting to that fidgety, eyes-wandering state. 'Thank you for the nice comments. I'm proud of it. It started small, but these days, it's huge. And I'm not sure how true it is, but I've heard the Phantom Thieves use it all the time. You have no idea how good that feels.'

'I imagine it's amazing,' Ann said.

'It is. But I've already told you that.'

'Many times,' Ann said, allowing a mischievous little smirk onto her lips and flicking her eyes knowingly at Mishima.

'Before we talk more about the thieves themselves, and now that everyone knows what you've already created, do you want to talk about what you are creating?'

MidnightSword: OH?!

PhantomThiefRai: I'm so glad I tuned in today! T_T

Mishima chuckled.

'Of course, yes. I don't mind. I have already revealed as much in an interview, but you can hear it here before it is released. I think. I may get in trouble. Oh well.' Mishima coughed, clearing his throat. He started swaying in his seat like a child at the end of a car trip. 'Because of its popularity and their continued efforts in helping people, I am currently writing a second Phantom Thieves documentary.'

PhantomThiefRai: LET'S GOOOOOO!

All-Hail-LL: More Phantom Thieves content? I'm not complaining!

JackBros123: MISHIMA: THE PEOPLE'S HERO!

TheGhostlyMaiden: Yeees! Milk that shit!

DynamiteKitten142: Adsfpsid[aosidn!1!

DynamiteKitten142: What is it gonna be about?! The EMMA incident? Or the one last year?

Mishima chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

'I can't fully disclose that information, Dynamite, but I think that this documentary will be a little closer to home. The grandiose of the Phantom Thieves' debut year was so high that I want to change it up.

'The EMMA incident would be interesting to talk about, but there are smaller incidents that nobody considers. They help so many people, famous and ordinary, and I want to focus on that aspect of their work, all while doing a character study on the Thieves as a whole. It'll be a nice challenge to investigate their personalities and the like when all I have to go on is what we see in their calling cards, especially that video to Shido. That's the essential gist of it, and I want to include as many interviews with ordinary people they have saved, like you and me, as possible. So, let me know if you have a story to share.'

'As well as sharing your stories, are there any questions you want to ask Mishima about his work? Are there any aspiring writers out there who want some advice?' Ann asked.

'Please, Ann, I'm not that professional a writer. I wrote most of this while finishing my studies, and it just happened to be popular.'

'Here's a question for you. What was your writing process, and how long did it take?'

'Didn't you hear–'

Ann just smiled. Mishima sighed, dropping his head.

'Honestly, I was so passionate about the subject that I couldn't stop myself from writing about it. I wanted to include a lot more than was shown in the documentary. I think that passion was the key factor for me. Of course, the process wasn't easy. I doubted my work often, the idea was rejected, and I had to do a lot of drafting and redrafting. It's a long process, but if you have the passion, I think you'll be ok. As I said, I wrote it throughout my studies, so it pretty much took me from the year after the Phantom Thieves' debut year until now. But yeah, stay as passionate as you can.'

'Thank–'

'Oh, and have people read over your work for you. It doesn't have to be professionals. It can be people whose opinions you trust. I had a lot of people read over my work, including Ann.'

'That's right. Me, Shiho, and even Ryuji read over it.'

A few people in chat started a #releasethemishimacut, and then Ann saw a comment that made her sigh.

Average_Akari: Let me guess, Ren read over it and gave you the best advice?

Mishima jolted back, eyes wide. 'Yes, Akari, how did you know that?' He looked at Ann. 'How did they know that?'

Ann didn't reply. She just watched several small pictures of a chibi Ryuji face-palming fly by – another of the several Yusuke had drawn for the channel.

RyujiSkullington: Y'know, that's actually a pretty cool sticker.

'Ann?'

'They don't know,' she said. 'They're just guessing, probably because every guest I've had has praised Ren. Chat is under the impression that he's either fake or the perfect human being.' Ann tilted her head, looking thoughtful for a moment. 'You can add Ren being an amazing editor to the list, chat.'

'They aren't wrong,' Mishima said. 'Ren is the perfect guy.'

Alibaba: Alright, Mishima. His girlfriend is right next to you, you know.

Ryuji: HAH!

'Huh?!' Mishima shouted, looking at Ann, who couldn't prevent her toothy smile. 'S-Shut up Futaba, Ryuji! He's just a great guy!'

Golden_Guy: I was about to ask what you think of Ren, Mishima, but is he really as perfect as everyone is saying?

Ren_Amamiya: No, I'm not.

'He really is!' Mishima said, and he took over the stream, detailing all of the ways that Ren was the perfect human being. His fanboying resulted in Ann completely losing control of her stream for ten minutes.

Ann agreed with everything Mishima said, of course, and most of it was true, but when her phone buzzed, revealing a message from Ren telling her to 'Please make him stop', she coaxed Mishima back from his rant.

Unfortunately, the chat wasn't finished. An argument between DynamiteKitten and AnnFann101, interspersed among the other chatters, grabbed Ann's attention simply because of how absurd it was.

DynamiteKitten142: I don't care what anyone else says. I believe Ren is real, and from what I've heard, he can't be compared.

AnnFann101: Actually, I've changed my mind. He's fake.

DynamiteKitten142: AnnFann101 Wait, what?! Why?!

AnnFann101: Dynamitekitten142 Well, for 1, Ann is mine. Nobody can have her. And 2, I've figured it out. It's a marketing strategy for her agency. They want it to look like she has a boyfriend, so they'll sell more copies. You know how crazy people are about shipping these days. They're using how obsessed fans get with their celebrity's lives to make a profit.

DynamiteKitten142: AnnFann101 Are you even reading your own words? Ren is part of the Vague conspiracy, is he?

AnnFann101: DynamiteKitten142 Exactly! Nobody is as perfect as that. Not even Ann. I'm sorry, Ann. He's fake, and that's my final view.

DynamiteKitten142: AnnFann101 Ann even said he's real!

AnnFann101: DynamiteKitten142 Marketing strategy!

DynamiteKitten142: AnnFann101 You just don't believe he's real because you want Ann all to yourself.

AnnFann101: DynamiteKitten142 Yes but also no!

Ann threw a palm into her forehead when the back and forth just kept going. Thankfully, Futaba bounced in at the perfect moment. It took her timing them out for the chat to reclaim some sort of order, although many people were still arguing the point. Then, someone raised a completely different point, throwing the discussion into even more chaos.

PhantomThiefRai: Assuming that he is real, how do we think Ren has acquired all these abilities? Was he born like that, or was he trained, perhaps?

DyamiteKitten142: PhantomThiefRai Trained?

PhantomThiefRai: DynamiteKitten142 Who can say, really? He does seem to be quite talented.

'He's real, guys! And he hasn't been trained by anyone!' Ann said, giggling. 'Can we move on? Please?'

'Oh, here's a good way to move on!' Mishima said, pointing to a message.

Ann's giggling ceased immediately. She fixed him with a subtle, warning glare.

'U-Unfortunately, PhantomThiefRai,' Mishima answered, looking cautiously at Ann's expression, 'I don't know who the Phantom Thieves are. Sorry to disappoint you.'

Ann sighed, dropping her hand to her chest where her heart was calming back down from the sudden velocity it had been beating at. And then Ren sent a message into the chat, and it sped right back up.

Ren_Amamiya: Ryuji's a Phantom Thief.

RyujiSkullington: Dammit, Ren!