4/16 – Saturday
Early Morning
Leblanc Attic
Ren woke the next morning to the sound of quiet scratching. He rolled over, squinting at the blurry image of something small, black and fuzzy wiggling across the ground, its thin tail squirming back and forth. "Morgana?" he mumbled, searching around blindly for his glasses.
"Oh, Ren, you're awake!" The fluffy shape turned to face him, plopping back on its haunches with a self-satisfied purr.
Ren managed to finagle his glasses onto his face to better squint at the odd feline. "What are you doing up so early?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I snuck downstairs and nabbed some of Sojiro's spare beans." Morgana began pacing back and forth with hyperactive vigor; Ren spotted a glimpse of something white on the floor behind him. "And I've been working on the next step of the Phantom Thieves' first heist!"
"Beans?" Ren asked.
"Coffee beans!" he mewled excitedly, hopping back and forth in place. "No time for your handsome leader to sleep with so much planning left to do!"
Oh no. Ren massaged the bridge of his nose. "And what happens when our handsome leader passes out mid-infiltration because he didn't sleep the night before?"
Morgana paused, thinking on that. "Well, I'll take a nap in your bag during school hours. Should be plenty of time before we're ready to make our next move." He motioned Ren over with one paw, pulling a sheet of paper across the floor. "Look look look!"
Ren stumbled out of bed and crouched down to squint at the paper. The whole sheet was covered in thin little scratches, ripped and torn, practically falling apart. It was apparent Morgana had attempted to note down something, but the pattern of messy squares weren't exactly clear to interpret. "...a chess board?"
"It's a calendar!" Morgana hopped up on the bed, then up to Ren's shoulder, jabbing an excited paw at the paper. "You see my little face in the top left square? That's today. There's a little yen symbol there too, because we're going to be shopping for supplies. Tonight, tomorrow and Monday have packages to open, that's the little letter symbol."
It was hard to parse anything on the ruined paper, but Ren could sort of see what Morgana was pointing out. "You didn't put anything for Tuesday, and there's...uh...a sun on Wednesday?"
"That's a crown!" Morgana gently batted the side of Ren's face with a paw. "Wednesday is the date of our infiltration, that's when we'll storm through Kamoshida's Palace and nab his Treasure. Tuesday is empty because we should spend that day resting up and doing whatever we need to prepare."
"So what are we doing Thursday?" Ren asked.
The feline on his shoulder giggled. "That's a secret. I'll tell you after we reach the Treasure."
Ren sighed, scratching the back of his head. Well, at least Morgana seemed on top of this whole infiltration prep business. "Sounds like a plan. Now get some sleep."
4/16 – Saturday
Afternoon
Shujin Academy, Classroom
Planner open on his desk next to Morgana's barely-comprehensible "schedule," Mr. Ushimaru's lecture drifting across his distracted mind, Ren almost didn't feel his phone buzzing in his pocket. He wrote it off at first as Morgana simply rolling over in his bag, but remembered after the second buzz that the feline was snoring softly under his desk. Pulling out the phone, he glanced across the group chat without really processing any of the messages in full. Hideout, school roof, Ryuji would be waiting for them.
Ren
Gotcha
Ryuji
yooo ren i thought youd passed out on us there for a sec
Ren
No, just Mona
Ann
So I DID hear someone snoring lol!
Ren
That's our leader
He'll make it to the roof meeting
Ryuji
hed better!
take too long and ill start calling the shots around here
sakamoto for thief leader 2016
Ann
Sorry Ryuji, Mona's still got my vote.
Ryuji
thats what they all say before the crepe bribe arrives on their desk
its a lawless town takamaki
gotta break a few rules to change a few hearts
Ren
This just in, local leader caught embezzling Palace funds for crepe bribes
Ryuji
SLANDER
youll never work in this town again
"Amamiya!" came Ushimaru's thundering voice from the front of the class. Ren glanced up, finger hovering above a dismayed-looking emoji on his phone's keyboard, to see his teacher posed like a major league pitcher seconds after throwing a fastball. Ren ducked to the right on instinct, as a object whistled through the air his head had just stopped occupying. The loud crack of impact echoed through the quiet room as the projectile smashed full speed into the locker behind Ren. Mr Ushimaru glared at him, grabbing another piece of chalk from the board – Ren's body tensed, ready to dodge again – but he simply turned back around and continued writing.
Ren's gaze returned to his planner and notes, trying his best to ignore the surprised whispers of his peers. On a whim, he glanced up to see Ann peering at him over her shoulder. She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up, mouthing the words: "Nice dodge."
4/16 – Saturday
After School
Shujin Academy, Rooftop
Ann had arrived to their meeting early, Ren opened the rooftop door to see her chewing on the end of a pencil while staring at her notebook. She didn't even look up when he took the seat across from her.
"Ryuji's still not here?" Ren asked.
She shook her head.
He paused, waiting for her to speak. After she didn't, he slipped his bag off his shoulder and gently placed it on the table. "Are you alright?"
Ann closed her notebook. "Yeah. Well, not really, I guess. Maybe?" She sighed. "I keep bouncing back between tired and angry. It was hard to get out of bed this morning, and I keep spacing out in class. But then I think about Shiho and I just..." Her voice caught and she cleared her throat. "I just wanna storm up to that asshole's office and kick his teeth in."
Ren nodded. "We're going to change his heart." After a moment of thought, he added: "You're not in this alone."
"Yeah," Ann said with a smile, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, "I know. But, thank you."
"Of course–"
Ryuji shoved his way through the door onto the rooftop, half-limping to the table, grumbling under his breath. "...ing stairs, bad enough with Kawakami jumping down my throat..."
"You're late," Ann chided playfully, punctuating her accusation by pointing at him with her pencil. "I thought you said you were going to wait for us, not the other way around."
"Yeah yeah," Ryuji pulled up a chair and dropped into it, "Kawakami taught me texting in class and she kept me late, gave me one hell of a lecture. Like I didn't just get out of detention with her half a damn week ago. Teachers, man." He swiveled over, one arm on the chair's back and both legs off the side. "But I'm here now! Let's head into the Palace and take the bastard down!"
Ann looked like she was about to respond before Ren's bag squirmed and fell over, Morgana spilling out the top along with a handful of school supplies. He yawned, getting to his feet and stretching, almost slipping on a pencil. "We're not–" He yawned again and shook his whole body off. "Not ready to head into the Palace yet."
"Why not?" Ryuji said. "We've all got Personas now. Should be cake from here on out."
"It's not that simple." Morgana licked his paw and then ran it across his matted, bedhead-like fur. "The Palace's security almost got the better of us yesterday. Cognitive defenses are only going to get more common and more dangerous. We need to be prepared."
"What did you have in mind?" Ann asked.
Morgana chuckled. "First off, we'll need some better equipment. Ryuji actually needs a weapon, for one." He threw a glance towards Ren. Right, the cognitive weapons. "We could use some more firearms too. Not real ones, toy replicas will do."
"I could head back to the shop I got that pistol from, I guess," Ryuji said. "It doesn't have whips or nothing, but I think it was pretty stocked."
"That's worth a look," Morgana said. "Don't buy anything without me though, you'll want someone with my experienced eye."
Ryuji nodded, but still mumbled "experienced shut-eye more like."
Morgana sent him a glare, but continued anyway. "We need to stock up on food, drinks and medicine too. If we have any hope of reaching Kamoshida's Treasure before his Palace's defenses can react, we'll need some fuel. Lady Ann, can I leave the snacks to you?"
"It might take me a few days," Ann said, quietly.
"Of course!" Morgana said. "Take your time, we're not heading back to the Palace until Wednesday." Ann nodded, looking visibly relieved. "Ren and I will take care of getting medicine today."
This was news to Ren. "We will?"
Morgana sighed. "Just go along with it. I can't exactly negotiate on my own like this, can I?" He vaguely gestured to his very feline face with one paw. Fair point. Ren nodded. "Ryuji, send Ren the coordinates for the shop, we can meet there tomorrow. Monday and Tuesday, you should all rest as much as you can. Then, this Wednesday, we head into the Palace and find Kamoshida's Treasure. Any objections?"
The rooftop was silent, an air of quiet readiness spread across the Phantom Thieves.
4/16 – Saturday
After School
Yongen Jaya, Takemi Medical Clinic
The heavily conditioned air of the clinic was a stark contrast to the windless warmth outside. The smell hit Ren as soon as he closed the door, some lingering scent of chemicals and...ink? It was like the inside of a printer, amplified twentyfold and purified by an air conditioning unit put on full blast. Ren could feel Morgana tucking himself further into the bag, away from the cold.
"Is this your first visit?" came a woman's chill voice from behind the reception window. Ren took a few steps farther into the clinic, glancing past the glass. He had expected some sort of chipper receptionist, but the woman who stared him back was pale and grim. She had a lab coat on over a simple black dress, both a studded choker and a bullet-charm necklace hanging around her neck, short dark hair with messily-cut bangs, bags under her eyes covered by thick eyeshadow. A badge clipped to the front of her shirt read: Doctor Takemi. She was busy clacking away, entering information into an old computer, but she took a moment to look Ren's way, raising an eyebrow.
"It is," Ren said, before realizing that wasn't much of an explanation. "I just moved here."
The woman spun away from the computer to face Ren. "What brings you here today, Ren?"
At her cold gaze, any story he had thought to concoct beforehand vanished completely from his mind. "I've been feeling lethargic," he said, slowly. "And I've been having weird dreams. Uh, nightmares sorta? Waking up tired, feeling sore and achy for no reason. Stuff like that."
Ren mentally smacked himself in the face for his noncommittal tone, but the woman didn't look particularly skeptical. She just nodded, pulling out a paperwok clipboard from beneath the desk. "Head to the exam room and fill this out. I'll be there in a few minutes."
Ren had practically finished filling in a mostly accurate – albeit pessimistic – report of his current health when the woman entered.
"Thanks for waiting, " she said. "Are you almost done?" He nodded, quickly scribbling down the last few characters and handing her the clipboard. She took it and sat in the chair across from him, spinning slightly back and forth as she skimmed across the paperwork. "You're a transfer student. You said you just moved to Yongen-Jaya?"
Ren nodded. "Earlier this week."
The doctor hummed something to herself, then reached over and typed something into the computer nearby. "The exhaustion and nightmares sound like acute fatigue. High school is generally stressful enough even without the added pressure of adjusting to a new environment. It'll most likely fade as you get more comfortable at..." She glanced down at the paperwork. "Shujin. Until then, I'll write you up for something to help you sleep."
Shit. Not like they could pop sleeping pills in the Palace. "What about the soreness?" he asked.
"Even if you're technically sleeping through the night," she replied, "continual nightmares means your body can't rest and heal itself properly. That's probably where your soreness is coming from." She opened a drawer and pulled out a small piece of blue paper, quickly writing something on it – no doubt a prescription. "Come see me again in a week if you're still having issues, and I'll do a more thorough examination."
"I want painkillers," Ren blurted out.
The woman's pen stopped on the page. Ren's heart pounded in his chest. She looked up at him, brown eyes cold and sharp, like she saw right through him. "Painkillers, huh?" The doctor sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Figures." She stood, putting the clipboard down on her desk and plucking a tool from a wall-mounted stand. "Head up, back straight, don't move."
Ren complied, trying to gulp down the anxiety, keep his hands steady on his lap.
The doctor bent down in front of him, taking a gentle hold of Ren's head and shining a small light into his eye. She hummed to herself and moved to the other eye, similarly examining it. Then, she pressed two chill fingers against the side of his neck. "Well," she said, putting the tool back and sitting down again, "I don't think you're lying about the exhaustion. Or the stress, for that matter." The woman twirled her pen between two fingers. "Why the pills? I already told you, they won't fix your insomnia."
Ren tried to think of a response, anything he could reasonably justify, but the only thing that popped into his head was "I've got a friend with a bad leg." Damnit. Idiot. He felt an immediate wave of guilt for using Ryuji as an excuse, like some sort of prop for his own schemes.
She raised an eyebrow. "And why didn't your friend come in themselves?"
"He...I don't know." Ren looked down, unable to meet the doctor's skeptical gaze. "He hates talking about it. I see him in pain almost every day, but he shrugs it off when I ask. I think he feels...guilty, or ashamed, or something. He doesn't want anyone else to worry about it. I don't know if he can even afford treatment."
"Hm." The tap tap tap of her fingers against the keyboard. "So you heard the rumors about me, and came in trying to use your stress to get some painkillers for your friend."
Rumors? Screw it, sure. Ren nodded.
She sighed, though there was something almost like a laugh in the sound. "Tell you what, kid." There was the sound of paper crumpling and a drawer opening. "This is my private practice. All the medicine I dispense is of my own design. I've got something that should be able to clear up some of the soreness from your fatigue, and if you choose to share that with your friend..." She trailed off, chuckling quietly. "Well, that's none of my business. It's not particularly strong medicine, but it might help."
Ren blinked, finally looking back up at the doctor, who seemed in her own world, writing and typing away in turn. "Thank you," he said.
If she heard him, she chose not to answer. "It's your job to take care of yourself. I'm responsible for your health only insofar that what I prescribe doesn't cause you harm. If it helps your exhaustion, I'll make sure I keep some in stock for you. If it doesn't or you still get nightmares, come back in a week and we can get to work on your sleep, that should take care of a lot."
"But," she addressed him directly now, "if you're looking for anything stronger than this? Your friend needs to come in himself. I'll take a look at his leg, see what I can do about finding something that'll work for him. a deal?"
Well, that went far better than expected. Ren nodded. "Deal."
The woman smiled. "Good." She stood, pushing her chair in and rooting around something behind the far side of the desk. "You seem like an earnest kid, I'll trust you for now on this." She pulled out a small orange-glass bottle full of tiny pills, shook it once and then handed it to him. "That'll be five thousand yen."
4/16 – Saturday
Evening
Leblanc
Ryuji
checked out the model gun shop today
couldnt stay long cause the guy there was giving me a really mean look
but i think i found some stuff we could use
we all still on for tomorrow?
Ren
Thumbs up
Ann
Can't, sorry.
Shiho called, I'm going to keep her company.
Ryuji
gotcha gotcha
me n ren will case the joint no prob
take care of your girl!
Ann
Lol yeah, will do.
Good luck guys, get an extra big haul for me!
Ren
We'll keep you updated
Ann
Thanks Ren.
Talk to you more tomorrow.
Ren
Ciao
Ryuji
ciao
"Are you going to come inside?" Sojiro asked. "Or are you just going to keep standing in the doorway staring at your phone?"
"Sorry," Ren said. He closed the door behind him, shoving his phone back in his pocket, the sudden motion nearly sending Morgana – who had been perched on his shoulder – tumbling off.
"Watch it!" his feline friend hissed.
"Sorry," he said again, reaching up to gently scritch behind Morgana's ears. The not-a-cat grumbled, but leaned into Ren's fingers. He could feel a faint purr radiating into his shoulder.
"You carried that cat around all day?" Sojiro asked, chuckling between words. "I didn't think Shujin let students bring their pets to school."
Ren shrugged.
Sojiro squinted at him. "If you get in trouble for it, that falls back on me, you know that right?"
Ren nodded. "I know."
The man sighed. "Well, as long as you're clear. Cafe's still open, so head on upstairs. I'll be closing up soon."
"Okay," he said.
Morgana leapt off Ren's shoulder as soon as he finished climbing the stairs, then set on pacing back and forth excitedly on top of the attic table. "Don't forget, we've got another parcel to open."
As if he could have forgotten. Another parcel meant another link in the chain of Oxymoron's bullshit parade. Ren pulled the 4/16 parcel out from its hiding place and sat down on his bed to break the seal. After upending it, two objects fell out: A small metal trinket and another folded piece of paper. "It's not much."
Morgana quickly dashed over to the bed and hopped up. "Looks like some sort of...metal lizard?"
Ren picked the green metal thing up and turned it over between his fingers. It was barely two inches across and, just as Morgana said, resembled a little green lizard. "It's a pin." He popped the end off and stuck it to the collar of his uniform.
"Oh," Morgana said, doing a very bad job of hiding his disappointment. "What about the paper? Is it another letter?"
"I don't think so." He picked it up and unfolded it. Moments later, a single loud note of laughter popped out of him like a bullet, making Morgana jump.
"What!? What is it?"
Ren, still snickering, turned the paper around so his friend could read it. "Congratulations Morgana," he said, "you're now my certified therapy cat."
Morgana blinked at the certificate, then at Ren, then back at the certificate. "...I'm your what?"
"It means I'm allowed to bring you with me to school. And other places that wouldn't allow pets."
Morgana wrinkled his nose, probably at being called a pet. "Hm. Well, I guess that is pretty useful. I don't have to hide in your bag all the time now, right?"
Ren nodded. "You should still stay close. Wouldn't make much sense for my therapy cat to be wandering around getting into trouble." Beyond the utility of that role, the thought of Morgana – his little, fluffy friend – as emotional support? It made a strange sort of sense.
"I suppose I can live with that." Morgana plopped back on his haunches, sighing. "I was expecting something more exciting."
"Another parcel tomorrow," Ren said, "maybe that one will have something cool inside."
"Yeah, maybe." Morgana yawned. "Tired. Big day tomorrow. Sleep now."
4/17 – Sunday
Daytime
Untouchable
The airsoft shop had only one visible employee – a middle aged man with grey sideburns, a trenchcoat and bright yellow ear-protectors tucked around his grey striped cap – but Ren could feel the man's eyes following him and Ryuji around the entire store. The pressure he exerted into that tiny space was almost overwhelming.
Ryuji picked up a long cardboard box with plain black text printed across one side: a make, model and year. "Do you think Ann would want something like this?"
Ren leaned over to squint at the faint picture of a shotgun on the box. "Seems more your style, Ryuji."
He thought about it for a moment, then grinned. "Yeah, you're probably right." Chancing a glance at the probably-owner, Ryuji leaned in to whisper: "That guy probably has some pretty sweet stuff behind the counter, yeah?"
"You think?" There were some very real-looking guns hung on the back wall behind the man, far better quality than anything they'd seen on the shelves. "Probably should just ask him for what we want then." Ryuji nodded, looking not unlike he had a bad stomach ache, clearly not looking forward to having to talk to someone that intimidating. Takemi's face popped into Ren's head and he started. "Ryuji, wait, actually..."
Ryuji blinked. "What?"
Ren quickly pulled out his phone and sent the Takemi Clinic's address to Ryuji. "There's a doctor in Yongen-Jaya who asked me to stop by and pick up some more medicine today. Could you go grab it for me?"
He took a moment to consider that, then nodded, visibly relieved by the far less stressful request. "Yeah, no problem."
"Just go in and ask for an examination," Ren said. "Tell her I sent you."
"I gotcha, leave it to me." Ryuji patted Ren on the shoulder as he left. "Get me something cool, yeah?"
"Absolutely," Ren said.
"Pretty clever, Ren," Morgana said from inside his bag, once Ryuji had gone. "It's going to be much easier to give Ryuji and Ann the weapons from the parcel, now that they don't know what we bought here."
Oh. Right, duh. Cover story. Good thing Morgana was around to remember this stuff for him. Taking a deep breath, Ren approached the counter.
"Empty handed?" the man asked, putting down a newspaper to stare at Ren. "Need help finding something, kid?"
"Yes," Ren said, clearing the anxiety out of his throat. "I'm looking for a pistol, a shotgun and..." A moment of thought. "...a submachine gun." The words flowed out of him without a second though, specifications flying off his tongue before his brain could actually approve any of it. "They need to be light enough to carry around for a few hours, but none of that plastic crap. And nothing with obvious gas canisters either. A few moving parts would be better than stiff, but we won't be actually firing it so we don't need it to actually 'work.' If you have a few extra clips we can use for faster reload, I'll take those too."
The man stared at him for a few tense seconds, then burst out laughing. "Hell of a taste, huh kid?" He wiped a tear from his eye, chuckling. "Alright, alright. I might have what you're looking for. Tell me though, if you aren't firing them, then why do you need extra clips?"
"Helps the effect," Ren said, his mind tearing through potential explanations as fast as it could. "My friend's a model, and we're putting together a shoot." Didn't make Ren feel much better, but at least now Ryuji wasn't the only Thief he'd used as a prop to get his hands on supplies.
The man laughed again. "A shoot, huh? Does this model friend of yours have a name?"
"Confidential," Ren replied.
"Alright, alright." He put his hands up, feigning surrender. "I'll take a look in the back. Give me a few and I'll get you what you need." The man stood, but froze. Something on Ren's uniform must have caught his eye, because he stared at the boy's clothes with an odd expression on his face. "That's a cool-looking pin you've got there," he said, quietly.
Ren had completely forgotten about the gecko pin. His hand moved to his collar, fingers tracing the chill metal. "It was a gift," he said.
The man hummed a short note, rubbing his neck. As he took his hand away, Ren noticed a blotch of black against his tan skin. Some sort of tattoo. In fact, it looked rather like a gecko itself. "You're a high school student, right? Guns like the ones you want don't come cheap. But I'll tell you what: throw in the pin and I'll give you everything you asked for, free of charge."
"No thanks." Ren stared down the man with as much courage as he could muster. He could barely make eye contact, but he still refused to back down, even as his heart slammed against his ribs in a frantic panic. "I'm not just giving this away. I told you, it was a gift."
The man didn't say anything for a few seconds. "I can respect that. Wait here." The man slipped into the back room.
Ren let out a long, unsteady breath. He could feel Morgana poke his little head out of his bag. "You okay?" A tiny paw pressed against his cheek.
Ren nodded. "Yeah. Thank you."
4/17 – Sunday
Evening
Leblanc Attic
After fielding a few confused and irritated texts from Ryuji – who wasn't sure why Ren had sent him to get a full physical from, as he stated, "some creepy goth chick" – and a heads up that it'd take Takemi a day before the medication would be ready, Ren was about ready to pass out. Not like Morgana would let him though.
"Parcel," the not-a-cat said, putting as much emphasis on the one word as he could.
"Okay, okay," replied Ren. He took the 4/17 parcel and put it down on the bed next to Morgana. "I'm gonna change. Open it for me?"
Morgana looked down at the parcel, and then at his own paws, then up at Ren. "Fine," he grumbled, and set to work at the adhesive with one claw.
Ren pet Mona's head a few times before grabbing his pajamas and heading downstairs. He was surprised to see Sojiro still there, counting up the money in the register, hat under one arm.
"Oh, hey," he said, noticing Ren watching him from the stairs. "We're closed up, so you've got free rein of the place till tomorrow morning. In case you want to study, or something."
Ren walked over, putting his pajamas on one of the tables and sitting down at the counter. "Could I ask you a question, actually?"
Sojiro looked at him a little oddly. "Sure. Shoot."
"Have you ever...had to keep secrets from your friends?"
Sojiro considered that. "Important secrets?" he asked.
Ren rubbed the back of his head. It was hard to say. The parcels were probably very important, but it might not end up feeling that way to Ryuji and Ann. Lying about them to Takemi and the man at Untouchable was weighing far heavier on him, but that might not bother them either. "I'm not sure. If I ask them if it's important, I'd have to tell them what those secrets are."
The Leblanc owner chuckled at that. "Fair enough." He put down a stack of yen bills and scratched his chin. "Sure I have. I'm pretty sure everyone has, at some point or other. Are you asking me for advice or something?"
Ren nodded. "Please."
Sojiro looked almost taken aback by Ren's forwardness, but seemed to genuinely take a moment to think of a good answer. "You shouldn't lie to your friends. That doesn't mean you have to trust them–"
"I trust them," Ren said.
"...that doesn't mean you have to trust them with everything," Sojiro finished, giving Ren a quick 'don't interrupt me, kid' sort of look. Ren clamped his mouth shut. "I'm sure there's stuff they aren't telling you either. Everyone has secrets. But if you trust 'em, then say it's something you're not comfortable sharing yet. Good friends will understand that."
Ren nodded slowly. He'd been too caught up with guilt to actually consider that Ryuji and Ann had their own secrets, their own truths they weren't comfortable sharing yet. Did he really trust them with so much, but fear they'd strongarm past his boundaries if he dared to speak them? "Thank you."
"Yeah, yeah." Despite the man's dismissive tone, Ren spied the hint of a smile on his face.
The parcel had been shredded and its scraps scattered across Ren's bed, much to his dismay. Obviously, Morgana had grown too impatient with the actual seal and taken to the paper with his claws, tearing the thing into pieces. The not-a-cat sat there on his haunches, looking quite proud of himself, in front of a small pile of what looked like metal scrap. "That parcel was no match for me!" he said, chin up, a feline epitome of confidence.
"I can see that," Ren said, gathering up the bits of paper. He could have chastised the not-a-cat, but he didn't feel much like raining on Morgana's parade. "Anything interesting inside?"
"See for yourself," Morgana said, pushing a folded piece of yellow paper towards Ren.
He picked it up and unfolded it. It looked like...instructions? A very well-sketched picture, two angles of a cylindical device, with thin lines connected to various terms: "Clasp (Tin)," "Spring (Steel)," "1x1x0.1mm Sheet (Aluminum)," "1ml Mercury." Ren glanced at Morgana. "What is this, exactly?"
"An excellent opportunity for me to teach you how to build your first infiltration tool!" Morgana mewled excitedly, poking at the pile with his paw. "They've given us a blueprint and materials necessary to build it. Plus, to my estimate, some extra materials to practice on first."
Ren took another look at the blueprint. Whatever this tool was, it wasn't named. Its purpose wasn't exactly clear at a glance either. The exhaustion he'd felt while climbing the stairs back up to the attic was gone now, replaced with curious buzz of discovery. "Guess it's a good thing I'm free tonight."
"Clear off that desk!" Morgana commanded, bouncing in place on Ren's bed. "There's no time to waste!"
An hour and a half later, Ren leaned back in the desk chair and let out a long, exhausted sigh. He'd successfully managed to pinch each and every one of his fingers between the tiny parts of the tool in the process of its construction. His eyes were blurred over from the prolonged squinting and his back ached from the long time spent bent over, tinkering away. "Is that it?" he asked.
Morgana paced around the metal device, glancing between it and the blueprint resting against the back of the desk. "Looks like it. You did a great job for your first time, I'm impressed."
He wiped some sweat off his brow and smiled. "I had a good teacher." He scratched behind Morgana's ears.
"Stop it," the feline grumbled, but nevertheless leaned into his touch with a quiet purr.
Ren picked up the tool and turned it over in his hands, examining it. The cylindrical shape was a single thin and flexible piece of aluminum held in place by a series of makeshit staples, its many delicate mechanical parts hidden inside. At one end, Ren had bent a dozen ends of thick steel wire into a series of tiny levers. And at the other, retractable metal arms connected to those levers, each with a unique serration or bend to them. "Any ideas what this is supposd to do?"
Morgana thought about it a moment, then gave a whole-body shrug. "Maybe some sort of weapon," he said.
Ren reached for one of the steel wire levers, but decided against it when his hand started to shake. "I'll test it when we're in the Palace," he replied. "Too tired."
Mona yawned. "Me too. Good work today Ren."
Ren nodded, reaching over and flipping the light off. He slipped underneath his covers and closed his eyes, the vivid image of tweezers and metal bits superimposed behind his eyelids. Feeling Morgana hop onto the bed, he scooted over to make room for the feline and winced as something sharp and cold pressed into his back. Something metal. Probably another bit of scrap 'material' that Morgana had accidentally knocked aside when shredding the parcel open.
Ren felt around for a moment, finding the scrap piece and running his thumb across its surface. No, that didn't feel like scrap. He could feel a small thin chain, like a necklace, and a piece of loose, smooth metal. There was something etched across that piece, he could feel the letters easily. Using his phone as a light, he squinted at what he now saw to be a dog-tag necklace. One one side of the tag: "Dr Takemi, Tae." On the other: "The Plague."
4/18 – Monday
After School
Takemi Medical Clinic
"Do people call you the Plague?" Ren asked. He stared at the ceiling, lying back on the examination table and listening to Doctor Takemi tap away at her computer. It had taken him nearly an hour to work up the courage to ask, staying silent during all her tests. She'd insisted on giving him a physical before any more meds, he hadn't questioned her on the reason.
The sound of Takemi's typing stalled for a moment, then continued. "Where did you hear that name?" she asked.
Ren considered his response carefully. "Same place I heard the rumors about your medicine." Might as well stick to the same lie.
She sighed. "It's an old name. Back from my time in the JDF."
JDF...Japan Defense Force. The back-alley pharmacist had served in the military? The thought of the gaunt woman in a uniform didn't fit at all. "I didn't know you were a soldier," he said.
"I wasn't." Takemi's cold hands against his arm caused Ren to jump. "I'm going to draw some blood now." He nodded, and did his best to keep his breath steady as she pushed the needle into his vein. "I served as a military doctor for five years, from college right to stitching up soldiers. I couldn't afford to get a doctorate on my own, so it just made sense."
Her hands were completely still as she talked, Takemi didn't seem to break concentration at all. "I started working on my own medicine then, none of the stuff we got from the government ever worked like it should. That's where 'Plague' came from, those brave soldiers so frightened of a little doctor with her potions and tinctures." She laughed quietly, carefully pulling the needle out and pressing some gauze against the wound, wrapping a small length of medical adhesive around Ren's arm. "And the name popped up again, a year ago."
An awfully specific time frame. "What happened a year ago?" Ren prompted.
"One of my patients died from medicine I gave them," Takemi said, plainly. She wheeled back to her desk, and Ren once again heard the quiet clack of her fingers against the keyboard. "You'll probably be a bit lightheaded for the next hour or two, make sure to stay hydrated. You're not allergic to raisins, are you?"
"I'm not," Ren replied, slowly and carefully sitting up. "Did you leave the military because your patient died?"
"It wasn't a military patient," she replied. She opened up a desk drawer and pulled out a small plastic baggie full of cookies. "Here, eat up." Takemi handed one to Ren.
"Then why–" he started.
"You sure ask a lot of questions about my personal life," she said, her tone low. An unspoken warning not to pry further.
Ren took a bite of the cookie instead of speaking again. It was stale.
Takemi let out a long breath through her nose, putting the plastic baggie back and taking a white paper bag from the drawer before closing it. "Painkillers for your friend. It should help with your soreness too, but I need to run a few tests on your blood to make sure you aren't likely to have a bad reaction to it. I'll text you tomorrow with the results. If either of you start having heart palpitations, prolonged lightheadedness, lapse in concentration or intense nausea, let me know immediately and I'll adjust the medication."
"Thank you," Ren said, and took the bag. "Can I ask you one more question, please?"
Doctor Takemi crossed her legs, her eyes cold and steady, saying nothing but indicating with one hand to continue.
"If a patient died after you gave them medication you made," Ren said, choosing his words carefully, "are you sure it was the medication that killed them? They must have been already suffering from something, how are you so sure it was your medicine?" He raised the bag of pills. "I mean, it would put my mind at ease, if that's alright."
Takemi didn't reply for an agonizingly long few seconds. "Have you ever heard of Crawford-Ende's Disease?" Ren shook his head. "Figures. It's a very rare disorder, less than one in a million people suffer from it. It has a slow progression, it usually takes years before someone with that disease even notices they're sick, even longer before it takes their life." She sighed, spinning a pen between two fingers. "I was working on a treatment plan to combat Crawford-Ende's, slow it to the point that the patient's body could recover on its own. But the patient in our first trial of that treatment plan had an intense reaction, and died as a result."
"I'm sorry," Ren said.
"I wasn't the only person working on that treatment, and I didn't administer it myself," Takemi continued. "For your anxiety's sake, you and your friend aren't dealing with anything nearly that uncommon. Otherwise, maybe you would need to fear for your life with me." Despite the brevity in her tone, Ren could see something cold in her eyes, something mourning. "That'll be seven thousand yen."
4/19 – Tuesday
After School
Shujin Academy, Courtyard
Ren was midway through changing into his gym clothes in the courtyard bathroom when his phone buzzed itself off the side of the sink. Pants around his ankles, he practically dove to catch it before it hit the floor. Letting out a relieved sigh, he unlocked and quickly skimmed the text.
Takemi
I finished testing your blood.
No issues, feel free to start taking the painkillers as-needed.
Check in with me again next week.
Ren
Thumbs up
Well, that couldn't have come at a more convenient time. Ren quickly finished changing and opened the door to see Ryuji waiting for him, himself in a white exercise shirt and bright red shorts. "Took you long enough, I almost thought you fell in or something."
Ren snickered. "Gross." He gave a quick glance across the courtyard – empty – before opening his bag. "Hey Morgana, can pass me the orange bottle?" A moment of rummaging, then a small black paw popped out holding a bottle of loose tablets. "Thanks."
"Whatcha got there?" Ryuji asked, stretching out both arms in turn.
"Painkillers, sorta," Ren replied. "It's like...supposed to make our muscles relax and heal faster? And clear up lactic acid, I think." Most of the terms Takemi had written on his prescription were incomprehensible, but he at least recognized some of them.
"And you're popping one now? We haven't even started training yet!"
Ren shrugged and tossed one of the blue-ish green tablets into his mouth, taking a swig of his water bottle to swallow the thing. "I did a lot of cleaning last night, I'm still pretty sore from that." Morgana had, frankly, acted more like a drill sergeant than a cat the previous evening, riding Ren around while barking – or meowing? – orders. "You want one?" He offered the bottle to Ryuji.
The blond looked down at the tablets, then up to Ren, then back down. He took the bottle, but held it up, squinting at the label. "Takemedic-A/LL? Wait, did you get this stuff from that weird goth chick you sent me to the other day?"
Ren felt a pang of guilt gently caress his spine. "Yeah. If it makes you feel any better, she gave me a full physical too."
Ryuji snorted. "What the fuck is up with her?"
"She wanted to make sure the meds would actually work," he replied. "I had to tell her that you needed painkillers, in order to get something strong enough to use. She said she wouldn't prescribe any unless you came in yourself." There it was. Not a confession, but the truth.
Ryuji took a moment to think about that. "I don't get it, why would–" Realization dawned across his face like the sun in the east. "Oh. You told her about my leg, right?"
Ren nodded. He couldn't look Ryuji in the eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Well, shit, it's no skin off my back." Ren's gaze shot up to his friend. Ryuji was smiling, running a hand through his own blonde hair. "Wish you would have asked me first though."
"You're not mad?" Ren asked, quietly.
"I mean, it kinda sucks that you didn't tell me until now, yeah. But I'm not mad. Ren, you're like, the one guy I feel like I can really trust right now." He shoved his hands in his pockets, eyes wandering. Bashful was honestly an adorable look for the jock. "I dragged you along to get back at Kamoshida and you just went along with it. I didn't even think about how you felt, but you still stood up for me. After all we've been through, I'd be a major asshole to lose my shit about you going behind my back just to help me." He threw a little glance, a little smile, towards Ren. "You risked your life for me, man. That's not nothing."
"You've risked yours for me too," Ren said.
Ryuji chuckled. "Yeah, but you started it." He popped one of the pills in his mouth and grabbed Ren's water bottle to wash it down. "Alright, you ready to start training?"
Ren nodded, smiling. By that time tomorrow, they'd be in the Palace. But right here, right now, they ran together across the soft grass. Wind in their face and sweat down their back. No thieves. Just boys.
