CONTENT WARNING: This chapter contains mentions of sexual and physical abuse and attempted suicide. While not graphic, this content still may be difficult or upsetting to read, so please take breaks or skip sections as needed. Stay safe.
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Early Morning
Cafe Leblanc, Attic
The Trickster hardly needed an alarm clock, his cat plopping down on his chest was enough of a wake up call. He opened his eyes to the cold light pouring in through the window. Each exhale sent billows of fog through the frigid air, the extra layers of blankets weighed down on him almost more than the cat.
"You didn't sleep that much last night, did you?" his cat asked.
The Trickster shook his head. "Couldn't manage to. Tonight's the moment of truth, time to see if all this actually paid off at all. Not like I can relax, knowing that much is at stake."
"Yeah," his cat said. He shifted, digging his claws into the blankets as he thought. "What happens if we fail? We're not exactly trying something easy here, you know."
"I know," he said. "I think our friend – or guide or whatever she is – just gives up on us. Tries again with some other Ren, some other █████. Another group of suckers."
The feline's fur ruffled. "That's not fair! We worked so hard and we're just going to get replaced?"
The Trickster stared up at the ceiling. "An unfair game," he said. "From the beginning, we've been tugged around by the whims of others."
"Does that mean it's all been for nothing then?" His cat plopped down on his stomach, letting out a sad huff of air.
The Trickster reached over and scratched behind his cat's ears. "I don't think so. Even if we forget, if we have to start over again, we've paved an easier road for who comes next."
"Hrmn." He leaned into the Trickster's fingers. "That sounds okay to me, I think."
With his free hand, he reached to his bedside table. His fingers closed around cold metal, a thick grey key chilled by overnight exposure to the winter air. Even so, it felt warm to the touch, pulsing like a beating heart. "Let's go take the world."
5/1 – Monday
After School
Yogen-Jaya, Batting Cages
Crack.
The aluminum bat rang with the impact, shuddering in Ryuji's grip. In Ren's eyes, the blond was the epitome of a Major League batter, bat hanging in a loose follow-through in his left hand. He heard Ryuji grimace when the ball smacked into the net just underneath the "Home Run" sign.
"Figures that you'd be good with a bat," Ren said.
"That's five," Ryuji said. "Guess we switch?" He walked back behind the safety net and offered the bat to Ren. "You sure you're okay with paying for this?"
Ren nodded and took the bat. "Sojiro gave me some pocket cash," he said. Not a lie, the cafe owner had paid him a few hundred yen for his work, but he was absolutely planning on blowing more than that. "Ramen after this?"
Ryuji snorted. "For real? A'ight, but best batter of us two is gonna buy."
"Deal," Ren said. He walked up to the mock home plate, tapped the bat on the ground a few times, and braced for the pitch. "You got three hits, right?"
"Yep."
The automatic pitcher wound up, click, click, click. Then a blur of white, and Ren swung.
Clink.
It wasn't nearly as satisfying a sound, the bat must have grazed underneath. He barely saw the ball whirl, hanging in midair for a brief few seconds, then falling and bouncing across the dirt.
"That's half a point," called Ryuji from behind the net.
"Who's counting?" Ren said, getting back into position for the next ball. Click, click, click. A blur of white. Ren grit his teeth and swung.
CRACK.
His eyes blurred with the effort of the swing, sending the bat skittering out of his hands across the dirt. Ren shook his head, blinking back to cognizance, just as a bell rang an incredibly loud chime from the far wall. He glanced up to see the Home Run sign, its LED lights blinking on and off excitedly. Ren turned back to Ryuji. "Call that two points?"
The boy closed his gaping jaw. "Yeah, sounds fair."
Ren snickered at his expression. "Hey, uh, do you think..." He trailed off. Was he forgetting something? Click, click, click. A ball clipped the air next to his face and smacked into the net. He yelped.
Ryuji burst out laughing. "Strike one, dude!"
Ren dove for the bat, which had playfully rolled itself against the leftmost wall of the batting cage. Click, click, click. Ball met net at some tens of miles per hour.
"Strike two!"
And a stumbling scramble back to the plate, right back to center just as the pitcher wound up another fastball. Click, click, click. Ren didn't have time to swing back, barely a second to brace himself, so he just grabbed the bat's head with his right hand and thrust the rod horizontally between himself and the incoming projectile.
Thunk.
The ball arced up and veered left, like a drunk bird, then face-planted directly into the dirt. It didn't even bounce, just pathetically rolled a few more inches.
"Guess that's a foul?" Ryuji said.
Ren sighed and dropped the end of the bat into the dirt, holding it loosely in one hand. "Sure," he replied. After a moment to catch his breath, he turned back to the dugout. "Another half point makes three."
Ryuji smirked and stood. "A'ight, a'ight, lemme show you how it's done." He cracked his neck and took the bat from Ren.
Ren's hand lingered on the grip, on the tips of Ryuji's fingers. Then he took his place behind the net, plopping back down on the too-hard wooden bench.
"Yo Ren," Ryuji said, bracing for the pitch, "you got something on your mind?"
Yes. Obviously, he did. More than the blond might have expected, considering the disparity between their perspectives, considering the parcels tucked carefully under the floorboard in Ren's room. "Tomorrow's our deadline. If Kamoshida's cognition doesn't change by then, we're both expelled."
Ryuji was quiet for a moment. Click, click, click.
Crack.
"Yeah, I know." He glanced over his shoulder at Ren. "You think something went wrong in the Palace? That his mind won't change or whatever?"
Something like familiar, haunting laughter rang in Ren's ears. "No, I think it will. But that doesn't mean he'll grow the hell up before tomorrow. Maybe we were just too late."
Click, click, click. Ryuji swung low and the ball hit net. "So guess us becoming Phantom Thieves won't mean a whole lot then."
"It means something to Ann," Ren replied. "And Mishima, Shiho. Everyone else we stopped him from hurting anymore."
"Yeah, guess you're right." Crack. "What'll happen to the Phantom Thieves if we do get expelled though?"
Ren interlocked his fingers and stared at the dirt. "I know Ann won't want to give up. Morgana too. I dunno how you feel though."
"Shit, well, there's a public school bout an hour drive away. That's where my mom wanted me to go, before I got into Shujin." Clink. "I'd have to move to go there though. It's gonna be hard to keep Phantom Thieving if I'm in another province."
"Well," Ren replied, "I might have a plan. I can't tell you the details yet, but...if everything goes pear-shaped, I think I've got a way to keep the team together."
Ryuji snorted. "Alright secrets-Mc-haver, I dunno what sorta scheme you've whipped up, but I'd love to see how you plan on getting all four of us back into a Palace if we're all in different schools."
Shujin wasn't the only high school in the Tokyo area. Ryuji and his mother had probably written off Kosei High, neither his grades nor his financial situation necessarily leant themselves to an easy entrance. But after an anonymous four-million yen donation? They'd probably roll out the red carpet for Ryuji.
"Not all four," Ren said, too quiet for Ryuji to hear, "just you."
5/2 - Tuesday
Early Morning
Shujin Academy, Auditorium
Ren was doing his best to remain optimistic. An all-school assembly wasn't implicitly a bad thing. But one look at Kobayakawa on the auditorium stage standing next to who else but Kamoshida, making his first appearance at the school in weeks, and he could rapidly feel his optimism draining.
"Listen up!" Kobayawaka said, the whispering of the room falling silent. "Mister Kamoshida wants to...well, he'd like to talk to you all...about the tragedy...that happened here, a few weeks ago." Every few words were stilted, unsure, like an actor seconds away from missing his cue. "Go ahead, Suguru." He stepped out of the way, and Kamoshida filled the space.
Hm. Was it just Ren, or were those bags under the man's eyes? He didn't want to get his hopes up, but if he was struggling to sleep, if the guilt had been keeping him up...
Kamoshida cleared his throat, and adjusted the mic. "I have an announcement to make," he said. He sounded meek. No pomp, no circumstance. Nervous . "Some of you...already know this." He winced at his own words. No. No way. "But over the last few years of my time...at Shujin..." Kamoshida swallowed hard. "I have been physically and sexually assaulting my students."
The room had been quiet before. But this silence was deafening.
"Holy crap," Morgana whispered from inside Ren's bag. "We did it!" And Ren was right there with him. Some giddy mixture of confusion and horror and glee flowing through him in equal measure.
"I'm sure you all know...about what happened to Shiho Suzui," Kamoshida continued. Ren's gut lurched again. Okay. Okay, fuck. "She...tried to kill herself...because of me. Because, that day, I–" The next word was drowned out by a tide of exclamations, confusion and anger and disgust. "Please, listen!" His voice broke, and the auditorium quieted again, though a few of the assembly whispered to each other, concerned gossip and disbelieving mutters.
Holy shit. This was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Ren couldn't tell if he loved watching the man squirm, or if he just wanted to curl up into a ball and cover his ears until it was over.
"I am...beyond sorry for what I've done. Beyond forgiveness. That's...there is nothing I could do...to pay back that...that abuse ." Kamoshida's lip quivered, and he bit back a pathetic, blubbering sob. "Which...that's why...after this, I'll...be ending my own life." Oh! Fuck!
Another wave of uproar, even Kobayakawa lurching towards the mic, but a single voice broke through.
"How dare you!"
The Principal froze. All heads turned, Ren's included. Towards the girl standing alone in the center of the auditorium. Towards Ann Takamaki.
"After everything you did," she said. "After everyone you hurt, you're going to stand up there and mock her!?" Ann shook her head. "Shiho didn't try to kill herself because she felt bad , she did it because it was the only way she could get away from you! Don't you get that!?"
Kamoshida just stared at the girl half-blankly. Like she was speaking an entirely different language. Like he could barely even hear her.
Ann didn't back down. "You have no right to run from what you've done. You hear me!? If you really care about everyone you hurt, then you'll face the consequences and turn yourself in!"
"Yeah!" Another voice chimed in. Ryuji? No, it didn't sound like him. It was...just some student. No one Ren knew. Just...someone.
"Do the right thing, you perverted freak!" Another voice, a girl's this time.
"Tell everyone else the truth too!" A third.
And a swarm, a chorus followed. Different words, different voices, but the message was clear. A disparate student body, united in collective chaos, in their shared disdain for a single man. For the first and maybe last time, united in what could almost be described as camaraderie. For the first and maybe last time, Ann wasn't standing alone.
Ren thought it would have been harder to approach Ann after Kamoshida's confession and her subsequent outburst, considering the throngs of students swarming the open floor between them. But he realized quickly that Ann had the same idea. Ren had only a moment to brace himself before she grabbed him in a vice-like hug.
"Thank you," she said. Her voice was unnaturally steady, a forced calm Ren could tell was covering up whatever she was actually going through. "I couldn't have done this alone, thank you. Thank you."
Wordless, Ren patted her back.
"Right, uh, sorry." Ann broke the embrace, smiling sheepishly. "I'm...holy shit." She took a deep breath. "Sorry, I need a second."
Ren nodded. "Take a day. You did good."
Morgana poked his little nose out of Ren's bag. "This is a complete victory for the Phantom Thieves," he mewled quietly. "You should both be proud of yourselves."
"I think you're forgetting someone here," said Ryuji, practically skipping over to join them. "Can't have a team victory without the whole team, ya'know?"
Ann chuckled and reached over, grabbing Ryuji's shoulder and pulling him into an embrace too.
"And now this is happening," the jock wheezed.
"Psst." Morgana reached out and swatted Ren's face with a paw. "We probably shouldn't talk so openly with so many people around."
Ren became instantly acutely aware of the dozen-odd eyes of his peers watching the trio with some mixture of eager gossip-mongering and frank curiosity. "Hey guys," he said, "usual spot in five? I'm not a big fan of crowds."
"Sounds good," Ann said, still hugging Ryuji.
Ryuji tried to respond without the use of his lungs, but failed, and just gave a weak thumbs-up.
Ren smiled, nodded, and scooted off towards the nearest exit. He weaved between two cliques, dodged a roaming couple of too-loudly-talking girls and slipped through the auditorium double doors as quick as he could manage. It wasn't exactly a stylish escape, but it'd manage. His tense nerves calmed as the cacophony of students faded into the quiet of the nearly-empty Shujin hallways.
"Guess we were pretty lucky, Kamoshida confessing when he did." he muttered. "Another twenty-four hours and we'd have had to spring Plan B."
"I'm almost disappointed," Morgana replied, a little strained as he pushed his head out through the opening in Ren's bag. "It was a pretty clever plan."
Considering how little time they'd probably have before Ren would be shipped back off to juvie in the event of his expulsion, "Plan B" was less of a well-orchestrated scheme and more of a scripted panic scenario. Ren would hide the money and the parcels in the laundromat that evening, and Morgana would have to make his way to Ann so she could retrieve said money and parcels before the laundromat opened.
"Disappointed cause you don't get to go live with Ann?" Ren reached over his shoulder and scratched Morgana behind his fluffy ears. He started to walk, taking the long route towards the roof to avoid a mess of students crowding the catwalk between the school buildings. "You could probably still try and convince her to take you in."
Morgana's fur ruffled at Ren's teasing. "And you could probably still try and get Ryuji into Kosei. Not like we're doing much better with the cash in your ceiling."
"I'll consider it," Ren said, "but getting rid of our future money would mean I'd have to get a part time job to keep the Phantom Thieves funded. Doesn't sound like the best use of our free time."
"Yeah," Morgana said, "guess I'll have to find some other way to get rid of him." With a little mischievous chuckle, he ducked back inside Ren's bag.
Ren was about to chastise the feline when a hand on his shoulder knocked a jump into his stride.
"Sorry," came the quiet voice of the hand's owner, between labored breaths. Ren didn't even need to look to recognize it.
"Nothing to be sorry for, Mishima," he replied. "What's up?"
Mishima's face was flushed, and he was panting. Probably sprinted to catch up with Ren. Despite that, he looked better. The bags under his eyelids were lighter now, less pronounced, and something in his eyes looked far more alive. "I'm..." he started, then stopped, stumbling over his words. Mishima cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, back when you...when you asked me what happened. It was wrong and I'm sorry, and you don't–"
"I forgive you." Ren cut him off, calm and clear and as gentle as he could. "I'm not mad. Thank you for apologizing, but I'm okay. We were all on edge." It wasn't your fault, he wanted to say, it wasn't you. You're not the one who needs to atone, who needs to bow their head. It shouldn't be your burden to bear.
Mishima nodded, eyes locked on the ground. "Thank you," he said, finally. "For what you did. You...you three...uh, stole it, right? His heart?"
Ren forced himself to keep his breath even. He shrugged. "If we did," he replied, "then I couldn't tell you how. We just sort of asked and it happened. Not like we planned anything to go the way it did."
Mishima blinked, confused. "But...the calling card? You didn't put that up?"
Ren shrugged again. "I didn't put them up. Can't speak for anyone else though. And I don't really feel like I've got any control over the Phantom Thieves, or whatever. Like I said, we asked, and something answered." Lies on lies on lies. Some little middle schooler in the back of Ren's head was in the process of trying to set fire to his pants.
"Okay," Mishima said. "I guess that means we're both in the same boat, right? They saved both our asses." He chuckled dryly. "What are we supposed to do about that? How do you pay off that kind of debt? Ren," he stared right at him, "what should I do?"
A chill down his spine and a spark through his gut. "Live." Ren replied. "Live and keep fighting."
5/5 – Thursday
After School
Wilton Hotel
Mid-term exams were less than a week away, and the silence of four days of relative inactivity was starting to itch at the inside of Ren's ribcage. So, when Ann suggested the four of them hit up a hotel buffet to celebrate their first victory as Phantom Thieves, he'd jumped at the opportunity to do anything that wasn't study until his eyes started to blur over.
"This place," Ryuji said, "is gaudy as shit." He grinned brighter than the blinding lights a dozen feet above them. "I kinda love it."
The three teenagers and one not-a-cat had settled on an open triplicate of large couches in the center of the large and well-lit hall, which was otherwise filled with tables covered in chafing dishes each filled to the brim with a thousand varieties of cuisine, something like a dozen of which Ren had never heard of before. He'd spent at least a solid minute gawking at one table which seemed reserved for a frankly absurd amount of solely different types of beans before remembering to actually find something edible to fill his plate.
"Have you ever been somewhere like this before?" Ren asked, struggling to cut a particularly springy piece of grilled asparagus into more bite-sized pieces.
Ryuji shook his head. "Not a chance, dude. I mean, if it hadn't been for pawning all that shit we found in the Palace, I never would have even thought about a buffet." He took a heaping spoonful of fried rice and stuffed it into his mouth, inadvisably continuing before the morsel made it all the way down his throat. "Mom's got a job and a half, like part time and full time. Kinda considering getting a job myself, you know? So I can take her out somewhere nice; maybe not this place though."
"Chew with your mouth closed," Morgana growled, before returning to the small plate of salmon Ren had managed to sneak onto the couch and out of sight of potential passersby. Better safe than sorry; something gave him the feeling this place had a pretty strict 'no pets' policy, certification or not.
"Besides, I'm not Miss Fancypants," Ryuji said, nodding to Ann as she sat back down with a precarious plate-full of bite sized sweets. "Can't write this off as a business thing." Ann raised an eyebrow at him, and Ryuji elaborated. "Your parents, yeah? Didn't you say they took you to hotels and shit, cause of their job?"
"Oh!" Ann said, nodding. "Yeah, gotcha. Uh. Yeah." She stared down at her plate, as if the question had soured her appetite. "Ren, Morgana, I guess you're hearing this for the first time. My parents are fashion consultants, like costume designers for movies and stuff. They get hired all over the place, so they travel all the time; they're in Hong Kong right now, I think. It's hard to keep track."
Ren blinked. "Wait, so you're like...I mean, are you staying with family, or..."
Ann shook her head. "On my own. They come back for a couple days every year, but it's mostly just...me." She skewered a cake cube with her fork and popped it into her mouth. Chew. Swallow. Take a sip of water. "Back before high school, I used to go with them. First, all the time. In middle school, they'd pick me up in Summer. Now..." Ann chuckled darkly. "Nada."
Ren winced. "Fuck."
"Yup, 's horseshit," Ryuji added, leaning over to steal a mini donut from Ann's plate. She neither protested nor stopped him.
"And, yeah," she continued. "Lots of hotels. Mostly in New York, they'd bounce between there and Shibuya. I learned English there, so I could order room service on my own and stuff when they'd come back late." Ann laughed. "Fuck, that sounds so dumb when I say it out loud."
Ren shrugged. "I mean, hey, whatever gets you what you need, right? It's good you didn't go hungry." He grimaced involuntarily, trying to hide it behind a bite of pasta.
Ann noticed, judging by the odd stare she gave him afterwards. "Did you have to?" she asked.
He tried to shrug again, but the motion caught partway. "Yeah. Sometimes." Ren sighed, fiddling with his fork, spinning it against his index finger. "I mean, like, I've always been picky. And my mom was always...you know, like, eat dinner or eat nothing, kinda. So sometimes I just...wouldn't eat." He swallowed another sigh. Stop fucking moping. "And then, my dad would take my mom out on, like, date nights or to the bar or something. Every few weeks. They'd go out, and I'd be stuck with leftovers or whatever." Ren pursed his lips. "My dad had a whole thing about that. Since he earned the money, he got to choose how to spend it. Cause they 'spend enough money on me already' or whatever."
"Dude, that's fucked," Ryuji mumbled. He sent an idle glare across the table. Not really at Ren, just...past him. Through him, almost. Angry with him, not at him. Something like that. "Fuck, man." He grumbled something further under his breath, then reached over to spoon a heaping serving of fried rice onto Ren's plate. "This is really good shit. So, yeah." And nothing further. Huh. That...well, that was sweet of him. Sort of weird, but sweet.
Ann smiled sort of oddly. "No more going hungry," she said. "For any of us, okay?" She extended her fork across the table.
"Fucking cheers to that," Ryuji said, leaning over to tap his fork against hers with a grin.
"Sure," Ren chuckled. He flipped his own fork over and tapped the dull end against theirs. "Let's get thirds."
5/7 – Saturday
After School
Shibuya Station
"Lady Ann, are you sure you're ready to head back into the Metaverse?" Morgana asked, balancing remarkably steady on Ren's lap. The four Thieves were seated against the more innocuous side of the station's exterior, bathed in the soon-to-be-setting light of the late afternoon sun.
"Just Ann," she teased, leaning over to scritch behind his ears. "And I'm sure. I mean, after all those days of waiting?" She cracked her neck. "I'm itching to start setting some fires again."
"I know what you mean," Ryuji said. "And, for real, me too. But...out of context, you've gotta know, that sounds completely demented." Without skipping a beat, Ann slapped him upside the head. "Wha...hey! I'm not fucking wrong!"
"Did you find another Palace?" Ren asked, doing his best to keep his allies from bickering.
Morgana shook his head. "We still need to find our next big target. But in the meantime, we can still change hearts. The Metaverse isn't exclusive to people's Palaces, remember?" He adjusted himself on Ren's lap, shifting off of his right leg. "Get your phone and open up the Meta-Nav, okay?"
"Got it." Ren did as he was told.
"Now, we need a target. Not a big one, just...anyone you can think of who's acting erratic or treating someone else badly."
Ann hummed a thought. "One of the models I work with is getting like...maybe stalked by her ex? He keeps showing up at her shoots, even though they aren't dating." Ryuji grimaced at the description, and Ren couldn't help but purse his lips as well. Gross.
"Do you know his name?" Morgana asked.
"Uh," Ann said, brow furrowed. "Nakanohara, I think. I don't know his first name."
"That's fine!" the not-a-cat chirped. "Okay, Ren, put in Nakanohara for the name. Don't worry about location for now. But where it asks for a keyword, just put 'Mementos.'"
Ren raised an eyebrow, but once again followed instructions. "Okay, now what do I–"
Reality pitched to the left.
Ren blinked. There was a child-sized catlike creature standing on his leg. And he was wearing a mask. And a coat. And he had a knife holster strapped to his belt.
"Woah, woah, woah, what the fuck!?" Skull said, staring down at himself, also dressed in his Thief outfit. "Ren, what the shit, dude? What did you put in?"
"Nothing," Ren said, staring back at his teammate, and at Panther past him. "I just...it was just his last name, and Mementos. Location was still empty."
"Sounds about right!" Mona said, hopping down onto the tiles. "This place is a lot more lenient about that sort of stuff, I figured the Navigator would be too." He jerked his head towards the interior of the train station. "Come on! Mementos awaits!"
"Mementos" was a twisting of the subway as much as Kamoshida's castle had been a twisting of the school. Train tracks that twisted and turned in odd, impossible ways, forming some odd network of tunnels that stretched out from the platform they were currently standing on. And every wall and floor was lit by unnatural, impossible reddish-brown light, making even the white tiles seem dirty. But most striking of all were the roots, or...maybe veins. Red and black and pulsing ever so slightly, growing from the concrete columns, out of the floor, sprouting from the ceilings, across the walls.
"This is Mementos," Mona said, gesturing to their surroundings. "It's part of the Metaverse, but not a Palace in the way you would normally think of one. Instead, it'd be best to think of this as...everyone's Palace. All the Shadows whose distortions aren't strong enough to grow their own world? They live here, in the collective unconscious."
"If they don't have Palaces," Skull mumbled. "How're we gonna change their hearts?"
"Do we need calling cards for them too?" Panther asked.
Mona shook his head. "Treasures here are still a part of their respective Shadows, they haven't split off yet. So we can change their hearts a lot more straightforwardly. All we need to do is beat up the Shadow, and they'll leave their Treasure behind."
"That...that's like video game logic!" Skull spluttered. "There's no way that'll work."
"Do you wanna bet, Skull!?" Mona snapped.
Skull raised his hands in half surrender and half exasperation. "Alright, alright, it's a fucking video game, cool beans, fine."
Ren couldn't help but laugh, but he found his attention wandering towards the tracks. "If this place is everyone's Palace, does...everyone have some sort of cognitive train, or..."
"Good thinking!" Mona said, giving him a big proud smile. "But, uh, no. Well, they do, but not one we can ride. We'll have to get around some other way."
"Don't tell me we have to walk," Panther groaned.
Mona giggled mischievously. "A gentleman would never. Don't worry, Panther. Allow me to elucidate." He wiggled in place for a moment, and then sprinted towards the platform's edge, leaping off of it. For a brief and perplexing moment, the feline seemed to be suspended in mid air. And then he plummeted downwards, instantly out of sight. "Transform!"
And then came an odd whumph of air. "Uh," Ren said. "Mona? You okay?" Concern rapidly rising, he jogged towards the edge of the platform and glanced down, checking to make sure that...the...was that a car?
A black van with a bright yellow stripe across its roof. Compact, but not small. And the...car shifted in place. Turning to glance over its shoulder with two very familiar looking blue headlights. Oh, those were eyes. Oh fuck, the car had eyes. Oh fuck , the car was-
"Mona!?" Panther said.
"You are fucking with us," Skull said, sounding more annoyed than surprised. "You cannot turn into a goddamn car. No. No way."
"Wanna bet, Skull?" the car said, grinning in a way that Ren neither thought possible nor ever wanted to see again in his life.
Ren lifted his mask to massage the bridge of his nose. "Mona," he said, his voice leaving him more strained than he'd thought it would. "Please explain this in a way that won't make me want to scream."
"No promises," Mona replied.
" Mona ," he said, his voice threatening to break.
"Sorry," Mona said. Oh god and now the car looked apologetic. Ren did not enjoy a second of this. "I'm cursed, remember? You can all manifest costumes and weapons in the Metaverse even though you're just normal people. But I don't have a human form, so my cognitive self is a lot more...flexible."
"That..." Panther began. She pursed her lips. "I kinda hate that that makes sense. But...it does make sense. A little."
Skull threw her a desperate glance. "Does it? Does it really? "
"I don't know!" Panther replied, sending half a glare back. "All of this is batshit moon logic. We're inside a big shared heart that looks like a subway because our phones caught an app, and you look like you're part of a biker gang because you woke up a secret lightning pirate living in your heart." She yanked her airsoft SMG off her belt and waved it around. "This is a plastic toy. It has a body count!" Finally, she gestured to Mona. "At least Ren's cursed friend who looks like a cat most of the time turning into a car means we don't have to walk as much! That's helpful! I can live with that!"
"I'm helpful!" Mona chirped. He looked very pleased with himself, and Ren hated that he could tell that. "Uh. But I can't drive myself. So one of you will have to do it."
Panther pursed her lips, and Ren couldn't tell if she was holding in a snicker or a groan or both. "Helpful," she just repeated, and Skull burst into incoherent howling laughter.
Nakanohara's Shadow didn't exactly seem very threatening at first glance. The tiny monster child with its bowl cut and little horns looked more like a kid in a Halloween costume than an actual foe.
Skull must have thought similar, cocking his shotgun and taking point before Mona or Ren could advise otherwise. "Alright," he said, "hands in the air."
Nakanohara sneered. "You think you can threaten me, you little punk?!" He pointed a finger-gun at the Phantom Thief. "Get lost!"
"What're you gonna–" Skull didn't have time to finish his question before the Shadow's attack hit him square in the chest. He tumbled backwards, nearly falling on his ass. "For real!?" He wheezed. "What kinda moron gave this kid an invisible gun?"
"This is a winner-takes-all world, didn't you know?" The Shadow giggled, blowing the smoke off its fingertip. "Madarame taught me that. Here, let me show teach you too!" It pointed its finger-gun at Skull and cocked it.
"Not a chance!" Panther's hand flew to her mask. "It's naptime, kid!"
"I'm not..." The Shadow stumbled, first over its words then over its feet, collapsing in a softly snoring heap.
"Nice one Panther! That should hold it for a moment," Mona said. He raised his sword high and Zorro spun into existence behind him. The Persona pointed its rapier towards Skull, engulfing the thief in a soft emerald glow.
"Thanks for the heal," Skull grumbled, probably unhappy at having to accept help from the feline.
"Joker, it's all you," Mona said, hopping up and down. "Show that Shadow what you've got!"
Ren raised his hand to his mask. Last time he asked for Arsene's help, the gentleman thief had been out of his control, Ren had barely been able to stop him from turning Ryuji into collateral damage. If he was going to continue being a Phantom Thief though, he'd have to learn how to use this power. If he had to get in another spiritual tug of war, or twenty, Ren had to be able to control that Persona when the time came to rely on his power. He took a deep breath. "Arsene!"
No resonant note of two hearts in symphony. No blue fire. No voice in his ear. Ren's mask stayed firmly planted on his face. He was acutely aware of three pairs of eyes watching him intently. Ren cleared his throat. "Arsene?" Nothing, not even a pulse against his fingertips. He grit his teeth. "Ars–"
A cold, sharp point against the flat of his back. Ren froze, the command caught in his throat.
"My god," said the blade's owner from behind him, a soft and condescending tone with a twinge of a French accent, "you just don't take a hint, do you?"
The blade's tip left his back. Ren started to turn to face the stranger, catching the sight of Panther and Mona still staring at him, frozen in place, motionless and still. "What did you do–"
"To them? Nothing at all. I just ensured you and I could have a little...chat." The stranger slid his thin sword back into its sheath, a hollow cane. He was dressed in a black vest, pale jacket and white boots, his eyes hidden under the brim of a black top hat. He tucked the cane under one arm and adjusted his black gloves. "The polite thing to do at this point," he said, "would be to apologize for bothering me without reason."
"I'm sorry?" Ren said, more confused than apologetic.
The stranger sighed, irritated. "Look, I'm sure you think I should answer to your whim. I'm you, you're me, all that. Just because I live in your heart, I should rush to cut down whomsoever you ask me to." He snorted. "Not a chance, boy. Curb your pride."
Ren squinted at the stranger, who was seeming more and more familiar by the second. He said he lived in Ren's heart? And that outfit...oh. "Wait, Arsene?"
The young man raised his head to glare at Ren, his hollow eyes glowing with crimson flame. "Would you expect anyone else?"
"Sorry," Ren said, "you just...look different than the last time I saw you."
The boy that called himself Arsene looked down at himself, then turned his attention back towards Ren, red eyes flaring bright and irritated. "And I should be held to justify why your heart chose to bestow unto me this form?"
Okay. Lot to process. Ren took a breath, reaching up to massage the bridge of his nose. No glasses or mask to get in the way; that never stopped feeling weird. "So, should I keep calling you Arsene? I mean, if you are, I–"
"Don't be an idiot, boy." His gloved hands curled and uncurled around the hilt of his cane. A dark little hum, like a thoughtful growl. "Very well. As I take this visage, you shall refer to me as Lupin. It is only proper, a different name for a different splinter of self."
Splinter. Ren did his best to swallow down the emotional whiplash he'd just been subjected to. "Got it. Lupin." One bit at a time. "You said my heart made you look like this?"
"You called upon the power of your other self," Lupin said. "And I answered." He tapped the butt of his cane twice against the dirt. "In a sense, I am not Arsene Dusk. And in another sense, I am." Before Ren could ask for elaboration, the boy cracked his neck, the sound sharper and louder than it ever should have been. "I am the old will within that Persona, the source of its...shall we say, undue strength. In a sense, I am more the Dusk than Arsene."
The Dusk. The puzzle pieces were fitting into place. "So when I called you, or, uh, Arsene. Back in Kamoshida's Palace. You answered? Or, you both did?"
Lupin adjusted his hat, once again covering his eyes with its brim. "Think of it however you will." Oh, great. Very helpful. "It stands that I am the holder of such power you have yet to reach. And as such-"
'Yet to reach.' And it clicked. "Sorry, back up," Ren said. "You're from the future, aren't you? Like...some kind of Arsene from another version of me, or something."
Lupin's expression twitched, no doubt at the interruption. "I may well be."
Ren ran a hand back through his hair. "Let me guess. Oxymoron had something to do with that?"
"You're sharper than you look, boy," Lupin said. Low, threatening. But...maybe not directed towards Ren. "My memories are...limited. But I can recall that Witch clearly." His teeth bared for a moment. "They who tore me from myself, and drowned me in the primordial depths, waiting for the call of some idiot greenhorn."
"Fuck," Ren mumbled. Even the insult washed off of him, his mind too focused on the facts at hand, at the implications bubbling beneath the surface. "Do you remember anything else about them?"
"A promise," Lupin said. "And nothing more."
Ren grit his teeth. Another potential clue, scrapped.
"Oi!" Lupin snapped his fingers a few times in front of Ren's face. "Look, boy, let me be clear. You want to make use of my power, fine. It's not as if I have anything better to do."
Right. Stuff at hand. "Okay. Thank y–" Ren started, before Lupin cut him off.
"I'm not finished." He cracked his knuckles. "I'm a gentleman thief with a reputation to uphold. If I stay with you, you're sure to provide me with wonderful opportunities to take a great number of bounties. Like that foul demon king. You understand?"
Ren nodded, slowly. "Let me guess, you don't want to waste your strength on small fry or something?"
"Exactement!" Lupin clapped once. "I'll help you take down demons, monsters, kings and gods alike. You point me towards a worthy bounty, and I'll tear it to shreds. However!" He took his cane in both hands, pulling it apart a few inches. The blade glinted in Mementos' artificial light. "You start demanding me to rid yourself of weaklings, dirty my blade just to save you the trouble? Well...let's just say your heart would make a fairly worthy bounty as well."
Despite the threat against his life, Ren felt calm. It almost seemed toothless. "I understand." He took a step towards Lupin and extended his hand. "Shake on it?"
Lupin looked down at Ren's hand, then at Ren, then laughed. He slid his blade back into the cane-sheath. "Very well, boy." He pulled off his right glove and took Ren's hand. "You have a deal." His hand was thin, pale and cold. Ren shuddered, and Lupin laughed again, his teeth sharp and gleaming white. "Now, how about you do your own fucking work? Like a proper Phantom Thief."
Ren's eyes snapped open. The Shadow Nakanohara was snoring against the ground. His allies still stared his way, waiting for him to make a move. He looked towards the other Thieves, shrugged, then brought his hand to his mask again. "Skull," Ren said.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"I'm going to hit that Shadow as hard as I can. That should give you an opening to attack. Don't hold back, let's try and finish this thing off quick. Panther, get ready to put it back to sleep if it tries anything funny. Mona, back us up, we might need a quick escape if this goes south."
"Can't you just call Arsene and cut this dude to ribbons?" Skull asked.
Ren shook his head. "I'll explain later, but I can't use Arsene right now."
The Shadow snorted, stirring and starting to wake up.
"Skull, are you ready?" Ren asked, more insistent.
Skull hesitated, but nodded, putting one hand on his mask. "Kidd and I are ready when you are, Joker."
Ren smiled. "Berith! Take it down!" With an ephemeral whinny, the equine Persona galloped past him, armored rider raising its trident and then bringing it down right on Nakanohara. The blow hit home, and the Shadow was sent spinning across the ground, stumbling to its feet, dazed. "Skull!"
"Captain Kidd!" The tunnel might have been deep underground, but lightning nevertheless filled the surrounding area with a brilliant light.
Nakonohara screeched, stiff and shuddering in place. "I'm...a winner," he spluttered. "I'm...like Madarame. I take...what I want. Everything I want. I'm a winner!"
"Check again," Ren said. He cocked his pistol and pointed it directly at the Shadow. "We don't need to take everything. Just your rotten heart." Ren pulled the trigger.
