5/13 – Friday
Evening
Cafe Leblanc
Ren realized on the train home that he probably could have left Ore no Beko long before his shift technically ended. It was only after opening his wallet to deposit the few thousand yen he'd been paid, that he remembered that he really didn't need the money. Now, standing in front of Leblanc at half past 8pm, the potential consequences of his tardiness were starting to creep into his mind.
"It doesn't look dark inside," Morgana said from Ren's shoulder. "Sojiro must not have locked us out."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he's not royally pissed." Ren shivered, it was starting to get quite cold outside. "Doesn't mean he didn't call the cops on us or something."
"Do you think he'd do that?" Morgana shifted uneasily, no doubt as uncomfortable with the thought as Ren was.
"I dunno. Hopefully not." He took the door handle, still hesitant, still anxious. "Fingers crossed he just yells at us and that's it."
"Fingers crossed," Morgana said. He didn't sound very excited about that prospect, either.
Ren took a deep breath and opened the door.
Sojiro wasn't at the counter. In fact, he wasn't in the cafe at all. Half the lights had been turned off, with only the multicolored glass flowers over each booth illuminating the store. And there, sitting in one of those booths, stirring what looked like an empty cup, her head in one hand, was Ann Takamaki. Morgana let out a surprised little yelp and dove off Ren's shoulder, back into his bag.
"Heya," Ann said. "Lock the door behind you."
Ren did as he was told and sat down across from Ann. "Uh," he said, "what are you...?"
"Well," she started, stirring a little faster now, her spoon clinking against the sides of her cup, "after you left, I decided to stop by Leblanc, just to make sure Sojiro was doing alright. You know, in light of his 'personal emergency.' Turns out," she looked up at him, and he busied himself with staring at the table to avoid looking her in the eye, "that he's doing perfectly fine. In fact, he hadn't heard from you at all today."
Ren didn't say a word. He couldn't, what was he supposed to say?
"The curry was delicious though." Ann finally put her spoon down. She stretched and sighed. "And Sojiro was nice enough to trust me to watch this place till you got back." She tapped her fingers against the table, a rhythmic impatience echoing in the quiet cafe. "So. Ren. Now you're going to tell me what exactly happened today–" Ann paused, and shook her head. "No, it's not just today, is it? There's...something going on with you."
Ren rubbed the back of his neck. "You could say that, yeah," he replied.
"Oh, glad to know that you agree." Her tone was bitter, a layer of anger bubbling up around her words. Ann caught herself, took a deep breath. When she spoke again, it was with a calm and even voice. "Morgana, you're not off the hook either. Both of you have a whole lot to–."
Morgana shifted nervously inside his bag. "No," Ren said, a firmness setting in around his throat. "Morgana isn't to blame here."
"This isn't about blame, Amamiya," Ann snapped. "This is about you, both of you, going behind the back of the people who care about you. It's not..." She let out a sharp, angry breath. "It's not about you keeping secrets. I don't care about that, I care about you lying to me and Ryuji. I care about the fact that you can't tell your friends – your teammates – what's going on!" She hesitated, and then reached over the table, placing her hand on Ren's. "We're a team. Aren't we?"
His heart ached in his chest. He wished Ryuji were here, just so he could feel pressured enough to spill everything, to just tell them all of this. "I want that. I want that, Ann."
She sighed, frustrated again. "God." She took her hand off his and rubbed her temples. "So, what? Wanting something is good and dandy, wanting to be a good friend is super fucking duper, but are you actually going to do anything about it?" Ann looked away, gritting her teeth. "Are you just powerless here? You can't stop lying?"
Ren didn't answer. He couldn't.
"So, that's it?" She ran a hand through her hair. "We're just done, you're giving up on us?"
He didn't want to. "I'm not–"
"You can't have it both ways, Ren! You can't ask us to follow you and let...let this, whatever it is, drag you around at the same time."
He was silent.
She wasn't angry anymore. Her eyes weren't alight with fury, just sad. Sad and dark. "You...really are just giving up?"
Ren shrugged.
She laughed, and he could hear a sob stifled in that. "Fine. If you just want to lie here and feel sorry for yourself, I'm not going to drag your limp body out of the mud." Ann scooted to the end of the booth, turning to stand up.
Ren heard something crack. A sharp snap in reality, like glass shattering across pavement. Something swam across his skin, a feeling like nausea, a deep fear digging past his skin to his bones. It was like standing at cliff, looking down at the ocean, maybe ten maybe a hundred feet below. Give up, said the rocks, sharp and jagged. Give up, said the memory of logic, the knowledge that terminal velocity would turn water into cement. Give up, said the safety of the lonely, the long walk back.
Jump, said the blue glass bird in the jar on his mother's mantle.
"Please," Ren said. Ann froze. "Please stay. You're...you're right. Please."
She paused. She slid back into the booth. She was silent, watching him, waiting for him.
Morgana pushed his head against Ren's side, his little cat face a mess of anxious concern. "Are you sure?"
Never. Not at all. Not a single iota of assuredness in his entire body. "I'm sure," he said.
"So?" Ann said. "What's going on, Ren?"
Ren took a deep breath. Where did he even begin? "I've been receiving messages from someone who knows I'm a Phantom Thief. I don't know who they are, but they know who I am."
Her eyes widened. "You're being blackmailed?"
It would have been so easy to just say yes. To buy into the lie that this was that simple. To try and sell her that lie. "No, it's...they think of themselves like some sort of benefactor. They haven't made any demands, they just keep sending me this weird cryptic advice and things to use in the Palaces. The weapons I gave you, the infiltration tools, they're even responsible for Arsene being like he is."
Ann blinked, trying to process all this.
Morgana put his front paws on the table, peeking over its edge. "I'm sorry," he said, quietly. Ren reached over and pet his fluffy head.
Ann smiled at Morgana before turning back to Ren. "So, why keep it a secret? If they're not blackmailing you, why didn't you just tell us that we've got some sort of magical anonymous supplier?"
"Because they're not sending this for free," Ren said. "They're giving me, us, what we need to succeed because they...want something from us." He found himself chuckling. "They've got their hooks in me already. They could start making demands, or trick me into something, or send me on a suicide mission, and I wouldn't be able to stop them. Until I found out what they wanted, I couldn't..." Ren paused. "No, I think I just wanted to pretend they didn't exist. Like all of this was my idea, like the accomplishments actually meant something. Like I could be your leader and not just some weirdo's pawn."
"Ren," she said, quietly.
"Guess it doesn't really matter," he continued. "You wanted to know what I was doing today? I was meeting with two other people who're also getting messages from the same anonymous freak. And I found out what their price is, why they've been sending all this to me." He leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. "After we changed Kamoshida's heart, a door opened up in Mementos, and we could go deeper inside. Oxymoron – the person who's been sending me the messages – wants something in the depths of Mementos, behind more of those doors. I don't know if they want to take that thing or kill it or free it, I just know that's why they want the Phantom Thieves to succeed."
Ann was silent for what felt like a minute. "Morgana knows, but Ryuji doesn't?" she finally said.
"Yeah," Ren said.
Another pause. "The people you met with tonight. Are they working for Oxymoron or are they getting dragged around like you?"
"Latter, sorta." Ren rubbed the back of his neck. "They're both Persona users. Not Phantom Thieves though, and they don't have the Metaverse Navigator. They can only get into Mementos and the doors there block them too. I don't know what Oxymoron wants from them, but they've been investigating for a while, and they said they'd help us as much as they could."
Ann took a deep breath. "Okay." She stood up. "Give me a sec, I need more coffee for this." She grabbed the cup and walked over the coffee pot on Leblanc's counter.
Morgana hopped up on the table and sat on his haunches. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"I don't know," Ren said. "But I think I will be."
"I think it feels good to not be telling Ann any more lies," Morgana said. Then he scrunched up his little nose. "Is that bad to say?"
"Not at all." He scratched behind Morgana's ears. "It feels good to me too. Scary, but good."
Ann sat back down, putting a full cup in front of herself and another in front of Ren. "In case you wanted some," she said.
"Thank you," he said. He didn't, but he appreciated the thought.
She took a long sip before speaking again. "I think I'm still mad at you. You lied to me, and I'm pissed about that. But I think I forgive you."
Ren blinked. He hadn't really expected that.
Ann stared at him, her eyes locked on his. "The choices you made for the Phantom Thieves, the way you defended us against Kamoshida...the time we spent together outside of the palace. How much of that did Oxymoron tell you to do?"
Ren forced himself to meet her gaze. "None of it. That was all me."
She looked very relieved. "Good." Ann took another sip of coffee. "So, let me see if I've got this right. Someone you don't trust is telling you to do something you already wanted to do, and they're helpful but you still don't trust them."
He thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think that's accurate."
"You still want to be a Phantom Thief? Steal hearts, change the rotten adults?" Ann asked.
Ren thought of Ryuji, of Mishima, of Shiho. He nodded.
A small, tired smile crept onto Ann's lips. "Me too," she said. She was quiet for a moment. "Anything else you've been keeping from me?"
"There's four million yen hidden in the attic," Ren said. "And Oxymoron probably knows the future."
"Oh, good," Ann said, "I thought it would be something important."
Ren blinked. Then he started laughing, and Ann was laughing, and Morgana was staring at the both of them with that same concerned kitty face, and Ren couldn't see for the tears rolling down his cheeks that hurt from smiling.
Ann finally caught her breath and cleared her throat. "Don't lie to me anymore," she said. "You don't have to let me know about every little thing, you're the leader and I'll trust you to separate out the important stuff. If Oxymoron sends you on another errand, just tell me and I'll do what I can to help. And," she looked him square in the eye again, "you tell Ryuji everything you just told me."
Ren felt somewhere between overwhelmed with gratitude and nauseous beyond expression. He nodded. "After exams. I'll tell him everything."
"Good." She downed the rest of her cup, and scrunched up her face at the bitter flavor. "You're going to keep trying to figure out what Oxymoron's up to, who they are, right?"
"As soon as I know anything more," Ren said, "you'll be the first to know."
Ann shook her head. "Nuh uh. You're going to call a team meeting, and tell me and Ryuji and Morgana. A leader doesn't get to pick favorites, everyone's in or no one is."
He wanted to protest to that, wanted to push the title onto her instead, tell her what he felt: that she was far more fit to lead the Phantom Thieves than he was. But...that would be giving up too, wouldn't it? "And If I lie like that to you again," Ren said, "you have my permission to stuff me in a dumpster for a month."
Ann laughed. She reached across the table and scratched under Morgana's chin. "I'll keep that in mind, Joker."
5/14 – Saturday
Early Morning
Cafe Leblanc, Attic
Ren woke to a weight smacking him in the chest. He opened his eyes, staring up at the girl currently waving a parcel back and forth in front of his face. "Rise and shine," Ann said, with a little teasing laugh.
"You're up early," he mumbled, shifting upright and reaching over blindly donning his glasses.
Ann dropped the parcel on his lap before crossing the room. "Your couch kinda sucks. So, I thought I'd start my day." She was still wearing her uniform from yesterday; the decision for her to stay over had been extremely impromptu. By the time they'd finally finished talking last night, it had been far too late for taking the train back to be an option. "I'm gonna go downstairs, freshen up a bit before we head to the train station."
She had one foot on the stairs before Ren's thoughts caught up with him. "Wait, Ann, one sec." He threw his covers off, disturbing the apparently half-asleep Morgana who had been nestled into his side. "If you...I mean, you know." He held up the parcel. "I mean, I promised I wasn't going to keep secrets anymore. So...you can be here while I open it, if you want."
Ann stared at him. A long few seconds passed in silence. "Do you want me here?" she asked.
He blinked. "I..." He didn't know how to answer that question.
"Never mind," Ann said. "Doesn't really matter." She leaned on the banister, sending a smile across the room. "You promised, but I also told you that you didn't have to tell me everything." She gestured towards the parcel. "They're being sent to you, not me. I mean, maybe Oxymoron is picking favorites, but..." She shrugged. "I mean, besides for the weapons you gave us, was there anything in the previous parcels that like... actually had to do with me and Ryuji?"
Ren blinked. Brain, do your stuff. "A magazine cover," he said, finally. "You're on it. I...have you ever taken a cover deal?"
Ann shook her head. "Future magazine," she said, filling in the logic with enviable quickness. "Anything else?"
"I don't think so," Ren said. "Uh, about you, I mean. There's also a watch."
A pause. "And?" Ann prompted. "What's important about the watch?"
"I don't know," Ren said, feeling indescribably stupid for what wouldn't have been the first time in the last twenty-four hours. "Ryuji has a watch? I guess?"
Ann chuckled. "So, nothing important."
"I think so."
"Cool." She headed down the stairs. "Then you don't need to show me until it is. I'm not your keeper, don't make me into one!" And her voice faded from a teasing call into amicable mumbling, most likely addressing Sojiro or one of the early morning cafe guests downstairs.
Morgana shoved his skull into Ren's arm, making him start. "Open," he said, simply.
Ren dug his still sleep-addled fingers into the adhesive, slipping rather than tearing, but finally managing to dig one of his fingernails into it in just the right way. Seal, peeled off. Contents, upended onto the mattress.
It was a plastic ID lanyard, its red neck-strap snapped into two strands. The ID itself had a picture of a man with brown hair, thick glasses and a goatee practically grimacing into the camera. That, and another folded-up note.
"Takuto Maruki?" Morgana read. "It says he's Shujin staff, have you met him before?"
Ren shook his head. The name was utterly unfamiliar to him. More questions, no answers. He could only hope the note would provide at least a few of the latter.
Joker,
So, let's clear something up real quick.
Me and Oxymoron? We're not allies. More like temporary cooperators. These parcels, these gifts, they're her ideas, part of her grand scheme. Right now, her interests are aligned with mine, and with the other Thieves'. If that wasn't the case, and all other things being equal? I'd be just as happy to stab her in the back as shake her hand.
So it might surprise you to know that she signed off on this. Everything I just said, and am going to say. So long as I don't spoil what comes next, don't throw you too far off her chosen path, then she'll let me say whatever I damn well please. If I do step out of line, she might just decide to replace me with someone more obedient. Maybe that'll be worth the risk, one of these days. Keep an eye out, just in case. But...hey, no one wants to die. Not even the doomed.
Things didn't go that well, in case I'm not being clear. We failed. I failed. With any luck, this time around, you'll be able to see the whole picture. You'll be able to succeed where I haven't.
O wants you in the dark, it makes you easier to boss around. To "guide." Me? I want you full of knowledge and fury. You want answers, and I want you to steal those answers right under her nose. Seek the forbidden and make it yours.
I wish I could tell you more, but the more I say the more I risk sending you spiraling off track or signing my own death warrant. I'll give you this much: there's more than one Oxymoron.
The first one is innocent, she's the girl who wrote the letter in the first parcel, but she's not pulling the strings. There's a second, a Witch who stole her name, who sent you the parcels. It's the imposter you want, she's who knows the truth. You won't find her if you're just following tracks, try and think two steps ahead.
Maruki owes me a favor, and I'll cash it in for your sake. He's the first step towards taking back your memories, towards taking hold of those chains she's used to bind you and obliterating them.
It's up to you now Joker, I'm leaving this in your hands. If I'm right and O's telling the truth, you'll reach even farther than I have. Past here, it's unknown territory. I lost so much to get even this far, but I don't need to burden you with the choices I made. You won't make my mistakes. You've already made that clear.
Take the world, Joker. Take what it owes you.
Yours,
The Anachronism
Ren Amamiya
Ren's hands were steady but his heart was shuddering in his chest. Morgana was similarly shivering on his shoulder, no doubt reading and re-reading the note as he was.
"What do we do now?" Morgana asked.
Ren folded up the note. He didn't have a clue who Oxymoron was supposed to be, but now they – or she – was apparently hiding behind some sort of proxy. He didn't have any idea where to even begin to search for either this original or the so-called imposter. But now at the very least, he had a name. "I'm going to trust myself," Ren said. "Let's go find this Maruki."
