5/14 – Saturday
Early Morning
Shibuya, Subway

Neither Ren nor Ann said a word to each other until they reached the subway. "Are you, uh," Ann began, "going to explain to Sojiro why I was sleeping on your couch?"

Ren rubbed the back of his neck. "Don't think I have much of a choice of that." He'd managed to dodge the conversation that morning by rushing out of Leblanc while Sojiro was busy with customers, but he wouldn't be able to keep running away from his current caretaker. "Still gotta find an explanation for why I was out so late last night."

Ann scratched her chin in thought.

"You could tell him the truth?" Morgana offered from inside Ren's bag.

"That I'm a crime fighting vigilante running errands for a prophetic stranger?" Ren whispered back.

Ann snorted. "That you were working part time and it ran late, dummy."

"Oh." He hadn't thought of that. "Yeah, guess that makes sense."

She smiled, then her eyes widened. "Oh! Oh my god I can't believe I forgot, but with everything we were talking about last night..." Ann smacked herself in the forehead.

"What is it?"

Another smile, this one softer, almost mournful. "Shiho woke up. I got a call from the hospital last night, when I was waiting for you."

Something inside Ren deflated, like a breath he hadn't realized his heart had been holding. "Holy shit. You got a call from her?"

Ann nodded, looking at once on the verge of tears and laughter. "It's...I didn't realize how much I missed her voice." She took a deep breath in and out. "I can't wait to see her again, Ren. First thing after exams. I'm going right there!" Ann smacked her fist into her palm. "And I'm gonna stay there with her until they kick me out!"

"Good plan," Ren chuckled. "Want me or Ryuji to go with you?"

Ann looked about to answer, but her expression inexplicably changed and a deep blush spread over her cheeks. "Nope," she squeaked. "I'm good, thanks."

Ren raised an eyebrow. "Uh," he started.

"Whew!" Ann cut him off, turning away to face towards the open space. "I sure am glad exams are almost over, aren't you?!"

"Um," Ren said.

"Oh, look, I think that's Ryuji on the other platform!" She squinted across the divide.

"No it's not," Ryuji said. Both Ren and Ann jumped at his silent arrival. "Woah, sorry."

"Give a girl a heart attack, why don't you?" Ann held a hand to her chest and took a deep breath. "Hi Ryuji."

"Suuuup," he replied, letting out a long sigh of his own. "Please tell me I'm not the only one of us who slept badly last night."

Ren shrugged. "I slept pretty well."

"I didn't," Ann replied. "Well, I guess pretty well all things considered? Still kept waking up in the middle of the night though."

Right. Couch in the attic. "Sorry about that," Ren said, before he remembered Ryuji was there.

The blond, thankfully, didn't catch the missed context. He just grinned and punched Ren in the shoulder. "Yeah, you should be! Don't rub your stressless ways in our faces." Ann gave Ren a wicked stink eye from over Ryuji's shoulder.

"You're telling him tomorrow, right?" Ann whispered on the escalator out of the subway. Ryuji was a few steps ahead, just out of the quietest of earshots.

"I was thinking about this afternoon, actually," Ren replied. He'd tell him right now if he could, waiting felt like agony. Ren didn't want to lose the guts to actually come clean, after all the guilt he'd felt for keeping secrets.

Ann shook her head. "You know Ryuji, his brain is going to be absolutely melted from exams."

"Hey!" The two jumped yet again at Ryuji's voice, the jock leaning over an incredibly uncomfortable-looking student to shout at them. "Kawakami said she'd fail me if I didn't arrive on time today, so I'm just gonna leave you both behind if you keep dawdling."

"Right, right, sorry," Ren called back. He was about to lie about trading notes but something stalled his tongue. No more lies. No more. Especially not to him. "We'll catch up."

"You better!" Ryuji turned back forward, much to the visible relief of the student he'd been literally shouting over.

"Then again," muttered Ann, "looks like his brain is plenty fried now."

Ren tried and failed not to laugh, and he felt Morgana in his bag chuckling as well. As soon as he reached the top of the escalator, he hurried to keep pace with the half-jogging blond. "Hey Ann, do you think–" His words and steps both stopped when he realized she wasn't next to him. "Ann?" Ren turned to see her a few steps off the escalator, staring back down it.

She started, as if snapping out of a trance, and jogged over to Ren. "Sorry," she said as she passed him. "Thought someone might be stalking us. S'nothing though."

He followed after her and Ryuji, but out of curiosity, he glanced over his shoulder at the subway exit. There was a boy with a white shirt who caught his eye, but he seemed more lost than a tail should be. Out of place, but he didn't strike Ren as particularly suspicious. Just odd.

"See anyone?" Morgana asked.

"No," Ren said. "Like Ann said, it's nothing."


5/14 – Saturday
Afternoon
Shujin Academy, Auditorium

As expected, Ann had ditched the 'mandatory' post-exam announcement as soon as she saw the teachers were too tired to count heads. Ren wasn't sure where Ryuji was, but he was similarly absent. Ren probably could have skipped himself, but it wasn't like he had anything better to do. Plus, he didn't want to get in any more trouble than he already was.

The crowd wasn't all unfamiliar faces though. Noticing a familiar mess of blueish hair, Ren slipped around a few gossiping second-years. "Hey, Mishima."

The boy looked over at Ren and immediately broke into a smile. "Hey Ren!" He had a surprising amount of energy for this soon after exams.

"How's," Ren yawned, "how's it going? Did okay on your exams?"

Mishima shrugged and turned back to face the stage. "I dunno. Hope so, but, ya know. Won't find out till next week."

"Yeah," Ren said. "Fingers crossed."

"So, uh." Mishima stuffed his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth a little. "You're from the country, right? Are the tests there this hard?"

"Wouldn't know," Ren replied. "Been in juvie since middle school, so."

Mishima stiffened. "Shit. Sorry, I forgot, sorry." He seemed to wilt. "Sorry."

Ren went to touch the boy's shoulder, but thought better of it. It wasn't just typical guilt, Mishima felt personally responsible. He'd been the one who found out about Ren's criminal record, after all – no fault of his own, but he still must have blamed himself for Kamoshida's actions. Ren took a half-step forward and leaned over to make sure Mishima could see him smiling. "S'all good. Nothing you need to apologize for, Mishima."

"Okay," Mishima said, but he didn't really seem convinced. He might have said more, but the mic sparked to life and the entire auditorium quieted.

Principal Kobayakawa dotted at his crimson forehead with a handkerchief, his head looking like an overly moist Daruma in the heat of the auditorium lights. There was another man with him on stage, standing a little behind him, wearing a blue shirt, khakis and some sort of long white coat. "Students and teachers," Kobayakawa said into the mic. "In light of the troubling allegations brought against our own esteemed coach, it has become apparent that many of our students may be suffering from mental health issues." And Ren was about ready to reconsider his attendance. "No doubt, a significant number of you are very concerned and stressed regarding these rumors. I will assure you! Everything is being done to prevent a tragedy like this from occurring again!"

Someone booed from near the far left side of the auditorium.

Kobayakawa scowled, but continued. "In order to keep our students happy and psychologically healthy, Shujin will be hiring on a provisional school therapist for the next few months. I'll allow him to introduce himself."

Kobayakawa stepped to the side and let the other man approach the mic. Morgana gasped, and Ren didn't have a chance to ask him why before he recognized the man himself. "Hello," he said. Words slipped off his tongue smoothly, how Ren imagined a well-rehearsed public speaker would sound. "I know you must all be very eager to get home after your exams, so I thank you for giving me a few minutes out of your afternoon. My name is Takuto Maruki." He smiled. "I look forward to meeting with each one of you." He bowed stiffly, promptly smacking his face against the mic.

Instantly, the auditorium erupted in laughter. Ren heard it all, but stayed still, staring straight at the man now rubbing his forehead with a sheepish grin. Anachronism cashed in a favor with Maruki, huh? It'd be rude not to take him up on his offer.


5/14 – Saturday
After School
Shujin Academy

Ren had expected it to take a lot longer to locate Maruki's office. But at a single glance, it was the only door with a literal paper sign. Someone – most likely Maruki himself – had taped it there, with his name written in surprisingly legible black sharpie. Someone – again, probably Maruki – had also drawn a little smiley face in the bottom right hand corner in much thinner gold ink.

"You wanna come in with me or wander around outside for a bit?" Ren asked.

Morgana shifted around in his bag. "I'll go in," he said, "if you're okay with that."

"Wouldn't have offered if I wasn't." He knocked on the door to Maruki's office. A few seconds later, he was face-to-face with a rather out of breath therapist.

"Sorry," he wheezed. "Been lugging...some boxes around." Maruki adjusted his glasses. "How can I help you?"

"I was wondering if I could schedule an appointment," Ren said. "Right now, if you could, but I don't know if you do walk-ins."

"Oh!" The man brightened up. "Absolutely! I've only got a half-hour or so, but I'm happy to scoot you in." He held the door open for Ren.

"Thanks." The office was expectedly barren, unfurnished but for two small couches on either side of a coffee table. There were, however, dozens of boxes stacked on the far side of the room.

"It's not much to look at right now," Maruki said, closing the door, "but I should be unpacked by Monday." He plopped down on one of the couches. "Fingers crossed."

Ren just nodded. His future self, apparently, helped this guy out at some point. How would he have been able to do that? If he could send things that far back, why not change more, fix more problems? It could have just been double-speak, some sort of vague and clever reference, no way of knowing with the parcel-senders. But if it was literal–

Maruki cleared his throat. "You can, uh, sit down." He gestured to the couch across from himself.

Ren started. "Right, yeah. Sorry." He sat down and gently placed his bag on the floor between his feet.

The therapist looked about to speak, but turned his attention instead to a portable cooler on the coffee table. He slid the lid off and pulled out a little carton with a cartoon apple on its label. "Juice box?"

Ren shook his head.

Maruki just nodded and leaned back, poking the straw into the juice box and taking a sip. "Well, ordinarily, I'd have a bunch of forms for you to fill out. But we're shorter on time today, so we can skip that for now. I'd still like to know your name though."

"Ren Amimaya," he said.

"Nice to meet you, Ren." Maruki ran a hand through his messy hair. "Now, how can I help you?"

"I was wondering..." Ren started, then stopped. He wasn't exactly sure why he was there in the first place. Hadn't taken the time to come up with a reasonable lie, or find some way of explaining the truth. Taking back his memories... "I think I've been forgetting things."

"Things like?" Maruki prompted.

"I'm not sure. If I knew what they were, I wouldn't have forgotten them." Ren chuckled. "Memories, I guess. From a while ago. They feel...I don't know. Important?"

Maruki took another sip of juice and nodded at Ren to continue.

"It feels like I need to remember them. That really bad things will happen if I don't. Like, a history repeats itself sort of deal." Ren shrugged. "That's it, I guess."

The therapist scratched his chin. "Well, I can tell you right now that what you're experiencing is very common." Ren almost laughed in his face at that. "Especially the catastrophizing. Are you worried about anything bad happening in particular?"

Ren found himself scratching one fingernail rhythmically against the armrest. "That people I care about will get hurt. Or I'll lose them, somehow."

Maruki nodded solemnly. "That certainly does sound catastrophic." Then he chuckled. "You mentioned history repeating itself. Does that mean you think something bad like that happened in the past?"

Ren thought about that. "Maybe? I can't remember, after all. But if I can't remember whatever bad things might have happened, then I might make the wrong decisions."

"Well," the therapist responded, "it's certainly true that past experiences can help prepare us to face similar difficulties later in life. But, in my experience, losing a concrete memory doesn't mean you're unprepared."

Ren quirked an eyebrow. "How so?"

"You're gonna have to take my word about this," Maruki chuckled, "since my doctorate is still in one of those boxes, but my personal expertise is Post-Traumatic Stress. Primarily, as it manifests in young adults and teenagers."

"Didn't know there were that many teenage soldiers," Ren quipped.

Maruki still smiled, but something in his eyes seemed very, very sad. "I work with victims of abuse and assault."

That was stupid. That was a stupid joke. Idiot, idiot. "Sorry," Ren mumbled.

The man shook his head. "I understand. It's a very common misconception, you're far from the first person to assume that." He cleared his throat. "But, before we get too sidetracked; many of my current and former patients suffer from some form of memory loss. It's a very common reaction to intense trauma."

"Uh huh." Well, that definitely didn't apply to Ren.

"And, well, I've noticed that even my patients with extreme dissociation to their trauma end up having very intense and particular reactions to certain things." Maruki scratched his chin. "Let me think of an example..." Then he snapped his fingers. "Ah! I won't give her name of course, but I had a patient a few years back who was struggling with a similar sort of memory loss to yours, Ren."

He doubted that, but didn't hurt to hear the man out. "Yeah?"

"She had forgotten an entire year of her childhood, and was concerned she might not be remembering something important. After a few sessions with her, we figured out that, besides memory loss, she also experienced an intense physical and emotional reaction to the sound of a clock's hour chime."

"Why?" Ren asked.

"Well, that's just the thing." Maruki took another long sip of juice, before crushing the empty box between both palms. "She couldn't remember. And it's very likely both symptoms had the same cause."

Ren rubbed his neck. "So, you think that whatever she forgot about, made her scared of clocks?"

Maruki chuckled. "In a sense, yes. But I'm trying to tell you that, even without a memory of that point in her life, she still carried its lessons with her."

"Huh." The words of the first parcel's letter floated back through his mind: trust your instincts. Maybe he'd carried something back with him, across whatever reset Oxymoron had inflicted on the universe. Some sort of lesson, or twenty. "So, I might be the same?"

"You might be," Maruki confirmed. "It might help to think about that sometimes."

"Yeah." Ren smiled. "That sounds good, I think."

A knock at the door caused both inhabitants to jump. "Ah, that'll be my next client." Maruki mumbled, before calling: "one moment please!"

Ren heard a muffled voice through the door. He grabbed his bag off the floor and stood up. "You said you have other patients with memory loss, right?"

Maruki nodded.

"Did they...ever remember what they forgot?"

"Sometimes," Maruki said. "Sometimes they remembered on their own, sometimes I helped them remember." He smiled expectantly at Ren, clearly waiting for the question he knew was coming.

"Could you help me remember?" Ren asked.

"It would be my genuine pleasure," Maruki replied. "Next Wednesday work for you?"

"I'll clear my schedule."

Maruki laughed. "See ya then, Ren." He waved a hand towards the door, a playful yet somehow polite request to leave that Ren gladly complied.

He barely stepped out of Maruki's office before finding himself face to face with another student, a girl with red hair tied in a ponytail, swinging her arms back and forth in the hallway. "Oh!" she said, and purposefully turned her head to stare down the hallway. "Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude."

"You didn't intrude," Ren said. He closed the door behind him. "Uh. Why are you...looking away?"

"Mr Maruki said it's impolite to talk to other people about their therapy," she said, as if reciting the words. "It's a breach of c-onfident-iality." The word was obviously difficult for her, but she powered through it.

Mister Maruki, huh? "I don't mind people knowing I see him," Ren said. "And you can, like, look at me? If you want?"

The girl thought about that, then turned her gaze back to Ren. He noticed her eyes then, they were a strange shade of blue, almost purple. "Have you..." She paused, seeming to roll the words around in her mouth. "Forgotten things too?"

Ren blinked at the strange girl. "Uh," he said. Well, Maruki certainly wasn't lying about his expertise.

"Oh!" She covered her face. "That's a breach too, isn't it?"

"A little bit," he chuckled. "But...yeah. I've forgotten things too."

The girl peeked through her fingers at him. "I'm very bad at faces," she said. "But yours seems very remem-orable."

Ren chose not to correct her. "We haven't met, if that's what you mean." He extended a hand. "Ren Amamiya."

Rather than shake his hand normally, she reached out and took his index finger between her thumb and pointer. "I'm Kasumi. Yoshizawa." She smiled, more with the corners of her eyes than her mouth. "It's lovely to meet you, Mr Amamiya."


5/14 – Saturday
Evening
Yongen-Jaya

Ren could have put off his return to Leblanc. He could have texted Ryuji and tried to rope the boy into some sort of late afternoon time-waster. But, after his visit with Maruki, he found himself back on the subway, back to Yongen-Jaya.

"Ren?" Morgana had been quiet all afternoon, this was the first time he'd said anything since the two of them left Shujin.

"Yeah?" Ren made his way up the stairs, out of the underground. The sun hadn't quite set yet, the entire neighborhood was bathed in a deep amber glow.

"Do you think...boss will yell at us?" the feline mumbled.

"Not us," Ren said. "He still thinks you're a cat, but he might yell at me."

A quiet growl from the inside of Ren's bag. "That's not fair though."

"What, you wanna get yelled at?"

"That's not what I mean." Morgana poked his head out of the bag. "I mean, you didn't do anything wrong. Boss should trust you."

Ren shrugged. "He's got no reason to. I'm just some kid with a record, after all." He stared up at the sky while he walked, at the orange blending into purple of the soon-to-be-night. "I haven't exactly been the most open or honest with him, either."

"But..." Morgana seemed to struggle with his words. "He knows how hard you're working, right? That you're really trying to be a good student, and do what you're supposed to." The not-a-cat rested his head on Ren's shoulder. "Shouldn't that count for something?"

Ren reached over and scratched under Morgana's chin. "I hope it does." In front of Leblanc now, he took a deep breath. Then, he opened the door.

The Cafe was expectedly empty. The daytime customers tended to clear out before Ren returned from Shujin most days, and the evening customers wouldn't arrive for a few hours. And there was Sojiro at the counter, scrubbing out a mug.

"Hey kid," Sojiro said. He didn't sound particularly angry.

"Hi," Ren replied. He put his bag down next on one of the booths. Morgana hopped off his shoulder and onto the table, then down and towards the stairs towards the attic. Ren sat down at the counter. "Uh." This was about as impossibly difficult as he expected it would be. "I'm sorry."

Sojiro put the mug down. He still hadn't made eye contact with Ren. "Sorry for?"

"For staying out so late yesterday. And, for not telling you. Trying to avoid you this morning." He shifted on the too-small stool. "Sorry."

Sojiro nodded. "Why were you out, anyway? I hope you weren't getting into trouble."

"I was working, actually." Ren rubbed the back of his neck. "A friend asked me to cover his shift, and it was so busy I didn't realize how late it was."

"Still could have called me," Sojiro said.

Ren winced. "I know. I was..."

"You were scared?" Sojiro offered.

"Yeah." Ren stared down at the countertop. "I didn't want to deal with you being angry at me, so I just kept avoiding it. That was wrong, and I'm–"

"I'm not angry," Sojiro interrupted. "I was worried about you, kid."

Ren hadn't expected that. He looked up, eyes wide, at the cafe owner. "You were?"

Sojiro's face was stern, but his eyes were far softer than Ren had expected. "Don't make me say it again," he grumbled. "I'm not any better at this stuff than you are, I guess."

Ren found himself smiling. "We're both terrible at this, huh?"

"Yeah." Sojiro chuckled. "But...we're trying. That counts for something." He pointed at Ren, forcing a stern expression once more. "Next time, you call me as soon as you can. And you're going to help me out this whole weekend to make up for it!"

Ren mimed a salute. "Aye-aye sir." Then, he remembered Ryuji. "Uh. Could I get some time off tomorrow though? I've got...someone else to apologize to."

Sojiro considered that, then nodded. "For that? Take all the time you need."


5/15 – Sunday
Afternoon
Shujin Academy, Roof

While Shujin taught no classes on Sunday, a few clubs and sports teams still used the school as a meeting place during the weekend. With that in mind, it wasn't terribly difficult for Ren to sneak up to the roof. Ryuji was already there, lounging at the usual table, chugging a can of soda. "Suuuup," he said.

"Heya Ryuji," Ren replied, and closed the door behind him.

"So, why're we meeting on our day off anyway?" Ryuji snapped his fingers. "Aha! You found a new target for the Phantom Thieves!?"

Ren shook his head and sat across from the boy. "Not yet. Still looking."

"Bummer." Ryuji put the empty can down and crossed his arms behind his head. "Probably have to wait for Ann to get here, huh?"

"No," Ren said slowly. "Did, uh, you hear about Shiho?"

"Hear about..." Ryuji's face lit up. "Did she wake up!?"

Ren nodded.

"Shit, for real?" The boy ran a hand through his blond hair, grinning. "That's awesome. Glad to hear she's doing better."

Ren smiled too, though something taut in his chest kept him from mirroring the grin.

"So, Ann's not here." Ryuji turned to Ren's bag. "Doesn't mean you get to slack off, dumb cat."

Ren found himself snickering. "It's, uh, just me today, Ryuji. Morgana's still back in Leblanc."

"Oh." The jock looked rather sheepish, before settling into full confusion. "So...why are we meeting if it's just us?"

It would have been so easy to just pretend it was nothing. To play off the meeting as an excuse to hang out, and chatted the day away. "I haven't been honest with you," Ren said. "With Ann either, but she made me tell her the truth already. So, yeah."

Ryuji didn't respond, just kept staring at Ren, an odd expression on his face. Sort of confused, sort of sad. It hurt to look at him, but Ren forced himself to keep looking. He wouldn't allow himself to go back on this. Not to Ryuji. He deserved the truth, at least.


"So, I'm sorry," Ren said, for maybe the fiftieth time that afternoon.

Ryuji scratched his chin, brow furrowed, staring at the ground beneath Ren's chair. "Um," he said, finally. "So, you wanted to impress me?"

Ren blinked. "Out of...out of all of that, how was that the point you fixated on?"

Ryuji laughed. Not even just a chuckle, an honest-to-god laugh. "I mean, you did though? Not pulling my leg here?"

"I did." Ren shrugged. "I mean, I still do."

"Shit. No kidding." Ryuji was silent for a moment. "So, what happens now?"

"That's up to you, I guess." Ren closed his eyes. The air here was nice, he noticed. Warm, yet flowing. It smelled sort of floral, which surprised him.

"But, you're the leader." Ren opened his eyes. Ryuji was staring at him, that honest smile on his face. "So, uh, what happens now?"

Ryuji wasn't as eloquent as Ann. Ren knew that already, but he'd sort of forgotten, assumed the boy would treat this situation the same way. Now that you've owned up, Ryuji was saying, what're you going to do about it? "Now, the Phantom Thieves look for the next target," Ren said. "And I won't lie to you anymore. You or Ann or Morgana."

Ryuji nodded, smiling, some sort of beautiful gleam in his eyes. "I like that answer, Ren." He leaned back in his chair and let out a frustrated breath. "One thing that does piss me off though? Morgana's known more than me this whole time, that smug little bastard."

Ren laughed. "Well, you're on the same page now."

"Yeah." Ryuji chuckled. "I guess we are."