I've been playing a lot of Persona 5 Royal recently, mostly because it is on Gamepass. In doing so, and no thanks to Google curating videos to show me based upon my search history in looking for information on enemies and the like in the game, I've gotten a few video suggestions. One of which being the video done by Beta64 about the beta features and files found in the original Persona 5 and hidden files and the like that people have been data mining out of Royal on PC. In doing so, I've come to an interesting idea: What if I did a fic where Ren from the Animation/vanilla Persona 5 won a pyrrhic victory over the big bad (not going to say who in this preface because of spoilers) is offered a second chance by two individuals (again, not mentioned here but will in the summary and story itself because spoilers) to redo the entire year from when he got shipped off to Tokyo to the final battle to hopefully complete his task once more with the knowledge he has to make his victory not be a pyrrhic one, but a total one.
Here's where spoilers begin, so turn away now.
What things am I going to be changing?
Well, the first is why I mentioned the video by Beta64, the first thing that's going to change is who Ren is staying with for the year. And who would that be with? None other than Sae and Makoto. Apparently, in the early versions of the game, their apartment and the interactions you'd have with them would be like with Dojima and Nanako (that being they become a second family to you); meanwhile, you would have to keep your Phantom Thievery hidden from Sae when the person that she's looking for is living under her roof. The second change will be some powers that were supposed to be in the original game but were cut, I'm going to bring them back but they'll be conditional as to when/how they can be used. Lastly, and this will be a point of contention for many, I'm going to have Hifumi Togo (Shogo girl) in the place of Makoto; apparently in the original draft of the game, she was supposed to be Joker's right-hand (wo)man in strategizing and command. I haven't completely ironed out what specific role Makoto will have or if she'll be involved with the Phantom Thieves at all. The second major change in this timeline will be that it is hybridized with the Royal timeline, that being Ren has no knowledge of Kasumi or Maruki or any of the events that we associate with the new Royal content. We know as we've likely played through both Vanilla and Royal, but he doesn't. I figure this will really mix it up and make it very interesting to read as while some things will remain the same, others will not. I may even rewrite social link substories to make them more impactful or make more sense as to why you're doing them (I'm looking at you, Ann for ranks 2-8!). I will state that in terms of social links, Joker/Ren would have maxed Sojiro, Kawakami, Sae, and all party members to rank 10.
With this all being said, let's get this show on the road.
Title: [undecided]
Rating: Eventual M? Not quite sure how far I will go with this whether it be with descriptions or citrusy content.
Pairing: Ren x undecided. This is the one point where I do not know. I like many of the waifu choices for this game. Some personal favorites are Kawakami for an adult character pairing or Makoto/Haru/Futaba because I like their characterizations and (mostly Futaba) because I resonated with their social link more closely than others. Others I clearly do not like (like Ohya). Now with Royal, we do have Kasumi. The vanilla/animation Ren will have not paired up with anyone, but did have feelings for them but friendzoned them in case they didn't make it out for one reason or another. Eventually, this will be decided, with no harem ending (unless it's a crackfic ending as a joke).
Summary: Ren won against Yaldabaoth but at a high price: his friends were erased from the Cognition that Yaldabaoth created as Phantom Thieves and he died sacrificing himself to save a world that wouldn't remember him or the trials and tribulations that his team went through to save them. But, instead of fading into the Sea of Souls, Ren is plucked by Igor and Lavenza with a new task: to save his friends, but there's a catch. He has to redo the year completely and there will be some differences this time around. He accepts and starts a newish journey to save the world and his friends. But his journey won't be travelled completely alone, Morgana will assist him as he did in the previous timeline.
Disclaimer: I own nothing besides my copy of MS Word and my desktop. Persona belongs to Atlus. Ideas that helped develop this fic belong to their own respective creators, I only own this specific instance of this idea. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.
WARNING: As mentioned before, beyond the below line break will be spoilers for vanilla Persona 5 (also technically Royal too, but the base game primarily). If for some reason you still wish to experience the game unspoiled, make note of this entry and return to it once you clear the game's base content. I cannot be held responsible for game spoilers beyond this point.
XxXxXxX
Joker – Ren – was alone. Even with the assistance of his friends and comrades, even in the end, he was alone.
His friends, his Phantom Thieves, fought all the way into the depths of Mementos to find the literal Holy Grail and the fake Igor who now called himself Yaldabaoth. They were able to fight against the Grail, but once it was adorned upon the god of control's head, they fell one by one. Ironically, it happened in the reverse of recruitment with the exception of Futaba. His sister in all but blood sticking out as the last man standing before she too was banished. First Haru, then Makoto, then Yusuke, then Ann, then Ryuji, then Futaba, then Morgana. He felt the links he created with them break as they were banished from this cognitive reality. The battlefield that they had fought upon was a bubble where the reality Ren believed in and the reality Yaldabaoth wanted clashing.
The false god lashed out and landed a direct hit on Joker, but he did not fly out of the bubble which had banished his friends previously. For all the might they had accumulated over the year, brute force and Sir Isaac Newton made all that effort for naught.
"You are alone," the god stated.
'No shit,' Ren spat mentally.
"You cannot defeat me. Your so-called Rebellion is over. Submit to my world," it ordered. Its voice echoed in his mind in a way that shouldn't have been possible.
Ren felt something evolve inside him. He wasn't the most well-informed about all subjects, but he was a smart kid. He could put two and two together. The Holy Grail, each of the Palace leaders having a theme around them that they wrote calling cards on – lust, vanity, gluttony, wrath, greed, jealousy, pride, sloth – all of the Seven Deadly Sins plus one, each of the Palace leaders having a special middle name later revealed to him by both Morgana and Futaba – Asmodeus, Azazael, Mammon, Leviathan, and Samael (the exception being Futaba and her cognitive mother) – all being the names of angels that rebelled against God in various sources, and Yaldabaoth claiming to be God – wanting to become God. He knew that the Persona existed due to the Compendium Lavenza had listed the name, but never claimed it due to the special circumstances to be allowed to fuse it, but that Satan and Lucifer were both missing from the Palace owners, meaning…
There was one rebel remaining.
"No," Ren said as he stood up shakily.
"What?" it asked incredulously.
"No, I will not submit to your world. It goes against the entire purpose of free will. The same free will that allowed your closest angels to rebel, the same free will that caused the first humans to disobey your will."
"Then you will surely die," it argued, almost making a plea for him to submit once more. What angle it was playing at, he didn't know.
"Maybe," Ren chuckled defiantly. "But at least I know it took you down with me and humanity can be free once again."
"You dare-?!"
"Oh, I dare," Ren interrupted as a mask appeared on his face in blue flames. He felt the first Persona of his return to his soul but then evolved into something else. "I summon you, the First Rebel, Satanael!" In one motion, Ren ripped off his mask where behind him a six-winged former angel appeared behind him regaled with bat wings instead of what one would normally associate with angels, a human-looking face that was framed with metallic horns, and a suit reminiscent of Arsene's previous form. Above his head was a Velvet Room blue halo with sprouting bat wings. In one hand was a massive sword that doubled as a giant 'fuck-off' gun. "Tyrant's Mind!" he called out. Ren knew innately that this would charge up his next attack multiple times over.
All four of Yaldabaoth's arms lashed out at him and attacked all at once. However, instead of dying on the spot, he felt himself hold on with one final breath.
"Fuck off. Sinful Shell!" Satanael raised his gun-sword and fired a single round that impacted Yaldabaoth's core, every single sin ever committed by humankind impacting him.
"No!" the false god's voice called out as it slowly disintegrated.
"Yes," Ren replied. "Again, Sinful Shell!" This time the metaphysical bullet struck the god's 'head' which killed it. It fell to the ground below and Ren fell to his knees exhausted and two steps away from death himself. "We did it."
"Yes, you did," the First Rebel agreed in his mind. "I only wish I could have assisted you sooner. Perhaps things may have been different if I had," his ultimate Persona stated with remorse.
"What's done is done, nothing can change that." Ren felt his heart beat strangely. He knew he was going to die. "I guess I have the satisfaction of being a Godslayer, huh?"
The Rebel chuckled, "I suppose I can say 'welcome to the club.'"
Ren weakly laughed before the world became silent and dark.
On that day, on December 24th, 20XX, Ren Amamiya died a hero to the world, though none would remember him.
However, this was not the end of his journey. No, it was just beginning.
XxXxXxX
"Trickster," a girl's voice called out. "Please, wake up." Ren stirred as he rose slowly from a bed and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and found that once again, he was in the Velvet Room. However, there were changes. He was no longer in a prisoner's uniform but what appeared to be his casual clothing. The door to his cell was wide open, the lock appearing to be blown out from a condensed explosive.
He looked further and saw Igor at his desk with a chair in front of it and Lavenza standing next to him. "Lavenza?" he asks unsure.
"Yes," she nods.
"Please, young Trickster, please take a seat," the welcoming (yet still somehow unnerving) voice of Igor states as he gestures to the chair in front of him.
Ren took a seat across from the master of the Velvet Room and his attendant. "What's going on here? I thought I died."
"You did," Lavenza said solemnly.
"However, this doesn't have to be the end," Igor added.
"What do you mean?" Ren asks with a cocked head.
"While I, nor Lavenza, nor our benefactor has no guiding hand in your life, however-."
"It was not destined to end that way," Lavenza finished.
"Destined?" Ren asked for clarification.
"Yes, should everything go according to our benefactor's expectations, you would have emerged with your friends sore but alive and gone on to live productive, fulfilling lives."
"Indeed," Igor agreed.
"You keep mentioning a benefactor, who is that?" Ren asks.
The two otherworldly beings look at each other before looking back at Ren. "His name, or at least as he has made it known, is Philemon. He's a being on a higher plane of existence even higher than Lavenza and I," Igor began to explain, "some may even consider him a god, though he does refuse such a title."
"What is he, exactly?"
"He's an individual who looks on to humanity to see their growth and ensure their success. However, sometimes beings come to hinder that progress or with their own agendas. When that time comes, he makes a wager with that being that their view on humanity is wrong and proceeds to select a champion."
Ren's eyes widened, "A Wild Card,"
"A Trickster," Lavenza corrected.
"Indeed. And it is my task, as well as the Attendant, to prepare that champion to face that entity and prove humanity's worth by defeating them."
Ren thought about this. "This… isn't the first time, is it?" Ren asks.
"No," Lavenza replied.
"You aren't the first, and certainly will not be the last," Igor adds.
"Attendants?" Ren asks.
"I have had several…" Lavenza paused as she searched for the word, "siblings who served previous Tricksters as their Attendants alongside Master Igor."
"I'm a bit confused," Ren said as he rubbed his head.
"It's the simplest way of comprehending it. However, it's one of those things that are not worth worrying about. Lavenza is here to assist you in your journey just as the previous Attendants helped their Tricksters," Igor concluded that line of questioning.
"You mentioned that I will not be the last. The way you make it sound; I'm not quite done yet. But aren't I dead?"
"Well, yes but also no," Igor replies unhelpfully.
Lavenza continued, "Philemon plucked your soul before it could rejoin the Sea of Souls and placed it here. The reason being is he wants to offer you a choice."
"A choice?" Ren asks. The reveal of being both alive and dead made him feel a bit… existential.
"Yes. As this was not the journey he envisioned for you, he wishes to offer you the opportunity to redo the entire year with the end goal of saving your friends."
Ren was a bit skeptical. "What's the catch? There is always a catch."
"Indeed, there is one," Igor said.
"You will have to redo the entire year from scratch. The only things that will be able to be brought with you in spirit are your Compendium of fused and collected Personas, the weapons and items you had on your person, and any improvements you made to yourself throughout the year," Lavenza stated. "Your friends will not know you and you will need to reconnect with them once more from strangers to friends again."
"However, your journey will not be entirely alone," Igor said as he waved his hand. Appearing next to Ren was the wet splatter of a Shadow appearing, but out of it was…
"Morgana!?" Ren exclaimed happily seeing his (sometimes annoying) friend.
The humanoid cat jumped up and hugged his friend, "Ren!" They stood this way for a few moments before breaking apart. "When I was thrown away by Yaldabaoth and felt nothing more, I knew I had failed you."
"You didn't fail me," Ren said remorsefully. "I failed you all. We weren't strong enough in the end."
"I'm glad to see the connection you shared lasted well after death," Igor said bringing the duo's attention back to the conversation at hand.
"Indeed," Lavenza agreed with her master.
Ren settled as a chair appeared for Morgana to sit in. "While you can't direct me, can you tell me why I failed?" Ren asks.
"You made strong connections with your friends, that is true. But there are more than just a few people that you shared a strong connection with, a Blood Oath."
"So, you're saying I missed people?"
"In simple terms, yes."
"Oh," Ren looked down at his shoes, embarrassed at his shortcoming.
"Take, for example, the twin aspects of me assigning you tasks to complete with different Personae with different abilities. Had you completed them, you would have gained access to different fusion opportunities as well as many powerful Personae to fuse into others or use in battle," Lavenza chastised her Trickster.
"Now I feel stupid," Ren said as he remembered the first assignment he was given. He didn't really go into that whole thing just due to how annoying the Twins were and wanted to spend as little time with them as possible.
"Yes, you were," Lavenza agreed.
"This was one of many opportunities that you let slip by. Philemon's proposed reset would allow you to foster strong friendships with these people allowing you to gain unparalleled power and Personae to face Yaldabaoth," Igor concluded. "This reset would give you the opportunity to remedy this."
Ren went quiet as he contemplated this. Another year of ostracization from his peers. Another year of facing Palaces and Palace owners. Another year of rescuing Futaba and his friends from fates he would only wish on his most hated of enemies.
"Lavenza and Igor, what is there for humans after death?" Ren asks. He was tired, he wanted to rest.
"As we aren't 'living' in the same sense that you are, we can't really answer that," Igor replied.
There was the answer he was looking for. It was very likely that there was no afterlife, or, if there was, he may be reincarnated to live once more. What was it about humanity? Living one's best life?
"I'll do it," Ren said shooing away any doubts. "I'll redo everything."
"Excellent," Igor says.
"Do not worry, my Trickster. You will not be alone," Lavenza says.
"What do you mean?" Ren asks as he looks up.
"You've already met the true 'us'," Igor said. "Due to this, we'll be able to talk outside of Yaldabaoth's Velvet Room."
"His Velvet Room?"
"Yes. While he had complete control over that particular Room, it wouldn't be one I'd personally curate with its theming."
"What he means to say is that the Velvet Room takes the form of the soul of the Wild Card invited," Lavenza clarified. "The prison the Room took on was accurate to your soul at the time. It reflected the way you felt trapped in this new stage in your life. A prisoner to circumstances and an injustice outside of your control."
"That's why it hasn't changed."
"Indeed, you still feel trapped," Igor added.
"Previous Velvet Rooms have taken the form of a neutral room, a stage, an elevator car forever going upward, and a limousine going forward and traversing fog."
"The other wildcards," Ren stated and both nodded in agreement with his conclusion.
"However, that needn't mean that your heart will always feel this way."
"What do you mean?"
"As you observed already, you aren't dressed in a prisoner's garb and the cell door to the former cell you had been contained to during your journey has been blown open. You've already started to reject your prisoner status."
"That's… good."
"Indeed."
"In order for you to determine which Room you are in by sight alone, as well as to not allow Yaldabaoth to discover his plot has already been foiled, the Room's shape will change by the next we meet."
"I guess I'll see you soon," Morgana said.
"That reminds me, when did you get captured in Kamoshida's Palace?" Ren asked Morgana.
"Well over a week before you showed up."
"Think you can stay out of trouble and meet up before getting captured?"
"I'll try."
Ren held out a fist, "See you on the other side, buddy."
"See you later, Joker!" Morgana said before he disappeared in a small flash.
Ren turned to the two Velvet Room inhabitants. "So, I guess this is the part where we say goodbye?"
"Yes, but a word of warning," Igor said.
"Indeed," Lavenza said. "This world you will be thrown into will have certain things differ and others remain the same. As for what, we cannot tell for we cannot see them. I ask you to be cautious, my Trickster."
"There will be constants and there will be variables," Igor added. "It will be of your own volition to figure out what has remained the same and what has changed. Also, do keep in mind that you cannot reveal the future until a certain time has passed. Best of luck."
And with a flash of light, Ren was gone from the Velvet Room.
Lavenza turned to Igor, "So, what form will the Room take?" she asks as the room shimmered to resemble the room of their first Trickster from all those years ago. It was the 'default' shape it returned to when no Wild Card was selected or when there were many inside it and it couldn't take a definitive form.
"Oh, we'll see soon. I have some ideas, after all," Igor chuckled. This annoyed the Attendant, but Igor was her master and the servant of Philemon like her. He would do well by her Trickster by the next they met.
XxXxXxX
Ren awoke with a start as he felt the car he was in shake. He looked around to see that he was in a train car and outside the window was the Tokyo megalopolis. Immediately, the first thought that came to mind was Igor's statement of constants and variables.
He brought out his phone and looked at his destination.
It was not Yongen and the address was not Sojiro's.
His eyes widened in panic.
'I'm not going to Sojiro's?' he asked himself in shock and horror. Immediately, he started going through his email inbox as well as his SMS/LXNE messages to discover this immediate change. At the top of his inbox, a starred conversation was currently read but had the subject line of 'fwd: Parole Conditions.' He looked at the clock which showed how much time until the next stop, he had five minutes to figure out where he was supposed to get off.
He proceeded to open the email which, just like last time had conditions for his release:
Getting non-failing grades in school,
Having an unexcused attendance record of under one week,
Staying out of trouble that may incur legal or law enforcement involvement.
There were a few others that he couldn't remember if they were the same or not the first time around, but the major ones were still there. Then, he then scrolled down the email until he got the conditions of residency.
'The residence address is as follows,' the address was in an upper-scale portion of town if his memory served him correctly. 'The guardian assigned to your parole is…' "Sae Nijima," Ren muttered slowly in shock.
This… wasn't good. He was supposed to be with Sojiro. The old grump would eventually warm up to him after saving Futaba from herself and then getting her uncle off of his back for (essentially) extortion money. Having to live with Sae meant that, from what he was told in confidence from Makoto, she would be absent a lot and would be 'home alone' with Makoto a lot of the time. What did this mean for the Phantom Thieves? He didn't even meet Makoto formally until after Kamoshida's arrest and resignation.
There was a reply to that email from Sae which included which stations he would need to transfer to reach her residence as well as the code in the lobby to call her apartment when he arrived which happened to be the number 9 in front of her apartment number. Ren looked at the metro map listed near one of the doors and found that the station the train was approaching was two stops away from the transfer point he'd need to take which had him going from there, to Shibuya, to the station right outside the Nijima apartment.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. The same group of girls talked about Occultish things surrounding the Mental Shutdowns and the news talked about the newest accident that had happened last month.
'Wait a minute…' Ren thought. This was new. He looked to the monitor for more information, but the story had already passed and was replaced with the weather forecast. He made a note in his phone's notepad app to look into that later. The station came and the transfer happened. The only difference this time was when he had crossed the legendary Shibuya crossing, nothing had happened. Was it because he had already awakened his Persona?
The next transfer went without issue or anything to note. He exited the train and station and went above ground to look at the absolutely massive complex. Around him were several skyscrapers that housed various domestic and international corporations. He looked further down the strip of eight lanes of traffic – four lanes per each way – and saw about maybe a kilometer or so away the sign and logo of the Okumura Foods company. Makoto was this close to Haru's father's office?
Seeing as some people were starting to give him looks, he walked inside the building where a doorman opened the door for him and he sat in a glass-paned sallyport with a keypad and camera. He punched in the code that Sae gave him. The speaker rang a few times before a familiar voice picked up.
"Yes?" Sae asked.
"Uh, yes, this is Ren Amamiya. I'm here to meet with Sae Nijima?" Ren asked. He had to keep up the act. At this point in his 'Great Tokyo Adventure™', he hadn't met her yet nor her sister. It appeared that this version of him didn't even know who she was other than she was to be his guardian this year.
There was a pause. "Take the elevator to the tenth floor. The apartment is out on the left side when you exit all the way down on the end."
The door buzzed as it became unlocked. He entered and saw the receptionist. Behind them were lockboxes for mail and packages. Meaning, if he ordered something from the Sunday shopping show or the Black Market – which reminded him that he'd need to make a trip over to Yongen and Akihabara at some point for the laptop and tools – he'd have to pick them up here. He pressed the button for the elevator and waited for it to descend, as he did, a few other people stood next to him on either side. The car arrived and doors opened where no one currently was inside. The occupants didn't say anything to him, probably thought he was either a new tenant or a visitor, and a student at that considering he was wearing his Shujin uniform. He walked to the apartment and knocked on the door and waited.
The door opened to reveal the same Sae Nijima that he knew from the other timeline(?). Same suit, same hairstyle, same hair color, and length. Same voice as well.
"Amamiya-san?" she asked to confirm. Ren nodded. "Please come in."
"Thank you for your hospitality," Ren said with a bow before he entered.
As keeping with social mores, he set his shoes by the door and entered further. "Please, take a seat," she said as she brought him further into the apartment revealing the 'high-class' nature of it. Ren didn't do real estate, but he could make a guess that this cost tens of thousands of yen monthly for rent alone. Despite him liking the attic of the coffee shop, it was an upgrade for sure. "Would you like anything to drink? Water? Tea? Coffee?"
Ren was able to sneak a glance at a cupboard she opened, all she had was instant coffee. While good for a caffeine hit, it would be god-awful to taste. "Tea if you already have some prepared, water is fine otherwise," Ren replied. He didn't want to inconvenience his host, well, more than he likely already was.
She pulled a pitcher of tea from the fridge and poured a glass for both of them and they took a seat across from each other. Her in a leather chair, him on the long couch that he had seen twice. Once when Makoto brought him over to grab something before an outing, the second during a video call when he was in hiding.
She pulled out a manilla folder and set it on the table before opening it revealing his mugshot. 'An interrogation, this early?' he asked himself.
"Ren Amamiya," she started. "Only child. Lived previously in Inaba before moving closer to the city a year ago after your acceptance at your previous high school." She flipped the paper over. "Stellar grades, always in the top ten of your grade and class. Member of the student council as a representative of your class." A picture was shown of him for a memory he didn't remember where he was in a goofy pose with several other members at a school festival after party. "Previously a member of the school basketball team before moving and the second seat pinch hitter for the school baseball team of your previous school." She showed two more pictures, one of him in the midst of a layup, the other of him mid-swing as the ball made contact with the bat he held. "No prior infractions nor any disciplinary action outside of a missed assignment rarely. No run-ins with the law in any form." She flipped over to the record of his arrest. He had been forced to sign it, after all; ironically not too dissimilar to when the goons in the fake police department interrogated him – though that time there had been less punching and drugs. "However, two months ago you were arrested for assault and battery, the witness present stating that you were the aggressor."
"If I may ask, what does this have to do with anything?" Ren asked, wanting to know her angle. The new history was new to him. The only thing that was similar in his past life is that he did live in Inaba in his early life, in grade school, but his parents moved away after the murders started for a time, they returned after the culprit had been arrested, and then he lived there up until his encounter with Shido.
"Everything," she said as she closed the folder and leaned forward, hands folded. "How does a stellar student of an upstanding status go from the perfect model of a Japanese youth to a delinquent with no prior signals?" She leaned back. "In one day, close friends and family went from support to shunning, what would cause that?"
"I don't know," Ren replied honestly. It was something he never dwelled upon too hardly considering everything that pretty much happened back-to-back. His parents, who had loved and supported him even when they were distant when working – his mother a small-time lawyer who took on civil cases (accidents, and so on) and his father a computer-science researcher whose work would take him away for a month or more at a time – went to completely throw him under the bus in under a day. It was… unnatural. Ren thought back to Kana, Futaba's old friend who was on the other side of the country, yet the team was able to change her parents' hearts from Mementos in Tokyo. There was a lot to Mementos and he did recall Shido stating that he'd start expanding further soon. "You… don't think that it was a mental shutdown, do you?" Ren asks carefully.
Sae didn't suspect this angle as she thought herself. "It's…" she started after a moment of thinking herself, "not impossible." She looked at him. "I know the official report of that night, what did you see happen?"
"You… want my side?" Ren asked, again unsure of her angle.
"Why wouldn't I? I may be a prosecutor working with the state, but my job on a base level is to find the truth."
"The… prosecutor and police in town didn't even bother to take down my side of events," Ren replied causing Sae's brows to rise in surprise.
"Then it's all the more important to get your side of things," she said as she pulled out her phone and started recording audio. "Please, start from the beginning."
Ren didn't know why, but he trusted her. Maybe it was the remnant of the former Blood Oath they had formed yearning to be reconnected? "It was early spring, late at night. I was walking home from the local convenience store with groceries after school. Baseball club had run long so I had changed out of my uniform and wore casual clothing. As I walked back to my house, I heard a woman scream and pleaded for someone to leave her alone. I had heard of people disappearing before, so I went over to see if, at the bare minimum, I could at least catch either a name, face or plate number to report. He was still pulling at her when I saw them. I stepped between them and he fell to the ground where he hit his head on a planter, splitting his head open. Headwounds bleed more even with shallow injuries, so it looked worse than it actually was."
She nodded. "That matches the hospital record that was signed off on as evidence for the assault. What happened next?"
"Two officers came around, beat cops if I were to make a guess. While we were familiar with a few of the local officers, these men I had never seen them before. He told them that I assaulted him and convinced, in open listening range of the officers, the woman to say that I assaulted him. She did."
"And then what?"
"He told them to keep his name off of the report."
She nodded yet again, "That also matches what was on the report. There was no plaintiff name, only a law firm connected to multiple major corporations." She then changed the subject. "Do you remember what this man looked like?"
This was his chance to expose Shido now. But Shido was just another cog in the machine for Yaldabaoth. Another piece of the puzzle. If he exposed the corrupt ass now, he would retaliate against Sae and Makoto by proxy. Probably would even use the fake Detective Prince Akechi to do it; the darker side of Ren said that he'd probably make it a murder-suicide too. He didn't want to see the girl he saw as his second-in-command and sister get slaughtered by a man whose ambitions were out of control.
Ren shook his head, "I don't remember much about him. The only thing I remember was that he had glasses and was bald – either shaved head or actually bald, I do not know."
"I understand. Such an event would be traumatic, especially if you truly had done nothing wrong."
That got his attention, "Do you think I didn't do it?"
"I'm not sure what to think, but what I do know is that this whole situation is suspicious on too many levels," she thought aloud.
She had stopped the recording. "So, what now?"
"I'm going to look into this."
"Why are you going out of your way for this?" This genuinely confused Ren. Sae didn't do this last time until she was interrogating him and he provided proof that while his group of high schoolers were troublemakers trying to do right, they didn't kill anyone.
She was silent for a moment. "Do you know why you were left in my care?" Ren shook his head 'no.' "Your mother went to college with my father. Granted, he was a senior on the way to graduation and she was a freshman who had just passed the entrance exam. They became friends. After my father passed a few years ago, she helped us out for a time until I got into the workforce. It's my way of repaying that kindness she showed us."
This was news to Ren. He didn't know any of this. Was this another change that both Igor and Lavenza hinted at? Things that never existed in his 'birth' world but was here in this one? Was this a world that the Velvet Room's inhabitant's master, Philemon, had sent him to intentionally? One where his family life was better and seemed salvageable? If the hearts of his family had been altered to throw him under the bus, that meant they could be changed back when he and the rest of the Thieves gained access to Mementos. Perhaps when he got together with Morgana again in Kamoshida's palace, he could have the cat/Shadow look into that; assuming that he didn't get recaptured again like the first time.
"A word of warning," Ren said getting her attention, "I don't know how powerful this man is, but he bragged even while drunk that the country was pretty much in the palm of his hand. Considering he was able to manipulate my local police there's no telling just how powerful he is and he shouldn't be underestimated nor trifled with lightly."
Sae paused for a moment, "I will take that under consideration." She changed the subject. "Starting Monday, you will be attending Shujin Academy as a second-year. Tomorrow, I will be coming with you to the school to introduce you to the staff." This was the same as before, just with a different guardian. "Due to the distance, I will be driving us there."
He felt a connection reestablish itself with Sae.
I am thou, thou art I.
Thou has reestablished a vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion
That breaketh thy chains of captivity and free thy soul.
With the rebirth of the Judgement Persona,
I have regained the winds of blessing that
Shall lead to freedom and new power…
That oath was new. He now knew that voice was of Lavenza. Ren figured that he'd breach the subject now. "I saw a second place at the table, do you live alone or…?"
"My younger sister, Makoto, lives with me. She too is going to Shujin but as a third-year, your senior."
"And she's…?"
"Currently at school, though you will see her later tonight. Assuming work doesn't come up, I will introduce you to each other. Considering that you will be under the same roof for the year, I do hope that you get along well together."
"Me too," Ren said a bit worried. This was much earlier than before when he was exposed to Makoto. Not to mention their dynamic would be different than before as well. This Sae seemed well-adjusted, at least on the surface.
Her expression hardened. "Also, I hope that I don't need to say this, but don't be getting any ideas about my sister. You two will be unattended quite a bit. Meaning I expect you to stay on top of your homework and to chip in with chores. This is not a hotel."
"Understood," Ren gulped. "I have no intentions towards her that wouldn't be honorable. And I can cook and can help with meals if you want."
Sae's expression softened. "If you wish to take over meals, you will need to discuss it with Makoto when she returns." She did change the subject once more. "While she knows that you are staying with us and how you're related to us, I have not told her anything about your record, only that you're here for family reasons. I expect that you'll keep your record under wraps and stay on your best behavior."
Ren knew that this wouldn't last forever. Kamoshida would leak his record on his first day through Mishima. Though, he never knew the catalyst for it. Was it because he came to school late the first day? Kamoshida was extremely petty being the King of the Shujin Castle, but was it his thinking that the 'new kid was too good for school' that pushed him to release the information? What made him think that he couldn't be redeemed so he should burn? Kamoshida never did anything without reason when he stood to benefit from it. The abuse of the male students? Because he wanted to feel powerful. The sexual abuse of the female students? Because he wanted a bedwarmer that wouldn't leave as soon as they saw his true nature. Him releasing Ren's dox, no idea.
"My lips are sealed," Ren replied.
"Good," she said as she stood up. "I'll show you to your room." She led him down the hallway where there were four doors in the Western style of construction. "This one is the washroom, we do have a proper bath inside," she said as she pointed it out. Well, that meant no trips to the bathhouse unless he wanted to make the extra trip. She walked to the next room over and pointed it out. "This room is Makoto's." She then pointed to the one across from it in the corner, "And that one is mine." She stopped at the door across from Makoto's but next to Sae's. "And this will be where you'll stay," she said as she opened the door.
It was a spartan room. No pictures on the walls or anything. In the corner was a desk with nothing on it. It was large enough to hold two textbooks side-by-side or one book and one laptop. It had a chair as well. Behind it was a western-style twin-size bed with plain sheets in a grey color. A blanket/comforter was on the top folded at the foot of the bed. Near the door were a dresser and shelving unit. It looked like he could store some of the things he could win from Akihabra's claw machine or from his friends on the shelves. There was also a closet that had a sliding pair of doors that appeared that he could store other things in there as well, mostly hung-up clothes and things that didn't need to be out. It wasn't an extremely large room, maybe a total square footage of 24 feet squared. It was significantly smaller than Le Blanc, but it was meant for sleeping and private time as opposed to the majority of the time that he'd be spending in the apartment's public areas. Looking at the shelving unit, he could probably place a TV, DVD player, and retro game console on the shelf if he truly wanted to. At the foot of his bed was a familiar cardboard box.
"Your family sent your belongings ahead of you, they arrived not too long ago," Sae stated. "I'll give you a bit to unpack," she said as she closed the door behind her.
Ren wasted no time looking through what was sent to him. As expected, a week's worth of school uniforms with shirts and jackets for the winter and shorter-sleeved shirts for the summer. Included was a week's worth of 'casual' clothes for after school, weekends, and general non-school activities. There was a metro pass for the main stations he'd have to pass through to get to school and about a hundred thousand yen. There was no explanation, but he assumed it was for rent if it was asked for and food.
He proceeded to hang up the uniforms in his new closet and placed the rest of his clothes away on the dresser. The box he broke down and placed behind the desk. When this year was done, he'd be using it again to pack whatever he purchased or was gifted this year to take back home. Assuming his suspicion about his parents and a negative Change of Heart had been forced upon them was correct. He sort of prayed that 'metaverse fuckery' was responsible for the breakdown in his family.
Sae entered the room again as Ren finished plugging in his phone charger into the outlet near the desk. "Oh, good. You've finished unpacking," she stated.
"Yeah, I didn't have a whole lot, Nijima-san," Ren replied humbly.
"Nonetheless, Makoto is home and I'll introduce you to her," she said. Ren tapped his phone to make the clock come up, it was almost 7 pm. Time flew by and he didn't even realize it. "Come," she encouraged. He walked out and as he entered the living room, seeing Makoto was like seeing a ghost from the past. He had to ensure he didn't let any emotions show on his face other than someone greeting a new acquaintance. For all he knew, this was not the Makoto he once knew. Sae gestured to him, "Makoto, this is Ren Amamiya. He will be staying with us for the year due to some family issues."
Ren held out his hand and greeted with a smile, "Nijima-san, a pleasure to meet you."
"Amamiya-san," Makoto took his hand and shook it in return. "A pleasure to meet you as well." As Ren shook her hand, he felt something different when it concerned Makoto, he just couldn't put his finger on it.
Later that night, after a 'lights out' order had been given by Sae, Ren sat on his bed with his phone in his hands. He had to know. He opened the Metanav and stared at the three prompts.
"I need to know," Ren muttered quietly. He used the speech-to-text fill-in. "Suguru Kamoshida. Shujin Academy. A Castle."
"Candidate found," his phone monotonously replied, though he had turned down the volume to keep suspicion off of him.
"Alright, one for seven." He cleared it and started with the second. "Ichiryusai Madarame. Atelier's shack. Museum."
"Candidate found," his phone replied once more.
"Ok, two out of seven." He cleared it again. "Junya Kaneshiro. Shibuya. Bank."
"Candidate found."
He cleared it again. "Futaba Sakura. Sakura Residence. Tomb."
"Candidate found."
Again. "Kunikazu Okumura. Okumura Foods HQ. Spaceport."
"Candidate found."
The next one was the one he was worried about, mainly because he was under her watch. "Sae Nijima. Tokyo Courthouse. Casino."
"No candidate found."
Ren paused in shock. 'Sae didn't have a Palace?' he thought. "Alright just to make sure," he said as he cleared it again. "Sae Nijima."
"No candidate found."
He breathed out a sigh of relief, at least for the immediate. That raised many questions. Did she not have a palace until the Phantom Thieves became active? He knew that she was an advancement seeker and the Phantom Thieves after their taking of Madarame and Kaneshiro made national news setting them up for Okumura set her obsession for advancement at an all-time high, likely forming the palace itself. Which meant…
"Mementos," Ren muttered in realization.
He could change her heart now, but that threw a wrench even further into future events, especially if Akechi was – very likely – doing Shido's bidding. If he got rid of Sae's palace his one trump card which tricked Akechi and Shido into thinking that he was dead would be gone. Meaning he would have to either plan around it or need her Palace to develop as it did previously. This would give him valuable information about how Palaces formed as Shadows formed in the pockets of Mementos and after festering became Palaces, but he and Morgana had no concrete Mementos-to-Palace pathway confirmed. He would need to check and confirm if Sae had a Shadow currently festering in Mementos and monitor her.
But now, there was only one left.
Ren cleared the search again and said, "Masayoshi Shido. Japanese Diet building. Cruise ship."
"Candidate found," his phone intoned.
That's it, everyone but Sae was confirmed. All the previous, major targets of the Phantom Thieves were confirmed to be in this world distorted with desires ripe for the picking. But the reforming of the Phantom Thieves would need to wait. He locked his phone and set it back on the charger and crawled under his covers. After all, he had to meet with Kobayakawa and (hopefully) Kawakami tomorrow.
He drifted off to sleep and as he did, he found himself pulled between dream and reality.
"Welcome back, Trickster," Lavenza said as he roused from the bunk he was all too familiar with.
Unbeknownst to Ren, Makoto had her ear pressed to his door as she listened to her new housemate talk to his phone quietly the names of people with a strange set of other words that didn't seem to make sense. The only one she truly recognized was that of Kamoshida and her sister. But, why would he be searching random things about them?
She would need to keep her eye on him, that was certain.
To be continued…?
XxXxXxX
And that's all there is this time around for this pilot. Before someone jumps on my case about Sojiro, just hear me out. I like Sojiro and his social link story is easily one of my favorites alongside Futaba's, Haru's, Kawakami's, and Takemi's. However, I want this story to be interesting, ergo there will be some changes. Considering I love Sojiro's story, I plan to have Ren work for Sojiro part-time as he did previously, just he won't be living in his attic and their dynamic will be slightly different. As we can see also from this pilot, Makoto will be introduced to Ren earlier than in the game which means she will be snooping on him more often, especially after Kamoshida confesses shortly after a very public fight that involves him. A lot of this stuff is being ironed out as I'll need to plot and plan out the entire year. The only constants that will be anchors will be the Palaces until we hit the Royal content after the year which will be a complete unknown to Ren.
The thing I want to have him do is do the non-party social links. In this, he only did it if you remember the party, Kawakami, Sojiro, and Sae were the only ones to get max social links, everyone else either was undiscovered or not developed past rank 1. This story seeks to remedy that scenario where that may have happened as some people have done that just due to poor time management because it happens, I mean, I accidentally skipped past certain social links in P4G whose stories I won't be able to experience in full until an NG+ playthrough. Doing the math for where I'm at in the game, I won't be able to get every confidant to rank 10 in time for the end of Royal despite getting the conditions done for the third semester to unlock. With Sae being introduced earlier, this will cause her social link to be quite important in convincing Sae to side with Ren this time around as opposed to being during his interrogation only. A lot of this stuff is very much in development and is subject to change. So, let's go on to other fic stuff.
As mentioned previously in the last entry, I haven't really done much in terms of fics for new stuff other than this one that sort of came up out of nowhere and I was able to crank out this pilot in like 4 days. I have been working on the occasional piece of content for a user which I will release eventually, they have first dibs on reading rights to it first. With this pilot concept done, I'll be going back to some of the other ideas I've started on but haven't really worked on besides the little into you see me doing in all of these. As this is the newest fic idea of the new year, hopefully, this is the first of many ideas I'll bring to you. On to real-life stuff.
Got to have my belated Christmas with family. Got some stuff like a new Keurig brewer. One of my siblings even got me volume 2 of Berserk. As mentioned at the beginning of this idea, I've been working my way through Persona 5 Royal and am on the final Palace before I get to the end of the game and then into the third-semester content of which I do have the conditions met to experience it. I do really hope that I'm able to push my way through it to get it done. I finally finished Yakuza 3 and am on to Yakuza 4, hopefully, this won't take me 8 months to complete as 3 did.
But, that's all I have this time around. See you all in whatever I decide to put out next.