Chapter 10: Barrels, Barrels! Any Barrels to Sell?

{R}

Ren was tempted to walk with long strides to make Morgana's "ride" as violent as possible but Aki had made good points and the not-cat agreed to his conditions, so he resisted the urge to do so. Besides, as if the fates wanted to assuage his worries, the only customer that happened to be at the café when they arrived was, according to Sakura-san, a doctor at a nearby clinic. He would have to double check if she's truly safe though considering he also mentioned bad rumors about her.

Surrounded by rumors he may be, he wouldn't take his chances on such rumors as far as Aki was concerned.

They did almost get caught though as Morgana was impatient.

But it turned out to be in vain because as soon as Ren let Morgana out and on the floor, the cat said,

"Wait, this is where you live?"

"Got a problem with it?" Aki said.

"Hmm, well it could be worse. At least it's clean." He looked to see the junk and such piled up on the side behind the stairs. "Well, mostly."

And Sakura-san came up.

"Hey, are you—" he said, then he saw Morgana. "Ugh. No wonder I heard meowing. What did you bring it here for?!"

To his surprise, it only took a minimal amount of effort to convince Sakura-san to allow Morgana in their home, as long as they made sure he stayed quiet during business hours and that they would be solely responsible for him. Though maybe they wouldn't have to worry too much about feeding Morgana since not long after they convinced Sakura-san, he came back with a plate of food for the not-cat, "complaining" about his "cute meowing". He even hoped he would get to name Morgana, but of course he couldn't.

So all Ren had to worry about for dinner was his and Aki's. Which he was glad for. A simple evening was a nice way to wind down after the marathon his heart went through from...Suzui-san's attempted suicide to the discovery of his and Aki's ability of summoning multiple Personas to Takamaki nearly dying in Kamoshida's Palace. After he and Aki cleaned whatever utensiles they used, they changed into their bed clothes and he made sure Aki took her medicine after the meal and before she slept. However, just before they turned off the lights...

"Wanna sleep in my bed, Mona?"

"Aki!"

"What? I doubt he's gonna sleep on the floor, right?"

"What do you think I am? Some kind of animal?" Morgana said.

"See? So I wanna call dibs."

"Aki..."

Did he really have to explain himself?

"Hey, I haven't had a reaction at all. So I wanna prove it."

He stared at her, unimpressed.

"Okay, also because he's cute, but still!"

"Cute?!"

"Well yeah," she said, turning somber. "Look, I know you're not a cat, but you look like one and...I've always wondered what it'd be like to hug a pet, so...heh heh, sorry, I couldn't help but want to take the chance."

Ren frowned. "Aki..."

So that was why she wanted dibs. Now he felt sorry for wanting to deny her. After all, if he really wasn't affecting her, Morgana was probably her only chance to try that.

Speaking of the not-cat, his ears perked and he stared at his sister.

"I-I see..." He huffed and looked away, seemingly offended but when he said, "W-Well since you insist, I'll sleep by your side. You better be grateful."

Ren knew he was just embarrassed, even more so as Aki smiled and scooped the little not-cat in her arms.

"Thanks Mona."

"O-Of course," he said. "A gentleman never upsets a lady."

So with Morgana by her side, Ren turned off the lights and got back on his futon to sleep.

However...

"Hey...you two? Are you still awake?"

"Something wrong, Mona?" his sister said.

"I want to make myself clear: your taking care of me won't be for nothing. It'll be give and take."

"Give and take? What're you talking about?"

"I have intel on making infiltration tools thanks to my knowledgeable and dexterous nature."

"Wait really?" Aki said, perking up in the moonlit room. "You mean things like lockpicks and smokebombs?"

"Really...?"

"What? Am I wrong?

"No. That's more or less what I mean."

"Yes!"

Ren rolled his eyes but still smiled.

"So do we have a deal then? In exchange for taking care of me, I'll teach you two how to make these tools."

"Big Bro?" Aki said.

"I'm fine with it."

His sister smiled and fistpumped."All right, let's do this!"

"Heh heh, I like that answer," Morgana said.

And then, for the second time that day, that voice spoke again.

I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast acquired a new vow. It shall be the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity. With the birth of the Magician Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.

That probably shouldn't have surpised him considering the pattern for the previous Confidants, but it still did. He was almost tempted to ask Morgana if he knew anything about it. Almost. Right now, he had an excited sister to deal with.

"Not right now Aki," he said.

"I know, Big Bro, I'm not that stupid," she said.

Oh he knew. But still he said, "I beg to differ."

Before he and Aki could dissolve into banter, Morgana said,

"All right now you two. Go to sleep. I kept you awake long enough."

Ren and his sister rolled their eyes but still listened to the not-cat.

"Good night Aki. Morgana."

"Night Mona. Night Big Bro."

"U-Uh... Good night to you too."

That night no velvet blue dreams came.

(A)

"Don't say a word."

Akira didn't. She stared.

Before her stood her brother with a nasty red spot on his forehead.

"What happened?" she said.

"Didn't I just say not a word?"

"You really expect me to ignore that?"

"Yes."

Really, sometimes she couldn't believe her brother.

"He got hit by Mr. Ushimaru throwing chalk at him," Takamaki said.

"What."

"I thought I told you not to mention it Takamaki..."

"And I'm not gonna let you just brush off you getting hurt."

Ren sighed and slumped against the wall.

"Why?" Akira said.

"Prolly 'cause he looked like he wasn't payin' attention," Ryuji said. He sighed. "He always does that when someone ain't listening in his class."

She and Ren turned their stares at their faux-blond friend.

"He does this all the time?"

"Yeah pretty much. Whenever someone doesn't listen he just throws chalk like he's some kinda ninja."

"And the school just lets him?" she said, then remembered Kamoshida. "Actually, never mind. That makes total sense."

Ryuji sighed. "Anyways..." he said. "Everyone's here, so let's go!"

"Uh...go where?"

"Wha—the Palace, obviously!"

"Hold on," Mona said. "It's still too early to go to the Palace."

Which she wasn't surprised about. They were basically a party with no items and starting equips. So of course they discussed about getting better equipment for them and medicine for their forays. Ryuji actually had the former covered, but considering he was the one that brought a model gun with him, that made sense. Mona and her brother apparently had an idea for medicine, and Ren wanted her to tag along, not just for an excuse to get medicine for their trip but also to see if they could get her medication as well as a new regular doctor.

So that was where they were now, at Takemi's clinic, being examined by her. Akira going first, Ren going last.

Akira knew they could've probably just given their copies of her perscriptions to get her medicine, even if it was from their old doctor, but she figured it was because of that and that this was the only way Ren thought of to get medicine for their heist, by saying it was for him, was why he didn't pull them out.

"Huh...so you do have a chronic disease..." the doctor said, likely looking at her results.

Akira was a bit uneasy at that, unsure why she said that.

At least until she said, "And here I thought you were here because of the rumors."

Akira tensed. Her brother remained stoic but she could tell he was only pretending from how blank it was.

Takemi glowered a smidge. "I'm not as dumb as I look you know," she said. "I know more or less what people say about me. So? Is that really why you're here? You thought you could get away cheap with my medicines?"

"Well..." she said but stopped.

What was she supposed say?

There was some truth to it.

"That's right," Ren said unexpectedly. But he added, "We did come here because of the rumors... But only because you're nearby and...our old doctor won't see us anymore."

Akira clenched her fists, trying to subdue her anger at their old doctor who had just dropped them because of their newly gained reputations. The doctor in front of them, meanwhile, quieted and looked at them, her expression thoughtful. She stared long enough that Akira had calmed down and relaxed. By then, Takemi said,

"I guess high school students these days have it rough, huh?"

Akira scoffed.

Ren smothered his.

The punk-looking doctor sighed. "All right, fine, I'll perscribe medication for the both of you. But only for your asthma and to help recover your health, got it?"

"Okay."

"Got it."

"Hmm. You two are pretty earnest, huh?"

Akira...wasn't sure how to take that, and nether did her brother as they both just stared back at Takemi.

"Well then, remember that this is my private practice so all the medicine I use are my own," she said. "I have a license to make and sell them, so you've probably seen them in hospitals. So it's your responsibility to take care of yourself. If you're fine with that, you can drop by anytime."

So, in other words, as long as they didn't complain about her medicine and anything that might happen because of it, they can keep using it all they want and she wouldn't stop them.

Even if it felt like a deal, Akira was glad it worked.

"Thanks."

"Thank you as well. This will help us a lot."

The doctor smiled. "Quick on the uptake I see. Good. Saves me the hassle."

Now Akira wasn't so sure anymore.

Especially as Takemi looked at them curiously as she said, "You two are pretty weird though. I wonder what you'll use the medicine for."

Not wanting to reveal the truth, Akira said, "Can we have our medicine now?"

And they purchased what they could afford. So Akira was set for another week of her daily medication and they had medicine for the Palace. However, just as she was following her brother out the door after they made way for a man entering, there was a shout behind her.

"Enough of this!"

Worried the man might do something to the doctor, she was ready to barge inside when she heard the man say,

"You're the only one who could've developed that type of medicine."

Akira froze and listened.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about..."

"Don't play dumb with me. Rumor has it that it's so potent that it can give person unlimited power."

Unlimited power? What kind of rumor was that? A nerd one?

"Really? That's news to me."

"Developing experimental drugs, medicine and herbal remedies violates all health regulations. Are you attempting to make a super-stimulant? A drug like that will only become a social issue."

Super stimulant? Was it like steroids or something?

"You're persistant, you know that? I'm just a quack..."

Akira's heart sank a bit at the doctor calling herself that so easily. She wondered why.

Her curiosity only increased as the man said,

"The police may not have taken action, but the media will soon pick up on it. You intend to ruin my reputation again, huh? You're a disgrace to the medical community."

The doctor very audibly, "Tsk...!"

And the man followed it with, "What's with that look? That was your mistake, was it not? I won'tbe resposible for your criminal actions. Dispose of that 'medicine' immediately and resign. The name Tae Takemi will never—"

It was that moment her anger at him boiled over with her bumping the door.

"Hey, who's there?!"

Damn it!

She rushed at the clinic exit to meet a bewildered Ren saying, "Aki?"

Then he shouted as she dragged him away as quickly as she could until they were in front of Leblanc.

She definitely wasn't going to mention that to Mom tonight.

{R}

Just as Takamaki told them yesterday in chat, she wasn't with Ryuji when he and Aki arrived at Station Square. Ren still wished he had gone with her to see Suzui, but he reminded himself that he wasn't really her friend. Besides, if things had been different, she would've been in a coffin instead, so he probably shouldn't see her.

Instead he was tagging along with his sister and their first Tokyo friend to this "weapon shop". He assumed it was legal, but with Ryuji...a part of him worried that he might have been mistaken. Which wasn't helped by the fact that it was in a back alley and the sign above the door said "Untouchable".

"You sure this is the place?" he said, turning to Ryuji.

"Sure I am! This is where I got your gun."

He had hoped not. But there was nothing to be done about it now.

"All right then. Let's go—"

The door's bell tinked and he heard Aki from the inside say,

"Woah! It really is an airsoft gun shop!"

He rushed in to see that she was bouncing back and forth in front of the various guns, commenting that some of them were models she wasn't familiar and some looked similar to those that she was. And behind the counter on his right was a rather rough looking man with a bewildered look.

Ren laughed sheepishly and said, "My apologies for my little sister. She likes weapons."

"Wait there's combat knives here too?! And swords?! And even axes?!" said sister said, looking further in the shop. "This place gets better and better!"

"Really likes weapons." He turned to Aki and said, "Calm down, Aki. You're making a scene."

His sister froze then laughed in embarrassment. "Uh, whoops?"

Ren sighed though he wasn't truly annoyed. It was nice to see her this excited.

But still, he said to the receptionist, "Again, apologies for my little sister."

"Yeah...sorry for makin' a big deal. This is my first time in shop like this."

"It's fine," the man said. "Not every day I get fresh faces. You all enthusiasts?"

"Me?" Aki said. "Yeah, though I'm still new to guns."

"A little," Ren said. "Only because of my little sister."

"Hey!"

While Ryuji said, "Oh uh totally! Totally!"

That seemed to convince him as he then said,

"Well then since it's your first time, let me make a few things clear."

They all nodded.

"Don't go 'round pointin' 'em at people. Keep 'em in a bag or somethin' if you're outside. And don't let the fuzz catch wind of you havin' 'em. I don't need 'em snoopin' around in my store. Got it?"

The suspicions from earlier came back full force, even more so now that he noticed the tattoo on the man's neck and he was the store's manager, but the pistol Ryuji had bought was legitimate and Aki had no objections, so Ren just said,

"We'll be careful, we promise."

"Loud and clear."

"Yeah, same here."

"Damn well better," the man said with a hard look. After a moment it relaxed. "Right then, now...you guys lookin' for anythin' specific?"

Ren looked to his sister. Aki pointed to herself. He nodded. She returned it. Then they both looked to the shop owner.

"Got anythin' really realistic?"

The man gave an inquisitive look. "Oh? You guys plannin' a nice, big bank robbery or something?"

Ryuji backpedaled and said, "What? No! W-We just like the look is all!"

To "back it up", Ren thumbed at Aki and said, "More like she likes the look and won't accept any other kinds."

His sister glowered. "Hey, I don't only like accurate depictions."

"Says the one who complains that people keep using 'greatsword' wrong."

"Only if it's so obviously wrong that it gets me outta the story."

"Only for you."

"Uh..." Ryuji said.

Ren chastised himself for getting a bit carried away.

"Sorry," he said.

"Anyways...so, got any?" Aki said.

"Yeah I got 'em. But even if they look real, you can tell they ain't if you look real close. Real guns feel...different."

Aki's shoulders lowered in disappointment.

"Oh...so they won't look like how some guns look like?"

"Nope. Not as long as I don't wanna deal with copyright."

"Okay then...can I look at some of them then?"

"Sure. But you'll get the beginner selection for now. I'll go get them."

"Beginner selection? So there's more than that?" she said. "Is the one that looks like a Dragunov sniper rifle part of the higher level?" Aki pointed to a barrel that was sticking out of the side door.

For a moment, the manager looked impressed before he shifted back to neutral. Ren did his best to resist his proud smile as the tattooed neck man said,

"Huh, you got a good eye, kid," he said. "Yeah it is. Maybe I'll show it and other good stuff to ya someday. Not today though."

With that, he finally went into the storage and got several kinds of airsoft guns. After some discussion and debate between him and Aki, as well as Ryuji mentioning his preference, they settled on an SSG 69-like sniper rifle for Aki, a shotgun akin to the Benelli M3 Super 90 for Ryuji, and a submachine gun that resembled a Sterling Mark 4 without its stock for Takamaki. On top of that, they also had to buy a bag large enough to carry all of that, all of which were bought with them combining their allowances, Ryuji's included thankfully. That, unfortunately, took the rest of their afternoon, so even if Takamaki hadn't still been with Suzui, they had no more time to do it that day.

So Ren made sure to tell Takamaki and Ryuji his plan on going tomorrow after Takamaki told them about Suzui's condition in chat. Now all they needed to do was dodge Sakura-san's questions of the bag so that he wouldn't know its contents. He doubted they had gained enough of his trust to let it pass that they were models. Though that reminded him that they would have to hide it better when they went to school. So instead of the bag they bought, he put his pistol in his pocket, the SMG in Aki's jacket over her uniform, and her sniper rifle in his bag with its barrel detached. Mona insisted he could easily put it together since it was just a seperated barrel instead of, say, a completely disassembled gun. After making a few lockpicks with Aki that night under his guidance, he decided to trust him on that.

Though Ren made a mental note to figure out a better way to bring their weapons to school.

Scattering them across their bags and clothes was almost like they were asking to be caught.

(A)

Once again, after a brief explanation from Mona about Treasure's being the core of a Palace and it would likely be hidden deep in it, they were in front of the tall and red-tinted visage of Kamoshida's castle as they activated the MetaNav in the alleyway.

And of course as soon as they arrived Skull and Mona were staring at Takamaki, who was staring at the castle.

"Well damn..." the thug said.

She and Joker scowled.

"Skull... Mona..." her brother said.

They startled.

"Uh...what?"

"What is it?"

"Really?" Rogue and her brother said, glancing between him and the Palace.

Thankfully both had the dignity to be sheepish, with Skull saying,

"Oh. Right. Sorry..."

And Mona saying, "Yes. My apologies."

"Hmm? Sorry for what?" Takamaki said, curious and seemingly oblivious.

Skull took it as an exit and said, "N-Nothin'. Just thinkin' about what should be your codename."

Rogue sighed at their behavior but let it slide for now. Hopefully they remembered to be a bit more courteous. If they did it again, well... She was sure her brother could come up with a fitting retribution.

Takamaki continued unawares and said, "A code name?"

"Yeah. I'm Skull, he's Joker, that's Mona and she's Rogue."

Joker, of course, raised a hand and said, "I vote Catgirl."

Rogue snickered.

"What? Is that what you're calling me?! I am so not down for it!"

"Oh come on. He's naming your after a comic book character."

"Who also steals stuff like we are doing with Kamoshida's Treasure," Joker said, twirling his hair.

Takamaki grumbled. "But I want something better than just a little cat..."

Good point. "So what you want then?"

The twin tailed blonde pondered for a moment. "Maybe Panther?"

She and Joker smiled.

"Nice."

"I like it."

Skull, however, said, "Uh, why?"

"'Cause it sounds more ferocious...?"

"I'm with her there," she said.

"Me too. Tiger or Lion doesn't really fit her."

And then Mona purred—actually purred—and said, "She's a cougar..."

"Mona!" she and her brother said.

"Don't call me that!"

"Er, my apologies Lady—er, Panther!"

"All right then, let's go."

"Wait a second! There's one more thing we need to do," Mona said.

Joker and Panther looked to the not-cat, curious. She on the other hand groaned while Skull said,

"What? For real? Come on."

"It's important. Now that we have Panther, we should have Joker choose our starter lineup."

"Huh? What you mean by that?"

"A group of four is pretty large already. Any more would make us stand out. The fifth one should be assigned as backup."

Rogue frowned, a small part of her glad it was hidden by her other mask.

"Backup? What does that mean? Does backup have to stay outside?" she said.

Because if that was the case...it should probably be her that should be left, shouldn't it?

"No. They should still come with, but be a reasonable distance from us. In other words, the starting lineup is our first wave of our infiltration force."

Rogue relaxed in relief. That was bit better than she thought it'd be but...that was all the more reason it should probably be her. Her stamina was terrible after all.

Especially since Skull pointed out, "Then I guess we always gotta have our leader with us, right?"

"Exactly. We'll leave the team composition to you, Joker."

"Okay then..." Joker said as he twirled his hair again.

Rogue wanted this over with so she said, "Hey Big Bro, just put me on—"

But then her brother said, "Rogue, Panther and Skull will be our starters. Mona will be backup."

Rogue stared. "Huh?"

"You're sure?" Mona said.

Her brother nodded. "You have the most experience out of us, right?"

"Hmph. Naturally."

"Then you can focus on teaching us instead of fighting when you're backup."

"Heh. As expected of our leader."

"Now can we go?"

"Yes. Let's."

And they did...at least until Justine appeared in front of her and her brother, a deep blue and glowing jail door beside her opening.

"My master would like a word with you two," she said.

Rogue groaned. Joker laughed. She glared. He laughed harder. But not wanting to make it any longer than it already was, she followed him into the Velvet Room, back in their own cells and prison clothes. Igor seemed rather pleased with their "progress" and finally explained what the room was for: executing Personas. Akira frowned. Yes they were just "personalities" and thus "not alive", but still...she didn't like seeing her Personas, especially the one that first answered her call, get beheaded just to make a new one that had a lot more "skills" than it would normally have. But unfortunately, Igor didn't seem to want them to leave until they did, so she had to say good-bye to Fantôme and Bicorn while her brother did the same with Arsène and Pixie.

Before Fantôme and Arsène faced the chopping block though, they turned to them.

"Worry not, my lady. Though I may be gone now, I shall not be erased from your heart," her first Persona said.

"Indeed! I shall remain by your side, young master. We shall meet again, whenever you wish," her brother's first Persona said.

And then the two turned into a green maid called Silky and a demon in a pot respectively.

Having done that, there was one more thing Igor wanted to do with them before he let them go and that was gifting them...the Third Eye. Rogue worried for a second that it would be literal considering this was a mental landscape, but thankfully it really just was a "third eye" in the sense that they now had access to "special vision" to "see things that which are hidden," as the long nosed master put it. When they left the room though, they found themselves surrounded by worried friends.

"Hey, you guys okay?" she said.

While Joker said, "Is something wrong?"

"I was going to the say the same thing," Mona said. "You two were just standing still all of a sudden."

"Yeah, why's that?" Skull said.

Wait what?

Well, on one hand it was good that they didn't have to explain the Velvet Room door and its inhabitants, but on the other hand...it meant they would definitely look crazy if they tried to tell the truth of their "standing still".

She and her brother shared a look. Well guess that meant only one thing.

"Just thinking of something," Joker said.

"Just was makin' sure something wasn't wrong with him."

"I thought that was my job with you."

"No, that's my job with you as your little sister."

"I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be for older brothers."

"Uh..." Skull said, unsure.

She and Joker smirked.

Panther giggled.

That made their smugness worse.

Thankfully before it could get derailed even more than it was, Mona said, "Well if you're sure, let's get moving then."

And they went back in the castle, for real this time and they learned plenty of things as they went through the Palace.

For one, both Mona and the MetaNav were able to teleport them to the safe room they found past where Panther awakened. It would've been nice if they could teleport anywhere, but Mona basically told them that probably wasn't possible because of the distortions from the Palace ruler.

For two, the most convenient thing so far about this mental universe, the guns they brought basically get "absorbed" by their thief suits until needed. She asked Mona if that also applied to items and it seemed it did...to an extent. They couldn't test how much they could store in their "inventories" then, or how would the stored items would appear in the real world afterwards, but mainly Rogue questioned Mona how come they seemed to be able to do that without any consequnce. Unsurprisingly the non-feline wasn't sure but guessed it could be a cognition of the general public that anyone can carry a lot of things without needing a bag.

Rogue guessed she would have to thank video games for that.

Which she also blamed for why the enemies would drop cash, both paper and coins, all the time and the occasional items.

For three, Mona taught them about Baton Passes and hiding behind objects. The latter was pretty straightforward, use the environment to get closer to the Shadow even safer before ambushing them. The former was similarly easy to understand, after dazing an enemy, they can pass their power to someone else and repeat if they can, going on until the enemy was gone or they couldn't daze it.

For four...

Rogue collapsed on the couch and panted, trying to catch her breath and ignore the burning of her muscles.

"Are you okay?" her brother said, a hand on her arm.

"Let...me...breath..."

...she had absolutely terrible stamina.

From the safe room on the first floor, they had several fights, pillaged a couple of chests, found a map after trying out Third Eye, and found another safe room on the second floor after going from one landing to another by using the scaffolding and chandeliers as a bridge. That was it. From the map they got, it wasn't much progress and yet still she wanted to collapse. In comparison, the others were tired but not as much as her, while Mona showed little fatigue.

She hated it.

"How about we stop for today?" Joker said. "We found a safe room. It should be a good stopping point."

"Yeah, I don't mind."

"Me neither."

"Rogue?"

She grumbled. "I can...keep going... Just gimme a break..."

"Rogue..."

"C'mon...we gotta...finish soon..."

"I know. But we also don't know how much time has passed in the real world. We could be pass curfew."

Rogue groaned, imagining their caretaker scolding them.

"Fine..."

Thankfully for her, her muscles were a lot less sore when they left the Palace, but she was still way too tired than she wanted to be. Because of that, the group decided to rest tomorrow and come back the day after. But Akira worried if they kept going at that pace with the amount they explored today, they might not be able to finish it before she, her brother and Ryuji get expelled, especially since they had no idea how many "mini-bosses" there would be in the castle.

Akira cursed her low stamina. There had to be some way to fix it, especially in the Metaverse. Maybe something that would change her cognition of her stamina?

"Aki? Your medicine."

"Oh right. Thanks Big Bro."

Akira paused.

Wait. Right. There was that medicine Takemi supposedly had.

If the Metaverse was affected by cognition then maybe...

Well now she was glad that they wouldn't go tomorrow.

{R}

"I'm gonna go ahead and go back," his sister said.

"Oh okay. See you at home."

With that, Ren had...nothing to do. Well, not really. He could check out the school library to see what its fiction selection was like, if it even had one. He could check out more of Tokyo and maybe find a part time job to fund their Phantom Thief escapades. He could even go and deal with the mess that was the items and cash they got from the Metaverse and put them in a better hiding spot in Leblanc. If anything, that one should be a priority but...

He had hoped to spend some time with Aki after yesterday. She seemed a bit morose last night so he had hoped to cheer her up by going out together. But it seemed she was much more tired than she let on and wanted to be alone. She would've asked if they could go together if she wanted otherwise.

"Something wrong, Ren?"

"Hmm, not really," he said, which was true.

There wasn't anything particularly wrong going on at that moment.

Besides the problem of Kamoshida that is.

He just didn't feel like doing much.

"Well, if you have nothing to do, maybe you could join Ryuji? He did ask if you wanted to help him train."

Maybe he would. He hadn't gotten to spend time with the faux-blond after all, plus Takamaki took today's break to visit Suzui again.

"Okay then. I'll do that."

"All right. I'll be walking around then. Tell me when you're done, okay?"

He nodded and the not-cat left him to find Ryuji. It didn't take long to do so, and when he did, his friend said,

"Huh? Where's Akira?"

"She went back home."

"Oh... I was hopin' she'd still be with ya."

He titled his head. "How come?"

"Well she didn't look too good yesterday and I'm tryin' to get in better shape, so...I thought maybe I could help her get better too."

Ren smiled. "I'll tell her when I get back then," he said. "Thank you."

"Huh, what you thankin' me for?"

He chuckled. "Nothing. So, shall we go?"

"All right! That's what I wanna hear! C'mon, let's get changed."

Ren tilted his head again. "Changed?"

It turned out that when Ryuji meant "help", he meant he wanted someone to run with him. Which, well, made sense but Ren had thought Ryuji wanted him as his spotter or something like it. Though it wasn't all bad. He did have a point in that if they trained their bodies in the real world, it would better their performance in the Metaverse. When they arrived at Ryuji's "former secret training spot"—which was just the courtyard between the main building and the practice building—but before they started, he asked Ryuji why he wanted to exercise when he was already in good shape and he said,

"Well, fightin' in that other world was a shock. I couldn't move my body how I wanted. It felt...lame. So I thought I'd build my muscles back up! I mean, anything's better than this body, right? Maybe then I'll help out a little more."

Ren frowned, not liking how his friend was talking about himself.

"You help a lot, Ryuji," he said. "If anything, I'm counting on you."

And everyone else too.

To his relief, the faux-blond smiled and said, "For real? Well then all the more why I gotta wreck your expectations."

Ren smiled back.

But then Ryuji said, "All right! Let's go! I'm gonna do knee lift sprints! You should stick with the normal ones."

And Ren flinched. He might not know what exactly a knee lift sprint entailed, but just the name alone sounded exhausting. Still, he ran with Ryuji all over school and barely managed to keep up with him despite the difference in how they ran. Ren figured the only reason Ryuji didn't outright leave him in the dust was because of his leg, which Ren chastised himself for forgetting about. Now it made sense why moving around didn't feel right for Ryuji and yet...

If this was Ryuji not at his best, what had he been like at top condition, before everything?

So he couldn't but ask after they caught their breaths,

"What was it like?"

"Huh? What was what like?"

"The track team."

Ryuji was quiet for a bit. But then he went on to explain the track team's former status, how it was then placed under Kamoshida's nonsense supervision, and how he brought up Ryuji's hard-working, single mother and alcoholic and abusive father. That was when Ryuji exploded, giving the man an excuse to shut down the track team and give reason for all the other members to hate him.

As if Ren needed another reason to tear into the king of the castle.

Or another reason to sympathize with Ryuji's plight when his father reminded Ren of his mother.

But he ignored his spike of anger, noticing how morose Ryuji had gotten, his eyes distant as he gazed into his memories.

"Do you...want to go back?" Ren said.

Ryuji probably could when the business with Kamoshida was all over.

"You mean the track team? Nah... How could I, after all that?"

Well, that was true, especially since his reputation was ruined but...Ren felt the faux-blond was stubborn enough to push through.

But then he said, "C'mon, don't ask me tough questions like that! I ain't smart, y'know."

And Ren chuckled.

"Anyways! That's all in the past! I'm looking at the future now. And that's what we gotta do! Build it."

"If you say so, Ryuji."

Then he just had to say, "So you're all warmed up, right? Let's go on another run! You're better at runnin' than I thought you'd be." He grinned. "Not as good as me though!"

And Ren groaned.

He was going to be as exhausted as Aki when he got back, wasn't he?

(A)

"Got any...uh..." How should she say it? "...'special' medicine?"

That sounded stupid.

But it seemed to work as the doctor was startled then looked at her in suspicion.

"Oh right. You were the kids at Leblanc," she said. "Your medication isn't working?"

"No it's not for my asthma. My meds are fine."

"Then won't regular medicine do?"

"No. I...have my reasons."

That she hopefully won't have to actually explain and instead just give her an excuse or two.

The doctor was quiet for a bit so Akira was caught off guard when she told her to go to the examination room. She felt apprehension coil her throat but she ignored it and went in. She needed the medicine. Of course, Dr. Takemi knew she had been listening in on the conversation with the "special medicine" and asked why a high schooler needed it, especially one who was already taking daily medication. Akira just went with "exams", which didn't really work, the doctor advising the health reasons against it. Akira then insisted on it so she could pass exams for her family, which made her call her annoying and that it was way out of her allowance.

"Can I work for it then?" she said.

Dr. Takemi sighed and didn't speak.

Well that was a little better than denying her again.

Then the doctor eyed her a bit before she said, "Then are you someone you'd consider to have a good amount of stamina?"

Crap.

"Yeah," she said, hoping Dr. Takemi wouldn't notice the tone or speed.

"I've been looking for a person around your age to help me out. I even put out an ad for it but no one's answered yet. Are you up for it?"

"Will I get that medicine if I do?"

"If you show results, I'll consider it."

Well, this was the best she was gonna get.

So Akira nodded and said, "Yeah. I'm up for it."

The doctor didn't seem too convinced but still said, "Okay then. You'll be participating in clinical trials for my medicine. Wait right here."

She left the room through another door and came back with a cup that was so bitter she could smell it from a good distance away.

"Here you go."

Akira stared at the small cup in her hand. Her stomach was churning and she was surprised her asthma wasn't protesting at the smell.

"Worried about the side effects? Well you can relax," she said.

For a second Akira was hopeful.

"Rest assured my autopsy is guarenteed to will figure out exactly what part of it killed you."

Akira grumbled. She didn't like the possibility of dying to medicine of all things.

But it was an experimental one...so she should've expected it.

Maybe she should try and renegotiate the terms...

But then Takemi said, "What? Aren't you going to take it? The exit's right there if you aren't."

And Akira tensed and glared at her. Oh she was definitely messing with her now, trying to stop her. Well she wasn't going to let a little nervousness stop her.

She took a deep breath and gulped it all down.

"Huh?"

"Blegh..." Akira said, smacking her lips in an attempt to get rid of the taste.

It was so sour it made lemons seem sweet. But she wasn't throwing it back up so that was good.

"I can't believe you drank it."

Akira smirked, even if it was a bit hard to keep up.

"How's that?"

"Wow. Still doing okay, huh?"

"Yup." Well mostly.

Her tongue was dead now but that was fine all things considered.

"Hmm. Not bad for a high schooler."

"Heh. Told you I'd be up for—"

She burped and a smell even worse then rotting fish and garbage went up her nose.

"... Welp. Game over, I guess."

Everything turned black.

{R}

Ren sighed and put away his phone, glad both he and Ryuji were able to make it back after to their homes despite how much running they did. He couldn't wait to lie down on his bed.

"Aki, I'm home," he said as he stepped in.

But then Sakura-san said, "Oh. You're back. If you're lookin' for your sister, she's not here."

He froze. "What...? You're sure?"

The bespectacled man frowned. "Yeah, I am."

He rushed outside and dialed Aki's number, hoping that he was just being paranoid. But when the call didn't go through, his heart raced even more as he tried to think of where she could be. He hadn't seen her while on the way home. He couldn't think of where she would go. And he wasn't sure where to start looking. She could be having an asthma attack for all he knew.

"Hey," Morgana said.

"What?" he said, gritting his teeth.

"Maybe Akira's at the clinic. She did stay behind for some reason the other day."

He ran straight for the clinic. He froze when he pushed into the examination room.

There, on the examination table, was Aki knocked out.

He glared at the startled doctor.

"What did you do...?"

"Let me explain," she said.

He stepped forward. "Oh I hope so."

But almost as if on cue, his sister groaned and said, "Big Bro...Shut...up..."

He gasped. "Aki!"

"Ugh...noisy..."

Thankfully, it turned out that his sister was indeed fine. However, as Takemi not only told of the results of Aki's "trial", but explained what she was doing and why, Ren directed his anger from the doctor to his sister.

"Aki..."

His sister just stayed silent with her arms crossed.

Ren sighed. "I'm sorry for getting mad earlier," he said to Takemi.

"As long as you understand."

"I do. But I would prefer if Aki didn't do these clinical trials."

"What?! Big Bro! But what about—"

"That medicine isn't worth your life, Aki."

"I was fine! She wouldn't have given it if could've killed me!"

Takemi cut in and said, "Well I didn't think you'd drink it. There's always a slight chance of death with untested medicines."

He silently thanked the doctor then as Aki cowed, even if it wasn't completely, as she said,

"But I need it for...you know... And the deal was I'd test her meds and she'd give us more powerful meds for us to use."

Ren sighed. That was a fair deal. But he still didn't want Aki to do it specifically. Who knew how would the medicine affect her?

So he said, "Then I'll do it."

"Huh?"

"Oh?"

"I'll take Aki's place for your clinical trials," he said to Takemi. "If you don't mind that is."

"Hmm...you're sure?"

"Yes."

"Then sure. I'm fine with that. I'll have to test this on you as well though next time."

He almost grimaced at that. Almost.

It helped that the soothing voice froze time and said,

I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast acquired a new vow. It shall be the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity. With the birth of the Death Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.

So he was composed when he said, "Thank you."

They then settled on a few more details about the "deal", mainly when the next trial will be. With that done, they stepped out of the clinic...and he sighed, followed by his sister. He glanced at her. She met it.

"What?"

His anger seared at the danger his sister could've put herself, but remembering how she kept looking away, it died down and instead he said, worry lacing his tone,

"What were you thinking, Aki?"

And his sister deflated even more. "I know, I know, it was stupid...I get it but..."

"But...?"

She faced him with a worried frown. "But what if we don't reach the top in time?"

Oh. That was why? Then...

"We will," he said.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know everyone's going to their best."

"But..."

"But...?"

"What if my best isn't good enough?"

Oh. That made more sense.

"Then I'll help you, of course," he said. "That's what big brothers are for."

Aki laughed. "Yeah. You're right."

"So promise you won't do anything stupid?"

"Nah. Can't promise that." Ren was taken aback. But then she said, "I'll promise to do my best though and help you too. That's what little sisters are for, right?"

They laughed.

"Yeah, they are."

And then everything froze again.

I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast acquired a new vow. It shall be the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity. With the birth of the Hunger Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.

He stared at Aki. Aki stared at him.

"Did you...?"

"Get a Confidant...?"

He nodded.

She nodded.

Ren wasn't sure what to think of that. So he said the first thing that came to mind.

"I really should look into these cards. I think they might be Tarot but I've never heard of a Hunger card before."

Aki frowned. "Hunger? What are you talking about?"

He also frowned. "Didn't you get a Hunger Confidant?"

"No... I got a Fool Confidant with you."

Ren startled. "Wait, Fool?" he said. "Then...what did you get for Igor?"

"I...got the Moon..."

Now this was curious. He hadn't thought their Confidants with the same person could be different "cards". But if that was the case...

"Then what did you get for Ryuji?"

"I got Chariot."

Now that didn't help. "That's the same as mine."

"Okay that's weird..."

Before they could say more though, Mona said, "What's weird is what you're talking about. I don't understand any of it. What do cards have to do with confidants?"

They both startled. Ren forgot Mona was with them. He was tempted to explain since he was confused but...it would take a bit and he wasn't sure if he would even understand anyway.

So he was fine with Aki saying, "Uh...just a way for us to keep track of something."

Which was true to an extent anyway.

Ren, meanwhile, just nodded.

That seemed to satisfy Mona as he said, "Okay then. Now let's go home. You two need your rest for tomorrow after all of that."

Neither of them argued with the not-cat. They were still not sure what to make of the different Confidants between them after all.

A good night's rest always made things better, even if only a little.

Author's Note(s): Did I go the convenient route with the weapons and items? Yes. Yes I did. I was scratching my head on how to make it well...make sense any other way. However I do have some limits in mind for it. Mainly that how everyone has their own set amount of "space" because of the kinds of suit they wear. Thus Joker, Mona, and Rouge have lots of space because of their trenchcoats, fanny packs and pants, Panther has next to none because it's a form fitting suit, and Skull has so-so space as he has a coat and pants.

The chapter title comes from a chapter from The Phantom of the Opera. Well not the grammar but more or less it's the same.

Also I was tempted to make it Lust, as that is the actual name of the Arcana from the Thoth deck as well as the Japanese name of Hunger in Golden, but decided to keep the name Hunger so that it will be easy to guess for anyone who doesn't know that it is indeed the same Arcana a certain someone in P4 has and, well, I didn't feel like having Ren and Akira comment on the name of Lust.