Chapter 6: Whistle for the Lightning

{R}

Ren gritted his teeth with anger, frustration and desperation while the king before him smiled with malice, ego and amusement.

"To think that you'd make the same mistake again," he said. "You're hopeless."

"The school ain't your castle!" Sakamoto said. "I've memorized their faces real good! You're goin' down!"

"Don't tell him that, idiot!"

But despite that slip, the king merely chuckled.

"It seems it's true when they say 'barking dogs seldom bite'." He sighed, almost as if he was sympathetic as he said, "How far the star runner of the track team has fallen."

"Track team...?" his sister said.

Ren was about to ask Sakamoto what he meant, but then the blond in question said,

"What the hell are you gettin' at?!"

And the king's smirk turned vicious.

"I speak of the Track Traitor who acted in violence, ending his teammates' dreams." He laughed. "Oh I can only imagine the pain of the others who dragged under with your...selfish act."

The blond flinched. "Ngh..."

Both he and his sister looked at him in concern and confusion.

"Violence?" he said.

"Track Traitor?" his sister said.

Of course, Kamoshida laughed again and they were back to glaring at him.

"What a surprise. So you're accompanying him without knowing anything at all?" he said.

"We know enough," Aki said, but Ren knew she had a tiny doubt now.

Not that she blamed her. It entered his mind as well.

But then the king said, "He betrayed his teammates and crushed their hopes, yet he still carries on as carefree as ever."

And Sakamoto said, his face full of pain and regret,

"That's not true!"

And Ren hated himself for doubting for even a moment.

So when Kamoshida said, "What a tragedy. You blindy trusted this fool, and he's led you right to your death."

He said, "If all fools are like him, then I would do so again."

With Ali saying, "Cause he's a whole lot more trustworthy than you, you two-faced asshole!"

Ren couldn't help but smirk as the king snarled.

"Tch. Hurry up and dispose them. I can't stand their stench," he said.

The gold knight beside him signalled the other guards to attack. He, Aki and Morgana brandished their weapons as not only were they in front of them transforming into large horned horses, those same horses came up from behind, numbering nine in total.

"Ugh... We're surrounded..." Morgana said.

"Get behind the three of us. We'll cover you," Ren said to Sakamoto.

The blond didn't look happy about it, but he still did as he asked, though not without a, "God damn it..."

Which was good as two horses charged at them.

"I'll kill you!" one said.

With the blond behind him, Ren took the hit. But he stabbed his attacker in the eye and it backed off as it screamed.

"I'll kill you cause King Kamoshida told us," one said behind him, likely dealing with Morgana from the sounds of gales and slashes.

"I'll kill you cause that's what he wants," a third said as it charged alongside others, aimed straight for Aki.

Ren heart froze. But Aki only got grazed then she retaliated. But that got him tackled to the ground with a scream. He heard Sakamoto shouting but he focused on his new attacker who was about to stomp him.

"Arsène!"

The winged gentleman kicked it away before dissapating. He was ready to payback but another replaced his enemy and he had to block it. With the amount of assailants and their seeming lack of weaknesses, the three of them were forced into the defense, blocking and parrying the strikes from all sides as they made sure nothing reached Sakamoto.

But Ren knew they couldn't stand their ground forever.

Aki missed her swing, stepped too far and made a gap in their formation. Seeing this, a purple horse charged at Sakamoto. Ren didn't think. He jumped right in front of the attack. Next thing Ren knew, his vision was blurred, his sister and Morgana screamed, and a foot was dug into his back, pinning him to the floor. He tried to resist, he had to protect his sister, but his body refused and the foot kept him in place. The only small blessing was that the screams soon stopped and his vision cleared. He saw that Aki and Morgana were facedown just like him, a guard holding Aki in place while Kamoshida did the same with Morgana.

"I bet you simply came here on a whim and ended up like this. Isn't that right?" the king said.

"No..." Sakamoto said.

And Ren turned his head to see him on his knees, panicked, ashamed and scared.

Kamoshida scoffed. "What a worthless piece of trash, getting emotional so quickly... How dare you raise your hand at me," he said. "Though it was only temporary, did you forget my kindness in supervising track practice?"

The blond glared, but his fear and guilt were still in his eyes and pulling him down.

"Wasn't no practice—it was physical abuse! You just didn't like our team!"

"It was nothing but an eyesore! The only one who needs to achieve results is me!" he said. His ruthless smile returned. "That coach who got fired was hopeless too... Had he not opposed me with a sound argument, I would've settled it with breaking his star's leg."

Ren froze.

Sakamoto said, after a long, loaded, pause, "...what?"

And Aki struggled, even when he heard her wheeze.

That man did that? He got another man fired because he had a good reason to oppose him?

Of course, Kamoshida went and rubbed salt in Sakamoto's wound and said,

"Do you need me to deal with your other leg too? The school will call it self-defense anyways."

And that was the last straw to make Sakamoto collapse on the ground, looking every bit as pitiful as Kamoshida thought him to be.

"Damn it... am I gonna lose again...? Not only can I not run anymore... The track team's gone too because of this asshole..."

Morgana looked with sympathy as it said, "So that's why..."

But glee glowed in the king's eyes at Sakamoto's despair. He laughed in twisted joy before he said,

"Once these two are dealt with, you're next."

No.

He won't die here.

They won't die here.

"Ryuji!" he said.

He won't allow it any other way.

"Stand up for yourself! Make him regret underestimating you!"

And neither would his sister.

"Don't let him win, damn it! Or I'll get your ass myself, Ryuji!"

Or Morgana.

"Ryuji!" it said.

The blond looked up, breathless as he stared at them. It felt like forever, the shock making his face almost comical before a fire burned in his eyes.

"You're right," he said. "Everything that was important to me was taken by him...I'll never get 'em back!"

Kamoshida saw no threat in any of their actions. He just kept standing there, looking down on them.

"Stay there and watch," he said. "Look on as these hopeless scum die for nothing because they sided with trash like you."

"No... That's what you are..." Ryuji said as he stood. Slow and unsteady, but he still stood. "All you think about is using people... You're the real scumbag, Kamoshida!

It was brief, but Ren saw it. There was fear in the king's eyes before annoyance covered it.

Kamoshida turned to Ren's direction and said to the guard,

"What are you doing? Silence him!"

The knight hesitated, as if in disbelief, thus Ryuji was able to walk up to Kamoshida and point an accusing finger as he said,

"Stop lookin' down on me with that stupid smile on your face!"

The man snarled, pissed, and Ren feared for him, worried Kamoshida would order an immediate execution. But then Ryuji screamed and gripped his head, thrashing against the ground almost as if he had a seizure. The king was confused then amused at his suffering. But Ren's eyes widened at the sight. It was a familiar one, one that happened just yesterday, in a situation just like this.

"Hmph. What can you do?" the guard pinning Ren said. "Cower in fear and watch."

There was the sound of armor moving, but it was in back of his mind as he saw it.

Ryuji had a mask.

And he tore it off.

Thunder, wind and fire barraged their senses. Ren could feel the knight behind him back off of him, along with the guards pinning Aki and Morgana. It was only when the wind stop did they stand up and look to Ryuji.

Ren smiled.

He looked like a thug with the black attire, red ascot and metal pipe he held. His Persona behind him even more intimidating, the skull faced pirate standing with pride and ease atop the floating ship it used like a skateboard.

Ryuji smirked.

The gold guard groaned. "Ugh. This one as well?"

The blond laughed. "Right on... Wassup, Persona," he said. "This effin' rocks!"

"Ha! Knew you had it in you," his sister said, smiling.

The thug laughed again. "Yo, I'm ready," he said. "Now that I got this power, it's time for payback."

Ren nodded and turned towards the purple horses and gold knight, along with Aki and Morgana. Ryuji stepped in line with them and said,

"Bring it!"

"Ngh. Don't mock me, you brat!" the gold knight said before it transformed into a red one riding a dark horse.

"Blast him away..." Ryuji said, aiming at the horseman. "Captain Kidd!"

The pirate said, "Aye aye, First Mate!"

Then he aimed his cannon arm and fired. Lightning struck the red horseman and he screamed. But he then shook it off and glared at them,

"What troublemakers that bother King Kamoshida with trifling matters."

"Heh, Kamoshida's cognition ain't changin', right?" the punk said. "Then I'll act like the troublemaker I am! Let's do this, guys!"

"Men! Get them!" the guard captain said.

The nine horned horses whinnied then charged. There was only one way they could possibly stop all of them. Ren just hoped luck was on their side.

"Ryuji! Try your lightning on them!"

"You got it!"

The caped pirate appeared once again, already aiming. When the lightning hit a horse, it screeched and toppled over, bumping into a fellow horse which then toppled over another like dominoes, while others stopped before it could happen to them. However, Ryuji took that chance and said,

"Go all out, Captain Kidd!"

"With pleasure!" the pirate said and it rapid fired lightning bolts, knocking down all the purple horses who hadn't fell.

The red knight was shocked.

"How dare you!" he said.

But before he could strike with his lance, Aki dashed between his fallen comrades and slashed at his steed's hamstring. The equine neighed in pain and fell.

"Let's do a finisher, Big Bro!" she said, smirking.

Ren smiled.

"All-Out Attack!"

And everyone ran fast and struck hard, hitting as many times as possible on as many of the enemies. When they stopped, every single one of the purple horses screamed and dissolved. The red knight looked around in disbelief.

"Looks like you're all alone now," Ren couldn't help but say.

"Argh! Fine! I'll do it myself!"

He swung his lance. Ren's heart stopped as Aki got hit on her ribs. But, to his and the red knight's surprise, she grabbed the lance tight. She smirked and said,

"Got you now!"

She summoned Fantôme and he wrapped his lasso around the knight's neck, pulling it off of his steed.

"Big Bro!"

He smiled, even though he was both panicked and pissed. He would have a word with her later.

"Everyone! Now!"

Everyone turned into a blur as they went all out. However, that wasn't enough to finish him off as his horse lifted him back on its saddle when they finished. But, thankfully, this time when the knight attacked, Aki avoided it and Ryuji used the chance to clobber him. Morgana had Zoro sending more peaceful winds Aki's way. Ren wasn't sure what it did, so he focused on supporting Ryuji.

It was only after he too got injured as they fought did he find out that those calmer winds were some sort of healing spell. So he said to Morgana,

"Focus on healing!"

"Very well!" it said.

"Aki! Guard Morgana!"

"Roger!"

With that, the red knight had an even harder time fighting them as even after hitting them, they were healed, and Aki would always make sure none of his strikes would land on Morgana. So, with them panting and sweating like crazy, it was inevitable that they took him down, Ryuji landing the final blow on his head and he fell alonside his steed.

"I am...a loyal subject...of the glorious...King Kamoshida..." he said as he and his horse slowly dissolved. "So why...have I lost?"

Ryuji panted, catching his breath with a smile. "It just proves that Kamoshida ain't anything special."

With that, he was gone for good, leaving a King Kamoshida who... Ren frowned. ...stood there utterly annoyed and unimpressed.

He didn't like that.

Of course, Ryuji just said to the king, "How about that?!"

While Morgana stared in surprise at the thug. "Whoa... So Ryuji had the potential too..."

"Even if you apologize, I ain't forgivin' you!"

"Took...the words...right outta my mouth!" Aki said.

The king scoffed. "I told you that this is my castle. It seems you still don't understand..."

Ren didn't like that one bit. Here was Kamoshida, all by himself, with four people capable of hurting him immensely even in their battered state, and he was just annoyed.

"Everyone... We should go."

But before anyone could move, someone came up to Kamoshida and he, Aki and Ryuji were shocked at the identity.

"Wh—Takamaki?!" Ryuji said.

While Aki said, "Why's she here?!"

Ren wondered as well, remembering the exchange between the platinum blonde and the athlete. With Takamaki here, dressed in only a bikini with cat ears, it increased his worry for her situation.

The only one who wasn't shocked at her appearance was Morgana. But...

"Oh..." Morgana said. "Wha...what a meow-velous and beautiful girl..."

...he glared at the stupid cat. This wasn't the time to be infatuated.

"Hey! Stop that!" Aki said. "This ain't the time to drool!"

But then Takamaki leaned against the older man, looking at him with half-lidded eyes and feeling him up, and Ren tensed as he glared.

Aki gagged at the sight. "Oh hell no."

"What's going on?!" Ryuji said.

Ren, however, grew more suspicious and said, "That's not her..."

"Huh?" both his sister and their friend said.

"What the hell do you mean?" Sakamoto said, not catching on. "Who else could it be?"

But Aki did when she looked back and facepalmed.

And as if to put the nail on the coffin, Kamoshida caressed the girl's chin with a perverted smile. The girl was pleased and squirmed as if to ask for more.

Aki gagged once again at the sight.

"Hey! Let go of her, you perv!"

"How many times must I tell you until you understand?" he said, unimpressed as he rubbed Takamaki. He smirked. "This is my castle—a place in which I can do whatever I want. Everyone wishes to be loved by me." He frowned and stopped petting Takamaki. "That is, everyone besides slow witted thieves like you."

"Takamaki! Say something!"

"Calm down, Ryuji," Ren said.

"Yeah, that Takamaki's just a cognition," Aki said.

Morgana nodded. "Yes. She's the same as those slaves—a being made by Kamoshida's cognition of her."

"That still don't explain why she's here!"

Yet another scoff from the king, and Ren felt a flare of annoyance then.

"Are you jealous?" he said, smug. "Well, I'm not surprised. Women aren't drawn to problematic punks like you." Then to Aki, "Though I wouldn't really want a problematic woman like you."

The blond flinched at the truth in that. "Damn it..."

Ren, however, just gave his own scoff, not caring much for attracting women like that, while Aki...

"The feeling's mutual, asshole!" she said. "I'd hate to stomp all over your fragile ego."

Kamoshida snapped.

"Clean them up this instant!"

There it was, the reason the ruler was so nonchalant. The empty foyer was filled with guards coming down from the second floor. But thankfully, they were only in front of them, from the stairs behind Kamoshida.

"Let's scram before we get surrounded!" Morgana said.

Unsurprisingly, Ryuji said, "We're not gonna do anything and just run?!"

"We can't die here," Ren said, as much as he wished he didn't have to.

Morgana sighed in relief. "Thank god you have a level head."

Aki glanced at him, no doubt noticing his displeasure, before she glared at the blond and said,

"Just shut up and let's go."

Ryuji grumbled, hesitant. But thankfully he gave in quickly. Though not without saying to Kamoshida,

"We'll expose what you really are, no matter what! You better be ready for us!"

Kamoshida was dumbstruck for a moment.

"Hahaha! I was beginning to get bored of torturing the ones here!" he said with a vicious smile. "Come at me whenever you want...if you don't care about your life! Haaaaahahaha!"

At that point, the guards stood right beside the king and began to transform.

"Ignore him. Let's go!"

Everyone began to run and Ren glanced back to see they had turned into the same horses from earlier. That wasn't good. He didn't want them to see where they would escape. So he turned on his heel, aimed his gun and fired several shots at the chandelier above Kamoshida, snapping its wires. All the castle guards shouted and protected Kamoshida as it crashed into the ground.

Thus they went through the vent with no one following them and seeing how they escaped, too focused on making sure their ruler was safe. Ren would've made them outright leave the "Palace", as Morgana called it, like yesterday, but as soon as they jumped out the vent, not only did Ryuji collapse on his knees after he landed, Aki did too, falling on her side.

"Aki!"

He went right by her side, checking on her condition.

"Fine, Big Bro. Just..." She flopped on her back. "...ran outta adrenaline...I think..."

He heaved a heavy sigh, glad it was just the weight of what they did catching up to her. Reassured, he looked to Ryuji and said,

"What about you?"

"Same. Just need to...catch my breath..."

That was good. All they needed to do was rest.

"Are they all right?" Morgana said, looking back and forth between the two.

Ren nodded. However, he frowned, another thought coming to mid.

"Morgana? Will the guards come outside?"

"Well, considering what you did earlier, as long as we don't make any noise, they shouldn't."

It was then Ryuji caught his breath, stood up and said as he looked over himself, "Huh. I don't remember changin' into this."

His sister tilted to see him and had her cheeky grin when she did.

"You look like a thug," she said.

Ren snickered. Ryuji glared.

"What was that?" he said.

He chuckled and said, also grinning, "It looks good on you."

"Uh...should I be happy about that if I look like thug?" he said. "Then again, it ain't as bad as yours."

Ren gasped and grasped his heart. "How dare you! These are the clothes of my soul! There is nothing shameful about them!"

Aki snickered. "You're just jelly, ain't ya?" she said.

"I thought I told you I ain't jealous!"

Any more words were cut off as someone said,

"Did you find them?!"

And Morgana said, "Quiet!"

"No. Search that way!" another voice said.

Everyone held their breath as they waited, the seconds stretching into minutes. But, eventually, no more voices were heard, and everyone relieved a sigh.

"Seriously, what's goin' on? I'm completely lost, man! Why am I wearin' this?"

Morgana sighed, exasperated.

"I told you before. When a Persona-user opposes a Palace's ruler and becomes a threat to them, this happens," it said. "It's to prevent you from being affected by distortion."

Ren frowned. "Other people can be affected by distortion?"

"Yes. After all, your cognition can both affect others and be affected by other cognitions."

"Like when someone you trust tells you their opinion on something and then you share that same opinion?" Aki said.

"You could compare it to that, yes, though it's not exactly the same."

"Huh. Okay," Ryuji said, Ren admittedly surprised he understood considering his track record. "But uh...if this is for protectin' me...why's it a skull?"

"Your appearance reflects your inner self. It's the rebel that slumbers within..." Morgana said. "...not that you'll get it.

"Nope."

Aki sighed. "Geez, you're hopeless."

"Hey, it's not my fault it's so complicated!"

"Then stop asking questions and accept what you see for what it is," their guide said.

Ryuji scoffed. "Easy for you to say."

"Yeah," Aki said, sending a glare, though a weak one. "If we did that all the time, that means we should just call you a talkin' cat."

Morgana looked like a snarling cat, back hunched and tail stiff, as he said,

"I'm not a cat!"

Aki smirked. "See my point?"

"Erk!" Morgana stared shocked before sulking. "Fine. You have a point."

"But still," Ren said. "It'd be hard to explain it simply. Though it makes sense. We are, as you said, inside Kamoshida's heart, and the mind has stumped people for ages. Of course something involved with it is confusing."

But then their calm mood was broken with Ryuji gasping before he said,

"Wait, we're in deep shit!"

"Geez! Don't scare me like that!"

Morgana glared at them. "I said to be quiet."

Ryuji, thankfully, did as told but still said,

"We might've gotten away from Kamoshida but we're still screwed with him at the real school."

Well shit.

However, Morgana smirked and said, "That's quite sharp of you! ...For being an idiot."

"Hey! This is serious here!"

But Morgana just said, "Relax. The Kamoshida in the real world can't possibly know about what happens here."

Aki looked at him, dubious, as she stood up. "Really?"

Ren agreed with her as he helped her steady herself. "But this is Kamoshida's mind. How could he not know?"

"It's because the ruler is a Shadow," it said. "A Shadow is the true self that is suppressed—a side of one's personality they don't want to see."

"Uh... So we're okay?"

"Did the Kamoshida in reality remember about the execution?"

Now that Ren thought about it...

"No," Aki said for him.

"Then there you have it."

"Phew... All right!" Ryuji said. He turned, beginning to leave. "Now that we know about that, all we gotta do is—"

At least until Morgana said,

"Wait."

"Huh?"

"I guided you as promised. Now it's your turn to cooperate with me." It put its hands on its hips, looking determined and cocky. "That's why I was super nice about teaching you idiots everything."

And Ren felt like slapping himself for forgetting. It only agreed to help them as it had ulterior motives, motives he knew now likely involved it wanting to be human.

"Huh? Cooperate?" Ryuji said.

As Ren guessed, Morgana then said,

"Don't you remember? I originally came here for an investigation."

"Yeah, we remember," his sister said.

"I need to erase the distortion from my body and regain my real form!

That's why we must delve deep into Mementos and—"

"Whoa, hold up. What're you goin' on and on about?" he said, putting a stop to the not-cat's ramble. "We never said anything about helping you out."

Morgana's expression turned comically shocked.

"Huh? Don't tell me..." It frowned. "...you're not going to repay the hospitality I showed you?"

"Well..."

Ren didn't mind the thought of helping it but...from the sound of it, whatever it wanted to do, it wanted to do it soon, if not now. But Ren wanted to prioritize the well-being of those students Shujin first. So he would have to help it later.

He was about to say such, but then Morgana got mad and said,

"Especially you! You're going to up and leave even though you're already part of my master plan?!"

And Ren's gaze turned cold, not quite glaring but very tempted to do so.

Aki, however, was more confused.

"What plan?" she said, frowning.

Ren remained silent as the cat whined then said,

"Is it because I'm not human? because I'm like a cat? Is that why you're making a fool of me?!"

To that, Ryuji said, "We're busy!"

And Ren just nodded.

Though, despite the blond's words, he squated before the cat and said,

"Thanks for everything, cat. You got guts, bein a cat and all." Then he stood and said, "See you around," before running off.

Ren made to follow, but he noticed Aki not moving and saw her upset and hesitating, while Morgana was shouting about not being a cat in the background. It was only one second, but it felt much longer as his sister said,

"Big Bro...?"

He knew what she was asking. She didn't need to say it. Her eyes were enough.

Are we really leaving him behind?

So he said, to appease both her and by consequence Morgana, "Let me think about it."

And then he left, the sound of Aki's footsteps and Morgana's outrage behind him. He felt the brief, but much lighter than before, wave of nausea signalling he had made it to their world just as Ryuji disappeared for a moment. When the sickness passed, both Ryuji and his sister were standing before him, hands on their knees as they panted. All three of them were thankfully in the alleyway in front of the school, so Ren didn't have to force them to move to avoid raising suspicion...well, too much suspicion rather.

"You have returned to the real world. Welcome back," his phone said from his pocket.

"Thank god. We're back."

"Yeah, I can tell..." Aki said. "Seriously, is it always gonna make me wanna almost barf every time we do that...?"

"I don't think so," Ren said. "That wasn't as bad as before."

"Ugh. I hope so... Maybe my asthma makes it worse..."

The blond turned apologetic as he said, "I dragged you guys around a lot, huh? Sorry man."

"You better... I thought I'd collapse a lot sooner."

"Ugh, yeah, me too. I'm dead tired." Ryuji then said to him, "How about you? How you holdin' up?

Admittedly, though he could still stand... "I could use a nap."

"Yeah, I know right? I'm gonna sleep like a rock when I get home."

"Not if you sleepwalk before you get there."

"Ha! Yeah," the blond said with a grin. "But damn, if what we saw was for real, this is gonna get good! I totally remember the faces ofthe guys Kamoshida was treatin' like slaves."

"For real? That's impressive," Aki said, her tone genuine.

"Yeah, and once we make 'em fess up to physical abuse, Kamoshida will be done."

His sister snickered like a villain. "Oh that is gonna be good," she said, her grin just as scheming.

Not that Ren blamed her. He was smiling similarly as well. Kamoshida will be done for.

Then, all of a sudden, the blond was hesitant as he said, "Um, so...you wanna help me look for those guys or any witnesses?"

His sister's expression was incredulous. "Are you kiddin' me? What makes you think we won't?"

Ren laughed at Aki's exasperation. "What my sister is saying is, yes, we'll help," he said after he was done.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"

"Good. You get it..."

She and Ren checked out of the alleyway and saw there were still some students around, but less than when they went into Kamoshida's Palace.

"Should we wait until the students are gone before we go?" Aki said.

After a quick deliberation on the pros and cons, Ren said,

"Let's just go. It's less suspecting if we go now."

Before either of them did that, Ryuji said, "Hey."

They both looked to him, curious, but Aki was the one to say,

"What is it?"

"Well, if you're thinkin of layin' low 'cause you got a record, I don't think that'll help..." he said. "I mean, everyone already knows. They totally got you pegged as criminals."

Ren looked down. It was true but...

"That doesn't mean we should make it worse."

Aki sighed. "I still wonder how'd that happened though..."

"What you mean 'how'? Kamoahida opened his damn mouth!"

Well it seemed that Ryuji thought the same as he did, and Aki as well from how she frowned. But, once again, he disagreed and said,

"We don't know that."

"But no one else but a teacher could've leaked it that fast!" Ryuji said. "You saw how he was like in that distorted-heart-thing! It doesn't matter if it's a student or a club, that asshole just wrecks things he doesn't agree with. Just like he did with me!"

But then Aki said, "But even if that's true, who'd seriously believe us about that? We don't have evidence for that."

The blond hung his mouth for a moment, speechless, before he deflated.

"Yeah, you're right. No one'll take anything I say seriously either," he said. But then he was determined once again. "Still, those rumors about him gettin physical might be real. And after seein' Kamoshida's distorted-heart-place in person, there's no way I can sit back!"

His sister rolled her eyes. "Hey, we didn't say that we were gonna back out 'cause we don't know for sure Kamoshida leaked our record," she said. "Right Big Bro?"

"Of course."

The blond laughed and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, just can't believe it. I'm countin' on you!" he said. "Don't worry—I'm hyped for this too!"

Both he and Aki laughed. His enthusiasm was infectious, to say the least. But he froze at the sound of glass clinking, everything around him stuck in space, and a feminine voice, soothing yet strange, spoke from into his mind.

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

After that, it was gone. Ren stilled. What was that? Movement in his peripheral made him glance to see Aki also astonished. But his thoughts derailed at a rumble and Ryuji said,

"Oh... I haven't eaten anything since lunch."

Aki laughed at that...until her stomach complained as well. The blond snickered and Ren hid his snicker with his hand. His sister still glared at them, embarrassed.

"Don't you dare say anything," she said.

"Anything," he said.

Aki groaned.

He smirked.

"Heh heh. Well, since we're hungry, it'd be weird to split off now. So why don't we grab a bite somewhere?"

"Sure," he said.

While Aki looked in suspicion and said, "What kind of food?"

The blond just grinned and said, "Just follow me."

And he walked off, not saying anything else. His sister was hesitant to go, which made him smirk even more. She didn't appreciate that and glared at him.

"Hey, he's offering isn't he?" he said. "Just think of it as that favor he owed us."

She kept up her glare, but then Ryuji noticed they hadn't come along and said,

"Hey, you comin' or not? It'll be my treat. I promise."

That broke her hesitancy as she sighed and said,

"Fine." Though not without adding, "But if we end up goin' to Big Bang Burger, I'm makin' you buy more dinner."

Ren laughed. "Okay, okay."

It turned out it that not only was the place Ryuji wanted to take them was not the burger focused fast food chain, it was a beef bowl shop in Shibuya. They had to wait a bit before they actually got their meal as there were plenty of customers, most of them adults, but it was well worth it, mostly because it meant he got to be smug with his sister when she obviously tried to not eat as fast as she wanted to while also being glad that they found a place that has one of her preferred foods.

It was in the middle of their meal that Ryuji, who sat to Ren's right, said,

"Hey, can I ask you somethin'?"

After chewing, he said, "Shoot."

"How'd you guys get a record? It's hard to imagine you two doin' anythin' illegal."

Ren frowned and settled his hands against the counter, remembering the dark night the Incident happened.

Aki scoffed from his left. "We got falsely accused by an asshole who's got the police under his thumb, that's what."

"WHAT?!"

They startled at the outburst.

"The hell, man! How much shittier can that asshole get?!"

His sister groaned. "Calm down, dude, you're being loud."

Ren sighed. "Besides, it's in the past..." he said as he resumed eating.

"Are you for real man?! If it was me, I wouldn't calm down until I punched that dick in the face!"

Ren huffed in amusement and smirked. "Sounds like you found a kindred spirit, Aki."

His sister gave a displeased glare once again. "I was tryin' to get back at the asshole for that shit he pulled."

His smirk was replaced with a somber smile as he said, "I know. But I still wish you hadn't been arrested too. A city's not exactly good for your asthma."

"Eh? You guys ain't from here?"

Ren shook his head while Aki said,

"Nope."

"So...you guys left your hometown...and you're livin here now, huh?"

He nodded.

Aki said, "Yup."

They stared at Ryuji turned quiet and pensive. Ren waited, having the hunch that he was going to say something. As he guessed, he did after he ate some more of his beef bowl, facing forward but his eyes distant.

"We might be more alike than I originally thought."

Ren stilled, admittedly surprised he made that observation.

"You may be right," he said because, after some thought, Ren found he was.

They were both outcasts, being branded as delinquents after being falsely accused of something they didn't do yet had done something that was enough to incriminate them, especially with the backing of someone with high authority.

"You know I never really thought about it 'till now."

At that, Aki had her cheeky grin as she said, "Not surprised. We've already established you have a thick skull."

"Wha—hey! I'm being serious here!"

Aki chuckled, her smile sheepish. "Sorry. You walked right into that one. I couldn't help it." She then said, "What made you think that though?"

Ryuji paused, formulating his words.

"I guess it's how we're treated like a pain in the ass by the people around us, like we don't belong," he said, hitting really close to home. "I did something stupid at school before too."

Aki frowned, and so did he.

"You mean that thing Kamoshida mentioned?" she said.

The blond nodded, not saying anything. He just lifted his bowl and swallowed all that was in it until it was gone. After that, he sighed and put the bowl down. It was clear he didn't want to say more on what happened with his leg as he said,

"The place you're livin' now is in...Yongen, right?"

He glanced at Aki, asking in silence if they could just let that slip. She nodded. So Ren said,

"Yes."

"It's rush hour in the subways. I suggest killin' some time before headin home."

"What? Oh come on... I was lookin' forward to gettin' back home."

Ren couldn't help but laugh at his sister's plight. "Well, we could stay here for a while then look around."

"Yeah, I guess..."

It was then that Ryuji noticed their bowls still had their beef in it.

"What the hell man. You barely touched your food," he said.

Ren was startled as Ryuji then opened the container of pickled ginger and put some on both his and Aki's bowls.

"What are you doing?" he said.

While Aki said, "Hey! I can do that myself."

"Come on, just lemme do it. I gotta thank you for helpin' me."

"Well you can thank me by not putting whatever you want on my bowl!"

Ren internally sighed and said, before a shouting match could be had,

"Calm down, Aki. He's just trying to be nice."

Aki grumbled and said, "My point still stands..."

To Ryuji he said, smiling with amusement, "Sorry for my sister. She's a picky eater."

"I am not," Aki said, as Ren predicted, while she ate more pieces from her bowl.

The teen boy laughed again. "All right, all right, I'll keep that in mind. After all, I got your backs like you got mine from tomorrow on," he said. "As long as we do somethin' about Kamoshida, I'm sure we'll both feel better about bein' at school."

Aki huffed, pausing in her meal as she said, "I'll hold you to that then, Ryuji. 'Cause I doubt anythin' would make me feel better about goin' to school."

Ren expected the blond to say something at his sister's quip. But when nothing came, they shared a confused look before turning to see him staring at them.

"You okay?" Ren said.

The teen seemed to have realized he had been in a daze and shook his head.

"Ah, sorry, just didn't expect you hear you guys call me by my first name again, that's all," he said. "I mean, I thought you guys just said that 'cause of the moment, ya know?"

"Oh."

Ren had forgotten about that, nor noticed that Aki did the same.

He was apologetic as he said, "Would you prefer we call you Sakamoto?"

The teen's grin returned. "Nah, Ryuji's fine. We got each other's backs, remember? 'sides, I'm gonna call you Ren and Akira anyway since it'd be confusin' to use Amamiya, so we're even."

"Well at least someone gets it."

"Huh?"

"Don't mind her," he said. "Inside joke."

"So, does that mean you're gonna do that in your contacts too?"

"Oh yeah!" Ryuji took out his phone as he said, "Give me your numbers, I'll give you guys mine. Chat ID too."

After a bit, all numbers and contact info were exchanged. With that out of the way, they put their phones back in their places and Ryuji had a determined look on his face.

"Just you wait, Kamoshida..." he said to himself then turned to them. "We're gonna start right away tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Aki said.

"Yeah. First, let's hit up those guys that were kept as slaves."

"All righty."

Ren, however, remembered the date. "Isn't the volleyball rally tomorrow though?"

"Right..." Ryuji said, frowning. "Shit's recommended by Kamoshida."

"The rally is because of Kamoshida?" Ren said, surprised.

Though he probably shouldn't have been as Aki scoffed and said,

"Probably just wants to show off."

"Yeah. Makes me wanna gag," Ryuji said. "But thanks to that, we got no classes in the afternoon and we can walk around unnoticed."

"You sure though?"

"Yeah."

Ren said, "How will we talk with them? By ourselves or all three of us?"

"Uh... I, uh...didn't really think too much 'bout that..."

His sister sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Well I guess we can work out the details tomorrow..." Ryuji said, not bothered at all. "But first you guys gotta eat more. There's tons of ginger here."

"Hey! I'll eat what I wanna eat, thank you very much!"

And that set the topic of conversation between the two for a while as Ryuji kept trying to have Aki taste other things, more specifically other ways to eat the beef bowl, and utterly failing at it, Ren laughing at his attempts all the while.

[G]

Akechi had been on his way to work when he encountered Sae-san. She had been doing the same so they decided to just walk there together, no conversation being had. He was somewhat surprised the prosecutor hadn't brought up the case she had been investigating, but he assumed that just meant she didn't need anymore insight from him...for the time being.

As such, with nothing to distract him, it was even easier to pick out a familiar presence on the street, one he hadn't expected to see.

He stopped, not quite believing his eyes, as he said, "Is that you?"

"Hey, it's you," the girl from before said, her blue eyes shining and, if Akechi would guess, smiling under her mask. "I didn't think I'd see you again."

She wasn't alone though. She had two people with her, both boys in their teens, and they both looked confused then surprised upon seeing him. However, they didn't say anything, not yet at least, so he focused on the girl with glasses.

"Neither did I," he said, once again surprised at himself for smiling genuinely.

The girl laughed, which startled him but he didn't let it show. For a second, he thought she had been mocking him somehow, for hoping to see her again when it was such a small, practically impossible, possibility. But then she said,

"It's good to see you. Guess my hope of seein' you again came true, huh?"

He couldn't stop himself from chuckling at the silliness of that. It wasn't true of course, it was mere coincidence. Yet, from the confident glint in her eyes, despite knowing that was the case, she still said it, making it clear that even though they only met a moment and it was pure chance, she had wanted to see him again. He would admit that it boggled his mind. A mere stranger was happy to see him again, and not because of his reputation or his looks, if her words were any indication, but because she just wanted to. Though, then again, it made sense. He did save her life after all, more or less. Of course she would be happy to see him again.

"Perhaps it did," he said, deciding to amuse her.

That made her chuckle.

But of course the moment had to be interrupted by Sae-san, no doubt glaring at him, as she said, her tone annoyed and accusatory,

"Who is this, Akechi? Is this a fangirl of yours?"

Akechi kept up his smile even though he really wanted to rip into the woman for that.

However, to his surprise, the glint in the bespectacled girl's eyes turned mischievous and she said in a teasing lilt,

"Oh? Fangirls? Girls like your looks at your school?" She laughed. "I'd guess they're annoying for you, huh?"

Akechi tensed, managing to stop himself from staring at her in surprise and ruining his image in front of Sae-san. What kind of a response was that? He had expected her to assume he was some...philanderer...because of Sae-san mentioning his fans. But instead...she made fun of it? Not only that, she had assumed correctly that they bothered him, even though he did like the attention.

His hesitation was long enough that the girl said to the older woman,

"No, I'm not. We just met on the street. It was in Shibuya."

The boy that looked like the girl's copy—the only thing distinguishing the two being their slight height difference and eye color—looked at her inquisitively.

"When was this?" he said.

"Oh, a couple days ago."

Knowing he, Sae-san and the blond boy that was likely their friend would ask the circumstances of the meeting, Akechi said before they could,

"She had dropped her inhaler while she was having an attack. I just happened to see it, so I brought it to her."

That made the curly haired boy's eyes harden before he directed them at the girl.

"You had an attack and you didn't tell me?" he said, tone just as accusatory as Sae-san's earlier and just as sharp.

The girl tensed, looking absolutely sheepish and guilty.

"Eh heh heh heh... I...forgot...?" she said, her tone making it easy to imagine her smile was just as sheepish behind her mask.

Akechi found that amusing but he couldn't exactly show that. It was rude after all.

But just as fast as the boy was displeased, he turned exaspersted, sighing and shaking his head.

"We'll talk about it when we get back home, yes?" he said, any trace of hostility gone.

The bespectacled girl laughed, not because it was amusing, that much was clear, but because there really wasn't any other way to react, except for perhaps shame, as she said, "Okay."

Then the curly haired boy turned to him, his smile small but his eyes warm as he said,

"Your name is Akechi-san yes? I know it is a bit overdue, but thank you for that, Akechi-san."

Akechi kept up his smile, surprised at the gratitude, but unsure what to feel over the fact that, well, it was genuine. That much Akechi could tell. It was difficult to think of a reason for them to be anything other than grateful, especially since they only just learned his name and thus would have no ulterior reason to act that way. But he still couldn't quite accept it. After all, he was just a stranger, and they would have likely been just as grateful were it someone else who did the same thing. But he knew what he was supposed to say. So he said,

"It was no problem."

Because, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a problem at all, especially if it meant that this interesting girl still lived because of him.

Seeing the opening though, Sae-san finally said something and interrupted them.

"I see," she said, her annoyance still present but noticeably lessened, to his surprise. "Then if that is all, we will be going now."

Akechi really, really wanted to throttle the woman now. He wanted to at least know the girl's name, but the girl in question said,

"Oh yeah. Sorry, Miss. You two are probably on your way to work, right?"

And the curly haired boy said, "I see. Then we will go as well."

Finally, after staring at the whole exchange rather dumb looking, the blond boy said, "Uh, yeah. See ya."

The blond walked off.

The curly haired male gave a slight bow.

"Thank you again, Akechi. Good-bye," he said then he left.

And lastly, the girl with shining blue eyes gave him a small wave and said, "Bye, Akechi! I hope next time we meet, it'll be longer!"

Then she, too, walked off, catching up with the two boys. Akechi watched as she went down the street with them, the three of them talking but not loud enough for him to hear even snippets of it. He would've kept an eye on her until she vanished from his sight, but Sae-san would become impatient if he took any longer. So he forced himself to look away, give her an apologetic smile and say,

"Shall we go?"

The woman just nodded and started her way down the street. With that, Akechi trailed behind, doing his best to put his thoughts on the masked girl in the back of his mind.

He would agree with her though, he hoped he would see her again and for a much longer conversation.

Author's Notes: Fun fact: the title comes from the phrase "whistle for the wind", which, at least according to a Google on nautical sayings, basically means "hope for the impossible". I just switched it to lightning because of Ryuji's element.

And yes the Akechi interaction is yet another self-indulgence, but also partly because that's how I view the scene would go now that Akira has met Akechi much sooner.