Chapter 23: Pulling Out Teeth
{R}
"Would you forgive someone unconditionally if you owed your life to them...?"
Everyone in their group turned to Ann in curiosity when she said that as they waited for the train.
"Before I thought I would, but now I'm not so sure anymore..."
"What're you bringin' this up for?" Ryuji said.
"Well...Kitagawa-kun says Madarame isn't a problem..."
Ren frowned. "Is something wrong?" he said.
He had a guess as to what it was.
"I mean I know Madarame is a bad person but still..." The blonde sighed. "Maybe I'm so hesitant because I haven't met any of the victims..."
And there it was.
He was facing a similar dilemma on his feelings on Madarame.
"Yeah, guess that part's totally different from what happened with Kamoshida," Ryuji said.
"Unless you count Kitagawa-san, but he seems fine..."
"Yeah. That's why..." Ann hesitated.
Ren put a hand on her shoulder in comfort. "You can tell us."
She was startled for a moment before she gave a brief smile in gratitude.
She said, somber again, "This might be too extreme but... If an evil person isn't causing trouble now, should we really step in?"
Ren stilled as the words settled.
"You got a point but...I dunno. If it were me, I'd never forgive that bastard."
"But this is essentially Kitagawa-san's father we're talking about," he said.
The faux-blond was startled at the reminder. "Oh yeah..."
"So I want to know how Kitagawa-san feels and have him decide if we should change his heart."
"Yeah I guess we could talk more after that..."
"So you'll listen to what he has to say?"
Ryuji scowled. "Hey, you're makin' sound like I wasn't."
"Well can you blame him?" Akira said, pulling down her mask just to reveal her smirk. "You're bein' pretty gung ho 'bout this while he wants to think things through."
"I just wanna help! And I can think things through!"
"It's kinda hard to tell sometimes."
"Why you...!"
Ren stared and then chuckled as Ryuji tried to get Aki in a headlock, but she easily avoided him like the rogue she was. Ann joined him soon enough with Mona "complaining" about the two of them being kids. Though the light moment ended when the train arrived and they confirmed they would meet at Shibuya Station tomorrow, Ren returned to home much lighter than when they left the Madarame residence. But the topic wasn't exactly easy to forget.
So when he recieved a call later in the middle of the crossword puzzle he hadn't solved last week and Aki busy with convincing Mona to teach her to make the gappling hooks, Ren could easily guess what it would be about.
He put the crossword down and laid on his bed before he said,
"Hello. Is something wrong?"
Ren could easily imagine Ryuji's startled face as he said, "How'd you know?"
"A lot of the things that happened today gave me a good guess."
He heard him sigh. "Seesh...you and your sis really are smart."
"We try our best," Ren said, allowing a brief smile before becoming somber. "So? What is it?"
Another sigh. "I still can't forgive Madarame but what Ann said got me thinkin'..."
"Oh really? I'm shocked."
"Hey! I'm being serious here!"
Ren chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry sorry. Go on."
"Anyway... What I was thinkin' was... We prolly look like thugs to Yusuke, don't we?"
Ren...hated to admit it but he didn't expect Ryuji question his own actions. Even if what Aki said before was a joke, it was true a part of him was offput by Ryuji's insistence to change Madarame's heart before they could they could confirm their facts or ask Kitagawa-san if he was fine with seeing someone he cared for have their heart changed.
"To him, us saying those things is like when Kamoshida insulted your mother."
The faux-blond sighed. "I thought so..." he said. "But that's what pisses me off! It ain't like what he thinks it is!"
But despite all that, at its core, Ryuji just wanted to save the young artist.
"That's why we're going to talk to him, remember?
"I know I know but still... Good people have to put up so much crap while...while shitty adults do whatever the hell they want! Makes me sick..."
Ren pulled his ear away from his phone when his friend shouted but when he put it back, he unexpectedly turned quiet.
"Ryuji?" he said to make sure he was there.
And then his friend said, "I'm not wrong...am I?"
Ren smiled. "I don't see anything wrong with wanting things to be fair, so I don't think so."
The former athlete let off a relieved sigh. "Thanks. I was worried since Ann had a point..."
"And so do you," Ren said. "And it's also a good point. Don't forget that."
"Thanks man."
"You're welcome. And if we do go after him...we'll definitely take him down."
"Aawww yeah!" Ryuji said, Ren imagining him fist pumping. "Well, see ya tomorrow!"
And he hung up on him.
Ren chuckled at his friend's abruptness as he put away his phone.
The next day came by like a flash, the events of classes blurry. He would have to ask for notes on today's lessons from Ann or Mishima later. The only clearly defined event in that haze was when he and his sister went to the library during lunch break and Ren calming Ann down during the afternoon classes after she told them in their chat about contacting Kitagawa-san. Thankfully, by the time classes were over and they gathered in the "snack area" in the central yard, the artist responded and asked for her to come over today.
"Perfect! Probably dropped all his plans to get you to come over," Ryuji said.
Ren glowered at him.
Ann also gave him a displeased look but then dismissed it with a shake of her head and said,
"Remember, we need to find out from Kitagawa-kun if what we saw in the Palace is true."
"And hopefully we can ask him if he's fine with a change of heart."
Before they could continue their briefing though, Mona said,
"Quiet. It's the student council president."
Everyone tensed and followed his gaze.
"Yikes...she got hold of Mishima today?" Ryuji said.
Ren frowned. She truly was onto them, wasn't she?
"It'd suck if she noticed us..."
"Yeah she'd probably go 'oh I suspect you but I won't say it outright because I'm trying to be subtle'," Aki said, mimicking Niijima's voice in ridicule again.
"Then only one thing to do: split up."
Ann and Ryuji went their seperate ways while Aki stuck with him, her presence by his side the only one that would be odd if she was missing. Before they left for the school though, Ren texted Mishima.
Ren: Do your best.
Mishima: Got it.
Since their briefing was disturbed, instead of going to Madarame's residence right away, they waited in the accessway at Shibuya Station.
"Man...Ann's late," Ryuji said.
Ren hid his amused smile at Aki's exasperation towards the faux-blond's obvious statements.
Though this time it had the luck of seemingly summoning Ann as she arrived and said,
"Sorry. I was thinking about some things and didn't notice how much time has passed."
"Thinkin' about what?" Ryuji said, any annoyance gone now.
"... Don't you think Kitagawa-kun is protecting Madarame?"
"That's also pretty possible," Aki said.
That was an understatement in Ren's mind. It was very possible.
"I mean they live together, so he'd have to know his true nature."
"Yeah, that's so weird... You'd think he'd speak up by now..."
"The only reason I can think of him doing that is that Madarame has something on him..."
"That'd make sense. It was the same for us and all."
Ren frowned and glanced away.
Or...
"He just wants to help him despite that," he said.
As he expected, Ann and Ryuji stared in beffudlement while Aki turned somber.
"Wait, you mean he wants to help that guy even if he's got nothin' on him? Why would he do that?!"
"Because he's family," Ren said, thinking about Dad and all his attempts to help his mother before Mama came along.
"But...going that far...?"
Everyone turned quiet for a while.
Ren shuffled on his feet. He probably shouldn't have said that.
But then Aki broke the silence and said, "But hey, we don't know that for sure, right?"
"Yeah. That's why we're going to check it out," Ryuji said, back to grinning. Then he turned to Ann. "You ready to model?"
She shook her head to get rid of her own mood. "Yeah I'm prepared."
The faux-blond looked at her "Whaddya mean 'prepared'? Prepared for what?"
Aki rolled her eyes. "It's called psyching yourself. Don't you do that in sports too?"
Realization struck him. "Oh. Okay. I get it."
"Let's get going then," Ren said, tightening his hold on Mona's bag.
And they finally left for Madarame's shack.
(A)
"I thought it would just be you coming Takamaki-san," Kitagawa-san said with a scowl.
And...he was back to being frigid to anyone besides Ann.
"Wouldn't you get nervous too if it was just the two of us?" said the natural blonde as she twirled her hair like Ren.
"We're here to keep an eye on you, so don't do anythin perverted 'kay?" the faux-blond said.
Now the blue haired boy looked offended. "Stop making such odd assumptions. I have absolutely no interest in her as someone of the opposite sex."
"Huh?"
"What."
"Well you fooled us that's for sure," Akira said under her breath.
Ren remained quiet. Whether in annoyance or having no comment, she couldn't tell.
"Is there a problem?" Kitagawa-san said, his genuinely confused tone making this amusing.
Ann's disappointed one made it even more so. "...no, not really."
And her amusement reached its peak when her brother said, "Well I wanted to see an artist at work."
Akira tensed her body to prevent her giggle from escaping.
Of course Ren would say that.
"Hmm? You have interest in the arts?"
"A little." And by little, Akira knew he meant in relation to phantom thievery. "I'll admit I'm more interested in literary arts than visual arts, but that's all the more reason I wish to see for myself since words sometimes cannot inspire the same effect a painting can in people."
Ryuji and Ann stared. Akira smirked and continued her efforts in stopping her giggles.
Kitagawa-san had a pleased look as he said, "Well then...let's get started."
He sat on his stool and took out a pencil to start sketching on his canvas, Ann seated about a meter or so in front of him. And neither her nor Ryuji's attempts at getting his attention were working.
"This isn't what we planned!" Mona "whisper-shouted" from Ren's lap. "We were gonna catch him off guard and make him spill the beans!"
Ren glowered at him while he was retrieving things from the bag the not-cat occupied.
"Do you want me to button mash you, Mona?" he said in a low whisper.
"Urk!"
"Well how were we supposed to know this was gonna happen?" Ryuji said.
She and her brother stared at each of their friends incredulously. They stared back, confused.
"What?"
"You really haven't seen someone creative at work, have you?" Akira said, remembering Dad whenever he was caught up in his ideas and jotted them down in an almost frenzy.
"Wait, you knew?"
"Yes. That's why I brought snacks. And my notebook," her brother said as he took out exactly those from his bag.
"And why I got books," she said, pulling out the ones she and Ren borrowed from the library, giving her brother the one he picked.
"You've gotta be kiddin' me..."
"A phantom thief is always prepared, Ryuji."
"That is true," Mona said. Then he sighed. "Though, since I don't have anything to do, perhaps I should try going outside...?"
"You get caught, we're not helping you," Ren immediately said.
Mona smirked. "Heh. Who do you think you're talking to?"
"A noisy cat..." Ren muttered but thankfully Mona didn't hear as he left.
Akira snickered at his annoyance and Ryuji's ensuing groan over the wait before starting to read her copy of the first novel of Zorro.
{R}
The time passed by just as quickly as classes that morning, him and Aki reading their respective borrowed book, his on Carmen and hers on Zorro, while having snacks and making commentary on what they read. Mona returned not too long after he left and merely rested in his bag, napping away like the cat he supposedly wasn't. Only Ryuji and Ann seemed uncomfortable with the wait, though for different reasons. Ren, and even Aki too, did try to converse with them, but neither were in the mood for it.
At half past one hour...
"It's no good..." Kitagawa-san said, slumping and scowling.
"What?!" Ryuji said, jumping to his feet.
The noise startled Mona but thankfully he didn't make a sound while Ann said, worried,
"I'm sorry... Am I the problem...?"
Kitgawa-san shook his head. "No, not at all. It's just... I'm having trouble staying focused today..." he said. "I'm sorry to say this, especially since I need to finish a new piece soon, but we'll have to resume this for some other time."
"Oh hell no!" Ryuji said with a stomp. "How many hours do you think you made us wait?!"
"One and a half, give or take," Aki said, deadpan.
The artist glanced at each of them as they stood from their seats and moved in front of him.
"I'm sorry...but we had another reason for seeing you today..." Ann said.
"We needed to talk to you," Ren said.
"It's 'bout those rumors about your sensei."
The coldness the artist initial showed them returned full force as he stood to meet their gazes. "This again..."
Before he could say harsh words, Ann spoke.
"That painting I saw in the exhibit...that was yours, wasn't it?"
The apprentice artist flinched. "That's..." he said, scrambling to answer.
"I knew it."
"Your sensei's seriously messed up. He just thinks of his pupils as his tools. That's why he doesn't give a damn about stealin' from them or beating 'em up."
Ren and Aki nodded.
"I'll make this clear... There's no point hidin' stuff."
The artist just laughed, but it sounded broken and unsure. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Ann kept on the offensive. "You couldn't go against him, could you? I'm sure we can help you out though..."
The boy grimaced. "Stop it..."
"Then give us a good reason to stop," Aki said.
They waited as Kitagawa-san once again glanced at each of them in contemplation. And then he sighed, glanced away and said,
"It's just as you all say...we are our sensei's artwork."
Everyone was startled. He just admitted it?
His glacial glare returned. "Don't misunderstand me though," he said. "I offered my ideas to him myself. As such, it can't be called plagiatism."
In one way, that was right...
But Aki pointed out, "But did he paint 'em himself?"
The boy flinched again even as he said,
"Sensei's simply suffering from an artist's block right now..."
Aki scoffed. "An artist block? Really? For years? That ain't an artist block anymore, that's a problem."
"And I am helping him with it."
"Dude, still..."
The artist couldn't meet any of their gazes.
"Kitagawa-kun..."
"Why're you sticking around?!"
"What's wrong with a pupil helping a master?!" Kitagawa-san said. 'There are no victims here. Stop pushing your self-centered righteousness on me!"
Ren gritted.
"If you really care about your sensei, you would have him stop," he said.
The artist was taken aback and backpedaled.
Ren stepped forward.
"If you did bad things, he told you to stop doing it, hasn't he?" Another step. 'Then if you really care..." Another. "...then you should stop him." Now he stood face-to-face. "Because family help each other come to their senses and be better."
"Get out."
"Hey, we ain't done—"
"I said GET OUT!" the artist said and pushed him.
Ren stumbled, caught off guard, but he righted himself by the time Aki and Ann had their hands out to support him.
"Wait, Kitagawa-kun," the natural blonde said. "If you could just let us..."
"Don't make me call the police!"
Ren flinched.
Before any of the others could protest, he said,
"Let's go."
Because they didn't need Sakura-san to get on their case and more reasons for Niijima to be suspicious of them.
Thankfully, Aki and Ryuji only scoffed in frustration before following him and Ann out of the residence. They didn't go far though before they stopped, standing on the sidewalk across the street as they contemplated on what happened.
Aki was the one to cut through the silence.
"So what're we gonna do now? We still changin' his heart?" she said.
Ryuji was still deadset on it, not just because it was the kind of target they were waiting for, but also to save Kitagawa-san. Ann was a little unsure, but that was more out of concern for Kitagawa-san's feelings than being hesitant on changing his heart, especially since...she had suffered from Kamoshida's power. Mona didn't object, but he did point out that Kitagawa-san mentioned about making a new piece...likely one that Madarame would unveil under his own name soon. And Aki, of course, was fine with changing the veteran artist's heart, but reminded Ren that if he had qualms, he should resolve them now.
Ren couldn't help but chuckle, touched by his sister's concern.
"So you all want to change Madarame's heart?"
They nodded.
Ren smiled. "Very well. We'll start tomorrow," he said. "I'll try to see I can find any intel on him before we start though."
He'll have Mishina help him with it to make it easier.
"Yeah, there's probably tons of stuff that haven't been exposed yet," Ryuji said.
"We should also try to do so before his exhibition ends," Mona said. "It will likely be easier for us to investigate his Palace if he's busy with it."
"So where're we gonna meet then? It'd be a pain if Miss Prez sees us on the roof."
"How about the walkway near Shibuya?" Aki said. "It's near the Ginza Line after we step off and it's close to the shack."
Everyone agreed to the new hideout, with Mona "praising" them for changing it. They were just about to leave...
"Hey, can I talk to you kids for a sec?"
...when a woman with orange-tinted shades and a camera came up to them.
"Huh?"
He and his sister eyed her cautiously, waiting to see what she would do. Ren wondered if she was just a photographer.
"From the looks of it you don't seem like the ordinary stalker fans."
"Uh..."
Then the woman seemed to realize Ann and Ryuji's confusion as she said, "Oh I'm sorry. I should've been more clear. I'm looking for people that know Madarame's pupils."
Ren stilled. If she was looking for his students then...
"You see, there's this painting called the 'Sayuri' that was supposedly stolen in the past," she said in further explanation. "But there's a rumor going on it was taken by one of his pupils in retaliation for the abuse. Have you heard anything about it?"
"No, " he said before Ryuji or Ann could fumble things.
And technically, his answer was true, because they only knew about the abuse. Not anything about the "Sayuri" being stolen.
Understandably, the woman was dejected and mumbled.
"I see... There's no case if there's no victim and if there's no proof of abuse I can't write either..." she said, furthering his suspicion.
To confirm it, Ren said, "You're a journalist?"
"Hmm? Oh yeah I am. Nice eye kid."
"Well it's kinda got obvious after you started talking," Aki said.
Ren could faintly hear his friends mumble something along the lines of "you could tell from her talking?" just as the woman chuckled.
"I guess it was. Either way, I'm back to square one." She sighed. "Sorry for taking your time."
"It was no problem."
"Yeah. Must be tough."
The woman nodded, but she didn't seem to be paying attention for a moment as she eyed him and his sister. He was uneasy at that, especially when she stepped forward, worried she had something else in mind. But then the journalist held out a card and said,
"Hey, if you ever get any leads, mind contacting me here?" Then she smiled. "See you then."
And left just as sudden as she arrived.
"Uh...what just happened?"
"A wild journalist appeared, that's what."
Ren chuckled. The faux-blond asked his sister to stop joking and actually clarify what happened while Ann and Mona were exasperated at their behavior. But they soon went to their own homes, Ren looking the card over. If it had been any other time in his life, he would've thrown it away, but now...
...well he won't try to see right now, but he had another possible avenue of getting information.
But for now, he would have Mishima help him on that front. Coincidentally though, after they finished washing the dishes they used for their dinner, he got a call from Mishima...about a request from Nakanohara. Mishima had told him to meet them at Shibuya Station since he didn't want to post the name of his target online. Ren was mostly sure of the identity of Nakanohara's target, but still he said,
"Tell him to do this as well..."
Then gave him detailed instructions to pass on to the reformed man, because this way, they could get intel from a first-hand source without revealing their identities.
But first...
"Aki?"
"Hmm? Need something?"
"Yes. I think it'd be best if you're the one to do this..."
(A)
Akira observed the clothes on the rack, pretending she could see them without her glasses when she only could when she got close. She kept her ears open so she could catch whenever Ann or her brother would give her the signal. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before they did, both of them humming the "chorus" of a familiar theme to a certain thief. With that, she took a deep breath, double checked her blurry surroundings, and walked to the corner.
Just before she turned it, she leaned against the wall and, as deep as her voice could go, she said,
"I presume you are Nakanohara?"
She heard the man gasp. "Yeah I'm..."
But then she heard the click of a shoe.
"Don't move." He gasped again but thankfuly made no further movements. "I do not think I need to explain to you why. You asked for anonymity as well after all."
"Okay...but...are you...?"
"One of the thieves? Yes. Now tell me, whose heart do you want changed?"
He was quiet for a moment. "I'm sure you heard of him before... He's a famous tradional Japanese artist," he said. "His name is Ichiryusai Madarame."
"Indeed I have. But why do you wish so? The thieves do not change just anyone's hearts."
"I want his heart changed because he...he takes the works of his pupils and gets credit for them. And I should know because...I used to be his student. He took me in, along with a lot of other people. But...we were miserable, seeing our hard work taken from us. In fact, one of my friends, my senior, he...couldn't take that fact for so long so he...comitted suicide."
Akira flinched and closed her eyes, remembering Suzui's fall and how devastated her brother looked when she reached the top of the roof.
"That's why I left, but he made sure that the art world would never accept me. I tried to turn a new leaf by working at City Hall but..." A bitter laugh. "...it turned out I wasn't much better than Madarame, stalking my ex because I didn't want to lose anything anymore..."
Akira opened her eyes, feeling a pang of sympathy and sadness for the man, but also glad they were able to change his heart before he got worse.
"That's why I want to change his heart. Because...he still has one student left. And I don't want that boy to end up like me, my friend or the other pupils. Especially since..."
"Especially since what, sir?" she said to prompt him.
"I haven't talked to him too many times but when I did...when I asked him if wanted to leave, he said, 'If I could, I would have'."
Things clattered.
Akira flinched.
Even with her blurry sight, she knew the black blurry figure a couple meters away from her was her brother, likely standing before a magazine stand, fumbling with its products upon hearing the truth, and the bright and black silhoette to her right was Ann, likely having done something similar for the same reason.
That was all the reason they needed.
"Very well. Consider your request accepted. You will see the results in due time."
And Akira left the way she came, not needing to hear the man's words of gratitude and insistence on saving the last of Madarame's pupils.
After putting on her glasses, and quick changing out of her disguise, she regrouped with the others. They briefed on the intel they gathered and their deadline, learned a bit more about cognition—with distrustful people seeing them as thieves even before they do anything to the Palace—and confirming everyone's consent to changing Madarame's heart, they were back at the "artist's" large and gaudy Palace. But of course before they actually went back in, Igor called them into the Velvet Room to explain another thing about Personas. This time, she didn't mind since these "Traits", as the warden called them, seemed very useful.
But for now they only registered the Personas they had to their compendium before beginning their infiltration, with her reminding Mona to give the new grapples he made to Skull and Panther. To her annoyance, but not contrary to her expectations, the gallery now had guards partrolling and lasers blocking off the doorways. Though it ended up being a minor one in the end as she and her brother could just see both laser and enemies with Third Eye and they could merely slide under the security net, action hero style.
As they went past the statue room and deeper into the gallery, recruiting new Shadows, finding hidden chests—one of which gave them a ring that allowed them to use a spell of an element none of their Personas had, so she equipped it—and Mona reminding them—or rather Skull—to be careful, they made it to the second floor without much incident when the not-cat said,
"Hey wait a second! You're just going to ignore that golden sheen?!"
They all grew confused as he went on and on, as if enamoured by the object.
"What the hell Mona? It's just a vase, we can—"
The cat touched it.
"—oh come on!"
"Jump back!" Joker said.
Unfortunately only she and Joker were able to escape from the large cage of lasers that surrounded the vase, thanks to being positioned at the edges of their formation.
"Urk! I tripped the security!"
"You think?!" Rogue said with a glare.
"Ugh...and you always go on about bein' careful too..."
"Are you all right?" her brother said.
"Yeah! We're fine," Panther said to him.
Skull groaned. "So...whaddya wanna do? Run outta here?"
"Really?" she said, deadpan.
Joker shook his head. "That won't be a good idea."
"Exactly! Passing through all these lasers will draw far too many enemies to our location!"
"Sorry...but I guess you two will have to get us out of here..." Panther said.
She glowered at Mona. "And whose fault it that?"
The not-cat, thankfully, had the decency to be embarrassed and did nothing to defend himself.
"Don't worry. We'll get you out," Joker said, helping her focus on their problem. "There should be a control room for these things."
"Yeah. Hopefully it's nearby..." she said.
So a couple of hidden switches, several beaten up guards and one theft of a very basic password—she seriously wondered if Madarame's lack of creativity also extended to passwords if he was using 07734 as one—later, all the members were free of the trap. To her relief, Mona was still ashamed of what he did and said,
"I'm sorry...that was very much unlike me..."
So no bad blood was felt from any of them.
Though she wondered if Joker was going to button mash Mona later.
"Sheesh...weren't you the one telling us not to touch shit in the exhibit?"
"Ugh... Yes, I did... I can't believe I made such a novice mistake..." he said. But then gave the vase a contemplative look. "But something was drawing me to it..."
"What do you mean?" their fire specialist said. "Isn't it just an ordinary gold vase?"
Rogue let herself be amused by the irony of that sentence for a moment before she said,
"Well if Mona was actin' like he did when we got to Treasure to this vase then..."
Since they shut down this exhibit's security system, Rogue pulled out her daggers and struck it...
...or she would have if Fantôme didn't suddenly warn her and she backed off just as the decoration turned into...a floating pink diamond.
"What the—?!"
"A Treasure Demon?! Grab it before it gets away!"
She and Joker did as commanded, making the gem burst into a proper Shadow. Though admittedly it was still strange, because it looked like an air inflatable ghost attached to a pink diamond smaller than the one it took form earlier. Not only that, it was resistant to everything...except that new spell she gained from the ring. Since it was clear it was a very rare Shadow from how Mona acted, Rogue tried to recruit it and, thankfully, managed to. And she was right, as he explained it would give a lot of power to them and their Personas.
That was probably the only bright side to that stupid encounter. That and the safe room they found right after, as at that point they used a lot of their time getting Mona and the others out of the laser cage.
So for now, they agreed to retreat and come back the other day.
{R}
Ren knew he should be going to restock on supplies and see if he landed a job interview for 777 and the flower shop, but in the middle of walking in the hallways to do that, he could hear the gossip of not only himself around him...but also about the bully that Mishima sent info on.
He had already decided to put it off, now even more so since they had a bigger, and potentially much more life threatening, job to do but...perhaps that was all the more reason to finish the request now before they went in deeper? Ren sighed. But that meant less time to infiltrate and they still haven't found a map of the entire Palace. Or maybe...
"You're doin' it again."
Ren was startled before he frowned in confusion at his sister, who appeared out of nowhere and gave him a deadpan look.
"What?"
Instead of answering, she said, "Somethin' botherin' you again?"
He looked away. "I..."
Yes, but he couldn't say that when it was him second-guessing his choice again.
Aki sighed. "Come on Big Bro. If you're not gonna talk to me, then at least talk to someone."
Now he sighed. "Fine..."
And he reminded her of the request once again.
"Oh. Then let's go."
"But..."
"You've probably been goin' in circles, right? Then how 'bout we tell the others tomorrow at HQ, see what they think and then see if we're goin' to the Palace or Mementos. What you think?"
Ren stared, a bit incredulous at how simple Aki's solution was, before he chuckled at his stupidity.
"Yeah, I'm fine with it," he said. More seriously, he added, "Sorry."
Aki grinned. "Hey, you got my back, I got yours, 'member? Our Confidant started that way and all."
Ren allowed himself to laugh despite being in school and seen by others.
"Yes, that's true," he said. "Thank you."
"Heh heh, always Big Bro."