Catch-22: The Skills We Pick Up
By: M14Mouse
Summary: While he gives the team a few days after Mementos, Ren and Yu talk about lockpicks and the future.
Disclaimer: Don't own them.
Ren felt off after their Mementos trip which was weird since they have been doing it for so long. He didn't think that Akechi's presence affected them. In fact, they worked well together. No, him…no…the entire group felt off. They had time before the deadline.
So, he did what a good leader should do and gave everyone a few days off.
Still…he felt antsy. He ran with Ryuji one day and got his hands dirty with Haru on another day. The feeling didn't go away. Impulsively, he called Sensei.
After the most awkward five-minute conversation of his life, he asked Sensei if he wanted to hang out.
It felt so weird calling him even if they hung a few times already but thinking about it, Sensei was the one to plan it.
It wasn't like hanging out with the other adults in his life. They had common interests, common goals…common experiments.
With Sensei, it was different.
He really didn't need to help him with anything. Sure, they had common goals to stop Akechi and Shido but they planned it out.
It left him feeling a little lost on what to do.
So, the first thing that popped into his head was…
"Hey, Sensei, want to learn how to make lockpicks?" He said.
There was a moment of silence.
"Of course, my schedule is free in the afternoon." Sensei said.
"Good. Uhh…see you after school then?"
"Of course. I will meet you at the café."
Everyone says that he was suave. Well, they didn't see that conversation because he was definitely not suave. He was surprised that Sensei didn't laugh at him or Mona for that matter.
When he stumbled into the café after school, Sensei was sitting at the counter and drinking a cup of coffee. The news was rambling in the background.
It was strange because Boss and Sensei almost always talk about something or other. There was silence but it wasn't awkward silence. It was calm and almost peaceful. He almost didn't want to break it.
But Sensei spotted him then waved.
"Good afternoon, how was school?" Boss asked.
"Good. Hey, Sensei. Ready to go upstairs?"
"Hey, Boss! He did well in school. I made sure of that," Mona said as he popped out of his bag.
"Of course," Sensei said as he got up from the counter and set down his cup. He put some yen out of his pocket and set it on the counter.
"Don't teach him something that will get him in trouble," Boss said with a grumble.
Sensei smiled and winked.
"Come now," Sensei said.
Boss laughed.
"Go on, you two," Boss said with a wave.
He waved back and then started heading up the stairs. He heard Sensei's footsteps behind him.
"I'm so excited for Ren to teach you about lock picking, Sensei. It's a useful skill to have," Morgana chatted with Sensei behind him.
"I'm sure that Ren will do a wonderful job teaching me since he had a good teacher himself," Sensei said.
He could almost feel Morgana's chest puff up with pride.
"Of course, I do hope those skills only apply to the cognitive world and not in the real world," Sensei said amusedly.
"Urgh…." Morgana said.
Morgana and him…may or may try out to see if their lockpicks work.
Purely for testing purposes.
"Don't worry. I thought that you two would experiment with them in the real world. My question is did it work?"
"Yup," Morgana said.
"Sure did," He added.
Sensei chuckled.
"My claim to slightly illegal activity would be that I learned to hotwired cars," Sensei said.
"Wha-?!" Morgana said in shock.
"Wow…can you teach me?" He said.
"Sojiro said not to teach you anything illegal. Although, I will tell you the story of how I learned once we get upstairs," Sensei said.
That put a fire underneath his feet. It took no time for him and Morgana to be sitting by his desk. Sensei grabbed a chair and took a seat across from him.
"Okay….it was in the Paris Catacombs in France. Despite being a tourist hotspot now, it has its history and its shadows. Normally, they don't cause trouble but with the new entrance that they put in…it woke something up. We just weren't sure because the reports were on the vague side. We couldn't figure out if it was ghosts or shadows. So, Aegis and I went on a scouting mission." Sensei said as he started the story.
"Wait a minute…ghosts exist?" He asked.
"Don't tell Makoto that," Morgana added.
"I don't plan too. Yes but it is complicated because some shadows act as ghosts and some ghosts act like shadows. It can be tricky to figure out."
"So, you can get rid of spirits?"
"No…normally, we have mediums, psychics, even a few priests who are experts in that area on the company payroll. We do have a persona user who specialized in ghosts but she stationed herself in Cluj-Napoca, Romania because the forest in the area is a hotbed for ghosts and shadows."
"Wow…" He said.
Honestly, he was surprised. He thought that Sensei rolled in and dealt with the problem and left. Shadow work is much more complicated than that.
"I do call her from time to time if I have a question. In this case, Aegis and I were on our own. We did a day tour to scout out the new entrance. Nothing came out of it. So, we came back at night after it was closed. Well…that is where the excitement happened."
"What was it?! A ghost…a shadow?!" Morgana said on the edge of his seat.
"It was the shadow that we called a Red Man. The new entrance caused him to wake up," Sensei said.
"What is a Red Man?" He asked.
"A Red Man is a shadow that appears as a man dressed in red to cover the blood of his kills. You won't see him much here but he shows a lot in Europe, especially England and France. When he woke up…the other inhabitants woke up. Both…ghosts and shadows. We had a fight on our hands. Shadows were messing with the lights and attacking us at the same time. Ghosts were throwing skulls and other items around. We were outnumbered and the place was a maze. So, we chose to withdraw. The Red Man was at the entrance and stabbed Aegis in the right arm. It damaged some of her wiring. I got a lovely scar on my shoulder when he stabbed me. My blood delighted him enough for me to drag Aegis out of there. Problem is once we got out…we realized that we took a taxi."
"Ha!"
Sensei smiled softly.
"So, there was this car across from the entrance. So, Aegis taught me how to hotwire the car and get us to safety. I did return the car the next morning."
"Wow…" He said.
"You live an exciting life, Sensei." Morgana said.
"Research is most of it but it can be exciting."
"Did you regret it…joining?" He asked.
Sensei talked about it a few times. He knew there were conflicts and secrets but Sensei seemed to enjoy it.
"Hmm…no. I do good work despite my conflicts with some of the company's secrets," Sensei said.
"You're president!"
"That has been around for quite some time even Misturu-san doesn't know all of them."
He paused.
"Oh."
"Question is…what brought this on? Do you have any thoughts about joining?"
He shrugged and glanced down at the desk's surface.
"I have no idea what I want to do besides helping Morgana become human."
"Wait…wha-?" Morgana said in surprise.
He looked back up and adjusted his glasses.
"I promised. You're my best friend. Do you think that I would forget it?"
"I…I…." Morgana struggled to get the words then burst into tears.
"I don't deserve to be your friend. I…I…"
"If Lila, Ume and Teddie become human, you can be one too."
That only seemed to make Morgana cry harder. As much as Morgana tried to deny it, he is a softie. Besides, Morgana kept his promise, it was his turn to keep his.
That is what friends do after all.
Sensei just smiled.
"So, you think that you want to join the Shadow Operatives after school?" Sensei asked.
He shrugged.
"Maybe…I could travel and research the whole turning a cat into a human thing. I'm not really sure."
Sensei hummed for a moment.
"After everything ... .we split the yen that we got from the tv world. Chie put hers toward the police academy. Kanji toward his business and rainy fund for his mother's textile shop. Yukiko used hers for traveling and a rainy-day fund for the inn. Naoto and Rise donated theirs. Teddie spent his yen on snacks. Yosuke used his potion on a sound system for his music collection. He did save some for some decisions that he planned to make."
"And you?" He asked.
"I saved most of it. Just in case, I needed it again. I was…no, I'm a target. I have my share of enemies and one who loves to fight me again and have my head a serving dish. I also used my money to travel and to learn. Pick up things about personas and shadows, learn a few self-defense techniques, and most of all, learn about myself."
"So…it never ends for us, huh?" He said thoughtfully.
It was overwhelming just to think about it. Sure, he gets a sense of adventure and glee when they start exploring a palace but do that forever….
It left him feeling exhausted.
"It does end. It is how you deal with the end. Some users lead normal lives and help on a rare occasion. They keep in touch with us if there is something wrong. Often, they are our best resources of information and local supplies. Much like my team, others do it locally. Apart from me and Naoto, everyone else does it part time. Some do it full time. It is up to you."
"Oh…" He said as he leaned against his chair.
"Most of all, you have time to decide. Get through high school and survive these palaces, then come to me if you want to join."
He saluted Sensei with a grin.
Sensei chuckled softly and shook his head.
"So, you were going to show me how to make some lockpicks?" Sensei said.
"Ready to be impressed, Sensei?"
"Always."
-P4P5P4-
By the end of it, Sensei learned how to make lock picks and he got a rank up on Sensei's social link.
Apparently, Sensei is going to use those newfound skills to the test.
He didn't know if he should be scared or impressed.
End of The Skills We Pick Up
Next Chapter: The Moment We Ask
Rank 3: Those annoying locked doors can be unlocked with 25% chance giving a reward.
A/N: I was watching Sae's palace and came up the idea of Yu's Rank 3 when Ren was banging on one of those doors. Read and Review if you wish.