Catch-22: The Meeting
By: M14Mouse
Summary: Ren meet Yu. Yu meet Ren.
Disclaimer: Don't own them.
Gambling is the great leveller. All men are equal at cards.-Nikolai Gogol
Futuba took out her lollipop and turned to him as the conversation dissolved into fighting between Ryuji and Ann.
"So, how did you meet Ren?" She asked.
He turned from her to Ren, who turned to Morgana.
Morgana sighed.
"I hate both of you."
"Okay, now I really got to know," Futuba said with interest.
"I wasn't there for the first part of the story. Maybe you should start?" He said as he took a sip of his coffee.
"The first part?" Haru asked.
He nodded his head.
"Morgana and Ren were arguing about something when I came to look at the job posting board."
Ren adjusted his glasses and glanced over at Morgana, who was still mumbling under his breath.
"Before you came up? Mona was saying that I needed a new job that brought in more yen. He needed new equipment," Ren said.
His eye brow rose slightly. Mona looked like he was able to bolt.
"Man…you were really trying to get on sensei's bad side," Ryuji said as he stopped arguing with Ann for a moment.
"It was the first time that we met! I didn't know!" Morgana said.
The others knew his feelings about the yen situation. Being in the same situation as Ren was in a few years ago, it made him perceive and made him slightly pissed off. It didn't help that Ren looked exhausted from time to time. So, he decided to have a talk with the others.
"So, you are telling me that Ren pays for all of the supplies…"
"Yes," Ryuji said.
"Why?"
"Because he is better at managing money than us. Ryuji and Yusuke spend money when they get it. I…well…"
His eye brow rose slightly.
"So, you are telling me that Ren has been paying for all of the supplies. He has been working extra jobs in order to fund your journeys into the palaces and Mementos. He is also studying, helping out Boss and numerous others in the community. And…."
The three of them look at each other.
"Well…all of us are kind of broke, man. Ren looked like he had it covered. So we leave him to it. We get enough from the palace and Mementos. That should cover us for sure." Ryuji said as he scratched his head.
His eye brow rose higher. He needed to make a note to take Ryuji shopping with them when they do a supply run. It is pretty telling that they didn't know the prices for anything.
"How much do you think medicine costs, Ann?"
Ann blinked.
"I am not sure? 500 yen?" Ann said.
"If you are buying from vendor machines, sure…I can say that is around 500 yen. But if you want good medicine, the doctor isn't cheap. So, try 1,000 yen or more for that," He said.
"How much does your weapon cost, Yusuke?" He said calmly.
"Given the condition of the weapon, 5000 yen?" Yusuke said.
"You are close. But buying a new gun and weapon for each of you, I say that costs roughly around 20,000 yen or more."
He watched as the gears turned in their heads.
"HOLY CRAP…that is 80,000 yen?!" Ryuji shouted.
"Roughly."
"I didn't realize that everything cost so much," Ann said.
The group looked like they were getting disciplined by a parent or a principal.
"So, what would you have us do?" Yusuke said.
"I believe sensei saying that you guys should donate from time to time to help him with buying items and equipment," Mona said.
"Thank you, Mona. You shouldn't leave yourself out of this. I know that you sneak a few coins here and there."
"How did you know! Who told you?!" Mona said with a huff.
"Toothless, of course."
His shadow friends tend to talk a lot and have no filter. He learned a lot from them…sometimes, good and sometimes…. information that shouldn't be shared. The others only caught part of the conversations in battle.
Him and Ren?
Just say they spent one evening talking about the weirdest and funniest things that shadows say and do.
That was fun.
"What do you have us do?" Yusuke said.
He smiled just a little.
That's how the Phantom jar was born. The others would donate when they could. Ren was confused by it at first until he explained its purpose. Ren denied that he needed help but he could tell that helped.
If he donated more than most, then…it was his little secret.
"So, I didn't miss much?" He said.
"Not really," Ren said.
"You two were nothing but trolls…evil trolls," Mona said.
He and Ren just grinned at each other.
He approached the stand where Rean told him about the local job posting. It seemed someone had the same idea as him. He slowly walked over and started to look through the job postings at the magazine stand. He really didn't need another job since he has the Shadow Operatives and tutoring.
It is always good to have his choices open.
"Anything good?" A voice said behind him.
He tilted to his head to see a guy with messy black hair with a backpack on his shoulder. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the uniform.
It was the school that he was at about two weeks ago.
"Depends on what you think of as good," He said.
"In other words, nothing that I haven't seen already," The guy said.
He chuckled.
"Probably. Sometimes, I have better luck with newspapers when finding jobs."
"I haven't looked at those yet. What do you recommend?"
"Tutoring is good. Sometimes, the local hospital can be a good place to look. Local businesses can be tricky. They can be a good source of income especially if they pay under the table."
"Wow…this guy knows a lot about jobs. Ask him which one brings in the most money."
He looked around for the source of the voice but he saw no one nearby. It was definitely not the person next to him.
He frowned.
"Best job for money?" The guy asked.
"Tutoring," He said.
"Well…that is out especially with your record," The voice said.
Okay, now he knows that he heard something. He was pretty sure that it was coming from the guy's pack.
"Anything else?"
"Bars…the pay is better than most."
"Now that is an idea! Where to start looking…"
Okay…now he knew something was in the pack.
"Is your bag making noise?" He asked as he went behind the guy to examine his bag.
"DAMN IT!" The voice said.
"You are being loud, Morgana." The guy said to his bag.
"Who is Morgana?" He asked.
Suddenly, a cat's head popped out of the guy's bag.
"I am not being loud!" Morgana shouted.
A talking cat?
No…he could hear meows under the words. He tilted his head and frowned. It was something that he and the guy next to him could understand.
Well…that is kind of new.
Not Teddie new or robot new but still new.
He listened as the two were bickering back and forward. It was kind of funny but he wasn't quite sure what to do.
How do you confront someone with a talking cat?
What do you say?
"Your cat is adorable. May I touch him?" He asked.
"NO, YOU MAY NOT!"
"Sure," The guy said.
He reached over and gently ran his fingers along Morgana's fur.
"Stop it…purr…" Morgana shouted.
"Aww…I take it that he has a sweet spot," He said with a smile.
"Well…," The guy said with a smirk.
"Hmmm…"
"DON'T YOU DARE! TELL HIM TO STOP PURR….rrrr…!" Morgana shouted then purred as he ran his hand along Morgana's back. Morgana put his head back into the bag to avoid his touch.
The guy's face brightened as he took off his bag. He set it on the ground. The guy slipped his hand into his bag.
"What are you doing, Ren?! Puurrrrrrrrr….."
He laughed softly.
Ren, huh?
"Sometimes, it is the only way for me to get him to be quiet sometimes."
"He does seem to be a talkative cat."
"You have no idea."
Oh, he was pretty sure that he did.
"At least, you can hear him coming."
"You can't hear me coming! I am the best thief alive! Puurrr…Stop it! Ren…purr…," Morgana said with another loud purr.
Ren chuckled as he picked up his bag again.
"Thank you for allowing me to play with your cat," He said.
"No problem," Ren said.
"Yes, there was very much of a problem!" The cat shouted.
"Maybe, next time, I will bring some treats. He does seem like a good cat," He said.
"Treats?"
"He is. Probably the best," Ren said.
He just chuckled.
He had something to talk about with the others.
"Evil trolls…both of you." Morgana said.
Ryuiji and Fubuta laughed.
"Aww…you have a sweet spot…Awww," Ann said.
"Not you too, Lady Ann."
"So, you could hear Morgana from the beginning?" Makoto asked.
"Yes. I believe that my time in the tv world played a role in that fact," He said.
"I could never figure out why you didn't tell us sooner," Morgana said.
"I believe that I was a little busy. Since the first words of your month when we first met was that I was the man in the black mask, had an army of minions, and were killing people, my friends weren't very happy when you said that."
"….One out of three isn't so bad."
End of the Meeting
Next Chapter: The Cracks
A/N: The money situation in the games always kind of pissed me off. So, Yu step in to help out because he understands. I have been asked what I am going to do with Dance All Night and Persona Q 2 (Go see the trailer guys…GO!). As it stands, nothing changes but who knows right? Now to answer my own question from last week, I really like the Persona 4 characters' personas, Black Frost, Tam Lin, and Kohryu. Anyway, thank you for the reviews, kudos, or just stopping by. You guys are great! Read and Review if you wish.