雨宮 蓮
It was impossible to forget the sweet rush of adrenaline surging like hot fire through his blood- the ecstasy of it.
When he closed his eyes, he dreamed of a man in a pale mask who wore a costume spun from the thread of night. Red-streaked, black Shadows danced like shuddering infernos before his eyes as the whistle of ominous wind stirred his hair and brought fresh chills over his skin.
Here, he was the performer. A joker on a grand stage, chaos in his name and mischief darting on his fingertips. Like a flying acrobat, he leapt to and from the multicolored spotlights dotting the blanket of darkness.
Here, he took the lead. All eyes on him, he paved forward a blazing path. Hidden in the fire and ashes were his trusted confidants, thieves-friends. He met their eyes, shimmering like gems under their masks, and grinned in the face of death. He could hear their voices uplifting him, trusting him, together with him.
Here, he was untouchable. His hands curled around the grip of an invisible dagger and gun, heart pumping life and vigor through his veins. His weapon sliced through darkness like a hot knife through soft butter; an elegant finger gloved in crimson curled around a polished silver trigger.
Arsene, his ever present shadow, would lift him into the skies. Together they would paint the night in myriad hues of color with every confident step-
Splash!
But that life was beyond him now.
Ren Amamiya blinked muck-filled water from his eyes and coughed more out from his nose.
Drenched from his torso upwards, he tilted his head back to see the empty bowl of a silver bucket staring down at him from the second floor of his school's building. Through water-stained glasses, he met the wide eyes of a fellow student—a classmate, he recognized—who quickly averted their gaze and ducked back into the building. Others did the same, shooting him nervous glances or ignoring him altogether. As if he were invisible.
This is new, Ren thought to himself as he stood up from where he had been eating lunch that afternoon: a concrete bench under the shade of a molten wisteria tree in the school's courtyard. It was a rare place of solitude where he had, until now, been free to enjoy his scraps of fried bread and rice balls in peace—but as Ren looked around at the other students milling about the yard who were very clearly giving him wide berth, he couldn't help but wonder if the reason why it was so quiet was because he was there in the first place.
The few students who had been witnesses to the spectacular waterboarding promptly gathered their lunches, some even half un-eaten, and scurried from the premises.
Ren pulled his glasses off and wiped them on the hem of his uniform shirt, though it did little to clear the lenses with how damp his clothes were. He shrugged off his blazer coat and wrung it out onto the grass.
It was early November in Inaba, and quite a bit colder out than it would have been in Tokyo. Even though it hadn't outright snowed yet, morning dew had started crystalizing into shards of ice, and the streets around town were more frequently being frosted over. A harsh wind blew through the courtyard and Ren drew his arms in closer, stifling a shudder
The highschooler tossed out his water-logged piece of bread into the nearest bin and hurried into the school building to change into his spare PE uniform.
Oh, Ren stopped in front of his locker, dumbfounded.
Right. His PE uniform was ruined too. Earlier that day, he'd found a massive hole practically hacked into his clothes. Which was odd, because even though Ren was a bit clumsy with them, he never remembered wearing them down badly enough for them to tear that bad.
The school nurse looked absolutely fed up with him when he showed up not minutes later, drenched to the bone. She sighed and shook her head wordlessly.
"Spare clothes are in the back. Hurry up—you're dripping all over my floor."
Ren hurriedly changed into a ragged pair of old PE clothes, apologetically wiped the floor up with a mop, and rushed to his classroom with a glance down at his wristwatch. The bell signaling the end of break had gone off several minutes ago.
He rushed into class, undoubtedly looking like a mess with a towel over his shoulders and hair still wet.
What greeted him was the disapproving glare of his homeroom teacher and the enigmatic body of letters and algebraic equations chalked across the blackboard.
"Mr. Amamiya," she clipped out in that staccato tone that teachers tended to speak in when dealing with unruly students. "You're late."
Sheepishly, Ren mumbled out an apology.
It was already quite close to the end of the second term, and Ren, for the life of him, still couldn't quite recall his homeroom teacher's name, but she, on the other hand, seemed to have reasons plenty to call on his own. A nub of chalk twisted between her fingers and Ren instinctively braced himself to dodge out of harm's way.
Except this wasn't Tokyo, and especially not Shujin High, and his weary teacher simply lowered her arms and let out a sigh.
"Come see me after class," she snipped out, before turning back to the board to resume class. "Sit down already."
Ren lightly slid into his seat, trying to brush off the pointed stares he was getting from his classmates. What an awful semester it was, Ren thought despondently, to have been sitting at the front and center of the class.
School ended and Ren found himself dragging his feet on the way to the faculty office on the first floor.
If this was last year, perhaps he would have been cooking up a strategy to appease Miss Kawakami's wrath—a promise of requests for her maid services for a whole month, perhaps some cake from her favorite shop in Kichijoji, or even an a more straightforward appeal for her soft side by making himself look extra pitiful and downtrodden.
But—no, this wasn't Shujin(how many times did he have to remind himself of this over the last several months?) and his homeroom teacher would not be as sympathetic. This was a normal, albeit small high school in Inaba, where everyone knew each other and where gossip spread like wildfire even without the help of online forums on the internet.
The first-year and second-year students, very clearly recognizing who he was, turned pale with fear and scrambled out of his path as he made his way to the office. How nostalgic.
Entering the faculty office, he saw that his homeroom teacher was already waiting for him at her desk. She pursed her lips at the sight of him and motioned for him to take a seat in one of the spare chairs next to her table.
Having already mentally prepared himself for a harsh lecture, Ren was surprised when she began with, "You haven't yet submitted your future plans survey back to me. Have you been filling it out?"
"Ah," he blurted. He fumbled for his bag and sifted through its many contents before fishing out his survey. "Well…um, here."
She accepted the form and scanned over it with inquisitive eyes that made him shift in his seat uncomfortably, as if he was the one being scrutinized under the magnifying glass. After a brief minute of tense silence that felt like it lasted for ages, his teacher lowered her glasses and set the paper down. Her lips were drawn into a straight, thin line.
"And this is what you've chosen for yourself?"
Her stern tone almost made him want to shrink away. "…Yes, ma'am," he responded, after a moment's hesitation.
She glanced back down at the sheet, now splayed out on the table next to them so that they could both see it. "This is quite the prestigious university. Though with your marks, I suppose that getting accepted would only be a matter of studying the right material." She paused, gauging his reaction, before continuing, "And this major: business administration—is that something you also chose for yourself?"
Ren nodded.
"And are you confident in your decision?"
The boy nodded once more.
His homeroom teacher crossed her arms.
"And you certainly didn't choose this because your parents would approve, or because it's something you thought you should do?"
Ren's fingers twitched almost imperceptibly. He shook his head.
"No, ma'am."
She raised her brow at him. "Mr. Amamiya," she said finally, a sigh exhaled through her nose. "I'll admit-I'm not quite sure what to make of you."
Ren blinked at her in confusion.
"I'm…sorry?"
"I've been a teacher for many, many years, and—while I can't in good conscience say that your troubles are anything typical of an average student—I've developed something of a 'sense' for how to deal with teenagers. But for you…well, it's safe to say that I haven't quite put a finger on how to describe you yet."
There was a distant expression on his teacher's face as her eyes looked out beyond the windows and into the mountains. It was a bit foggy that day, and it seemed as if it would rain soon.
"It's been a little over half a year that you transferred back in. This is your hometown, isn't it?" his teacher asked, pausing. "Do you feel as if you've been able to settle back into your life here?"
Ren stared at her, unsure of how to respond. "I…I'm doing fine," he said slowly. "It's not too bad."
"I heard from the nurse that you showed up to her office completely drenched. Did something happen?"
Ren was distracted by the bangs hanging over his face. "I accidentally got water spilled on myself."
She seemed unimpressed. "Why didn't you explain this to me when we were in class, Mister Amamiya? You said nothing and let me draw my own conclusions."
"I just…didn't think it was that important," he said.
His teacher crossed her arms. She radiated something like annoyance, or perhaps exasperation. "This isn't an interrogation, by the way," she added. "But I really do hope that you learn to speak up for yourself in the future. People don't know what you're thinking if you always keep your thoughts to yourself."
Ren nodded, shifting his feet.
"Did you talk to your parents about your future plans?"
"A bit," he said.
"And did they say anything about it?"
He shook his head. His teacher sighed. She slid the form over to him, which he accepted wordlessly.
"As your teacher, I would strongly recommend that you have a talk with your parents over this. It's not my intention to make you doubt yourself, but I get the sense that you shouldn't be drawing any hard lines into the sand…at least, not at this point in your life."
The university name and the major he'd written down earlier that day suddenly appeared to be no more than formless scribbles on the page. He looked at the form, lost.
"This is more than something as simple as choosing what to eat for dinner, or what outfit to wear on your days off. This is a life decision, and one that should be made after careful consideration and introspection."
He took the form into his hands. She stared at him in silence for a few moments before glancing down at her wristwatch.
"It's getting late," she said finally, standing. "Perhaps I've grilled you for long enough this time, Mr. Amamiya, but I want you to think long and hard about this. When you turn the survey in again next time, I hope to see that the path you've laid out for yourself is one that you—the real you—chose."
A familiar black cat was waiting for him by the wisteria tree near the front gate. Today, he was surrounded by a small crowd of girls who cooed and fawned over them, clearly enjoying the ear scratches and praises he was receiving.
Ren strolled up to the small gathering of students, who turned stiff with fear when they noticed him approaching. Before he could so much as get out a word, the girls—likely his juniors, from the way they hurriedly bowed in his direction—scurried away and out of school bounds.
He could still hear their whispers on the wind.
"Oh my god, that was him?"
"Hush, not so loud!"
Ren turned to the cat, who was now sitting straight and smoothing down his fur in an attempt to regain his dignity. He wordlessly raised an eyebrow at his feline friend.
Morgana hissed, "Oh, don't look at me like that! What else am I supposed to do while I'm waiting for you? And it wasn't like I did anything—they were the ones who came up to me first. A gentleman is never rude to ladies, after all."
He paused, looking Ren up and down. "Who's Saito, and why're you borrowing their clothes?"
"Huh?" Ren glanced down at his shirt and remembered that he was still wearing the borrowed PE uniforms. His actual school clothes were stuffed inside his bag and wrapped plastic to keep from dripping all over his books. "My clothes got wet."
"What? And how did that happen, exactly?" Morgana asked, taken aback.
Ren shrugged off his bookbag and lowered it enough for Morgana to petulantly climb into, before hanging it back over his shoulders. He felt his bag jostle and jerk for a few seconds before Morgana got into a comfortable enough position on top of his workbooks. The cat's head pushed under his elbow and popped out of the zipper, scowling.
"Well," Ren began, eyes wandering. "It was an accident."
Morgana sighed. "I swear…if you're trying to blend into society as a normal student, I'd say you're doing stellar. Looking at you now, even I can hardly believe you were once a Phantom Thief." Despite the fact that they both knew Morgana's speech was nothing more than the eager meows of a cat to passersby, Ren couldn't help but glance around them to make sure nobody had caught wind of their conversation. Morgana lowered his voice, more by habit than anything, and continued, "Though I guess that's not too bad of a thing to get used to. Life's peaceful like this."
Ren smiled faintly. "Lazybones."
"Excuse me?!"
It was near the end of November in Inaba, and he'd almost forgotten how cold it got in the countryside as compared to Tokyo. The skies were already darkening as he walked the quiet streets back home, appearing even later into the afternoon as a thick blanket of clouds settled over the town. It had been snowing earlier that week, and there were thin piles of snow and ice on the streets.
Morgana sniffed the air tentatively.
"Didn't you bring an umbrella to school with you? It's gonna rain soon." The cat sighed. "It's always raining here. I hope it doesn't snow again. Ugh, I'm no good with the cold."
The cat shivered in his bag, and Ren pulled his arm around them tighter.
"My umbrella broke," he said evenly, much to Morgana's horror. "I had to throw it out."
"It broke? We just bought that last week," Morgana whined. "How did that happen? You're not normally so careless."
Ren's expression remained unchanging. "I sat on it."
"You sat on it?!"
"Yeah."
Morgana groaned. "How does that even-you've got to be kidding," he sighed. "Have you been gaining weight? You should be cutting back on the fried bread, mister!"
As his partner prattled on, Ren exhaled and watched as his breath turned into mist. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard the distant sound of rumbling train tracks echoing in hollow tunnels, bustling crowds filling the streets, the bell tied to the door of a familiar shop ringing as it swung open.
He realized that Morgana had stopped his lecture earlier than he usually did, and he glanced down towards the rather sullen looking cat pouting in his bag.
He asked, "Something the matter?"
Morgana let out a huff. "You…hrm…nevermind. Let's just get back home quickly. My whiskers are going to freeze off."
As they continued down the quiet road, they noticed a pair of students walking across the street from them. Both were staring at their phones as they walked, engrossed with watching videos or sending messages, no doubt.
Morgana tutted in disapproval. "Tsk, tsk. Kids these days, always looking down at their phones. If they keep that up in this weather, they're definitely gonna-"
Suddenly, one of them lurched forward and, after wobbling for a second like a newborn deer, face planted into the grass. The other did the same. It seemed like they had slipped on a patch of ice that had frozen over the street.
The two witnesses winced in solidarity. "…fall. You could have seen that coming from a mile away. Careful where you step, Ren. You had better not drop me."
Ren stepped forward to help, but the two students scrambled to their feet. Red-faced and wide-eyed, they avoided eye contact and scrambled away, more carefully this time.
Morgana coughed awkwardly. "So…why were you so late today? Something happen? Did you get in trouble again? Nobody's been bothering you, right?" He could feel Morgana's tail swishing out behind him.
Ren pursed his lips. The way Morgana said it made it sound as if he was some sort of delinquent. "Not…exactly," he deflected. "I just forgot to turn something in, and she took the chance to talk to me about some stuff. Not a big deal."
Morgana narrowed his eyes at his charge. "Would it kill you to be more specific? You're always so secretive, and you don't let me follow you into class anymore."
"It really wasn't anything important." Ren paused, before adding, "I've been living the life of a normal, upright student. There's nothing for you to worry about-promise."
The cat grumbled under their breath, releasing a small puff of foggy air into the stinging winter sky. "Fine. If you say so."
"Don't be mad."
"I'm not mad!"
Ren hid a laugh, poorly, with a cough.
"Don't laugh at me," Morgana snapped. Ren gently tousled the top of his companion's head, which earned his hand an indignant slap in return.
His phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at his screen. It was a message from-
Morgana abruptly stood in his bag, unbalancing Ren as he tugged on the boy's shoulder eagerly.
"Who is it?" The cat's tail lashed out even more eagerly behind him. "Is it one of the gang? Maybe Lady Ann?"
They both read the sender's ID at the same time. Morgana gasped. Ren quickly hid his phone from his companions' view, but it was too late.
Yoshizawa.
Morgana gave him a Cheshire grin. "Oh? Oh? What are you trying to hide from me, Ren?"
The boy frowned, masking any emotion from his face. "I'm…not hiding anything."
To prove it, he unlocked his phone.
Hello Senpai!
It's been too long since we last spoke. I'm actually planning on being in the area soon for a competition in the town over…
Would you like to meet up if you're free?
Morgana gave him a dirty look. "I didn't know you were still…"
"Still what?"
He didn't know how Morgana did it with the facial muscles of a cat, but he was giving him the most deadpan expression he'd ever seen on a feline. "You know what? Forget about it. So, are you going to respond to Yoshizawa or not?"
Ren turned back to his phone. "I was going to." His fingers were starting to get numb from how long they'd been walking around in the cold.
Sure. I'm looking forward to it.
Let me know when you're available.
"…and send."
Morgana let out a dissatisfied huff. "What a lackluster reply," he complained. "Can't you sound…I don't know, more enthusiastic? It's been how many months since you've seen each other in person?"
Just as Ren was about to retort, his shoes suddenly slid out from beneath him as if they'd been propelled forward by rocket launchers. Distracted by his phone, they hadn't noticed that the ground was frozen over in a sheet of ice until it was too late.
Morgana screeched into his ear as he instinctively bent his knees, crouching down lower in an attempt to regain his balance. His loafers skid and wobbled precariously. Arms out in a panic, Ren managed to stay upright for only a few more seconds before gravity caught up to him and—
Thud!
—he landed painfully on his butt.
"Ouch," Ren groaned.
"Yeowch!" Morgana yelped.
Ren glanced over his shoulder at the cat still nestled into his bag. "You weren't even the one who fell, Morgana."
The cat's fur was slightly puffed out. He seemed a bit shaken. "I was sharing in your pain."
Ren, dazed by his fall, leaned back onto his hands and let himself get distracted by the lumpy gray storm clouds overhead. A damp wind blew through the street and he sneezed.
"Excuse me," a voice called out from across the street, followed by hurried but careful footsteps. "Are you alright?"
Ren and Morgana looked up to meet the stormy gray eyes of a tall young man, perhaps a handful of years older than he was, and his hand, outstretched in sympathy. He had neatly-cut, short silver hair and he wore a thick, dark coat over a pale woolen turtleneck.
Ren accepted the man's aid and was pulled back to his feet by a firm tug. He quickly dusted off what ice and dirt had clung to his pants and offered a polite bow.
"Thank you," he mumbled, still a bit mortified that a stranger had seen him tumble so disgracefully. He had thought himself lighter and more nimble on his feet than that, but he was undoubtedly getting rusty. "I'm fine. Just a bit sore."
The tall man gave him a quick once over and said, "I'm glad you're okay. That was quite the spectacular fall there. You've probably heard this enough from other people, but try not to walk while looking at your phone, yeah? The streets can get dangerous when you're not paying attention, especially in the winter with all the snow and ice."
Ren nodded awkwardly. "Yes, I'm sorry."
"Yeah, come on, Ren," Morgana chimed in, shamelessly. "You're always so out of it these days."
The man turned to Morgana, eyes widening slightly.
"He says his thanks," Ren translated, earning him a low chuckle in response.
"Cute cat you've got there," he smiled. His features softened, making him appear far friendlier and younger than he seemed at first. "Friendly little guy, isn't he?"
Ren was suddenly hit by a strong sense of deja vu-or rather, some powerful tug in his chest that left him feeling a bit light-headed and short of breath. The man glanced towards Ren, and the feeling of magnetism grew only stronger.
"Is something wrong? You look pale," the man said, frowning.
Ren averted his eyes, combing his hair over his glasses. "I…I'm fine." He bowed hurriedly again.
The man pursed his lips. "If you're sure…"
Suddenly, Ren's phone shrieked.
The sound was ear-piercing, high-pitched, and stabbed into Ren's brain like thousands of sharp knives. He shouted out in pain, hands flying up to cover his and Morgana's ears, but he could hardly hear himself over the noise, nor were his palms effective in muting the sound. Beside him, he saw the man, too, grimacing in agony, doubled over and covering his ears.
Morgana squeaked faintly, slumping over his shoulder in a dead faint.
"Morgana…!"
His phone, fallen onto the floor from his earlier tumble, continued to wail out in that horrible scream. He scrambled for the device, struggling to turn it the volume down, mute it, power it off-anything-
A flash of light shone in his eyes. An icon shone on his phone screen-a thumping blue heart-and a wave of powerful nausea swept over him. His skull all but split in two from the sudden pain.
Strength left his body in an instant. Vision swirled grey and white, the world melted into a slurry of snow and ice.
Ren's eyes rolled back into his head, and he knew no more except for the constant ringing that haunted him even into unconsciousness.
Ren was awoken by the familiar twinkle of a chiming bell, and the faint comfort of a warm presence nearby.
His body instinctively relaxed.
A voice, so distant that it barely sounded as a mumble, whispered into his ears.
"...ter…p…ger…-"
His ears strained to make out the words, to no avail. As his body slowly regained its functions, Ren realized that his head was filled with the sound of low humming that seemed to act as white noise, blocking out the comforting voice further.
"-he…gether…believe…"
Sensation returned to his fingers. His skin drained of warmth, pressed against something cold. The presence grew ever distant.
"..."
La-
Ren gasped out and his eyes flashed open.
Immediately, he curled into himself and groaned out, clutching his temples. He felt as though someone had beat him over the head with an iron bat, repeatedly. His brain throbbed in time with his far too loud heartbeat, threatening to burst out of his skull.
Laying on the floor, gathering his wits, memories flooded back to him: his phone, the sudden noise, his dizzy spell, and-
Morgana!
Ren forced himself to sit up and look around, gritting his teeth through his feverish headache.
Morgana was nowhere to be found-and neither were the quiet streets of Inaba, for that matter.
Where once were the quiet streets of a backwater suburb, instead rose a dazzling metropolis of neon lights.
He found himself surrounded by dazzling LED billboards that stretched up and across an endless array of dizzyingly tall skyscrapers that carved deep into the dark sky. Rising from the clean pavement were glowing electronic street plaques, the names of the streets unfamiliar to him, with digital signboards, and hovering holographic displays like television screens that flickered through slideshows.
Plastered everywhere in blinding HD resolution were all sorts of commercials for popular brand products, commercials, and news flashes. It was as if nothing could stay still-the boards would flash through images and words almost faster than he could blink. The hectic arrangement of blinking images and crawling text made his already suffering head all the more overwhelmed.
Tokyo?
Ren squeezed his eyes shut, heart racing in his chest. No, it couldn't be. The buildings were far too tall, peaking into the clouds, and not even Shibuya was this bright or futuristic. Sleek mechanical parts jut out of every high-rise structure, were imbedded into every glass window, and mixed even into the concrete under his feet. It almost looked like a scene out of a sci-fi film, or a cyberpunk themed movie.
He opened his eyes again, taking stock of where he was.
Despite the fact that it seemed to be late into the evening, the light pollution was so intense that it hardly seemed any darker than daytime. Translucent tubes ran through the streets, up and inside the buildings and windows, and sprawled across the very sky like webs. Electric blue shots of plasma darted through the hundreds, if not thousands of cable cord-like lines in near perfect unison, emitting a sound like that of a pulsing heartbeat.
As Ren stood, he realized with a start that it was drizzling. Soft, cold droplets of rain beaded on his lenses and skin, and melted into his clothes. The asphalt was damp with water, reflecting all the colors of the screen in a watercolor smeared blur.
Most eerie was the dead silence. Save for the low buzz of electronic parts and the click of displays shifting, the city was as empty and quiet as a ghost town. He could hear his breath echoing around him, and the rustle of his clothes sounded like thunder.
All the stores around him were devoid of life, barren. It was as if the whole city had been…spirited away.
Ren swallowed thickly, mouth unnaturally dry.
He quickly felt around his person, checking to see if all his parts were still in place. His bag was missing, but his phone was, somehow, securely in his pocket.
As he pulled it out, his fears were confirmed.
No cell service. None of his apps were working either. And that blue heart icon from before? Gone.
Could this be the Metaverse again? Or something similar, like those Jails? Is that why I heard her voice calling to me? The boy shook his head to clear it, pocketing his phone once more. There was no point standing around and fussing over details that wouldn't reveal themselves. Wherever this was, Ren was more concerned with reuniting with Morgana and returning home safely.
"That man…he might be lost in here too," Ren mused aloud. The kind, silver-haired stranger, as he recalled, had been nearby enough to have been pulled into this alternate world, if all was as Ren guessed. While there were no people around, it also appeared that there were no hostiles either. He hoped he could find them both and find a way back home-ideally before something inevitably went wrong, as it always seemed to do.
The boy brushed the water from his clothes and determinedly set forth in a random direction. Side streets branched off from the six-or was it seven?-way intersection that he'd woken from.
As his heels kicked off the pavement, he felt that familiar weightlessness in his step. The way that air seemed to bounce off his feet, lifting him into the sky effortlessly.
Street markings on the floor, too, glowed to life as he passed over them. They must have had a motion sensor of some sort. The darker alley lit up with light-from crosswalks, to stop signs, to arrows, all of them illuminating his way.
Strange, sleek vehicles-futuristic cars?-he'd never seen before parked along the sidewalks, as did street stalls and stores with their glass doors left wide open. Apparel shops filled to the brim with flickering holographic images of the latest seasonal clothes, izakayas lined with bubbling pots and pans yet devoid of customers-all was left in place as if they were being operated just moments ago.
Something about the atmosphere halted the words in his throat, even though the rational part of himself thought that searching for his companions would be far more efficient if he were to call out to them. Ren wasn't one to be jumping at shadows, but his skin crawled even at the sound of his own shoes clipping against the damp floor.
He ducked through alleys, shuffled over trash bins, and squeezed through chain link fences while following the vibrant neon arrows pointing the way. Droplets of rain pattered against glass and steel overhangs but did little to shield him from the weather. Ren had to pause to wipe his glasses a few times.
After what felt like hours of wandering through a jungle, the trickling side streets broadened and merged into wider roads, then finally streamed out into an open clearing.
Ren arrived at a massive city square, reminiscent of Shibuya Station, but far stranger.
Where the central billboard usually stood, displaying advertisements and short clips, instead was plastered a glowing digitized image of a massive blue, beating heart. Arteries trailed from the organ, out from the 2D of the image into 3D that curling around the LED image almost protectively. Those pulsing translucent tubes thickened and filled the streets densely like vines, creeping up the skyscraper and plugging into the display. Here, the sound of its thumping was soul-shakingly loud, and it reverberated through the entire metropolis-slow and steady, deep and resounding.
But that wasn't the only thing that caught Ren's attention as he slowed to a hesitant stop. A semi-truck-sized dark mass was gathered into a giant heap at the center of the crossing. Its rubbery surface glistened in the rain.
Ren could have sworn he'd seen it twitch.
Every fiber of his being was tingling with warning bells. Stay away, his brain screamed. Get back!
Slowly, Ren inched backwards, being mindful to keep his eyes trained on the suspicious object and his feet out of the way of anything to trip on-
Rrrrrrriiiiiinnngggg!
With characteristically bad timing, Ren's phone suddenly let out a clear, resonant peal. His phone was startlingly loud, even from within the folds of his pants-though luckily it wasn't nearly so ear-splitting as to knock him unconscious as it had before. Still, the ring was shrill enough in such a soundless world that it could have been as loud as an air siren.
His blood froze over in his veins. Hands jamming into his pocket, Ren grabbed his phone and forced a shut down. He caught a brief glimpse of his screen before the device powered off. It was that blue heart icon again.
There's no way it could be a coincidence at this point.
There was a moment of tense silence, broken up by the steady sound of a thumping heart.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Ren stood frozen, feeling the air shift around him. All the hairs on his body stood on their ends and goosebumps prickled on his skin.
The lights from the billboards and signs flickered, their screens glitching with chromatic aberration. In the blink of an eye, all of the displays were wiped clear, replaced by screeching static and bulging, bloodshot eyeballs. Making crackling, fleshy sounds, they whipped around and glared down at him with a fierce anger. All the blue lights flashed red-the heart continued to beat, incessantly.
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump-
Beneath Ren's feet, the streets began to quake. The black mound rumbled, like a small mountain being rocked by an earthquake. Dozens of trunk-like limbs sprouted from the creature with resounding pops and cracks, as bones flared out and settled painfully into place under bubbling flesh. A jaw unhooked from the front of the bulbous, sagging body, revealing a massive black maw lined rows of powerful teeth. Buzzing white noise hummed from screens that were melted into its skin. Where there might have been eyes, a simple red mask floated to the surface of its skin instead.
A Shadow.
Ren's heart leaped in its cage.
The Shadow leaned back and howled into the night sky, its voice so booming loud that it shattered the raindrops falling around it. As Ren stared, transfixed, its head snapped towards his direction.
Badumpbadumpbadumpbadump-
The teen gasped back to his senses as the monster roared into motion, legs stomping against the street so heavily that it near knocked him off of his feet.
One hand instinctively reached for his waist and the other towards his brow-only to find that he was somehow still in his civilian clothes, fingers only brushing against the frame of his glasses and the fabric of his pants. Ren cursed under his breath and threw himself out of the way as the creature barreled like a locomotive through the empty space where he once stood. He rolled over his shoulder on the wet asphalt, slowing into a half-upright position as he saw the Shadow crash into the windows of the store behind him.
Incredibly, the glass held its own against the shadow's weight, even as the creature flattened as thin as a pancake against it. The shadow peeled itself off the wall and shook itself off like an animal, snarling.
Ren briefly closed his eyes, reaching into the depths of his soul for that familiar presence. His heart raced and a familiar rush of hot fire coursed through his veins. Come on…
The Shadow charged at him once more, tongue flapping out of its jaws.
Gathering his wits, Ren turned tail and fled down a side alleyway as fast as his legs would carry him. He ducked into a small, shadowed side street and tore down the narrow pathway, hoping to throw the creature off his scent-at least for long enough to figure out a plan of action.
Against his wishes, however, the glowing screens and signboards suddenly dyed neon red and began ringing out with the sound of a buzzing alarm, their displays flickering out and being replaced with bright white arrows pointing down towards the floor.
No. When he jumped over a fence, the arrows would bobble up. When he ducked under a ridge, it would tilt down. Turning left or right, the tip of the spear would flip around like the head of a compass trying to right itself. Ren realized with horror that the signs, whether they were sentient or not, were following him.
Worse, the signs were guiding it to him.
Not a moment later, he heard a deafening roar behind him, followed by the sound of crashing metal and creaking wood. It panted and snarled like a rabid dog, sniffing the air as if it had caught onto his scent, and moved with startling speed, if the crescendo of rapidly falling footsteps were any indication.
"Come on," Ren growled, willing his persona to manifest. He gathered strength in his legs and jumped up, hand gripping a low-hanging fire escape. Using his own momentum, he swung his legs up and over the ledge. Trailing up the side of the wall was one of those translucent tubes or veins or whatever they were. Ren grabbed onto the surprisingly bumpy wire and scaled up the side of the building, lungs burning. "I know you're still there, Arsene!"
He crested over the top of a small ledge jutting out over the side of what appeared to be an apartment complex, and threw himself forward into a sprint. With acrobatic skill, the teen leapt across the balcony and alley, landing lightly on his feet on a wider rooftop of the adjacent building.
Just when he thought he could catch his breath, the building shook as something powerful slammed into the side of the wall.
Ren spared a breathless glance over his shoulder.
The red-masked Shadow's centipede-like appendages dug deep into the concrete, propelling itself up with the cracks it dug into solid steel. With reptilian deftness, the Shadow scaled the wall with ease and burst over the top of the building with a shriek.
Ren ducked and rolled away just in time to avoid being flattened by a flailing fist.
It's too fast to run from, he decided, and resolutely dug his feet into the ground. I have to fight.
In a bid of desperation, Ren glared back at the creature and summoned what spark of defiance he could muster. He could feel a faint spark smoldering in his chest.
"Come out, Arsene-"
Before the words could finish leaving his lips, the shadow's arms lashed out like whips, barely a whisper of a dark blur in the night.
A crack resounded in his head, followed by a hot red flash of pain. The lights around him blurred and the world tilted on its head. Wind rushed in his ears.
He rebounded off the windows of the opposite building and fell through webbed wires, crashing into the streets. Ren jolted to a halting stop as his back slammed into a street pole, knocking all the air from his lungs.
His vision filled with sparkling lights and red-or perhaps it was just the signs lighting up around him. Every bone in his body screamed out and flared with pain when he struggled to stand.
Through rain-sodden bangs and dewy eyes, he could barely make out the blurry form of his shattered glasses sprawled out in a shallow puddle several meters away. Something warm and thick streamed down the side of his temple.
It's hot.
A victorious howl echoed through the city. The ground quaked under his cheek with the Shadow's every step.
Ren urged his body to move, but all the world's gravity weighed down on him. Every twitching motion brought a shock of electric searing down his spine. Cold rain like needles pierced into his stinging skin, barely keeping him lucid.
It feels like everything's burning up.
Without warning, a massive hand pounded him into the earth, caging him deep against the pavement with the full force of its might. All he could do was let out a strangled cry. His ribs strained under the weight of what seemed to be an entire house. Blood rushed into his ears like crashing waves, drowning out the sound of screaming. His heart was like thunder, bursting against his chest.
…alive…
His senses must have had overloaded from all the damage he'd taken. Ren suddenly felt numb and distant. A still fog clouded his mind. The shadow leaned in and all he could hear was the rhythm of its panting breaths.
It almost sounded like it was laughing at him.
In the next instant, he was engulfed in darkness and cold. The Shadow must have swallowed him whole, Ren thought blankly. He felt like he was sinking into an endless pit of tar, yet, ironically, he felt weightless. He could feel the bumpy lining of its esophagus pulling him in, thin tendrils scraping across his skin leaving a lingering tingling sensation behind.
…Tingling?
As everything was beginning to fade, Ren heard a distant shout. The darkness around him trembled. There was a muffled bellow, followed by a resounding cry.
"Izanagi!"
The Shadow shrieked in agony.
Light flooded his world in an instant. Strong hands grabbed him, lifted him, and Ren found himself enveloped in a warm, firm embrace.
His eyes blinked open to meet stormy grey ones, filled with care and concern.
"Hey there," the kind, silver-haired stranger said once more, expression softening with relief at seeing him awake. "Are you alright?"
Once more, Ren felt his gut wrench with emotion at the sight of the man he'd never met before in his life-and yet he couldn't help but feel a twinge of something like nostalgia tug at his chest.
Before he could make sense of these peculiar feelings, Ren's vision lit up with warm green light and his rain-soaked body warmed with energy.
"Ren! I'm so glad you're okay!" A familiar bobble-headed, black-masked cat hovered by his side. Mona breathed out a sigh of relief when Ren's eyes focused on him. He had his paws splayed out at Ren's side, casting a spell of healing. He could faintly make out Zoro's shimmering mirage behind them.
"Mona," Ren breathed out. He looked to be unharmed and safe-well, as safe as one could get in the presence of a Shadow in an unknown world. "I-"
Mona shook his head, signaling for him to quiet down. "Conserve your strength. You're lucky that we made it here when we did. I was so worried when we were all separated, but thankfully I ran into…uh…"
Mona trailed off, glancing almost nervously to his side.
Ren's gaze trailed from his companion and his savior to the towering figure standing guard in front of them. An armored giant in dark clothes, bearing in its hands an even larger steel naginata, fended off the Shadow in a clash of steel against thick flesh. There was a gaping gash in the monster's side-presumably where Ren had been fished out from.
It was unmistakably a-
"Persona," Ren wheezed out, struggling to stay upright. "Who…are you…?"
The man gently laid Ren against the side of a building wall. He was starting to regain strength in his limbs thanks to Mona's timely healing, but still a bit too shaky to stand.
"So you know what a persona is too, then? I suppose I should introduce myself," the man said coolly. He turned to his persona-Izanagi, was it?-and flashed a confident smile. "I'm Yu. Yu Narukami. And don't worry-you two are safe with me."