Chapter Text
Just like Ren expected, his temporary guardian chewed him out for getting back so late. Luckily, he begrudgingly buys his excuse of being cornered by some brave students who wanted to know about his record. He’s able to walk upstairs unpunished, leaving behind the muttering about the school and their carelessness with leaking his record.
He sets down his bag carefully on his bed. His cat companion peeks his head out, before cursing and lowering himself back in the bag.
“Of course your home had to be here. Luckily Boss doesn't know about me,” he says lowly, “Hey, come here and act like you’re looking for something in your bag.”
Ren doesn’t question Morgana’s sudden secrecy and does as he’s told.
“Okay, you’re gonna need to check every corner of this room for bugs— the spying kind. I’m not sure if they’re cameras or just to listen, but there’s probably some in here.”
Ren tilts his head but complies, moving to search around the room. Hidden within the junk on the floor, on the bookshelf, and on the desk, he finds small listening devices.
When he shows Morgana, the cat just sighs, jumping out of the bag. He motions his head toward the window, Ren takes the hint and tosses them out.
“It looks like I was right about those," Morgana says, stretching out on the bed, "I guess I'll have to explainー"
The cat's cut off by the sound of approaching footsteps. Ren turns quickly to see Sakura as he approaches, the man looking from his charge to the cat and back again.
It doesn't take too much to convince the man to keep Morgana, he even brings food for him.
"You're the one who's taking care of it, alright? And if I see any cat hair downstairs, I'm throwing it out. Got that?"
"Understood," Ren nods. His guardian turns and leaves for the night, but not before giving Morgana a pat on the head.
"Boss seems to like me more than you," said cat points out, before returning to the previous topic. "Well I guess since you told me your secret, I'll tell you mine. Before you found me, I had been a part of the Thieves of Hearts."
"The ones in the news all the time?" Ren asks.
Morgana nods, a bit of a wistful tone to his voice as he speaks, “I had originally joined because of my memories. I don't know who I am, but I know that I be human!” he pauses, “...I think. Anyways, I had thought they would help me with that, but as they gained more members, I felt less and less part of the group. I was completely useless, so I ran. I decided to search my own way to find my memories. That's when I bumped into you."
Ren nods, thinking back to the manor. The rush of emotion that comes to him at the memory is overwhelming, so he pushes it down as far as he can manage, keeping his face from showing any of his struggle. It probably doesn’t work, if the strange way Morgana looks at him has anything to say about it.
“So what now?” Ren decides to change the topic before it even started, “Back in that manor, that power…”
"That power you awakened to is called a persona,” Morgana says with the patience of one well experienced with explanations, “It's the mask you use to face society. In ripping off that mask, the will of your rebellion takes form. As for what happens now, if you agree to help me, I’ll help you in all your persona endeavors.”
“Sure, but…” he trails off, ignoring the growing and different bond that forms between him and the cat in order to think.
Persona? He's heard that word before, he's sure of it. But where?
Oh.
"I have to call someone real quick," he says to Morgana as he pulls out his phone.
"You can't tell anyone about this!" Morgana hisses, "Or, you can, but who will believe you?"
Ren bites his lip, already concentrating on how to relay his awakening to Yu without giving away anything. He's already suspicious of his phone being bugged, thanks to Morgana and his usual cautiousness.
Since it's a bit late, he decides to text instead.
9:47pm
Sorry I didn't text when I got here
But so far most of the school doesn't like me and I've taken in a stray cat
9:48pm
getting a cat is the best thing you can do in this situation
i have taught you well
Of course you think that
Where did you find it?
A haunted mansion full of monsters
sounds like something out of an anime ＾-＾
The two of them have no real reason to use any sort of emojis, so it means he has to look for the real meaning. Maybe Yu's actually taking him seriously and not brushing it off. Good, maybe he has some advice about his situation.
9:49pm
did you become a magical girl too? (^~^)ø'･*･ﾟ`･*
9:50pm
Only the best ☆
Seriously, though. I have a question
Personally, I think you've been in something similar to my situation before ._.)
What should I do?
9:52pm
in my personal experience, i found people i could trust and stuck with them. but i don’t know if it’ll be the same for you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
try to find people you can really bond with, people in the same situation as you
people with similar goals
9:53pm
I can try
it'll work out fine, i promise.
Ren reads over Yu’s last message for what seems like the tenth time. He doesn’t really know why, maybe it’s something about that word.
Promise. He knows what a promise is, but he’s never had anyone ever promise him anything (nothing that wasn’t a give and take sort of deal, anyway). For some reason, it’s something about that word that makes him think this will all work out. It’s something about that word that makes his response the last thing he’d think to type.
9:56pm
Okay
I believe you
That ends their conversation, wishes of a good night are exchanged, and Ren turns off his phone.
“That didn’t look like you told your friend,” Morgana comments over his shoulder.
Ren shrugs, getting up to plug his phone in to charge. “That’s the point,” he says before pausing, tilting his head a little, “You can read?”
“Of course I can read!” Morgana scoffs, looking away, “I’m human, after all.”
“Right,” Ren nods, making sure to remember that, despite the other’s current appearance. “There’s something I want to ask you. I have the ability to feel and measure the bonds between others and myself, but yours is different. It’s something close to what I have with another Blank.”
“And you want to know if I know why?” Morgana finishes, his voice raising at the end in question. Ren nods, so the not-cat continues, “No clue, really. Maybe it’s because you told me about you.”
“Could be,” Ren hums, watching as Morgana stretches with a yawn.
“We can think on that later,” the not-cat says, “You have school tomorrow, right? You should go to sleep.”
He takes Morgana’s advice, getting into his pajamas and settling down to sleep. Just before he fully drifts off, he hears the other whisper something.
“If I can get his help, I could get further in my search,” a yawn interrupts his words, “I’ve got big plans for this one. It’ll work, I can feel it.”
With that, Ren is pulled into the Velvet room.
Goro Akechi is the newest addition to the Thieves of Hearts, a risky one too.
None of them have been completely sure about his addition to the team, no matter how good an informant he is.
The being that has been helping them with their societal reformation and Metaverse activities, the self-proclaimed Holy Grail, has given aid to them time and time again in avoiding the worst. Goro claimed to have found them out due to a being that sounded much like the Holy Grail itself, but as it could only visit them and not the other way around, they could only be suspicious until told if it is true.
The newest Detective Prince is a mystery. Though he’s well known enough, he mysteriously disappeared from the spotlight around the time the Thieves debuted with Kamoshida as their first target.
When asked, he told them it was because he was working with the team on the Theives’ case, but has since told the public that he’s focusing on his schooling.
It all checks out, Futaba’s checked, Makoto’s checked with her sister. The only reason they keep a little suspicion is, well, his personality.
“He’s so freaking weird ,” Ryuji complains before their meeting, all of them just hanging around in the student council room after the usual after school activity has died down. He leans back, balancing precariously in his chair. “It’s like he’s on TV all the damn time.”
“I think he’s just awkward around people his age,” Ann points out, “He only works with adults, and he said he lives alone.”
“Yeah, but… I dunno,” Ryuji shrugs running a hand through his hair, “With you guys it feels natural and all, we got stuff in common.”
“Well, there’s your problem,” Futaba quips, tapping away on her laptop, “You’re not a high enough rank to unlock his tragic backstory.”
“You have the ability to be very open with people, which is a good thing, Ryuji,” Makoto says, setting down her notebook. “You have to remember that not everyone is as open. While we don’t know if it’s because of something personal or suspicious, he’s decided to keep to himself. Anyway, let’s switch topics, talking about someone behind their backs is rude.”
Before any more conversation starts, all their phones buzz with the message of the newest member’s arrival. Makoto gets up to go and sneak him into the school. It only takes a few minutes before the two are back.
“I apologize for being late, the trains are still off schedule,” he says, taking a seat at the open seat.
“It’s fine, really,” Makoto flips through her notebook, “Now we can go over what we know.”
“I talked with Amamiya at the beginning of lunch,” Ann says, “He reacted pretty badly, but I can’t really blame him for being rude.”
“You pissed him off?” Ryuji asks, “I thought your bad acting streak was over.”
“I didn’t mean to!” she defends, “I just tried to ask his side of the story and apologize for almost believing one of the rumors about him.”
Goro hums, “He probably thought you pitied him.”
“Thanks,” Ann deadpans, “I feel so much better.”
“Did you get anything, Ryuji?” Makoto asks.
“Nothin’ important. He just seemed bothered by everything going on.”
Makoto takes out her notes, “Well, when I talked with him he was polite, but definitely on guard. I don’t know why, but I had a feeling he was lying the whole time somehow.”
“It may be because you’re in a position of authority among your peers,” Goro points out, “In his situation, any sort of authority would seem against him.”
“Or because you’re scary,” Futaba adds.
“That too.”
The room goes a bit quiet, each of them sorting out their own thoughts.
“‘Our greatest ally or greatest enemy,’ huh?” Ann mumbles, “What if we already turned him into our enemy?”
“I suppose only time will tell,” Makoto taps rapidly on the desk in thought, “But there was definitely something off about him. I feel like something about his attitude toward us doesn’t quite match up, but I don’t really have anything to explain it.”
“Well, we barely know the guy,” Futaba says, “Sure there’s all this stuff in files and the gold cup in our dreams said some vague prophecy in the heart of the cards or whatever, but none of that has his personality. For all we know, he has a palace.”
Everyone, even Makoto, pauses at that. She isn’t wrong, they don’t know this boy, no matter how much they look into his records and are suspicious of him.
Ryuji shrugs after a moment, “Can’t hurt to check.” He pulls out her phone and opens the Metanav, “ Ren Amamiya who’s currently staying at LeBlanc. That’s specific enough, right?”
“Error: Candidate incompatible.”
The room is silent for a moment, before Goro asks, “Has it ever said that before?”
“Not at all,” Makoto says as Futaba gets up from her seat to get a better look at Ryuji’s phone.
“Yeah, if it doesn’t work, usually it’s all like ‘No candidates found, beep boop,’” Futaba waves her arms around like a robot, “This is just weird.”
“So, Amamiya isn’t compatible for a palace?” Goro says, a deep look of concentration on his face.
“He’s in detective mode again,” Ann whispers loudly to the others.
“Persona users are the only ones who can’t form palaces, correct?” asks Goro, “Since we don’t have shadows.”
“But when Ryuji tried to pull him into the metaverse, his clothes didn’t change,” Ann frowns.
“That’s true,” He turns to Ryuji, “What did you say his reaction was like?”
Ryuji shrugs, “I dunno. He was surprised a bit, but not really confused. He just kinda kept going.”
Makoto nods, “I see, someone unfamiliar with the Metaverse would at least ask what happened.”
“My point exactly,” the detective prince nods, “Since your principal hadn’t recognized him as a threat to when standing outside the gate, thus outside of his distortion, his clothes also wouldn’t change. We must have miscalculated a bit.”
“So, he’s a persona user. So what?” Futaba asks, walking back to squat down in her seat, “Aren’t we supposed to have him join the party?”
Ryuji leans forward, the front of his chair hitting the floor, “That’s what’s supposed to happen. But don’t you think somethin’s kinda off?”
“We’re probably missing some key element,” Makoto says, “But we’ll have to try and look into it more. Futaba, would you be up to talking with him? Or at least asking Boss?”
She shrugs, “Sojiro probably won’t tell me anything useful and there’s no way I’m talking to that guy in person.”
“That’s fine,” Ann says, “Can’t you just text him anonymously, since you bugged his phone?”
She nods, typing quickly on her laptop, “That’s easy.”
Makoto nods, “Well then, all we need to do is continue our actions to get him on our side. Moving on to our next topic…”
With her words, the room turns sullen. Futaba stops typing, curling up more and mumbling, “Mona…”
“It’s not like don’t have any leads,” Makoto tries to sound hopeful, “He said that he had wanted to show us someplace, we just need to find out where that is.”
“Pretty hard to search all of Tokyo,” Ryuji huffs, not making eye contact with anyone in the room, “It’s not like he left any clues.”
Ann sighs loudly in lieu of a response, one that they could all relate to. Morgana has been missing for a few weeks, the cat loudly declaring that he would go off to form a better team, one that would aid him with his quest for his memories.
Though Goro joined after Morgana disappeared, he’s quickly learned that Morgana was someone very important to the rest of the team. All of them are guilty of not being there for him when he needed it most, Ryuji especially.
“Has there ever been any place that he mentioned wanting to go?” Goro asks, “That could be a clue as to where he might be.”
“Not that I know of,” Ann says, but then pauses, “Well he mentioned something he wanted to check out.”
Ryuji sat up, “You’re right! Did he ever say what?”
They each try to think of a time Morgana mentioned the place he wanted to go. After coming up with nothing, they decide to plan out other ways to try and look for him.
Just after deciding what areas each of them will look on their own time, Futaba gets everyone’s attention with a single announcement.
“I can’t access Amamiya’s phone.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ryuji asks. “The bug or whatever didn’t work?”
“No, it worked. But I just now checked his phone, it’s like hacking something that doesn’t exist.”
“It doesn’t exist?” Makoto repeats, her face becoming more focused in her realization, “He’s in the metaverse.”
“That’s what I figured,” Futaba nods, “Do we confront him—”
“No,” Goro states.
Ann tilts her head. “Why not?”
“We want him on our side, don’t we? A confrontation is the last thing we need. Let’s leave him be.”
“I agree,” Makoto says, looking to the rest as they also nod.
“So what are doin’ instead?” Ryuji asks looking to their leader.
“I think it’s time to try using plan B.”