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"Kasumi! Your boyfriend is here!"
Kasumi woke up from her sleep after hearing her father call her out in regards of her boyfriend Ren Amamiya. Her beloved Senpai was waiting outside the Yoshizawa household as the door swung open to show Kasumi, who was still in her pajamas.
"Heh. Jack Frost?"
"H-Huh?" Kasumi then looked down and blushed. "Oh, my gosh! I'm sorry! Please make yourself at home first while I change!"
"You're not gonna take a bath for your boyfriend?" Hanaki teased her daughter while Shinichi shook his head.
"MOM!"
She heard Ren chuckle, prompting her to excuse herself and take a shower. Ren made his way to the living room and introduced himself to her parents, who began to ask him about what he did to Kasumi that made her improve herself. He then simply explained to them that he just gave her advice and guided her to a better way of life.
Meanwhile, Kasumi just finished showering and began brushing her teeth. She then finishes up and flashes a smile at her reflection. However, as she opened the cabinet to look for her dental floss, she felt a sharp pang on her head. As soon as she closes the cabinet and looks at the mirror again, she sees a different reflection: a reflection of her with messy hair, broken glasses, and a horrified face.
"Wake up, please!" The reflection spoke.
Out of fear and impulse, Kasumi jabbed the mirror and left a crack in the reflective material. Blood began to gush out of the mirror, but Kasumi could barely see a cut on her knuckles.
"Kasumi? Is everything alright?" Shinichi called her after knocking on the door.
"Um, yeah! It was just a spider in the mirror, and I broke the mirror by accident when I tried to shoo it off." She lied.
"Alright then. But don't keep Amamiya-kun waiting! He wants to hear about your championships straight from your mouth."
After her father left her be, Kasumi felt the sharp pang return and nearly slid. Catching the sink to prevent landing on the floor butt naked, she looked at the broken mirror to find it colored red instead of bleeding.
"Strange..." she talked to herself and the scattered reflections, "am I hallucinating?"
After dressing up, she descends down the stairs to greet her boyfriend again (and properly dressed this time). Earning a warm smile, Kasumi then hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek. However, after she pecked him, Ren suddenly felt hurt.
"Ow..."
"Something wrong, Senpai?" She asked with worry.
Ren gave her a reassuring smile and waved her off. "I'm fine. I just felt something on my chest."
"Did I train you too hard yesterday?" She began to give him an apologetic look.
"No, you didn't. I'm fine, Kasumi." He again gave her a reassuring smile before the two heard Hanaki call them for lunch.
The two went to the kitchen to find a large bowl of beef teriyaki, udon, and two plates of Ebi tempura. Hanaki then offers Ren a seat while Shinichi watched his daughter look at her senpai with concern.
"What's wrong, Kasumi?"
"Oh! Um, Senpai feels a bit tired after our training yesterday." She had to make an excuse to avoid suspicion. Shinichi nods and finishes preparing the plates. After saying grace, the family plus Ren began dining and chatting.
"So then I went on to win gold again in preparation for nationals!" Kasumi chimed gleefully.
"Well, I'll be damned. I wish I could watch you perform and win like always." Ren mused.
"But?"
"You know me: college, part-time work, my own apartment, that kind of stuff."
Kasumi frowned at the realization. "Oh, right. I forgot about that."
"Now, now. At least Amamiya-kun is preparing himself for the future. Maybe we'll let you stay with him after you turn 18, Kasumi." Hanaki teased.
"Mom, enough already! Bad enough Senpai here teases me on a daily basis...." She murmured, further increasing her mother's teasing.
"What was that?" Ren joined in.
"N-Nothing!"
Kasumi was saved by the knocking of the front door as she immediately volunteered to see who it was. Ren then began to ask Hanaki about the usual stuff that would trigger Kasumi's bashful side.
As Kasumi arrived in front of the door, her head began to hurt again as she leaned to the wall to keep her balance. Upon regaining her composure, she opened the door to find the reflection from earlier looking at her with tears in her eyes.
"Wake up, please! This isn't like you!"
Kasumi was scared and slammed the door shut, startling the people in the kitchen.
"Kasumi? You alright?" Shinichi stood up and checked on his daughter, who was petrified by the corridor.
"Wha-"
"What was that?" Ren stood up and followed only to pause mid-walk and grip his abdomen with a grunt.
"Amamiya-san, are you alright?" Hanaki looked at him with worry.
Ren chuckled and replied, "I'm fine. It's probably due to me standing up after taking a huge bite."
Shinichi sighed with relief before turning to Kasumi. "What was that?"
Kasumi recovered and turned to her dad. "Just a bunch of pranksters trying to do the old door knock trick."
"Kids... I guess it can't be helped." Shinichi dismissed the occurrence and returned to the kitchen. Kasumi then looked back to the door to see blood spilling out, but when she opened the door she saw nothing but the brick red sidewalk across their house.
Later on that day, Shinichi and Hanaki leave the house to buy some groceries and other necessities. Now alone with Ren, Kasumi then began to make out with him in the living room.
"Uh, uh, uh." She slapped his hand off her back. "You're only gonna go down after I win the gold."
"Shouldn't that be a condition I'm supposed to make?" Ren raised an eyebrow as he looked at her with a smug grin.
"No way, mister! My house, my body, my rules." She returned the response with a smug grin of her own.
"I guess we're limited to this then."
The two made out again until Kasumi heard the telephone ringing. Groaning in annoyance, she excused herself and went to answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"Ah, Miss Yoshizawa! Thank goodness we got a hold of you!"
"Oh! Commissioner Dashiki! Is there something wrong with the upcoming tournament?" She spoke with surprise.
"Well, the tournament is postponed due to the other contestants not making it due to the incoming storm. They fear that they may end up in an accident by the time it is raining cats and dogs here."
"I see. I'm okay with that, though please keep me updated on the schedule since I am still a high schooler."
"And one of the greatest rhythmic gymnasts we've ever witnessed. Godspeed, Miss Yoshizawa."
"Mm-hmm. Godspeed to you too, Commissioner!"
She then hung up and sighed in relief. She then pranced her way back to Ren, who was gripping his chest in pain.
"Senpai, are you sure you're okay?" She was beginning to worry.
"I'm a bit hurt, but nothing I can't handle..." He forced a smile. She then sighed sadly and grabbed the remote.
"Well, no making out until you're okay." She announced as she switched the TV on and began watching a replay of her recent win. Ren chuckled as he saw her pull off a quadruple twirling somersault, which is very impossible to do as an acrobat.
"What's so funny?" Kasumi pouted.
"I can't believe you managed to pull it off flawlessly. No wonder you won gold for the 9th time." He pecked her forehead as the phone rang again.
"Again?" Kasumi stood up to answer it.
The moment she answered, she hears the voice again of her reflection.
"Wake up, damnit! You're not yourself! Stop this!"
She was beginning to feel lightheaded as she hung up by force, nearly breaking the phone in the process. Her hands shook as her vision went slightly blurry, alerting Ren. In turn, Ren was profusely coughing as he attempts to make his way to her.
"Senpai!?"
"I'm fine..." his voice was now getting hoarse, "More importantly, are YOU okay?"
"I... I don't know." Kasumi honestly answered as she saw blood peering out of the telephone holes. She whipped her head to Ren and asked if he could see the blood coming out of the phone. He replied with a simple 'No', making her more anxious.
"I guess we both need to see a doctor. I bet Takemi could help with her new job in Shinjuku General Hospital." Ren suggested.
"I guess. But I'll be the one going." Kasumi proposed.
"No way. You just had shaky hands, minor blurry vision, and panic attacks. Allow me." Ren negotiated with her.
"No. Senpai, you're coughing while having unknown chest and abdominal pain. I'll just head for a pharmacy near the Promenade to save money on fare."
"Oh? The famous Kasumi Yoshizawa is afraid of taking a train?"
Kasumi pouted and stomped her foot. "Hell no! I just don't want to waste my savings just yet!"
Ren then fished out his wallet and pulls out 1,000 yen. "Here. Train fare."
"You sure?"
"Of course."
Taking his final word, Kasumi nods and grabs her coat.
"Don't worry, Senpai! I'll be back before you know it!"
Taking the train to Shinjuku was a lot easier than she thought. Probably because NO ONE was riding on the trains at all, and it's making Kasumi uneasy.
"Odd... I thought people would be crowding these rides at this time."
She began to walk around the train car and paced back and forth. She then began to wonder about the three abnormal incidents that happened earlier: all have her face, her voice, and her clothes. She was beginning to shiver in fear as she looked around the windows for any possible hallucinations. Well, she isn't wrong with one window.
"Wake up, please! Why don't you listen to me?!"
Kasumi punched the window, making it break. But the reflection popped up in the window behind her.
"Please, Sumire , wake up already!"
"Wh-Who are you!? And why do you know my sister's name?!" Kasumi began to panic and punched the window again.
" Sumire , just stop this! You need to wake up and accept who you are and what happened!"
"Shut up!" Kasumi backed away from the windows, which began bleeding. She clutched her head and cried in pain as she slumped to the floor while the reflection continued.
"You're living in a dream! The real Kasumi Yoshizawa would not fight out of impulse!"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"
The TV monitor by the train then showed a report of Kasumi's recent interview.
"Well, I just needed to focus on myself and gymnastics all the time. It is true that I am currently in a relationship with someone, but I won't let our relationship distract me from winning the gold in every competition! This is a dream I share with my sister, and I wish she were still alive to see me succeed in the Olympics."
In an instant, the interview was switched to a news report from not too long ago.
"In recent news, aspiring gymnast Kasumi Yoshizawa was killed in a road accident when she saved her sister Sumire Yoshizawa. Their father has demanded not to press the issue while he questions the surviving Yoshizawa daughter. With the tragic loss of what may be the youngest Olympic gymnast in the making, Japan's chances of winning gold may drop after the unfortunate events."
"This is the truth you run away from. You need to move on now."
Kasumi threw her shoe at the TV monitor and broke it after throwing with force. It gets worse when the voice begins echoing in the PA system of the train, something she can't break with violence.
"You're being a coward, Sumire ."
"Stop it! Please!"
Kasumi covered her ears and curled up by the door until she finds herself falling backward. She scrambled out of the train as she saw the entire station being empty. Standing up and making her way to Shinjuku General Hospital, she manages to find Tae Takemi dozing off.
"Um, excuse me? Doctor Takemi?"
Takemi woke up and raised an eyebrow. "Gymnast prodigy in a hospital not involving an injury? Huh."
"Oh! Um, I'm not the patient." She bowed as she continued. "I was told by Ren-senpai that you have the medications for certain sicknesses only he experiences?"
Takemi sighed and sat up. "You didn't train him too hard, right?"
"N-No!" She blushed. "He did well, honestly."
"Okay. So what seems to be the problem?"
After Kasumi told Takemi about Ren's pains, she told her to wait while she marches to the pharmaceutical side of the hospital while whistling Jolly Good Fellow. Kasumi quirked a brow since Ren told her she NEVER whistles happy songs. She then took a look at her phone to see a message from Ren.
Not feeling so good now. I feel like I'm impaled by a thousand spikes.
"Don't worry, Senpai. Help is on the way." She typed quickly. After pocketing her phone, she notices the reflection back on her via hospital TV.
" Sumire, you have no idea what you're doing! This isn't real!"
"Stop tricking me! If anything, YOU'RE NOT REAL!"
She shuts her eyes and covered her ears as the voice continued.
"When will you stop pretending, Sumire? Don't you see that it's hurting you more than it's hurting me!?"
In a fit of rage, Kasumi grabbed the paperweight in front of her and threw it onto the TV, destroying it completely. Once again, she notices blood pouring out of the television as Takemi returned and smiled like nothing happened.
"You must really hate the news."
Figuring out another lie, Kasumi forced a cheerful tone. "Well, it's more on the hate comments and criticisms. It sucks if they keep talking about my personal life instead of focusing on my success in the athletics' lifestyle."
"Well, here are his meds. Free of charge." Takemi chuckled before sinking back to her chair. "Take care!"
Kasumi was now getting paranoid as she made her way back to her house. Passing by a pond, she stopped for a bit to look at her reflection. This time, she wanted answers.
"Why are you doing this? Who are you and why are you after me?"
" Sumire , you need to stop. I'm in pain already..." the reflection seemed to cry, "And I don't have long to tell you how I feel."
"You need to stop acting like you're the real me."
The reflection frowned as Kasumi sighed in disbelief.
"Look, I-AH!"
Kasumi was pushed off by a couple jogging along the path. Landing on the water, she swam down to pick up the medicine and her phone before surfacing back up. But as she gasped for air after emerging from the 10-feet-deep pond, she noticed the atmosphere being suddenly gloomy and dark. Assuming it's about to rain, Kasumi decided to run with drenched clothing towards Kichijoji. As she ran, the voice grew more desperate in her call.
"Sumire, please!"
"Go away!"
"It's not too late to change!"
"You don't know me!"
"Sumire, listen to me!"
She shuts her eyes as she continued running. Trying to remove the voice out of her head, she ran and ran until she didn't notice the car horn blaring near her. Opening her eyes in shock, she froze in fear upon seeing Ren walking towards the crossroads as he got too impatient with Kasumi.
"Ren-senpai!" She ran out of impulse rather than calling him out again, but as she got close to him she tripped and pushed them to the road.
"Kasu-Gah!"
Spraining his ankles, Ren cried in pain as a truck approached their way. Kasumi winced in pain as well, but she turns around and whimpers in terror as Ren used his body to shield her.....
......
......
...... "S-Senpai?" Sumire opened her eyes to find herself in front of Ren. A little too in front.
"S-S-Sumire?" Ren looked up at her with a weak expression and coughed blood. Sumire looked down to realize she impaled him 9 times with her rapier.
"Yoshizawa-san?" Takuto Maruki, her own counselor and now-revealed enemy, was in shock at how brutal she was in her desperation to become Kasumi, her dead twin.
"That idiot..." Goro Akechi, the infamous treacherous Detective Prince, was appalled at the events that occurred while Sumire was stuck in her dream.
"Senpai!" She pulled out the rapier from his torso as he slumped down to the floor, breathing heavily as he began bleeding out. Sumire began crying at the revelation.
"To think your desperation would lead you to become homicidal... Even after Amamiya-san was willing to negotiate without violence." Maruki muttered, still unsure how to feel about what happened.
"Senpai, stay with me... please...." She caressed his face while cradling him slowly. "Please don't die... I don't want to be a killer again..."
Rather than reply to her, Ren lifted her mask and kissed her for one minute. Parting his lips from hers, he gave a weak smile and spoke his last words.
"I love you, no matter who you are. Do me a favor and live as your true self."
Now looking at his lifeless eyes, Sumire sobbed a waterfall as she dug her head onto the bloody torso of her dead Senpai.
"What's your offer now, Maruki? Our pawn of different reasons is dead because you brainwashed Yoshizawa-san!" Akechi growled in anger. Maruki, still adamant on his reality, gave another deadline as he noticed Ryuji and the other Thieves barreling in from snapping out of their ideal lives.
"Joker!" Morgana rushed to the dead Wild Card. "Hey, wake up! You only sleep when I tell you to, remember?!"
"Y-Yoshizawa!" Futaba noticed her teary demeanor. "What happened?!"
"I... I...." She sobbed even more, barring her from speaking a comprehensive sentence.
Ryuji closed Ren's eyes before shattering a tile with his steel pipe. "FUCK!"
Akechi then huffed. "If you want a short answer, Yoshizawa killed Joker when he tried to snap her out of her falsified reality like all of you. Except it was done while she was actively dreaming and hallucinating at the same time."
Everyone was shocked, but they don't want to pin all the blame on her after what transpired. Akechi sighed in defeat and explained Sumire's back story. With that said, Ryuji and Futaba volunteered to bring Ren back to LeBlanc for a funeral wake.
Back in her home, Sumire cried and hugged her parents without letting them ask. Knowing that she may have been tired or her trauma was reactivated, they let her sleep early and skip dinner. But the redhead couldn't sleep, not after what she had done. As she moped in sorrow, she notices a blue butterfly flickering upon entry from her window.
"H-Huh?" She sniffed as she looked at the butterfly. Opening her hand, Sumire flinched as the butterfly landed on her palm.
"The dear Faith Arcana, Sumire Yoshizawa..."
Sumire didn't care that the butterfly can talk as she is still traumatized.
"My name is Lavenza, an ally of the Trickster named Ren Amamiya. I am not here as a hostile, but as an ally to aid you."
"How? I killed him... I killed him like how I killed Kasumi...."
"I understand your trauma and circumstances, Faith. However, that is not what the Trickster would want to hear from you."
"Wh-What do you mean?"
"As he is now a soul of his own in the afterlife, I can now be his messenger or guide or whatever he wants me to be as long as you're involved. So for now, I want to know what you are thinking of."
Sumire shrunk back to her blanket and sobbed once again.
"I... I know Ren-senpai hates me now for killing him. I..." she sniffed, "I was so desperate to become Kasumi that I never thought about what others felt about me. I just thought everyone hated me because I was the prim and athletic sister that would guarantee jealousy. But no... they looked at me because they suspected I murdered Kasumi out of envy."
Lavenza remained quiet as Sumire continued.
"And now Senpai died because of me. Maybe I really am a murderer."
"Maybe so. But the Trickster says otherwise."
"HOW!? How can he still feel that way after what I've done!?" Sumire couldn't hold back her anger.
"The Trickster says that you were the last person he hoped to be on his side when the false reality was discovered. When you took up the Councilor's offer and stayed delirious with the life he gave you, the Trickster fought to his last breath in the hopes of bringing you back to your senses."
Sumire now felt guilty after hearing Lavenza's message relay.
"So he trusted me... and I broke that trust forever."
Lavenza's wings fluttered as they changed color from blue to gold. Sumire noticed and looked in awe.
"Tell me, dear Faith. What should you believe in to live the life the Trickster wanted you to have?"
Sumire was challenged by Lavenza. On one hand, she could just try to make up another excuse to avoid the depressive state she is in. On another hand, she needs to atone for her actions and release the fear in her.
"I... I want to live in a world where no misfortune comes to me anymore." She replied with fear in her tone.
"Would you believe that you have the strength to finish what he started?"
"I'm currently in the middle of drowning in my sadness. I honestly don't believe I can, but..." Sumire paused for a moment before finishing. "but I can't forget him for what he did to me to ease my pain."
"Would you believe that you have grown stronger as a person because of him?"
Sumire bit her lip. "I don't know. I'm back to being Sumire. Classic, Quiet Sumire."
"Are you afraid?"
"Of what?"
"Are you afraid of calling for help instead of pretending everything is fine?"
"Y-Yes. But Senpai... he never doubted me and then I-"
"Fret not about your hands covered in blood. It was not your fault the Trickster died after he rejected the Councilor's offer to join the false reality." Lavenza now shifted her reassuring voice to the voice of someone sinister. "This is what the Trickster has to say for you..."
"Sumire, even if you did had a hand in killing me and my Personas for good, I want you to know that I have my faith in you in finishing this mission without me. I need you dig up the faith and strength to go on without me. I know you're blaming yourself for everything, and I'm pretty sure you're not the type to forgive yourself for even the smallest mistake.... But Kasumi said otherwise."
Sumire's eyes watered as she heard Ren speak using the butterfly. She was more shocked when she hears Kasumi - the real one- speaking about what she observed as a living person.
"Sumire, I know you're trying hard to make me proud in more ways than one. But please don't act like you have all the burdens of the world in your shoulders; that's my job as the elder twin, and I paid the price for it. You need to accept responsibility for what you did, and you need to dig up your faith and march with your head held high. You're my baby sister, Sumire. I should have been more aware of what's going on."
Sumire curled up into a ball and bawled her eyes out as Lavenza landed on her pillow.
"It is a difficult decision, indeed. Even the Phantom Thieves are in disorder after his death. With the philosophies of the Justice Arcana and the High Priestess being in conflict, there is no true leadership to break free from the prison of falsehood."
"If I fight against Dr. Maruki, Ren-senpai and Kasumi are never gonna be alive again because of me. But if I side with him again, he could bring them back to life if he could just listen-"
"I'm afraid the Councilor made his stance. After he witnessed you slaughtering the Trickster, he has already seen you as a threat." Lavenza grimly reminded her.
Sumire sighed in defeat as she watched the butterfly flying around her room.
"May this form of mine represent the current reality you are in. Should you find me absent one day and never return on the next, then it means you have returned to the reality that should have been."
Sumire rose up from her bed and opened her mouth to say something, but Lavenza shot her down quickly.
"However, it can also mean that you may have woken up to this reality being the new and official one. As I said before, the Phantom Thieves are in disorder, and without a leader their success in eliminating the Laboratory of Sorrow are little to none."
Sumire slumped back to her bed and stared at the ceiling. She sighed deeply and closed her eyes.
"I wish today was just a dream."
"May my existence be proof of it."
Over the next few days, Sumire grieved for Ren as she restlessly goes back and forth to LeBlanc to see him. Not ready to see him inside a casket just yet, Sumire sat beside the body and began talking on the final day while the Thieves are in Maruki's Palace.
"Senpai... I know you could hear me talk in the form of the butterfly that's been following around me, but I want to get this off my chest now before I join the others. Because of you, I was able to keep a part of myself in this reality. Even if my desire to become my own sister is too much for you to handle, I just want you to know that you made me stronger than before because you were by my side. I can't believe you for putting yourself at risk to save others, but I don't want to forget the memories we made together. Regardless if I'm Kasumi or Sumire, you stayed with me. I was a coward running away from my own problems, and even I couldn't see what was the future ahead for me. Whenever I close my eyes, I picture you calling my name for an adventure. To be fair, you are my weakness as I am yours."
She then stood up and wore the ribbon on her hair.
"I'll march on to take back our future... even if you won't come back. If we fail, then I won't hesitate to join you and Kasumi in the afterlife."
She saw the butterfly flicker rapidly in color as a sharp sting went to her head. Falling to the ground, she clutched her head in pain and cried out until she grew exhausted and passed out. By the time she woke up, the butterfly was gone.
The only thing she saw was her reflection on the TV. She held her knees and hoped for a better outcome as she sat next to Ren's body as tendrils came crawling onto her. Maruki appears in the stairs and pats her head as he whispered.
"Sleep as many nights as you want. You will reunite with Amamiya-san for as long as you want."
Closing her eyes slowly, Sumire dozes off as instructed by Maruki. Noticing the butterfly appear one more time, Sumire glanced it as it flickered rapidly before passing out again.
"Sumire?"
Sumire wakes up to the sound of Ren, who was in bed with her. She looked around and realized she was still in LeBlanc's attic.
"How long have I been here?" She groggily asked.
"I dunno. I just woke up from a strange dream. I got killed by you in Doc's Palace and-"
Sumire silenced him by kissing him in the lips.
"Ssshhh. It's fine. It was only a dream."
Ren smirked as he got up. "I'm gonna make some coffee for us. Which one do you want?"
"Um... Brazilian 2/18."
"Coming right up."
As Ren descended the stairs, Sumire got up and stretched her body. She then notices a butterfly flying around the room and furrowed her eyebrows.
"Am I dreaming? If it is, I'd wanna stay here for a little bit more before I wake up to catch up with the others."
As she went downstairs, the butterfly lands on the futon and fades from blue to gray before turning into dust.