Chapter Text

Formal Introduction

May 30, 2016

Inokashira Park

The cleanup in the park by Shujin Academy was for Ren Amamiya, a bland event. No one in his group wanted to work with him. Despite his name being cleared up because of Kamoshida’s change of heart, everyone in the Academy maintains their distance from him. At least, his homeroom teacher, Sadayo Kawakami is the latest person to realize that he was not as bad a person as she initially thought. Speaking of which, he wondered where his fellow Phantom Thieves, Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki have been. He was considering trying to find them but he then saw a familiar sight, a red ribbon tying up her red crimson hair. It was the student Yoshizawa, whom he saved earlier from a creepy old man that was harassing her. 

“Senpai?” the junior approached him. “I finally found you!”

“Hello there Yoshizawa-san, correct?” Ren started. “Are you all alone? How come they ditched you as well?”

Yoshizawa sighed. “Well,no one likes me because of my honor student status. I wanted to go to today’s event even though I don’t have to. Speaking of which, I was looking for you!”

“Really, why?”

“Well, I wanted to thank you earlier for saving me from that old man. If only the other students knew how kind you are Senpai. I can’t believe they still avoid you because of your record despite Kamoshida being the one leaking it.”

“Let them believe what they think about me. Besides, I don’t care about them anyway. I was able to make some friends anyways in and outside of Shujin and I care about them.”

And my family. Ren thought. He’s very close to them, and they stood by him despite his reputation being ruined back in his hometown. Amongst the Phantom Thieves, he opened up about them to everyone except to Yusuke Kitagawa, their newest member. Ever since Ren awoke to Arsene and told his family that same day, his mom has been guiding him from a distance on how to be a good leader and wild card. His family told him before he left his hometown to mention anything weird that might happen anytime to him throughout his probation. His mother warned him the Velvet Room was compromised and not the same Velvet Room she had in her younger persona adventure days, but played along with the game of the false Igor regardless. It made him careful on who to trust.  Although, it is up to his discretion if he should trust a person or not.

“Good for you, Senpai. Meanwhile, I’ve felt all alone ever since school started because no one wants to be friends with me. Then again, I want to focus more on my rhythmic gymnastics training after all.”

Ren looked puzzled. “Rhythmic gymnastics?”

“I’m an athlete for that sport. It centers around trying to move ribbons in a designated matter using both arms and legs without them falling to the floor. In short, a lot of flexibility is needed.”

At that moment, Morgana came out of Ren’s bag. “Ren, perhaps we should ask Yoshizawa to teach us her skills. It might be useful in the Metaverse after all.”

“Is that a cat meowing?”

“It’s my cat, Morgana.”

“You bring a cat all the time Senpai?”

“Have to, can’t leave him where I am staying now.”

“Oh, speaking of which, we haven’t introduced ourselves!”

“Of course we didn’t, I am Ren Amamiya.”

The kouhai was about to introduce herself when she saw a young boy that lost his balloon. She then by instinct, attempted and successfully caught the balloon. But out from her pocket came a Shujin Academy notebook. When Ren opened it, the name was Kasumi Yoshizawa. 

“So you must be Kasumi Yoshizawa?” Ren clarified.

“You cracked the case! That is indeed me!” Kasumi replied happily. Moments later, the cleanup was announced and finished by the Student Council President, Makoto Nijima.

“Do you have any plans today Ren-senpai?”

“None. Why?”

“Well, I was hoping we could start our training today.”

“Of course Kasumi!”

The training and stretching regiment were brutal. Ren could not have endured if not for the once-a-week training he had at the Protein Lovers Gym in Shibuya with Ryuji. When their training session was over, he decided to research Kasumi Yoshizawa. He was curious about her accomplishments as an athlete. It was the standard operating procedure for him to look up online information about non-Phantom Thief confidants he made while staying in Tokyo. As he was looking over her achievements and name on the phone, something odd happened; the latest news happened around March and showed Kasumi Yoshizawa was dead protecting her sister Sumire from an incoming truck. Furthermore, the Kasumi Yoshizawa showed in the news and other articles had a beauty mark and brown hair while Kasumi in front of her had red hair as the Kasumi in front of her. And for some reason, sometimes the name Kasumi briefly blurred his vision and blocked his hearing. Hang on, so the two twins are both named Kasumi? Something was off. His initial impression is that the Kasumi in front of him is hiding something. He decided to gather more information and get to know her better as a friend before confronting her about what she could be hiding until he was comfortable doing so. Something was messing with his mind, and he needed help from his mom to figure it out.

Breaking the Unknown Spell

July 7, 2016

Ever since that meeting and befriending with Kasumi, he had hung out with her once a week for a total of five times. He got to know her better. It seems the slump she was experiencing was worse than she ever had in the past, Kasumi claimed. She was also a good cook and even prepared food for him once. What got him interested in her is that she was full of energy and the most polite person he ever met. His training with Kasumi got him the ability to tumble backward, increase his endurance and use the grappling hook to ambush enemy shadows. He also taught these skills to the rest of the Phantom Thieves. What was odd about her is her claiming that she felt she was not in her own body. That led to credence to his suspicions that Kasumi was not her actual name. For some reason, he felt he could still trust her, unlike Akechi Goro, who heard Morgana mention pancakes during a social studies trip. 

In between May and July, Ren finally talked about his family again while celebrating Yusuke’s joining. Yusuke, like the other Phantom Thieves, was surprised to find out that Ren’s family were also persona users too. During that same period, the Phantom Thieves changed the heart of their next target, the criminal Junya Kaneshiro, and recruited the Shujin Academy council student president Makoto Njimia as their newest member. 

Today Ren arrived in the Shibuya area around the buchiko dog statue. He saw his mother as soon as she saw her long black straight hair with a gold color headband wearing a yellow shirt and light blue jeans. On her left arm, she wore a silver gauntlet. When they saw each other, they hugged tightly. Ren brought out Morgana and then he brought out his phone to bring his mom to Mementos.

“So this is Mementos,” Reina Amamiya started. After looking around the stairs and red area, the red veins going down caught her attention. Her son explained they have no idea what those red veins are for. She first observed Ren’s Phantom Thief outfit. He wore a black and white bird shape domino mask, black ankle-length tailcoat, black pants, red gloves, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, and a pair of brown-black winkle pickers shoes. Unlike her parent’s warrior-esque uniform, this gave the impression of a person who wants to be in the shadows. Overall, she thought her son’s phantom thief outfit was impressive and made him look even more handsome. She then noticed Morgana’s Metaverse form. The blue eye anthropomorphic creature was all black except for the lower half of the head, edge of the tail, and the paws and hands all of which are white. He also wore a yellow scarf.  “So this mascot thing is Morgana huh?” She then shook hands with Morgana. “Nice to finally see you in your true form.”

“Hey! This is not my true form!” Morgana rebutted. I am a human.” He then proceeded to show his car trick. “Morgana transform!” 

“Wow! Amazing! Never saw someone perform this in a shadow dimension.” She then paused. “Hang on, if you’re a human, then why can you transform into that?”

“Uh, I don’t know? For some reason cats turning into a car is common cognition amongst the general public.” Morgana answered quietly.

“What about a helicopter? There was a film about cats transforming into helicopters that came out two decades ago.”

“We tried but it didn’t work. Maybe the film is not widespread in the public’s cognition.”

In the meanwhile, Reina pressed buttons on the mysterious gauntlet. It scanned the Mementos entrance. As expected, Mementos did not match entries of any previous shadow nests.  After a few minutes, she encoded details about the new shadow nest into its database. She also noticed the Velvet Room door there but she pretended not to notice it at all. By the time she was finished, Ren just finished his business with the Velvet Room. “Now that I've seen Mementos, let’s go have lunch, shall we?” Reina suggested.

“Mom, what's that device called?” Ren inquired. 

“It is called a portable computer called COMP, a communication device, or arm terminal. This one is specifically called a Gauntlet . Your grandfather and grandmother used it to fight shadows and persona users before and even now since they never had personas, to begin with.”

“It looks so advanced. Did this technology exist back when they were younger?” Ren commented. “Mom, can I have my version of it? And what do you mean they never had personas?”

Reina looked again at her son’s outfit. “You don’t need it; I already taught you how to gather all the information you needed in battle by looking inward to your inner self which this COMP does. And yes it is as advanced as today's computers and smartphones, but the technology was top secret, and they were the only people back who had access to it back then. I only brought it for data gathering, not for combat. Also, it looks out of place with your outfit to begin with. As for how they fought, well they summoned shadows they controlled to fight alongside them and it allowed them to use skills and spells that these same shadows teach them.”

Morgana was surprised. “You don’t need a persona to fight shadows?”

“Personas already existed before. It just so happened Mom and Dad, Ren’s grandparents, got introduced to shadow fighting in an alternative matter since they did not have the potential. They worked with a group of non-persona users that fought shadows using Gauntlets.” 

Ren and Morgana were satisfied (for now) with the parent’s answer. They then decided to leave Mementos. Once they returned, she put the COMP back into her bag. They decided to buy lunch at the Big Bang Burger fast food restaurant Shibuya branch. After buying their lunch they sat in unoccupied seats near the door. Ren then brought out Morgana and his bag, and his mom brought out her container with tuna under the table to feed the Phantom Thief cat. After they finished eating, they discussed the reason they met in person; to talk about the weird distortion he gets whenever he sometimes sees or hears the name Kasumi Yoshizawa. 

“Mom, I'm curious, how did you figure out what kind of test to do to break the unknown spell?” Ren asked.

“I got help from my Shadow Defense Initiative colleagues, the ones who specialize in hearing and vision manipulating spells and tests” Reina started. “Never encountered a case like yours with Yoshizawa, but hopefully, the test they made should work.” She then started the test. 

Reina Amamiya wrote down KASUMI “What do you see?”

“Kasumi,” Ren replied back

She then wrote down SUMIRE. “Now what do you see?

Immediately, Ren felt his hearing and vision blurring out the word similar to the experience had while reading about Kasumi online. The name Sumire in front of him changed and he said Kasumi. His mom noticed immediately that Ren saw something else. They did this test ten more times and the result is still the same; Ren sees Sumire as Kasumi no matter what. Now, Reina decided to write Kasumi and Sumire differently. 

“Now, do you see this? K A S U M I ? Pronounce it as one word.” Reina spells Kasumi’s space with space in between.

“Yes, mother. It is Kasumi.”

“Now do you see this S U M I R E? Pronounce it also as one word.”

“Okay, it reads as SUMIRE.”

“So you don’t get the hearing and vision distortion from SUMIRE if it is first spelled out as S U M I R E.” his mother amused. “If you can now see Sumire, let’s do the first test again.” Ren nodded in agreement.

Reina Amamiya wrote down again KASUMI “What do you see?”

“Kasumi,” Ren replied. “It is the same as last time.

She then wrote down SUMIRE “What do you see Ren?”

Again, Ren’s vision and hearing got distorted briefly. “Kasumi,” Ren replied.

Then, Reina spelled out Kasumi and Sumire as K A S U M I and S U M I R E. Ren again had no trouble pronouncing them as one word. Then, his mom wrote down Sumire as S U M I R E.

“Ren, this power affecting your hearing and sight of the name Sumire, is also affecting your friend S U M I R E Yoshizawa and she is not even aware of it at all.”

“Do you have an idea why it only affects me and her, mom?”

“I am not sure. Whoever did it to your friend, the power to blurt out S U M I R E is weak so it is easy for me to point it out. However, I want to show you something else.”

Ren’s mom showed him a series of videos in which the name Sumire Yoshizawa is said. If anything odd happens to her son, she would know immediately. 

“Mom, I didn’t sense any hearing or vision distortion when I say-” however Ren’s voice was interrupted when he tried to say “Sumire.”

“So it seems whenever you try that name, you have to say it first as S U M I R E.”

“If that is the case, then I have to use videos to confront S U M I R E about her sister using the videos mentioning her name.”

“It seems so. Why don’t we go through all the videos of Yoshizawa to show her?” Ren agreed.  They then brought up Morgana to watch with them. For the rest of the afternoon, they went through them on his mom’s laptop. After deciding which of them to show eventually to the impostor, they were transferred to Ren’s phone. 

“I plan to have the Phantom Thieves nearby in case anything goes wrong when I confront S U M I R E.” Ren added.

“Of course. But there is one more test I would like to try“ she added.

“Wait, I want more tuna!” Morgana demanded. Reina complied, got more of it from her bag in plastic sachets, and poured it into Morgana’s container. They then continued the test.

Reina wrote down the words, Misty and Violet. She explains that these are the English names of Kasumi and S U M I R E respectively. The added test goes like this:

“Misty is the English name for Kasumi. Violet is the English name for Sumire.”

When Ren tries to repeat that sentence, the Sumire changes always to Kasumi and so Ren has to resort to using S U M I R E instead of Sumire.

“I think we should go through the tests again several more times until S U M I R E stops becoming Kasumi and so you can talk to your friends about her normally. Are you ready Ren?”

“I am ready now Mom.”

The test consists of Ren training his mind to try to say and write S U M I R E as Sumire. He has to repeat this constantly: 

Kasumi equals Kasumi. Sumire equals Sumire. Misty is the English name of Kasumi. Violet is the English name of Sumire.

At first, Sumire still turned into Kasumi and distorted his vision and hearing momentarily for him. So for the first 15  times, he says and spells Sumire as S U M I R E. On the 16th try, he tried spelling and writing Sumire. This time, he tried to force his mind to recognize Sumire. After about five minutes of blurred vision and hearing, his mind finally recognizes one mention and written form of Sumire as Sumire. When the test was repeated over and over,  the duration of blurred vision and hearing became shorter and shorter. After about an hour of the Sumire test, Ren felt glass shattered in his mind and the name Sumire finally stopped becoming Kasumi.

“Looks like the unknown spell has been broken, Mom. It’s all thanks to you.”

“Your welcome.” Then, Reina’s tone turned mischievous. “But you are doing this because you find her cute don’t you?” She teased her son.

“Maybe?” Ren answered but felt embarrassed.

His mom laughed. “You can’t even admit that you are attracted to her!”

“But mom! It might make me underestimate the potential threat she might pose though.”

“As I said before, I trust your judgment if a person is trustworthy or not. But, do you trust her?”

Ren then sighed. “I looked into Sumire’s eyes and my gut feeling tells me I can still trust her. But I am not sure about Sumire because of my bias in favor of her.”

“I tell you, Yoshizawa is not suspicious, unlike Akechi!” Morgana butted in.

His mom looked her son into the eye. “At least you know that you are biased and look Morgana agrees with you. But you mentioned before that she has been genuinely nice to you, right? And, she listens and values your advice so can help improve in her gymnastics. If she is hiding anything, the unknown spell makes her unaware of it.”

Ren absorbed his mom’s comment. “You are probably right mom. At least this Sumire issue is over. What do you want to do now? All I have to do now is eventually confront Sumire.”

“Why don’t we go around Tokyo? Let’s find souvenirs from Tokyo for me to bring home and to deliver to your father, to Mom and Dad and your older brother as a surprise gift from us!”

After around four hours of roaming Tokyo, they could not find any items that Reina could bring home or send through air delivery to her husband/Ren’s father, Nobuhide, her older son Yoshi, and her parents Akio and Masako Heike (Ren’s grandfather and grandmother respectively). They parted ways as Ren had to meet with another confidant and she had to meet with her friends who live in Tokyo on that day in the late afternoon. Regardless, Ren felt closer to her mom than ever before and he felt the World Confidant become stronger (even though he hanged out with only his mom today, in a confidant that represented his biological family). Unlike the previous strengthening of the World confidant, he did not feel his personas can remember one more skill.

PT Meeting on ‘Kasumi’

July 30, 2016

In the past 13 days, Ren focused on the  Phantom Thieves’ work and hanging out with his other friends and confidants. He met with Kasumi twice. On July 11, it was with Goro Akechi after they bumped into each other by chance. They talked about their views on the Phantom Thieves. The next meet-up with her was when he bumped into her again in Odaiba on July 17. During that hangout, she mentioned she had a dead sister but never mentioned her name outright. He examined her closely in both cases and concluded that the Sumire in front of her genuinely believed she was Kasumi. She was busy training for a competition that will take place a week before classes resume. She was chosen to represent Shujin academy in that competition. 

After eating sushi to celebrate their Kaneshiro heist last July 24, Ren decided to tell Makoto about his family being persona users. Makoto unlike the others was not surprised as she wondered how Ren seemed to be the most experienced persona user in the team even though he had only awakened his persona this year. 

Unlike their previous heists, Ren decided to secure the treasure route of Futaba’s palace much sooner. This was because Justine and Caroline (his Velvet Room wardens) allowed him to use and fuse personas stronger than what he can normally handle. So on July 27, the team entered Mementos to deal with the latest branch of Mementos request and to gather enough money for Ren to be able to fuse stronger Personas. On July 28, they entered Futaba’s palace and secured the treasure route the same day. The next day, they send a calling card and successfully steal Futaba’s heart, who unexpectedly joins the battle against a sphinx-like creature. The Phantom Thieves have successfully  changed the heart of their latest target twenty-four days before the Medjed deadline  on August 21 and three days after first investigating her palace. Hopefully, Futaba would wake up in time to help them with the Medjed issue. Because Ren has much free time now,  he gathers the team again at the attic of Cafe Leblanc today, July 30 to talk about the Kasumi Yoshizawa issue.

“Makoto, did you find any student name Kasumi Yoshizawa currently enrolled?” Ren started.

“No, I didn’t find that name at all in the first years,” Makoto replied. “But are you sure you are not referring to Sumire Yoshizawa?” 

“Well, the kouhai I am friends with says she is Kasumi Yoshizawa. Why Sumire’s doing so I’m not sure.”

“Why?” Ann asked puzzled. “Why did she deceive you about her name?”

Ren gave it some thought. “She never introduced herself as Kasumi Yoshizawa. I only got that name because she dropped a Shujin booklet with that name on it. Now that I think about it, the girl in that picture had brown hair and a beauty mark while the Yoshizawa I know has red hair.”

“In other words, Sumire is acting as an impostor for Kasumi Yoshizawa,” Yusuke concluded.

“But why though?” Morgana wondered. 

“Ren you mentioned that Kasumi died in a car accident.” The blue-haired boy clarified. 

“Did it mention who her surviving relatives are?”

“Yes. One of them is Sumire Yoshizawa.”

The whole room gasped.

“She must be feeling guilty about her sister dying,” Morgana said sadly.

“Just like Futaba-chan used to be guilty about her mother dying thinking it is her fault,” Ann added.

“She must be in deep pain,” Ryuji added sadly. “The support of her loved ones might not be enough.”

“What do you mean Ryuji?”

“If I will be honest to all of you, I can keep on going every day because I know my mother dearly loves me. I don’t know her very much but if she was very close and attached to Kasumi just like I am attached to mom, no wonder Sumire wanted to impostor as her. Without her sister, she can only live by pretending to be her.”

“But the big question remains; why would Sumire pretend to be Kasumi and how come no one so far has called her out about it?” Ren asked.

“Only Sumire herself can answer that. Will you be able to confront her Ren?” Makoto clarified.

“I can and will be able to Makoto thanks to Mom figuring out how to break the unknown spell. The impostor and I will hang out tomorrow. I will find the right time to confront Sumire. We are good friends so it might make it easier to confront her about it.” Ren answered confidently.

“There is just one thing though.” Morgana asked, why did you not just confront Sumire about her pretending to be Kasumi the first time you met her?”

Ren paused before giving his answer.

“Well remember the confidant system I told you guys? The one in which all of you guys and my other friends give us new abilities in and out of the Metaverse that makes our operations in it easier?” Everyone nodded. “Well, eventually there is a ceiling in which this bond has reached the highest possible point that it is almost impossible to break. It indicates the camaraderie we have is rock solid. However, I sense this ceiling point is much lower for Sumire’s case which is odd. I think by tomorrow I can reach that ceiling and then confront her being an impostor.”

“That makes sense Ren,” Makoto added.

“One last thing, I apologize if some of you feel I don’t hang out and help out with all of your issues sooner,” Ren added. “It is primarily because I have not only been making new friends but also because the multiple jobs I have been taking are sometimes more demanding than normal.” 

“We understand Renren,” Ryuji added. “Besides when you’re there for us, you are with us 100% of the time.”

“Not to mention, you help us, hang out with us for even days straight if our problems are big to the point that you just stay right there to simply accompany us so we feel more confident in facing any personal problems we have head-on.” Yusuke complimented.

“And you, make an effort that we get to know each other much better right?” Ann added.

“Thank you for the words of praise, everyone.”

The meeting was then adjourned for the day.

Confronting ‘Kasumi’

July 31, 2016

Ren was having a fun time in the batting center Yongen-Jayen with ‘Kasumi’. She wanted to go there to practice her coordination skills to help her gymnastics. In actuality, Kasumi wanted to just hang out with her only friend in Shujin academy. Despite concentrating to the best of her abilities, she failed to hit any of the balls at all.

“I don’t remember the balls being this fast!” 

Ren eventually encourages her to keep on trying until she hits one. She does successfully hit one.

“I did it Senpai!” Kasumi exclaimed. “I did it thanks to your encouragement.”

 “Remember, hold on to those feelings of yours.”

“Of course I will! Ever since I started hanging out with you, I realized performing for someone else makes me perform better especially for you because I want to meet your expectations of me. Maybe because I am falling in love with you?”

“Kasumi, is that your love confession?” Ren teased.

“Senpai! I was just kidding.” The imposter blushed red slightly. 

“But seriously though, I will be there whenever I can to support you.”

The two of them have a moment of silence. Ren was waiting for the right time to confront ‘Kasumi’. He wondered though, would they remain friends after the confrontation?

“Ever since I met you, I have a better grasp of my routine. Your way of thinking has helped me a lot. I think I am closer to understanding who I am thanks to you. Shujin doesn’t feel that lonely because I get to hang out with you every week during our lunch breaks ever since the cleanup. Speaking of which, Ren-senpai, it is your turn to play with the bats.”

At that moment, time pauses and Ren hears a voice similar to Kasumi’s. It speaks the following:

I am thou, thou art I,

Thou hast birthed a bond clad in the heart’s strength

This union, born and embraced by will unyielding shall become the balance that lights thy path,

Thou hast gained a glimpse of the Faith’s truth, granting thee further power to tread the abyss

At that moment, Ren realized that the ceiling of his bond with Kasumi had been reached. Ren proceeded to play baseball. He played here in the past a few times. At least he was able to hit half of the balls. He came back exhausted. Now he decided, is the time to confront the Kasumi impostor.  After all, Kasumi mentions she has the whole day to hang out with him. When he started, he tried neutrally approaching her.

“Kasumi, there is something I like to ask about you.”

Kasumi noticed his voice sounded a bit different. “What is it Senpai?”

“I have been looking up about your performances over the past few years. When I look it up, I see not your picture but this picture.” He showed a picture of a girl that looks like her except she has brown hair and a beauty mark. “Also the latest articles with your name indicate you have died last March 5 this year. So whoever you are, why are you acting as an impostor to Kasumi Yoshizawa?”

Kasumi was panicking. She is Kasumi Yoshizawa. Hang on, why does she have to constantly insist she is Kasumi Yoshizawa? That is for certain. Everyone in school distances themselves from her because she is an honor student!

“I am not an impostor! I am Kasumi Yoshizawa.” Kasumi replied in a more exerting tone.

Ren then sighed. “If so, what is the name of your current boyfriend?”

“I don’t have one in my life! That is why I jokingly said that I am falling in love with you!”

Ren remains calm despite Kasumi becoming angrier. He then switched to a post-competition interview of a brown hair Kasumi in a pink one-piece leotard. It took place in January this year in Kyoto.

“Congratulations on your first place win Yoshizawa-san.” The report started. “What is your secret to reaching first place?”

The Kasumi in the video explains the daily training regiment of her and Sumire briefly and mentions all of the people who support her and Sumire in being the number one duo in the world of gymnastics. She then proceeds to talk more about two people important to her.

“There are two people most important to me that I would like to thank. First of all is my boyfriend Ken Amada.” Kasumi then tried to look for Ken and pointed to a teenager with brown hair and eyes next to the seat of her family and shouted at him. He said nothing but his face blushed light red in embarrassment. “He is the most handsome guy I ever met! But, what impressed me most about him is his intelligence and maturity. There were many times in my gymnastics career that I hit a slump. Every time, Ken was there to help me get out of it. Eventually, we fell in love with each other and we have been a couple ever since for around three years now. The second person I would like to thank is my younger sister Sumire. She motivates me to be the best gymnast I can be. It is because of her that I do not feel alone whenever there is a competition around that we both join. There are times that gymnastics is so difficult I wanted to quit. But Sumire always does her best and never complains about the difficulties of the training and routine we have unlike me. It also helps that she prepares delicious meals for both of us before and after training. I dedicate this win to both Sumire and Ken. Both of them mean the world to me.”

Everyone in the crowd started to cheer and clap. It does show Sumire briefly, a girl with red hair and one-piece blue leotard but her face is never shown. Then the video ended. Kasumi however still insisted she is Kasumi but started having headaches of her own.

“My apologies, but I have to show you this video.” When Ren plays the video, the Kasumi shown in it gets hit by a car to protect a girl with red hair. She struggles to approach the person she protected, a girl with united red hair. By their eyes, they look alike. Kasumi then realizes that the red-haired girl with untied hair is her.

Kasumi Yoshizawa leaves behind not only her father and mother but also her twin sister, Sumire Yoshizawa.  

In the past, she had headaches whenever she heard the name Sumire. Now however it was much stronger. Then, Ren brings out a piece of paper and writes down S U M I R E .  

“Yoshizawa-san, listen to me, your actual name is S U M I R E, not Kasumi. Why you think you are Kasumi, I don’t know but someone forced your mind to think you are your dead sister.” Ren then started to talk more forcefully.  “ S U M I R E , please remember you are her, not Kasumi.”

The headaches become even more painful, to the point that it breaks the unknown illusion cast upon her. At that moment, Kasumi remembers and kneels on the floor, her red hair ribbons by itself unties, and then she remembers she is Sumire Yoshizawa.

Immediately, Sumire breaks down. Memories are flooding in from her past. She remembers the good times she had with just Kasumi. And then, the guilt, anger, and jealousy towards Kasumi because she was a better person than her and the realization that she caused the death of her beloved sister overwhelms her.

“I, I killed Kasumi!” Sumire cried out in despair. “I don’t want to live anymore!” 

Ren had a feeling Sumire would lash out. However, when he looks into her eyes, he sees her pain is probably much worse than she lets on. Then Sumire finally starts crying and Ren hugs her tightly to try to calm her down.

“No one wants me, everyone wants Kasumi!” 

“Sumire, I want to get to know you!” Ren replied. It took multiple repeats from Ren before that message finally reached her. Sumire does not reply, trying to process that Ren is still interested in getting to know her. 

“You want to get to know me?” Sumire asks slowly. “Why me!” She asked in despair.

“Because I believe the girl in front of me the whole time is Sumire Yoshizawa, not Kasumi Yoshizawa. Also, it seems everyone except you knows you are Sumire Yoshizawa. Therefore, you have to face the world as Sumire Yoshizawa. I know it will be difficult that is why I will help you any way I can to accept the fact that you are Sumire.”

Someone does believe in me , Sumire realizing she can depend on him despite lashing out at him previously. She then puts her face into Ren’s chest and cries her tears out on his chest without his permission. It is awkward socially but Sumire didn’t care at all.  Ren seemingly didn’t mind at all. He also stroked her hair. All she wanted was Senpai's touch, warmth, and safety. After about ten minutes she stops crying. Her self-doubt is still there and still strong but she feels somewhat better. 

“Can I hold on to you Ren-senpai?” Sumire said hesitantly. Ren then held her hands. Normally couples do it to comfort each other. “Hang on, why are we holding hands?” Sumire wondered. It was ironic given that just moments ago they were even more intimate.

Ren notices that she seemed uncomfortable. “Do you still want me to hold your hands?”

“I want you to but I am not sure because only couples can do it. I badly want your warmth from your body and hands.” Ren then held onto her hands.

“Then what if we stay at my place in the meanwhile until you calm down? And there, we can hold hands or hug without anyone else watching.”

Sumire nodded to Ren’s proposal. They went home together and stayed together at the attic of Cafe Leblanc. Before leaving, he texts the rest of the Phantom Thieves if they could leave the attic unsure if Sumire is willing to be with other people. Morgana meanwhile would stay temporarily in Ann’s place to the delight of the not-so-cat. When the group left, the pair left the batting center, and then entered Cafe Leblanc to the attic to stay. Once they arrived, Sumire then held on tight to Ren’s hands again. 

Sumire was unsure what to do next. For the rest of that day, they stayed there spending most of their time quiet. Ren’s warmth was calming. It helped her to push out negative thoughts and figure out what to do next as Sumire Yoshizawa. She decided for now to continue her gymnastic training and at least the next one is tomorrow. In the middle of the afternoon, she felt sleepy because of the stress of reliving her past trauma and remembering again that she was Sumire. Ren then brought out under the couch the mattress, blanket, and pillow, and covering used for the time Yusuke stayed with him for a week. Even though it was meant for one person, Sumire insisted Ren be right next to her so Ren agreed. After a few minutes, she finally fell asleep. When she woke up, she noticed that Ren was working on his summer homework. Noticing she was right next to her Senpai, she screamed, blushed red deep, and moved away from him by instinct.

“Ren, why am I sleeping right next to you?”

“You requested that I stay right next to you. You don’t remember?”

Sumire paused. “I forgot for a moment. I am sorry.” 

“You don’t have to apologize, you had a rough day today Sumire. I assume you forgot about your request because you are still adjusting to living as yourself?”

“I am not sure about that Ren-senpai,” Sumire answered slowly. She then moved forward so she is right next to Ren again.

“Anyways, how are you feeling Sumire?”

“I’m not sure, but I feel better because of you. But I feel bad that I had to cancel my plans for the rest of the day. What time is it?”

“It is almost 5:00 P.M why? Do you want to go home now?”

“Can I stay here for the night?” Sumire replied hesitantly. “And not just today, but at least for the whole week?”

Ren was surprised. “Are you sure? Why?”

Sumire formed “I still feel lost on what to do next. And, I want you to be near me in case I need anything. I want to reflect on what happened to me these past few months and Kasumi’s death outside my home. I don’t know how to face my parents in person in the months that I pretended I was Kasumi. And if I am back at my home, I might not be able to self-reflect properly. Even if I pretended to be her, you supported me unconditionally despite knowing it all of this time. I am sorry for being clingy but I need you for a while, Senpai.”

“Of course. I will help you out. After all, our deal is that I would help you out of your slump remember?”

Sumire smiled a bit. “Thank you, Senpai. I will call my parents about the situation, tell them what happened, that I remembered again who I am, and that I will stay with you for the week.”

It took Sumire firmly insisting that she would stay with Ren for her parents to agree. Even her parents gave alternatives like Ren staying at their home, Sumire rejected it. Around three hours later, Sumire’s father arrives. After a brief hug and reunion between Shinichi Yoshizawa and her daughter, Sumire goes back to the attic so Ren and Shinichi can talk in private.

“Sumire has been always talking about you since you rescued her from a man harassing her.” Shinichi started. “Thank you for helping her out and getting her to  remember to be herself again.”

“It is my pleasure. After all, she is a friend. Sumire accepted me for who I am when we first met and she has been teaching me some basic gymnastic steps.”

“Oh?” Shinichi said, surprised. “You must be impressed by her skill.”

“I am. Speaking of which, I hope you don’t mind Sumire staying here with me. It was awkward though when Sumire and I are next to each other even though we aren’t a couple.”

“Sumire trusts you and was the one who requested to be right next to you,” Shinichi added. “And you are the first friend Sumire ever made by herself in Shujin Academy ever since Kasumi died. Besides, you are more helpful than me and my wife could ever be to my daughter.”

“Thank you for the compliment. Is there anything I need to know? Is there anything she cannot eat or any medicine she has to take?”

“Fortunately no. But, I have this feeling she will heavily depend on you.”

“Yeah she told me, but what do you mean?”

“You see, Sumire is heavily dependent on Kasumi for everything. But looking back, I think my wife and I should have forced Kasumi to get away from Sumire sometimes so both of them have their own identities. The only time Sumire gets to be herself and be genuinely happy these past few years is whenever we visit relatives  in Tatsumi Port Island, and that doesn’t happen very often.”

“Tatsumi Port Island?”

“It is an artificial island found in the Hiroshima prefecture and it is owned by the Kirijo Group. My niece, Minako Arisato, has lived there since 2009. Her group of friends is practically family to us now. Whenever Kasumi and Sumire stay there, they somehow can make the two separate from each other and do their own thing. One last thing; they will want to know how Sumire is doing. They have been worried about her. After Kasumi died, only other relatives and her friend from Inaba came to visit Kasumi’s funeral. Sumire however was angry that everyone else couldn’t visit and refused to talk to them at all because of that. You tell them how she has been doing alright?”

“I will. Hold on, how will I contact her?”

“I just texted you Minako’s contact details and I already sent your contact details to her. She should contact you tonight.”

“Okay. Do I need to know anything about them? Hang on, Sumire gave it to you without telling me?”

“My apologies if she gave it to me today without your permission. Now that I think about it, I also gave Minako her contact details without her consent. Anyways, I have to go now. Anyways good night Ren-san!”

“Good night to you to Yoshizawa-san.”

After Shinichi left, Ren prepared dinner for him and Sumire in the attic. It consisted of soup with pork and cabbages, and rice. When he finished cooking, he called Sumire so they could eat together.

“Senpai, you could have cooked this better you know by adding more seasoning,” Sumire said in a low tone.

“Oh really? Maybe you could teach me?”

“I don’t know Senpai, I think it is better if my cousin’s friend who is a genius cook teaches you instead. His name is” Sumire stops. “AGGHH!” Sumire screams.

“Sumire! What is wrong?”

The headache stopped. “A memory of my time in Tatsumi Port Island has returned. “I just remembered his name; it is Shinjiro Agaraki, he is like my older cousin to me. He was the one who taught me everything about cooking”

Ren got concerned. “ Hang on, you lost most of your memories?”

“Yes but I only noticed ever since I realized I was Sumire again.  Most of my experiences with Kasumi however are starting to return but not Minako and her friends. I even forgot the name of my friend from Inaba.”

“At least some memories are returning.” The two of them proceeded to continue eating in silence. “We will figure out how to restore those memories okay? And if somehow it is impossible, we will just make new memories with them okay Sumire?”

“Of course Ren-senpai. Thank you for being there for me.”

After eating dinner Sumire went back to her bed to try again to remember any buried memories. While Ren is doing his own thing, they would talk whenever Sumire asks for advice from him about anything. They returned talking when Ren asked Sumire if his friend, an artist named Yusuke, could observe her rhythmic gymnastic practice tomorrow. Even if she was nervous to see a stranger observe her performance, she decided to agree because he was Ren’s friend and figured maybe he can trust Yusuke. About an hour later, Minako texts Ren that she is free now and they can video call each other now.

“Sumire, do you want to join the video call with Minako?”

“No, please. I don’t think I’m ready to talk with them.”

“Okay,” Ren replied. Sumire then went to sleep shortly after. By then Ren’s video call with Minako started. When they finally start the video call, Ren sees an older woman probably in her mid to early 20s with tied-up brown hair and red eyes. Ren realized she looks like Kasumi and Sumire.

Meeting of Two Wildcards

 No one from the Shadow Operatives could visit Tokyo itself because the politician Masoyashi Shido banned any Shadow Operative members like Minako Arisato from visiting Tokyo for the past two years. As a result, they could not personally have been there to help the whole Yoshizawa family in grief. At least, her grandparents, Ken and the Dojimas visited them on their behalf. Around that time, they tried to plead to let at least one of the persona users visit but Shido’s influence prevented them from even granting temporary visiting Tokyo. As a result, Mitsuru Kirijo, head of the Shadow Operatives decided to disband the Shadow Operatives, which they, later on, found out was his ultimate goal. Fortunately, there was another secret organization that dealt with shadow-related incidents with no ties with any national government; the Shadow Defense Initiative (SDI), which they decided to join, and the members of the disbanded organization would make up the Japan branch of the SDI. In return for joining it this year, most of the SEES and Investigation Team persona users have been sent to branches in other countries to help deal with their Shadow-related problems. However, as all of them are part-time agents allow them to have long breaks between their assignments to be able to live their normal lives.   

The first time she worked with them was with the kidnapping of her cousin Kasumi Yoshizawa four years ago. Just like Labry’s kidnapping, the kidnappers brought her to Inaba. Turns out, it was a trap to capture the full-time members of the Shadow Operatives just like her. Thus, Kikuno, Mitsuru’s maid not only contacted the reserve Shadow Operatives but also Mitsuru’s contacts in the SDI to get help to rescue Kasumi and the captive persona users. After the second major shadow incident in 2012, the SDI left Japan immediately. 

Minako knew about the progress and members of the Phantom Thieves thanks to a fellow and senior wildcard, Reina Amamiya. Ren frequently called his mom and usually gave updates on what the group is doing and planning to do next and in return the mom informs them. However because Ren is involved with a compromised Velvet Room, only wildcards agents like her and Yu-kun, and the Amamiya family knew about the internal happenings of the Phantom Thieves. During one of the reports, she was surprised to find out that Sumire thought of herself as Kasumi and Reina took it upon herself with other colleagues to figure out how to break the unknown spell. As soon as she found out that Sumire remembered herself again, it was from Uncle Shinichi, she then knew that the test devised worked and she thanked Reina-san and her team for figuring it out immediately.

  Among everyone in SEES grieving for Kasumi’s death, Ken, she noticed was hit hard the most because she was the first girlfriend he ever had. Ken wanted to talk to Sumirei directly about it but she cut off her contact with them. They decided to give her space and time till she was ready to talk about it.

If there was any consolation, Sumire was able to make a friend in Shujin Academy. According to Shinichi, Sumire always talked about Ren all the time and made her happy and is the reason why Sumire is grieving Kasumi’s death  (she wondered this time how Sumire is processing that Kasumi is dead). This probably explains why Sumire wanted to stay temporarily with him. But she had to know and see for herself, is Ren good for Sumire, and if so why? Then again, he is the son of the well-regarded Amamiya agents and has been mentored well by them.

After Ren and Minako greeted each other, silence remained for a few seconds before Minako spoke up to end the awkward tension.

“How is Sumire?”

“She is sleeping right now. After the backlash and despair she had, I was able to calm her down and convince her that I will remain her friend even if she is Sumire and not Kasumi. But she has been contemplating what to do next with her life because she is lost without Kasumi by her side. She is trying to mourn her death once more but I can sense that she is trying to process it such that she can accept it eventually. She is still doing her gymnastic training, and I will be accompanying her to it whenever she has training.”

“I wish my side of the family could have visited her.” Minako sighed. “It is just that powerful people in Tokyo do not want me and the others to be in Tokyo for the past three years no matter what. At least Sumire’s mom, Hikari-san was able to make sure that those powerful people do not even know that I and my friends are close to them but they have enough connections to know if I am for example visiting Tokyo.”

Ren frowned. “I can relate. I protected a woman and what do I get, a false record and is now on probation because of it. All because I pissed a powerful person who I don’t know.” He ranted. Once he calmed down, he spoke up again. “At least, I made good friends here and got to know Sumire. She accepted me despite my record unlike most other students in Shujin Academy.”

“Maybe she sees something in you that you don’t.” Minako teased. “If both of you want to be a couple, I can help you out.”

“Thanks for the offer,” Ren replied while blushing a bit. “But I have to help with her issues first before I could even consider more than friends though. There is also a big issue that came up when she returned as Sumire. I forgot to bring it up with her father.”

“What is it?” Minako wondered

“I don't know how it was done to make Sumire think she was Kasumi, but she mentions she lost most of her memories. For example, when she tried to recall who taught her how to cook, she got a headache before she remembered the name Shinjiro Agaraki. She also mentioned a friend from Inaba but she forgot who. Do you know they are?”

“I do,” Minako replied with a smile. “Sumire is close with Shinjiro and his girlfriend Fuuka Yamagishi. Shinjiro is fond of Sumire because she is an excellent cook for her age and he trained her so she can reach her full cooking skill potential. Her friend from Inaba, the name is Nanako Dojima. Nanako-chan saw Sumire’s performance in the past and followed it on TV. That is why when she met Sumire in person, they became fast and close friends with each other.”

“No wonder she recalled Shinjiro’s name first. But, it is peculiar that Sumire forgot Nanako’s name.”

“I agree. What Sumire said about cooking doesn’t make sense though; Shinichi and Hikari-san were the first ones who taught her how to cook in the first place. They only met us six years ago, when they were able to finally track us down because of the announcement of my twin brother’s funeral in the newspaper. When they found out, they rushed to Tatsumi Port Island to reach us, and ever since, we have been close to them ever since despite the distance. Wait, you said Sumire might have lost her memories?”

“Definitely but I don’t know how bad it is.” Then, Minako’s face changes to one of anger. “I think it is the reason why she feels uncomfortable to talk with you,” Ren added. Minako then frowned.  “All I know is she has to keep on talking about herself, so memories can come back to her. Whoever manipulated Sumire’s mind, taking measures to make sure they weren’t discovered. But even if I want to, I will focus on helping her recover mentally. Besides, I don’t think I will have leads on who manipulated Sumire’s mind anytime soon.”

“I agree. By the way, thank you for helping her recover. It should have been my job and even the others to do that.”

“Don’t beat yourself up for it Minako-san. Besides, she trains me in her gymnastics and I helped her out in it. Not to mention, she has been a good friend to me.”

“One last thing, if there is any way I and the others could help out, tell us okay?”

“There is one I just realized.” Ren thought for a few moments. “Can you, Shinichi, Nanako-san, and all of your friends recall all the memories you have with Sumire? That might make it easier to trigger her memory recovery.”

“That is a great idea. Here, I will start writing them down and tell them to you.”

For the next three hours, Minako recounted her memories with her younger cousin. When she finished, it was already midnight and both of them felt sleepy already.

“I am surprised Sumire never woke up despite us constantly talking.”

“Thank god because I don’t know how she would react to the embarrassing stories about her I told you.”

“Maybe she will laugh too?”

Before saying goodbye, Ren clarified something.

“Is it alright if my friends help out also in reading your accounts of your memories with her? She knows about them but I think she only considers me her actual friend.”

“Absolutely!” Minako excitedly proclaimed. “ I get it that she depends on you the most but I like it and she gets to know other people and make more friends as well. One last thing, is it alright if I gave your contact details to Nanako-chan? She might want to hear directly from you on how Sumire is doing. 

“Okay sure.”

“Here! I just sent a private message to you about Nanako-chan's contact details. Anyways, I have to go now though. I will end the video call. I have to call Ken-kun and tell him what happened just now. Good night Ren-san!”

“Good night to you too Minako-san.”

After the night call, she had to video call Ken Amada to get an update on his visit to the TV World in Inaba. He visits every month to catch up on what Kasumi has been doing in the “in-between” area of the sea of souls and the afterlife itself. Kasumi can be visited in her dungeon in the TV World once in a while because she only wants to go to the afterlife once she knows Sumire is okay already.

“Hello, Ken.” Minako started.  She also noticed Nanako Dojima was with him in the Amagi Inn where Yukiko Amagi allowed Ken to stay. At least, she didn’t have to make a separate video call to Nanako. After recapping the video conference with Ren, she proceeded to talk about what happened to Ken. “How did your talk and training Nanako with Kasumi go?”

Ken remained silent for a few seconds. “Nothing much happened during Nanako-san's training today. When we were done, Kasumi told me that I should find a new girlfriend already.”

Minako was surprised. “This soon? Why?”

“She reasons that I am ready to find a new girl already and that I have mourned enough over her death,” Ken said in a sad tone. “I don’t know what to do! I am worried that if I pursue a relationship this soon, I might use the girl only as a rebound and the relationship might be shallow, unlike the one I had with Kasumi.”

Minako then focused her eyes on Nanako. “Nanako, ever since you awakened to your persona this year, and both Ken and Kasumi have been training you to use your persona, how would you describe their dynamic? I am asking because I want your opinion on their dynamic since you are the one with the most first-hand experience with both of them ever since Kasumi died.

“Honestly, I think their dynamic as a couple changed drastically after the accident. I sense many times that they tried not to be intimate with each other. At first, I thought it was because it was for me because I did not like seeing couples being intimate with each other. But, I started to suspect they stopped doing so because they know they have to let go of each other eventually to move on.” Nanako ended sadly. “ I haven’t mentioned this at all because it only happens on days that my training went poorly but tensions can get high and when it does, Ken and Kasumi fight over whose fault it is for her death.”

 Ken remained silent and did not rebut Nanako.

“Well, it is just that I wished I could have done more. I mean, if I insisted more that Kasumi and Sumire studied here in Tatsumi Port Island, maybe it wouldn’t happen because Sumire will be more eager for the next school year.”

“I disagree Ken-kun.” Nanako said forcefully, “I think the tragedy would have happened regardless even before they would stay there because Sumire already wanted to be Kasumi. I keep telling her that she should be happy with herself and her style, but she won’t listen. A\bout a year after meeting Sumire and all of you in person, she showed signs of wanting to be Kasumi. I told her that she can listen to me and that I can visit Tokyo more often to hang out with her since Inaba is not that far from Tokyo. But, despite all of that, I think I failed to reach Sumire enough.” Tears then formed in her eyes. 

“Why can’t I reach her? Why won’t she listen to me? I am happy the way she is. Even before meeting her in person, I admired her performance on TV and at first, I was hoping she would mentor me in gymnastics. That did not work out but we did become close instead as a result. But despite all of that, I failed to reach her.” Nanako paused collecting her thoughts before continuing.  

“When Kasumi died, I oddly immediately accepted that I did everything I could so Sumire would not give in to her despair. That is why I told her during the memorial that living as herself would be the best way to honor Kasumi’s memory. But then a few weeks later, she suddenly stopped talking with me after the funeral. It is as if she forgot about me. I asked Shinichi-san about it but they said nothing was wrong with Sumire and she was doing better because of therapy. I don’t understand, did she cut us off because she reminds us of Kasumi? I want to be there for her but it's frustrating to not do anything! I feel her cutting off contact is as if she is as good as dead to me!” Nanako then started crying. When she stopped crying after several minutes, Minako spoke again. 

“Hey, hey, I get it Nanako-chan. That is why we will not only tell Sumire, but the friend she made, Ren Amamiya everything I told you about shadows and personas when she is ready. It would explain why only you could visit. Lastly, I gave him your contact details and will give them to you so you can talk to him directly.”

“Really? Thank you Minako-san! I wonder when I can contact him to ask about Sumire? Hang, how is Sumire?”

“Well, she was sleeping already when I talked to Ren. Forgot to ask why but she remembered who she is again. But, she lost most of her memories about us and is trying to recover memories with her buried in her mind. By the way, we need to write down our memories with her so she can remember them again.”

“So Sumire is back? I can’t wait to talk to her!”

“Hey, it is late now,” Ken added. “We should sleep for now.”

“Sheesh of course Ken-kun. You don’t mind if I sleep here right?”

“Isn’t it late though? Can’t you ask Dojima-san to pick you up?”

“Well, dad allowed me to stay here at the inn tonight. Anyways, I will go now. Good night Minako-san and Ken-kun!”

Kasumi’s Last Words

While Sumire is sleeping, her dream flashbacks to the day of the accident, March 5, 2016. On that day, it was raining so the twins had their own set of umbrellas. They were coming back from an intense gymnastic training session.

“Today is brutal huh?” Kasumi started cheerfully.

“Why is my performance so bad?” Sumire wondered in a blunt tone. In the past, she usually kept quiet about the difficulty of the practice but for some reason, it was the worst they experienced today that she cannot handle as usual.

“What is wrong Sumire?” Kasumi started with concern. “You want to call Shinjiro-san, Yukari-san, Minako, or Fuuka-san now? Or why don’t you call Nanako-chan? They usually help calm you down if you don’t want to talk to me about what you're feeling right now.”

“I just don’t feel like calling them today. I already talked to them about my gymnastics shortcomings whenever I feel bad all the time.”

Kasumi put her right arm on Sumire’s left shoulder. “I am sure they don’t mind. They are the ones I noticed who care about you the most. I mean Ken rants his problem to me and I rant my problems to him every day.”

“But, won’t they grow tired of it?”

“They will never grow tired of listening to you. All of us, especially the five of them care about you.”

Sumire then sighed in her mind. Why, why would they listen? I am just a weak, useless  person. Despite vacationing in Tatsumi Port Island every year, I never improve or grow stronger while Kasumi does faster than. Maybe, I should get kidnapped, or that Kasumi should have not protected me from the kidnappers because after that her performance in gymnastics drastically improved leaving me behind even more. Maybe, maybe I should let myself get traumatized just like Kasumi. Kasumi says they care about me but I bet they are just pretending out of obligation. I have been telling them about my problems for years but it doesn’t get better. I know Nanako and the others always tell me to be as happy and okay as who I am now, but, I don’t want to be Sumire, I want to be more like Kasumi.  She then walked a bit faster before she started running. Sumire wanted to run away from the anxiety and jealousy she was facing now. She did not know of any other way to get rid of it. “You will never understand what I feel, they will never understand what I feel,” Sumire mumbled. “They may love me but the whole world loves you and ignores me. What is the point of living? Everyone cares about your performance. No one cares about my performance!  When no one cares about me while everyone cares about you, how can I become a world-famous gymnast?”

Sumire then runs towards traffic. Sumire is about to be hit by a car.

“Sumire! You are about to get hit by an oncoming car!” Kasumi shouted. The elder sister then tried to run as fast as possible. She spoke up again when she was much closer to Sumire. “Sumire please stop.” However, the car was about to hit her twin sister. “Sumire!” Kasumi shouts and pushes her twin aside so Sumire remains uninjured. Kasumi is badly injured but conscious. When Sumire focuses on Kasumi, she sees her elder sister struggling to approach her while holding on to a gun-like item. Sumire noticed Kasumi’s face showed no anger, only understanding.

“Sumire, I am sorry for everything. I am sorry if I did not listen to you sooner. If I was a better sister, this wouldn’t have happened.” Kasumi then hands out the gun-like item with the label S.E.E.S on it and puts it on Sumire’s hands. 

 “Please bring this with you around no matter what. It is an evoker. When the time comes, you will know when to use it.” Sumire immediately puts it into her bag by instinct. 

Kasumi struggles. She tries harder to speak again.

“Tell Ken I am sorry and that I love him. Don’t worry about him, he will eventually move on from me. Sumire please live for me. Even if it isn’t gymnastics, find the path that will make you most fulfilled and happy. Please, please, talk about what just happened if not with mom and dad, to Ken and Shinjiro especially. They will understand. I, I love you no matter what. No matter what Sumire.” Kasumi tries to speak but her tone is much weaker. “Don’t worry about me Sumire. I see Minato-san is going to pick me up on the other side. I won’t be alone there.” She then collapses on the ground losing consciousness. When Kasumi is brought to the hospital, doctors declare her dead.

As the flashback ends, Sumire screams. This wakes up Ren who was sleeping on the couch. She approaches Sumire and proceeds to hug her tight. He even combs her chair all to try to calm her down.

”It is just a dream Sumire.”

After a few minutes, Sumire starts speaking audibly when she calms down. “I dream the day Kasumi protected me, the video that you showed, the day Kasumi died.” Sumire then tried to explain it but the painful experience forced her to speak about it very slowly till she completed her recount of the dream. She then says her questions about them. ”I don’t understand. What did she mean when she saw Minato-san? Why did she say Ken and Shinjiro will understand what I went through and why did she give me an evoker?”

 Ren looked at her kouhai.” I wish I knew. We will figure it out together okay? Hang on, what is an evoker?”

Sumire then got her bag, making Ren let go of her. She opens it and shows the evoker to Ren. He was shocked seeing the gun-like item.

“Maybe your relatives are gun enthusiasts?”

“I doubt it. Maybe we will know how to use it when I get in danger. Anyways, thank you again Ren-senpai” Sumire put back the evoker into her bag. “Can you hug me tightly again for the rest of the night?” 

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, senpai. Your physical contact calms me down for some reason.”

“Okay, we will stay at your bed. Are you okay if we keep it up like this?”

Sumire was grateful Ren-senpai listened to her every request without question. She then talked again.

“Ren-senpai, I don’t know if I can face them not just because I survived, but also because I outright ignored their support not just during Kasumi’s funeral, but when I talked to them about my problems these past few years,” Sumire said while looking down. “But when I talk to you, I start feeling better with you just like when I sometimes talk to them before.”

Ren then made her face upwards so they are now staring at each other. “Despite everything that happened, I know I just spoke to Minako but just from her, I got the impression, they worry about you every day but kept their distance because they thought it is what you wanted. I thought of another possible reason as to why I can comfort you. You want to know?”

Sumire nodded to allow him to continue.

“I am the first friend you have ever since Kasumi died, right? If the unknown spell made you forget everyone else, that would leave your parents to talk to. But you couldn’t and you have no friends to talk to. And, I am the first and only friend you have in Shujin Academy. Since I have been listening and helping through your problems unconditionally, my words help you much more.”

After absorbing her senpai’s words for a few seconds, she understood. “You are right Senpai. And you have been listening knowing that I was pretending to be Kasumi all this time? Looking back, you have always been attentive to me whenever we have been together. And I am grateful for being there for me.”

“Your welcome Sumire.” 

Sumire then fell asleep shortly after smiling, satisfied with Ren’s answer. Ren does too eventually. 

August 1, 2016

When they woke up that morning, Ren was still hugging Sumire. Sojiro went up to check up on Ren and saw him still hugging Sumire. Ren tried to explain what happened. Sojiro accepted seeing that it seemed Sumire wanted his hug through her face but he teased back by saying Hoo Boy.

Then, Sumire woke up.

“Good morning Senpai.” Sumire started in her sleepy tone.

“Good morning Sumire,” Ren replied also in a sleepy tone.

Sumire then noticed Ren still hugged her. “I forgot to tell you when to let go. I am sorry. I hope it is not rude of me for you to hug me for these past few hours.”

“I understand you have been through a lot. My mom hugs me tight whenever I feel really down that is why I did not mind hugging you tightly. Besides, I enjoyed hugging you tight.

“Thank you, Senpai.”  Sumire then realized Ren said he enjoyed hugging her. 

“SENPAI!” Sumire pouted annoyingly but she blushed deep red for the first time that 

Ren saw it. “But if you enjoy it, don’t you mind hugging me more like that in the future?”

“Are you sure? If I keep on doing it, it might no longer feel special.”

“Fine but do it when I ask for it okay?”

“Of course Sumire.”

“Speaking of which I haven’t fully reflected on everything that has happened to me and what we spoke about last night. However, I still want to go to gymnastic practice today.”

“You still want to go? Are you sure?” 

“Yes, Ren-senpai. I feel better now. I will be able to go through practice today thanks to your support. Besides, you promised your friend that I will be practicing today right?

“Of course Sumire. But if you're not comfortable with Yusuke watching, I can always tell him that he can’t join. “

“Okay. But I can do this Ren-senpai,” Sumire then smiled. “Can I ask something, why, and how were you able to help handle these things? Why, couldn’t the people who loved me before I met you do the same?”

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe because I in a way understand the despair you went through?”

“You do?”

“Do you want to hear the story about my probation?”

“Are you sure Senpai?”

“Of course I am.”

Ren’s Flashback

“Ren, I am coming in!”

Ren’s mom saw that her son in his room is still upset about the court decision. It sentenced him to live away from his parents, find another guardian, and study in another school that will accept him for the duration of the probation.

“Is there anything I can do?” Reina Amamiya asked.

“But it won’t change their unjust conviction!”

“You are right there is nothing I can do. But I will do anything to help ease the pain.”

Ren thought for a moment. “Mom, can you hug me?” His mom did. It was tight and the adult’s hand ran through his hair up and down constantly. Ren then started crying all his emotions out. All his feelings about that night, being in jail for the past few days poured out from him. Ren let himself be vulnerable completely. His mom remained there silent listening to her son’s rants and feelings. By the time Ren felt better, it was already evening.

“Thank you mom for being there for everything.”

“Of course Ren. I will prepare dinner now for both of us okay?  Love you.”

“Love you too mom.”

End of flashback.

“The next day, I went into a video call with the father, older brother, Yoshi, and my grandparents to discuss the outrageous court decision against him. My brother offered to take care of me and study in the country he is staying currently in, in the Philippines. However, the court order explicitly said I have to stay and study in a school in Japan for the duration of the probation that will accept him. Also, once the school year starts, I have to stay with another legal guardian, one that did not know him personally before the incident, till the probation period is over. Dad offered to look into acquaintances he knew living in Tokyo. A few days after his search, he got to meet and contact and ask Sojiro Sakura and that is how I am staying at Cafe Leblanc now. Looking back “Honestly without my relatives, I probably would have given in to the despair if not for my family and grandparents. My hometown, my friends, and my teachers, all abandoned me without even listening to my side. It is also the reason why I wanted to help you out. And remember the hugging style and touching hairstyle from I did? I think I got it from mom hugging me back on that day. It was the first time she ever did that for me, and she is the type who normally hugs only dad most of the time.” Ren finished.

“So we are so much alike then I realize. But I feel terrible for not relying on my loved ones though.”

“Hey, our situations might be similar but it is perfectly reasonable to push them away because, at the time, you didn’t know how to react. Granted, I can help you rebuild up your relationship with them.”

“Okay, Ren-senpai. By the way, thank you again for being there for me.”

“Your welcome.”

“Both of them had their stomach’s grumble.” 

“Looks like both of us have to eat breakfast first.”

After they had their breakfast, Sumire sat down with Ren.

“You don’t want to go yet Sumire?”

“I want to explain the people I mentioned in my dream last night. I want to get it off my chest before we go to practice.”

She went through her phone until she found a group photo from last year of her family with their Tatsumi port island friends. 

“This is Yukari Takeba, she is the first love of my cousin Minato Arisato. Because of him, She couldn’t fight any other guy to be with ever since. She is the first friend I made among them because she knows how to connect to personalities like mine immediately since apparently, I reminded her of Minato.”

“This is Shinjiro Agaraki, he was the one who improved my cooking skills. I am slowly remembering again what he taught me.”

“This is Shinjiro’s girlfriend, Fuuka Yamagishi. She was at first bad at cooking. But, I bonded with and helped improve her cooking skills. Remember the time I was analytical about the Phantom Thieves? She had a very particular way of doing it and I got it from her.”

“And this is Minako Arisato. She and Kasumi are so much alike. However, she also taught me how to cook. But, she is much more emotional, unlike Kasumi. She is the best person to get people who drastically differ to somehow get to work together.”

“This is Ken Amada. He is now in the third year at Gekkoukan High. Ken acted as a senpai to Kasumi just like you are a senpai to me. I think perhaps subconsciously, I wanted to befriend and enjoy being with you because Ken helped her a lot in many ways. They became much closer after she was kidnapped as Ken somehow helped her recover from the trauma.” Then, she started to stare at Ren more intensely.

“What is wrong.”

“Among all the people here, I am most scared facing him. Because of what I did, sometimes I feel that I don’t even deserve to get a boyfriend in the future.”

“Kasumi mentioned before she died that to talk about what happened to Ken and Shinjiro right? If she knew that both of them understood what has happened to you, I am sure they will be most understanding, and, I bet Ken will not be angry at you.”

“Really? But I took away the person he loved the most in the world! Why, why would he remain not angry at me!”

Ren thought for a moment. “Was Ken ever hateful to you all these years?”

“Never. At first, he was shy like me and tried to get me into his hobbies but I just can’t. I think Kasumi saw a side of Ken that only she knew because somehow, they always bring out the best with each other.”

“I am sure he will empathize and understand what you went through. And as mentioned previously, Minako gave me the impression that everyone was worried about you including Ken.”

Sumire nodded quietly in agreement. She then went back to her phone looking for a picture of her and Nanako Dojima. She did find several photos of them together but she then focused on the first-ever photo they had together. 

“Ren, I want to show you the first photo of me and Nanako.” It showed a younger Nanako and Sumire with the glasses wearing redhead several centimeters taller than the brown hair girl. 

“This picture took place after Kasumi was mysteriously rescued and my parents and I went to Inaba to meet up with her. We went there at the time from here in Tokyo because my grandparents and family friends were already there for some reason. After happily reuniting with Kasumi, she introduced herself to the acquaintances her twin made that helped rescue Kasumi. When I was about to introduce myself, I was taken aback by her introducing herself first and knowing me already but explained she admired the performances she saw of me on TV. She then requested that I perform one of my routines which I did. And when I was done, she said she wanted me to teach her.”

“So Nanako was your first student and I am the second?”

“Yeah, but it didn’t go as well as compared to your Ren-senpai. But, even though it didn’t work out, I became very close to her.”

“She matters a lot to you.”

Sumire gave it some thought. “Ren, before we go for practice today, I just have to call Nanako.” Then, she decides to ring the number Nanako Dojima.

“Hello?” Ren hears a sweet voice on the other end.

“Nanako Dojima, this is Sumire Yoshizawa,” she said slowly and nervously.

“Sumire, is that you?” Nanako said enthusiastically.

“I am sorry for everything that has happened between us ever since Kasumi died.”