Chapter Text
Daylight was fighting its way through the cracks and holes of the curtain, forming circles on the floor and the bed and unfortunately also on his face. He squinted his eyes and turned his face away from the blinding light before opening them and slowly sitting up. When he checked his side, he noticed that he was alone. Given how high the sun must have been standing to wake him up like this, it must have been way past her sleep-schedule too.
He swung his legs out of the large bed and stood up before stretching his back with a low groan. He walked over to the closet and got dressed. A black polo-shirt, classic jeans with a belt. No fighting gear, no special protectors. Just a normal guy starting a day like any other. In a few minutes, he would step out of his house and absolutely nothing would happen, except for things that happened about every day. He ran a hand through his black and wavy hair and scratched the itching stubbles on his chin. It was time for a shave again. But that was for a day he woke up earlier. Right now his body needed something completely different and that was something to eat and a dose of caffeine. He sat down at the foot of the bed to put on his shoes before he walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
The sun was beaming in Ren’s face as he stepped outside onto the front-lawn of what would have been his parent’s house in Maruki’s world. To the left was Sojiro’s house and to the right, where in a mysterious alternate universe Morgana’s parents had lived, Ann and Ryuji had settled down. He stretched his back once more before walking to the gate, waving back at one of their townsfolk passing by. Within a few steps he was around the corner and right in the heart of Yongen. On the left side of the street, the storefronts started to look more and more alive with all the little stores starting to get repopulated again. The first one that Ren walked past was closed though, a small sign in the door indicating that its owner was gone for the day. The convenience-store right beside it was just opening its doors. The couple who ran it were putting out some boxes into the racks on the store-front. As he walked past them, they greeted Ren with a friendly smile before the man tossed him an apple. Something of their ritual, whenever he came by at the right time. Ren snatched it out of the air with one hand before taking a newspaper out of the stand on the other side of the street. As he continued walking, he only managed to scan the headline on the first page “Councilman spills it all.”. He took a bite of his apple as he thought that this could have been worded more intriguing. But not every newspaper had an Ichiko Ohya.
When Ren reached the other end of their neighborhood, he turned left to look at the cafe with the red-and-white blinds and the restored wooden door with the glas-panels in different colors. LeBlanc the Third, as Futaba had dubbed it. Even though it’s been years since they had lived under the same roof, they still kept some traditions. Like meeting for all the meals at LeBlanc (because why should anyone cook for themselves when you could have Haru’s and Sojiro’s cooking?). Except for today he had missed out on that tradition because of his messed up sleep-rhythm. He quickly finished his apple before opening the door.
The bell above the door rang softly as he walked inside. What had been a small alley-café with nothing more than 4 tables at the beginning was now a place big enough for the entire neighborhood to come together in the evenings, after the Thieves had torn down a few walls and made the kitchen larger. At this time of the day, the tavern was closed to the public though. The only one sitting at the large round table in the corner of the room was Yusuke, who was lounging on the cushioned corner-bench, his notepad and pen in hand. His dark-blue hair had gotten slightly longer and the half above his ears had been tied into a knot in the back to keep it from falling into his face. On the wall above him hung a painting without a frame, that depicted the inside of a church in which a group of people stood, their hands in the air and their facial features undefinable. Ren had to smile every time he looked at it and Yusuke’s orders rang through his head again (“More Anguish!”). After setting up camp here 5 years ago, the Thieves had eventually returned to LeBlanc 2 to gather all of the remaining stuff including the replica of Yusuke’s church-painting.
Yusuke was their resident artist in a slump. After declaring that he wanted to make the old movie-theater at the corner into an art-gallery, Yusuke had found himself in what Futaba referred to as creative roadblock. Yusuke found a lot more eloquent descriptions for it but at some point between “artistic nightfall” and “dried-paint-era”, Ren had stopped making a list. Their first years in Yongen, Yusuke had been occupied with cleaning out the cinema to make it “gallery-ready”. But after he announced the renovation-works as finished about two years ago, he found himself unable to produce something that he deemed worthy to hang in his “hallowed halls”. Ever since then, he could be found wandering around the neighborhood or sitting in the most bizarre places, looking for inspiration to strike him (or lighting, in case of that one time he climbed onto the roof during a thunderstorm). Another time Makoto had found him hanging upside-down from a rafter, which he claimed to have given him “a new perspective”.
Emerging from the kitchen with a tray of cups was Haru, the co-owner of LeBlanc. She put the clean cups away behind the bar before taking the last cup from the tray, which was full with what Ren guessed to be steaming tea. She walked over to their table and put the cup into Yusuke’s hand. The artist looked up at her with an appreciative smile. She leaned down to put a kiss on his cheek before she noticed Ren standing in the door “Oh, good morning Ren!” she smiled.
“Sorry for missing breakfast..” Ren scratched his head. “Futaba is not a good influence for me...”
“No need to worry.” Haru smiled while walking back into the kitchen “I saved something for you.”
“Thanks.” Ren said with relief as he walked up to the table and slid into the booth “How’s it going, Yusuke?”
“The same as last night.” the artist replied before sipping the tea that Haru had just pushed into his hand. “Every morning I wake up and search my inner self for a clue on whether this will be the long-awaited day, that inspiration finally comes upon me again.”
“And what does your inner self say?” Ren asked.
“That it’s hungry.”
Haru emerged from the kitchen with a steaming bowl of porridge and a steaming cup of what Ren hoped to be coffee. One of the first things that Ryuji and Ann had set out to find in the desolate town of Tokyo was curry and coffee-beans. While most of the beans they had brought back couldn’t be cultivated anymore, thanks to the green thumb of Haru she had been able to grow a few of them. It’s been a process of multiple years and it took a lot of engineering from Futaba to build a greenhouse that was able to provide the optimal climate for the coffee beans to grow throughout the year but by now, Haru and Sojiro were able to offer coffee to everyone who wanted one without having to ration at the back of their heads. At the back of the bar was a shelf full of metal-tins that were filled with home-roasted coffee beans, giving off the most delicious smell in the morning when being brewed.
“You’re a saint.” Ren sighed as he inhaled the coffee-steam.
Haru giggled before saying “I promised Boss that I would keep everyone fed today.”
“Speaking of, where is he?” Ren asked.
“I told him to take a day off because his back was giving him troubles.” Haru replied. “I think he joined Iwai on his trip to Seiiki.” the fluffy-haired woman smiled “I’m sure the fresh country-air will do him good."
Ren had to smile “Thanks for looking out for him. He’s too proud to admit when he needs a break.”
Haru nodded “You can count on me. I’ll make sure that he gets proper rest.” she giggled “I know what I have to promise him by now so that he won’t worry.”. She spun on her heels, the knee-long summer dress swirling around her as she walked back to the kitchen.
Ren hummed as he took the first sip. It was worrying how fast all of them had fallen back into their caffeine-dependency, now that they were able to drink it again. He took a spoon-full of porridge as he flipped open the newspaper. On the other side of the table, Yusuke was focused on his notepad. A comfortable silence fell as Ren scanned through the headlines of the weekly news before realizing that there was nothing that he hadn’t already heard from Ann. There was a reason why she was the head of intelligence. She was always on top of the gossip.
After finishing the news as well as his breakfast, he carried the dishes back to the kitchen, where Haru was already stirring a big pot of stew for the lunch- and dinner-rounds. “Thanks, Haru.” Ren repeated. “I promise I’ll be there on time tomorrow.”
As he stepped out of LeBlanc, the air felt hotter. He sighed when he realized that this was about to be another hot summer. It’s been a long time since the last rain and slowly but steadily, the buildings started to heat up on the inside too. He could already hear Sojiro complaining (“Another scorcher? Give me a break...”). Ren walked back towards the main street, where he directly looked into the small store in front of him. During the rebuild, Futaba had come across what she later would refer to as her gold-mine. An old secondhand-shop right at the beginning of the main-street, with tools and a small workshop in the back. Apart from following her own projects (recently that was a radio-station), she also did contracts and repaired other people’s appliances for money. And while it wasn’t the alcohol-free internet-bar that she had envisioned before, Sojiro was still damn proud that his daughter was now running her own business right down the street. Right now, she was sitting behind the counter, her tongue sticking out, as she was concentrating on what Ren could only guess to be a technical device. When he walked in, she raised her head.
A mean grin spread on her face when she cackled “Someone looks rough.”
“You have got to stop keeping me up for so long.” Ren sighed. “I get it now. Movies are fun. But I feel 50 years older.”
“You look like it too.” Futaba grinned before saying “And that’s even though you already missed breakfast. I slept a lot less than you!”
“Well, you’re young.”
“I’m one year younger than you.” Futaba raised an eyebrow before pushing the black rimmed glasses up on her nose and pulling the screwdriver out of the hair-bun at the back of her head to continue working.
“Whatcha working on?” Ren asked.
Futaba sighed “Some idiot dropped his phone and now it doesn’t work anymore.”
“Is that the way to talk about paying customers?” Ren asked.
“Yeah, if they deserve it.” Futaba replied before raising the silver rectangle “That’s a freaking personal EMMA! Like… how much does that even cost? Too much to just simply drop it, I tell you.”
“A what now?” Ren asked.
“An EMMA.” Futaba replied.
“Yeah I wasn’t asking because the name was unclear.”
Futaba put the phone back onto her workplace before explaining “It’s the hottest shit right now. You ever heard something of Maddice?”
“They keep writing me letters.” Ren shrugged.
“They’re geniuses!” Futaba pulled her hair “They came up with a system that can connect the different towns without using satellites in space but with simple antennas and satellite-dishes. Once a town has an antenna, they can easily communicate with other towns via terminals now. On top of that, their system comes with EMMA. A super-advanced AI that keeps track of everything going on in the town such as inventory, food-stock, everything really.”
“Uhuh...” Ren decided to nod along as Futaba was talking herself into a frenzy.
“I don’t even know how they managed to get this going! An AI? We’re not even in the right era yet.” she pointed at the rectangle in front of her “However, their newest hit is the portable EMMA, which is like a personal assistant. It gathers all the data from every other town using EMMA and can therefore navigate you, get you in contact with people and even give you recommendations on where to stay when you’re out of town. Every town can enter what they offer and then EMMA can tell you all about it, either at your settlement or on your personal device.” Futaba took a deep breath “Did you just say that they wrote to you?”
Ren nodded “They do about twice a month. Always asking to set up in our town too.”
“Makes sense, since their idea is to connect the entire country and later the entire world.” Futaba replied before beaming “So we’re going to have an EMMA too?”
“Why?” Ren asked “Everything it does, we can do too. I don’t want to be replaced by a machine.”
Futaba rolled her eyes “You’re such a grandpa.” she sighed before holding up the broken gadget to her ear “Oh hello, who’s this? 4 years ago?” she put the phone down again “4 years ago called. It wants its world view from the stone age back.”
Ren sighed “I’ll… think about it, okay?”
“If you and Makoto have questions, I can always explain it to you. Ya know, because old people don’t grasp technology that well?” Futaba smirked.
Ren made a dismissive gesture with his hand and left.
The corner-building beside LeBlanc had become the town’s police-office and the one at the top of it was no one else than his wife. He opened the door to walk into a large open space with several desks. The office was also the first place that people new to the town went to to ask questions and where everything concerning organization went down. Ren gave a nod to the guy who was manning the front desk today before walking to the back of the office and to the staircase leading upstairs into a smaller apartment, that was reserved for Commissioner Niijima. He had to smile when he found her standing at the window. Tight black pants, a white t-shirt and a cropped black jacket with half-sleeves. Her hair was still chin-long and the braided headband would probably be her trademark forever. In a way, nothing had changed. She still was the same badass with the most calculating smile. Ren never envied those interrogated by her (not that that happened a lot anyway). She turned around to look at him. Her reddish eyes were still striking but even more so when she smiled.
“I think I overslept...” Ren smiled.
“I think you did.” Makoto replied before a small smile curled her lips “You need to stay away from that neighbor’s girl.”
Ren snorted “She’s definitely up to no good.” he walked up to her desk “Anything happen while I was out of order?”
Makoto shook her head “I don’t think so.” she looked out the window “It’s been calm over the last week.”
“Isn’t that nice?” Ren asked. “You know how it is. Things calm down around summertime because people are drawn to the beach.”
She folded her arms in front of her chest “To think that people actually go on vacation again… That always sounded like something so impossible, back when I grew up.”
“We could actually go on vacation too, if we didn’t love our jobs so much.” Ren smirked.
Makoto sighed “It’s not because I can’t bear the thought of not working. But who would replace us, if we’re gone for a week?” she raised an eyebrow at him when she added “Do I have to remind you of the time when both of us got sick and were too weak to leave the house for a few days?”
Ren had to chuckle “That was a traumatic week but everything has improved since then, hasn’t it?” he walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around her shoulders as they both looked out the window
Makoto patted his lower arms as his chin rested on top of her head “Let’s face it… we both love Yongen and our responsibilities far too much to just pack our bags and leave for a week.”
“I’m afraid you’re right.” he had to admit. “Seems like we’re those kind of people that have to be forced to go on vacation.” he chuckled “I wonder what would have to happen for this occur...”
“Don’t jinx it.” Makoto reprimanded before saying “Speaking of the responsibilities we love so much, how about you get to yours.” when he took a step back and released his arms, she smirked “Or am I wrong in assuming that you just wandered around so far?”
Ren grabbed his heart “You know me so well.”
Makoto cast him a look before she walked over to her desk and sat down in her chair “We can always talk business though.”
He couldn’t help but smile when his eyes lingered on Makoto, sitting in her office-chair with her legs crossed like a Queen on her throne. He knew her well enough to know just how long he would be able to look before she would give him that trademark raised eyebrow of hers. He bowed with a smirk “I’ll be off to work then, my Queen. If I don’t encounter anything more important on my way to the office, that is.”
“Normally I would ask what could possibly happen on the way between here and down the street but I also know you and your affinity to attract surprise encounters.” Makoto replied with a smile.
Ren walked over to her chair and bent down to give her a kiss before grinning “I’ll do my best.”
As the mayor of Yongen stepped out of the police-station, the main-street was bustling with foot-traffic from both people from inside and outside of town, checking the stores and shopping. As Ren threw a look into Futaba’s shop, he saw that she as well was kept busy by someone trying to buy one of her gadgets, most likely. Ren weaved his way through the people until he reached the corner-cinema and the alley at its side. Parked in the alley, beside a small doctor's office, a small van was parked. Its trunk was open and two women took turns in walking into the practice and getting out boxes. One of them wore high heels that looked especially uncomfortable for the work that she was doing right now. The tight, short dress she wore wasn’t exactly what you expected your neighborhood-doctor to wear either but the white lab-coat she was wearing always made it clear just what her job was. And after the first skepticism that some people had in the beginning, after their first appointment with her at the latest did they realize that she was a fantastic physician, who knew what she was talking about.
The second woman hadn’t had a lot to do with medicine initially. Over the last years, she had cut her straight black hair shorter so that it was now right above her shoulders with the red ornament she liked to wear at the side of her head. Hifumi Togo sighed as she put the box into the car. It had taken a bit of persuasion to get the hermit-doctor Takemi out of her cabin in the woods and into the city but in the end, even she had to admit that it had its benefits. Hifumi, who nowadays used her analytical and statistical thinking to establish a network of medics and doctors that also focuses on the education of future doctors and nurses, was now tasked with assisting her and taking on everything organizatory. And so it happened often that Takemi and Hifumi were on trips to other parts of the city, checking in on others, providing help (and some of Takemi’s home-remedies) as well as overview the education-progress. It had turned out rather quick that while every settlement had at least one person that knew how to do a compress and provide first aid, most of them really needed some education when it came to a deeper knowledge of the anatomy and more advanced treatment-methods. While Takemi hadn’t been quite pleased about having to share her knowledge at first, eventually she couldn’t say No to Hifumi’s pitch of a medical-network.
“You going on a trip again?” Ren asked as he walked over to her.
Hifumi nodded before brushing a strand of hair behind her ear “There’s a few towns that need to be restocked and another few that need to be checked up on.” she looked back at the clinic “We should be back in a few days.”
“How’s it going in the other towns?” Ren asked.
“It’s going well.” Hifumi smiled. “There’s a lot of progress among those that Dr. Takemi teaches and we have more and more new inquiries from other towns.”
“Not to mention that more and more people are buying my medicine.” Takemi added as she walked up beside Hifumi and put another box into the back of the van.
“Sounds like you got it all figured out.” Ren smiled.
Takemi was someone who didn’t enjoy admitting her own achievements but the uncomfortable curl in her lips told everything Ren needed to know. She didn’t like to admit it but he believed that she did enjoy working alongside Hifumi. The Shogi-player was thoroughly-organized, quick to learn and always wanted to optimize processes. Takemi and Hifumi probably wouldn’t call each other friends but they worked incredibly well together and that teamwork was helping a lot of people who would in turn be able to help even more people with the knowledge they gained from Takemi. The medic sighed “I wish the council was as productive as we are...”
“Project Hospital?” Ren asked and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he leaned against their car.
Hifumi sighed too “We’ve put so much work into that proposition. We have a concrete location in mind and we even provided detailed plans for how it could work as an independent organization if only it could run under the united protection of the council, so that it could be a truly neutral institution aimed at providing healthcare for everyone who needs it.”
“I’m sure Sae will come through.” was all that Ren could say.
Another one who had spread her wings was Sae Niijima, who had helped with re-building for 2 years before she decided to venture out and see what’s beyond Yongen. When the first idea of re-introducing laws reached her ears, she had decided to represent Yongen in the council that consisted of a representative of every town and settlement within Tokyo. The city's council was working together on producing a general guideline of living together within Tokyo while the grande council, consisting of one representative for each large town, was tasked with deciding on nation-wide laws and rules. As a member of the Tokyo-council, Sae spent most of her time at the old parliament-building, where the representatives have refurnished the various offices into living spaces. Like Makoto, Sae only blossomed with enough work at hand and so she barely managed to take the time to come for visits, even though her apartment would always stay ready for her. He could only imagine what it was like, having to sweet-talk people to support your ideas so that you could actually be listened to. He didn’t envy Sae for her job. But she had chosen that life of politics for herself.
Hifumi nodded before turning to Takemi “I guess all we can do for now is continue with our short-term plan.”
Takemi chuckled “As if that isn’t enough work already anyway.” she pointed her slender finger at him “Don’t get hurt while I’m gone, my little guinea pigs.”
“We’ll try our best.” he replied as he watched them get in the car “Have a safe trip.” Ren waved and watched them drive off.
The rest of the day trickled by as Ren actually followed his daily duties until it was finally time for dinner. By the time nighttime settled, things turned a little more relaxed at the Amamiya-house. While Shinya and Morgana were still out, enjoying their teenage lives, Makoto and Ren made themselves comfortable in the living room.
Ren yawned and stretched in his seat. Makoto's feet were resting in his lap as she was sitting on their couch sideways, reading a book.
“Tired of doing nothing all day?” Makoto teased.
“Someone has to make sure that everyone is happy and nothing does that better than actually talking to the people.” Ren grinned “Someone has to be the face of the town. And I have a damn pretty one.”
Makoto lowered the book and cast him an amused look. They both started to chuckle at the same time.
Their bantering was interrupted by a knock on the door.
Makoto sighed and got up. She anticipated someone needing help with something when she reached for the door, only to be surprised by a tall and slender woman with silvery hair, wearing an elegant pant-suit. “Sis?!” Makoto exclaimed before quickly taking a step to the side to invite her in.
“Apologies for the late appearance.” Sae said.
“How long have you been in town?” Makoto asked.
“About 15 minutes.” Sae shrugged as she took off her shoes “I wasn’t planning on coming for a visit in the middle of the night but I just had to take a breather...”
“It’s not a problem, Sis. Really!” Makoto reassured her.
“Yeah!” Ren called out from the living room “You want something to drink?”
“Gladly.” Sae sighed as the two Niijimas walked into the living room and sat down while Ren was busy at a cabinet, pouring three glasses of whiskey.
“Did something happen?” Makoto asked, confused by her sisters look.
Sae took the glass from Ren before saying “Things have just been… wild… over the last days. I just wanted to spend an evening away from all of it.”
“Politics suck, huh?” Ren asked with a grin as he sat down beside Makoto again and raised his glass before taking a sip.
“While I would normally educate you on the importance and tell you that you, as a mayor yourself, should know this too, tonight I’m inclined to agree with you.” Sae said before knocking back her drink.
“Should we be worried?” Makoto asked, concerned.
Sae shook her head “No, this doesn’t concern you. It’s just been a rough few days in the council.”
Ren tilted his head when he remembered the newspaper from this morning “Something to do with a councilman spilling it all?”
“I shouldn’t be surprised that the media already knows it too.” Sae sighed. “The next thing the council should decide upon should be a press secretary.”
Makoto looked to Ren “Could one of you fill me in?”
Sae rubbed her temple “Two days ago, one of the councilmen suddenly decided to come clean, publicly admitting that he had taken bribes from certain interest-groups to push their agendas.”
“Lobbyism?” Ren asked, amused “In times like these?”
“I suppose as soon as people talk about politics, lobbyism will be involved...” Makoto grimaced.
“In a way, me trying to advocate for Takemi’s and Hifumi’s proposition could be considered as such too, however, the agenda that he was trying to push would have been a lot less helpful to the public.” Sae said.
“What happened then?” Makoto asked. “Is he going to face consequences?”
“He removed himself from his office and left within an hour.” Sae said “That’s all we know.”
“But why did he decide to come clean all of a sudden?” Makoto pondered.
“Guilt maybe?” Ren shrugged “Or he just remembered his integrity again?”
“It’s possible.” Sae raised her shoulders “What surprised me the most though was that I would have never expected this from him. I didn’t have to do a lot with the guy but he always struck me as honest.”
“He must have been a good actor then.” Ren replied.
The older Niijima shook her head “If remembering his integrity was the only reason why he did it, then we must have an epidemic on our hands. It feels like I keep reading about stories like these in the news too.”
Makoto grimaced “But… isn’t that actually a good thing?”
Sae crossed her arms and legs “I can’t argue with that. However, one still has to at least question the circumstances.”
Ren leaned back on the couch “Or we could just be happy that people apparently gained the ability to find out that they’re assholes themselves?” he shrugged “At least that’s what I’m going to do.”
Makoto tilted her head and tapped her chin “I suppose that’s true. In either way, any form of investigation will have to be conducted from PubSec anyway.”
"Ah yes, good ol' PubSec." Ren sighed with a hint of dismay "Have they taken over the country yet?"
Sae shrugged “So far, the general commissioner is working on establishing offices in strategically important towns, so that they can act quickly come any kind of situation. Last thing I heard was that they’ve already reached the other side of the country and are starting to recruit all over.”
“So basically the police.” Ren concluded.
“Pretty much so.” Sae nodded.
“The speed at which they are proceeding and expanding is astounding.” Makoto had to admit.
“There’s more than enough people interested in joining the force.” Sae pointed out “The question is if everyone applying is really the right fit for the job.” she shrugged “The entire organization is growing into a huge system of its own, which is both a relief to the council because we were able to outsource everything but it also means that we gave up a lot of control.”
Ren smirked “If this trend of people admitting to the wrongs they’re doing keeps going, then you probably won’t have to worry all too much.”
Sae sipped on her drink and took a deep breath “Given how much other stuff we have to deal with at the moment, every task off our agenda is appreciated.”
Makoto shook her head “I’m sorry Sis… You came here to unwind from work and not continue talking about it with us.” she looked to Ren “Let’s talk about something else, shall we?”
“That sounds good.” Sae agreed “How have things been going here?”
Ren shrugged “You know, same old, same old.”
Makoto grimaced about how little they had to report “Things are going smooth over here. There… really aren’t any things out of their order on our end.”
A small smile tugged at the older Niijima's lips “So just like you wanted it, right?”
Ren grinned when he thought of his day, that had consisted of nothing but walking down the street and getting caught up in whatever chat there was available to pass the time. There used to be a time where that was an unthinkable scenario. But that was years ago and after equally long years of hard work to rebuild a neighborhood into its old glory and just the way they liked it, every one of the former Phantom Thieves had fallen into a new routine. A far less stressful one. And one that was much more quiet too. He crossed the arms behind his head and smiled at his sister-in-law “Exactly.”