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It was a cold afternoon in December when Ren Amamiya and Morgana traveled back to Tokyo for a short vacay with the rest of the Thieves. After Kuon Ichinose sends the A.I. Sophia to the frizzy-haired teen through e-mail, the three managed to get a trip through Sophia's inner tricks with advanced booking of train ride and restaurant reservation. Upon arrival in Tokyo, they quickly rode a taxi and made their way to Yongen-Jaya without a moment to lose.
"Man, I can't wait to screw around with the others again." Ren chuckled as he fiddled with his phone in a speaker manner.
"Nyahaha!" Morgana meowed as he adjusted his vest with the label 'Therapy Cat', "They'll be more shocked that I can now freely enter places after being declared a Therapy Cat with this vest."
"And we all know that you hate being called a cat one too many times." Sophia blurted out as Morgana growled.
"No need to remind me."
As the taxi made its stop and received the pay before speeding off, Ren and Morgana exhaled with smiles as they marched towards the alleyway leading to LeBlanc. As they inspect the inside for a surprise, Sophia gives them the green light and they enter casually. However, as they were about to close the door, Morgana spots a man approaching the glass door.
"Oh? Hey, it's-"
"It's nice to see you too, Morgana." The man smiled as he ruffled his fur before looking up to Ren.
"Dr. Maruki?"
"Ehe, you can drop the honorific, Ren. Takuto or Maruki would be fine for me." He insisted with his smile, but Ren sensed something from the look of his eyes. He then glanced at the counter behind him and eyed on the different jars of coffee beans from all over the world.
"You want the usual or you wanna try something new?" He asked gently as he invites him in.
"You decide for me, Ren. You are the host, after all."
Meanwhile, in the Sakura residence, the rest of the Thieves began to grow a bit impatient as Futaba Sakura kept staring at what seems to be a siren.
"Is Ren even here yet? It's about to be 6 pm already!" Ryuji Sakamoto, who traveled all the way from Yokohama to celebrate with the group, started to complain as Sojiro walks in to offer them hot chocolate.
"Ren still not around, I presume?" He guessed with an unamused face, probably because Futaba has installed more bugs and other security measures that only she can control.
"Yep."
Sumire Yoshizawa, who has visited Tokyo from Asahikawa after moving away from Shujin, was beginning to nap when the loud snoring of Yusuke Kitagawa wakes her up quickly with a fright. Makoto Niijima, who was currently writing a small essay in her notebook, was also startled by this.
"It seems Yusuke-kun is enjoying her sleep." Haru Okumura sighed as she fixed her coat. Futaba then scrunched her nose and grabbed her horn, causing Sojiro to back away from the door and stay in the hallway as everyone else closed their ears.
"HEY, INARI! NO SLEEPING!"
"Gah! Wah? Huh?!" The young artist scrambled up and wondered blankly what just happened before Ann Takamaki, who also woke up from her nap alongside Yusuke, was the victim of his erratic kicking.
"Ow, my face.... Futaba!"
"Whoops."
Sojiro then sighed as he returned to give Yusuke and Ann their drinks. "Why not go use one of her tiny camera bugs or whatever? I mean, you do like eavesdropping and all..."
"But Boss, didn't you just tell her not to use her tech?" Makoto furrowed her brows as Sojiro shrugged his shoulders.
"Ren and the cat are taking long. Who knows what might happen to the shop..."
Futaba then adhered to Sojiro's suggestion and turns on the camera facing one of the booths, spotting Ren brewing some coffee, Morgana perched by the counter, and Maruki sitting down.
"H-HUH!? He's already here!?"
"Ah! Dr. Maruki is there, too!" Sumire points out as everyone then watches the feed with audio.
"I gotta say, Ren: you sure know how to make the perfect brew for each combination you try out." Maruki praised Ren as the latter chuckled.
"Nah, Sojiro will kill me if he found out I mixed a few beans for you to test out."
Laughing as well to the thought of an angry cafe barista, Maruki shook his head and jested as well. "He can't fire you if you aren't hired in the first place."
"Ahaha! Good point."
"Technically, you can be charged with vandalism of the product as well as unauthorized usage of equipment."
"Not helping, Sophia." Ren rolled his eyes on the A.I., who is left with Maruki as he analyzed his phone.
"You sure know where to find the most interesting individuals, you know that?"
"Eh, it's more like the most interesting individuals know where to find me." He snarked cockily as he finishes the brew and makes his way to serve the drinks.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Want any curry with that?" Ren offered kindly, with Maruki refusing kindly.
"It's okay. A drink is enough for me now."
The Phantom Thief then sits down across him with a drink of his own, willing to spark a conversation of serious topics.
"Something's bothering you again?"
"Huh?"
Ren then stared at Maruki dead in the eye as he tries to calmly make him open up his problems. Maruki sighed and lets a smile creep onto his face.
"Of course, you'd be able to read people subtly. Yes, there is something bothering me."
Leaning forward with his hands clasped, the teenager then began to listen to his former counselor's thoughts and rants.
"I know it has been months since we last met, however I have been lost for quite some time now."
"Has the whole taxi driver thing not worked to keep you calm?"
"No, it's not like that. I had a passenger on my last day of the job, and we had quite a colorful chat. I picked him up from Haneda Airport, and we took a long time travelling to the northern part of Saitama. During the time we were talking, we tackled about a talk of life and how cruel the circle of life can be not just for the sake of economical and social status, but in philosophical perspectives as well."
"That's quite interesting." Morgana blurted out as Maruki nodded his head.
"Indeed, it is." He mused as he continued. "Now this man was so amazing that he has been exploring the world and learning about a lot of new things like the different cultures and cuisines, the norms of every nation that seem to outcast from the rest of the world, and the histories and philosophies that bring their nation to uniqueness and commonality with the others."
Ren tilted his head for a sec until he lets out a smile. "It seems you two had quite a lot of fun."
"Except, he was unhappy about it."
"Huh?"
"What do you mean, Takuto Maruki?"
Maruki then showed a downtrodden expression as he sighed and stared at his coffee, the cold air beginning to envelop its hot touch.
"He lost everything in life. In order to travel around the world, he struggled for ten years of hard work without his parents supporting him. In order to seek numerous opportunities in life, he had to let go of all he valued dearly. And when he already had everything, he had no one to share it with because of how isolated he is with life."
"So what happened after?" The cat meowed.
"He is here today to attend the funeral of a friend who looked up to him."
Despite the sad announcement, Maruki bit his lip as it bled slowly to fight off the impending emotions he had from that talk.
"After that, he asked me: am I truly happy with my life? Are the sins of my past forgiven by the hopes of the future? Is everything really going according to my new plan? All these questions may look difficult to answer without bias, but I guess we cannot avoid such hardships when we turn over a new leaf."
"How are those questions bothering you in a way? Do you feel offended? Scared?"
Ren's questions saddened him further. "Depressed, actually. I'm sad, scared, angry, and all over the place. I couldn't answer that man's questions, yet he understood me. He knew I couldn't give a guaranteed answer to appease his curiosity, but my silence was enough for him."
Sophia then turned to Ren and asked him a question of her own. "Ren, is this kind of emotion normal to people?"
"No, it isn't." Ren elaborated as Maruki and Morgana looked at him. "Depression is a very complex problem, yet you obtain it so easily without realizing it. For most people, they are given scenarios where they are hopeless, full of regret, carelessness, and other things that would go for the worst of emotions and actions. In Maruki's case, he is slowly starting to question himself after that talk with the man who lost his friend."
"Is that why you are depressed, Takuto Maruki? Did the man hurt you in a way?"
Morgana then spots a tear falling down his eye, humming in affirmation as he spoke up.
"It's okay, Doc. You can let it all out."
Now breaking down, Maruki slowly sobbed as Ren reaches out his hand onto his shoulder.
"Hey, are you-"
"No, I'm not!" He shouted in anguish fury. "I've been such a fool all through my life! Losing Rumi because of my selfishness, seeing Shibusawa enjoying life with his wife and newborn child, wondering what my family is doing because I have shunned them away from my life.... GRAGH!"
Banging the table loudly, Maruki continued to vent out his frustrations as Ren remained nonchalant.
"These questions about life infuriate me! But at the same time, they corner me into a space I cannot escape from! I don't know why am I feeling so broken all of a sudden when I should have been standing strong for you, Ren... you and I fought in order to kill those regrets, but with these new ones.... I just... I-I-I don't know anymore."
"Maruki, this isn't the end yet."
"H-Huh?"
The watery eyes of the older man looked at the young adolescent as he shook his head.
"No one is stopping you from venturing down the new path. From what I can understand, the man asked you the questions because he is willing to learn about you. He wants to know how far have you achieved because in his eyes, he sees himself in you."
!!!
"What do you mean, Ren?"
"Yeah. What Sophia said."
Answering the inquiries of the AI and the cat, Ren smirked as he began to give advice to his counselor.
"Look, Maruki. We're all struggling, even the ones who have already gotten everything they wanted. We can question ourselves from time to time, and it's okay. We can't always seek for help from others, but there are opportunities where you can be the one to help them to buffer and filter out whatever is making you feel all of this."
Maruki rejected Ren's words and insisted on something. "Ren, I don't know what to do anymore. I'm lost, fearful, and hopeless."
Ren then helps him out and balled his hands into fists. Maruki widened his eyes in surprise, but lets out a wry grin as he figured out what it actually means.
"Are we really gonna do this? Ren, are you certain you want us to do this again? He questioned him as Ren readied his stance.
"I've killed your regrets before, and I can kill them again."
Maruki then tightened his fists and took a swing at Ren, causing the Thief to stumble unexpectedly.
"Ren!"
"Ren!"
"I'm... fine..." Ren waved them off as he felt his jaw in pain. "Ow..."
"Ah! I'm so sorry, Ren!" Maruki helps him up and pats the dirt off his jacket.
"It's fine."
Maruki then looked at the coffee in the booth and sat back down as he watched Ren wipe the blood off his jaw. Continuing to cry, Maruki just observed Ren fixing the place as Morgana took over the chat from him.
"That was quite a punch, Doc. Learned anything yet?"
"Just a lot of levels of uncertainty, Morgana. But looking at him continuing to stand up, I'm still ashamed of what happened before... Taking advantage of you guys to control the Metaverse in my own perspective, forcing people into doing things they are not comfortable with, and trying to be self-righteous to justify my actions. If anything, I'm just stuck in my own world when the rest are moving."
"Is there something that the man in the taxi told you earlier?" Sophia chimed as Maruki then recalled the words.
"I think he said this: It's not too late to take on a new journey. There will be tough times that will derail you from your first path and force you in a circle of nothingness, but don't let it control you. You control it, even if you are in your last amount of strength."
Ren then smiled as he finished washing up. "Then why are you rambling here for? You should be going out there and finding your happiness once again."
Maruki wiped his tears using his sleeve, responding in a dejected tone. "Ren, if I do so... I may or may not come back here until everything is too late for me."
"And so what about it? As long as you take everything into heart and memory, they will never be forgotten. Outcome be different as it may, the fact that you managed to be a witness or a contributor to it makes it all the more valuable deep inside than face value. Never ever underestimate the heart and soul of the journey you traverse in, which is clearly you."
Tapping at his chest, Ren gave a commanding aura as Maruki looked at him again. He has witnessed this kind of feeling before, a feeling where Ren will always put himself behind others and make sure anyone who needs help gets the help they deserve. Morgana and Sophia then huddled towards Maruki as he cried again.
"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry....."
"Oh, Doctor Maruki..."
!!!
Ren, Maruki, and Morgana turned to see the rest of the Thieves entering the shop as he spoke up to them,
"I assume the bugs are on?"
"Y-Y-Yeah..." Futaba sniffed as she shook her head. "Dr. Maruki, even if you were in pain, we understood your pain so much that it became our pain."
"And when we receive the burden of someone else's hardships, we will always prioritize that and make sure that they will recover better than any one of us." Makoto explained.
"We all thought that everything has been okay in your end, but we also remembered that you too are human and can continue to feel depressed." Haru sighed sadly.
"We sympathize with you in more ways than one; even if you were our enemy at some point, you were never alone." Ann cried out.
"You were very elegant and eloquent enough to make us question you and your beliefs, but in the end we ended up in an honorable impasse which garnered so much respect from us to you." Yusuke worded.
"If you weren't so problematic and shit, you'd be quite the cool guy who remains loyal to his pals even when times get tough. You get what we mean?" Ryuji somberly told him as Sumire went last.
"Like what Ren-senpai said, don't underestimate yourself. You may not have the power to change everything for the sake of everyone, but you have used a better power that has caused such a change without you realizing it."
"W-What would that be?" Maruki questioned as the girls cried.
"You're still our friend!"
Everyone then gave him a hug as they began to break down altogether. Sophia then beeped at Ren as he looks at her face of sadness.
"It's okay, Sophia. You can cry, too."
Switching to a crying emoji to express herself, Ren joined the huddle for a hug as the surprise party turned into a reunion with an old friend.
Later that night, Maruki walked alone with a wry smile on his face as he took a look around him. The empty roads and the neon lights of several shops coat the darkness simultaneously, making him understand what Ren meant as he was closing up shop...
"So where are ya heading off for now, Doc?"
"I don't know yet. Probably somewhere where the light will guide me to."
"Hey, don't say it like you're dying!"
"Ahaha! I was not trying to make it sound like that."
"Good. For a moment there-"
"Then again, I may not come back here if I have found my inner peace or true calling or whatever."
"DOC!"
"Alright, alright. I'll try to come back at least once."
"Dr. Maruki..."
"Yoshizawa-san?"
"Wherever you go, whatever you find.... you have full support from us."
"Yeah!"
"Honestly, you guys... I met you all in the hopes of helping you face your problems my way. Now, it seems you are helping me in return the Phantom Thieves way. You changed my heart twice, if I say so myself."
"Don't change, Maruki. Or we might mistaken you for another member of the Four-Eyed Cult."
"I could say the same to you, Ren."
"Let me know in advance when you come back. Either my future wife will be nagging at me or I'm still the same old Debonair barista of LeBlanc."
"Pfft. Cocky show-off."
"Well, I would be surprised either way. Until next time, everyone!"
As the brown-haired adult continued his walk back to his home, he stops along a small cafe in Shibuya with angel wings embedded onto its text. Sighing in disbelief, he began to mumble to himself.
"Memento mori. Morbid as it may, it is quite the truth. I may be afraid of that day when it comes, but should I ever be backed into a corner by death... I will use all the strength those kids gave me and keep moving."
Checking his wallet to see his money still loading up his wallet, he then enters the cafe to find it quite relaxing for his suitability. Sitting down in a booth, he looked at the photo messages aligned on the wall and gasped in surprise.
Commandeer your adventure. You are the star of your story.
Maruki then shook his head and sunk down to the comfy couch as the barista approaches him with a smile.
"Can I help you, Sir?"
Maruki took one look at the menu and smiled back at the woman with his drink of choice.
"I'll have a Beautiful Goodbye. I want to cherish this place since I won't be here long."
A few days later, Ren and Morgana drop by the same cafe with Sumire and Haru tagging along due to their sudden interest in trying out the drinks. The barista spots him and greeted with her usual routine as she held a piece of paper.
"Hello! Welcome to Heaven's Gate Cafe!"
"Oh, hello!"
"Are you Mr. Ren Amamiya?"
Ren was startled by the approach and nodded his head carefully. "Yeah. Howdja know?"
"Well, a man came here a few nights ago and told me to give you this with a tab of the drinks of your choice. Only thing that he identified you was messy hair and a cat on your bag."
Sumire and Haru snickered as Ren receives the paper and opens it to find a letter.
To Ren Amamiya and friends,
By the time you are reading this letter, I have already gone somewhere where I have not gone to before. It will be my last adventure, since I don't have any more time to plan for future adventures. That said, however, I do not want to bid you farewell one last time without letting you know my thoughts. So please allow me to vent one last time.
I've thought about our conversation in LeBlanc, and I want to know that I am grateful and full of regret that you all accepted me despite my troubles. Aside from that, the girls' statement of me being your friend shocked me to the core. I was a man who took advantage of your weaknesses, and in exchange you took advantage of mine. I guess that's what it means to have an eye for an eye, huh? Regardless, it brings me joy to hear that we are officially in good terms now. I still have a long way to move on from my past, but if it means going on this journey into the unknown, then it's something I will do for myself as well as you all.
Alongside this note is my notebook attached with a few pictures we had in Shujin. I hope that I still continue to make you all smile brightly when even I have to shield you all from the gloomy clouds of despair. Again, thank you so much for everything... farewell, dear friend.
Takuto Maruki
Ren then shook his head as he removed his glasses and opened the notebook, with the photos and notes of the past being placed in there. There are, however, some pages left blank at the back paired with a writing on the page after the photo of him, Ren, and Sumire in the courtyard.
To the stars and us. In pain, we grow.