Chapter Text
Behold.
A story for an audience of the rebels, the fighters, the dreamers, and the broken.
Behold.
A story of anger, love, resentment, and jealousy.
Behold.
A story of change and rebirth.
Behold.
A story of death and loss.
Behold.
A story of tricksters. And the war they wage to keep themselves.
Behold.
It has been ten years since the Phantom Thieves took the world by storm. Everyone has scattered to the winds and moved forward in their lives.
Makoto Niijima is a police officer. Ryuji Sakamato is on the fast track to being an olympic runner. Ann Takamaki is now a world famous model. Yusuke Kitagawa is now a world famous artist. Futaba Sakura dives further into research of cognitive patience, with Morgana by her side. Haru Okumura is still a big figure in the corporate world. Sumire Yoshizawa is an olympic gymnast. Zenkichi Hasegawa is still an inspector. Sophia continues to learn about humanity.
Everything has changed.
Nothing has changed.
And Ren Amamiya is gone.
Behold.
The trickster war.
ONE YEAR AGO
Last one.
I promise.
Ren Amamiya pours out his last mug of coffee. Kenya AA. Grown in the midwest of Kenya at high altitudes, moderate acidity, full aroma, blah-de blah-de blah-de blah. He’d memorized every single one of Sojiro’s fun facts. Every single one, from beginning to end.
Great for conversation.
Bad for sleep.
It took everything for Ren to find a job in his own hometown. Especially considering, A. He specifically wanted to work at a coffee shop, and b. It was still damn near impossible to get a job in Inaba considering past events. Best he could do is a corner store in the middle of one of the less reputable parts of town, where every single worker and customer smokes as if their life depended on it, and required him to stay four hours after closing.
The shop closed at 10 pm.
You do the math.
It was only natural that, as Ren lit his third cigarette of the night, he’d fall into their habits as well. It was only natural that he couldn’t tell his friends about these new developments. He could barely tell his family, only reason they knew about the job was because he didn’t exactly have a choice. Ren couldn’t bear his best friends knowing how far he’d fallen since the days of being heroes.
Especially not Makoto.
They all had futures. Dreams that had a great chance of coming true, dreams that mattered more to them than their own physical or mental health.
He couldn’t tell them.
He couldn’t. He wouldn’t let them sacrifice their futures just for his sorry ass.
Knock knock.
Ren blew out a slow puff of smoke and groaned. “Sorry, we’re closed!”
Knock knock.
A growl. “Can’t you read the sign, boss?! We. Are. Closed!”
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
Ren scoffed. He put out the cigarette and stood up to the door. “I’m not serving you, I’m only opening the door to tell. You-“ He opened the door. “That-“ His breath caught. And his eyes narrowed.
A man stood before him. An older man, probably mid fifties. His face and body were covered in shadows, but as lightning illuminated the darkness, he could faintly make out some nose scars and a thick beard and a bit of fuzz on an otherwise bald head. Black glasses, not too dissimilar from the ones he still had to wear. A small raincoat that was covered in dirt. Yet a watch adorned in gold.
The five detectives he knew (for some reason) would be screaming at him that this was a rich person who had fallen deep into poverty and yet was still holding onto his past. But Ren ignored those voices.
He knew who this was.
“Shido.” He let out a wry smile. “Forget to shave?”
Masayoshi Shido grumbled. “May I come in?”
Ren’s grin grew wider. “Oh, this is rich. Ya know what, I’ll bite. Sure. I’m not serving you shit though.”
Shido limped inside as Ren closed the door behind him. The disgraced politician looked around with a wistful look. “Nice place.”
Ren shook his head as Shido took his seat. “Not mine, but thanks I guess.” As he sat across his former enemy, his smirk remained. “You in the area? Trying to go down memory lane?” He chuckled ruefully. “You know, the woman you abused walked in here one day. She didn’t even know I worked here, and the moment she saw me, you can’t even believe how fast she ran out the cafe.
It’s a shame too. I wish I could tell her that I don’t fully blame her. I blame you. But alas.”
Shido crossed his arms on the table. “I am shocked at how lax you are about all this.”
Ren couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as he leaned back in the booth. “What would it change if I let it break me? Would it change what you’ve done? Would it change that I’m still a pariah in this town? How about the fact that my future is gone because of you? I have to watch my friends and family prosper while I’m left by the wayside and I have to be comfortable with that. I can’t even articulate how angry I am because if I do, it’ll go back to how it was in Shujin. Nothing would change.” Then he sighed, pulling out another cigarette, causing Shido’s eyes to go wide.
“You smoke?”
“Yeah.” Then he grinned. “You want one?”
Shido silently outstretched his hand. Ren pulled out his still lit cigarette and floated it above Shido’s hand, causing him to pull back…before he pulled out an actual cigarette and laid it on the table. The former Phantom Thief chuckled. “Gotcha.”
Shido took the smoke and let his host light it. The scent of tobacco filled the cafe once more as Ren Amamiya leaned back in his booth. “Why are you here?” His eyes narrowed. “If this is about him-“
Shido frantically shook his head. “It’s not. In fact, this is about you.” He put out the cigarette and for the first time he looked…anxious. A far cry from the man who ruined his life. “…When the conspiracy fell apart, and I was arrested, the scientists I worked with kept Wakaba Isshiki’s research close to their chest. But after Sae Niijima prosecuted them, the research ended up in free fall.”
For the first time, Ren leaned forward. “Until…?”
“…Until a broker obtained it. That broker managed to sell the information to the highest bidder. Two hundred billion yen spent. Through a variety of international companies it ended up in a shell company that can barely be connected to any actual company. That amount of money has to be connected to a massive conglomerate, according to the accountants that would actually talk to me-“
“And? Who got it?”
Another pause. Then a sigh. “A new world power calling herself Odin. She intends to use that research…to kill-“
Ren scoffed. “Wait, wait, wait. She. You said she. There is no world in which you, even after a change of heart, would assume that someone in power would be a woman. You know who it is. You know exactly who it is, don’t you?”
Shido’s foot bounced up and down. “She…she means to kill you.”
“I don’t give a shit. You’re afraid. She’s got you scared. Scared enough to come to me at twelve AM in some trash cafe in a random corner of Inaba. Tell me.”
“…She has eyes and ears everywhere-“
Ren slammed his hand on the desk. “If my FRIENDS AND FAMILY ARE IN DANGER I NEED TO KNOW A NAME. AND YOU ARE GOING TO TELL ME OR ELSE…Or else…”
A light passed by the cafe outside. Then another. Then another. The sounds of footsteps echoed across the rainy steps. Then silence. All that could be heard was the sound of breathing. Then the lights went out in the cafe. More footsteps.
Then the door opened. Lights rippled out of the edge of assault rifles. They shone across the room. But both Shido and Ren were gone. The main soldier growled. “Find them.”
A voice was heard at that. “He told me that you intended to kill me. But I don’t think your boss told you who I was. Because if they did…you would know.”
There was a lull.
Then…
“Death means nothing to me anymore.”
That is the last time anyone heard from Ren Amamiya.