Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

—2010—

March 5th.

It was a beautiful day outside. The sakura blossoms were in full bloom, petals scattering and flowing every which direction in symphony with the wind. There weren't too many souls present to witness it as spring bloomed, in all of its marvelous beauty, around the walkway leading up to the entrance of Gekkoukan; most of the school was empty and devoid of life, as everyone had all gathered for the graduation ceremony being held in the auditorium. Students were chatting among themselves like they usually did, enjoying the pleasant aftermath of a battle that no one was aware had even been fought.

Somewhere in the crowd, a girl with fair skin, brown hair and an unforgettable pink sweater was staring at the vacant seat beside her, her brows furrowed. 

Honestly... where did he run off too..? Yukari asked herself silently, paying little attention to all of the extra noise around her. Putting a thumb to her lips, she began to deliberate— she was more than certain that she'd seen him earlier that day, in the morning. He looked out of it on the walk to school.. no, to be more accurate, he looked horrible, even the day before. Everyone had thought he was sick, and honestly she had half a mind to force him to stay home today, but she couldn't talk him out of showing up. He seemed.. oddly adamant, about coming to school today, like there was something he absolutely had to do. But with the condition he was in, she wouldn't be surprised if he'd just fallen asleep.. he'd took naps at school under better circumstances. Maybe still in the classroom, then?

''..What's up, Yuka-tan?" Inquired the capped boy from beside her, a small, scruffy beard on his chin and a soft shine in his eye. Curiosity sat on his eyebrows as he leaned forward slightly in his seat; he could clearly tell something was on her mind, just not what. 

Yukari turned to look at him, and tilted her head slightly. She spoke in a questioning tone. "Uh, hey, Junpei... Do you know where he is right now?"

That got his brows to furrow, too. Now they were both equally confused, she could tell. He scratched the back of his head, giving it a second or two of thought, before responding. "Him...? Now that I think about it, I haven't seen him since we got to school. He wasn't feeling all that well yesterday, right? Think he was down with the same thing this morning... but knowing that guy, he probably just fell asleep, or he's off somewhere cycling through his MP3." Iori joked, with his typical nonchalance. Normally, he'd have been correct. But something seemed... off, about today. For one, she had this nagging feeling in the back of her head, like there was something critical she'd forgotten about. And two, over the last year she'd known him, he had never gotten sick, not even once. 

Giving him a clearly unconvinced glance, Yukari settled, "Honestly, for once, I hope you're right. I.. hope so..."

Again, she felt that itch in the back of her head. It didn't jump out at her and make itself known with alarm, but it wasn't mundane enough to completely slip her mind, either. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but her intuition incomprehensibly told her it had something to do with him, and she didn't like that at all.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the microphone at the stage begin to focus. The Student Council President was about to start her graduation speech... that was what they were here for, after all. She decided that she might just have to sort through her mind a little later in the day.

Just a little further.

That's what he kept telling himself, as he struggled his way down the hallway. His legs were limping, barely functioning, his skin was paler than it had ever been, and he clutched his weakened chest as he felt his heart palpitate with every single step he took. Just a little further, a little more struggling, a little more fighting. God, he'd done so much fighting. 

He clung to the walls with his free arm to help stabilize his movements as he continued on, eventually reaching the base of the stairway. He rose his hanging head to acknowledge the challenge in front of him. The steps he'd casually ascended practically every day over the last year now looked no different than a mountain to him. Despite that fact, he still smiled, and began his final ascension up heaven's staircase with zero hesitance. He did his best to ignore the pain in his legs as he climbed and turned, his arm moving from the wall to the railing to keep him steady, but with each step he took it grew more and more difficult to keep himself from keeling over. 

The pain, the invisible weight on his eyes was almost unbearable, but he grit his teeth and carried on, driven by unspoken determination to make it to the school roof. His body was quickly becoming weaker. He was on borrowed time. But he refused to give up. Not now. Not when he was so close. 

He tried to reign in his heavy, irregular breathing as he passed the second floor and headed for the final stretch. His deep blue bangs covered almost half of his entire face, but his lapis eyes still shined with an unmistakable urgency, as if nothing in the world would keep him from this.

He had to keep his word. That was what he'd told a friend, once upon a time, and he couldn't look him in the eye again on the other side if he went back on it. It was just a little bit further. No matter how many directions his soul was being pulled in, he would keep going for just a few more moments, at any cost, at every cost. Finally, when he had given it everything he had, he stumbled to the zenith, upon the door leading to the rooftop. The two doors were heavier than he remembered, and it seemed like night and day trying to open them now as compared to how simple it had been before. He didn't care. With one last push, he mustered up all of his remaining strength to force them open, and he was soon greeted with the rewarding rays of the noon sunlight.

The birds were chirping beautifully. He could feel the fresh air tickling his cheeks, and the breeze dancing through his hair. A shaky, deep breath entered his lungs, as he felt his straining muscles relax.

There was a girl sitting there by her lonesome, a few feet in front of him. It took him a few moments to notice, his perception not nearly as keen as it once had been, but his ocean blue pupils lit up with a soft recognition as soom as he did. Her blonde locks and enchanting eyes fixated on him as she turned to gaze at him, the small smile on her face saying much more than words ever could.

"...Aigis."  He muttered, almost subconsciously. He'd recalled her name with total clarity, not the name of the odd schoolgirl he'd sat beside, but of the most human woman he'd ever met, who just so happened to carry the body of a machine. It was the name of a friend. Perhaps one of the only true friends he still had, seeing as there could only possibly be one reason she was here. She remembered, just like he did. 

Her mouth opened, and she spoke his name with such love, such carefulness, that he could almost feel the touch of life grace his body again, despite the fact that his hearing had gone almost numb with how poor his condition had grown.

They stared at eachother in silence for a moment, the drifting winds and the singing birds becoming the sole source of noise between them, before they slowly started to walk towards each other. Her cold, mechanical exterior be damned, she was so visibly happy to see him again. Not the crafted picture of the regular schoolboy he had to pretend to be these last few weeks, but the real him, the version of her saint-like leader, whose time spent alongside she could finally recall. Not that there was ever any doubt. 

But her thoughts of joy and nostalgia were violently interrupted when, seemingly out of nowhere, the boy in front of her— who she'd come to recognize as her most important purpose in life, if not the sole purpose— fell helplessly forward. His legs gave out beneath him, as if there were never any energy in them to begin with. 

There was an instant rush in her head. Faster than any human brain could conceivably process, an analysis occured, and thoughts of protection flooded her mind. Before his face could meet the tile, she hurried forward, catching him gently in her arms and keeping him steady with a warm hug. She cradled the back of his bangs with her hand as his body relaxed into her shoulder.  "...Welcome back, Makoto."

Such a small, insignifcant gesture. Something so meaningless and tiny.. somehow, it carried so much warmth. 

He supposed that's why he let himself smile again when he heard it.

The boy, now moved carefully onto her lap, laid down peacefully upon the farside bench, overlooking the gorgeous skyline. Judging by how much his hair was beginning to shutter and sway, the wind was starting to pick up. As the breeze began to dance and blow, the sakura blossoms danced with it, bringing their vibrant colors and delicate petals into view once more. It had been one whole year since he'd seen it. It was just as amazing as he'd remembered. 

"..The wind.. it feels so nice..." The girl spoke softly as she raised a hand towards the blue sky. She, too, had  learnt to appreciate the beauty of the world they saved together. It was a far cry from the hyper-logical, aloof demeanor she started out with last August. He could feel a radiant warmth eminating from every quirk of her lips as she spoke. "I admit, I'm finally noticing the beauty of spring. It's wonderful."

Even without being able to hear her words, they kept the smile on his face everlasting. Only god could understand what she was saying; his hearing had long since been reduced to white noise. Still, he stared up at her quivering eyes with a smile that could only belong to Christ himself, listening. If not with his ears, then with his soul. He could feel his struggling heartbeat grow fainter, whatever strength he had to keep it going beginning to fade. He wondered for a moment if that might've had something to do with the tension pressing down on his eyelids.

He already knew the answer. Every fiber, every cell on his body was telling him to close his eyes. To just let himself rest for a moment. It was.. frustrating, but he couldn't get mad with his own body, especially not because of a choice he consciously made. If he could describe it, he would say it felt as though he was shouldering every piece of fatigue the human race had ever experienced all at once. It didnt particularly matter, however. If that's what he had to do, then he would do it, just like back then. Even now, he still refused to let himself go until he could be certain he'd fulfilled his promise. 

He kept weakly struggling on, in these last few moments. He kept reassuring himself that these were the results of his own decisions.. a once hollow comfort, made infinitely more symbolic over the past 11 months. It was a token of wisdom that he'd now quite literally given his life to; "I chooseth this fate of mine own free will." Those words, which, admittedly, he never fully understood when he first heard them, were his only solace as the breath slowly faded from his lungs, and the life drained from his eyes, like a dying ocean. His heart physically ached, and with it,, he came to a grim realization. If he were to close his eyes now, they would not open again.

The girl above him knew this just as well as he did. He could tell by the poorly concealed grief, the bittersweet smile she she held in her expression as she smoothed the hair away from his forehead. 

He had taught her how to live. An almost impossible feat, considering the fact that he had came to this city having almost completely given up on life himself. They had grown so much, all of them together, since everything had first started. But she knew that this was the last time she would hold him like this, and it broke her heart. Everything, absolutely everything, had some cost in this world— even miracles. And his miracle, which was the greatest of all, would possess the greatest cost of them all in turn. As she spoke, she tried to keep it together, to be strong for him, to let her smile be the last thing he remembered. But the tears began to stream down her face, and no amount of fighting could keep her sobs fully buried.

He slowly raised a hand to her cheek, caressing it with what ghostly warmth he still had, and wiping a tear. Even now, on his deathbed, he could find it in him to consider others before himself. His voice was raspy, quiet, and soft, but undoubtedly his: "..Don't cry. It's okay."

She smiled brighter, and yet sobbed harder at the same time. He could tell the swirl of conflicting emotions was confusing her. It was pure joy, and unadulterated sorrow, all at the same time. She clutched his hand tightly in hers, not willing to let it fall back to his side yet, in fear of never feeling his touch again. Her grip was shaky, but firm, as if it was all she could do to hold him like this.

Accepting what he thought would be the last scene of his life, he sorted through his final thoughts. He had no palpable regrets. He lived exactly as he had chosen to.. it was a remarkable life. Though, if he could be granted one wish of his own, in return for granting the wishes of all humanity, it would be...

. . .

. . .

. . .

"—Hey, Hey, HEY!"

A voice. 

"..Yuki-kun!"

Voices. They were soft, and barely audible at first, but they grew louder and more distinct with every passing moment. 

"—Leader!"

His eyes, which he assumed that by now were all but lifeless, slowly went wide. 

"—Makoto!"

No, they weren't just voices. They were voices of an undying promise. Voices of his memories. Voices of his friends. They were all really here. They were all really coming.

"Look." Aigis said, tightening her grip on his hands even more.  "They all kept their promises."

He used all the phantom power he had just to crane his head and look towards the door. And finally, against all odds, against the whims of life and death itself.. it flew open, to reveal them. All of them. The most precious people in his life.

Precisely, exactly as they said they would, they came. The resolution they'd made the night they were supposed to die had in that moment been completed. 

He tried to get himself to sit up, to speak to them, to thank them, but it required effort he no longer could muster. He had been on the reaper's clock for ober a month, after all. It was only natural. "..Ah." His smile grew wider in spite of this, and he made himself content with just their presences, though the irony somewhat amused him. "I'm sorry, guys. You're here, but.. I don't think we'll get to talk again this time." 

This was the happiest he'd been in a long time. No, in fact, it was the happiest he had ever been in his 17 years of life. Upon seeing them,  he felt an indescribable joy, a joy that was the culmination of entire years worth of time spent together. The determination to see this exact scene was what was getting him out of bed in the morning, what kept him tethered to this world. And now, his dying wish had been properly granted. He was sure he was the luckiest man in the world.

"So this is what you were on about.. You could've reminded me, you jerk!" A voice, he recognized as Yukari, bellowed with a reverberated, pure joy. She wore a beautiful, blissfully ignorant smile on her face as she sprinted towards him.

"Hey! The hell're you doing, holding out on us, you dumbass?" Another voice, this time resembling Junpei's, called out from beside her, a similarly ignorant grin painted on his expression. 

"You didn't honestly think that we'd forget, did you?" Akihiko's voice rang out, the happiest he'd heard it in ages. 

"And to think, you're napping.. were you trying to imply that you'd beat us here with your eyes closed?" Mitsuru called with a soft chuckle. 

"You certainly seem sleepy, Leader.. that isn't any good. We're supposed to be partying!" Fuuka followed.

"And now that I've got my memories back, I still want my rematch, you know!" Ken came last, followed by a soulful bark from Koromaru.

It was so heartwarming, the moment almost seemed cinematic. Perhaps it was the touch of death at work, corrupting his perception, but he could swear that they were moving in slow motion. He made sure to keep his gaze fixated on them for as long as he could, until he physically couldn't anymore.

Until his eyes felt heavy. 

".."Embrace your destiny", huh? Not bad, old man." 

Like clockwork, his life flashed before his eyes, and deathbed vision took ahold of him. Memories circled through his flickering mind like a movie. The fulfillment of his contract with the Velvet Room's master, and the last visages he would ever be graced with of his friends. The priceless spring scenery from the rooftop was the last blessing consciousness alotted him, a blessing worth his sacrifice a thousand times over and then some. Memories of the city, Memories of the school, and... 

20XX(?)

..So. How many years has it been? Someone thought to themselves.

As far as the eye can see, an endless infinity of stars stretched out in every imaginable direction. Only results remained here, a quiet calmness his only company as he reminisced about his final day on the magical little planet we call the Earth. In this dimension, or should he say, this layer, time itself has no place. Had it been 5.. or maybe 6...?

You might ask where he was residing, or how there could possibly be a dimension where in time doesn't apply, effectively transcending its very concept. This ethereal realm of limitless stars, sea and sky is best described as The Sea of Souls. Or, perhaps the depths of humanity's mindscape is easier to understand. Or, perhaps the ground-zero of the collective unconscious is even better. Whichever teriminology one might prefer is serviceable. He wasn't ever all that big on Jungian Psychology until a few years ago, anyway. 

He'd been acting as a barrier between two primordial gods. One absolute, and one cognitive. It was a barrier that he'd given his very life to craft, in the interest of protecting his loved ones, and protecting his world. He thought it an unbelievably small price to pay, honestly, and one that he possesed not even a singular regret regarding. Even if, by chance, an all-powerful god came to personally allow him another chance at life, there wasn't any way that he would forsake the choice he'd decided upon. No matter what, he's determined to act as a seal to stop Erebus, mankind's manifestation of suicidal tendency, from reaching Nyx, the Goddess of the Night, the Primordial Star Eater, and, currently, his prisoner.

Of the two gods, Nyx may be neutral, but Erebus is... another story. He's, regrettably, dead-set on destroying humanity. His only reason to exist is to make contact with Nyx and bring about The Fall. And, seeing as he exists because of humanity's grief— including imperceptibly miniscule desires like the tiny little inkling in the back of one's head that would choose death over whatever incorrigible problem it currently faces— until humanity either does not exist anymore or doesn't want to die anymore, he will continously, endlessly revive, and he wll keeping trying to destroy the Great Seal; him. 

..Speaking of that furball, Makoto thought to himself, even now, he keeps on regenerating. Anyone would be afraid of being mauled by a two-headed overgrown dog, typically. Anyone, but not him. He's the messiah, yes? The possessor of the ultimate miracle, the holder of the universe, a saint, a martyr, a.. seriously tired kid. A God, in a manner of speaking. So, when he says he's afraid, he doesn't actually mean that he's afraid for himself, rather...

As Erebus finally finished regenerating, he set his malicious, hungry scarlet eyes on the seal and readied himself to pounce upon the door. But before he could even gather a fraction of a chance, he was destroyed twice as fast by an incomprehensibly powerful light of purple energy, that filled the entire time-space with a pretentiously loud noise and an even bigger explosion. He recognized the spell; it was clearly a Megidoloan. Just an absurdly powerful one. In his life, he had only ever seen one individual capable of harnessing the spell's power to an extent that drastic.

"—Hello, Makoto-sama~♡!"

If the spell hadn't convinced him, the sing-song voice accompanying it certainly had. It was Elizabeth. His attendant, friend, guest, lover, all rolled into one. Across his year-long, she'd been an invaluable source of confidence, and the only one besides Erebus to make contact with him after he'd become the seal for what felt like eons. He felt a soft warmth well up within his soul upon "seeing" her (he couldn't quite see her in the physical sense, but he could still somewhat view her), yet due to his present condition, there was no possibility of him audibly responding or displaying any gratitude. 

Elizabeth, for the most part, was undeterred. She had grown used to having such one-sided conversations with him over the last few years. She coughed. "...Well, as you know, it is always nice to see you once again. And this time, I bear wonderful, captivating news. You won't be able to believe what happened." Elizabeth monologued, trusting that whatever interest he had could be communicated silently. Every part of him, without fail, was effectively locked within that seal. But that was counterbalanced by the fact that, since she knows him so well, she can quite accurately guess what he's thinking.

There isn't ever a day that goes by that she doesn't come here. Primarily, to destroy Erebus each time he revives himself, and secondly, to talk about what's happening in the outside world. General affairs, interesting developements, and things of that nature. Everytime she comes, she does her best to talk nonstop about everything that's occured since his... departure.

"—Ooh, so, after I subdued Erebus the time before last, I decided to go on a venture towards this humble countryside town the locals called "Inaba"." She explained cheerily. "Why, you might ask? Because I sensed a presence quite similar to yours, Makoto. And I learned that said presence was indeed a wildcard, like you... after some due searching, of course."

That got him interested. A new wildcard was definitely a special occasion, judging by what his journey had been like, and the effect it had upon the world. Igor had vaguely implied that there were others before him, but he hadn't been certain whether there would be more after him, and now he had his answer.

"You might find it intriguing to know that he's already finished his journey! He's faced his own respective threat to mankind, sort of like you." She spoke with closed eyes and her usual smile. But something about her tone of voice was... a little off, Yuki noticed. As though there was some underlying bitterness, or envy. It piqued his curiosity, but he decided not to dwell on it. 

In his case... there wasn't much jealousy in his heart to be found, which might've surprised some people. There are those who would imagine him to feel pessimistic, or envious, of the fact that there's was another of his kind who realized his fate without having to sacrifice his life. But, more than anything, he felt glad that his successor didn't have to meet the same fate that he did. It meant two things; one, that being a wildcard wasn't essentially a deterministic death sentence, and two, that his choice was actually doing some good for the world. 

She shook her head, ridding herself of any lingering tension before continuing. "Moreover, you'd be surprised to hear who I found at the scene... your friends, my dear. All of whom you traversed the darkest hour with, even your faithful canine. I can tell they all still miss you dearly."

He certainly was pleasantly surprised to hear that. In the aftermath of his death, he was worried for a little that it might've torn his friend group apart, considering the... drastic, lengths that Yukari, and to a lesser extent Mitsuru were willing to take to bring him back. He had faith that it would sort itself out in the end, however, and it eventually did. It made him a little somber to think about the memories he was missing out on making with them at times, but more than anything, hearing about how they were doing brought joy to his unending solitude. 

He couldn't express any of that joy, unfortunately. There were a handful of drawbacks to being the seal, the most prominent one again being that he couldn't interact with any of the inhabitants of the outside realms. No matter what Elizabeth did, he couldn't reply, or smile at her, or reassure her when he notices that seeing him like this is beginning to take too much of a psychological toll on her.

From her perspective, he looks the exact same and acts the exact same, just.. . infuriatingly crucified to that wretched door, with all of his emotion, his life robbed from him. When she sees him, in the state that he now finds himself in, she most usually deals with two emotions. One being happiness, and the other being relentless fury. The fact that her Makoto is still hoisted up on that god-awful cross is the biggest taunt she's ever dealt with in her life.

But even then, she.. she doesn't falter, no matter how much it pains her to see him like this. She never does. Elizabeth skillfully conceals the depths of her sorrows, and makes it very, very prudent to never break down or cry in front of him. She leaves her abandonment episodes for when she's not here, when she's alone, where he doesn't have to feel responsible for it, because she knows that he would.

"..And that's not even the most surprising part." She says, glee not betraying the hidden anger and grief in her mind. She then opened up her palm and materialized a card, one he was all too familiar with. A card that marked the very beginning of his own journey.

..The Fool.

"Yes, I've gained the fool arcana! Well, not precisely— no matter what I seem to try, I can't adopt the power myself. It seems that's unfortunately an honor reserved for people like you. But nevertheless, as soon as I can find a way to put it to use, and believe me, I will, I'll be closer than ever from freeing you from that stupid statue." Elizabeth promised, staring softly at him with a somber smile. It was possibly the saddest look he'd seen on her face, besides when she first found out about... well, it wasn't a memory he thought he should recall.

"—So, please, wait a little more now, my dear. I swear that, no matter what it costs, it will only be a matter of time before I can see your face again."

She's trying even now. She left the velvet room for this. She left her family for this. Just to save him from his own choice. On one hand, he was happy. Happy that someone was still looking out for him, that he still had someone to "talk" to, even after all of this time. He might've gone insane if it wasn't for her occasional visits to add some eventfulness into his incredibly mundane, barely conscious existence. But on the other hand.. he felt guilty, for being unable to stop her from doing this. He could tell she was trying to keep it together for him, and that sooner or later, her love for him might end up destroying her. But there wasn't much he could do, and there was certainly nothing he could say. Even if he could speak, he doubt she'd ever change her mind. She would not ever stop trying to free him.

If he could communicate one thing to her, though, it would be that what actually mattered to him was never the freedom. If he was told he had to experience this repetitive, insanity-inducing dream for the rest of eternity, but could keep her by his side, and could hold onto the memories of his friends, then it would as great of a "life" as anything he could ask for. His decision to become the Great Seal was already worth it when he went around the city and got to see his loved ones off, or the day after when he saw everyone on the roof, but Elizabeth's persistent company proved that it paid off in dividends. 

"~That Aside, I shall now move onto the most surprising matter!~♡"

Wait, there's more...? Makoto thought. Seriously?

"It's this... this food, called "fsteak". The friend of that wildcard I mentioned said that it's, ahem, "BEEEAAARY DELICIOUS!", and it is indeed just as enjoyable as the takoyaki from Iwatodai. I heard it's actually short for beefsteak—" ...She droned on.

…Well, that's Elizabeth. No matter who you were, even if you're a statue plastered onto a wall, she was able to make you feel at ease. An eternity dwelling within the Sea of Souls couldn't be that bad if she was there for you. She was the reason he didn't lose his mind in here, or what left he had of it. If Makoto could record everytime she spoke, he was sure he would listen to it at every possible moment. He had no illusions about the futility of his existence, no conceptions of a better day, yet nonetheless, he was completely invested in the here and now. 

She gave him the strength to embrace his current circumstances with absolute lucidity, the living embodiment of the light he thought left his eyes when they finally gave up on him that promised day. From his memories of his friends, and her consistent presence, Makoto Yuki was truly freed, even in his condition of eternal condemnation. 

20XX(??)

Even after she started her own journey, she still came here to destroy Erebus every time. And afterwards, as per usual, she would talk to him about her own adventures, which she dubbed ''Elizabeth's answers for the earth's wonders!"

Or, something like that. Which was really just her telling him about the food she ate. If he didn't know any better, he would think that she was rubbing it in his face that she could eat and he couldn't. 

"—Oh, and this one restaurant I visited during my travels to America was simply DIVINE! What was it called..? Oh, um, Five Gals! It really had to be the tastiest burger I've ever eaten!~"

Maybe he didn't know any better after all.

20XX(???)

She came yet again, but this time she brought some news. She informed him that the new wild card she talked to before was... fighting, or... dancing, or something, to defeat another threat to humanity.

Yuki doesn't really understand what she's talking about, in all honesty, and while that held true for most of the time, he really didn't understand it this time.

Dancing? Really? Is he playing around, or saving humanity?

. . .

..Can't lie. That sounds fun.

20XX(????)

Today— he wasn't even sure if he could still logically use that word— was the same for the Messiah. He barred Erebus from reaching Nyx ad infinitum, and so on and so forth. But this time, something was amiss. There was neither hide nor hair of Elizabeth.

Maybe she's busy? He thought to himself. Or she figured something out with that Arcana... hopefully, she's not in danger. One after another, thoughts flew through his head as Erebus kept attacking the seal without rest.

He silently wondered to himself if something had happened to her, but he then drowned out those doubts as soon as they surfaced. This was Elizabeth he was talking about, she could make a cognitive god like Erebus look incompetent in comparison. It was more than likely something beyond worry, he told himself. And yet, for some odd reason, he couldn't shake the underlying suspicion that something was wrong.

Not having much other choice, he resolved himself to wait and see what would happen next. Hopefully she would have an interesting explanation for her absence this next visit, and it would just end up another funny story.

20XX(?????)

He didn't know how long it'd been, he never does, but this was obviously too long. Erebus didn't let him rest, not even for a second. He kept attacking and attacking and attacking, over and over and over. It wasn't particularly painful, since he had no capability to perceive pain, or really to perceive anything anymore, but it was still annoying, in the sense that he couldn't can't raise a finger to obliterate it like he wanted to. 

Elizabeth was... still, missing. His concerns were starting to pronounce themselves by now. Powerful she may be, even gods can be destroyed, and she is no god. He himself was far from invincible.

His best guess was the idea that maybe she'd found a holder for the Fool Card she had, and perhaps said fool was at the climax of his journey? Or she could've found a way to apply it to herself, and she was busy going treading down her road of trials. There were endless possibilities, so many different things that could have happened, but in any case, he was in no position to help. He could only silently speculate.

It was far quieter in here than usual. 

Nothing. Not a thing. Not even a single thing changed.

He was growing paranoid, undeniably. He'd even begun thinking of ways to search for her, like using telepathy to contact Igor, for example. But he unfortunately did not know the first thing about telepathy. That was always Fuuka's expertise.  And, besides, after a... particularly nasty argument with her master, Elizabeth had left the velvet room ages ago. She had never told him what they had debated over, but it didn't take a genius to guess. These days, there was practically nothing Igor could do for her. 

Principally, he knew that actually interacting with anyone outside of the Sea was a pipe dream. If he was being frank, Makoto figured that this brainstorming of his was, in reality, just a means to entertain his lonely mind in the midst of her absence. There wasn't exactly anything he could do, either. But despite knowing this, he refused to stop thinking. What could he do, what could he do, what could he...

Finally, something. Something happened. Something interrupted his thoughts. For some odd reason, Erebus had completely stop moving, halting its tireless assault of the seal. ...This is curious, he immediately thought. He continued to observe, as the hellish canine froze like a deer, and he could somewhat feel an ominous energy pulsating through the air around him, despite his lack of a body, like a sixth sense.

And then he saw it. A blue butterfly, the same one that he saw when he was at the station that day. The same one he'd seen just before he died. In spite of however many years it had been, he'd recognized it instantly. It was unforgettable. 

Time seemed to stop as it floated through the stars. Then, all of a sudden, Erebus began to atomize, broken down to his finest components over and over again, without being given any room to recover. Every time his body was engulfed in that sickening red mist, and he began regenerating, he was in turn devoured by an ethereal blue mist, constantly counteracting the reconstruction process. He wasn't even given the opprotunity to growl as he disappeared into continued emptiness.

...Strange. Yuki thought to himself. It didn't exactly look like he'd be gone for good, but it definitely looked like he'd be gone for a while. It was hard to believe that Elizabeth could've killed a god permanently, when even he, with all of his bells and whistles, couldn't accomplish such a feat. It was even harder to believe that she could do so while not even being physically present. Where exactly was she? Was she here? Theories whipped through his skull at light speed, but his thought process was interrupted by a voice. An oddily familiar voice. Which was paradoxical, because he was certain he'd never heard it before.

"...It's nice to see you again, Makoto Yuki."

His thoughts shifted from confusion to mild alarm. That's definitely not her. That's a masculine voice. Makoto looked to where the voice was coming from, greeted with the sight of a man who somehow seemed both recognizable and completely alien to him all at once. He wore a sleak white suit with a black undershirt beneath it, the long brunette ponytail swaying behind his shoulders trailing up to the strange mask he had across his face. Before Makoto could even internally quizz him, the man spoke.

"I'm certain you have your questions... allow me to answer one of them. I am Philemon, the Master of the Velvet Room."

That got him thinking. Velvet Room...? Weird, because I'm quite sure Igor's the master there. I should've heard about him.

Before he could ponder on that thought any lomger, however, his shock was increased tenfold. The man, who seemingly referred to himself as Philemon, touched the seal and disintegrated it into many brilliant, blue butterflies that spread across the air as if carried by the current of the ocean itself. It was a beautiful sight, certainly, and there was an almost calming property to it, allowing himself to be swarmed by the warmth like this.

He's... he's not breaching the seal, that much I can tell, but...

Then, they all flew gracefully towards, and reconstructed into the man from before in front of him. The only difference is that, now, Makoto was somehow... standing face to face with him? Instantly, a million questions flew through his head. How? How did he reanimate his long dead body? How is he alive, or whatever this state was? How is the seal still intact if he's standing right here? 

And, most readily,

"...Who... who are you?" Makoto asked, clearly dumbfounded. The words were nearly mumbled, and left his lips like they were foreign to himself. It had been a very, very long time since he'd used his mouth.

The mysterious man smirked. "I've already told you, haven't I? But it bears reiteration. I am Philemon, the Master of the Velvet Room. However, if I were to explain further, you could liken me to the figurehead of human consciousness." He elaborated. "The power of Persona, which you, your friends, and the other guests of the Velvet Room utilize is bestowed upon you by me." That was quite a lot to take in. The man who stood in front of him was not only the progenitor and representative of human consciousness, but also the originator of persona? 

"...Then, what's Igor supposed to be?" He asked back, unable to keep the skepticism from bleeding into his voice.  He couldn't harm him here, but there was never such a thing as being too careful. His experiences with Ikutsuki had taught him that much. 

The man was silent for a short moment, before he responded. "...Well, let's say that he was simply... created, by me, to guide you, as well as the others. I cannot personally interfere with humanity. Not directly, that is... I have a bet to uphold." He spoke cryptically.

So, he was the mastermind behind it all, Yuki mused. Somehow, he was starkly unsurprised that there was more to the big picture than he'd originally anticipated. Everything about the Fool's journey just screamed unspoken mystery. A slightly awkward pause followed, as the younger of the two beings considered carefully what he should say. Eventually, he decided to start with a simple question.

"..So, what are you doing here? I doubt that you just came here to introduce yourself, especially after that performance." Makoto said.

"Correct." Philemon readily admitted. "I came to ask for your honest assistance." The man paused for a moment before continuing. "…The Velvet Room has been commandeered by a false god, who goes by the name of Yaldabaoth. And another guest, such as you, will be in danger if we do not intervene."

"Wait." Makoto stopped the man. "The Velvet Room... was taken. Really? Are you sure? With Igor and his battalion of servants?" You couldn't blame him for having some difficulty believing that. Even with him and all of his team combined, just defeating Elizabeth alone was impossibly difficult, almost as difficult as having to tank incomprehensible attacks from the Embodiment of Death itself, and it was honestly a close second. To imagine someone beating... well, multiple Elizabeth's, and at once? It sounded ridiculous.

The man nodded. "Yes, you must have realized that she who deserted the Velvet Room does not come here even now. Even she was included when the Velvet Room was taken."

Makoto's calm demeanor faded, perhaps for the first time in years, and he spoke with something almost akin to fear in his voice, "...So, go and retake your place." There was a slight edge in his respone. "What exactly are you doing here, chatting it up with me?"

Philemon remained perfectly neutral, even so. "Like I said before, I cannot interfere with such events directly. That's why I came to ask for your help." The man said in a beautifully monotone voice, devoid completely of emotion. If there were any emotion beneath the mask, he certainly couldn't tell, which was stunning, considering the fact that manipulating and perceiving demeanors was a wildcard's specialty. It only added further credence to the man's claim that he really was the source of persona. 

Makoto calmed down, and took a moment to collect his thoughts. "Well, if I could help, I would, but I can't move from this post without risking humanity's future. Why not ask the other wildcard? Yu Narukami, is it?"

"I'm... afraid that's not possible. The other wildcard, while capable, is not eligible here. You may not know, seeing as you've only ever seen a fool's journey from the inside looking out, but the apex of a wildcard's development does not always result in the manifestation of the Universe Arcana." He explained, much to the surprise of the other boy.

Makoto blinked, and slightly tilted his head. "...Why?"

Philemon sighed. "In truth, in every instance of the Velvet Room's long history, you are the only guest to have ever realized the power of the Universe. It is truly remarkable; oneness with the self, the personal unconsciousness, and the collective unconciousness. The Truthseeker's story, while amazing as well, resulted in the culmination of a different power; The World Arcana."

Trying his best to ignore how seamlessly the God completely dodged his question, Yuki spoke unceremoniously: "...Oh."

The man continued. "He can't enter the Velvet Room without express permission, while you, as a Messiah and newly acquainted "god", can." He elaborated. "And, if you're worried about the seal, don't be. I can quite easily hold Erebus. But time is indeed short."

In truth, Makoto had already expected a catch. "...Ah, so there's a time limit. Well, assuming I go along with this, how long do I have?"

"A year or so. I hope that will be enough." Philemon replied. 

He shrugged. That was how much time he was given before. "I guess... I made it work before. But what happens after I finish the job?"

For once, Philemon's demeanor actually saddened. Even if it was difficult to read, and even if it was only by a little, he seemed to genuinely have pity for what he was about to say.

"...You will have to become the seal again. I sincerely apologize, but truly, this is a duty only you can perform."

"...I see." Makoto nodded back, a resigned smile on his face. With no particular sadness or disappointment, it was a surprisingly pure acceptance. This was an outcome that he'd prepared for the moment he called upon that power— truly, he'd already made peace with his fate. Quietly, he said to himself, "..I chooseth this fate of mine own free will."

Philemon was silent for a few moments. "I know of the bonds you nurtured over your previous journey, but I have to suggest that you not meet them if at all possible. After all, it is certain that you will have to leave them again. But the matter is yours to preside over, and I will not prohibit you."

Makoto didn't give that an immediate response. Instead, he silently recapped the bulk of this new information; he was essentially going back to earth on a business trip to aid the most recent wildcard in defeating their respective god. It may or may not have been the best thing that could've happened to him, but he would get to see the world again with his own eyes, so he chose to think about it as optimistically as he could. And it could also give him the opportunity to look for Elizabeth. "...Hey, butterfly boy." Philemon's eyebrow slightly raised at that moniker. "You said that this seal is a task that only I can perform. So... everything Elizabeth's trying. Does that mean it's...?" He let the implication speak for itself.

The man was completely still as he stared back at him, and he made not a single sound. However, Yuki could almost see the ghost of a smirk on his face.  "...You should know that even gods are not able to see the future."

He'd had a feeling that this guy wojld say something like that. After a short moment, Yuki spoke. "...'Kay, I'll do it." Philemon nodded, and a swarm of those same beautiful butterflies began to emerge around him. "But one question before I go."

Makoto's deep blue eyes pierced through the swarm of light blue butterflies. It was a gorgeous, frigthening sight. "Be honest. You didn't raise a finger when The Fall was coming, or when that TV dimension was merging with reality." He turned back to look the Velvet Room's master straight in the eyes, a perceptive gaze cutting through the dark. "So why now? What made you decide to take action?"

The man was silent again for a moment. "...There is a great danger coming, the nature of which I cannot tell. But then and now, I have absolute faith in those who rise to oppose ruin." He said, as the swarm of butterflies grew bigger, engulfing Makoto in light.

...Yeah, he's Igor's creator, alright. Cryptic messages must just run in thefamily. Birthright, maybe. Makoto thought with a sigh. 

The light became stronger and stronger, and soon, it had engulfed him completely. With a flicker of energy, Makoto Yuki completely vanished from the Sea of Souls in an act of sheer impossibility. On or off a mission, this was an outcome he honestly never hoped for even once, considering a wish like that pointless by nature. He certainly had mixed feelings about this whole ordeal. He hated having to do this all over again. But he wasn't a stranger to unorthodox, grandiose and unjust fates, and anyway, it might not be all bad. 

Philemon watched him off with a wistful gaze, and stared at where the boy had stood, long after he'd disappeared from the abyss. "...Go forth, savior of humanity. Your fate is intertwined with that of the Seeker, and that of the Trickster. The Universe, the World, and the Fool were always different aspects of the same existence."

...Now alone, the man left out a soft sigh. "Butterfly boy... what a tasteless soubriquet."

2016

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your patience; we will now be arriving in Shibuya Shortly."

Chapter Text

–April 5th, Afternoon–

"So..."

A blue haired boy stepped through the metro's doors, stretching his arms and yawning as he took a glance around himself. He felt surprisingly at ease among the crowd of people moving restlessly on every side of him; after 6 uninterrupted years of isolation, you'd think he'd have a harder time adjusting to being around people in general, let alone this many, but he didn't seem all that bothered. 

"...Shibuya, huh?"

It was a pretty unfamiliar environment to him. He vaguely recalled passing through once or twice when he was little, but, well, he was little back then. It had to have been at least 10 years. And needless to say, the station was way busier than what it'd be like in Iwatodai, especially underground.

So much so that finding his way above ground was almost a bit of a hassle. He eventually figured it out, though, and felt the rays of sunlight kissing his skin for the first time since March of 2010. It was an indescribable, blissful feeling. He could look up at the bright blue sky and see clouds above him, and he'd never exactly appreciated it as much as he was right then. He didn't want to fixate on it for too long, though; he'd end up creeping people out. With that in mind, Makoto started on his way through the intersection and down the following street. Every turn he made, every Avenue he stepped on, was bustling just like the last one.

Are people always like this around here..? He couldn't help but wonder to himself. Again, he pretty confidently remembered living somewhere around the Tokyo area when he was tossed between homes as a kid, but never had urban life been so busy. Maybe it's a result of the times changing in the decade between now and then, or maybe he just wasn't as attentive as he thought.

Looking around, he saw shops lined up on each side. Bookstores, rentals, drug stores, an arcade, and even a movie theater. It wasn't as much of a surprise that this place had more attractions than where he'd previously been. It was Shibuya, afterall. On his way, one particular shop caught his fancy as he strolled past it.

It was an out of the way, small beef-bowl establishment. He could smell the juices and the meaty sauces wafting through the doorway from here. Nostalgia instantly hit him, and a dozen images flew threw his head. Images of a tactless brown-haired boy, around his age. Images of an energetic boy, tanned and covered from head to toe in a light blue tracksuit. Images of an older, calmer teen with shoulder length hair, a beanie, and an unforgettable maroon coat. He couldn't help the small smile on his face as his memories drifted to the surface. 

He shook his head, and turned away. It wasn't good to dwell, not quite yet. He passed a few other food establishlents, some niche, like the beef bowl shop, and some extravagant, like some weird new place by the name of Big Bang Burger. He hadn't heard of it before, but it reminded him Wild Duck Burger, if it had 90% less soul and 200% more obnoxious marketing. 

Suddenly, something that should've been obvious crossed his mind like a thunderbolt.

Yuki stopped walking in the middle of the street, contrasted with the dozens of people who scurried straight past him.

...Hold on, I might be getting ahead of myself. The directions from that Philemon, the Master of the Velvet Room who he'd only just met for some reason, were certainly appreciated. But they were terribly unspecified and didn't leave him with much of an idea on what he should immediately be doing.

Now that he thought about it, what did he even normally do? Social links? Coffee? There's more to it, sure, but after 6 years of being confined to it, the most common image his head keeps conjuring is that endless sea of stars. Figures.

Sighing, he decided to check around his suit and pants. He figured that if he was given new clothes, there'd be a good chance that butterfly boy left something important in them too. Silently, he noted that this new outfit he had wasn't that bad. It was obviously not his Gekkoukan uniform anymore, but it was classy in it's own right. He was wearing a typical brown, buttoned blazer with a white turtleneck undershirt. To match, he's got small white gloves and some unassuming shoes, clashing with the black pants he was given. There was even a handbag that he was only just noticing now. He had to wonder how much his observational awareness had taken a hit over these last few years.

Makoto sat down on a nearby bench and looked into his bag. His inspection awarded him a modern cellphone, some money (nowhere near his Tartarus savings, he lamented), his headphones, a certificate, and transferal transcripts to Shujin Academy. That last part made him scoff a bit internally. So, I'm going to school again... as if reclaiming the Velvet Room wasn't enough.

He took a moment to inspect the papers. It looked like he was going to be a third year. That actually calmed some of that hesistance. His sacrifice meant he never actually got to finish the highschool experience, and 3rd is the year he would've been had circumstances been different. He could appreciate the chance he'd been given to rectify that this year, if only a little. Perhaps he could make the best of it. He kept reading.

...Huh. "Minato Arisato", was it? That was the best fake name they could come up with for him, he guessed. The idea of abiding by an alias had slipped his mind, but he supposed it was probably the best course of action. After sometime, Yuki had checked everything he had, and reread the pages just to be sure. Once he felt confident in what he knew about this new identity of his and his circumstances, he decided to head home.

And then it hit him, again.

..Uh, wait a sec. Am I.. homeless? There was no way he was dealing with that. That was not what he signed up for. Will this money be enough to stay at hotel? He stood up from the bench, in somewhat of a hurry, and some sort of paper accidentally fell down from the bottom of his bag.

He picked it up and squinted.

Hm, what's this..? A receipt, for delivery in.. Yogen-jaya. Thank god. He stuck his hand back hin his bag, digging around to the bottom, before eventually finding a key. ..So, I'll have an apartment, at least. I'll try not to question how that guy orchestrated all of this. Yuki figured. Better not to look a gift-horse in the mouth.

"..Let's go." He said quietly to himself, starting on his way out of the alley and back towards the station.

As the door of the train opened, many people went out from the folding doors while the others waited impatiently to get in. Among the swarm, a blue haired boy with a distinctive Shujin uniform was seen quietly exiting the station. 

Compared to a big-city like Shibuya, Yogen-jaya looked like a backwater country joint, filled with run down shops and old people. It was definitely a lot closer to Tatsumi Port Island, even if it wasn't quite the same. But it was apparently also a hotspot for social fugitives trying to stay under the radar, from what he'd read in the magazines on the way here, so it had that much going for it. On that topic, he spotted a strange looking woman in an alley way, with some sort of medical get-up, and presumably dyed hair that was a bit darker than his own. Her name, though Yuki didn't know it, was Tae Takemi.

He heard a small scoff. "...Another failure, huh? Shouldn't surprise me... developing a potent medicine without any test subjects is nigh-impossible." She said under her breath as she walked, having seemingly come out of the clinic on the side of the alley.  The woman turned right, headed towards a nearby cafe. 

Walking through the streets on her way to her favorite coffee shop, she was too deep in thought to stop when someone brushed past her. Clumsiness was terribly out of her character... at least, she seemed to think so, which was why it didn't make any sense to her when she lost her balance and almost fell completely sideways. Before she could kiss the ground, however, said someone grabbed her hand and gracefully stopped her fall.

Initially distracted by the quick turn of events, she glanced up as a resonant, yet soft voice met her ears.

"...You okay?" The stranger asked.

She looked at the source, and found a young man— couldn't have been older than 17, with his youthful face and student uniform. Looking closer, she could tell he had deep blue hair covering next to half of his face. His skin was so pale that, if not for the black school uniform, it seemed like he would be entirely invisible, but it didn't necessarily look unkempt. It had its own unique sort of beauty, soft and yet somehow stark at the same time.

And his eyes. They were stunning, though clearly hiding some exhaustion. They looked ready to close up at any moment, and, if she didn't know any better, she'd think he hadn't slept in years.

"...Yeah, I'm alright." Takemi said with a small sigh, briefly taking the boy's hand as she rose to her feet. "Sorry, I... wasn't looking ahead."

The boy hummed quietly in response, staring at her for a moment. But it felt less like he was staring at her, and more like he was staring through her. As if he was observing some quality she couldn't comprehend. And before she knew it, he turned and left, walking off in the direction a nearby apartment complex with a piece of paper in his hand.

Well, that was odd. "...Weird kid." She said to herself, deciding not to dwell on it as she took her leave. 

If she stayed there just for a moment longer, she certainly would've seen the boy turning back to glance at her, with eyes that pierced through her flesh and into her soul. They analyzed her, a hint of recognition hidden in their distant gaze. The faint glow of that infamous arcana floating above her head would always be unmistakable to them.

"...Death, hm?"

The boy spoke quietly, more to himself than to anyone else, before continuing on his way.

Makoto, now known publicly in this new escapade of his as "Minato", arrived at his new apartment with a sense of both excitement and exhaustion. The former was mostly just because he was looking forward to having a bed to sleep on after the better part of a decade. As he stood at the doormat, paper in hand, he couldn't help but notice the peeling paint on the door, and a few cracks on the windowsill. 

"...Pfft. Looks like he cheaped out on me." He muttered to himself as he pulled out his key, internally memorizing the number on it while he unlocked the door. He took ahold of the handle,  twisting it sideways and pushing the door open. After flipping on the lights, the apartment looked a little run down, but definitely serviceable. The walls were a plain shade of white and the floor was covered in worn-out carpeting. A small couch and a TV stood in the righthand corner, and there was a kitchen on the lefthand corner with a little breakfast bar. He internally noted that there was also an AC-unit, so there was that silver lining, at least. All in all, it wasn't resort style or anything, but for being as cheap as it was, and so close to the station, he wasn't going to moan about it. He was tired enough already.

With nothing much else to do, he decided to take a peek around the place and see if he couldn't find anything useful. There turned out to be a futon in the closet that he figured he might have space for in the middle of the room, and a little carboard box beside it, haphazardly taped shut.

As he opened it up and looked inside, he quickly realized that there wasn't much besides clothes and general necessities, but he was still grateful nonetheless. He took some time to hang his wardrobe with the old hangers left in the closet, before grabbing the now empty box and moving it out of the way so that he could pull out the futon. When he placed it back down, however, something dropped onto the floor from inside, landing on the carpet with a small thud.

His eyebrow raised. Clearly, he'd missed something. Probably because it was buried beneath all the clothes. He kneeled down to take a good look at the thing, before suddenly freezing in place. 

...It'd been far too long since he'd seen it. He felt a warm feeling, bubbling up from the depths of his chest. Back then, he never would've imagined how sentimental this little thing could make him feel. Now, he almost couldn't  resist the single, bittersweet tear that wanted so desperately to trickle down his cheek. He had, honestly, no clue how Philemon had gotten his hands on it. But he didn't care. 

Not at all. Because when he looked at his Evoker, the only thing Makoto could really think about was them.

He wondered how they were doing.

–Afternoon–Evening–

Bitter. Elsewhere, another young boy, albeit with frizzier, darker hair, was sitting in his room alone, staring at his wall, and he was bitter. The look in his eye was distant, his face frozen in permanent discomfort, not unlike a prisoner in waiting for his sentence. And as dramatic as that sounded, it wasn't at all an inaccurate description; He was, in fact, a prisoner. Of his choices. Of people's perceptions. Of the law. And of fate.

Even just thinking about it made his frown grow tighter. He'd been making a conscious effort not to ruminate too much on his circumstances, he really had, but with the fact that he was getting shipped off to a new city, with zero contact from his parents, or anyone else from home... for an entire year. It was more than just a little bit hard not to. Could he scold himself for his bitterness? Sure. But who wouldn't be bitter, if it'd been them that night? Facing rejection from everything they once knew, for a crime they never committed. No amount of sugarcoating could make what happened taste any less bitter than it was, than it always would be.

He leaned back in the deskchair, letting out a deep sigh as he found himself looking up at the ceiling now.

"...I don't get it." He started quietly, his thoughts voicing themselves and resonating off the walls of the empty bedroom. "I did the right thing. So why am I being... wronged?" It wasn't the first time he'd questioned it. It probably wouldn't be the last. No matter how many times he replayed it over in his head, he couldn't understand what he'd done wrong. Where his mistake was. Why was he suffering for his integrity, while the actual criminal walked free? He didn't understand. He didn't think he'd ever understand. Idly, while he pondered on about the hand his past had dealt him, he eventually heard his father, calling his name from downstairs. 

Speaking of not understanding. This was just great. Lately, his dad alwags sounded sad, or angry, or both at the same time, somehow. It made home life uncomfortable when his old man wasn't at work, which was why he was sheltering himself up here in his room in the first place. Any activity downstairs was a ticking time bomb of tension. But the longer he took, the worse it'd be. So, reluctantly, he got up and headed down the stairs, greeted with the sight of his parents, and an older man sitting in a chair on the other side of the living room. 

He'd guessed right about his dad. He was clearly not haply, now that he saw him up close. And his mom... her eyes were swollen. Almost like she'd been crying.

"...Amamiya-kun, the school you'll be headed to has been decided." The older man said, looking into Ren's eyes with what seemed to be genuine concern, even if he had a difficult time buying it. After a split second of surprise, he nodded, and took a seat next to his parents, gazing at the man pensively.

The man sighed. "To be honest with you, we searched all over, but the only school that was willing to accept you turned out to be over in Tokyo. You'll be attending Shujin Academy this year... it's in Aoyama Itchome, if you weren't  aware." He announced, a hint of resignation in his tone.

Tokyo...? That far? Ren thought to himself, his eyes widening slightly as he processed what the man had just said.

"As we can't personally provide you with a place to stay, your parents made a living arrangement with a friend of theirs, and for the time being, he will also act as your guardian." The man explained. "We'll need to do some background checks, but if it goes well, you'll be leaving in the next few days."

Ren glanced from side to side. From the look of it, his parents were just as perplexed as he was, and understandably so. As if shipping away from home weren't already bad enough, he'd be going practically across the country? His father broke the silence eventually, by slamming his hand down on the table angrily.

"In just a few days...? You don't think that's a little too sudden?! How are we supposed to have enough time to prepare?—" His father rambled on hotly. Ren tuned it out for the most part, trying to focus on the important details.

Unfazed, the man communicated. "I truly apologize, but the headmaster there insisted that he come as soon as possible beacause the term had begun already. If we don't hurry, he'll be behind on the material, and that's not the kind of combination we wan't in tandem with his current.. circumstance."

His father said nothing in return, surprisingly, but the atmosphere was skeptical to say the least.

"If there are no more questions, then please excuse me. Saying his piece, the man left.

The sound of a door opening and closing has never been so ominous in his life. Nobody said anything for quite some time, until Ren turned towards and asked his father; "..So, who's this friend of yours that I'm supposed to live with?"

His mother looked uncmfortable at the question but his father answered him.

"A shop owner I was fond of when I lived in the area. We don't have any relatives there and he's trustable enough, so we asked him and arrived at a manageable arrangement."

"What..? "Trustable enough?" Don't be ridiculous, dad! You're shipping me off to a stranger because he seems "trustable enough"?" The anger in Ren's voice betrayed him as he stood up from his chair, but he immediately cringed soon after. He knew he would never get away with speaking to his parents like that.

"RIDICULOUS!? What's ridiculous is what you've done, moron! What in the hell did I tell you about sticking your nose in other people's business?"

He could see the fury in his dad's eyes. He knew since he was a kid that opposing his father, especially in situations like these, never turned out well. Nonetheless, he steeled.

"Tell me, since when did helping other people become a criminal offense?" Ren reasoned.

"..Listen." His dad sighed. "I'm not saying what you did is wrong." That.. that was good. Maybe he'd finally get through, for once?

"I'm saying that what you did is stupid. You're already a grown man. Butting your head in matters that aren't yours can only possibly bite you in the ass. I've told you this since you were 10 years old, and not once did you listen. Now your dumbass had to find out the hard way!"

As they argued with each other, tears ran down his mother's cheeks as she meakly tried to mediate.

"Please, stop. Both of you. There's already more trouble than we can handle. Don't start fighting with each other." As his mother said that, his father settled down. But he had enough already, that much was obvious.

"...Fine. I'll go. Maybe whoever the owner is will trust me. I know my own father doesn't." With that, he made his way back to his room and almost slammed the door.

Nothing was said betweened his parents, but they looked hurt. He didn't mean to say.. that, but he lost control. Trying not to let his intrusive thoughts break him down, he rubbed the door while he leaned against it.

"Is there any way this could possibly get worse. .?"

Somewhere, deep within a realm forbidden to man, A long-nosed "man" leaned against his desk. Opening his bloodshot eyes, he summoned his personal attendants with a harrowing chuckle.

"Justine, Caroline."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the two, youthful in figure, appeared before him.

"What's the problem, Master?" the braided girl, Justine, asked.

Her master, Igor(?), said with a grin that stretched across his face, "...There is something of you I require. A meddler in the outside world, who opposes our cause of rehabilitation, causes me great unease."

Justine looked... surprised, but the other girl, two buns on her head in place of the braids, was lucid enough to question. "But, Master, we're not supposed to interfere with humans outside of our prison's jurisdiction, right? Those're your own words, aren't they?"

The old man laughed softly and said, "Do not be alarmed, Caroline. This matter is entirely personal."

–April 6th, Early Morning–

Innocuous school boy "Minato Arisato" had tried, and failed miserably, to catch some sleep on the train to his new school. Even after sleeping a solid, heavenly 8 hours last night, it wasn't quite enough to sate the six year sleep debt he'd acrued while being the seal. Sure, he'd been lucky enough to get himself a seat, but there were still just too many people on the train. Back home, he was more or less always able to sleep on the train. And yes, there were also always people there, but never this many. This was more like trying to sleep in a sauna. It'd definitely be an aspect of living in Tokyo that he'd have to adjust to.

"...We are now arriving at Shibuya.." Said a feminine, robotic voice, pulling him out of his thoughts. He never did like the sound, but under these conditions, it was music to his ears. "..Shibuya.. this is, Shibuya.."

"Huh..?"

"Oof!"

"Hey, who the hell just touched me?!-" "...My bad."

There were some... dificulties, but he made his way out.

And then there was freedom from the sauna train. He honestly thought he might've been happier nownthan when he'd gotten out of the seal. Truly, the Tokyo subways were a different breed of hell, and that was coming from someone who'd been through something as close to hell as it gets. Walking through the gates and characteristically not paying much attention to anyone, he went straight to school.

This school was... alright, he thought. It definitely was not as big as his previous school, but it was big enough. Trying not to get too wrapped up in his environment, he made his way through the halls as he looked for the faculty office.

...Keyword being tried, as he didn't have any idea where to go. After a few moments of glancing around and looking a little loss, his search was interrupted when a voice caught his attention. "Hello, there... Is there anything that I can help you with?" A short girl with amber eyes asked. Her dark brown hair stood out as well.

"...Actually, yeah. I'm trying to find the faculty office." "Minato" replied after a short moment. 

The girl blinked twice, before it dawned upon her. "...Oh! You must be the transfer student. I'm Makoto Nijima, the Student Council President." She replied, offering him a polite smile. 

So she was the Prez, here, then? That made sense. Something about this girl's vibe reminded him a lot of Mitsuru, for whatever reason. It took him a little longer than it should've to realize she was waiting for his own introduction.

"I'm..." What was it again? "...Minato Arisato, a third year. I'm not from around here."

She nodded in understand. "I see. Well, if it's the faculty office you're looking for, then please, follow me." He didn't outwardly show it, but a part of him was studying her mannerisms. They were unmistakable, for better or for worse.

He sighed. I don't know if I should be delighted or terrified... on one hand, it does give me some nostalgia, but on the other hand, is this one going to end up executing me? "Minato" thought, a hint of sarcasm in his inner voice. Well, he acted like he wasn't excited to see someone so much like Mitsuru again, but the small smirk on his face betrayed his real feelings.

"Pardon the intrusion." Makoto said, excusing herself as they entered the office.

"Hm?... Oh, Niijima-san! How can I help you?" A.. strangely lazy looking teacher asked in a chipper voice that definitely didn't suit her whatsoever.

"I'm looking for Chunno sensei," Niijima replied. "Is she here?"

"...What is it, Makoto-san?" A tanned woman from the back, which he assumed was Chunno-sensei, asked.

Makoto waved to "Minato". "This, is Arisato-san. He's the transfer student." She explained.

"Oh, you so you escorted him here? Ooh, As expected of the all honors council president, hm?" Chunno replied with a chuckle.

"Just doing what I can to help..." Makoto replied easily, before promptly taking her leave. "Please excuse me." 

The door slides.

Once it's shut, "Minato" hears a sigh. "Even though she's already a third year, I'm still not getting used to her." The lazy looking teacher said with a tone that was more accurate to her demeanor. He supposed he wasn't the only one wearing a mask here.

"—Don't say that Kawakami. Her sister can rip you a new one." Chunno sensei chided. He looked back and forth between the two of them for a few moments, going almost unnoticed. 

Eventually, Kawakami caught the odd look he was giving them, and remembered that he was here. Her expression softened slightly. "Sorry, sorry... don't mind us. Could I see your transcripts?" 

"My bad. Here you go." Minato took his transcripts out of his bag and gave them to her.

"Oh, you transferred quite a lot, huh? ..Looks like you are in my class, well homeroom's about to start. Come on, come with me." Chuuno said, making her way out of the room. Not wanting to prolong the school day more than he had to, Yuki promptly followed.

He was standing in front of his new class, now. Most people would be at least a little nervous in this scenario, but he'd always been absolutely stellar at introductions.

"...I'm Minato Arisato. Nice to meet you, I guess."

Not.

Contrasting the mundanity of that intro, murmurs immediately spread across the classroom.

"...A new student, huh?"

"Isn't he handsome?—"

"I don't know... he seems... moody."

A sigh from the front of the room caught the class's attention. "Alright, settle down, settle down. Let me see... okay, Arisato-san, you can sit over by that window, besides Okumura-chan." Chuuno-sensei pointed towards his new assigned seating.

Following her gaze, he found a girl in a pink cardigan, with a somewhat timid, but soft-looking face held her hand up, waving it ever so slightly.

"Minato" nodded and made his way over. On his way, he noitced a familiar face... it seemed that by some odd stroke of fate, the Student Council President was also in this homeroom, for better or worse. His eyes squinted for a moment.

...The Empress, and.. He looked from Okumura to Niijima as he took his seat. ...The Priestess, is it? It couldn't have been coincidence. 

The day thankfully went past uneventfully, with nothing terribly interesting going on. Or, if there was something, he clearly hadn't noticed. He'd figured that butterfly boy wouldn't have sent him to this school if there wasn't anything going on around it. He wasn't entirely sure how it was for Narukami, but in his own case at least, the way it had been with Gekkoukan was that the school itself was a sort of ground zero for the cognitive and supernatural incidents plaguing his journey. The Dark Hour sort of just threw itself at him the moment he stepped foot back home; maybe it would just take some more investigating this time, he mused. 

"...Makoto-san?" He eventually heard someone in the classroom asking aloud. Naturally, he responded.

"Yes?"

"...Yeah?"

Two voices called in unison, despite the fact that only one name had been called.

...Wait. He internally facepalmed.

Suddenly, every kid in the classroom was looking at him weirdly. Even the other Makoto and the teacher spared him a questioning glance. Of course they were. That wasn't supposed to be his name anymore.

So, Plan B. With absolutely zero grace, he promptly turned back to the window and acted like nothing happened. Somehow, nobody really cared enough to say anything, so whoever the speaker was walked over to Niijima and went on with their buisness, and everyone else collectively shrugged away the skepticism and did what they were doing again. 

He sighed. Maybe that was just his sign to ditch the lecture and go snoop around the school for some clues. With that thought in mind, he quietly slipped out of his desk while Chuuno was busy looking at the board, and scurried towards the door without another word. His stealth operation would've gone by without a hitch, too, but he neglected to remember the presence of that Priestess girl. She was burning a hole through his chest with her eyes. It was technically her job as Prez to keep her peers in check, but he didn't really care, and she could probably tell by the look on his face. 

So he slid the door open and went on his way.

Well. He searched pretty much the entire school, and regrettably, he didn't find much that was noteworthy. 

He'd noticed some students he passed in the halls, with injuries and conditions that were clearly a but too severe to be normal. But whenever he asked, it was always the same rehearsed excused about volley ball practice, and how they were just training hard for the upcoming season. He obviously didn't buy a lick of that, but probing further would have come across as nosy, and he wasn't eager to piss anyone off in his first day here. It'd probably be better to build some kind of social report before he did anything that drew attention.

...In other words, this whole day was basically a fruitless waste of time. "Minato" thought, his head dropping slightly as he headed out through the front doors. He did not enjoy having to do this again. "...Am I doing something wrong?"

Once outside, he stopped just in front of the steps when he noticed a girl struggling to drag a dirtbag onto a cart, over by the lawn. When he looked closely, he noticed it was the pink-headed Empress girl from earlier in his homeroom. Okumura? After observing her battle for a few moments, he figured he ought to lend a hand, so he made his way over.

"...Need any help?" "Minato" asked quietly, looking over her shoulder. 

Okumura's eyes widened slightly in surprised, before she glanced back up at him. Apparently, she'd been too embroiled in her struggle to notice him sneaking up right behind her. "...Hm? Ah, Arisato-kun..." She let out a little breath she'd been holding, before smiling gently. "You know what, a little help would be nice, yes."

Using her newfound packhorse, they stacked the bags onto the cart in a minute or so. It had to be for some time of weedwork, he figured. He could admire someone with a green thumb; he did something similar himself back at the dorm. 

With the last bag in place, he dusted off his hands. "...All done. Is there anything else I can help with?" 

She shook her head softly in response, clasping her hands together behind her back gracefully. "No, I'm alright for now. I can't thank you enough for your help, Arisato-kun."

He nodded at that, before turning to leave, but she called out to him before he could head off.

"—Uhm... it's Haru, by the way." She said softly, her voice just a bit quieter than it'd been a moment ago.

He glanced back at her, his slight confusion evident on his face. "...I'm sorry?"

"My name," She continued, with a small smile. "It's Haru Okumura." 

"...Ah." So that's what she meant. He never did hear her first name, he supposed. "Arisato Minato. You already knew that, but it's nice to formally meet you, I guess."

She giggled quietly. "And you as well." The sound was beautiful, even he had to admit. Haru thanked him again, before grabbing the cart and taking her leave. It was odd for him, not having experienced that familiar sensation of the creation of a social link, because right now definitely felt like it'd be one of those times. He would often hear some inner voice, one that sounded strangely like Elizabeth, calling to him and saying something dramatic. This time, he sort of just stood there like an idiot.

Unfortunately for him, to everyone else, he didn't just look like an idiot, he looked like a sweet talker. See, he often times forgot about the gap in relative maturity between him and his team, versus normal people their age... especially boys. They pounced on every opportunity available to make something romantic or sexual.

"L~oo~ok!, that transfer student's tryna put the moves on Okumura-san...!" Some random onlooker called. He cringed internally.  "You've got some guts, huh, new guy?" 

He glanced in their general direction, offering then an unimpressed stare. What part of speaking to a girl like a normal person took guts?

At his flat expression, the boy continued. "...I guess you don't know, huh? Okumura-san's father is the CEO of that fast food chain, you know. The one with the whole outer-space aesthetic." 

"They're one of the richest family in Tokyo, I think.." A kid beside him added. "Rumor has it that her old man's trying to ditch the food industry and become a cabinet member."

"—Really? I didn't know that—"

The banter continued, with dumb and dumber going so on and so forth amongst themselves. On the bright side, they were so caught up in their gossip that they'd basically forgotten that he was here, so this was his chance to head home already. 

"—By the way, did you hear about that concert they're having at the dome next month? Risette's opening the show!"

Hold on, how did they change from burgers to idols?

—Afternoon—Afterschool—

Makoto found himself walking through the station, the limited information he gathered at school on his mind. The volleyball team is, currently, the only lead I have that could go somewhere. Philemon also said to save whoever this new wildcard is, but I haven't met anyone who fits the bill yet. No sign of a Shadow Nest entrance anywhere around campus either, which means the only thing I can really do right now is hope I can get some info on the team. He deliberated internally, as he passed through the underground walkway. ...Okumura seems nice. Maybe I can ask her tomorrow.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that, on his way to the metro line, he completely failed to notice the world subtly shifting around him, faint and ethereal waves of red and black molding reality into something alien. He barely even noticed when the walkway became completely devoid of other human beings.

It took him seeing the completely warped state of the subway itself to realize something was seriously off, as he took a step or two down the stairs. The normally bright and obnoxious place had transmogrified into a dry crimson, with vein-like structures growing all over the walls that wrapped around the tracks like coils and lead deeper into the darkness. There were larger than life chains in every corner as well, that seemingly came from somewhere underground, as if something in here was being imprisoned. And the trains themselves, while still zooming down the tracks, were all only going in one direction.

They were headed for the depths.

Is this place..? He wondered, a part of him already knowing the answer. The feeling his surroundings gave him was unmistakable; he felt the same mystical feeling he had when he was in the heart of the Sea of Souls. Without a doubt, he was somewhere within the cognitive world.

If he focused in, he could even sense it. Underneath the layer he was on, in some deeper recesses of the tunnel, there were... Shadows? Those were undoubtedly shadows. But as he observed them from afar, he realized that their released forms were more akin to Personas. That was odd. The good news was that they didn't seem to come up to this floor, which meant that this was basically like the entrance of Tartarus. 

Curious, he decided to head back above ground to see if anything else was strange. Not a single soul greeted him. The entire city was quiet, just like it had been during the Dark Hour. It gave him chills. But there weren't any coffins, so that was something. The next thing he tried was seeing if his technology still worked; his phone would turn on, at least, but it wasn't functioning properly, not even the camera.  All in all, that meant the nature of this particular cognitive world was A, devoid of life and electronically impaired, like the Dark Hour, but B, tied to a specific location in reality, unlike the Tv Dimension Elizabeth told him about, which was useful information. He could probably also assume that progression here would be similar to what he was used to, he'd just be working in reverse; heading down instead of up. The only question was how he'd ended up here to begin with.

For some reason, though, as he stood there in the street, he couldn't get rid of this sinking feeling in his stomach, like he wasn't alone here. He glanced behind him, and just as he did so,

A baton came flying right into his face, whirling at supersonic speeds. Or, it almost did, but with his honed instinct built through dozens of battles, he was able to tilt his head ever so slightly to the left. He hadn't lost his edge, even after 6 years. The baton slammed into an empty car a few meters behind him, creating a huge dent in the vehicle. Whoever threw it had some serious, supernatural strength. They couldn't have been a regular human.

"...Tch... at the last second, too.." He heard a child-like voice, resonating through the empty streets before him. 

"As master said, this will not be a easy battle." Another, similar voice called. This one was just as youthful, but lacked any emotion in comparison. 

Makoto looked dead ahead, greeted by the presence of two... kids, in matching uniforms. Familiar, ultramarine uniforms, with platinum blonde hair and shimmering golden eyes that reminded him of a certain someone. 

"...Hm... I see." The one with braided hair started, slowly striding toward him. "You certainly look strong. But our master's orders are absolute."

He gave them a befuddled look, raising one eyebrow. "...Master? So, you two are Velvet Attendants afterall. But then why are you after me?"

Both of them seemed surprised at his question. Even the less expressive one seemed stumped, like it was somehow impossible for him to say what he just said.

"How do you— who the hell told you about the Velvet Room, Convict?!—" The decidedly more obnoxious one questioned, to which he interrupted, "—I'm not a convict, quit calling me that." 

"It does not matter, Caroline. The convict will be disposed of as per our master's request."

"Yeah, better hope to god that you're ready, convict! Becaaauuusee~.."

"..We're gonna kill you!"

He sighed, throwing his hands back in his pockets. As they charged him, he couldn't help but feel like this was his karma for complaining about not having any leads. It looked like what he was wishing for had just thrown itself at him, all at once.

Chapter Text

If Makoto had a quarter for every time he'd faced a stupidly strong Velvet resident, he'd have two quarters. Sure, it wasn't much. But it was still odd that it was happening again.

"—Persona! Triple down!" The louder of the two girls yelled, the one with the twin buns. Her voice echoed through the empty streets of the strange cognitive dimension, and as soon as the words left her lips, he found himself ducking and dodging out of the way of some kind of physical spell. One he'd certainly never seen before. A storm of magical bullets appeared from thin air, and charged at him like targeted missiles.

He was fast. Fast enough to weave through the sonic barrage with flawless accuracy, bullets whizzing and flying past him at every turn. Despite that fact, he found it mildly alarming that, in the 5 or so minutes he'd been on the run from them, his petite pursuers had pulled out several little tricks. Tricks that he did not recall personas being able to do when he was alive, and it was starting to annoy him.

He didn't have much time to think about it, as he could hear the trailing behind him as he sprinted down the empty Shibuya streets, one on either side of them. Makoto took a glance over his shoulder, only to he greeted with yet another spell being launched right at him. "Vajra... blast!"

It was some sort of explosive physical skill, which was at least closer to what he was used to. He quickly slid to the side, and watched as the air itself combusted in a straight line down the street, at what have to have been at least a couple thousand meters per second. And just a few feet away from his face, too. He was temporarily distracted, and the twin he hadn't been paying attention to, the braided one, came leaping at him from the side, swinging her baton at his face.

For her part, she was swift. That, along with the fact that he was incredibly rusty, is why he found himself blocking, rather than dodging her strike. 

It wasn't the greatest idea. He failed to consider just how hard these two could hit, only remembering what happened to that car earlier at the last moment, and found himself soaring across the street at the sheer force of her swing. 

He made up for it by at least making his landing graceful, using the momentum to backflip onto his feet, drifting across the asphalt. But they weren't letting up at all. By the time he lowered his arms, which were still crossed in front of him from blocking, the other twin was charging at him at full speed. His eyes widened as she sent yet another spell whirling at him. 

"Tch! One-Shot kill!" The girl yelled out, a bit agitated from how many shots she'd missed until now. She must've figured that she just needed a bigger bullet, then, because that's exactly what her persona— it looked like Black Frost— materialized to fire at him.  

He cursed internally. And then, he felt the force of a solid ton of steel crashing into his chest at Mach 4. Despite his best efforts to brace himself, he was flying through the air again by the time he'd realized what was happening, the force of the attack having launched him into the building behind him and out the other side of it. He was at least a block or two away from where he'd been hit by the time he finally felt ground beneath his feet again.

That one stung a little, he could admit that much as he dusted himself off. He'd been doing his best not to retaliate up to this point, considering the fact that they looked liked little kids, but little kids didn't try to swiss cheese people they just met. It was regrettable, but if they were willing to get this hostile, he was willing to return the favor.

Speaking of the Devil, he could see the pair standing atop the building they'd just sent him through, looking down at him with unimpressed eyes. Him meeting their sharp gaze was a sort of invitation, one they took in kind as they leaped from the rooftop, falling towards him at blinding speeds. 

From his performance so far, they were seemingly confident enough to not even include Personas in their attack this time. That was a mistake. He waited, and waited, and waited until the first one was just a few inches from him. And right before she could take a swing at him, and use all of the acceleration from her fall, he grabbed her by the hem of her suit, turned, and flung her down the road, watching her do spin in mid air. He wouldn't lie, there was something cathartic about giving her a taste of her own medicine, even if he hadn't really put his back into it.

The second one, with the eyepatch on her left eye, came soon after. She tried striking at him with her baton again, aiming to use the velocity gained from her fall just like her sister. But by now, he'd adjusted himself to their strength output, and he was starting to get back into the swing of fighting. Enough so that, when he raised his arms to block this time, it actually halted her. He slid back a little, but she wouldn't be knocking him around this time. 

Makoto could see the surprise in her eyes as they clashed. It was almost funny. Then, he overwhelmed her by uncrossing his arms, breaking the struggle, before sending her flying back with a front kick to the stomach. He winced. Was that too much...?

After tumbling for a moment, the girl collected herself, and stood to her feet with a defiant glare."...So, you actually hit me?" She asked, both shocked and offended. "I'm surprised. I thought running was the only thing weaklings like you could manage." There was something a tad condescending about her emotionless tone. Something that almost made him think it would've been fine to have kicked a bit harder.

He heard a groan of irritation, and he briefly glanced down the street. It was her sister. Her pointedly more hotheaded sister, if the snarl on her face was anything to go by. His counterattack had clearly agitated her. In no time, another persona was summoned, and those weird physical spells were coming for him again, in combination with some ice spells from her twin. And it was getting tiring, since, even if he was dodging most of them without much issue, he wasn't perfect. Every now and then, a stray bullet or shard of ice would chip him in the leg or the shoulder, and each time he lost a little more of his patience. He apparently had to let go of the notion that he might come out of this unscathed.

It took a little bit of time. Longer than he wanted it to. But eventually, the storm of gunfire and icy death slowly calmed, and the streets were left in relative silence, the plume of dust the attacks left behind obscuring his figure. 

"...Hm." The quieter one kept her eyes trained ahead. "It would appear that the convict is of passing skill. He held his own against that combined attack rather decently." She said, her voice still as inexpressible as ever.

Her sister walked up to her side, the look on her face calmer, yet still clearly annoyed. "Uh, yeah, I can see that. But I wouldn't go so far as to call him "skillful". That idiot chucked me like a baseball!" 

The other twin sighed. "I'll have to agree. That display from earlier was rather brutish. Although, it did amuse me to see you cartwheeling across the road, Caroline..." 

Caroline. That was the name of the rowdy one, Makoto noted as he brushed himself off once again. lamented quietly. Elizabeth, Margaret, Caroline... he was sensing a pattern here. Were the Velvet Attendants all named after... Frankenstein characters?

He didn't have time to think about that right now. As the dust cleared, he saw the two of them smirking rat him, and two blue tarot cards falling rom the sky above. The twins swung their batons in unison, and each card shattered into pieces, as they called for the archetypes once more. He swore he'd seen someone do that before. 

"Persona." They chanted in harmony.  

Caroline manifested Saturnus, and her sister, Norn. The combination of fire and win would not be a pretty one for him, he instantly realized that much. He could feel the cement below him growing hotter, and in the blink of an eye, he leaped back, just in time to see a pillar of flame erupt from the ground, consuming the spot he'd just been standing in.

Not long after, the Garudyne came, churning, enhancing, and most importantly, mobilizing the fire. The blast flew straight towards him, and he felt the sharp blades of the inferno nipping at his skin. He was tough enough that it didn't char him, but it did leave cuts across his body, some on his cheek, his arms, his legs. 

The blaze had barely ended when yet another spell was sent his way. "Ziodyne." The braided girl said, swiping her baton through the tarot once more. He was more prepared, this time; with reaction speed most could only dream of, Makoto sidestepped the lightning that split the sky above and fell through the air, leaving sound behind in his wake by orders of magnitude.

"As if I'd let you!" Caroline shouted, King Frost materializing into existence behind her. "Mabufudyne!" And suddenly, spikes of ice burst from the street, splitting it in half as they rushed towards him. He calmly backpedaled, and tilted his body here and there, dodging each of the blades of ice in a jaw-dropping display of skill.

As they sped up, intending to bury themselves in the chest of their target, he'd gracefully swing his body to the left or to right, continuing backwards down the street with absurd spacial awareness, until all of the ground beneath him rumbled. Without breaking a sweat, he leaped high into the air, narrowly dodging the largest array of spikes yet. He flipped several times, before landing on the tip of the highest spear with complete finesse. He stared down at them, expression as impassive as ever, as his hair and blazer drifted softly in the breeze. 

The twins, as unrelenting as they were, could only stare in awe. They'd never once seen someone move like that in their life, and they'd never admit it, but it was impressive. After a few moments, though, they found their wits. His display seemingly hit a nerve, judging by the frown on Caroline's face, who summoned Dominion in a fit of frustration. "Just die, you idiot! Makougaon!"

Spears of light encircled him in rows, radiating holy energy. Makoto raised an eyebrow. These didn't seem to be the instakill bless attacks he remembered... no, they were more like Ken's conjurations, just a bit less powerful. He was glad, too, since these were relatively slow in comparison to a Mahamaon, with its near instantaneous speed.

They predictably started flying at him, and he once again dodged every last one of them, ducking and twisting and bending in any angle he needed to avoid them. He was starting to get the hang of this again. 

He landed back on the (now mostly ruined) street with both hands in his pockets, letting out a quiet sigh as he looked at his two pursuers. "You're not bad, but your accuracy needs work, and I'm pretty sure you could've shot those a little bit faster." Makoto scolded. It was in part a taunt, and in part genuine advice. 

Did it help the situation, though? No. Not even a little bit. Her sister didn't react much at all, but Caroline was positively fuming.

"Hoooh, this guy thinks he's all that, Justine!" She said sarcastically, an irritated grin dawning on her expression. That confirmed the Frankenstein theory. "Why, It's almost like we didn't just send him through a seven story hotel five minutes ago!"

 Makoto opened his mouth to speak, but took pause when he felt an unfamiliar energy coursing through the air. It was some sort of spell, that much he could recognize, but the element was foreign to his senses. It didn't quite feel like fire, wind, lightning, ice, or anything else he'd ever been hit with. And he hardly had time to react

 "Freidyne."

A neon blue orb of pure, atomic energy was at his chest before he could blink. It folded in on itself, before exploding into scathing aquamarine, sweeping him off his feet and sending him into another building, though he didn't shoot out the opposite side this time. 

When the dust settled, he was still reeling from the blast. Laid on his back in a hill of rubble and debris, he let out a small, quiet cough. Pieces of wood and tore from the ceiling, landing atop him. Nearly burying him.

Part of him wanted to blame it on them pulling yet another brand new spell from the abyss. But it was his fault for underestimating them, he knew that. Clearly, he'd misjudged their respective power outputs, and he didn't consider the fact that even a tenth of a second was too long to have let his guard down. The fact remained that these girls were trying to kill him. 

He sat up, after a moment, running a hand through his hair as he stared out of the huge whole he'd made in the wall. "Well, I've stalled long enough... I guess it can't be helped."

Late April , 2009

He could still remember it like yesterday. Him, Yukari, and Junpei, they were all walking together to school a couple of days after he first joined the execution squad. He was settling in nicely, for more or less, but even though he'd grown up around the port island area, there were still a few things about his daily life that caught him off-guard.

Sometimes, it was the ceaseless, shameless gossiping he heard what seemed like every time he made his way to school- people hadn't been nearly as talkative where he came from, this was like something out of a movie. More of the time, it was the comical dynamic of his new friends, picking up on whenever the two of them startsd bickering like a married couple. Right now, it was...

"...Junpei, why didn't you leave your Evoker at the dorm?" Yuki asked dimly, his blue eyes sparkling with some small amount of indignation as he glanced at the boy beside him.

Junpei was taken aback for a second, but he pretty quickly settled into a smirk. "And that's how I know you're still a greenhorn, emo-bro. There's no knowing when shadows could pop out and attack us, so a true hero has to always prepare!" The magician announced grandly, pride seeping out of his voice as he said possibly the most stupid thing he would all morning.

Yukari looked disgusted by his ignorance. He always found it amusing how extreme her reactions to Iori's antics were. She could be a little harsh. "...Uh, no, idiot. Do you see any shadows around here? They don't come out during the day, stupid." She let out an annoyed sigh on the tail of her sentence, and Yuki held back the urge to chuckle. It was so like her. What Iori said was... aloof, sure, but with the look on her face, you'd think she though he was "special".

Junpei looked slightly confused, and a tad embarrassed. "...Wait, seriously? Then where the hell do they go during the day?"

There was a small sigh. "Yes, Iori. Seriously." Mitsuru-senpai added, drinking a small cup of tea. "As long as shadows are concerned, there are no reported cases of them becoming active during the day. They're only something to worry about during the Dark Hour."

"...No kidding, huh?" Junpei said,  as he scratched the base of his neck. "It's good and all, but I'm a little disappointed... don't think anybody can "accidentally" discover my secret identity now..."

"Please, just, stop talking for a minute." Yukari huffed, shaking her head. Evidently she was too defeated to counter his 'logic'.

"Iori," Mitsuru chimed, like a mother trying to convince a child, "While I can admire your... eagerness, to contribute to our cause, I'll have to ask that you leave the evoker at the dorm moving forward. The only time it should ever leave the dorm is during an operation." Straight to the point. Junpei sighed, and nodded. "...Aye, ma'am..."

Evidently, Yukari decided to take the opportunity to rub a little salt in the wound. He could see the edges of a cheeky smirk on her face. "You wanna be a hero so bad? Try using deodorant from now on. It'd save us all."

And that got Iori started again. "...You— what, are you calling me unhygienic? Oh, what the hell—"

The two bickered like this on and on as they walked to school, with Kirijo-senpai occasionally pitching in, and the blue haired boy listened to them with some amount of interest. It was odd for him, considering the fact that he was usually always blasting music through his headphones to drown out the sounds of the world around him, let alone actually keeping up with a conversation. Against his better judgement, he found himself smiling a little bit at their back-and-forth. This was really a lot different from what he was used to; being isolated after moving cities for the dozenth time. He was far from a hopeful person, but maybe... maybe things would be livelier this time around. 

In The Present...

The child of death shook the rubble off of him, slowly rising to his feet. He swiped the dust and the dirt off of his blazer, silently lamenting what the battle had done to his school uniform, which he'd only just gotten the other day. Slowly, he walked up to the edge of the room, before crouching down, and leaping out of the hole he'd made in the wall. 

The twins were waiting for him on the ground, standing a good few yards away from him with guarded expressions. It seemed like they hadn't really expected that attack to take him out, but they were still a little surprised that he'd recovered from it so quickly. 

He glanced at each one, the silence between them stretching, before taking a deep breath, and relaxing his mind.

Not that I disagreed, senpai, but...

The twins slowly started moving in on him, inching closer and closer. They were prepared to pounce at any moment, but they were waiting for the perfect opportunity. He closed his eyes, focusing fully on his respiration. 

Just this once...?

 They saw as their opening, and in an instant, they dashed forward simultaneously speeding towards him with hostile, nearly murderous intent. 

I'm glad I took a page out of his book. 

And then it happened. So speedily that if they'd blinked they would've missed it. In one smooth, graceful motion, the girls saw the boy quickly whisk... something, something that looked like a gun, out of one of his pockets, twirl it in his hands as if it were spinning on air, and place it right against the side of his head.

Time seemed to slow down, and their eyes widened.

He pulled the trigger.

"Per.. So.. Na."

Glass shattered. An unholy wind ruptured the area, circling the convict in all directions, and sending both of them flying back. There was an instant of weightlessness. He felt the sudden splash of liquid chill entering his mind. And then, for the first time in over half a decade, he felt the familiar sensation of powering emanating from within him, seeking a way out, begging for release. He let that sensation overtake him, a thin smile spreading across his features as his eyes glowed a blue more resonant than the sky above them. 

Ethereal energy of that same color swirled through the air, as if a primal beast that was merely pretending to be human had suddenly been released from its cage, and from the depths of his conscience, something was born from nothingness. From the light, or perhaps from the darkness, he pulled forth the visage of a friend. The first friend he'd ever had, and the only with that was physically still with him, even now. 

The girls noticed the sound of it before anything else. It was a growl, a low, deep growl that made it obvious that their lives were all of a sudden hanging in the balance. 

And that's when they saw it. The being that could only possibly be referred to as death, clawing its way through the fabric of existence behind him. It warped the very space around it, tearing through dimensions to arrive at his side. It had been called, after all, and it would always answer. Shimmering that same brilliant blue, with breath as hot as steam leaking from its masked face, and eyes the color of human blood, the appraiser emerged from the Sea, with an ear-piercing roar.

The twins, who had until that point been more or less completely confident in their ability to neutralize the target, were frozen dead still, as if planted to where they stood. Their mouths hung open, and yet they found no words to offer him. It didn't matter; their thoughts were written plainly on their expressions. From the look of it, they'd just experienced fear, real fear, for the first time in their lives. He felt a little bad about it. But not bad enough to stop smiling.

His glowing eyes were still trained on them, and with a chilling excitement in his tone, he quietly said to himself, "...Let's see."

Not a moment after, Justine felt it. A dark energy, maybe the darkest energy there was, pulsated through the air, and in that instant a single fact became clear. If the both of them didn't move, they were going to die, with absolute certainty. 

Wasting not a second of time, she yelled "...Dodge!", turning to her sister with emergency. Caroline moved aside without question, and that seemed to have saved her, because shortly after, a crimson beam of pure, concentrated cursed energy ravaged the spot she'd just been standing in, leaving a trail of destruction that looked like it went on for a mile. She recognized it as an Eigaon. But what kind of person could cast the spell with such absurd power?

At the sight, questions flew through Justine's mind. How he could use a persona, for one. The method he had used to do so. But most importantly, the mystery of who exactly it was they were fighting.

She turned back to him, thinking it wise not to let her eyes wander away. The Persona behind him was one she'd never seen before, not heard word of. Even with her extensive memory, she was quite sure there was no record of it in the compendium, and judging by Justine's face, it wasn't familiar to her either. It wore a jet black coat with coffins drifting in the air behind it, its head ooking more like a helmet made of bone than anything. With the unbridled, suffocating power it emitted, it seemed even scarier than any of the ones she knew of from the Devil Arcana, which were on paper supposed fo be the worst of the worst archetypal creatures. 

"...And here I was, starting to think you were easy pickings, convict..." Caroline said with faked confidence, trying her best not to let her unease show. "Whatever, this doesn't really matter. Let's handle him, Justine."

"You need not tell me twice, Caroline. As long as the both of us are together, we cannot be defeated." Justine said back with a small smile.

The Convict smiled at that. Looking at them hazily, as if seeing past their bodies at people who were not there, he tilted his head, before his once warm face molded into an impassive mask. Determined, he called forth his power with an ungodly ease that startled both of the wardens in tandem.

"...Have some fun, Thanatos." He said, with a nerve-wracking calmness in his tone. The Persona behind him wasted no time, and immediately charged at the twins with intent that felt almost murderous.

"Don't get cocky...!" Caroline shouted, leaping into the air to counter the attack. "Fatal End!"

Thanatos halted her ascent and the attack of her persona with a single, effortless slash from its blade, putting the two of them in a temporary deadlock. She could feel the crushing weight of its blade slowly pushing her back, and the soulless look in its eyes told her it was barely even trying. 

"Heat Riser." Caroline flinched, as she heard the soft voice of resonate through the area. Before she could even react, Makoto was at her side, launching a kick at her head, and with a speed somehow surpassing that which he had displayed earlier; she found herself reeling from the impact, the world spinning around her through her eyes. Before she could even hit the ground, Thanatos hurried after her, charging up a brutal punch to her stomach.

"—I won't let you! Maziodyne!" Justine called upon Thor, and multiple lightning strikes fell from the sky, even more powerful than before. They homed in on the convict, who temporarily halted his assault to weave out of the way. That gave the sisters the opening they needed to get back on the offensive.

"Bufudyne." Caroline ordered, beckoning King frost while still being suspended in the air. A solid, gigantic block of ice came crashing towards the convict, but the attack proved unsuccessfull as his Persona pulled back and shattered the storm of crystals into pieces with a swipe of its fist.

"What the hell...?" For all her ego, Caroline was stunned by that kind of power, and even Justine was off-put. It wasn't even a few moments after she'd landed on the ground that Thanatos had closed in on her, and with a harrowing screech, it tried to slice her clean in half. She wasn't quite quick enough to dodge.

"Garudyne!" Justine aimed a windspell, not at the convict, but at Caroline. It seemed to work, as Caroline was blown away from where she wojld've been bisected a moment ago. She didn't wast time thanking her sister, and instead, Caroline summoned Chi You, readying a spell immediately. 

"Psiodyne."

Makoto's expression flickered with mild surprise. It was faint, but his eyes widened for a moment, before the spell hit him and he started to recoil. And there was no way the two of them were going to let this chance escape them.

"Ziodyne." The second attack hit him directly.

Noticing a 'thud' against the ground that was not the convict, Justine whipped around to its source. It looked like in her moment of triumph, she forgot about Caroline.

"Caroline, are you alright?" She asked worriedly.

"It's nothing, just a bruise." Caroline said back. She still healed her just in case.

"Diarahan." The spell worked as intended, and all the bruises on Caroline's body started to heal.

"...Before, a nuclear explosion. And now some sort of psychic attack? Are there any other new elements you'd like to introduce me to, or are we good?" Makoto said in an annoyed tone, tossing away what level of his blazer had remained. It seemed that, even though it was a direct hit, the heat riser from earlier made it so that only his attire was truly damaged.

"Hmph. I hope you aren't getting tired, because round two starts now, and I'm getting my payback." Caroline brutishly announced, cracking her neck.

"Justine!" Caroline said and she nodded back. Their teamwork was commendable, Makoto noted. She seemed to instantly get what she was implying even when there were no words shared between them. Once upon a time, his team had been like that. "Affirmative. Riot Gun." Justine used some sort of high level gun skill, and bullets deadlier than the one's he'd previously seen were racing at him in the blink of an eye.

He did his best to slash away the hailstorm of artillery, but Thanatos was an offensive persona that in no way specialized in defense, so he was quickly overtaken. Or at least, it seemed that way.

"Caroline, up there!" Justine yelled. She didn't know how for the life of her, but the convict somehow evaded by leaping high up into the air.

"Leave it to me! Thunder Reign!" Caroline used the strongest lightning spell she knew and crushed the card in front of her.

Their opponent was still unfazed and took the opprotunity to cast another buff. "Power Charge." He then directed Thanatos to charge at the spear of lightning that was falling from above, and through pure grit and strength, the Persona tore it in half with its bare hands. 

"Caroline, with me!" Justine said and Caroline nodded back to her. "Maragidyne!" "Mafreidyne!" Both the nuclear blast and fire blast fused and brought about a large explosion aimed at their aggressor.

"...Garudyne." The convict used a wind sprll  propel himself upwards once more.

..Strange. He didn't fight head-on like before. Justine noted to herself. He used the moment of surprise to unleash a spell of his own, as Thanatos reached for the hilt of its sword.

"Vorpal Blade." He commanded.

"—VORPAL BLADE!" Caroline met the attack.

Both the Convict and Caroline used the same spell, and a myriad of slashes met in the middle. But inevitably, the God of Death started to overpower Caroline's persona, and she eventually lost out

"Caroline! Mediarahan!" Justine used another healing spell to heal Caroline, then casted "Vacuum Wave!", "..Damn." Yuki didn't even have time to react as the wind blew through him, and he was thrown a fair bit into the distance.

"Caroline, are you alright?" Justine said worriedly, walking towards her twin.

"I'm fine." How curt. "Be careful, Justine. This guy's tough."

As she said that, the their opponent walked out of the nearby debris with not so much as a bruise.

This isn't going well, at all. There has to be something we can use. Justine thought to herself with gritted teeth.

"…Are we done here?"

What?

"I'd rather not get thrown around again." He hummed, brushing the dust out of his hair.

…Wait, the first time he was hurt was when he got hit by the frei spell, right? And he ran away when we combined our fire with a nuclear attack... Is that his weakness?

Justine smiled slightly and turned towards Caroline, "Hold him for a moment. I have a plan."

"You do? Well, I hope it works." Caroline said back with wide eyes before looking back at the convict.

He readied his next attack, but she was sure they would prevail, now that she was confident about his weakness.

"Megido." The convict charged up an almighty spell and shot it towards them. They both broke up and surrounded him in circle. The convict's persona then targeted Justine, slashing wildly at her with its sword.

"As if that would work! Ragnarok!" Caroline used her spell, a large fire pillar emerging in front of her . It stopped whej it met rhe Almighty energy, making a large explosion at l the zero point.

Makoto lazily glanced at Caroline, the pure essence of death in his eyes. "Vorpal Blade."

"This time I won't lose, Vorpal Blade!" The slashes met in the middle again and, true to her words, she almost started to push him back.

Although with a little.. No. A lot of difficulty. Caroline's screams were a testament to that fact.

Reluctantly, he broke the clash and jumped backwards, preparing another attack. This one was unique to him, an ability he hadn't used in quite a while.

"Doors Of Hades."

The pale silver light engulfed an ethereal portal summoned by Thanatos with a growl, threatening to drag the twin wardens down to hell itself.

Millions of questions filled the twins' minds in one instant. It was a rare occasion that they'd encounter a spell they were totally unfamiliar with, considering their positions as "ones who rule over power". They had access to a full compendium, of course, so it was enough if a surprise that he possesed a persona they didn't recognize, let alone unique skills. 

Thwy quickly pushed thar train of thought to the backs of their head's. Answers could come later; right now they needed to focus on surviving.

"Divine Judgement!" A golden hammer appeared and clashed with the convict's attack. The convict looked confused for a moment, noticing how his attack didn't instantly vaporize the spell, though it came close. It was barely holding on, and seeing his slightly widened eyes, she decided at that moment that it was all she needed.

Blue light began to appear around him. He twisted his head in some amount of surprise, but before he could retaliate, Justine finished her spell.

"This is the end, convict."

"Cosmic Flare!"

The blue lights around him started to spark, and he did nothing but stare at them with a completely unchanged gaze. A beautiful atomic explosion of sapphire bursted into existence, engulfing everything, as far as the eye could see.

For a realm so typically scarlet, the enormous explosion above the city was noticeably blue.

And then there was silence.

Undisturbed silence. 

"Did we get him?" Caroline asked, with a worried voice.

"We don't know yet, but at the very least, we can be sure that it must have severely wounded him." Her sister answered with something akin to confidence in her voice. "Are you sure you are not hurt?"

"No, he didn't hit me." Caroline's face curved into a smirk. "You should have seen the look on his face when I canceled his stupid dark spell."

"…Yes. He did seem somewhat surprised."

As the explosion finally died down, she waited with her weapon ready,  on the off chance that the convict hadn't gone down. But when the smoke are cleared, both were left speechless, in complete silence. 

Befote them stood their target. Still, unshaken, and utterly undamaged. From the look of it, there were no wounds on his body, not even one. There attack had been rendered wholly ineffective. There was a refractive, seemingly magically fragmented barrier surrounding him, as if space itself had been splinted to defend him. 

Never in Caroline's existence had she seen someone withstand an attack like that, let alone just... shrug it off. And she was so sure she'd pieced together the puzzle of his weakness.

She heard him whisper something idly to himself. "Infinity... it's been a while since I've busted this out."

Both caroline and Justine didn't know what that meant at all, but they were too baffled to comment. How did he just tank that attack? After it had been charged, as well? Was he simply pretending all this time to be fazed, and was completely impervious in reality?

Then, all of a sudden, he started softly clapping.

"Impressive. Very impressive, you two. You guys gave me some trouble, even if I was rusty. You aren't quite on her level, but still." He spoke gently, fondness in his voice. "You know... a wise man once told me that two in harmony would surpass one in perfection."

They couldn't pinpoint why, but there was an indescribable sadness in the air when he said that.

"...It's a great quote. There's a reason why it stuck with me as long as it has. That said... I'm sorry. But that isn't really how things are going to go. Not this time." 

The convict drew his evoker, and with a splash of shattering ether, he called forth his final partner from the sea.

"Messiah."

The world as they knew it was engulfed in light. Divine, reverent light.

When it finally died down, taking shape and becoming worldly enough to lays eyes upon, a persona was indeed there, hovering beside the convict. But it was another they'd never seen before. That heavenly glow, the gold-like energy... it was hard for the two of then to believe it was even the same power of the mask that they were familiar with. Never had they seen it realized to this extent. It had bright hair that was somehow both golden and white at the same time, pale skin, deep orange-reddish eyes and some sort of cross on its back, those same distinct coffins pertruding from either side.

They both stared at the scene in front of them in fear and surprise, when Justine suddenly spoke;

"Is that a.. Persona?" Justine asked in surprise. Indeed, he didn't feel precisely like a human anymore. If he had to describe it, he was almost more like a persona himself than a human.

"Wh-what…What the heck are you!?" Caroline asked with a shaking voice.

"I thought I already told you."

"..A.. Messiah?…but isn't that your persona?" Justine asked back, her voice also shaking, as she pointed towards the strange.. thing. No, There's no way that was a persona. The existence of that THING was entirely unknown to her.

The convict laughed softly and said, "it's a persona, alright. But, in a manner of speaking, It's somewhat of an archetypal manifestation of myself... seeing as I became a messianic figure, and all. Almost like looking in a mirror. And the old man said that I'm roughly a god now."

A GOD, that's what we were fighting against!? Her legs gave out beneath her with the realization. A shattered will.

His eyes sharpened, and any trace of compassion in them was gone in an instant. "...In the compendium, it's said that, that a bufudyne could cover the world, if used by the real King Frost, yeah? Well, would you like to see the power of God's hand, when used by a real God?"

Caroline couldn't endure it either. She fell to her knees, but he didn't stop. He casted the spell without so much as a word, tge sky above them splitting open to reveal  the entirety of the heavens themselves crashing down towards the earth. The pressure of it all was too much, and in no time, Justine found herself fainting in pure fear, unconsciousness taking a firm hold on her.

A few moments later...

He could admit it. He might have overdid it. A little.

A pale young boy stood in the middle of what, at the moment, can only be described as complete chaos. The entire district is in ruins. Buildings collapsed, and the aftermath of that scuffle is everywhere. The city looked as though it's been leveled by an earthquake. That's was if you could even still refer to it as a city, in its current state.

Giving it some thought, he realized he still had absolutely no idea what the place was,, since he'd been ambushed in the middle of his investigation. Well, it was a Shadow-Nest, obviously, but that wasn't really saying anything. From what he heard from Elizabeth, each time one of these appears, its wholly and entirely different. It looked and felt similar to the Dark Hour, but at the same time something about the atmosphere was distinct. He hadn't felt it before. It definitely couldn't be the TV World he heard about, since he was sure that that'd been annihilated by his successor, but then again, he supposed he did only have word of mouth to go off of.

He figured the reason the atmosphere was different was because this place was the manifestation of a different aspect of human thought. The Dark Hour materialized because people wanted to die. From what what Elizabeth told him, the Midnight Channel materialized because people wanted to be lied to, or entertained, or something of that sort. Following that line of thinking, what repressed ideal could this new dimension be based on? Maybe boredom? Greed would be interesting. Or...

"Hm?" His train of thought was interrupted by a rustle not too far from him.

Someone kicked at the wreckage surrounding them, throwing it into the air.

Out came a young girl, cursing under her breath, her clothes tattered and her eyepatch lost to the rubble. Her condition was noticeably worse than it was earlier, which made sense, considering the magnitude of the attack she'd just faced. There were minor cuts and bruises all over her. She seemed to be bbreathing a bit heavily, and, judging from the frown on her face and the sheer animosity in the glare she's giving him, he quickly recognized it as Caroline, the roadies one. 

"..Well," he started, slowly walking up fo her with his hands in his pockets. "Color me surprised. I thought I was gonna have to look for you." That last attack was brutal, devastating even, but he intentionally didn't pour enough energy in it to kill either one of them. He just wanted it to look like it would kill them to send a message. It was really quiet around here, though, so he was beginning to dread the thought of having to dig them out of the mess he made.

"Shut up, convict!" She tried to put as much snark and venom in her voice as possible, but it came out as a wheeze.

"-Wait, where's Justine?" The girl looked around worriedly and started to move the wreckage around her. "Justine, answer me!"

"Justine!" Finally she found her, but that did not put her at ease. Caroline was in pretty rough shape herself, But the girl lying in front of her was worse. Both of her arms and legs were bruised same with one of her legs. It wasn't anything super serious, but certainly enough to put her out of commission. Still, the fact that she was unconcious worried her.

"Justine, wake up! Open your eyes!" The wounds were healing, but the girl seemed like she wasn't waking up any time soon. It was by no means a life-threatening injury, but it was definitely going to put her out for a while.

Watching the scene unfold, Yuki couldn't help but feel kind of bad. Sure, she may have been some type of other-wordly being, but she was still clearly just a kid. It wouldn't sit right with him if he bullied her like that and left her here. He reluctantly decided to intervene.

"...You do know that Diarahan won't work if you don't use Recarm first, right?" He tried to talk some sense into the conscious one.

"Huh...? Oh, right, right...!" She replied with widening eyes. It kind of surprised him that she'd forgotten. She crushed a tarot card with her baton, and moved to cast the spell, but before she could, a deep voice interrupted her.

"That would not be necessary, Caroline."

A deep voice said. 'Hm?' The boy turned to look at his new guest, and a complete surprise greeted him.

"...It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person,"

"Messiah of the Fall."

An entirely familiar man, with an entirely familiar face, sporting an entirely familiar grin, greeted him, with an entirely unfamiliar voice. 

"Master!" Caroline said in surprise.

"...Igor?" Makoto found himself asking in astonishment. Memories of his last moments of life flashed before his eyes, that fateful conversation he had just before being granted his Arcana. The Elevator had stopped, since then. Reached It's destination. He didn't think he'd ever see him again. But something was off.

For his part, the man said nothing, his eery, resonant chuckle once again sounding through the air. And that's when the realization hit Makoto, the pieces fitting together like a puzzle.

"...The Usurper, I presume? Yaldabaoth." The boy quietly spit the name with contempt. Any fondness or familiarity in his deamnor was banished, ready to attack or flee at any moment.

The false god hummed, tilting his head. "I must admit, I'm surprised that you've realized that much. How did you come to know of me?"

"Same here." The boy said back without missing a beat.

Igor? chuckled once again. 'It's getting kind of annoying.'

"..What do you mean, Convict?" Justine- oh, right. He forgot she was here too- asked skeptically. "Master is master!" She said confidently, holding Justine in her arms.

Makoto turned, studying the girl for a second. 'Looks like she doesn't know. Well, it's not his concern, but still,

"..I don't know who your real master is, but this guy.."

"He's not Igor. That much, I can tell."

Caroline didn't say anything, but she loked back and forth between him and her supposed master.

Evidently, Yaldabaoth either didn't care or didn't think that dilemma was important enough, keeping his bloodshot eyes trained on the Messiah.

". .Such power," He spoke. "And to think it would be wasted on a naive human.'' He commented idly.

"What?"

"You. You are still new to your godhood, so you have no way of knowing. The Gods' almighty powers do not come freely. There are always strings attached."

"Deities such as us exist only because of humanity's faith and belief. Our power springs forth from desire."

'Really? Philemon never told me about that.', "So?"

"Your abilities are.. unique." He explained. "You draw your power not solely from man's faith, but from the faith of your bonds." The God tilted his head a little bit as he finished, giving what he just said some time to sink. Honestly, as much as he didn't trust this guy, Yuki had to admit that he sounded about right. That day, when he performed his miracle, it wasn't the power of some sort of idolization that let him get there; at least, he didn't think it was. Both in mind and in spirit, it was the collective strength of all of his friends, the culmination of his links that blessed him with the Universe. "I'm sure you see where this is headed. To those who knew you before.. you are dead. None of them are aware you still walk the earth, and as such, if you continue to use your Arcana so recklessly, it won't be long before your powers are gone and you become human again." Yaldabaoth explained, his grin widening.

'So, I've got two limits now. That's great.'

"..I don't care. All I have to do is kill you, anyway, and this'll all be over soon."

Yet another chuckle. "A bit pompous, are we? I am afraid this will not be that easy." Red aura flared around him and the world around them start to shift. Those same bone-esque structures and blood-red veins from the subways shot up from underground. "Allow me to show you.."

"The Power of a True God." The floor beneath them started to shake and the platform underneath them suddenly shot up miles into the sky.

But the boy didn't bat an eye, even when the sky threatened to fall down on top of them. This wasn't the first time he fought a condescending deity on a Tower above his city, after all. The same thing can't be said about the girl holding her twin.

"What's happening!?" She asked with disbelief in her eyes as the ground continued to rise.

Eventually, it stopped. The man was still grinning with his crimson eyes, and.. the boy was looking at him with utter disinterest. He finally broke eye contact and looked around. They were really high up in the sky. You could even see past the clouds. He wasn't stoked to be doing this again, but something akin to nostalgia shot through his mind.

".. A tower atop the clouds, and.. a God staring down at me. Am I supposed to be scared?"

"Do not worry, Messiah. This is merely a stage befitting of my true form's display." Light started to fill the area and completely robbed them off their sight.

When it died down, a giant winged metal.. monster, stood in front of the tower. It's wings were Red and silver color and it's whole body was shining from reflection. It's head looked like just a stone with slightly visible silhouette of his face and weapon cases like things can seen on his both sides.

"What the hell is that!?" Caroline shouted like there's no tomorrow. "Y-you're not--?"

"Didn't I say that already?" Makoto said while rolling his eyes.

"Who would've believed you, convict!?" She spat. At least she had her snark back.

"Anyway, you should take your sister and get out of here. Depending on how this plays out, this won't be safe for you." Yuki commanded, turning back to his new adversary.

There was a slight pause.

"..Are you stupid? You're stupid, right? We're too high up, d'you expect me to jump!?"

Ah. She DID have a point.

"Then.. just take cover, I guess." Conveniently, there was still some rubble from earlier, that probably wouldn't mean a thing in a battle of gods. It's still better than nothing.

"..Ugh! F-fine. You owe me, convict."

She said reluctantly, taking her sister and scurrying behind whatever she could.

"Uh, no, I don't?"

"-Are you finished, Messiah?" The God of Control echoed.

"Waiting for us to stop chatting? What a godly thing to do." He said with a slight smile.

"Hmph! No, take your time. In truth, you make my job easier, the more time you waste."

The moment he said that, a mischievous aura permeated through the air. It was almost as if oxygen itself gained a color, a misty crimson everywhere he looked. The God before him radiated smugness, as if he'd already checkmated Makoto before the match began. Indeed, there was an aspect of this encounter that he should've considered as soon as he found out who this was. The realization hit him like a truck.

This was a Shadow Nest— or, in clearer terminology, a spacial manifestation of specific facets of human thought. A cognitive world, sort of like Tartarus was. And each time one of these appears, There's a designated ruler of the dimension who a group of Persona-users eventually have to usurp; and the only way that becomes possible is because, as far as he knows, each Wildcard develops an ability at the end of their journey that conceptually counters the existence of such a ruler. It should've been obvious, but whatever this.. place is, Yaldabaoth is its ruler. He's the cognitive God of this realm, which means it'll take the self-realization of a new wildcard to actually get rid of him.

Makoto may be the sole holder of the Universe Arcana, but no aspect of his powers would ever let him permanently kill this god, even if they did fight. He figures He's probably just like Erebus, in that sense. This was his domain, and since he couldn't directly counter the concept that funded Yaldabaoth, he could easily be expelled from his dimension.

'--That's it. All this time, this guy never really intended to fight me. What he's really trying to do is..'

"HE'S BANISHING US FROM MEMENTOS?!" Caroline yelped from under-cover. Well, he had no idea what this specific nest was or what it's called, but it was probably something along those lines.

A demonic chuckle rung through the entirety of this reality. "Are you beginning to understand, Messiah? You are perhaps formidable, but it was never your place to defy me. I, on the other hand, can defy you all I please. You walk within my territory, not your own."

Figured as much, Yuki thought silently to himself. Looking around, the light in the sky was growing brighter. He wouldn't have much time before he really was kicked out from this place, and there wasn't much he could do to stop it. In the few seconds that followed his revelation, he compiled what he new about his circumstances in his mind. If his opponent was really all-powerful within his domain, then theoretically, he should be able to let anybody in and kick anybody out whenever he wants, right? That kind of thing wouldn't warrant any charge-time, supposedly. But this did, meaning that to some degree, he wasn't telling the whole truth. Thinking about it, it would probably be really easy for a god to banish any normal human from its own territory-- maybe they could even erase them from cognition entirely, depending on what part of human thought it represented. But Makoto's not a normal human. His existence was extremely complex, and thus, it would take time for even the most powerful deities to rid their presence from the dimension.

That must've been why he sent the two wardens after them in the first place. Their ambush bought Yaldabaoth some extra time to gather the necessary power, and by the time things got serious, it would already be too late. And if he could catch the Messiah off-guard before he retaliated, he could effectively bar him from ever entering this cognitive world in the future, essentially rendering his intervention pointless.

But he made one miscalculation.

"No matter how determined, I am afraid there is nothing you can do now, Messiah. You took too long to put together the broken pieces of your situation, and thus, you lost the game before it started. But do tell the butterfly that I said 'hello'." The god let himself cackle madly at that, conceit on full display.

"...There's nothing I can do', huh?"

Makoto's head suddenly shot up, his emotionless eyes boring into Yaldabaoth's figure, and an ever-so-slight smile on his face.

"..You're right. I can't beat you. Not right now, anyway." He widened his stance, raising one arm to the side.

"But, that's not really my job, anyway. You said that much yourself." His right arm shot to the sky.

"..So, I'll just do what I do best."

He held up a finger.

The moment he did so, an elegant, blue light-- no, a force-- swirled out of his body, engulfing his surroundings. It battled the scarlet energy that threatened to nullify Makoto's existence, and as it raged on it only seemed to be growing in intensity. From the looks of it, it didn't intend to halt the explosion process-- it already knew that much was impossible. But somehow, someway, it was managing to reach out to Yaldabaoth, as if it was attempting to contain some of his madness.

"...So, you'll rebel against me, no matter how hopeless the endeavor, Messiah?" The God inquired. There was a hint of surprise, and maybe even a little fear in his voice, as a pure white light engulfed the entirety of Mementos.

"Even this much.. can only hold me for so long. You will see for yourself the true boundlessness of mankind's distortion."

Makoto eyed him unfazed, and for once in his life, he said the words with an angelic smile. "...I don't care."

Finally, a zenith was reached, he could feel himself fading from the cognitive world, and he knew no more.

Chapter Text

?

"...Wait... Where... am I...?"

Justine wondered groggily, hazily glancing through her surroundings. As far as she could tell, it was entirely pitch black, and she couldn't see anything at all around her, not even herself.

"Did I... die?" She asked herself quietly. The thought had never scared her before. Not like it was scaring her now. "...So, the convict killed me."

Her voice was a slow, quiet whisper. "I hope Caroline is... " She knew she was just fooling herself. Even though she had protected Caroline with her life, there was simply no telling what their opponent would've done afterwards. He was simply too strong. That last attack, for example, she could tell that  as mighty as it was, it didn't even really begin to approach his true power. She of course had infinite faith in her sister, but she wasn't naive.

She resolved to sit with her thoughts for a while, before they were interrupted by a sharp voice in the distance.

"Master, honestly, you don't really intend to let her— LEAVE, so easily?!"

A woman's voice called out from behind her.

She knew that voice. It sounded angry.

Justine turned herself around and did her best to look forward. Somehow, a familiar sight that she somehow also felt like she'd never seen before greeted her.

"...Margaret, dear. It is her choice. We have no say." The speaker was none other than her master, Igor, and... from the looks of it, the one who was yelling at him was her sister Margaret. It took her a brief moment to recognize, but after analyzing her features, the memories came flooding back into her mind.

"What... is this?" She asked, more to herself than anybody else. It wasn't like they heard her, anyway.

She noticed, then, that she was in front of them, sitting on what appeared to be a sofa. She looked around and the darkness was gone. The place... looked like an elevator, filled entirely with blue. She knew this place. She didn't know how or why, but she did. This was the form the Velvet Room acquired when it adopted the sibling's first guest, having been raised to prevent an incident like the one prior from reoccurring. 

"Surely, we can't just let her walk away! I can't let my little sister run around on a wild goose chase!", Margaret shouted at her Master, with a distress completely alien to her usual demeanor. Justine didn't know exactly what they were talking about, but the topic sounded eerily familiar. 

"Please, sister.. calm down." A meek, masculine voice called from beside her. She recognize it as her brother, Theodore.

Thinking on it clearly, she felt certain that she knew this conversation. More than that, it was one she could never forget. It was a day and a moment which marked a permanent shift in their family's history. It could be said that their first guess was a success; he completed his journey flawlessly, and achieved a state of being that none before him had ever claimed. But he lost his life in the process. He forfeited his soul to protect humanity at large; A noble decision, but not without consequence. The bonds he forged through his journey, the people he touched, were not immediately able to accept his death, and their retaliation brought forth a dire anomaly into this world. Although he was technically the family's guest, their sister Elizabeth served as his main attendant. And through his trials and tribulations, she bonded with him. She grew to love him.

Which meant that, despite her inteded role as a supportive, but impartial observer, even she couldn't accept his loss. And ultimately, she made the unthinkable decision to leave the Velvet Room in order to find a way to save him. A desperate attempt to oppose fate. The day Elizabeth realized the true nature of his damnation was the angriest and the most fowl Justine had ever seen her sister. Perhaps the angriest she had seen anyone. And this was the aftermath of her decision.

"You must understand. Your sister Elizabeth made her choice. We are in no position to intervene with her own free will." Igor lamented, a touch of sadness in his voice as he closed his eyes. Her master new better than anyone what the ideals they were obligates to uphold as representatives of their lord. Above all else, they were never to interfere with a being's autonomy. 

"But is what she's trying to do even possible?" Margaret questioned passionately. "What good could saving him do, if it would bring about the same catastrophe he died trying to prevent?"

"She knew this. Our beloved Elizabeth isn't careless." A calm, lighter voice countered. Justine didn't recognize this one. "I believe that to be the precise reason why she left... so that she could find a way to oppose fate."

Margaret glanced to... her direction? Why was she looking at her? She hadn't said anything. And who's voice was that?

She looked around. But she found no one. It couldn't have been here, she didn't sound like that... did she?

She watched Margaret open her mouth to speak.

"Læ–vnnenen--ża,"

...What? That sound made her headache. Was it a name? She couldn't understand.

"You were here when she departed... tell me, why didn't you stop her?!" Margaret was... chiding her? "She's your sister as well! Did she truly mean so little...?"

"Please, sister, L-v3nzn-sæh--" That static again— "—is just trying to help." Her older brother, Theodore, came to her defense, trying to calm their sister down. Margaret had never lost her cool like this, not once.

"...If they're talking to me, why aren't they saying my name...?" Justine wondered. Clearly they were addressing her, but with a moniker that was completely alien to her ears. She could never make it out.

"It is as master said." That voice. The soft one from before, it was speaking again. It sounded somber this time."Sister Elizabeth... she made this choice herself. As much as it pained me to see her off, it would not only be disrespectful to dishonor her decision— it would fly in the face of what we stand for as ones who rule over power."

Was it... really her? Was she the one saying these things to her sister? As desperately as Justine tried to recall, her memory was severely lapsed, as if something was actively preventing her from having clear retrieval. To make matters worse, not just her mind, but her vision was also becoming blurry now as well.

"L---- n n n--- , d---t --lk--t----r---si-r."

She could tell Margaret said something, but the static had grown too loud. It was indecipherable. And no matter how much she tried to fight it, her vision became increasingly blurrier, a million thoughts fighting for dominance in her mind, but one specific question pushed to the forefront.

At that moment in time... just where was Caroline?

Her awakening was abrupt, and loud. Justine was not typically a screamer, but having just experienced what she could only imagine to be death, she wasn't acting at all typical.

When she caught her breath— she was breathing pretty heavily, for some reason— she began to adjust to her surroundings, observing them carefully.

She appeared to be outside some sort of train station, but... this wasn't quite like the one on Mementos. She didn't sense shadows, or any other kind of cognitive presences below the ground. Between that, and, the fact that here were humans walking around and looking at her strangely, she reasoned that she was in fact not in the Metaverse anymore. 

Her analysis was abruptly interrupted when she felt a pair of little, strong arms wrap around her with the force of a freight train. Could it have been...?

"...You... you finally woke up..." Her sister whispered meekly, her eyes wet with tears of relief. "You really... you really had me worried there, for a second..."

There was a deep, warm hug between the twins. Justine returned it in kind. She was relieved herself, of course. But she was just as dumbfounded.

"I... yes, I'm fine," Justine started, still trying ying to get an idea of what was really going on. Was this another dream? Did she really survive? Or did both of them die, and they were just meeting in the middle? She had tons of questions, but she eventually settled on just one.

"Caroline, where... where is the Convict?"

That was the most important detail. Had the threat been neutralized? If not, they still might not be in the clear. How could she protect Caroline if he was still after them? What if... what if—

As soon as the words left her mouth, however, her sister scoffed in annoyance, and rolled her eyes back as far as she could.

"...That loser's right over there." She jabbed a thumb over her back, pointing towards a young man with deep blue hair, leaning casually on the wall behind him. Half of his face was obscured by his bangs, but from what she could see, his visible eye was watching over them with an intense gaze. And he seemed to have his smartphone in his hand. 

In spite of the intensity that shone within the deep seas of his pupil, his response was remarkably bland. "...Oh. You're awake." 

They looked at eachother for a moment, in complete silence. She was, yet again, dumbfounded.

And then the bastard just went back to looking at his phone.

Trying to ease the tornado quickly growing in her mind, Justine turned back to her sister. "...Caroline, what.. what's happening? What happened?"

At her question, Caroline stopped her celebrating, taking a moment to think. No doubt about how best to explain the honestly mind-boggling turn of events that took place a few minutes ago.

"..You see, uhm... ah..." Her sister fumbled uselessly over her words.

Justine's Eyebrow twitched. "Caroline."

"--Okay, okay! It's complicated..." She started, ruffling her hair with her palm. "..But, long story short, our master wasn't exactly our master...? He turned out to be some piece of shit god who was just posing as our master. He and the convict are both utter jerkwads, and I place extra emphasis on that part." She explained angrily. For her part, it was a pretty accurate summation, but it wasn't all that comprehensive.

Justine sighed. "You.. will have to be more specific, Caroline. First of all, what did the convict do to warrant such explosive behavior? And second, what do you mean when you say our master was a poser? That isn't a very funny jest."

"It's not a joke! I know it sounds crazy, but I'm being serious! Our master-- ugh, I mean,  the impostor revealed himself to be some sort of god, and he kicked us out of Mementos. The Convict used some weird ability before he could finish, though." Caroline continued.

"..Hm." Justine pondered, bringing her thumb to her bottom lip. "Could he perhaps have used the same spell from back then?" She asked aloud, trying to get her thoughts together.

Caroline gave her an incredulous look in response. "...What do you mean? You've... you've seen him before?"

They couldn't help but stare at eachother in confusion.

"You do not remember him?" Justine broke the silence, seeming quite shocked at her sister's ignorance. "His name is... Makoto Yuki. He was our first guest."

"First... guest..?" It took some time for the words to fall into place in Caroline's head. Justine couldn't help but wonder what the meaning of it all was. How could her sister have genuinely forgotten such an important facet of their history?

Eventually though,  it clicked, and she could see it in her eyes the moment it did. "...Ah! Sister Elizabeth's guest!" Caroline exclaimed, and at that, Justine let out a small sigh of relief, collecting herself, before saying, "Don't scare me like that."

"..Sorry, I guess it sort of just... slipped my mind? But anyway, are you sure he's the guy? Our first guest was nearly a saint, wasn't he? This guy's... well. A jackass." Caroline squinted her eyes, scoffing a little bit at the thought.

"...I'm right here." Makoto interjected flatly.

"Oh, I know. That's why I said it." She shot back. 

"Actually," Justine interrupted, "That brings me back to the first question. What did he do to make you so aggravated? This is unusual, even for you."

"God! Don't get me started. When he started doing his weird power-thingy, I asked him if he wanted my help, and he was all—" She put on an exaggerated expression of fatigue, deepening her voice— ""What could a brat like you do to help me? It wouldn't even be funny on April Fools." Can you believe it? The nerve of him." Caroline said, imitating the convict. In all honesty, it just looked like Justine. But that still didn't entirely clear things up.

Justine turned to the Convict, skepticism in her eyes. "What exactly did you do? And.. why are we here with you? Did you really use the same power from before?"

Glancing up from his now cracked phone screen, Yuki's eyes narrowed. She couldn't tell if It was because he was deciding whether or not he should even explain at all, or if if was because it was somehow beyond explanation.

"...Well, what's the best way I can put this... I sealed him."

"WHAT?!" "...What?" The twins both cried in unison.

"Not in the way you're probably thinking." He immediately clarified, waving off their distress with his hand. "I don't know how much of my story you're familiar with, but if I had really used the Great Seal again, I... wouldn't be standing here right now." Well, that cleared up some of the surprise in the air, but it still didn't answer much in the way of how he was able to do so.

"...Then, what did you do? How did you seal the Impostor without using the full scale of your abilities? And... why are we here with you?" Justine inquired.

His eyes furrowed in thought. "...I suppose "seal" isn't quite the right rerminology here... It's more like.. I grounded him."

"Excuse me...?" Caroline piped up with a quizzical expression. "What does that even mean? Where did you put him?" 

"...Keep your voice down. People are staring." Makoto replied with a small sigh. "And, what I mean is, I sent him back to the depths of that cognitive world he came from. From what I can tell, that's where his true body resides. It's true that I can't perform the same miracle twice, but there's a key differnece between him and the god I faced that made it possible. He's conceptual, not actual. So it was simple enough for me to lock him in his room, at the heart of that subway prison thing." Makoto explained. "So yeah. basically, he's grounded. But if whatever concept he gets his power from gets stronger, he'll eventually become too unruly to be held. And... he can still influence people from within his reality, so I guess I'll just have to find this new wildcard before he does."

Once he finished his elaboration, he let the information he'd dumped sit for a moment. The twins were for once quiet as they gathered their thoughts. He wouldn't complain.

Eventually, Justine responded. "That still doesn't explain why we're here, too."

 "If I had to guess, it's probably because my power interfered with his. He more than likely only meant to evict me from the shadow nest, but since I interrupted him, you ended up getting dragged out here as well." He explained.

That got a scoff from Caroline. "And what? Did he seriously think we were just gonna act like nothing happened?" She asked, discomfort on her face.

Makoto shook his head. "Mm... no. Once he got rid of me, it seems like he was probably going to threaten you to stay quiet. He probably still needed you for something, or else he would've tried to kill you already." There was a dim feeling in the air afterwards; it was a lot for the Twins to take in, the idea that the man they'd been serving all this time was a phony in reality. Makoto understood that feelig quite well, so he couldn't help but feel some sympathy. After giving them enough time to digest what he said,  he eventually spoke up again.

"..Hey. It... won't make you feel any better, but I know what it's like to feel betrayed by someone you looked up to. You're not alone, in that way." The gentlest sparkle was in his eyes as he said that, and somehow, the twins felt like he might have some idea of how they were feeling. Idly, they wondered where in his own life he'd experienced such an aching pain.

."..Whatever, stupid." Caroline said, a small blush on her face. "I've had enough of your wise platitudes for the day."

Yuki shrugged, then turned to Justine. "..You're.. Justine, right?" She nodded. "Looks like you're the smart one, so I'd like you to answer some questions of my own."

"--The hell's THAT supposed to mean?!--"

"Do you know what a 'Trickster' is?" He asked, ignoring the fuming child beside him.

"..Trickster? Yes. It is what we called our guests." Makoto took note of the plural terminology.

"..Guest"s"? So, there really are two this time.."

"Correct. The first had already begun his journey, but I have no doubt it was distorted by the malevolent intentions of our Master's usurper. We were still preparing for the second upon your arrival." She explained.

Preparing? Yuki stared at them. What did they have to do? Think up some new cryptic messages? Does the lady who's singing have to clear her throat? "So, if there really are two wildcards, which one of them am I supposed to guide?"

The twins gave eachother looks.

"Guide them..? What do you mean?" Caroline asked.

Yuki thought for a moment. "..Let's just say a little butterfly told me to do just that."

"Who?" Justine asked skeptically. All she got in response was a shrug. "Ugh!" Caroline grumbled in annoyance.

"..More importantly, I need to check the train schedules for today. You can tell me more about that dimension on the way."

—Yaso-Inaba— April 2nd—Evening—

"...Mkay, I think that's all." Ren had packed his things away nearly into a relatively small box. It had his essentials in it, which was all he really needed to take. Aside from his favorite books, clothes and necessities made up the bulk of it. 

As he glanced around his room for the last time, Ren fell into his thoughts. There wasn't any warmth here anymore. Even though he'd spent so much of his life cooped up in these walls, and made his fair share of memories, he felt... out of place here, now.

As he flopped down onto his bed, he wondered if anyone would even take note of his absence while he was gone, or if he would just fade into obscurity like the rest of his brand of people. His parents did the best they could to delay his probation, they really did, but he still didn't have much time to prepare. It was all so abrupt. Noticing the cardboard box he'd just filled in the corner of his eye, he let out a soft, empty chuckle.

"...Headed to Tokyo all by myself, with nothing but the clothes on my back. It's lovely, isn't it?" He spole quietly to himself. "Well? This path I'm about to walk... I'm doing it alone, aren't I?"

Only silence replied, obviously. No one else was here, and he could only smirk bitterly at his own isolation.

  "...Who am I kidding? Isn't that how it always was?" Rubbing his eyebrows, he looked around one last time to see if there was anything else he wanted to take with him. As he stood up from his mattress, the creaks from his rusty old bed shook the floor a tiny bit, causing the furtniture in the room to rustle. Across the room, a lone book fell from its shelf, the only one he hadn't packed away. A short moment of surprise later, and he walked over to the corner it landed in, picking it up.

Instantly, recognition shot through his mind. This was one he'd read over and over as a kid, a refined, darker take on the same noble elegance he admired in the superheroes he'd loved in his youth. A story that'd taught him to value his own morals over society... however stupid it all was. As he swiped the dust off the cover, he'd already known exactly which book it was before he read the title.

"The Arrest of Arsène Lupin".

He felt his lips crease into a genuine smile for the first time in ages.

...I almost dropped my metro-pass during that little fight, too

Makoto Yuki— publicly, Minato Arisato-- thought to himself quietly, different concerns battling for dominance inside of his mind. There was a laundry list of things he should be worried about right now, and the aftermath of that annoying encounter only increased it tenfold. For starters, there are new aspects to consider about his powers. From what that fake God said, if he doesn't establish some new social links or re-establish his old one's, he'll eventually lose the power of his Universe Arcana. Secondly, he still doesn't have any way of knowing where this new wildcard is supposed to be or how he's supposed to help him, and seeing as how Yaldabaoth already had a head-start on him before he intervened, he's racing against the clock. And thirdly. .

"--to simplify, it's humanity's palace as a whole, the conjoined heart of mankind wherein anyone could potentially be influenced. You get all that, Convict?" Asked Caroline.

Wait.. Caroline? Oh, that's right, he was supposed to be listening to her explanation on that shadow realm from earlier. He looked kind of like a mad-man, talking about nonsense with a pair of twin-cosplayer kids on the subway at 9 pm, but he was thankful enough that nobody seemed to question him. They didn't spare him the skeptical glares, though.

"..I'm sorry. You mind repeating that? I spaced out." He said tiredly. You could almost see the veins in the little girl's head threatening to burst.

"--UGH! I SAID, it's called MEMENTOS, and it's EVERYONE'S palace! What's there not to understand?" She gruffed out in annoyance.

"Well, for starters, what's a Palace? And what, precisely, do you mean when you say it belongs to everyone?" He asked. Judging by the look on both of the twins faces, this was probably a detail they'd explained already that he was simply to caught up in his thoughts to pick up on. Caroline looked about ready to punch him in the face, and Justine looked more judgemental and emotionless than even he did.

"You're so irritating! Were you really not listening to anything I said?!"

"Your aloofness and short attention span are indeed concerning. Could you perhaps be a Goldfish..?" Justine asked with a chilling genuineness.

"Sorry, sorry. Start over, please." "All passengers; the doors are now closing. Next Stop: Yongen-Jaya. The next stop will be Yongen-Jaya."

Justine furrowed her brows. "The realm you just traveled to is known as Mementos. It is the collective form of humanity's distortion. In select cases, a single person's perception and emotions can become so distorted that their Shadow splits off into its own domain. This is rare, so instead of having a series of segregated territories, all of humanity's repressed thought is subjected into a singular Palace." She explained again.

There was a split-second of silence, before he spoke up again.

"..Ok, I kind of get it, but you need to make the message more.. concise. I understand it runs in your blood, but if you wanna explain something to people, you have to make it basic, and gradually add more complexity from there."

"--Moron! Which part of your answer don't you understand?"

"..Lower your voice." A couple of people's skeptical glances got more intense. "And, honestly, about half of it.. for example, how are the aspects of thought that are considered distorted decided? When you say distortion, is that only reserved for malevolence, or could someone's shadow be found within Mementos if they were just traumatized enough? Also, each time a shadow-realm appears, There's always a key concept it symbolizes, to my knowledge. What's the concept behind Mementos?" He inquired rationally.

"DON'T overcomplicate things! It's the rift within all human desires take form. Think of it as the center of people's emotions, that's it." Caroline spat back, clearly irritated, but Yuki just stared at her with that same deadpanned expression.

"...That's a real round-a-bout way of saying you don't know."

"..Makoto," Justine pitched in curtly, "you are not helping at all."

He looked at her for a moment, Caroline still inaudibly bickering with him in the background, and then settled into a shrug, turning his head to the window.

"That is quite enough wasting time. We must plan our next course of action." Justine tried to diffuse the situation, doing her best to change the subject. Caroline gruffed in response.

There was an uncomfortable silence after she spoke. No one, not even the characteristically talkative Caroline, said a thing. "..Yongen-Jaya. This is Yongen-Jaya." Hearing the announcer over the com, Makoto was prompted to get up and stroll out of the train. The twin wardens followed quietly behind him.

They'd made it all the way out of the station and into the backstreets in silence before he spoke up. "..Alright, alright. Me being the elder, I'll suck it up and apologize." The girls both turned to look at him, half out of confusion and half out of curiosity.

He mock-cleared his throat. "Caroline, I'm sorry.. that you suck at explaining stuff."

Justine sighed.

At his words, the little warden finally snapped, taking out her baton (-didn't she lose that earlier?-) and resolving to rip him a new one. "THAT is IT! PREPARE TO DIE!" She shouted, leaping at the eyesore in front of her.

Makoto smiled warmly, seemingly amused by how easy she was to tease. He dodged out of the way of what probably was a fatal strike, maneuvering around the child with grace as she did her best to end his life. "STOP DODGING!"

"You're hurt, you know. You should rest. Don't move around too much."

"I'll rest, alright.. when you're six feet under!" His smile grew, just a little bit. "Wipe that smirk off your face!"

"It's not a smirk. It's just a mildly amused frown."

Irritated as she was, Justine couldn't escape the warmth that grew in her chest as she watched the two's antics, keeping pace with them silently with a small smile growing on her own face. Getting a closer look at Makoto's face, a realization hit her quietly. He was really smiling.

Not the smile of some sort of all-powerful deity, not the smile of a cynical warrior who had foughten one too many battles, not the smile of mankind's sacrifice or its savior.

No, She thought. But it is indeed beautiful.

the indescribable smile of a lonely boy, experiencing something close to joy for the first time in a long time.

None of them noticed the small, blue butterfly that trailed their every step as they made their way down the street.

Somewhere, Deep in the Unconscious

A loud, primal roar echoed through the depths of the Sea of Souls, followed quickly by multi-colored, psychic explosions, the length of which extended for miles on end. The remains of a beast fell to the ground, threatening to disintegrate and perhaps fall into dust, before the abstract pieces and particles of its carcass began re-assembling themselves.

A tongue clicked, sounding through the darkness. "Rather tenacious, are we?" Philemon said to himself, observing what was left of the two-headed God he'd just destroyed. He'd made somewhat of a game for himself, observing Erebus' behavior. "Judging by the rate he's regenerating, it seems he's gradually adjusting to my methods of subdual."

It was only slightly problematic. The way things were going, it'd still take quite a long time before Erebus could recover faster than he could dismantle it. Still, it left him wondering, as Philemon glanced over his shoulder, fixing his eyes on the golden doors behind him.

"Entrusting the future to him..." He spoke to himself quitely, "...Was it the correct choice, I wonder..?"

After a small moment of silence, he glanced back to Erebus, smiling slightly beneath his mask.  "Well, it's not just him. More like the 4 of them combined. He isn't alone."

Elsewhere, another blue butterfly floated soundlessly to an open window. Even at this hour, the lights were still on inside the room, and alone at his desk sat a young boy who had absolutely no idea the string of events one little choice had set in place. Ren Amamiya didn't see the butterfly at all, too deep into the book he was reading to notice as he spun a pencil in his hand.

"One bound by Fate."

In a different part of Inaba, a young man, noticeably more mature in figure, sat cross-legged on the matted floor next to his little sister, his hands moving rapidly on top of the table in front of them while they watched the weather forecast. From the look of it, they were making origami together, and they'd already knocked out a couple dozen boxes of the stuff already.

"..Big bro." The young girl, who couldn't have been older than 13, had a slight sadness in her voice, her eyes still fixated on the TV. "You're gonna be going back to Tokyo soon, right..?"

Yu Narukami looked at his sister with a hint of reluctance in his eye, before his face settled into a calm smile, and he did his best to reassure. "I'm sorry, Nanako. I still have to go to school, I can't start skipping college in my second year." She looked somewhat dejected, but he knew she understood.

"..But I'm still here right now, so why not see which of us can make a hundred of these origami the fastest?" Her eyes lit up. "That sounds great! Maybe if I'm lucky, and I make a thousand, I can wish for you to come back before Christmas!"

"One bound by Truth."

Somewhere, in a residential, suburban district of Tokyo, a butterfly shuttered around a brown-headed young man fixing his tie. Making his way out of the subway station, the small chimes of his unknowing observer couldn't be heard over the sounds of his phone-call.

"..Yes. Yes sir. I agree." Goro Akechi spoke, in a manner of artificial professionalism that could in no way be genuine. The fake smile plastered onto his face, which he seemed to automatically adopt whenever he had the displeasure of speaking directly with his superior, betrayed the hidden malice in his eyes as he made his way through the crowd.

"Precisely, and now that it's been taken care of, the Minister of Transport's objections to your campaign will be quickly silenced."

"One bound by Control.."

"My house isn't that much further from here." Yuki said, moving out of the way of a flurry of Caroline's swings as he kept walking down the street, turning the corner at the clinic.

"And one bound by Death."

Interrupting his little game of face-tag with Caroline, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd heard a flutter in the back of his ear. "..Hold on." He stopped in his tracks, and the twins paused behind him as well.

"And so I ask of you, Messiah,"

Before he could even turn to his side, a small, blue butterfly danced into the path of his vision, his gaze following it with every flap of its wings. It left behind a fading trail of stardust with each flutter, a hollow omen that he instantly recognized. He froze.

"..Do you two--"

"I believe it's a success, sister!" A masculine voice, one that most certainly was neither Caroline nor Justine, exclaimed ecstatically, throwing Yuki into mild confusion.

"A splendid Job, Theodore. I commend your effort."

Another voice, this one Elegant in nature, reached out from the darkness, and suddenly his vision was overcome in a burst of twilight.

When it subsided, the butterfly he'd just seen was nowhere to be found.

"...In this game of Life that we play,"

He glanced around for a moment, eyes still adjusting, until they met with the piercing golden gaze of a mature, silk-haired woman, covered from head to toe in ultramarine. '..Wait a moment..' "You're!--"

"I welcome you back to the land of the living,"

"Will you be able to rediscover your light?"

"Makoto Yuki."

"---Margaret..?"

Chapter Text

Yongen-Jaya Backstreets, 4/2 (Late Evening)

"--Margaret..?"

Makoto asked aloud, a look of equal confusion and shock on his face. It was rhetorical, mainly-- as soon as his eyes dilated, he recognize the figure instantly. There was only two woman he'd met with that long, silk hair, and dressed head to toe in ultramarine, to boot. This was Margaret's figure, it was unmistakable, but what was she doing here?

"I apologize for my tardiness," Margaret started, "...and, in all honesty, I'm quite pleased to see that you remember me. Seeing as we've only met once, a part of me was afraid I hadn't left enough of an impression.."

After a moment of silent shock, his posture eased, and Makoto let out a soft breath he'd been holding in. "...Really? A full-body leather suit leaves enough of an impression on its own.."

"See? I told you, sister," A voice cut through the air. A voice he couldn't say he recognized. "Our first guest is an incredibly wise man. By the way, it's nice to see you again, Mr. Makoto."

Instantly, Yuki identified the voice as belonging to the silver-headed young man standing beside Margaret, whom he A: only just noticed, admittedly, and B: was entirely sure he didn't remember whatsoever, even after a second analysis of his figure.

"Sorry, but..." His eyes narrowed. "Do I know you?"

No one but Theodore knew how much his words hurt.

"E-Excuse me...? You remember my sister, but you have no recollection of who I am?" Theo asked.

Makoto simply shrugged. His nonchalant, yet somehow infinitely cruel response sent Theo's shoulders to the floor, but he picked himself up and resolved to try again, clearing his throat as if it would help.

"It's me, Theodore; Younger brother both of Elizabeth and Margaret."

Yuki paused as though something clicked. And then... "...Nope. No idea who you are."

His second attempted tanked miserably, and his shoulders fell right back down to his sides. This time they would not rise.

Oblivious to their brother's antics, a pair of skeptical twin wardens slowly crawled their way out of the shadows behind Makoto, not daring to hide the distrust on their eyes-- until their gazes met with their sibling's, and instantly they came to life. A genuine, warm smile graced the faces of both Caroline and Justine, though the former's was more pronounced. "Sister?"

At her words, Margaret's eyes visibly widened, more than Yuki even thought possible for her, and her pupils danced back in forth in-between the twins as if a million questions were running through her head. She didn't even try to hide the shock on her face, frozen in place like she'd seen something simply impossible. Theodore wasn't much better (if anything, he was worse), a dumbfounded look on his face that had his mouth almost agape, before he turned his gaze to Makoto, almost like he was asking for an explanation. All he got in response was a shrug.

"SISTER!" Caroline's cry of joy broke the awkward silence that ensued, and the twins immediately began charging at their siblings.

They were stopped dead in their tracks by a cold hand.

"Wait." Yuki said, a freezing edge in his voice. In an instant, all of the happiness in her voice turned into irritation.

"—What now, Convict...?"

He took a moment to respond, letting his silence speak for itself, before he continued. "..It's true that she looks and acts like Margaret, and it's also true that I've only met her one time. But there's a non-zero possibility that this isnt actually her." He said, his eyes fixated on the two new arrivals.

His warning broke Margaret out of her fixation, and her shock quickly turned into pure confusion. "..Ah.. Pardon me?" She said, tilting her head.

"That God I met earlier was impersonating Igor", he explained. "So what's to say the same thing isn't happening right now?"

Margaret waited a moment before responding. "My dear Guest, I understand your dilemma well, but I can assure you that I am in fact the genuine article."

There was response from Makoto, but his gaze intensified.

No one said anything for a moment, the atmosphere growing slightly tense, before Caroline once again broke the silence in irritation.

"..Seriously, convict, stop trying to act cool! Us avatars of power can easily recognize eachother's presences, so there's no way these two are playing us like that phony!" She explained, annoyance in her tone.

"...Wait. Seriously?" He asked, and Justine nodded. He gave Margaret a questioning look, but she nodded as well. "..Geez. Say that earlier next time. Now I look dumb."

"--You're the one who stopped ME! And for the record, you always look dumb, convict!--"

Her agitated bickering was interrupted by the sound of a loud 'oof', as she turned and saw Justine tackling Theodore in a heartfelt hug. Apparently, Caroline took that as a challenge, because she charged at Margaret with twice as much force and almost threatened to knock her over. Margaret didn't know how to react at first, but when she saw the child's eyes beginning to water, she shaked away her disbelief with a smile and patted her softly on the head. "Sister.. I'm sorry.." She sniffed.

"I'm sorry that we failed to see the truth. We were blindly following the orders of an Impostor, while you and Theo were in danger the entire time.."

"..It's..quite alright." Margaret said, not turning her attention away from Makoto. "We are to blame, as well."

"..Uh.. don't mind me." He said, already feeling pretty awkward as it were. He didn't want to interrupt the moment, which is fine, because someone else was going to do it for him.

"Yes, yes, it isn't your fault." Theo said, doing his best to comfort the pig-tailed girl latching onto him. "We're here now, so there's nothing you need to worry about, Lavenz--"

"--Ah, uhm, ha! I, uhh, I mean--"

Makoto watched him dig a hole for himself with an unreadable expression. It wasn't his battle to fight, he figured, but he could tell Theo's situation just got a lot worse. Turning to Margaret, Theodore begged her with his eyes to help him navigate the situation.

He was ignored.

A look of sheer horror was on his face when he saw his sister's heartless rejection, but he figured he could salvage it if he turned to Makoto.

". .Don't look at me." That's what his face said.

It's quite alright, Theo thought. He didn't need assistance from either of them, anyway, because in the snowstorm of their rejection, he had a wondrous epiphany.

Turning his gaze downward once more, he had the proudest smile on his face, as if the next words to leave his mouth were infallible. "There's nothing you need to worry about,"

"Caroline!" He exclaimed.

'..Hey.' Yuki silently thought, trying not to cringe. 'Is this guy.. an idiot?'

Justine, who was very clearly NOT Caroline, looked up at her brother with bewilderment. "..Ah. I'm.. I'm Justine." Theo froze.

"..I know you're kind of scatterbrained, but this is a bit much, even for you, Theo." Caroline said, shooting a disapproving look at her brother.

"I cannot believe you actually mistook us." Justine took a step back, and dusted herself off as if touching him made her dirty. The guy looked like he was about to melt. "..My sincerest apologies, Justine.. I won't let it happen again.."

Watching him struggle to deal with the ramifications of his own idiosyncrasies, Makoto had to admit, he wasn't impressed. What kind of person forgets their own sister's name? Being aloof is one thing, but he didn't think he was THAT aloof. Maybe there was something more to it?

"..That was hard to watch." Margaret didn't reply, seemingly twice as deep in thought as he was. "But, that aside.. where's Elizabeth?"

At his question, the siblings all stopped fooling around, and everyone tensed up a bit. Even Margaret was seemed a little rattled. "..What..?"

"..Ah. Mr. Makoto.." Theodore said meekly, looking between him and Margaret, who collected herself and let out a short breath. "It's fine, Theodore. I'll explain."

That didn't sound good at all. That sounded horrible, actually. He'd been telling himself it was impossible, but.. did something really happen to her?

"Makoto, after you chose to sacrifice yourself to construct the Great Seal and imprison the Star Eater.. Elizabeth abandoned the Velvet Room, in an attempt to find a means of saving you from such a fate." She explained, a deep sadness in her voice. No one said anything for a while.

"..Yeah. OUR sister left us, her family, trying to save you. You should be honored." Justine spat. There was a noticeable anger in her voice.

Theodore watched his reaction and Caroline's mood carefully. Margaret looked stoic, and Justine looked dejected. He wasn't entirely sure what to say, so for once, he said nothing.

All the while, Yuki looked on with a completely bland expression, taking a second to think before he responded.

"..Is that supposed to be news? I knew that already."

"..What?" All four of the present velvet siblings echoed in unison, and with that, all of the solemnity left the air. "You.. knew?" Margaret asked, clearly dumbfounded.

He shrugged. "..Well.. yeah. Even though I was.. a door, I was still conscious, to a degree. I just couldn't interact with anything."

"So you're stupid afterall! Why ask where she is, then?!" Caroline yelled.

"I was wondering where she is right now, not where she was."

"..I apologize, but we have no way of knowing the exact locations of anyone who's left the Velvet Room. We don't have a clue where sister Elizabeth is right now. Is she not the one who freed you?" Theo asked quizzically.

Yuki paused for a moment before he shook his head. "No, she's not the one who sent me here. And, what I mean is, isn't she supposed to be with you guys?" Everyone looked confused, tilting their heads at his question.

"..Has she really had no contact with you since she left?"

Their silence was enough of an answer. 'Why would you prioritize me over your own flesh and blood? They need you, far more than I do. You don't have to save me from my own choice.' He thought to himself. He appreciated every second of her company, he really did, but.. looking around at the sorrow on their faces, he could only think he had no right to do this to them.

". .I'm sorry." Yuki knew it wasn't going to change anything, but he hoped it at least provided it a hollow sort of comfort.

"..Anyway, no, the person who let a part of me out of the seal wasn't Elizabeth. Actually, Philemon said she was with you guys; he's the one who sent me, albeit temporarily."

As the name dropped, each and every velvet resident looked at him with unfiltered shock in their eyes. Even Margaret couldn't stop her mouth from gaping a bit.

"Lord.. Lord Philemon, is the one who freed you?" She said it like she didn't even believe what she was saying.

He nodded.

Margaret held her head in her hands. "Unbelievable. I was under the impression that Elizabeth got desperate and took your place without telling you anything."

"..Yeah, that sounds like her." Yuki said. "But no. I haven't seen her in a long time."

"I.. suppose.. there are a few explanations in order." Justine huffed out, sighing theatrically.

"Guess so." He said back, ruffling the hair on the back of his head. "But.. can I go home first? I'm getting tired of standing up."

"..When I asked if I could go home, that wasn't an invitation." Yuki said. There were small bags beginning to form under his eyes; he always looked tired, of course, but his patience was starting to wain, and he didn't do a good job of hiding it.

"Quit complaining, convict! You should be happy we're even here! All you were gonna do is mope around and act all depressed, anyway."

"...Actually, I was going to sleep." He shot a weak glare at Caroline, pointing to the clock on the wall. "It's almost 10 PM."

Looking around the room at his "guests", they were in a lot better condition than he was, mentally and physically. He still didn't have any chairs, or anything to sit on besides his futon, so everyone was sitting on floormat. Margaret's posture was impeccable, as always-- Theo was making a poor imitation-- and the twins were criss-crossed, looking up at Makoto.

Not fazed by his falling mood, Margaret digressed. "There are things of upmost importance that must be discussed as soon as possible. I apologize, my guest, but please, bear with me."

After a moment, he slowly nodded.

"..Excellent. Then I'll start with how Theo and I managed to escape Yaldabaoth's clutches." Margaret said, taking a deep breath.

"Our master-- our real Master-- had actually sensed your arrival when you manifested onto the material plane. He couldn't explain how it was possible, but he seemed confident in the fact that you would at some point cross paths with our captor." She explained. "At first, we had no idea how he came to learn this, but if Lord Philemon was involved, I think the answer is self-evident."

He did his best to follow along. "Of course, as our positions were jeopardized, there wasn't anything we could do immediately to help you. We decided the best course of action was to wait until you had a direct confrontation, and use that as our opprotunity to escape."

From there, Theodore continued. "You see, our Master has great faith in you, Makoto. He believed that even with most of your power used to maintain the seal on the Night Queen, you could easily rebel against the false god. So we did the only thing we could do, and bided our time. It seems to have worked perfectly."

"..That so."

"--Easily? Ha! This guy didn't even fight him. He got booted before he got the chance!" Caroline pitched in with a smirk, and Margaret gave Yuki a questioning glance. "Is this true?"

"Not how I would've put it, but basically. I'm assuming the whole reason he sent these two to fight me at all was to throw me off so I couldn't get back into the Metaverse." He explained.

"..Well, I suppose that would make more sense than any contest of power." Margaret hummed, bringing a finger to her lips. Theo agreed. "Yes, as formidable as he is, I struggle to imagine him causing any direct trouble to our esteemed guest, even in his current state."

"..Huh?" At that, the twin wardens both looked confused.

"I see no reason why the impersonator being stronger than the convict would be impossible." Justine questioned. Her answer came from Makoto himself.

"..Well, at one point or another, I harbored death itself," he started, holding up a finger for each point. "I ended up becoming a messianic figure, and.. I've also got the power of the wildcard. In theory, the only beings stronger than me should be Primordials like Nyx."

"..What? You're really.. that strong?" Caroline asked, disbelief written all over her face.

Makoto shrugged. "I guess. Even though I'm using most of my strength to maintain the seal, someone like that guy being stronger than me is unlikely. Actually, any wildcard who's through with their journey shouldn't have a problem. I just can't put him down." He yawned. "Anyway, continue.

Margaret cleared her throat. "Moving on, we then found out that you had indeed come into contact with the false god. We were unable to see how it played out, but we began preparing for out escape the moment it began. Unfortunately.. our Master's circumstances were.. different, from ours." Her tone saddened.

"It seems as though the false god had a strong hold on our master's captivity. We were not at the forefront of his mind, so it was quite simple for us to slip under his radar and make our way to you. He, on the other hand, is being held prisoner in the depths of the subconscious, in a place even we cannot reach."

"..Igor's captured?" He had to admit, it was heard from him to believe that someone like Igor could be overtaken like this. Makoto had never seen him fight, or really display his power in any kind of direct sense, but Igor always had this mystical, untouchable feeling to him, like his existence was somehow beyond any of the world's troubles.

As cryptic as he was, Igor gave him the power to choose his own fate, ever since the night he first signed his contract. If there was something he could do about it, there was no way he was going to stand aside and let some demiurge violate the velvet room.

'It's not my journey anymore, so.. I can't interfere directly. But still, I know there's something I can do to help."

"..But, our master didn't leave us behind with nothing." She continued. "With the last of his efforts, he split up his power between us, and sent us here to guide you."

Theo sounded depressive, but he did his best to put on a reassuring smile. "Yes. And we also found one of-- I mean, we found our sisters here with you, so it's not as if things are hopeless."

Margaret let that sit for a moment, before finishing. "In essence, that's how our situation came to be."

"..Wait, I'm still confused on how this guy even took the Velvet Room in the first place." Yuki interjected.

"That part.. we don't actually know. The Velvet Room exists in between dream and reality, as I'm sure you're aware; You could say it exists within this universe, and yet at the same time, it doesn't. So even if you were to search for such a place with your power, Makoto, it's unlikely that you would actually find it." She explained.

Yuki was quiet for a second, thinking over the knowledge he just digested, before he replied. "..So, basically, we went full circle."

"Hm..? What do you mean?"

"Well, aside from the situation with Elizabeth in Igor, we didn't actually learn anything new, and this conversation just gave us more questions than it answered." He said with a low sigh, eyes beginning to drag even more. It seemed to offend everyone else in the room, even Margaret was a little bit flustered, but they couldn't exactly come up with a counterpoint.

"..While we may not have learned any new information, the exchange of intelligence is indeed important if we wish to decide our next move." Justine reputed, trying her best to rectify the situation he was essentially calling useless.

He shrugged. "It seems to me like the only thing we can do is search for this other wildcard."

"The.. other, wildcard?" Theo asked, raising a finger.

"Justine'll fill you in later. I'm going to school now, so I'll look around for him, and when I find him you guys can just do your usual thing." He shot back. "Right now, I'm about to pass out, so we can keep talking about this later."

Without even waiting for a response, he got up and started making his way to the bathroom, apparently intending to take a shower. (It made sense, honestly. Fighting Velvet attendants is sure to work up a sweat.)

"--Wait. What do you mean, you're going to look for him? We don't have time to wait, we need to discuss our plan in more detail--"

Margaret's objections were interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door closing.

Makoto never thought the calm serenity of hot water hitting the ground could be so soothing. After a long day of dealing with back to back surprises, he needed a moment or two to himself. Before he actually hopped into the shower, though, he walked over to the wall and plugged in his phone charger. He dropped it pretty hard when he got surprise-attacked, so when he put it on the charger, he was crossing his fingers that no damage had been done.

After a moment, it lit up like normal, and clearly it still worked. That was good. He opened it up and scrolled around a bit, making sure there wasn't anything unusual,(really, these new smartphone things are so overcomplicated,) when he noticed a strange, red app icon in the corner of the screen that he definitely didn't download.

'..Huh. That's.. weird.' He clicked on it, trying to open it up, but it just froze.

"Navigation en route... Navigation failed. Please try again."

Suddenly, a feminine GPS voice started mumbling on his phone. "What even is this thing?"

His thought process was interrupted when he almost dropped his phone (again), fumbling with it like a football as he tried to save it from crashing onto the floor. Luckily, he caught it, but it almost gave him a heart-attack.

"..Whatever. I can figure this out later." Letting out a breath, he turned his phone off and turned towards the shower.

Freshly showered and two steps away from passing out, Yuki was more than ready to get some sleep on his futon when he walked out of the bathroom.

He was greeted by the unfortunate site of all of the velvet attendants still in his apartment. They seemed to be discussing something, Caroline and Justine sprawled out over their big sister's legs, but he didn't care about that at the moment-- no, the more pressing concern was--

"..What.. what are you guys still doing here?"

"Pardon..?" Margaret replied. "Why would we not still be here?"

"Because, you don't live here?"

"Oh, about that." Theo interjected. "We were actually thinking about living here until we have some sort of solution to our dilemma."

. . .

"I was going to tell you as much," Margaret said, apparently in response to the unreadable emotion on Makoto's face, "But it was unfortunately delayed." A hint of annoyance was in her voice.

For once, Makoto actually looked desperate. "Wait, wait, why can't you guys just make a temporary velvet room and stay in there or something? I mean, that's how you reached me, right? The whole butterfly and everything?"

"--That was simply a finite measure we created using some of the strength gifted to us by our master. It can't last without a sufficient power source tethering it, which is another reason why we sought you out."

"..Hm." He paused. "That might not work." At their confused glances, he raised a hand, and in his palm appeared the unmistakable picture of the Universe card. But it was a little bit different than they'd remembered.

The images on the top left and right corners had slightly changed, dimmer and more hollow than they should've been; he used a considerable amount of his energy to seal the Demiurge, so some of his Arcana's bandwidth had already been used. "I can't help out at the present moment. My guess is, I'll have to form so new bonds to before I can do something as taxing as that."

After a moment of thinking, Margaret nodded. "Precisely. That is why we will be staying here." She shot him an expectant smile.

..He sighed. "Okay, let's say you guys did live here. How are we going to accommodate 5 people in this tiny room?" Yuki gruffed out, sleep evident in his voice.

"-Oh! There are many rooms similar to this one beside us, correct?" Theo asked with a beaming smirk, as if he hadn't just said something stupid.

"..Maybe, but I don't know who lives there."

"Meh. Didn't see anyone on our way here." Caroline said.

"So? That still just means we don't know."

"Was it not Lord Philemon who gifted this place to you?" asked Justine.

"Well, he didn't exactly include a FAQ sheet. And I don't have any keys to those apartments, so you would have to break in or something."

Justine hummed, bringing her thum to her chin. "Yes. That works perfectly."

..What?

"Great," Margaret replied. "Now that we have the living arrangements sorted out, I think we'll let you finally get your sleep, Makoto. We'll continue to discuss the plan I developed tomorrow." She said as she stood up, dusting her pants off, before making her way towards the door. Her siblings quickly followed behind her.

"Sorted out? The only thing you decided was that you'd break into a bunch of property illegally-- and what plan are you even talking about?"

Margaret stopped for a moment, and while Yuki couldn't see the look on her face, he could tell she was deliberating.

Then, she turned her head, a condescending grin on her face. "Justine will fill you in later."

With that, she left, closing the door behind her.

"Don't be a wimp, convict. We'll be fine." Caroline said, before following Margaret.

"Good night." Justine was next.

"We sincerely appreciate your hospitality, Mr. Makoto. I shall see you again." Theo left as well.

And, with the final click of the door handle, the only person left standing in the room was a seriously confused Yuki, who may or may not potentially wake up to multiple charges of breaking and entering.

"..Wow. I never thought I'd actually miss being the seal."

Chapter Text

—Aoyama-Itchome—Early Morning—

The next morning, the students of the esteemed Shujin Academy were walking to school as usual, chatting and gossiping about this or that. Some of the chicks were talking amongst their friends, the boys goofing around as usual. A diligent handful were actually trying to get some study time in on the commute.

...Okay, that handful was actually only one person in reality, but still.

Makoto Niijima was an honor student through and through. From a young age, she's always tried her best, and due equally to her own determination and the expectations of those around her, she doesn't have the luxury of laziness. She's always diligent, not wasting even a moment of her time, and as a result, her hard work pays off more often than not. As long as she can remember, she never even fell once from the top of her class. Elementary, middle, and now even in high-school, every step of the way she's been at the peak. Not only that, she was also famous for being "strict" as the students put it, and you'd never catch her breaking any rules. That's part of the reason why she was able to become student council president in her second year; for someone so young, there was no higher honor. She kept at it, and maintained her position even into her third term. With the weight of a tense family life and a blivy of school obligations, there's no room for failure. If there's a chance her own dilligence can inspire the student body, she has no qualms with setting an example.

"..Hey, maybe it's just me, but.. isn't the guy who sits over there kinda cute?"

"Cute? Maybe. Handsome? Definitely."

Although that seemed to be working terribly.

"Yeah, he's kind of a looker. Don't think I've ever seen him before, though.."

"You haven't? Oh! Maybe he's that third year that transferred the other day!"

"A third year..? Ohhhhh, shit, he's gonna get a lot of first year crushes.. that's it, I'm calling dibs!"

"What? That's a person, you can't call dibs!"

"I just did, so I can."

'Honestly, what are they even arguing for?' She had to suppress a sigh. If you asked her, highschool students shouldn't be talking about this at all, let alone in public, so shamelessly. The fact that they're first years only makes it worse. This is an extremely important part of their lives-- it'll decide what they'll have the option of doing for potentially the next few decades. Something as fickle and irrelevant as a crush shouldn't have a place at highschool. '…But, what transfer student are they talking about?'

Makoto looked up from her notebook, and true to word, just a couple feet over from her was the transfer, whom she recognized as being that student she lead to the faculty office the other day. It was hard not to notice the fact that he looked even more exhausted than he did before.

With a sigh, Makoto quietly and put her notebook back in her bag. She tried to make it look natural, but she ended up having to speed-walk trying to catch up with him.

"--So, anyway, did you see how--- wait, isn't that.. Miss Prez?"

"What? Miss prez..? Why's she going after Senpai? No way, did she call dibs before me?!

Why are they still talking about that..? Makoto ignored them and proceeded to call out to the boy in front of her, hoping to grab his attention. "Arisato-san?"

There was no reply. He didn't even turn around to acknowledge her.

..Ah.

What? Did he just ignore me? She looked at the boy walking ahead of her like some sort of unidentified species, and that was when she realized that he was wearing headphones.

Oh, okay, then. A little embarrassing still, but..

"Ahem." Makoto cleared her throat and collected herself, ignoring the strange looks the two first years were giving her.

"..Arisato-san, excuse me?" This time, she called out to him while also tapping his shoulder.. and luckily, that seemed to work, as Minato lazily turned around and gave her a glance.

"..Yes?" He responded, putting his headphones on his neck.

"It's nice to see you again, Arisato-san. I hope you've been well." She said, donning that ultra-polite mask that seemed to fool everyone she wanted it to, but..

Arisato stared back at her with an unreadable poker face, as if his attention was enough of a reply itself.

She couldn't help but wonder if this was really the kid that had those two girls geeked out so much. Sure, now that she got a closer look at his frame, he.. was remarkably attractive, maybe enough to put a model to shame. His skin was a perfect balance between a glowing white and a luminous tan, his silver eyes and blue hair making him look almost like a fairytale prince. And sure, he was a pretty respectable height as well, even his fashion sense complimenting his noticeably toned figure.. But still, that's no reason to get carried away over some boy.

…

Minato looked at her for an awkwardly long moment, almost as if he was staring straight through her, before he finally snapped out of it and replied. "…Nice to see you too, uh.. Niijima-San?"

"Ah. Thank you for remembering." Makoto, of course, replied back politely. It still didn't phaze him at all, she noticed. "If it's not too much to ask, would you mind walking together to school?"

He shrugged. "..Sure."

And they both ended up doing just that. She, of course, didn't stop silently observing him; But it didn't come from any place of scrutiny, jusy mild curiosity. There was something attention grabbing about his presence, she noted. Still, no matter how something looks, there's no such thing as a human being that's actually perfect. She should know; trying to appear ideal is what she does 70% of the time, and even she has a handful of things she doesn't want others to know about her. The same could be said for just about anyone-- so, principally, the same applies here. Others may be blind to his faults, but that's a mistake she isn't intent on making.

Immediately, she noticed his half-lidded eyes, which girls would say gave a 'mysterious' and 'cold' sort of vibe. In reality, he's just sleepy. And his pupils look hazy and unfocused. His posture is just a little too relaxed, and his demeanor, which other people would think soft and prince-like, is actually listlessness. He also might have trouble remembering people.. and based on the glances he's sending her, he's probably also socially awkward.

"Um," Makoto stopped herself for a moment. " Arisato-san, are you not feeling well? You look pretty pale."

"..Do I not look okay?" He asked.

"Yes, actually. You don't look okay at all."

He shrugged. Again.

"Oh.. O.. kay." And he seemed to be pretty rude.

"Sorry, just not getting enough sleep." Minato apologized(?) with an annoyed expression.

"Oh? What's the matter?"

"Well, I've just moved here, and…" His face relaxed slightly, before scrunched up in annoyance again.  "I've come across a... domestic issue."

"Oh, is that.. so?" She had to admit, she wasn't quite sure what to say. It hardly seemed the type of thing that'd be appropriate to pry into in this setting, so she aptly tried to switch the subject. "..So, you just moved in? I suppose you're not from around here, then. May I ask where you were living before?"

He didn't say anything for quite some time.

"..If it was a different coun–"

"No, it's not that. Guess I'm just.. remembering." His choice of words gave her a small pause. "It was…Tatsumi Port Island." Minato said that with a face that should've conveyed no visible emotion, and yet.. there was something in his pronunciation and the look in his eye that was almost tragic. She didn't know whether he'd lied about trying to remember the name, but she resolved not to dig too far into it. She wasn't trying to sound pushy, and though she  definitely wasn't open for romantics, his company was quite nice regrdless. 

"Oh, my! Compared to the school from there, I hope ours doesn't disappoint." Of course, she knew quite a bit about that particular school. It's one of the most prestigious academies in Japan, not to mention the fact it's got it's own artificial island. In most ways, it blows Shujin out of the water.

She saw his lips twist up just the smallest bit at that. He seemed wistful. "There was nothing like it. But it was pretty big, so I'm not opposed to something smaller. I've only been here a day, but.. I think I'll like it."

"And, you haven't had a tour of our school, right? Should I show you around?" Makoto asked the question as they got near to the entrance of the school.

"Hm..? You'd do that?"

"Of course. But my hands might be tied today, so.. is tomorrow fine with you?"

"Sure, it's not like I have anything to do."

"Well then, tomorrow it is. We'll meet up after school." Makoto smiled back at her new acquaintance, but something about the look he gave her was.. off. Not in an immediately disturbing way, no, but the slight curve of his lips and the absence in his eyes made what should've been a smirk feel almost sad. He nodded.

"Please excuse me." With that, Makoto made her way into the campus, leaving the transfer student at the entrance.

…

"-Wowww! First it was Okumura-san, and now Miss Prez too? The transfer student is really rolling, right?"

Minato turned towards this new annoyance, recognizing it as the two students from yesterday.

"We're just first years, so.. we didn't really approach either of them. Must be nice to have good looks." The one beside him said with an equally annoying voice. But Minato didn't say a word and just looked at them with a poker face.

"By the way..." The first one said with a long sigh. "Why did you leave us without saying goodbye yesterday? You totally ditched as soon as we turned around. I don't know if it's a thing where you're from, but you should drop the abrasion."

"Actually, we were thinking you could join our dynamic duo and make the three musketeers! Whaddya say?"

"…What?" For the first time since the conversation started, he spoke.

"Well, there's plenty of time for that. We should introduce ourselves first, so I'm--"

"Wait, dude, we're totally gonna be late!"

"Seriously? Damn it! I definitely gotta avoid another one of Kamoshida's tantrums... Sorry, number 3, we're gonna bounce. You're in Prez's class, right? We'll stop by at lunch."

"Hurry up, dumbass!"

"Wait up, will you?-" The blue haired boy was left alone at the entrance, the sounds od their antics graduallt fading into the distance.

"They're definitely lively." Time for school.

Shujin Academy

Why did I say that..? Makoto Yuki, or rather, Minato Arisato was trying not to space out during class-- he'd already made it to second period, and for once he wasn't sleeping but actually listening to the teacher. It looked that way, at least, but with how uninteresting the lecture was, he couldn't help but ler his mind wander.

I know she's a lot like Mitsuru-senpai, but..He thought back to how Niijima was "sneakily" analyzing him. ..Actually, scratch that. She might be worse. A quick turn around just confirmed his suspicions. 'Is she really still looking at me?' He quickly turned back and acted like nothing happened. Well, he tried.

" Arisato-san, The questio-"

"It's B."

"Oh, uhmm... that's c-correct."

Now, he'd been through his share of people staring at him. It was annoying, but usually it wasn't a bother. This time, though, he found the gaze of the High Priestess just a little bit much.. her senses were just too keen. Clearly she's quite smart if she were able to tell just from his 'personability' that he was somewhat abnormal, even if said abnormalitt wasnt.. exactly what she'd been thinking. She wasn't even talking half of the time on the walk to school, and if its him saying that, it's gotta be unusual.

Letting his mind drift, he thought back to those magical days at the dorm that were starting to feel like a distant memory. Living door to door with all of them may have been the best single experience he'd ever had in his life; it was irreplaceable, which is why he didn't really want to make any new bonds while he was here, though he wouldn't admit it.

Junpei and Aki were his best friends, through and through. With them, it was ride or die. That's the kind of trust you build when you fight for your life with someone and laugh about it on the walk home. One of the toughest things he ever had to do during that year was finding his way through the aftermath of Shinji's death; even though his time with him was cut short, he still saw him like an older brother. That distant persona of his never really fooled him. Ryoji.. Pharos.. his relationship with death was multifaceted. It was undeniable that he carried it in his soul for pretty much his whole life, so despite everything, he felt like he perfectly understood them, and he never once blamed him for his suffering or for the death of his parents. If things didn't play out like they did, he wouldn't have found his answer.

The girls were each extremely special to him in their own right, even if he had to admit that he never figured out exactly what his relationship with each of them was. They felt like friends, sisters, comrades, and.. something more than that, all at the same time. He had his sneaking suspicions that a few of them had more than platonic feelings for him, even back when he was living. Yukari was the best confidant he could ask for, both in arms and in life, and since they shared a similar tragedy in being orphaned because of the same incident, he felt like he could understand her. Fuuka might've been an even better listener than he was, and whenever he found himself too troubled to concentrate, she always listened to what was on his mind-- sometimes she'd even make him talk when he didn't want to. More than a few times, he started to think that Mitsuru would be a far better leader than he was; not only was she stunning, but she passively conveyed an aura of sheer confidence that was a challenge for him to match. Aigis was the most human robot that ever existed. She.. was with him, at the end.

He knew they couldn't have taken his death well, Yukari and Aigis especially. He was here now, sure, but it wouldn't last, and he isn't sure whether or not he could handle doing that to his friends again. More than anything, what he wants is for them to move forward in life, keeping the memories they shared at heart. If reaching out to them somehow got in the way of that.. "-Arisato, could you explai–"

"In the case of a horizontal asymptote, x will approach infinity as f(x) approaches 1." He shot back flawlessly. 

"..Uh.. Yes. Correcasymptotic,

"Hey, how did he solve that? I haven't even got the first part done!-" "-Is he, like, a genius?"

All those nights he stayed up slaving away at his desk payed off.

Not paying attention to all the murmurs around him, he thought back to this morning.

Earlier that morning...

"A Palace, you say?"

"Yes."

He and the present Velvet Room residents were now in his apartment room. He was, of course, leaning on the wall, hands in his Shujin-Uniform pockets which fit him remarkably well. Margaret was sitting elegantly on his chair, while Theodore was standing behind her. Caroline and Justine were identifying.. no, more like, trying to destroy his toilet light.

"Mementos is the base for all human distortion: mental, physical and emotional. That's why the Shadows there look more like Personas in appearance."

"That is correct." A Thwip sounded in the background.

"And if one of the humans stray too far from what the collective desires, they form domains based on their cognition, which are similar to Mementos, but differ person to person, and those're called Palaces."

"Greatly put, Makoto-sama." Theodore chimed in. Another thwip.

"..And, inside such a Palace, their desires freely roam, and the outsiders can will it into whatever they want with enough force."

"Yes, and you can also completely eradicate desires by killing the shadow. The death of the shadow-self via this method results in a mental shutdown, instead of the apathy syndrome cases that would occur when a someone's shadow was killed in Tartarus. The end result is essentially the same, however."

"So, it's kind of like brain death. How do you know ho-" the poking and prodding was starting to get on his nerves just a little bit. "Will you guys stop doing that?" Yuki said to the twins.

"..Uh, Sorry." With that, both Caroline and Justine also took their places beside their sister.

"Anyways, we're getting off topic; that doesn't change our priority. We should still search for the missing wildcard. He should pop up around here sooner or later."

"Don't act all conceited, convict. How can we be sure he's even in this town? Or anywhere in Tokyo, at that?" Caroline interjected, scolding Makoto as if he was somehow stupid. The glance he gave her in return was more confused than annoyed.

"..Wait, you don't know..?" He said ominously.

"Whaddyou mean?"

"It's just, as an Avatar of Power or whatever, I thought you would've caught on by now." Her eyebrow raised, signaling him to continue. "A Fool's journey.. it always starts with him moving to a new city."

At Caroline's disbelieving scoff, Margaret took over.

"It's true. Since our family finally came of age and began our supervision of the Velvet Room, the story of each Guest has started with an arrival by train to a new home. The circumstances differ time to time, but usually it's because of an.." She winced, looking to Makoto. "..unfortunate parental situation."

There might have been a way to sugarcoat her words, she was sure, but it would have been pointless. Makoto's parents were killed in the accident that started the dark hour nearly 20 years ago. Thinking back to her own guest, the Truthseeker's relationship with his immediate family wasn't as tragic, but it was certainly just as distant, seeing as how his parents were more often than not absent in his life. It was just a simple fact of this kind of existence.

"Characteristically, this leads to the guests being jumbled around from place to place, until they arrive at the destination wherein their self-actualization will be fuilfilled." "--Excatly," Yuki cut in, "and it wouldn't make sense for Philemon to send me to Shujin otherwise, so he'll probably transfer over the course of the next few days. Then, all you guys have to do is locate him, and we should be fine."

"..Ah. About that." Margaret's tone showed a clear discomfort. "We don't actually have any way of knowing who or where the wildcard is, so as your position to investigate is a lot more ideal than ours, this will most probably require some footwork on your end."

Makoto's eye's softened, in something akin to understanding. Thinking about Margaret's position, she's someone who's traditionally used to knowing everything she needs to and being in a fully capable position. From the hushed pain in her voice alone, he could tell that it was hard for her to adjust to relying on someone else, instead of being relied upon like old times. He sighed.

"..That's fine. If he's anything like me, I'm sure trouble will find him."

His words weren't able to completely shake her out of her rut, but they earned him a small smile, and that would be more than enough for now.

"..Wow, inmate." Said Caroline. "Since when were you not an idiot?"

The school bell finally rung, after what felt like a century.

"...Well, this is it. Make sure you practice all of this. Cramming isn't good for your brain." As it rang, the teacher said her peace and finally made her way out of the classroom. Every kid in there let out a breath they'd been holding.

..Guess I'll give this all some more thought, later. The cognitive world, and.. my friends. For right now, no matter what, I'm absolutely going to snooze through lunch break.

"..Arisato-san?" A soft voiced called out to him.

Or not. Yay. "..Yes?" Minato turned towards the source, and beside him was the girl in the pink cardigan from the other day-- the one he'd helped out with her plants.

" Are you.. okay? You looked really uncomfortable the whole cass period.." Haru said in a worried voice. "Are you not feeling well, by chance?"

His smile was hollow. "..Well, something like that."

Haru was quiet for a moment, not sure what to say. "-Oh! I'm so sorry, I made you help me yesterday, and.."

He blinked. "Oh, I'm not sick. I just.. didn't get enough sleep."

"Well, you sure look like you haven't sleep for months." Haru said, giggling softly. "But, if you need to rest, you know you can go to the nurse's office, right? Really, there's no reason to push yourself.."

"I'm fine. Thanks for the concern."

"You're welcome." Haru replied back with a bright smile, before she gathered her thinfs and headed off to the courtyard.

He trailed the girl with his eyes as she strolled through the classroom, until she entirely vanished from his sight.

He knew it was stupid. He knew it wasn't her.

"...Ah! Thank's a lot for helping me out. I know how busy you are these days, Makoto-kun..."

"Leader, are you okay!? I'm... I'm so sorry! If I'd done a better job, you all wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place..."

"Hey... Makoto? I'm sure you can handle it, but... please. Try not to overdo it, okay? It's true that you're our leader, but you're just as human as the rest of us."

Memories of someone who was not Haru Okumura flashed through his head. He just couldn't help himself.

When he glanced back to the window, he only had a single thought on his mind as he stared up at the clouds above passing through the sky.

"...You know, Fuuka... I think you'd like her."

—Morning—Lunchtime—

"Minato" found himself staring at the single loaf of bread on his lunch tray with the eyes of a dead fish. He glanced up at the lunch lady, as if begging her to say it wasn't so. "This... is the only one left?"

"Yeah, you should've come earlier. It's like a battle royale here at lunch break." The lunchlady replied mercilessly, without even giving him as much as a glance. "Count yourself lucky there's one left for you."

"Minato" looked from his sorry excuse of a lunch to the ladh who'd served it once or twice. By no means was he a picky eater, but one slice of bread was not nearly enough to sate his appetite. But ultimately, it was his own fault for taking his time getting here. "Well... beggars can't be choosers." He replied with a sigh, and with that, he reached for the lone slice on the tray... when another hand did the same out of nowhere.

"..Hm?"

"...Uh..."

Two confused voices rang out in union. 

"Minato" looked at the other hand on the tray, befuzzled for a moment, before his eyes followed its frame up towards the visage of a punkish looking boy with dyed blonde hair. Immediately, recognization struck him, but not the kind you'd get when you seem someone you've known. No, though it was hard to describe, Yuki was somehow familiar with the boy in front of him on a spiritual level. Though all of his features were extremely different from who he'd known, something in the back of his head was telling him he was standing in front of the Chariot.

"..So, dude, you taking this?" The other boy asked, no doubt a bit offput by the awkward atmosphere.

"…Yeah?" He replied flatly, as if the question itself were stupid.

The boy sighed. "Alright, fine.." Saying his peace, if a little disappointed, the yellow haired boy turned and began to walk away.

And in that moment, the image of a heartful smirk, lively eyes and unkempt black hair flashed through Makoto's mind.

"Hold on. On second thought? You can have it." At his updated answer, the boy suddenly turned around, mild suspicion coloring his face. He seemed a bit distrustful.

"..Wait a sec', you sure..?" He asked again, looking Minato up and down.  "I mean, you look like you could use a meal yourself." 

"Yeah, I'm sure." 'Minato' nodded, took the bread, and gave it to him. "Here."

The boy received his gift with surprising caution, silently studying Minato with his eyes. It wasn't vindictive or analytical, more like he thought it was strange someone here would be so randomly kind to him. A question popped into his mind.

"You a third year?"

"Mhm."

"Gotcha.. so then, I guess you're the transfer student, right?"

"I suppose so."

"Hmph. Figures." He took the money he owed the lunch lady and placed it on the desk. "Thanks for the bread, don't regret it later." The gruff boy took his leave without even looking back.

Minato watched at the boy's retreating frame with an unreadable expression. Then, he turned towards the cafeteria lady. "Is there any place where I can still get some food?"

Minato took the bottle, his "lunch" he supposed, and looked at it quizzically. "Coffee, is not food." Then he opened the bottle and walked towards the nearby bench.

'Man, a lot's happening. First Yaldabaoth, then.. two wildcards? The train traffic on a good day is as bad as it was in Iwatodai on a bad one. Not to mention, I've got children pretending to be mature at home. Combine that with the fact that I still don't even get to eat real food, and you'd think I'd be upset, but.. honestly, this nostalgia makes it hard to be. With how lively things are now, it's almost like back then..' Lost in his own thought, 'Minato' took a sip from the can.

"Here." But he was broken out of his reverie by a girl's voice.

Minato looked towards the voice and a pony tailed girl with black hair was shyly smiling, a sandwich in her outstretched hand.

"..Hm?"

At his confusion, and furthermore, his hesitance, the girl explained. "I guess.. you can think of it as thanks. F-for helping Sakamoto-kun I mean."

"Sakamoto-kun?" Minato asked back with a tilt of his head.

"Yellow hair, touchy attitude?" When she saw hw was drawing a blank, she continued. "...That guy you saw at the cafeteria."

"Ah.." He nodded in understanding. "Is he your friend?"

That gave her a small pause. He could tell from the look in her eye that despite her gesture, she wasn't all that comfortable with interacting with her peers. Was there a story behind that? "..Well, he's.. kinda, sorta my friend." She decided, seemingly on the spot.

"Kinda sorta?" The girl nodded, stretching her hand out a bit further. Minato decided this time that he would take it. She went out of her way for a friend-- commendable, definitely, so it'd be rude to refuse. "Thanks. Thanks a lot." He spoke genuinely, the noon light flashing just a bit onto his frame. He didn't know what it was at the time, but something about the authenticity of his gratitude seemingly won something over in the girl. Her reluctance lessened some at his reaction, and she gave him a small nod as she sat down on the same bench.

"..Honestly, him and I haven't interacted much since middle school... but, he used to be friends with my best friend, so.. he's kinda sorta my friend."

At her answer, Minato said absolutely nothing. His eyes calmly watching her were the only indication she had that he was even listening.

But for some reason, that alone made him infinitely easier to talk too. Sitting here beside him, Shiho felt some incomprehensible motivation to keep talking, even though this wasn't something she'd ever usually do, and especially not under these circumstances. She had.. practice, to thank for that. She hadn't been her outgoing, peaceful self for weeks now. It was like a voice inside her head was clawing at the back of her brain, demanding she hide her issues from everyone. For some reason, she couldn't hear it so far as she'd been talking with Minato.

"He's a good guy, but his face and his demeanor can make you think otherwise, and…" The girl took a more somber tone. "He's.. he's not exactly well treated around here. I feel like he's always on edge.. so thank you for putting up with him." The girl said back again with her bedt attempt at a smile. It wasn't perfect; she could barely get the edges of her lips to curve, as if some imaginary weight was trying to weigh her face into a frown, and it only lifted her cheeks a tiny bit. This would've been easy for her in the past, but nowadays she just couldn't escape the ire of this depressive cloud above her head.

Which is why it was somewhat astonishing when the boy in front of her gave a smile of his own, one equally as small, almost transient, but extremely warm. Beautiful, even, as if she were in the graces of Christ himself. Nothing she could find in the ocean of his eyes told her he was judging anything; no, in fact, the twitch in his lips was a paradox, at once being gentle, understanding, and yet just as somber as hers at the same time. In seeing that, she felt like for the first time in a long time that someone else truly understood how she was feeling, just through a small exchange like that. If she could figure out how to put this feeling on their faces into words, then she might finally be able to tell Ann about..

"My name's Shiho. Shiho Suzui. And You're.. Arisato-senpai, right?" She'd known his name for a little while now.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Suzui. Do you.. know me?"

She nodded. "Mhm. But only so far as being the new transfer student that everyone thinks is a playboy.." She turned to get a better look at him. "About that.. please don't let any of those rumors get to you, okay? I don't believe any of that anyway, if it makes you feel better." Actually, that was a half-truth. She didn't think he was a playboy at all, certainly not, but she could definitely see the potential in his looks, at least. She wasn't about to let him know that though, no way.

He waved his hand in dismissal. "I'm okay, they don't bother me. Thanks again." Noting the fact that she'd turned to fully face him for the first time she sat down, a few things caught his eye. When she first approached him, he was too focused on the sandwich in her hands, but a closer look revealed how.. questionable, her condition was. The girl seemed to have quite a few bruises, in places no highschool student should normally have bruises in. What's more, by her positioning, it was clear she was intentionally trying to cover the lot of them up. There was one under her arm-sleeve he hadn't seen before that was pretty bad, and she even had a few on her face. He tensed.

"..I'm sorry, but.. by any chance, did you hurt yourself?" At his question, the girl's eye's suddenly grew wide, and the entirety of her body language shifted-- as though she was talking to a different person. "-No, N-no, you've got it all wrong!.. This is just.. from my training."

This wasn't a good reaction. And what's worse, this was also kind of the reaction he was expecting. The frantic look in her pupils told him if he pushed her too hard on it, she'd disappear, but still..

"Training?"

"I'm actually on the volleyball team," She explained. "And our coach always wants us to be b-better so..he's training us hard." The girl said, throwing up another smile, but it lacked any semblance of authenticity the last had. Even as someone who just met her, he could tell it was fake.

He chose not to demonstrate any disbelief verbally. That would get him nowhere. But there was no way what he saw was that simple. Instead, he just stared at her with an unreadable gaze; not particularly questioning, not even warm. But something about it pierced right through her, and she didn't like it.

"..A-Anyway, thanks for helping Sakamoto--I'm sorry for bothering you." The girl announced abruptly, hurrying off before he had the opprotunity to respond. She half-ran, and half-walked off into the school-building, almost like she was retreating.

Minato watched as the girl entirely vanishes from his sight. Internally sighing, he decided it wasn't his place to pry into anyone else's sensitive business. Not yet, at least.

"..Come to think of it," He looked down at the sandwich, and took a bite.

"I'm pretty sure there's a couple other people around here with injuries like her's. Odd."

His thought process was interrupted by the sound of a ringing bell.

Yuki was mildly concerned, but he figured for now he'd settle with hoping she was okay. He got up and began walking back to his class, half-bitten sandwich in hand, when a thought crossed his mind.

'Wait. Wasn't I.. supposed to sleep?'

Arisato Residence

"Man, I'm almost.. afraid, to open this door." He stood in front of the door to his home, silently hoping that whatever was behind it wasn't a tornado of strees like a part of him expected.

The rest of the schoolday finished unnotably, and om the bright side, he wasnt teleported to any unfamiliar dimensions this time-- which is a pretty big achievement, considering his track record with moving to new cities. Maybe It'd be fine, he decided, trying to keep his thoughts positive. When he thought back to the Velvet Room, it seemed lole all they really did was sit around all day waiting for their guests to show: In a way, this really wasn't that different.

He steadied himself and opened the door, and like flood gates crashing down, a loud and annoying voice invaded his ears.

"Caroline! Are you CERTAIN this is something you should add to the fried rice?" Uncharacteristically, it was Justine yelling.

"--How the HELL should I know? I'm a warden, not a CHEF!--" Caroline clapped back.

"Ridiculous. It was originally your suggestion to cook the rice in the first place."

"Well yeah, but by the sound of it, you really shouldn't have to ADD anything. How do you fry rice? You throw some rice on a skillet and fry it."

"Th-Then why would you tell me to throw this in there?" A third voice chimed in, that had to be Theo's.

The three of them happened to be bickering in the center of the typhoon that could once be called a kitchen. Margaret, for her part, was sitting elegantly on the his chair with her eyes closed, drinking tea in some attempt to calm herself down and escape the madness. It seemed like it was working, if not for the slight twitch in her eyebrows.

"..Well, it's better than I was expecting." A weary smile crept onto his face, and at his voice, Margaret's eyes shot open. "Ah, you're back. I hope everything went well at school."

"Yeah.. but, forget about that for a second," he said, pointing a lazy finger towards the growing disaster in the background, "What are they doing back there?"

"Well, we're preparing a meal for our dear guest, of course." Margaret said back with a smile.

"Guest?" He smirked. "Isn't it the other way around? You guys are on my graces this time."

"Oh, hardly." She said back with a little hint of smugness. "It was our Lord who provided you with this humble abode; so, by extension,we are the owners of this house, while you, Makoto-sama, are our guest."

A sigh. He didn't have the fight in him to rebuke her conquest. The Warring Apartments period could start some other time.

"..And so," She continued. "As to mimic human tradition, we would like to treat our guest with a nice meal. And, if possible, we would also like for you to think of us as family for the duration of our stay-- with our circumstances, as well as the completion of your own journey, there aren't many other beings in this world with an intimate understanding of our situations, not like our's. So id you'd like," A smile, "you can think of this as family dinner of sorts."

He let that sit in the air for a moment. "Family dinner, huh?" Yuki's head turned, and he looked towards the shouting siblings in the kitchen. Then his lips turned upwards into a gentle smile. Not weary, but truly happy.

"Well, how can I refuse?"

A moment of appreciation was shared between the guest and the attendant.

"--Caroline, you dolt! My clothes have started burning!" That lasted for a tactful three seconds.

"Wha..? Justine! Water, hurry!-- What do you mean, we're out of water?! There's some in that toilet contraption, right?! Get a MOVE ON already, Theo!"

Minato stepped beside a little, allowing a bit of space for the man set ablaze (really, the flames must've been contagious,) to find the restroom, and as he watches the preceedings of chaos echo around him, a bright and innocent chuckle escapes him, quickly turning into a full on laugh. Maybe the first geniune laugh he's had in eons, soft and pure. 'I was wrong,' Yuki thought.

"Maybe this isn't so bad."

Chapter Text

"--Damn it all, I need some water!"

"That's why I told you to chew at least 20 times when you eat rice."

"Shut up. You're not my mother."

The four velvet siblings and one Messiah were now sitting together on the floor around a small table which was placed in the middle of the room, with Makoto's futon tucked in the corner. Caroline and Justine sat together facing their older sister, while Theodore sat facing Yuki dead on.

"Soooo, whaddya think, convict?  We're pretty good cooks, huh?" Caroline's haughty voice was as arrogant as ever. 

"..Well." Yuki brought a finger to his chin. "It's.. passable, seeing as I'm not dead yet." 

"But of course! Even if it was our first time, Justine and I would never fail at anything!" It wouldn't sound like her if it wasn't so proud, honestly. 

It was Justine's job to apologize, he supposed. "Please.. give it time."

"Margaret broke the growing  silence with a cough. "Anyway, onto the more pressing matter." Yuki stopped eating his rice(?) to give her his full attention.

"Makoto, we investigated what you asked of us, and we discovered something.. interesting, for lack of a better word."

His deadpan was her only response. 

"..What did I ask you to check again?" 

"Before you went to your learning place," Justine interjected again, " You gave us your phone and asked us to check the, and I quote, "Weird eyeball thing,"" Justine said, a little too seriously. 

"Right, right. I do remember that. What did you find?"

"It's the Metaverse Navigator. That's what its called." Caroline replied.

"..Okay, there's a couple of things I can infer from that, but that's not an explanation."

"I was getting to that!" She spat. "Anyway, remember what Justine said about Mementos?" Makoto nodded, and she carried on. "Well, seeing as you humans can't get there by normal means, that's where this app comes in." Caroline said, grabbing his phone and placing it on the table. 

She then opened the app in question, before she asked, "See, this bar where you can type? There, you have to type 'M-E-M-E-N-T-O-S'. Then all you need to do is tap the button, and the Navigation'll begin!" 

"--That is, if it worked as intended." Justine elaborated, her monotone a stark contrast to her sister's enthusiasm. "But we've been trying to use it all day and we can't get it to work." 

"Yeah, that checks out. It didn't work when I tried that yesterday, either." Yuki said, taking a sip of his glass of water. "My working theory is that "Mementos" is somewhat unstable, due to the precarious circumstances of its regulator. A little bit of that, combined with the fact that Yaldabaoth is probably doing this to spite me. If I'm right, though, it's not something he can keep up forever." 

The Velvet Siblings each stared at him, almost slackjawed. It was making him kind of uncomfortable. 

"..What?" 

"Forgive us," Margaret said, finally. "It's just.. we were not expecting you to reach such a concise conclusion." 

"You totally stole our hypothesis, you thief!" Caroline shouted. 

"As if." He said. 

"Clearly, we need not explain the finer details of the arrangement.." Theo started. "So if that's the case, how long do you suppose you will remain unable to access Mementos?" 

"A few more days, at the most. No matter how petty he's feeling, with his condition, Yaldabaoth just doesn't have the spare power to impede me for too long." Makoto responded. "So, this is really just a portal to Mementos, huh?" 

"That's not all it does, convict!" Carolime happily took the opprotunity to regain the upperhand in the exchange. Honestly, it would've been weirder if she didn't. 

"It is not only Mementos, but this application can also guide you to the other worlds we described to you prior.. universes characterized by desire; Palaces." Justine said, with a face almost comically stoic. 

"Exactly! BUT! the process is a little different in this case." Caroline interrupted, grabbing his phone again. 

Makoto turned towards at the Margaret with a tilt of his head, evidently looking for someone who could succinctly break it doen without being condescending. "Ah.. we decided to leave the explanations to those two, given that both Theodore and I only learned about it earlier this morning.. and Caroline was very enthusiastic about explaining it to you by herself."

..Great. He thought, slumping into his seat a little. She can't decide if she wants my attention or my defeat.

"Yeah, yeah! Whatever. Look at this, convict." The gremlin put the phone in the middle of the table, where everybody could see it. "See this? When you're going to Mementos, you just have to input your destination, but if you wanna go to a Palace, you're going to need three things." Her step-by-step explanation wasn't dissimilar to a child trying to explain the internet to their grandparents. And honestly, that wasn't too far off from what was happening at the moment. 

"So, in the first bar, you have to type the name of the person who's cognititon you want to enter, and then you have to input the distortion, which is basically what they believe their Palace to be. Finally, you need a real world location that the distortion is based on." 

"What they believe their Palace to be..?" Yuki echoed. "..I see." 

"Like we explained yesterday, each individual's desires are unique, so it stands to reason that every cognitive world is also different as a result. It could be something realistic, like a building, a park, a district, or a ship, to even something esoteric like space or the world itself." 

"I get the gist." He responded. 

"Essentially, this acts as both the key and the door to the hearts of humanity."Justine summarized. "Any questions, dear guest?" 

"Well," He started, setting down his glass. "I have a few." 

"What? How dumb are you?" Caroline said. "Which part you of that don't you understand? And you better not say "all of it", like an ignoramus!" 

"No, I get how it works. What I mean is, how do we know if someone has a Palace?" 

"We don't," She answered with a shrug. "You just have to type the names in and hope for the best." So it's like a guessing game, he thought.

"Fair enough. What about the distortion?" 

Caroline didn't answer. I'm.. assuming that's also a guessing game.

"..Then the location is probably also.." 

"Yep, a guessing game."

"I see." Makoto took his phone back. "So, this app is really just one big puzzle."

"In essence, yes." Said Theo.

"Figures. By the way, you've been uncharacteristically quiet, Theo." Yuki commented. "Is it the food? I know it's bad, but I'm fine.."

"Really? You feel.. fine?" Justine asked. "You don't feel any nausea, urge to vomit, or rampant desire to gouge your eyes out and eat them?" 

Her tone made it sound completely normal. "Is there.. something you want to tell me?" 

"-Nothing! We didn't add anything unordinary at all. There's nothing you need to worry about. Right, Theodore?" Caroline said, looking at her brother for Confirmation. 

He was utterly stone-faced. "Yes, Yes! Certainly."

"..Kay." Yuki shrugged, and continued eating. "Anyway, my own investigation bore fruit as well." 

"Is that so?" Margaret replied politely.

"Well, I found something weird at my school. I actually noticed this even before I met Caroline, Justine, and the both of you, but I suppose I sort of forgot with everything that's going on. There are some students-- not many, but not too little to be called normal, either-- who are noticeably injured. And these injuries are also too severe to comfortably be called normal either."

Margaret thought to herself for a moment. "And how do you suppose that could be connected to our situation?" 

He said nothing for a moment. "Did I tell you about how some of my friends got lost in Tartarus?" 

"Yeah?" "No." 

Everyone else in the room turned to observe how disjointed Caroline and Justine's answers were.

"..You knew about this, Caroline?"

"Yeah. Don't.. don't  you remember? It was.. that green haired girl, wasn't it?" Justine looked at her twin with wide eyes, the recognition not striking. 

Well, that wasn't entirely accurate. It was mote than just one of his friends that'd eventually gotten stuck in Tartarus, and her hair color was really closer to teal, but it was good enough. "Yamagishi Fuuka." Yuki said, oblivious to how lost Justine was in thought.

"You.. think they're also wandering into the Metaverse unknowingly, and that's how why they sport such unnatural injuries?" Theo asked, following his line of thought.

"But you can't actually go to the metaverse without the app." Said Caroline.

"I'm not confident in this line of reasoning. It's just a thought. On the flipside, how possible is it for Metaverse beings to end up over here?" 

His question broke Justine out of her stupor, but she quickly recomposed herself. "…We cannot be entirely sure of anything at this time, but I think that sounds a little far-fetched."

"...Makoto", Margaret started, "Are there any other reasons why you think we should be concerned with this?"

He thought to himself for a moment. "..Well, from what little experience I have with them, gods do everything for a purpose. I think there might be another reason Philemon wanted me to go to this school; maybe its not what's wrong with the students, but the school itself."

"You mean to say that Shujin itself could also be supernatural, like Gekkoukan was?" She replied, only getting a vague shrug from Makoto in response.

"That's actually possible." Justine pitched in, bringing a finger to her lip in consideration. "That school may in fact be someone's palace."

"But, how would we check? Would Makoto have to test everyone's name from his school? That would take a very long time." Said Theo, speaking more to himself than to anyone else.

"And what's more, there's no rule that says a palace can't belong to someone residing outside of the location, so even if the school is one, it could belong to someone we would never come across on the campus. That makes siphoning through candidates a difficult task to actualize." Margaret reminded. 

Makoto hummed in quiet agreement. "Well, like I said. I'm not sold either. This is just me putting it out there, so as not to leave you guys in the dark. I'll follow through with something more concrete; our main priority is still the Wildcards for now." 

"As you wish." Margaret's reply came with a small bow.. it was hard to tell whether it was genuine or satirical. 

He finished downing his food, before continuing. "Speaking of. Any leads?" 

"No, we planned on getting that far today. As for right now, we can be somewhat certain that they aren't in our nearest vicinity." She answered. 

"I see." He nodded, and was content to end the conversation there, it seemed. A quaint silence followed. 

"Ahem." Margaret said. " If we don't have anything more to discuss, I believe we should wrap this up. Makoto has to go to school tomorrow, after all."

"Ah, Yes, and I still have to prepare the rooms for us." Theo added, getting up out of his seat. 

"Justine and I-'ll help you too!" 

"Well, I suppose I also must prepare the remains of the compendium." Margaret also followed suit, but she was interrupted by one last inquiry. 

"Sorry, one last question.." She raised an eyebrow.

"It's actually been bugging me for sometime. And I still haven't figured this out, which is kind of troubling for a 'Genius'."

"What's the matter...?"

"..Where did we get this table from?"

The school bell's chime rung through the halls. 

"Okay, that's it. Make sure you guys do your homework; remember, Exams start in May." The teacher announced to the class, before packing her things and making her way out of the classroom. Letting himself relax a little,(Seriously, lectures could be really boring these days,) 'Minato' found the indescribable urge to yawn prod at him once again.

"Jeez.. why am I always so sleepy?" Another Yawn hit him as he streched himself out, just about ready to make his way home. Better take off now; I'll just have to start properly investigating tomorrow. With that thought, he began to pack his materials before his deadliest foe made him pass out at school.

"Arisato-san, you haven't had much sleep today either, have you?" A soft, familiar voice called out to him, in the midst of the after-school white noise. It took him a day or two to realize it, but that girl he'd run into a couple of times was actually his classroom neighbor-- Haru Okumura, he was pretty sure that was her full name. She looked at him with a cheeriness in her smile, her tone indicating a small amount of worry.

"Not really." He smiled back. "I only got maybe 5-6 hours last night."

"Uhm.. that's, not enough?" She tilted her head slightly.

"Well, no. Not for me." He finally finished stuffing his textbooks back into his desks and gathering his things into his bag. "Anyways.. later."

"Oh, you're leaving now? Then I'll see you tomorrow, Arisato-kun." Haru bid him farewell with the brightest smile he'd seen all day. His eyes narrowed a bit, and a spinning card appeared above her head as if two separate dimensions were fading into eachother.

"..Ah, Arisato-kun..? What's the matter?" At his perceived listlessness, Haru's own eyes shifted, half out of curiosity and half out of worry. She knew he hadn't been sleeping well, and he did look somewhat sick quite often.. really, shouldn't he have just gone to the nurse's office like she said?

'Minato' stared at the girl a little longer than normal, but after a brief silence, he offered her an equally precious smile. "Yeah, see you tomorrow, Okumura-san."

That seemed to satisfy her for now. Her expression changed back into a wholly happy one, and she nodded before turning around to pack her own things. "I know their Arcana's aren't the same, but honestly.." He mumbled to himself.

He turned towards the sliding door, pushing it to the side. His mood seemed to brighten up a little after that exchange. He thought it'd be nice to chat with her a bit more tomorrow, and if she were here, he knows Fuuka would be thinking the same. I'm getting sidetracked, anyway. Maybe after one more crash session, this sleep debuff will leave me alone..

"Good afternoon, Arisato. Are you ready?"

A second familiar voice intercepted his plans, right as he was about to start making his way down the hall.

'Minato' turned his head, his own mind feigning ignorance, when in reality he knew who it was as soon as he heard the voice. The Student Council President was waiting for him, hands neatly crossed in front of her thighs with a polite smirk on her face.

Internally, he suppressed a sigh. "Ready...? For what?"

She blinked. "You know.. the tour." Oh, that's right. He'd forgotten all about that. He winced a little bit on the inside for two reasons; one, his own lack of tact, and two, the surprised look in her eyes that clearly said his forgetfulness was more offensive then he thought it'd be.

Instantly, he changed his approach, adopting a meek smile and a self-conscious body language. "Right.. about that. You see, I actually--"

"Shall we?" An aura of sheer terror interrupted his masterfully schemed act. Why does that smile look so terrifying?

He had to can it this time, it looked like. It was his defeat. "Uh, sure. Lead the way." 'Minato' threw up a forced smile.

"Of course. We'll start from the first floor, then. Please follow me." With that said, she started towards the stair well, sufficiently confident that the blue-haired transfer wouldn't try to take off once she turned her back. Seriously, I had to clear a handful of activities out of my afternoon schedule to make this happen. Was he really about to come up with some half-witted excuse to take off? Not everyone gets a chance to have the Council President Escort them around the school! And to think, I thought I was actually beginning to be respected around here..

From the classroom window, a certain Pink-haired heiress watched her strict SCP take the new transfer student for a spin around the campus. She was clearly suppressing a giggle.

"I don't think you'll get a genuine smile out of him like that, Ms. President."

"As I'm sure you know, Shujin is one of the most esteemed academies here in Tokyo, due equally in part to the prodigious graduates we produce and the talented athletes we build. Many of its previous students now find themselves in higher societal positions, my older sister being one of them." Makoto gave him the textbook rundown as they strolled through the hallways, sometimes stopping to denotate this or that little thing. "We're quite strict as well, and I'm sure I don't have to mention the infamous Volley-Ball team.."

". . ." There was no response, not audibly, but somehow that felt like a response.

Her eyes smoothly shot over to her guest. "You can see for yourself that the layout isn't particularly dififcult to remember. The first years are on the third floor, and us third years are on the first floor, with the second years on the middle. Beyond that, there's also the rooftops, but it's off-limits to students for the most part; that doesn't exactly stop trouble makers from loitering up there, though.." She did her best to break his silence with a small joke and a weary smile.

". . ."

For a moment, he swore her eyebrow almost twitched.

"Okay, this guy's starting to get on my nerves.' As a Student Council President secondly, and as a decent human being foremost, It's Makoto Nijima's duty to give students a hand when something shady's going on. It's precisely for that reason as to why she had to act fast, because for a second there it was looked sort of like Arisato was flirting with an innocent girl like.. Okumura, was it?

Oh, but of course, she knew all about how pretty boys like him, ah.. "roll". Her romance novels and the occasional TV Drama told her all about it-- questionables like that'll make a pass at anyone under the sun. This one here might be even worse, she figured, because he's not paying any attention to almost any of his numerous kouhais trying to talk to him. As far as she's seen, at least, the only one he's even entertained to is that pink-headed girl.. so maybe.. could he be after her money, using selective flirtatiousness as a vehicle?

Makoto (Nijiima) turned around a little to get another look at him. Presently, he just looked lazy and miserable. 'Strange, isn't it..? Who would guess such an innocent demeanor would be concealing such disgusting intetions?'

Suddenly, her guest moved to cover his mouth, clearly trying to suppress something.

'..Hm? What exactly is he doing? Don't tell me, is he trying to stifle a yawn?!' Alright, he could be sure this time, that eyebrow most definitely vibrated.

"Arisato-san, are you.. having any trouble sleeping, maybe?" His eyes widened just a little bit at that. Did he think she wouldn't notice?

"..Yeah, actually. I must look pretty bad if you're the second person telling me that." He responded.

Well, it was progress, she decided. She wasn't going to let herself get discouraged. "Uh, I see.. well, besides the trophy collection and the bread store, there's really not much else on the 1st floor." She coughed, recomposing herself. "You can reach the courtyard and the practice-building from that passageway over there, but I'm you know that already. Let's continue from the next floor, shall we?"

". . ."

Seriously, what is with that strangely audible silence? She did her best to keep her expression polite, and made her way up the stairs.'

From behind her, 'Minato' mumbled to himself so quietly that even she couldn't hear it. "I guess.. I should be glad she isn't in the executing business."

"I'm sure you remember the falculty room, yes?"'

Again, her question was earned no response. It was starting to get a bit irritating, even for her, but she could do this-- she knew she could.

"..Ahem. Arisato-Kun?"

That seemed to bring him back to planet earth, as his eyes shot up to look at her. "..What? Oh. Yeah, whatever."

For a second, it almost really did look like he forgot. Here she is taking time out of her day to supervise this numbskull, and he's barely even paying attention. But from what she'd heard about his classroom behavior, that shouldn't even be possible. If the rumors are anything to go by, he can answer questions without even looking at the board, and mathematically he could probably even rival her. They were clearly wrong, then, because no-one that smart could be this scatter-brained.

"..By the way," the boy started, pointing a finger at a sign posted onto a nearby door. Finally, some engagement. "It says meeting room there. Is that where you guys meet up?-- The Student Council, I mean."

'"Actually, that's just for the teachers and parents.." She let her most practiced chuckle. "Oh, by the way, Arisato-kun.. do you live with your parents or by yourself? I was looking for ways to contact you the other evening, but I came up short."

He turned his head to give her some attention. "..Well, no. My parents don't live with me."

"Oh? Are they still in Iwatodai?" She turned around to face her guest fully. Although its been rocky up until this point, this was the most he'd consistently spoken since they got here, and the closest thing they'd had to a full on conversation as well. It just goes to show, she thought, that any rough exterior can be penetrated with enough determination.

But what caught her off guard was the solemn energy that seemed to radiate off of his expression when he spoke again. The creases above his eyes relaxed, his pupils seemed to stare off into something far off even though he was looking right at her, and his lips curled into a smile so gentle it was impossible to explain why it felt so sad.

"Yeah. They are."

It took a few seconds to hit her. "..Oh. I'm, I'm sorry, I didn't know..." At that instant, Makoto completely revised her previous thought process. His character may be imperceptible to her at the moment, but there was simply no way someone with a face capable of looking like that was malicious at heart. Besides, she could confidently say that she knew somewhat how he must've felt.

He shook his head. "Don't worry, I came to terms with it."

...He says that, she thought, but why does he still seem so...?

"...If that's the case, then you're truly strong. I don't think.. I don't think I could ever get over that." It was brief, undoubtedly, but he definitely caught the wave of pain that blinked through her eyes when she spoke.

"Minato" took a second to digest what he'd heard, and then gave her another hard-to-read look; something about it felt like he was giving her his sympathies, she noted. Normally, she absolutely despised when people look at her with pity-- she didn't want it then, and she doesn't want it now. But... maybe it was a trick of the light, or the eerily convincing glint in his eyes, but however selfish it was, she appreciated it, this time. Because it came from someone like her. Someone who'd also lost the lives of his parents. Someone who was in the same boat.

"...It's not a matter of getting over them." He started quietly, snapping her out of her thoughts. She tilted her head up, just enough so that they were looking eachother in the eye. "It depends on how you move forward, and whether you allow their memory to be something that haunts you, or something that guides you."

He turned his back to her for a moment, glancing away. "...Time never waits; it delivers all equally to the same end." He sounded profund, and distant, almost like the words he spoke weren't his own. "Remember that you'll join them in death one day, because it's for that reason exactly that you should live fully. The memories they left behind give you that power." 

His head turned back ever so slightly, just enough so that she could see past his oppressive bangs and into his pupils-- and he offered her a geniune smile for the very first time.

She looked startled, almost shocked for a moment, her eyes visibly widening and her lips parting a little bit to hang open. "..Seriously, I can't seem to get a read on you at all.." She finally settled on a gentle, authentic smile of her own. This wasn't the fake mask she'd been wearing until now. "You're either really smart or really weird, and you can't seem to pick one."

He chuckled. "Well, if it's any consolation, you aren't the first one to try."

A soft laughter filled the empty halls, and before they knew it, they were actually enjoying eachother's company.

Later, on The 2F Library

"I've been meaning to ask. Are you an avid reader, Arisato-kun?"

"You could say that." He nodded. The ice seemed finally broken, and while he hadn't entirely dropped his aloof persona, he was talking back and fourth, and for now that'd be enough.

"I see. Honestly, our library is quite modest, but I hope it can provide you with whatever you need. If it ever comes up short, you put in a request for me, and I should be able to take care of it." Makoto said, stopping in front of the doorway.

"You can do that?" He asked, mildly suprised.

"Well, I said 'should', didn't I? I can't actually guarantee anything, but I have a pretty wide selection myself, so whatever you need for your courses is probably something I can find."

"Huh." He nodded, seemingly content. "I appreciate that. While we're on the topic, though..." He coughed. "Can I ask you why we're standing at the entrance and not inside of the library?"

There was a slight pause.

"..What do you mean? We can't enter the library and talk. There's a possibility we could disturb other students, not just those that're reading, but whoever's studying for exams in the study corner as well. We shouldn't intrude." She shot back, head slightly tilting.

"…Oh." He blinked. She might actually be more extreme than Mitsuru; who seriously cares about the background conversations in a library these days? "Yeah, figures."

Nijiima smirked. "Honestly, I'd expect at least that much courtesy from a fellow student council member."

What? "...Hm?"

She looks him up and down, seemingly proud that she caught him a bit off guard, before continuing. "You were a student council member before, right?"

Well, essentially, but how does she even know that? "Uh, well, not officially. I just helped them solve.. a few probems." He thought back to the lighter-case he helped Hidetoshi solve. Across space and time, the culmination of his Social Links, the items they left behind, never left him. They were essentially as valuable as the Universe Arcana itself. When he thought about it practically, they might even be synonymous.

"That so? But the transcripts I read about you have you listed as Vice-president, Secretary and Treasurer."

Damn it, that's accurate and somehow not at the same time. Was this Mitsuru's doing? Why would she legitimize his involvement in the Student Government after his death? Or wait, it might've been Philemon, he's the one who orchestrated the paperwork that got him into Shujin. But why? Was it supposed to help him make new friends, or something? How would that possibly help?"

"Ah..." A small tinge of sweat rolled onto his forehead. "Like I said, nothing that notable, just some volunteering here and there..."

"So, what do you say? I have reason to believe you're competent enough for the position, clearly. Would you like to join our Student Council?" She said with a smile, two steps away from the silent glare that got him into this mess in the first place. Did she.. not hear what I just said?

Take two, he supposed. "Well, I've only been at this school for three days, so I think I might not be qualified." He cycled through his mind for excuses, hoping anything would work.

"Just leave it to me to decide whether you're qualified or not." Nuh-uh. "And if you're not familiar with our school, that's the entire purpose behind this tour, isn't it?" Double Nuh-uh. "But still, I'm surprised. Kendo, Track, and... Swimming, was it? If I'm being completely transparent, I didn't peg you as the sportsy type."

This was quickly going in the wrong direction. Sure, he was supposed to make new bonds to fuel his Arcana, but clearly these people were here to be apart of the new wildcard's journey. Was he even allowed to make deeper connections with them? Furthermore, what if the strength of a bond is only supposed to be a one-way channel, and it universally weakens if split between two people? "Well, appearances can be deceiving, I guess.."

Temporarily breaking his train of thought, though, a new and decidedly more important concern flashed into "Minato's" mind. "—On that topic, though, Niijima-san.. you said this school has a volleyball club, right?" This was the perfect opprotunity to look into what he saw the other day.

"Oh?" She smiled. "Piqued your interest, did they? Our volleyball team this year is very talented, and on top of that, the Coach is extremely dedicated and driven to win this year's nationals. Are you thinking about joining, by any chance?"

He shook his head. "Not really. But it's just as you said; it 'piqued my interest'." The last part she found a bit ominous.

"Well, I was already planning to show you the gym. Nothing's like the present, I supoose." And with that, she headed for the stairs again.

It was a little ahead of his schedule, he knew-- he originally didn't plan to start properly snooping around until tomorrow, but this seemed like a good enough opportunity, and Niijima seemed pretty happy to--

. . .Wait. "Niijima-san?"

"Hm?" She stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Is there a problem?"

"..Yeah. What exactly did you mean when you said 'On my papers'? Students aren't really allowed to look at other students' documents, right?" He asked.

No one said anything for a quite some time.

"Oh, silly me! We can get to the gym faster if we take the practice-building's overpass. Let's hurry." She turned away, speedwalking straight past him.

"That so..? Yeah, uh, please don't ignore my question."

"Mishima! What the hell was that supposed to be!?"

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Kamoshida! I promise it won't happen again!"

"Tch. What a useless kid." He mumbled under his breath, turning his attention to one of his female students. "Suzui! Are you blind!? Focus on the side they're weak at!"

"Y-yes, sir!" Her form shook, almost visibly vibrating at his words, as she did her best to leap up high and deliver a spike right into the enemy courtside. The loud crackle of rubber smashing into the floor signified the end of the game.

"That's MATCH, you losers!" Suguru Kamoshida bellowed, his whistle violently sounding into the air.

Shiho tried to let herself relax a bit with the match's conclusion, catching stifled breaths and wiping sweat from her brows. She looked towards their coach, who happened to be strolling over to Mishima like the arrogant piece of shit he was, no doubt on his way to terrorize him even more for being a normal human.

He's.. gonna get beaten again, isn't he..?

The thought went through her mind before she even realized it. It pained her to both say it and admit it, but Kamoshida-sensei abusing his students physically was not a new occurrence. That's just the kind of waste of air he was, and she of all people would especially know. Unconsciously, she caressed the bruises on her face.

The sound of the gym doors opening interrupted her rumination, as Kamoshida quickly stopped cursing and adopted his plastic innocence again like he hadn't just been the most vulgar man on the face of the earth. When she turned towards the door, she was almost surprised. "Is that Arisato-Senpai.. with.. Ms. President..?"

Vaguely, she could hear their conversation mumbling on. "..Mhm.. really? A Public Prosecutor?"

"That's right." Makoto met his curiosity with a bright smile of her own. "Why, you almost sound surprised.."

"Oh yeah?" He actually seemed somewhat engaged in their conversation, slightly smiling and chuckling back and forth with her. "Don't let your head get big. I know a girl who's job puts your sister's to shame."

"Sure." The sarcasm bled through her voice. "And pigs can fly now too, right? I bet you'd fall asleep halfway through a conversation with anyone like that."

He laughed quietly, scratching the back of his head "True enough. I swear I'm being honest, though."

She couldn't explain why, but felt a small tinge of pain shoot through her chest when she saw them clowning around. They seem.. friendly. Why don't I like that?

"Okay. Again, from the top." At Kamoshida's voice, Shiho turned around to see the man walking towards the duo with a wide (fake) smile. "Niijima-chan, what brings you here? Or should I say, to what do I owe the pleasure, with such a busy lady like yourself?"

"Oh, Mr. Kamoshida.." She turned to look at him. "I'm really sorry to intrude, I was just giving the new transfer a tour of the campus."

"Transfer student?" His eyes followed her gaze over to the boy standing beside her, narrowing ever-so-slightly.

The Student in question looked him up and down, silently evaluating the man in front of him, before introducing himself. "..Arisato Minato, a third-year from Class 3." He offered his hand up for a shake.

"Class 3, huh..? You must be Chuuno's new kid. Suguru Kamoshida." The Coach introduced himself as well, extending his own hand. "I'm sure you've heard of me already, but it's a pleasure to meet you."

Minato looked down at their hands for a moment, seemingly scrutinizing something, before meeting Kamoshida's eyes. "Likewise."

"As I was telling you earlier, Mr. Kamoshida is actually an olympic champion, though as he says, I'm sure that's a fact that needs no introduction." Makoto interjected, looking between the two.

Minato was quiet for a moment. "..That so." is what he eventually settled on; and she couldn't tell if he was impressed or disappointed, because his facial expression was characteristically static.

Kamoshida let out a controlled laugh that still sounded conceited. "Really, there's no need to compliment me so much.. it's simply an old trinket from an era long past." A liar lies through his teeth. "So, new kid, you interested in joining the team?"

Shiho's eyes widened, just a littled bit, and her expression lifted-- her attention briefly turning from their practice match.

She wasn't necessarily sure if she was relieved or disappointed when he shook his head. His response was almost immediate. "Sorry. I'll pass."

Kamoshida again let out a laugh, this time sounding noticeably less humble. "I guess that checks out. From the looks of it, you probably can't even walk straight." True to character, he didn't miss even a single chance to put other people down. But the new kid didn't seem even a little bit concerned.

While Kamoshida and Makoto were talking among themselves, mostly about school stuff, 'Minato' was silently looking the place up and down, as if searching for something. His pupils fled from student to student, examining each of the team member's conditions, and then flinched slightly whenever they seemingly noticed the one commonality they all shared. Their eyes met for a second, but clearly it wasn't enough for him to outwardly react.

 What's he doing..? "--Suzui-san! Look out!"

Unfortunately for her, Shiho's concern over the two new arrivals ended up lining a volleyball right up with her nose. The sound of rubber slamming into something rang through the gymnasium once again, and this time it was flesh.

"Suzui!" Her classmates called out to her. Judging by the fact that it knocked her completely over, she fouldn't have taken that hit all too well.

"What the hell are you idiots doing!?" Kamoshida shouted as he ran up to her, feigning concern. She wasn't fooled even for a second. He'd done much worse to her in the past few days, and she'd been here months. "Suzui, Are you okay!?"

"Yeah.. I-I'm.. I'm fine." She responded, trying to stifle fear and disgust at the same time. Her hand was pressed firmly against her nose; it was bleeding again.

"Don't be ridiculous. There's no way you're okay after something like that-- as Council President, I'm telling you to go to the infirmary." Makoto chimed in, bending slightly to get a look at her condition.

"I guess it can't be helped.." The Prick's interpretation of guilt was venemously convincing. "It's my fault, since she was under my supervision. I'll make sure she checks in for a visit."

Makoto shook her head, turning to the Coach. "Please, no need to trouble yourself. Arisato and I were on our way out, so I'll just take her there." She explained as she sat near Shiho, letting her lean onto her shoulder.

"..Thank you, Senpai.." Shiho managed to stutter out, keeping her eyes glued to the floor.

"Don't mention it."

Neither Minato nor Makoto could tell, but her proposal had Kamoshida somewhat disturbed. "Oh? Really? But, uh.. didn't you say you were showing the newbie around?" He scrambled for an excuse.

Shaking her head, she replied. "It's not a problem. I've already shown him most of the school already, honestly.. Arisato-kun is it alright with you if we stopped the tour here?"

There wasn't a response.

"..Arisato-kun?" Makoto turned around, wondering why he was being so quiet again all of a sudden.

"..Hm? What?" He finally answered.

"I was asking if we could stop now, so I could help Suzui to the nurse's office." What was he even looking for, anyway?

"Of course." He nodded, after a pause. "No problem."

"O.. K." Clearly, she wasn't the only one who'd noticed his odd behavior. "Well then, please excuse us."

The three of them made their way out of the gym, splitting off into two different directions once they reached the hall. No one knew at at the time, but a certain pair of eyes were quietly burning into the back of Yuki's head.

"Transfer student, huh?"

Velvet Residence

Yuki opened the door to his apartment with a click, more than happy to let the day's stresses wash off of him. "I'm back."

"..Ah. Welcome back." Said Margaret, looking up from the table with a warm smile. (Seriously, since when did they even get that?) From the looks of it, she was reading a rather hard-covered book, taking any opprotunities to occupy herself that didn't involve the glorified babysitting of her younger siblings, presumably. For sanity's sake, you have to what you can here and there.

"…Where are the others?" He asked. Unceremoniously, he dropped his bag to the floor, and started unbuttoning his school blazer.

Margaret's eyes drifted to the door he just closed. "Presently, they're with Theodore, checking to see if any other rooms are in domestic condition."

Makoto's shoulders dropped a bit at that. "Seriously? You guys are going through with that?"

She nodded, almost chuckling a little. "We do need a place to rest, after all."

"Whatever." He sighed, deciding it was yet another hill he didn't have it within himself to die on. Idly, he took out a neatly hung pair of clothes from the open closet, eager to get out of his uniform.

"But, you don't have to worry about anything." Margaret elaborated. "Justine and Caroline will be staying together in one room, and Theo will have one to himself." Fair enough, he thought. The twins were practically inseparable, as far as he had seen, and nobody really wanted to deal with Theo's antics twenty-four / seven. So honestly, if he tried to ignore the dubious legality, it wasn't a bad plan.

"..And I won't need one, of course," She continued. "Seeing as I'll be staying here with you."

The sound of a pair of clothes hitting cool-tile was heard. Not long after, Yuki's head peeked out of the restroom door in the middle of taking his shirt off.

"..What?"

"Well." She coughed. "Not only must someone supervise you, seeing as this'll be your first experience with a task that's honestly more along our lines. You'll also need protection, in case any.." Slightly, Margaret winced. "Old enemies of ours capatilize on the opprotunity." If Lord Philemon saw it fit to, at some level, involve himself in these matters, (something he quite literally never did,) then it's quite possible that HE might step in at some point as well. From what she'd heard, their little wager was all about the advancement of the human race.. and that can't occur without thesis and antithesis, right?

Makoto, ignorant to this thought process, was silently bewildered. "Why? I don't need supervision, first of all, and I definitely don't need protection." Living with girls in an all-encompassing dormatory was one thing. Waking up to Aigis staring into his soul in the middle of the night was another. Actually sharing a living space with a woman was just not in his plans.

"Hmph."

Margaret, for her part, gave him a dark look that belated absolutely no room for argument or discussion. Unlike that High-Priestess, the silver-haired velvet entity in front of him could actually follow up on that threat by dropping a dozen nukes on his head. What is with him and finding himself on the opposite end of 1000 yard-glares? That time at the hostsprings was supposed to be one-off.

"..We shall see." She said. 

 He could only sigh in resignation, deciding to add this to the laundry list of problems he'd deal with later. He wen't back into the bathroom.

"More importantly, did you find anything useful during your investigation today?"

"Well.." He started. With how quiet his voice was, she could only barely hear him from where she was at in the living room. 

"Well..?" She echoed in response.

The silence that followed was somewhere in between discernment and rumination.

"..Nothing." He finally decided, to Margaret's dismay.

"Nothing?"

"Yeah, nothing." He sounded slightly more confident as he came back out of the bathroom. "I went to the place I suspected to be the common denominator for the injured students.. to check for any shadow activity." He said as he went to sit in front of Margaret.

"And?" Margaret asked, her eyes following the boy's figure.

"And, when I arrived.." Inwardly, he winced. But he was a wildcard; otherwise known as the best liars and performers on the planet earth. If he didn't want to be read, he wasn't going to be. "..I realized that I don't know how to check for shadow activity."

That was a lie-- partially, at least. Sure, he had know way of checking for shadow activity if all the shadow worlds possessed different properties, but he definitely saw something worth concern over there. But because he just wasn't entirely confident in his observation, among.. other reasons, he was going to keep it to himself for now.

Margaret was silent.

"So, it was really a timesink." At his answer,  she let out a theatrical sigh. Didn't look like she caught onto anything, he figured. "--Don't give me that, what about you on your end? Any leads?"

"Actually, yes." 

Margaret paused for a moment. "We can say with complete certainty that the Wildcard is not presently in this city. At least, not the one we're looking for."

"That so?"

"Well, the other we can somewhat divine, but it's too muddled to actually pinpoint his location. The malice in his conviction leads me to believe it's the False God's agent."

At that term, a thought crossed Yuki's mind, but he didn't share it with Margaret.

There were two wildcards in this journey. That much was clear. But one of their paths had been deliberately tampered with by the whims of a Demiurge. Makoto remembered how ignorant, and at some points, impressionable he had been at the start of his own journey, when he was just sixteen. For the most part, no Fool starts upon his path with a concrete grasp on life. How Igor described it was extremely accurate; infinite possibilities. They were like the intricate balance in the middle of a scale, easily capable of being tipped one way or the other depending on how much weight was added to either side. 

With that in mind, it's quite possible, almost certain that whoever this twisted Fool is has already been lead astray by Yaldabaoth's influence. Maybe even had a hand in some considerably terrible events. But even if that's the case, isn't it unfair for them to forsake him when he was being influenced by forces beyond his understanding? If they both had been given the power of the Wildcard to some extent, that means they were both supposed to experience some sort of journey. That opprotunity had been robbed from them by a cognitive demon. Would it not be wrong to help one of them and not the other, when it's technically the Velvet Room's fault that this happened in the first place?

"..Well, at least we found something." He eventually said. 

The room feel silent, neither of them feeling the need to say anything more.

"So, Makoto." Margaret started. Are you making any friends at school?"

He suppressed a scoff. "What are you, My mother?"

"I'm just asking because of a theory I have." She said, looking him square in his eyes. "Seeing that your Arcana was provided to you by your social links, it should hypothetically work in this case."

He made a weird face at Margaret. "…That's not much of a theory. That's obvious. Too obvious."

A vein buldged out of her head. Clearly, she didn't like his response. "I'll ask again. Are you making any friends at school?"

Her question was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Makoto and Margaret both turned towards the door. "Sister, it is us." Theo's voice greeted them, even before he opened the door.

"Oh, the convict's here already?" Caroline asked idly, as the three of them took their seats around the apartment. When was she going to drop that nickname?

"Welcome back, dear guest." Justine said, and he responded with a nod. That was more along the lines of what he was familiar with. "If I may, can I ask what it is you two are discussing?"

"I'm just asking Makoto if he's made any friends at school." Margaret replied.

"I see." Justine nodded. "This is concerning his arcana, I presume."

"Yes. So, Makoto?"

The guest in question didn't respond, instead choosing to stare at the ceiling, almost like he was deciphiring something. 

"Something close, I guess." He said.

"Really!?" Caroline suddenly shouted. "You made friends!? With that attitude!?"

That response almost insulted him. "You do know that I'm only here because I have--"

He stopped.

"..Had, friends." 

Caroline rolled her eyes at his response. "Anyway. I've made some acquaintances, but there might be some small cause for concern.

"Why?" Justine asked. 

"As it happens, one of them has a sister who works with the police. A public prosecutor, I think." He said. 

"..So?" This time, it was Margaret asking.

"So, use your imagination. As a sister yourself, what would you do if some new guy you've never met before was getting close with your sibling?" 

"List off virtually everything bad about him, in the hopes that she would leave him?" Theodore cut in with a characteristically tactless answer. The entire room turned towards him. "What? That's what Margaret did with Elizabeth. It didn't really work, though."

The table fell silent.

"..Excuse me. Did I say someth-" Before he could finish the latter half of a two-part death sentence, a book came magically crashing into his face out of absolutely nowhere. No one would testify, so things went on as if nothing happened.

"Well.." Yuki scratched the back of his head. "What I meant was that she might end up checking my records. It's unlikely, but possible."

"Would she really do that?" Asked Justine again, in some small amount of disbelief. 

He shrugged in response.

"So, what?" Margaret said, clearly not suppressing any lingering anger at all. "Your records are spotless; you don't have anything criminal on them to warrant any suspicion." 

"You're right, I don't." He said. "But I still can't let anybody see my background." 

"Why?"

"Why?" Makoto echoed, slightly annoyed. "Because they'd find out that I died almost a decade ago." 

"While that is true, the rejuvenation of the Universe Arcana is of utmost importance. Performing a Miracle twice isn't easy; we don't have the leeway to be picky." Came Margaret's rebuttal.

Surprisingly to her, he nodded. 

"I did say it was unlikely. Just something we should keep in mind."

Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly at that. His answer must've dissatisfied her. "Then why did you bring it up? It doesn't seem like the sort of thing you'd mention tagentdentally." 

There was no response from Makoto. Instead, he simply stared into her eyes. Externally, his gaze was somehow piercing and aloof at the same time; internally, he was deliberating. He hadn't expected his mask to crack, and right now was one of the worst times it could've happened. If it was up to him, he'd prefer to just end the conversation here and not have to dive into his psyche tonight.

But the conviction in Margaret's state conveyed no argument. He figured it would be better to be honest about it now, than to come up with some half-baked redirection and have her question him later.

His eyes darted to the floor. "I suppose.. she reminded me of a friend." 

Margaret took some time to digest that before responding. "I don't know who you're talking about specifically, but.. you, of all people, should know that they are not the same person."

He nodded. Margaret detested that nod, it looked far too solemn and resigned for his figure. "I know they're not the same. Their general dispositions, even their Arcana are different. But.." He smiled. "I guess there's no helping it. I miss my friends."

She paused for a moment, stalling her reply.

"Really.. you aren't the brightest." 

..What? "What?"

It was only once his eyes returned to her that she continued. "My master told you that night, at the summit of your journey, did he not? You no longer tread the path of isolation. You no longer must brave the hardships of the world alone."

"Look.." She sighed. "I.. I can't promise you that you won't have to forsake yourself once more. But right now, you're right here. Right in front of me. So, even if one day, there comes a time when you have to bare that pain alone again.. today, we can bare it with you. I can bare it with you. That is how I supported my own guest, and that is how I will support you."

At her words, his smile shifted from something sorrowful to something joyful. 

"Thank you, Margaret. I appreciate that."

She could tell he meant it from the bottom of his heart. 

Margaret didn't respond, not audibly; instead, she chose simply to admire the genuine smile of the man in front of her. It was beautiful, and the dusk twilight that peaked through the window and onto his features only made it that much more so.

Chapter Text

The sounds of the spring rainfall decorated the would-be quiet living room.

"..So. It's raining, huh?" Caroline commented, idly staring through the window, the source of the calming noise.

"Indeed." Justine replied curtly, taking a sip of her tea, before continuing. "It is, in fact, raining."

"..It's.. raini–"

"—Shut up, Theodore." Theodore suddenly stopped talking at their sister's irritated voice. Typically, it would be unusual for Margaret to act with such an outwardly aggressive disposition. But, as fate would have it, she still hadn't gotten over the comment he made last night. That, and him repeating what'd just been said twice would've been really annoying, even for her.

Silence fell. No one said a word.

"..That reminds me. Did he take an umbrella?" She asked after some time, turning towards her siblings around the table.

"Nnnnnope. He was all like, "later, losers!", and walked out the door." Caroline shot back sarcastically.

"Don't tell me.. would he really say that?" 

"Of course not. You should really learn not to be so gullible." Margaret said with a frown. "…And Caroline, stop messing with your brother."

The latter quickly scrambled out an apology, while Caroline simply huffed out something that sounded like a "whatever".

The eldest sibling let out a tired sigh. "Now I see why our Master never made all of us attendants at the same time."

"But honestly, Sister, you have nothing to worry about." She turned to the source of the monotone. "The Convict isn't really a mere human anymore, after all. What's the worst a little rain could do to him?"

Margaret thought to herself. "..True, but in appearance, he's a regular student. It would look somewhat strange if someone saw him drenched in the rain, but completely fine."

"Well. We could just say he has a good immune system."

"That.. might've worked with my own guest, but.. have you seen him? He's built quite well in reality, but by intention or otherwise, he looks somewhat sickly on the outside. Not many would believe us." 

"Then.. we'll tell 'em he's an idiot. I mean, it's true." Caroline said. Margaret chose to ignore her prodding and continued with her own thoughts.

"I mean, I don't suppose it's too much of me to ask him be mindful of his health.  It's not that he's weak, he's just too lazy to properly carry his own body." Margaret started to rant like a nagging mother. "That's not to mention his sleepiness. He's a god; he doesn't even need to sleep. Everytime I try to wake him up, he's not unlike a child.."

Theodore and the twins shared an uncomfortable glance. It was clear that making their sister the Messiah's sole 'bodyguard' was taking a toll on her mental state.

"..Margaret, we could take turns, you know. You don't have to be the one staying with Makoto everyday." Theodore said in a nervous voice.

She sighed. "No, it's okay." Margaret calmed herself, taking a sip of her tea. "I can handle it." After that, the four siblings returned to silence.  Just watching the rain as it fell from their windows.

"...So, it's raining, huh?"

"...Indeed."

It was a bleak morning. The rain was relentlessly pouring down across the city of Tokyo. Everywhere you looked, there were people hoisting umbrellas over their heads, or ducking beneath the canopies.. springtime was beloved for the Sakura blossoms, but nobody really liked the rain. In that regard, the students of Shujin Academy were no different from the adults they passed on their way to school, and among them, one girl in particular seemed to stand out, her red leggings and beam hoodie separating her from the crowd.

She walked slowly and alone through the torrent, not unlike a turtle. She kept her head tilted slightly down, and allowed her blonde bangs to obscure her eyes from the people around her.. as it happened, she was intentjonally trying not to pay any attention to her peers. If the cold, damp, and sickly weather wasn't enough, she also had the never-ending swirls of rumors to deal with, and she just wasn't in the right mood to handle hearing them this morning.

Despite her best efforts, a bit of chatter managed to slip through the cracks. To her left, only a few feet away, she heard a pair of boys tactlessly whisper.

"Hey, isn't that Takamaki-san..?" One of them said, clearly trying to stilfe laughter. "Yeah, I think it is.. but, I'm surprised." The other replied. "You know her and Kamoshida are hitched, right..? I heard he usually drives her to school in the morning." 

"Hitched..? With a teacher? You're kidding."

"Nah, man, I swear to God. Girls are really getting shameless these days."

Their idle chatter went on and on like this for quite some time, and try as she might, she just couldn't ignore it. She wondered if she should turn around and deny their claims, because they were in fact, false. She wondered next what that would even accomplish. Finally, she wondered what the point of whispering was when it was obvious she could hear it. She tried to comfort herself with the thought that she'd be free of it once she'd gotten to school, but she knew deep down that couldn't be less true. Like jumping from the frying pan into the fire, this type of thing would only exponentially increase once she stepped through Shujin's front doors. That was part of the reason she was walking so slowly, in all honesty. As prized a campus it is, Shujin is riddled with all manner of problems, with the student body and the administration alike. Especially him. There was only really one saving grace, one reason she still looked forward to the weekdays.

As her thoughts drifted, the wind suddenly drifted with them, and with her absent mind, she allowed it to loosen her grip and blow the handle of her umbrella out of her hand. 

Realizing this as soon as the moisture started to tickle her forehead, she internally cursed, before bending over to pick it from the ground. Her morning was already off to such an amazing start, she thought to herself sarcastically. There wasn't much good to be found today, besides maybe the umbrella, which she'd just dropped. Ironically, not a second after she'd has that thought, a foot pressed firmly down on its handle just before she could finish inching her fingers towards it, instantly snapping the brittle thing in half. She froze.

More startled than angry at that moment, her eyes slowly trailed up the figure in front of her, starting at his shoes, and eventually arriving at his face. His serene, blue eyes seemed frozen in time as he looked down at her, a hint of guilt in them, but she could barely make out his full visage, as his expression was lightly cloaked by bangs a blue even deeper than his pupils, slowly shifting back and forth in the breeze. 

He seemed at a loss for words. But, to be fair, she was as well. Typically, her first response would've been frustration, or some sort of exclamation of displeasure... she always was the vocal type, and she would expect herself to have said something, especially on this morning, where she was already in a bit of a bad mood to begin with. But, staring into his eyes, something seemed innately different about this boy in front of her. Alluring. She'd never once seen him before, oddly enough, and combined with his strange mystique, that fact was enough to give her pause. Enough of one for him to speak.

"...I'm sorry." He started. She immediately noticed how soft, and how low his voice was. Like.. like moonlight, dancing on the surface of the ocean's water, as strangely poetic as that sounded. In spite of this, his demeanor, his tone effortlessly carried an aura of importance, as if he could command attention without even having to raise his voice. "I wasn't looking where I was going. How much was your umbrella?"

She blinked. She wasn't expecting him to say that, if anything at all. Most of her interactions at or relating to school were dubious at best, and the ones that were kind had malicious intentions behind them, usually. Even if it was just something as simple as offering to pay for a plastic umbrella, a cheap thing that didn't even cost more than a burger, it was strange to see anyone demonstrate any consideration towards her, besides one person. She realized then, the boy was still waiting for a response, so she shook her head and went for something halfway amicable.

"...N.. No, don't worry about it, it's fine.." She said slowly, but she was still clearly a little distracted. "We're almost to school, anyway, so I'll just tough it out with my hoodie on the rest of the way..."

The boy's response didn't come immediately, and instead, he just stared at her with inquisition. He seemed curious, and his eyes were gazing into hers with a hidden intensity, like they were searching them for something. Then, after a moment, he hummed to himself, stepping back from her umbrella, before reaching down and silently offering her a hand. She was still stuck in the position of reaching for it, and she was getting wetter by the second, though she didn't realize it until then.

She somewhat awkwardly took placed her palm into his hand, his grip gentle, but with an underlying strength to it that made pulling her up simple, even with one arm. She nodded to him in a gesture of gratitude, pulling her clover hood over her head, before speaking. "...Thanks."

The boy returned her nod, his hands drifting back to his pockets. His eyes didn't have the same intensity to them anymore. Now, they were calm, mystifying, and she could almost swear she saw ripples forming in them like a puddle. "Don't mention it," He spoke lowly. "It's the least I could do. You sure you don't want me to pay you back?""

She glanced him up and down, analyzing his rather drenched form. He was without an umbrella himself, as it happened, and it showed. Her eyes returned to his before she replied. "...That's fine. It didn't cost much, but the thought was nice."

He seemed to silently consider her words for a moment, before he nodded again, relenting. It was certainly weird that he'd been insistent about it. Not quite in a bad way, but she just couldn't say she was used to this kind of personality from anyone at Shujin, and she found it curious, even though she'd only been speaking with him for a brief minute. Everything about this boy was unfamiliar. She was beginning to wonder if he was even really a student at her school; she would've at least heard about someone with the guts to dye his hair dark blue. Nobody could shut up about Sakamoto's blonde. She doubted this would fly under the radar.

"...Also, you look like you could use that money for an umbrella of your own." She continued, seeing as the boy didn't verbally respond. "I mean, you're not even wearing a jacket. Totally soaked. Aren't you gonna get sick?"

The boy raised an eyebrow at that remark, taking a moment to look down at himself, before looking back up at her. He spoke with a small shrug, and once again, she couldn't help but notice how hypnotically soft his voice was. But this time, it was accented with a small hint of smugness."...You'd be right, but, well... I've got a good immune system."

She fell silent for a little while, and it was now her turn to raise an eyebrow, in an act of pure skepticism of the boy's claim. In the first place, it was pouring outside, so anyone short of Jesus would most likely end up with a cold if they braved it bare, no matter how good their immune system was. Secondly, while he was admittedly quite attractive, lending to the fact that he took care of himself well, his appearance didn't exactly scream good health.

She laughed slightly, thinking it to be a bit of a joke. "You don't have to lie for my sake. Seriously, invest in an umbrella."

The boy seemed slightly taken aback by her response when he replied. "...No, really, I'll be fine." 

Seeing that he was, in fact, not joking, Ann's tone changed from jovial to skeptical. "Fine? Do you see how drenched your clothes are...?"

He shrugged again, letting out something that almost sounded like a chuckle. "Takes more than water for me to get sick."

She quickly raised a finger, clearly about to protest him, but a third voice beat her solidly to the punch, of the feminine kind. 

"...Arisato-san? What.. happened, to you..?" The voice spoke, increasing in volume as its speaker approached. The girl turned to the source, and immediately she recognized the student council president, her short, trimmed bangs and crimson pupils being perfectly untouched by the rain, because she seemingly had enough sense not to drop her umbrella, or to bring one in the first place.

"…Nijiima-san?" The boy— Arisato, apparently— knew her as well, his lapis eyes sparkling with recognition. His name sounded almost familiar, Takamaki thought, but she couldnt place her finger on why. Well, if he was a third year in the same grade as Nijiima, it could explain why she hadnt seen him, but not why she hadnt heard of him. That hair would've been talk of the town.  "Aren't you supposed to be at school?" He continued with mild confusion.

"I was." Makoto said promptly, stopping in front of him just close enough to cover him with the umbrella. It seemed she didn't notice the girl. "I just went to get something from one of the stores in the metro.. more importantly, why are you in…" She glanced him up and down. "…This, condition?"

Arisato blinked, before responding. "Isn't it obvious?"

"You.. forgot your umbrella?" Niijima probed, her tone sounding almost accusatory. 

The boy shook his head, choosing to play semantics. "I forgot that I don't have one, actually."

Niijima and Takamaki both stared at him incredulously, neither quite sure about what to say. Slowly, the latter's gaze drifted over to the former, who, after a moment of silence, promptly adopted a facade of understanding. "..I see. That can be.. quite a conundrum, I suppose." Takamaki immediately noted that the prez seemed familiar with his antics.

"Anyway, Niijima-san.. would you happen to know this girl?" The boy asked, his eyes trailling over to her, and his finger calmly jabbing in her direction. Makoto's eyes followed soon after, widening in recognition.

"This girl..? Oh, it's Takamaki-san.. I cannot believe I didn't notice you sooner." She said, brining a finger to her cheek idly.

Takamaki gave her an easy response. "..Good morning, senpai."

 Makoto nodded, putting on a polite smile, before glancing back at Arisato. "As you can see, I do, in fact, know her. This is Ann Takamaki, a second-year."

Arisato hummed at that, before speaking lowly, and rather arbitrarily. "..Had a feeling she was a second-year.."

Niijima ignored the comment for the most part, choosing instead to ask a question of her own. "So, why did you ask, anyway..?"

The boy paused a moment, blinking, before something a little strange happened. His cerulean eyes softened hypnotically, and his characteristically neutral expression brightened slightly, resembling a small smirk, now.

"..Oh, it's nothing in particular.. I just thought the two of you might be good friends sometime soon." He said, rather ominously. "Why don't you walk to school together?"

Ann, for her part, was confused. That was a really odd thing to say in this situation, and honestly, she thought it couldn't have been further from the truth. It's not that she had anything against Niijima-senpai in general, they just weren't really close like that, and she didn't see that changing, especially not soon.

Makoto was every bit as perplexed. Judging from the look on her face, she wasn't exactly opposed to the idea, but it didn't seem to really strike her as natural, either. "Well, I guess I wouldn't mind that.. but Takamaki-san and I don't know eachother particularly well. And, besides, what about you?"

Arisato rose a single eyebrow for a moment, clearly not sure what she meant. "I'll just run the rest of the way," he replied.

Niijima shook her head, not at all satisfied with that answer. He was already drenched as it were. Her tone rose a little when she spoke. "No, you won't. You're gonna get sick." 

"..About that.." He interjected, a ghost of a smirk forming on his face again. "Don't worry, I've got a good immune system."

"—No, you don't."

"That again!?"

Both of the girls shot back in unison, not buying his excuses for even a second. He almost seemed a bit shocked at their blatant denial, as if he was wondering just how sickly he actually looked.

He sighed, and pointedly decided not to die on this hill.  "Look, whatever. Just take her to school, or I'll feel bad when she gets wet." He said as he turned toward the street. Tamaki still found it odd why he cared so much about breaking her umbrella. She wasn't used to consideration around here, especially over something minor like this. 

Realizing he was going to be stubborn, Makoto sighed and gave up trying to chide him. "Fine, but make sure you at least change into your gym clothes when you get to school. You really will catch a cold if you don't."

The boy paused, a few rain drops glistening and dripping through his hair as he glanced back at her. "..I don't have gym clothes."

She seemed mildly appalled. "You don't..? Then, go ask for some at the falculty office."

"Right. The faculty room." He said with a nod, readying himself to take off, before glancing back one more time. "..What floor is it on, again? The.. third..?"

"Second." She replied flatly.

"Second. Got it." And with that, he was off, leaving a trail of water and a cool breeze behind him as he began to sprint down the road towards the school. In a matter of moments, the encounter already started to feel a bit duller without him there, which was..strange, considering how reserved he seemed. There was this weird charisma about him, Ann realized, as she watched him fade into the distance.

Her thoughts were eventually interrupted by Niijima's voice. "..Ah, Takamaki-san..? I apologize on his behalf if he's a bit of a hassle."

"–Hm?" Ann turned to her, not immediately processing what she'd said, before nodding absent-mindedly. "..Oh, yeah. No, it's okay.. by the way, senpai, is he in your class? I feel like I haven't seen him before."

"You wouldn't have seen him before, no. He just transferred in this week."

Something clicked in her mind when she heard that reply. She glanced back in the direction he ran. "Wait, really..? He's the transfer student?" 

Shiho had mentioned him to her the other day, when they were having lunch together. It was rare to see her speak so fondly of someone these days, and that made her a little more curious than she already was. She turned back to Makoto. "Well, he's.. interesting, isn't he?"

 Surprisingly enough, the infamously aloof student council president let out a sheepish laugh, as she turned to gaze down the street as well. "...Well..."

Some few minutes later, in the Faculty office

Kawakami cradled her head in her hands, letting oit a long, dramatic sigh as she leaned into her desk. "..Seriously.. who's bright idea was this..?"

Her coworker, Ms Chuuno, say on her right. She rolled her eyes at the nagging, continuing to clack away at her keyboard. "Would you give it a rest already?" 

Kawakami's eyebrow twitched with irritation. "Easy for you to say. You're not the one who has to deal with this."

"It happens, okay? What exactly do you expect me to do? I'm trying to work, here." Chuuno shot back, her eyes still glued to the screen in front of her.

"—At least show some sympathy! Don't you understand my situation at all?"

Chuuno sighed, finally pausing in her efforts to lslide back in her chair and offer Kawakami an amused glance. "Kobayakawa decided to add another student to your homeroom. So, what? It's hardly the end of the world."

Sadayo seemed apalled. ".."So what?" I already have a big enough work load as it is. I'm not sure I can handle another kid, especially if he's a troublemaker. But gee, if it's so inconsequential to you, why don't you take him?"

"He's a second year," Chuuno cut in. "I can't take him."

Kawakami sighed again. "..Yeah, well.. I know that, but why exactly did he have to get shipped off with me? It's not like om the only 2nd year teacher."

"Your's is the only one with any vacancy."

"..I know that, too.."

"Then what's the point of asking me?" Chuuno drawled, rubbing her temples. "Listen, just get over it. It might not even be that terrible.. the kid could end up being pretty bright. Take Arisato from my class, for example. He seems a little odd at first, but he's hiding a lot of brains and charm behind that aloof exterior."

"That's apples to oranges. This new guy supposedly has a criminal record, no way he's not gonna be a handful. I mean, what's the principal even thinking, accepting someone like that here?"

"..Probably for the sake of our reputation." Chuuno theorized. "It looks good on paper if we can.. rehabilitate, the less agreeable miscreants." 

Kawakami leaned further into her desk, burying her head on a stack of paperwork with a depressed groan. She let out a barely intelligible series of mumbles. "Why am I even still going..? My other job pays better, anyway.."

Chuuno paused, and slowly turned to stare at her. "..What did you just say..?"

"—Nothing. I said nothing." 

Her eyes squinted. "No, I don't think I heard you correctly. Run that by me again." 

"It doesn't matter. Just let it go!"

"..No, no, I definitely heard you say—" Her interrogation was interrupted by an abrupt knock at the door, causing both of them to turn over to look at it. talking and both teacher turned towards the door. 

Internally, Kawakami let out a breath of relief, thankful for whoever her savior happened to be. "Come in," she replied, eager to move on from the subject. 

When the door finally did slide open, however she was instantly more surprised, and concerned, than grateful. In front of them stood the blue-haired boy they'd so coincidentally just mentioned a few moments ago, looking like he just crawled out of a sewer. The raindrops dripped from the edges of his bangs down to the cuffs of his pants, coalescing in a small puddle beneath his shoes. Despite this, he had an unnaturally calm look in his eye, as if he weren't completely drenched and tracking water all over the place.

"..Oh my god, Arisato.. what happened?" His homeroom teacher asked with a slightly parted lip, standing up from her desk and walking over to him.

"..I forgot to bring an umbrella." He replied in his usual soft tone, a drop of water leaking from his hair and down across his forehead. "Nijiima told me to come here for a gym uniform, since.. I can't really walk around in this."

"Oh? You.. don't have one?" Chuuno asked with a hint of confusion, tilting her head.

He shook his head slowly. 

"..It should've been sent to you, within a few days of your acceptance into Shujin." 

"Are there any spares?" He asked, glancing down as his soaking clothes, and then back up at her.

"–Uhmm.. Oh! Kawakami, you still haven't sent the transfer student his things, right?" Chuuno said, proposing a new idea.

"Uh, no..?" She replied, not sure where she was aiming at.

"Do you think you could lend them?"

"What? He's going to be here in, like, a day or two."

"Two days is enough time to order another pair." Chuuno argued. "Just look at him! He's gonna get sick."

The boy in question raised a finger and parted his lips, as if he meant to say something. But, after a moment of silence, he slowly brought his hand back down to his side and shook his head. "...Nevermind."

"Fiinneee…" Kawakami said, standing up. "Follow me." She grabbed a key and moved out of the office, careful not to step in the pool of water he'd made.

"..I appreciate this, sensei. Please excuse me." He gave Chuuno a polite smile, before turning around and closing the door behind him, following after Kawakami.

A certain something he'd overheard in the conversation clouded his thoughts as he walked through the hallways, his blue eyes shining with consideration.

"..A new transfer student, hm..?"

The atmosphere was unusually tense in the Amamiya household. Tense, and quiet, Ren thought, as he stared across the table at the older man who sat before him. A family friend had came to see him; a young police officer, not too much older than he was. He was almost like a local celebrity for the people in Inaba,  ever since the odd series of murder cases that had happened back when he was twelve. 

Ren studied him carefully, his eyes calm and serene, not betraying any of his underlying tension. He silently set the teapot down on the table before him, offering the man a cup. "..Here, have some tea."

"Thank you." The man responded, his voice soft, yet deep and self-assured. He wore a small smile as he took the steaming cup into his hands, promptly giving it a sip. 

This friend of his was here to talk, specifically about his.. situation. If it were any other officer of the law, and Ren does mean almost any other, he would be skeptical, and he had every right to be, after what the police had done. But he knew from firsthand experience that this one was different. He knew for a fact that he had no direct ties to this investigation, and that he wouldn't ever try to unduly ship him off to the juvenile hall.. he more than likely did want to help. Obviously, he wasn't naive, but he was willing to extend some trust. 

The two sat for a while without exchanging words, before Ren eventually decided to speak up and break the growing silence himself. "..So, any news? Maybe progress?" 

The man drank took another sip of his team before he set the cup down gently. His tone was a bit serious. "I'll admit, the situation doesn't look pretty for you. You'll definitely be able to avoid the worst charges, but beyond that.. keeping you out of the juvenile hall is the best thing I can do for you. I'd dug far, but I can't seem to pinpoint the identity of the man involved in the altercation." 

He was careful not to use the word "assault", Ren noticed. He was glad. It showed some amount of faith in him that the people around town, and even his parents, weren't completely willing to grant. He could notice a bit of solemnity in the man's expression, as well, as if he was somehow managing to empathize with his circumstances. 

"..The man fell on his own," Ren said quietly, after a moment. "Regardless of who he was, there can't be any proof that any of this is my fault."

The man sighed, closing his eyes. "..I know, but that doesn't change the fact that he was injured because of your intervention." The words came out a little reluctantly, as if it was a truth he would rather not admit. 

"He was forcing himself on a defenseless woman." Ren shot back, eyes narrowing ever-so slightly. 

""He" is a mystery man." The man replied with equal brevity, not missing a beat. "He's chosen not to disclose his identity to the courts, and the woman in question refuses to testify against him. No matter which way you slice it, you're the only one they have anything against, Ren." 

At his words, the boy hung his head, training his eyes on the floor to not meet his eyes. He didn't audibly respond, but the shift in his demeanor was enough for the older man to tell what was going through his head.

"..Why do I have to be saddled with the weight of a crime I didn't commit? Are the police really incapable of identifying a single person?" Ren eventually spoke, his tone noticeably more bitter and less reserved. 

The man looked.. visibly hurt, by that comment. He sighed. "..It's incredibly unfortunate.. it irks me, even. Whoever he happens to be, I'm almost certain that it's some kind of bigshot. Maybe on the federal level. I can't see any other reason for the police to guard his identity so.. meticulously."  

Ren fell back into silence, evidently trying to sort through his thoughts, and his underlying disillusionment with the authorities. He took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. It wasn't his fault, he told himself. He's only trying to help. "..So, I don't have any other choice than to go to Tokyo, do I?" He asked, looking back up at the man with resignation in his eyes. 

The man stared at him quietly for a moment, witj a completely imperceptible expression. Ren couldn't pinpoint what emotion his face was showing, but it looked somewhere inbetween sympathetic, thoughtful, and frustrated on his behalf. "..As of now? Yes." He eventually responded. 

Ren smirked a self-deprecating smirk at that. He said "as of now", as though he wouldn't have to leave first thing tomorrow. The man caught what he was thinking immediately. 

"Don't be like that." He admonished softly as he readjusted himself in his seat. "Trust me, I know this sounds bad. Moving to a new city and leaving everything behind.. it's like the world's abandoning you, right?"

Ren looked up at him with a curious eyebrow. He had never tried to put it into words before, but if he had to describe how he was feeling right now, it really might be something like that. He nodded slowly. 

"..It'll be scary. Maybe even lonely. That's all par for the course... but, you might just find something unexpected along the way. Something more important than what you originally wanted." The man continued, his words carrying a hidden wisdom that the boy couldn't quite yet understand. 

Ren thought about it for a moment, not able to temper his cynicism. "..Like what?" 

The man smiled a knowing smile, and spoke easily. "People who understand you, beyond labels and first impressions."

Ren considered it silently. Then, he scoffed, standing up from his seat on the sofa. "..Not really liking my chances. An outcast here, an outcast there. As soon as I got hit with that charge, my story was written for me.." Ren shook his head, and laughed beneath his breath, a heartless laugh. "..What am I saying? You probably wont understand." 

The man looked like he wanted to argue, but Ren didn't give him the chance. He headed to his room before he could say anything. The man sighed, silently considering the conversation prior, before he was interrupted by the quiet sound of a feminine voice. It was Ren's mother. 

"..I apologize on his behalf. Our son is handling some.. challenges, right now, and I'm not sure he's quite ready to let any advice reach his heart just yet. Regardless, we do tank you all for going out of your way to help. It's very much appreciated."

The man turned to her, and smiled. "Thank you for letting me in on this. Ren's dealing with something no one his age should ever have to.. honestly, it's despicable. To be frank, I just.. wish I could've done something more."

The woman shook her head, and bowed. "You've done more, far more than enough.. I could never express how grateful he is for your help, Narukami-kun."

He stood up from the couch soon after, taking one last moment to finish his cup of tea, before he grabbed his coat and headed for the front door. Over his shoulder, he turned and smiled, his steel-gray eyes glistening just below his bangs. "..It's the least I could do."

Around the same time, in Shujin Academy..

"Minato" stuck out a bit in class today. He was wearing clothes that were clearly a bit big for him, probably meant for someone in the 5'9–5'11 range. It looked slightly silly, but he didn't let it bother him. Some of the girls even found it endearing, as odd as it was.

In actuality, he was more concerned about the homework he'd forgotten to do.

He wasn't lazy by any means, but with how chaotic his circumstances have proven themselves to be as of late, he just hadn't mustered up the courage to crack down on a curriculum he already passed half a decade ago. So he ended up a little behind on a few assignments. Normally, this sort of thing is no problem for him; you'd think having to dedicate time each afternoon to seeing friends and making usual trips to a labyrinthine liminal space tower in the evenings would throw a wrench in his study habits.. and sometimes it did. But he had a pretty foolproof solution.

The Velvet Room exists inbetween dream and reality, IE outside the boundary of the world's spacetime. So, in practice, he could study an entire course and only one minute would have passed on the outside. 

Not like I have that luxury now.. he thought quietly to himself, as he worked his pencil down the pages at lightning speed. The material in this class had changed slightly since 2009, but it was still familiar enough that he could zoom through it. He'd actually meant to dedicate some time in this class period to asking around for some information, but unfortunately, that'd have to wait until he finished his work.

"..Oh? Arisato-san.. did you forget to do yesterday's assignment, too?" A soft, curious tone interrupted his thought process, belonging to the girl sitting in the desk beside him. Haru Okumura tilted her head slightly as he turned to glance at her, the sunlight shining onto her from the window behind. Judging from the stack of textbooks piled up on her desk, it seemed like she'd forgotten as well.

He nodded, and kept his pencil moving as he responded. "..Yeah, I did. Guess I've been a little caught up lately."

Haru's expression was somewhere inbetween surprised and curious. She let out a soft giggle before she replied. "Is that so? To be honest, I wouldn't really expect that from someone like you."

"Minato" paused his hand, and glanced back up at her, a bit of confusion in his sea-blue pupils. "..Why?"

"Well, you sort of give off this.. uhm.." She brought a finger to her lip and looked upwards in contemplation. "..Studious, vibe."

He tilted his head, his hair still glistening a bit from the remnants of the rainwater. "..What gave you that impression..?" 

"Well, you're always taking our lectures pretty seriously, answering the questions like you've already heard them before.. and you're always so calm, like a sage of sorts." She explained, smiling softly. "Oh, and, sometimes, when the teacher explains something, you'll do this thing where you cover your ears and lay face first on the desk trying to memorize it!"

He stared back at her, with a neutral expression that betrayed none of his inner thoughts. Despite himself, a solitary bead of sweat rolled down the side of his forehead. He had the feeling Junpei had just lost his position as "Ace Detective".

..Okay, so, maybe she isn't the sharpest, but her heart's in the right place.. "Er, well.. I try.."

"I knew it. It's only been a few days since you've arrived here, Arisato-san, but I get the feeling you'll be quite the good study partner." She said, none of her own naiveté dawning upon her. He couldn't resist rhe urge to reciprocate her smile; it was too endearing. "We should finish up fast, however. I think the lunch break'll be over soon."

He nodded, before turning his attention back to his work for the next few minutes.

"…Okumura-san?" He eventually asked, after a comfortable silence. 

".Hm..? What's the matter?"

"…I know this is a bit random, but I was wondering if you might know something about the volleyball team, and why they're always covered in bruises."

It wasn't really the most opprotune time, but he decided to take a shot in the dark and try asking someone directly, since snooping around didn't seem to work. Her response was delayed, and she froze in her seat for a moment, looking back at him with a thoughtful expression. 

"..Uhm.. I can't say that I do. I'm sorry." She eventually replied, her tone slightly shy. "I haven't thought much about it until now, admittedly."

He stared at her impercepitbly for a moment, before nodding. "…I see."

"..But, I do have an idea. Why not ask Nijiima-san for help? She's the SCP, so if anyone would know, I think it'd be her." 

He seemed to think about her suggestion for a moment, before shaking his head. "That's alright. I think I've already got a good idea of where she stands. Besides, I'd.. rather her not get on my case again.." 

She giggled at that last bit. "I know she can be strict, and a little hard to approach.. but Niijma-san always means well." The kind and knowing smile on her face made it hard for him to doubt her, even though it wasn't like he had any judgements about the prez's character in the first place. She was definitely on the commanding side, though.. just like the last one he was involved with. 

At his silence, Haru let out a soft sigh. "I'm really sorry I couldn't be of any help.. oh!" She suddenly bumped her fist onto her palm. "Here's a thought; you should ask Shibu-san instead."

"Minato" raised an eyebrow at the new idea. The name didn't ring any bells. "..Shibu..?"

Haru nodded warmly. "Mhm. She's a member of the newspaper club.. that's probably why she always seems to know what goes on around campus."

"Is that so?" He replied curiously. It didn't seem like a bad lead. "That might help. Do you know where I could find her?"

She brought a finger to her chin cutely in thought."..Uhm.. If my memory serves me right, she's usually somewhere in the second floor hallway, but she does tend to move around a lot while she's looking for new scoops. You might have to do some searching."

"Second floor hallway.. okay, thanks. I really appreciate the help." He said with a nod, closing his notebook and stuffing it back into his bag. 

"You're going now..? Did you forget about the homework?" Haru asks with a tilt of her head.

"I just finished it up now," He replied as he stood up from his desk. "And besides. No time like the present, right?"

Coincidentally, the bell rang just a few moments after he'd said that, ending the lunch break. He suppressed a sigh. It was going to be a little bit more difficult without having the excuse of being on lunch to go digging for info, but he'd figure it out on the way, he supposed. 

— Lunchtime — Afternoon —

Class 1-D was as chatty as it typically was for the second years. Everybody was going on about the assignments that were due at the end of the class period, or the slop they'd just been fed for lunch, as kids their age typically did.

"Minato" peeked through the window, idly checking if this was the right classroom. Okumura had told him that this Shibu person he was looking for typically hung around the second floor corridor, but he didn't see anyone like her on the way here, so je figured the next best thing was to check if she was actually in the classroom or not. 

He let out a small breath, before sliding the door open, and stepping inside. The chatter stopped for the most part, as most of the eyes in the room drifted to gaze at the intruder. 

 ..I guess it does seem strange, a third year visiting a second year homeroom.. He thought to himself, as his blue orbs scanned the room for any familiar faces or people who might've matched the description Haru had given him. He didn't realize it in the moment, but it was probably his oversized clothes that were doing him in, not his third year status. 

"..Senpai?" A quiet, feminine voice called, piercing his ears through the silence. It took him a moment, but he recognized it. He and the rest of the class turned to it's source, where he saw.. that girl, from the other day. The one who'd given him the sandwich. "..Suzui," he greeted absent-mindedly, as if he had only remembered her name unconsciously. 

Her lips parted for a moment, as if she was about to respond, but then she stopped. She glanced around the classroom, seemingly self-conscious with how many eyes were on her, before she stood up from her desk and walked towards the front of the class, softly grabbing the older boy by the wrist and stepping outside of the door.

She slid it closed behind her, and let out a soft sigh, before she turned to face him.

"..I'm sorry about that.. so, uhm.. what are you doing here?" 

He was caught a little off guard by the sudden movement, but he decided not to question it. "I'm looking for someone," he replied simply. 

His voice was just as quiet and serene as she'd remembered.. there was something almost ephemeral about it. Wait, that didn't matter! She shook her head clear of those thoughts, focusing on the topic. "..You're.. looking for someone? In the second years?'

He nodded. "Mhm. I think her name is Shibu? I heard that she was involved with the newspaper club, so I was hoping she might have some info about this or that."

The girl's eyes blinked with recognition. "Well, she is in this class.. but, sorry, senpai. She's not actually here right now."

His brow furrowed slightly in mild disappointment, but he nodded all the same. "..Right. Well, thanks anyway." 

He pivoted on his heel, clearly about to turn and leave, but the girl's voice stopped him in her tracks.

"..H-hold on. She might not be here, but, uhm.. she usually doesnt leave campus until a while later. You might be able to find her by the entrance, if you wait a little."

That sounded like a bit of a chore.. but it was better than nothing. "…It's not the most convenient, but I can try it, I guess. Would you mind coming with me? I don't really know what she looks like."

She considered it for a moment in her head, before smiling. "..Okay, then. I don't mind helping you out."

 He didn't realize it, but her demeanor seemed to brighten a little at the prospect of getting to spend a little time with him. "We should get going, then.. you dont want to miss her, do you?" She clasped her hands behind her back and began to walk down the hall, passing him on the way. His blue eyes narrowed, as he caught a glimpse of another bruise that seemed intentjonally hidden underneath her bangs as they swayed from side to side.

He thought about saying something. He almost did. But, remembering her reaction from last time, he decided against it. He would just have to file it away in the ever-increasing box of things to think about later. 

"…Alright. Lead the way."

— Afternoon — After-School —

And that was essentially how he'd gotten roped into waiting for some girl who may or may not actually be able to give him something concrete. More and more students passed them by, as did they time, and he was starting to get slightly impatient despite himself. 

"..Still not here.." The girl beside him mumbled awkwardly, fidgeting a little with her hands. "Qe might've already missed her. But she almost never leaves school this early..." 

He glanced over to her, but never audibly responded. It was dawning upon her that Arisato might've been more of the comfortable silence type. But she didnt mind that fact at all; actually, it was sort of awesome, since that way, whenever he said something, it always seemed to carry weight.

Still, she figured she might at least try to liven up the atmosphere while they were waiting. "..You know, Arisato-senpai.. I've been meaning to introduce you to my friend Ann, but from what I heard, the two of you met this morning."

That peaked a bit of his interest. He raised a curious eyebrow, not immediately recognizing the name. "…Ann?"

"You know.. fair skin, blonde pigtails, red leggings?" She listed off some features, trying to jog his memory a bit. It seemed to work, as it eventually danwed upon him who she meant. 

"..Twin tails.. that's right, I did run into her this morning. Umbrella girl." He considered nicknaming her "Lovers" girl, seeing as he'd recognized the arcana floating above her head earlier, but it wouldn't make much sense to Suzui. 

She giggled softly at the joke, bringing a palm to her lips. "That's the one. So, you really did break her umbrella.."

He sweated a little, scratching the back of his head. "It was an accident.."

"How do you run over an umbrella by accident?" 

"Uh... acidentally?" He replied with a hesitant tone. Suzui stared at him with slightly widened eyes, silent for a moment, before she bursted into quiet laughter. He joined her, filling the air with his own little chuckles as people passed by. 

"..J-Jeez, senpai.." She said inbetween snickers. "I didn't take you for a dunce. I haven't had a laugh like that since.. since.." She paused. Her eyes flickered with something a little heartbreaking, before she glanced back at the crowd of students leaving the school, taking the opprotunity to switch topics. "..She still isn't here, huh?"

"Minato" decided once more not to question what was up with her too much. Instead, he offered her a ticket out of this little waiting game. It had to have been boring her, he figured. "…You know you don't have to wait with me, right? I get it if you want to go home by now."

She shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'm not going home yet, since I.. still have to go to practice. And, you really never know when she might just pop up.. oh! There she is now! Hey, Shibu-san.!" The girl they were waiting on coincidentally happened to exit the school doors right then and there. Suzui raised her hand and waved as she began walking towards her.

The girl in question looked confused for a momenr, before turning towards the direction of the two. "..Hm? Oh.. hey, Suzui. Who's that with you?" She asked, glancing at the blue-haired boy following behind Shiho. 

"Let me introduce you guys. Senpai, this is Shibu Asagi. She's a member of the newspaper club. And Shibu-san, this is Arisato-senpai. You might've heard of him." Idly, "Minato" found it odd how good she seemed to be at communicating. Suzui seemed like an extrovert3d person on paper, but there were bits and pieces where she'd display an almost anti-social disposition..strange, for sure. 

Shibu nodded in understanding. "Ah, it's Arisato! The mysterious transfer student! You know, I was actually planning to come looking for you, but it seems like you came to me instead."

He raised an eyebrow at that. What reason would she have to look for him? He was about to say something, but he decided against it, and simply shrugged as he kept listening. 

"—Little word of warning, though. Do not call me Shibu. Call me Newspaper-chan instead!" She continued with a small smirk, pushing her red frames up against her nose. 

The girl beside him tilted her head, giving her a look curious enough to befit the ridiculousness of what she'd just said. "Uhm.. what's wrong with Shibu? It's cute."

"No, it's not. It sounds stupid!" She said, shaking her head vehemently. "Anyway, was there something you needed from me, Arisato-senpai?"

He nodded slowly. "..I actually wanted to ask you about something.:

"Ooh, so even the new guy knows I'm the one to go to for hot scoops? My reputation simply precedes me, I suppose." She replied haughtily. "Alright, then. Shoot." 

Time for the difficult part, he realized. It clearly wouldn't be tactful to bring this up with Suzui standing right there.. he was going to have to find an excuse to get her to run off before he could actually get cracking. Luckily, they'd been standing around waiting for Shibu to show up for so long that it was nearly time for extracurricular to start anyway. He checked his watched, and then glanced back at Shiho. "Thanks for helping me find her. I've already took enough of your time.. I wouldn't want you to be late for practice." 

She blinked, pulling out her phone and checking the time for herself, before her eyes widened. "..O-oh, you're right.. I-I should probably go to practice. It was nice talking with you, Senpai.." The girl quickly excused herself, starting on her way back into school, but not before he caught the glimpse of absolute terror in her eye as she ran along. He was starting to suspect that something was seriously wrong, but he couldn't place his finger on what. 

He shook his head. That was what he was here for, afterall. Shibu watched as he glanced back at her, a more intrigued glint in her eye. "..So, I suppose whatever you want to ask about concerns Suzui-San. Is that it?" 

He scratched the back of his head at hee perceptiveness, nodding honestly. "…In a way."

"..Hmm, I see.. I think I get it. You want to know if she has a boyfriend, right? I mean, that's why you two were waiting for me together, yeah? Well, I can't blame you, I guess.. for most of the guys around here, she's totally untouchable, but if it's you, then maybe you might have a–"

"—Actually, I was wondering if you knew anything about why she's always in bruises." He cut in, grinding her mislead monologue to a halt. "Her, and the rest of the volleyball team, too." 

In an instant, her playful and talkative demeanor seemed to disappear. She reverted to stutters, clearly not able to easily speak on this particular subject. "..Uh, that's, uhm.. well.."

He stared back at her, his expression never once changing. She swore there was something mystifying about those blue eyes, as if they were seeing right through her. As if it was impossible to hide anything from him. 

She eventually relented with a sigh. "..I.. typically try to stay away from talking about this one. But, just this once, since you asked nicely.. I might be able to tell you what I know, even if it's not much."

"..It's very appreciated." He acknowledged in a soft tone, smiling slightly.

She decided right then and there that she would probably have to warn all of the girls about this odd new specimen. Her hormones were acting up, and they almost never acted up over something like this. She was seriously about to give classified info away like it was candy, and for what?!

She sighed once more, before she began. "I'm not..really sure of anything yet, since this is all a big rumor that I'm fankly too scared to investigate myself. But.. you know that their club practices in gym, right?"

He nodded.

"Okay. So, the word is, if you head to the gym after school, after almost everybody else has left.. apparently, you'll hear blood curdling screams. Like, shouts of complete pain and terror, like people are getting attacked in there. It seems like it might be haunted or something."

 Haunted? Screams? That was certainly something.. maybe not something 100% concrete, but better than anything he'd gotten so far. He definitely wouldn't write it off, since what had happened with Fuuka all those years ago had started with rumors almost identical to these. It gave him a sense of deja vu, really.  "..The gym afterschool..? That's convenient. They're practicing right now. Alright, I appreciate the help. See you later."

"–Seriously, you should be careful getting involved with this kind of stuff!" Shibu shouted from behind as he walked back up the steps to the front entrance. "This isn't the kind of thing you should poke your nose into!"

"…I'll keep that in mind." He called over his shoulder as he continued walking, glancing back at her. "Be safe on your way home."

She sighed as the two doors closed behind him, pinching the bridge of her nose. "He wasn't listening to a word I said, was he..? Stupid blue eyes.. stupid handsome mug.."

Meanwhile, the volleyball team's practice was the same trudge through hell that it always was. Kamoshida seemed to have been in a particularly bad move lately. His incessant shouting, the permanent glare in his eyes, it was cultivating the oppressive atmosphere that everyone on the team had unfortunately gotten used to by now. He was watching from the sidelines, as if waiting for some reason, any reason to give them a hard time. 

Shiho shook her head and turned her eyes back towards the match in front of her. If she could just keep herself from shaking, they might be able to get out of this with just a few harsh words. It was easier said than done, especially considering how her body seemed to instinctively respond whenever she was in his general vicinity, but she managed, somehow,to keep the ball in the air. 

One of the boys on the other side of the team wasn't so lucky. She really hadn't meant to spike it so hard, but he ended up missing the ball by just a few seconds, and everyone froze when it hit the floor. 

Kamoshida's glare intensified, and he shook his head furiously. They could all tell what they were in for. "—Alright, alright, that's enough! Quit fucking around!" He boomed. Immediately, Shiho felt the trembles she was fighting so hard to suppress fire up again. 

Without wasting a second, he marched over to the boys' side of the team to give the failure a piece of his mind. The kid in question hung his head as he saw him approach, not daring to make any eye contact.

"Go ahead and tell me what the hell that was! Your form makes you look like you've just picked up the sport last night, none of you idiots stayed in your position, and you cant even hit the damn ball! What's the point of practicing if every game ends in five minutes?!" 

He ruthlessly berated the boy, along with the rest of his team, nitpicking and criticizing every little mistake he could find. Shiho began to space out as the shouting fit dragged on, until he whipped his head around and focused his anger on her. "..And you, Suzui.. did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? You're playing like you've got a stick lodged in your ass! Quit being so stiff, you dumbass!"

She couldn't formulate any real sentences. All she could do was stutter. Stutter, and tremble, as she took slow steps away from the approaching form of the older man. Not again. Her mind was screaming at her to run, to go anywhere else, but she knew that if she dared to turn away, she'd only make it worse. 

Tears began to form at the edges of her eyes, clouding her vision. "..I-I.. I-I'm sorry, sensei.. I-I.. I just.. I didn't.." 

She had barely said anything, but his glare intensified to an even higher magnitude. He stepped closer, leaning in towards her face with a disgusting snarl. 

"It's just, what? You retarded or something? Speak up! You don't stutter like that when you're loitering around with that transfer student."

She froze. Her eyes widened. "..W..What..?"

There it was. That was rhe reaction he'd wanted to see. Looks like he stumbled upon some particularly effective ammunition to arm himself with, a little something more to terrorize her worthless mind. His grimace turned into a sickening smirk. "That's right, I've seen you. Staring at him with goddamn stars in your eyes. Meandering around the campus, wasting time you could've spent practicing. You must think this is all one big joke, huh? I feel bad for your teammates, having to play with an airhead like you on the starting lineup. Maybe I should just take you off of it.."

This was getting worse and worse by the moment. And unfortunately, she made the mistake of attempting to explain herself. "..N-no, I didn't..! I swear, I was just trying to help with—" 

Her eyes couldn't process it in time, but her nerves did. In a fraction of an instant, a fist flew towards her face and slammed her right across the forehead. She was thrown to the floor, landing with a disheartening thud, and immediately began clutching and the bandages on her head. She was in no small amount of pain, but through it all, she still had the sense to check if she felt any warm liquid on her hands. She didn't. At least she wasn't bleeding this time. 

The rest of the team watched on in silent horror. No one moved an inch, and not one person even thought about helping her. Mishima turned his head away in shame, biting his tongue to keep himself from making any noise.

He was putting his hands on her again. She hated him. She hated herself. She didn't want to be here anymore. She just wanted disappear. 

"I'm not interested in hearing any of your excuses." Kamoshida spoke once more, staring down at her with a quiet disgust. He scoffed, before he turned back to the rest of the team to address the lot of them. "Listen up. All of you idiots? You're not much more than trash. Nobody actually cares about you. Not your little "friends", not your parents, not even the school. You're the bottom feeders of society. I'm the man who's solely responsible for your success; the reason you even have a place around here to begin with. Can you image  how kind someone would have to be, to associate with the likes of all of you?"

He went on and on. "The least you could do to repay that kindness is to put some damn backbone into your training. I don't ask a lot from you, but if you can't even handle that much, you can get lost, got it?"

Nobody challenged him. They were all far too scared after seeing what had just happened to Suzui. After remembering what had happened to themselves the last time. They let out a quiet, lifeless "Yes, sensei.." at once, keeping all of their eyes trained exclusively on the floor. Shiho did the same, as she worked herself back onto her feet, still holding her forehead with a hand. 

He still didn't seem happy— honestly, he never was— but that at least seemed to satisfy him for the moment. Kamoshida sighed, and walked back over to the sidelines. "...Now quit clowning around, and get back to work."

Everyone wordlessly reassumed their positions, as Shiho moved back to the middle of the court, a fresh bruise added to the pile. It was a regular day for the volleyball team, she told herself. 

She didn't know how many more of these regular days she could take. 

Unbeknownst to all of them, footsteps echoed through the hallway as a certain blue-haired boy approached the doors to the gymnasium. He leaned against the wall, and peeked through the small windows to have a look at what was going on inside..

But he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. 

He'd arrived just a few moments too late to witness firsthand what had just transpired. To him, it just seemed like a normal routine for a sports club, although he could tell even from there that it was a little unusually quiet. 

His eyes scanned from side to side through the glass, thoroughly checking if anything seemed suspicious. Eventually, his eyes landed on Shiho. The look on her face was normal enough, but she was holding her forehead for some reason, despite being in the middle of a match. That was odd. He didn't remember her doing that earlier. 

For some reason, his gut was still telling him that something was really off, even though he couldn't tell what. He felt like he was on the brink of figuring something out. 

Slowly, he raised his hand, and reached out to the door handle, almost touching it, almost opening it..

But, after a moment, he shook his head, and retracted his grip. 

..I must be out of touch. I'm probably just imagining things. He thought to himself. He lingered and watched the match for a moment longer, before he turned around and started down the hall. He had no idea how much he would regret not opening that door a week later. 

It was still about as quiet as it was this morning in the Yuki household. Margaret had chosen to pass the time by reading a book while she sat in the living room; she didn't had much experience with the human world since her outings with Yu, so she didn't see much point in going anywhere on her own.

She noticed that Makoto definitely seemed to be taking his time getting home today. Shujin let out a little over 45 minutes ago, and it usually didn't take longer than half an hour for him to make it back. She was a little curious as to what was occupying his time.

"—Sister!" The high-pitched voice of her younger sibling snapped her out out of her thoughts, and out of her pages, as well. Caroline entered the room with the same springy disposition she usually carried, walking up to Margaret and putting her little hands on her knees. "He's back from school." 

She smiled, before closing her book and setting it on the small table beside her. "He certainly took his time today, didn't he? Where is he..?"

Theo turned the corner a few moments later, a slightly concerned expression on his face. "I believe he went straight to his room, which I find a little odd. Doesn't he usually come and greet us upon returning home?" 

Margaret tilted her head curiously. That did sound unusual. "He's in his room? Did he say anything to either of you?" 

Caroline and Theodore both shook their heads.

"Not much." the younger sibling said. "..I mean, he didn't seem upset, or anything.. but he was sorta.. put of it? Like he had something on his mind." 

Margaret hummed, her brows furrowing a little im thought. "Is that so..? Do you think I should go and check on him?"

Justine peeped up from the kitchen counter, her small form barely visible across the room, aside from her eyes and the top of her head. "I don't think it wise, sister. Perhaps he's simply tired, and desires some time alone."

It didn't seem impossible, Margaret thought. Christhood aside, he was still technically a teenage boy, afterall. She was sure if something was really wrong, he wouldn't hesitate to come and speak about it. Following this thought process, she sighed, and relaxed into her chair with a nod. "..Yes, perhaps that is the case. Theo, would you mind checking on him in half an hour, when our dinner is ready?" 

Theo nodded silently. He bowed, before heading back to his own room. 

Despite herself, Margaret couldn't help but feel a little estranged. She had a small inkling that something had happened today. But, for now, she chose to give him some space, and in the meantime, maybe take a walk and get some fresh air. There were some establishments, particularly in Shibuya, that piqued her intrigue.

He could still see it. He could still feel it, even now.

The cold embrace of the cuffs locking around his wrists.

The indifferent glares of the police as they shoved them into the back of the car.

The judgemental flashes of the camera as it took his mugshot, firmly cementing his identity as a criminal for a crime he didn't and would never commit. 

Ren woke up with a start, his eyes flickering open as the noon sunlight fell onto his cheeks through the train's windows. 

..Wait. Train? He was on a train..? 

..No, that was right. Today was the day he was heading for Tokyo, wasn't it? It figures, then. He must've fallen asleep on the way here, and what he saw just now was probably nothing more than the bubbling of old memories, springing forth through dream.

It was a little disconcerting how much that'd been happening lately. The images of that fateful night followed him, even into his slumber. It seemed that, regardless of whether he was conscious or unconscious, his mind would still torment him with thoughts of the past. The endless atavism of his damnation, fated to repeatedly remind him of his own condemnation, as a prisoner of fate's whims. It.. suited him, he supposed. 

He shook his head suddenly. At what point had he adopted such a pointless mindset? It wasn't the time to feel sorry for himself. He looked around to gain some understanding of his surroundings, silently admiring the beautiful midday cityscape through the window.  Tokyo really was a beautiful place, he could tell that much already, despite how little of it he'd so far seen. The tall buildings and the subways weren't quite like the quiet streets and grassy plains back home, but they had their own appeal. Even the way people dressed here was different, Ren noticed, as he took in the appearances of the other passengers around him. Everyone seemed so formal and professional, and he wasn't so sure how he'd fit in. He had actually taken Yu's advice, and tried to make himself seem more unassuming, so that any first impressions would yield a softer interpretation of his demeanor; that was the reason he chose to wear glasses from now on. But whether or not they'd help remained to be seen.

"—Ladies and gentlemen," A robotic voice from above chimed, interrupting his thoughts. "Thank you for waiting. You will arrive in Shibuya shortly." 

It was almost time to head out, he realized. It hadn't been much longer after the announcement that the train came to a halt, and everyone within started gathering there things and waiting for the doorways to open. 

Ren stood up and walked towards the door, trying to get his mind in order. As soon as he took the first step forward, his old life would be dead, and whatever the future had lined up for him would unveil itself. He took a deep breath as the doors slid apart, and started on his way out of the station and into the square. 

After some mild confusion— he wasn't too familiar with subways— he eventually crawled his way out of the metal labyrinth and into the midday sunlight. The sky greeted him in full force, shining down melancholy onto him and the passersbys, and for a moment he almost felt a little bit lucky for the experience. It was everybody's fantasy back home to visit the big city, a real big city, not counting Okina. Things were so different here. He didn't think he'd ever seen so many people at once in his life. It was noisy, smelly, and a bit daunting for sure, bit though he'd come on bad terms, he thought he should be grateful for the experience, if nothing else.

He walked the streets, silently adjusting to the environment and glancing around as he did so. He already knew where he was going; a place supposedly not too far from here, called Yongen-Jaya. His parents had left him the address of the new home he was going to be staying at, but not much else. That said, though, he still had no idea how to make his way around a place like this, so Ren decided he'd just pull out his phone and enter it into his navigation app. 

He did just that, and all was going well.. until, suddenly, a some strange red and black image appeared on his screen, blocking most of the other applications. 

..Hm? What the..? How odd, he thought. He definitely didn't recall ever installing something like that. Immediately, he tried tapping the screen to exit out of the app, but his phone seemed.. unresponsive. He tried again, and then again, but the image seemed stuck in the middle of his screen, and weirdly enough, it was slowly growing bigger. Just my luck.. I seriously don't have the time for this to—...day...?

His thoughts trailed off halfway as Ren glanced up from his phone, greeted with the unsettling picture of the world slowly crawling to a halt around him. All of the passerbys seemed frozen in motion, as though time itself had paused to give him a moment of silence. 

The silence didn't last for long. A blue fire suddenly began to burn in front of him, or perhaps it had been ablaze the entire time and he'd yet to notice. It's energy was ethereal, mystifying, hyperreal.. all of the above, and yet also.. familiar. The fire seemed to become larger and larger. And not just that; with every passing second, he could make out more and more of a smile, staring eerily back at him from the midst of flame. A maniacal smile. He could've sworn that for just a moment, he saw a figure there, sprouting wings from side to side. He could've sworn that, for just a moment, he heard his own laughter.

Then, as quickly as it came, it all vanished. The mundane sounds of urban life assaulted Ren's ears once more, as time began to flow again. He could hardly believe his eyes.. did all of that really just happen?

..Slowly, he shook his head. It couldn't have been real, it mustve been some sort of hallucination.. he had just woken up, after all. Ren glanced back down at his phome screen, and attempted to delete the strange app once more. This time, it worked. He let out a breath of relief, and quickly entered the address his parents had given him into his actual navigation app, starting on his way soon after. 

He didn't notice the silver haired woman, dressed in deep blue clothing, watching him from across the square, her golden eyes piercing through the crowd like a hawk. There was a smirk on her face. 

"..Looks like I've found him," Margaret whispered to herself, as she disappeared back into the busy crowd. 

Chapter Text

—4/9—Saturday—Afternoon—

Ding-Dong.

The doorbell to the Sakura household chimed, as Ren gave it a press. He'd managed to make it all the way here from central street, by the work of some miracle, and a little bit of searching for the matching home to the address he'd been sent. He took a deep breath as he waited for the door to swing open, idly wondering what his new caretaker would be like, and how he should try to present himself to him.

But no response came.

He raised an eyebrow, before ringing the doorbell once again. The same melodic chime followed, along with the same disappointing silence. That was odd. He was certain that he'd come to the right place... his self-navigating skills were far from the best, sure, but you couldn't expect much from someone who hadn't even spent a day here, for one. And two, the sign on the wall clearly read "Sakura", so it didn't seem like he'd made a mistake to begin with.

He decided to give it one more press. The bell rung a third time, and for the third time he was left confused, but a bit more so than before. Maybe they didn't hear?

"...Hello? Anybody home?" Ren's voice called out, deep and resonant, but with a hint of softness that betrayed the underlying curiosity. He waited a quiet moment to see if anybody would respond, or if anything would stir in the house through the window, but there was nothing. It seemed empty. At least, if there was someone in there, they were either asleep or couldn't be bothered to come get the door.

He sighed. It was a little annoying, but it couldn't be helped. Glancing around, he thought of asking around again to see if the owner was maybe out, and he happened to spot a postman approaching him at just the right time, and he seemed like he knew the area.

"Are you looking for Sakura-san?" The man asked, an inquisitive, but easy going look in his eye.

He seemed amicable enough, Ren supposed. He simply nodded.

The postman hummed. "If that's the case, well.. you won't find him here. At this time of day, he's usually at his shop."

"Shop...?" Ren questioned, slightly tilting his head.

"—Ah, It's on the alleyway over there." The main replied, pointing towards a street in the direction Ren had just come from. "I don't think you'll miss it. Stands out like a sore thumb, that place."

It was something, he figured. Something that might be more fruitful than standing at his doorstep like a deer in headlights. He gave the man a quick thanks, before heading off into the direction that he pointed to, keeping an eye out for whatever shop he was supposed to find his way to. Aside from an odd feeling now and then, he had no idea he was being followed.

..He wasn't kidding.. Ren thought to himself, as he stood across from the door to the shop. The place was impossible to miss, the only one of its kind in the area, despite the fact that it was tucked away on the corner. And it had an almost strange charm that seemed to draw him to it. The storefront was small, with paint old enough to peel, and a door with checkered window that didn't reveal much of what was inside. The sign above read "Cafe Leblanc", which was a small coincidence, because Leblanc happened to be the last name of his favorite novelist. The owner must've been going for an oldschool, french sort of vibe; he could at least appreciate the man's cultured taste.

With a small breath, he grabbed hold of the handle, and twisted the door open to step inside. The bells behind it tolled loudly as he did so, and instantly, he was greeted with the pleasant aroma of fresh coffee. The interior of the shop was dimly lit, with retro furniture and vintage decor that gave it somewhat of a charming atmosphere. It was almost cozy. As he glanced around from the TV mounted in the corner, to the lines of what he seemed to be coffee roasts stacked across the shelves, Ren felt himself relax for the first time that day, if even just a little. He felt an odd sense of nostalgia, considering it was for a place he'd never been before.

His gaze finally settled on the middle-aged man sitting in front of the counter, the small glasses on his face he was seemingly using to read the newspaper in his hands. Ren watched as he stroked his exotic goatee, his creased eyebrows revealing his investment in whatever it was he was doing. A crossword puzzle, maybe.

"And down is... the name of a shellfish used in pearlfarming.." The man— who Ren assumed was the owner, going by the apron he was wearing— had a gruff sounding voice, with a smooth edge to it that betrayed his age. He didn't seem to notice him for the first few moments, but soon enough, they made eye contact, and the man's eyebrows raised. "...Oh, right. They did say that was today." He placed his newspaper on the counter with a sigh, and stood up trom his stool. He saw out an elderly couple of customers, mentioning something about a series of accidents, before turning to greet Ren formally.

"...Four hours for just a single cup of joe." The man winced, scratching the back of his head, before giving the younger boy a scrutinous glance. "So, you're the kid?"

"...Ren Amamiya. Please take care of me." Ren said with a slight nod, his black eyes staring at the man with a calm, but piercing inquisition. His tone was polite, but reserved, as if he were still withholding his judgement.

The man immediately noticed the quieter tone of the boy. He made an amicable impression, but there was an odd mystique about the kid that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He hummed, and cracked an amused smirk, before replying. "I'm Sojiro Sakura. You'll be in my custody over the next year. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you're the one, huh?"

Ren didn't respond audibly. He opted to simply continue listening and watching, not outwardly expressing much reaction. Sojiro could tell he wasn't the most talkative already, but that was honestly a good thing. The kid seemed more like he was just one to carefully consider what came out of his mouth, rather than being silent just for the sake of it. It made sense, given his background.

"Have you been told? A customer of mine and your parents know eachother, and..." The older man began explaining, before cutting himself off, apparently figuring it wasnt appropriate. "...Well, not that that matters. Follow me." He lead Ren past the tables, the kitchen, and what seemed to be a small bathroom, to a small flight of stairs hidden in the back of the restaurant. At the top of the steps was an attic; an extremely dusty, junky attic that looked like it hadn't seen a broom or a duster in ages. There was a cluttered bookshelf to the right, with a crazy assortment of.. items, huddled up next to it. To the right was a small table, lined up with an equal amount of books and old DVDs, next to a small brown sofa, that had so much dust on it, it might've been thick enough to cut through. There was yet another table further towards the back, with even more books, boxes and buckets, and a small, old bed, right underneath the window.

He didn't even know how to describe it. He wasn't exactly picky, per se, but... this was objectively rough. Hardly habitable for someone his age. He didn't comment on that fact, being smart enough not to rock the already small boat he was in, but it was difficult not to be just a little bit appalled.

"This is your room... I'll at least give you sheets for your bed." Sojiro said as he turned to the boy. His eyes narrowed slightly, seemingly noticing something in his expression. Maybe he hadn't done a good enough job masking his thoughts. "What's the matter? You look like you want to say something."

Ren took a moment to think over his response, before deciding to simply say "...It's big." It was true; on the brightside, at least the place he'd been given was spacious. Messy, yes, but that thought was better kept to himself.

"You're welcome." The man said, voice as gruff as ever, before turning on his heel. "I'll be leaving after I lock up each day. You'll be alone at night, but don't do anything stupid. I'll throw you out if you cause trouble." With that, he started back down the stairway, leaving Ren alone with his thoughts. His thoughts, and a mess that might've been older than him.

He let out a breath he'd been holding in, and glanced at the untouched tomb around him. There wasn't any point in stalling for time.. the corner was as good a place as any to start.

2:32 PM.

A couple of oldies walked out from the shop. They were talking among themselves, not much attention was paid to us. There was no noticeable movement from the inmate.

2:48 PM.

A woman who looked oddly similar to Margaret entered the shop. Still no movement from the inmate.

3:01 PM.

The woman finally came out of the shop, with that same pudgy frown Margaret wears when Justine and I leave the oven on.. the inmate still hasn't made any movements.

3:15 PM.

He finally shifted around. The inmate opened the window in the back attic of the restuarant to flush our some dust, giving me my first opportunity to observe him closely. He has that same shine in his eye that the convict does... but I can clearly tell he's less experienced. They're both probably idiots, anyway.

3:30 PM.

Speaking of which, a dumb jerkass with stupid blue hair snuck up behind me and asked me what I was doing. Obviously, I ignored him. But it seemed like he was ignoring me ignoring him, and that kind of pissed me off, so I decided to teach the punk a lesson.

I employed tactical Caroline technique #36— dastardly death chop of ultimate destruction. It was super effective. But it unfortunately drew too much attention, so I had no choice but to vacate the premises and perform an immediate retreat. At the very least, I was able to get a good hit in on that airheaded, so it was all in all a productive day.

Makoto's eyes narrowed as he got to the bottom of the latest page in Caroline's "Inmate Investigation" notebook. That was a hard read. He sighed, before closing it up and placing it back down on the table beside him, shooting an unimpressed glance at the author.

"…I feel like you got a bit heavy-handed with the last part." He said.

"And what, exactly, makes you say that?" The velvet executioner said sassily as she stared up at him, swinging her feet off the edges of her chair in a childlike fashion. She would almost be cute, if she wasn't such a handful.

He found himself instincitvely caressing the bruise above his left eye. "You attacked me out of nowhere, for no reason."

She wagged a finger. "That's not true at all. I had a perfectly good reason; I didn't like the dumb look on your face."

The older boy's expression deadpanned even further. He almost opened his mouth to reply, but he decided against it. She was about as mature as she was tall, so there wasn't any winning with Caroline.

Margaret, who was sitting on the opposite side of the table, let out a sigh of her own as she saw her sister's smug grin, before speaking up herself.

"So, how sure are we that this is indeed the wildcard we've been anticipating? I certainly feel confident, but I'd like to hear your thoughts, Makoto."

He thought for a small moment, his blue eyes sparkling with inquisition, eventually nodding. "It's hard to mistake the feeling I get from him, so... I'm like, 90% sure. What's the game plan? Call him in his dream?"

Every face in the room dropped, except for his. The velvet siblings all looked disconcerted. Makoto raised an eyebrow.

"...We can't do that." Justine answered, her eyes fixed on the floor.

At his confused silence, she continued.

"Have you forgotten? We're in need of your arcana to corporealize and stabilize a new velvet room. With our own power, it would still be impossible to create one, and so there would be nowhere to reach the wildcard from."

"Oh, that? I thought the ability to appear in someone's dreams and the velvet room were correlated, but it never clicked to me that one was necessary for the other..." He said as he let out a breath. "That's inconvenient."

Margaret nodded in agremeent. "Well, on that topic, have you made any progress on that front?"

Makoto shook his head. "I mean, I'd say I've made some associates, but there's no serious connection yet. Not the way it was back then."

At his reply, she squinted her eyes. "Are we missing something...?"

"Seems like it," He said as he leaned back in his seat. "It could be that I'm just... not trying hard enough, I guess. But it's more likely that I've just hit capacity as far as social links go. Passed my cutoff date. I've had my journey already, and played my hand of cards. Building new bonds, at least ones characterized by the arcana, might honestly be an impossibility for me." He theorized aloud. Unless there were some Arcana he hadn't come across yet. But what were the chances, really?

Everyone fell into silence again. There wasn't much else to say... as much as they would've wanted to object, his reasoning was sound. Makoto glanced around the room, taking in the reactions and waiting to see if anyone else would say anything, before sighing.

"Well, it's not entirely hopeless. I have an idea."

4/10—Sunday—Morning

"You'll be expelled immediately if you cause any problems here. To be honest, I hesitated on accepting someone like you..." 

Ren found himself listening to the slightly condescending lecture of Shujin's morbidly obese principal. He thought he was pretty good at tolerating people, but even he found himself sweating a little bit at just how long and incessantly the man droned on. Not that he'd ever let that show; he kept his expression neutral, and nodded along, answering with "Yes Sir"s and "No, Sir"s when it was appropriate. Eventually, the lady standing next to him, which he presumed to be his new teacher, introduced herself to him.

"I'm Ms. Kawakami, and I'll be acting as your homeroom teacher from now. Here's your student ID, by the way." She said. He held out his palm to relieve it from her, but the woman sat it down on the table next to him instead, as if she found the idea of coming into contact with him bothersome. He tried not to think about it too much as he grabbed it off of the table anyways, offering her a small, quiet "...Thanks."

She went onto explain where he was to report to the following morning, and after a few more minutes of sitting around, it was time for him and Sojiro to take their leave. 

They were back home not too long after. Traffic always seemed to move quicker on the way back, never on the way there. When the door to Leblanc shut behind him, he was glad. Not that he personally disliked them or anything, but dealing with people who felt like they were just tolerating you all of the time was a serious chore. 

When he sat down at the counter, he noticed that the news was on the TV again. Something about another subway accident. There had been a couple of those over the last few weeks, each of them pretty ugly. He wondered how a string of coincidences like that could even happen. 

"Another accident?" Sojiro murmured from beside him, raising a bushy eyebrow. "...There's been a lot of those lately." Sojiro said from beside him.

Ren didn't respond. The statement wasn't directed towards him, clearly. But now that there was a somewhat comfortable silence between them, he felt like this was a good opportunity to ask about something. 

"Can I ask you a question?" He eventually spoke up, his voice quiet, composed, yet a little sharp. Sojiro glanced at him and hummed. He took that as his greenlight. "Why did you agree to take me in?"

It was a perfectly reasonable inquiry. As much as he'd thought about it, Ren really had no clue why someone would take him in. On the surface, he was walking trouble, wasn't he? No one stood to gain anything from showing kindness to him, let alone allowing him to live under their roof. So, naturally, he asked. Even knowing he wouldn't get a real answer. 

The man was silent for a few moments, fixing Ren with an inspection gaze. It was clear he was trying to figure out what to say and how to say it. Ren stared right back at him, his eyes non-confronting, but tempered.

Eventually, Sakura sighed, before putting out his cigarette in and throwing the butt in the trash. "It doesn't matter, does it? You're only going to be here for about a year. When that's done with, you'll go your separate way, and I'll go mine. That's if everything goes smoothly, though. You've hopefully learned your lesson when it comes to butting your head into other people's buisness... right, kid?"

The response felt kind of like a test, and judging by the look in Sojiro's eyes, Ren was pretty certain he wouldn't be getting any solid answers. He glanced back at the TV, keeping his tone inexpressive. "...Guess so."

The two to back into silence, the sounds of the news reporter filling in the hole in the air left by their conversation. Ren didn't say much more after that. There didn't seem to be a need to; when it came to building connections, or even just being treated with honesty here, it was a fantasy he'd long since done away with.

Who was it that told him he'd make friends? Find relationships, here...? Thinking about it, for someone so concerned with the truth, Ren couldn't help but want to chuckle about how far off from it Narukami was.

4/11—Monday—Early Morning

The rain outside provided a soothing symphony for Ren, the next morning. The gentle pitter-patter rhythm of the rainfall made it easier to keep his mind off of his circumstances, he found. At the moment, he was walking to school, his gaze trained on his phone as he tried yet again to delete that weird app that'd been popping up on his homescreen these last few days— when his thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound of footsteps approaching. A girl with glossy blond hair, styled in twin tails, and an outfit close enough to Shujin's uniform, was walking on his six. Her radiant face, adorned with wide, clearly foreign blue eyes, made him take pause. 

As the girl neared him, she suddenly halted, pausing mid-step, and turned her gaze upon him. She studied him momentarily, as if recalling something, before letting out a soft laugh, a delightful sound. 

"You're soaked," she said, her voice carrying a sense of playfulness. He was, true. But he didn't really see why that was funny. 

Ren raised an eyebrow, before responding with all the grace of an acrobat, "...Yeah, so? I forgot my umbrella."  

That seemed to only crack her up more, like there was an inside joke he wasn't getting. It was a little weird. We're all foreign girls like that?

Noticing his confusion, the girl calmed her chuckles enough to raise one of her hands, waving in a placating motion. "Don't worry," she reassured him, "I'm not making fun of you. Just a little bit of, uh... Deja Vu." 

Ren looked at her curiously for a bit longer, before opening his mouth to respond. But before he could, another voice cut him off, as a car pulled up on the street beside the two of them. 

"Hey, you're going to be late!" A louder, more masculine voice called from the vehicle, as the front window rolled down. The guy in there had to have been at least 30 or so, he could immediately tell that.  "And besides, it's all cold and wet out here. Need a ride, Takamaki?" 

The girl in question, who Ren could now assume was Takamaki, went from jovial to reserved the second she laid eyes upon the man. It was an odd reaction, to say the least. "Oh, um... sure. Thank you." She replied as she stepped towards the car, sliding in a moment later. The two of them pulled off without a second thought. The man didn't even bother offering him a ride, too. He didn't want one, anyway.

Still, he couldn't help but notice the starkly uncomfortable expression on that girl's face as they started down the street, like she would've rather been anywhere but where she was. Something about it made a feeling Ren had carefully buried want to bubble towards the surface. But he quickly shook his head, trying to keep his focus. Trying to remember what had happened the last time.

Suddenly, he heard someone scodd from behind him. It was a resentful sound. "...That bastard Kamoshida."

He raised an eyebrow, before turning around to be greeted with the visage of a boy his age. From the looks of it, a fellow Shujin student, with hair so blonde it had to have been dyed. It was an aesthetic most people usually described as delinquent. Ren never minded it. 

"Kamoshida?" He asked curiously. It had probably been the name of the man in the car, but he wanted to make sure. 

"Hm...?" The boy offered him a glance, his expression morphing from embittered to slightly confused.  "...It's that asshole in that car, who else?"

That tracked. Ren hummed,  glancing distantly n the direction the car had just headed.

The blonde boy sighed, leaning over and matching Ren's gaze. "Always thinking he can do whatever he wants. Who does he thinks he is, The King of a Castle?"

At that, Ren turned back to him, once again out of the loop. He gave him a look that, translated into english, would probably mean "What are you on about?"

The boy looked dumbfounded. Distinctly so. "You…don't know?" He squinted a little, taking a good look at Ren's features, before realization colored his face. "A second year... oh, you're... that guy..."

"That guy?" Ren replied, arching a brow. Did people know he would be here already? He'd seriously been hoping he could keep his record under wraps, if only for a little while. It was realistic to expect someone to find out about it eventually, but on his first day?...

"...Huh. Weird. You don't really look like you're a..." The boy thought aloud, before suddenly remembering, "—crap, we're gonna be late!"

Ren checked the time on his phone. And yeah, if they didn't hurry up, they probably weren't going to make it there before the first bell. Not a good look. He glanced back up, and sure enough, the kid was already starting on his way without him. 

Sighing, Ren moved to follow after him down the alleyway, and for a moment, he could've sworn he saw some strangle, pinkish rippling on the ground. The hell?

"Hey, what's wrong? Come on, we're gonna be late!" The boy called a moment later, confusion on his expression. Despite the fact that there was clearly something there, and he could feel it with each step he took, Ren decided it was just his imagination. It must've been, since as far as he knew, the ground didn't do that in real life. 

He was probably just tired. He'd get to school faster by ignoring his daydreaming. Definitely. 

Meanwhile, at the School....

All things considerded, Makoto's morning was going fairly well. He'd actually managed to get himself some decent sleep the night prior, which meant he wouldn't have to fight to stay conscious for the next 5 or so hours of lectures he was sure he'd heard already. Regardless, he still couldn't come up with anything better to do at the moment than rest his head between his elbows on his desk; did that mean skipping the two page assignment the teacher was having them do? Probably. He'd handle it later.

He found himself glancing over to the seat beside him, when he noticed that Haru had been already looking at him for a while, a soft look in her eyes and a polite, if a bit cheeky, smile on her lips. "And a good morning to you, Arisato-kun. I see you remembered to bring your umbrella today." She teased lightly. 

He couldn't help but smirk a little at that, giving her a half-nod in response. "Looks like it." She giggled, covering her mouth chastly with a palm. 

Sitting up in his seat a bit more, he decided to ask her something."...By the way, Okumura... I know it's a little late, but where you by any chance there when that train derailed a few days ago?" 

Her head shook. "I'm afraid not. I'm chaperoned to and from the campus, so I've actually never had a need for the subways." 

He hummed, idly wondering about that. Highschool kids were getting chaperoned these days? It seemed odd. But now that he thought about it, he felt like he'd heard someone say she was from some sort of rich family.

"I did hear about it, however," Haru added, reaching up a finger to tangle in a strand of her hair. "I can only imagine how scary it must've been. You were there with Niijima-San at the time, yes?" 

He raised an eyebrow curiously, but nodded. "Mhm."

"Together?" She questioned. Despite the characteristically calm look on her face, something about the prompt felt sharp. Like he was being interrogated. 

Makoto tilted his head, confusion sparkling in the seas of his eyes. It was a weird question, and moreover, why exactly would a detail like that matter.? "…Kinda?" 

Her eyebrows narrowed ever so slightly, yet her ever present smirk widened. He wasn't sure what kind og territory he was in at the moment, and he didn't like it. "Together, together, or just... together?" She said.

He blinked. "What?" What did that even mean?

He could tell she was about to say something, but before she could, something caught his attention. He leaned past her, glancing outside the window, where he saw a suspiciously familiar little girl, waving at him and shouting. He had no idea what she was saving from up there, but knowing what he knew of her, it was surely nothing flattering. He sighed. 

"Please answer the question." Haru pressed, her polite tone gentle demeanor suddenly becoming intimidating. Unfortunately for her, he was already standing up out of his seat. 

"—Sorry, I just realized I forgot my... second, slightly larger umbrella," He quickly excused, starting on his way out of the room. "I'll be back later."

He heard what sounded like protests behind him, but that wasn't what he was worried about at present. With some crafty lying to his homeroom teacher about needing a visit to the nurse's office, he slipped out of the classroom without missing a beat, sliding the door shut behind him. 

A solid five or so minutes later, he'd made his way down the stairs and out of the front entrance of the school, where he found an unsurpsringly upset Caroline spouting curses to herself. She was never not upset about something. "That idiot... good for nothing... stupid... useless...! God, I know he saw me. He thinks just 'cause he bought me some food, he can go on his merry way and make a mockery of my time. I swear, when we get home, I'll—"

"Boo." He said flatly, after sneaking up to her with skill that'd make any shadow jealous. 

She screamed, of course. For a really solid 2 seconds, before he covered her mouth with a hand. They didn't need to be attracting any attention. 

Once she'd stopped making Caroline noises, he let go. "...Ugh. What took you so long!?"

He let out a small breath, countering, "It's been five minutes."

"Five minutes is long!" She insisted. 

And that was as long as he was willing to argue with her. He rolled his eyes. "I thought I told you to tail the wildcard, not me."

"You don't seriously think I followed you because I wanted to? Gross! I'm only here to tell you that the inmate vanished!" She replied. 

After a moment of shock, Makoto stared at her like she'd just grown a second head, and reasonaby so. "…So, you lost him." He figured. 

"Uh, no," She shot back defensively, face flustered with embarrasment. "I said, he v-a-n-i-s-h-e-d. I swear, he was walking to school, randomly took a turn down some alley, and when I followed after him, he was gone!" 

"TL;DR, you got distracted, he went into the school, and you lost him." He replied with an almost flatness. She groaned.

"Look, I'm telling you, he didn't even make it to the front doorstep! I'm being honest when I tell you he practically vanished into thin air." Caroline insisted, pointing at the alley she was mentioning. 

He glanced in the direction she pointed in, humming quietly to himself. If he was being fair, someone wandering into an alternate dimension wasn't really all that unheard of. It was pretty much how it happened to him. "…Did he... no, I'm not sure, but maybe..." Makoto sighed. "No harm in checking, I guess." 

She nodded, falling into step with them as they both approached the alleyway. 

In the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but notice the odd pink puddles forming on the ground. Where had he seen them before...?