Chapter Text
Just about the only thing that Ren still enjoys about his hometown is the view of the stars at night from Nagareboshi Shrine. Built on a prominent hill overlooking the outskirts of town centuries upon centuries ago, the shrine is practically the only thing around that hasn’t changed much with the times. The wooden pillars of the shrine are replaced every few decades so that even if the wood decays, everything retains the same shape as it had hundreds of years ago. The land surrounding it, too, has to be carefully maintained, so that the view of the sky is preserved. It is bizarre to think that Ren can share the same experience of looking up at the same stars as someone who lived centuries ago. It’s a good view for thinking about both the past and the future.
Returning home after his whirlwind of a year in Tokyo felt like a slap to the face at first. After everything that happened, he was expected to just go home and feel normal about all of that? No, if he ever felt like he was growing out of his humble little hometown before, that was simply a drop in the bucket. A grain of sand in the desert. A tadpole peeking out of the water and finding out that there’s a whole new world out there, only to be pushed back right where it came from.
But at least in his hometown, he could slip away to the shrine after a long day of school and work and look up at the stars. You couldn’t really see anything in the sky at night in Tokyo. Here, it’s an indescribable view on moonless and cloudless nights, one where you can see the vast colors of the galaxy in all its splendors. The night sky isn’t always a black void with white dots. In the right places with little light pollution (which are getting harder and harder to find these days), it’s a canvas with yellows, purples, and reds. The way the galaxy appears to pool down in a fuzzy vertical slant reminds him of putting cream in a cup of coffee.
It was the will of the first villagers who found a shooting star right there on the hilltop to preserve the view of the sky and the surrounding woods for travelers and pilgrimages, or so the story goes. They built a shrine around the shooting star, and according to the legends, didn’t so much as move or touch the star until it was time to place it in its own secret room. No one except for the head priest has been able to go inside and look at the star, unless they want to be cursed with a hundred years of bad luck.
Nowadays, during the summer months, people come to the shrine to make wishes on shooting stars, but back then, seeing a shooting star was a bad omen. They say that on the night the stars fell, the sky lit up with streaks of fire, and the villagers panicked, thinking the world was going to end. It ended when they saw a bright flash fly across the sky and land in the direction of the forest. No one was allowed to touch or move the star because they thought it was a threat from the gods, and therefore dangerous. There had been plans to build a shrine somewhere closer to the village, in a special spot in the forest. But the fallen star meant that the gods picked that spot instead because it provided such a beautiful view, and the villagers didn’t really appreciate it until then, or so the story goes.
There’s even more to the stories that Ren has heard, but he isn’t sure where people are getting their sources from, and most of it isn’t written down anywhere, so he probably could make something up and it would be just about as accurate as everything else. All he can say for certain is that the shrine is called Nagareboshi Shrine because sometime in the Heian period the villagers saw a shooting star. That’s about it. There’s not much evidence that points to the existence of another missing meteorite fragment, or even that the meteor is the size of a boulder inside the shrine. If a meteor that size landed there, he’s pretty sure there would be a large crater, or some other evidence actually mounted on the land. At most, the "star" has to be the size of a fist.
But honestly, Ren’s secretly a sucker for romantic and fantastic stories like those, so he eats it all up, not caring if it's true or not, as long as it's a good story.
Since returning to his hometown, the shrine has become a sort of haven for him. He remembers visiting many times before, especially during the summer, but he wasn’t the type to stand outside in the cold winter weather just to stare at the stars. Now, as he looks up at the stars in the sky in the chilly December air, he thinks that somewhere miles away, his friends might also be looking up at the same sky. A cheesy sentiment to have, but comforting nonetheless.
He should really be packing for his trip right about now, but instead he’s looking at the stars. If Morgana had fingers instead of paws, he would probably be back at home begrudgingly packing up everything for him. But he doesn’t, of course, not anymore, and so he is here with Ren as well.
A particularly cold wind crashes right into them, strong enough to take down Ren’s hood. Morgana shivers from inside the safety of Ren’s bag.
“It’s getting pretty late, we really need to head home now, Ren,” Morgana says in between his teeth chattering.
“Just a couple more minutes,” Ren says, not taking his eyes off the sky.
“I don’t know how you can stare up at the sky for longer than a couple minutes. Nothing much about it changes from minute to minute. What are you looking for?”
“I’m just taking in the view. And there’s a lot to notice,” Ren replies. “Plus, it’s a good view for when you’re lost in your thoughts.”
The two of them stare up at the starry sky in silence for a minute. Morgana hesitantly breaks that silence.
“...Is there a lot on your mind tonight?”
Ren nods, but doesn’t voice how he normally does have a lot on his mind anyway. He has to, as someone who is usually sparse with his words.
“Is it because of the trip? Or is it…” Morgana trails off.
“I guess it is that. Mostly,” Ren says softly.
Ren tears his eyes away from the sky and starts walking towards the stone stairs, minding each step he takes. It hasn’t snowed yet, but Ren’s learned to be always wary of these stone steps, because they are, quite frankly, old and unreliable even on a clear, sunny day.
Morgana’s ears turn back slightly. “Yeah. I know you have a lot on your mind lately.” Morgana braces the cold to peek his upper body out of the bag and place a paw on Ren’s shoulder. “You know…”
At that moment, Morgana spots a flash of movement in the sky. “Ren! Look! I just saw something move across the sky!”
Ren halts and looks up, but he’s too late. “Oh, a shooting star, huh?”
“Yeah! Must’ve been!” Morgana is now fully out of his bag and placing two paws on Ren’s shoulder to look at the sky.
“Did you make a wish?” Ren asks, looking back at Morgana with a small smile.
“Oh right, you’re supposed to make a wish when you see a shooting star. It just happened so fast…”
“That’s alright. Shooting stars aren’t as rare as most people think. I saw one while we were here a few minutes ago. You can just try to remember to make a wish next time.”
Morgana stares up at the sky, resting his front paws and a good portion of his body weight on Ren’s shoulder, the entire time they scale down the stairs. “Did you wish for anything when you saw one?”
“Of course, I always do,” Ren answers. The path before them is now almost completely dark, so Ren has to turn on the flashlight on his phone to illuminate the path before them.
“Wow, really? Do you see them a lot?”
“I don’t really notice them usually, but I have been lately. I dunno.”
“Huh,” Morgana says, “I wonder what you wish for.”
“Alright, time to go home and pack,” Ren deflects with a shrug of his shoulders, signaling to Morgana to get back in his duffle bag.
“Okay, but you’re going right to bed afterwards! You need a full night’s sleep for the trip tomorrow!”
Ren nods begrudgingly. He knows he’ll need all the sleep he can get, but he might just be too excited to sleep.
Ren has to take a train to get to the bullet train station that takes him straight to Tokyo, and overall, the entire process usually takes about two and a half hours. Not the longest travel time he’s ever been through (that would have to be the plane trip to Hawaii), but not exactly the shortest either. So there’s a lot of time that Ren has to kill on these train rides.
The interior of the bullet train is silent under the hum of the train whirring by at high speeds, save for the occasional cough or clearing of the throat. Occasionally someone will break the silence and talk, but never more than a few minutes, and usually while keeping their voices down. Which is actually a shame for Ren, because one of his talents includes gaining random bits of information from eavesdropping. Most of it ends up being useless gossip. But sometimes he gets little treasures of information, from when the best time is to get the limited edition melonpan, to gleaning public opinion on various issues. Important when he was a Phantom Thief, but not so much anymore.
Ren sets down the book he was reading to pull out his phone. A little over thirty minutes left in the trip. He idly swipes around on his phone, browsing the news articles recommended to him. Quite a few are about a meteor storm event that’s supposed to happen on New Year’s Eve. People outside of certain invested circles don’t typically care about meteor shower events because it’s difficult for most people to see them, and they’re usually very predictable. But this one seems to be a bit different, for some reason. It’s trending on social media in several countries in the Northern Hemisphere, and guides on how to watch the meteor storm exist on practically every news reporting site.
Morgana pops his face out of Ren’s duffle bag, placed on the cold hard floor. “How much longer?” he whispers.
Ren pretends to bend down and grab something out of his bag and whispers, “About thirty minutes.”
Morgana makes a sound to voice his displeasure. The two men in the seats in the same row are completely oblivious to the fact that Ren has a habit of awkwardly bending down and whispering to his duffle bag. They, like many others on this trip, have headphones on and are closing their eyes, likely tired and overworked businessmen commuting back from a meeting, or something like that. The life of a salaryman is a mystified existence to Ren, one his parents would gladly accept for him, but one he wouldn’t want for himself.
Ren shifts in his seat to look out the window. It’s one of those winter days where it looks sunny outside and the sky is a beautiful blue with a few spots of clouds, but once you step outside, it’s actually deceptively cold. They’re inside the city limits now, passing by cars on freeways. The lights on the ceiling of each side of the train are tilted slightly enough so that Ren can see his reflection whenever a cloud passes overhead. His reflection looks exactly as it should, no mysterious mirages showing through.
Someone in the row in front of him speaks up to one of their row-mates. “What do you think about trying to see this meteor shower on New Year’s Eve?”
“Well… I think it would be interesting to see, but it’s just not feasible in the middle of Tokyo,” her row-mate replies. “What, do you suggest we take a train to the middle of nowhere or something?”
“No, no, they’re saying that you might actually be able to see part of it from even the densest parts of Tokyo. It’ll be clear tomorrow night, and it’s a new moon. Plus, it’s no ordinary meteor shower anyway. They’re calling it a meteor storm. It’s a once in a lifetime event.” She pauses, and the seats in front of Ren shift slightly. “And I think it’d be romantic. We could make a wish together…”
“Well, we’ll see. We can always try to watch from the balcony at my place,” her boyfriend says.
“I know what I’m wishing for,” the woman says, and kisses her boyfriend loudly enough that Ren can hear it from behind. Ren winces slightly from the awkwardness of the whole situation.
The duffle bag at his feet shifts again, and Morgana peeks his head out. “What’s all this about a big meteor shower tomorrow?”
Ren attempts to discreetly show Morgana an article on the meteor storm event tomorrow on his phone by pretending to search for something. Morgana closes his eyes in content upon reading the headline. “Thousands of meteors per hour? So could I make all the wishes I want?”
Ren quirks an eyebrow. “You have that many wishes that need attending to?”
“Of course I do!”
“Have you ever heard the saying, ‘be careful what you wish for?’” Ren asks, just because he’s not sure if Morgana has.
“Of course I have!” Morgana’s gleeful tone turns sour. “That’s why all my wishes are carefully thought out ahead of time.”
“Oh yeah…?”
Ren can feel the scrutinizing eyes of the man two seats next to him. He grabs his earbuds from his bag and smiles weakly in his vague direction. He doesn’t think the man saw or heard him talking to his cat, but he does look particularly suspicious hunching over his bag for as long as he has been. He probably thought he was searching for a weapon or something.
Ren brings the earbuds up to his lap and pretends that he was simply in the process of untangling his earbuds. He continues until he can no longer feel the stare of his row neighbor and lets his shoulders relax.
Morgana stares back up at Ren with an expectant look that says “we’ll continue this conversation later,” then slinks back into his duffle bag. An announcement crackles through the intercom to announce that the next stop will be coming up in fifteen minutes.
Ren looks out the window for the rest of the duration of the train ride. He remembers his first train ride to Tokyo and the train ride back to his hometown. Both involved some bizarre supernatural elements that showed Ren how intertwined they were with his life. He still sees nothing in his reflection.
He does, admittedly, miss his adventures in the Metaverse. And if he had a chance to go back there, if even just for a day, he would, if just to experience the thrill of it all again.
There’s a few other reasons why he might want to return to the Metaverse. But he’d never voice the true root of these desires to anyone else. Bringing him up in a conversation with any of the others typically just makes them terse and uncomfortable, so they do what’s best for everyone and not talk about what happened with Akechi.
Ren deboards the train while awkwardly holding his duffle bag close to his chest so that it doesn’t swing and hit others with one hand, and rolling his luggage behind him with the other. When he steps foot onto the platform, swept into the familiar sea of people, he can’t help the smile that forms on his face.
Futaba, and the rest of the Phantom Thieves for that matter, had all really wanted to be there to welcome Ren at the station when he arrived in Tokyo. But as it has been all too much lately, everyone had something to do at that day and time except for Futaba. And so she had initially wanted to ask Sojiro about taking her to the station so they could welcome him together, but of course Sojiro didn’t want to close Leblanc three days in a row. As if he’d be losing that much profits from closing an extra day…
Futaba hunches at the barstool closest to the stairs to the attic, typing away at her laptop. An old man is sitting at the barstool closest to the exit, and one of the pompous regulars sits at one of the booths; both are sitting with coffee that had long gone cold and entertaining themselves in their own world. The old man is reading a book, and the young man with the stylish hipster clothes is watching the TV. Sojiro turns off the heat to the coffee machine with a click. The voice of the newscaster on the TV layers on top of all the other sounds of the cafe.
“...The new stadium in Odaiba is set to officially open to the public in February of next year. This stadium will be able to hold nearly 80,000 people and will feature amenities such as a concessions area with a coffee shop, a…”
“Hmph, a coffee shop in a stadium? I’ll bet it’s one of those cheap, low-quality chain stores,” the pompous man scoffs with crossed arms.
Sojiro cranes his neck to look up at the TV hanging from the wall. “What do they even need a new stadium for?”
Futaba’s lightning fast typing halts abruptly as she takes a curious glance at the TV. Normally she doesn’t care about petty news like this and wouldn’t even say a word, except that this particular stadium held a lot of significance to them. “Wow, it’s done already?”
The pompous man is quick to interject with the correct information, which they had all just heard a few seconds ago. “It won’t be open until February.”
Futaba has the sudden urge to tell the others about the news, even though they probably don’t care about the completion of the stadium that they had all had to travel to on a regular basis in order to infiltrate a certain therapist’s palace-gone-wrong. She picks up her phone and it vibrates in her hand immediately. Her first notification is a text message from Ren.
[Ren]
The subway is acting up.
Will probably be delayed an hour or more
There are some small accidents up ahead, waiting to hear more
Stuck on the subway currently
Futaba huffs an exasperated sigh and collapses onto the counter in front of her. Sojiro quirks an eyebrow at her disgruntled behavior. “What happened?”
“Ren’s train’s been delayed, and it could be an hour or more until it gets back up running again,” Futaba sighs, thumbs whisking across her phone keyboard. “There’s been some kind of subway accident on the line up ahead. He says he’s stuck there.”
“Wow, some luck that boy has,” Sojiro says. “Wasn’t there a big train accident the day he came up here for the first time?” Futaba furrows her eyebrows and looks up at Sojiro quizzically. “Or maybe it was the next day…”
The pompous man loves nothing more than to butt in on other people’s conversations, apparently, so he offers his own input on the situation. “Hmph… It was over a year ago now in April that a train conductor lost grip of his sanity in the midst of driving a train going eighty kilometers per hour. Hopefully another incident like that hasn’t happened.”
Futaba instantly tenses up at the man’s insinuation. The entire truth about Shido’s conspiracy still hasn’t been released to the public— in fact there are some trials that are ongoing or planned for the future— but the public does know that somehow, miraculously, Shido and his conspirators were able to induce mental shutdowns in people without ever having direct contact.
Sojiro frowns and drapes his now dry hand towel across his shoulder. “Alright, sorry about this, but I guess I have to close up shop early. I’ve got some family business to take care of.”
The old man sets his money on the counter and leaves without a word, but the pompous man scoffs, as Futaba expected. “I sincerely hope that this accident isn’t as big as the one from last year. I guess I’ll have to check the news myself when I get home.” He slides out of his booth and places his money on the counter in front of Sojiro. “Thank you for the coffee.”
Sojiro does not even glance at the man as he walks out the door and waits until the jingle of the bell to speak again. “You okay?”
“Yeah… I’m alright.” Futaba’s muscles relax, and Sojiro gives her one of his rare, soft smiles reserved only for her. “Can we pick up Ren at his next stop when the trains start up again?”
“That’s why I closed up shop early,” Sojiro says. “I was looking for a reason to kick that guy out politely anyway. He may be a loyal customer, but he can’t take a hint at how I don’t want to hear his pretentious theories about the world to save his life.”
Futaba can’t help but snicker at how true that is as she unlocks her phone to text Ren.
[Futaba]
sorry about the delayed reply orz
dad’s closing up shop now
what’s the next stop supposed to be?
[Ren]
Ikebukuro
Coming from Ueno Station
[Futaba]
wow that’s a bit of a ride to here
i should have just called a taxi for you or something.
or hacked a ride sharing app into giving you a free ride
…and you have mona with you, not to mention your LUGGAGE!!!
in a CRAMPED SUBWAY!!!!
that would be hell for me
[Ren]
It’s fine. I’ll survive
I’m not the only one stuck on this cramped car with arms full of luggage
I’m just lucky reception’s even working down here
I’ll tell you as soon as the train starts up again. I’m going to turn off my phone for a bit.
Gotta conserve battery
[Futaba]
okay.
get off at ikebukuro when the train starts up again. we’ll come pick you up
Futaba sighs as her phone collides on the counter with a loud thunk. “Some welcome back party this will be, huh…”
It takes one long, excruciating, hour until the trains are back and running again. Ren stood there for the entire duration awkwardly staring at the wall and eavesdropping about this and that. From what he heard, the accident wasn’t major, and there have only been a handful of injuries so far. But no one seems to know what the cause of the incident could be. People whisper about the similarities between this and the train derailment incident from April of last year and Ren’s stomach suddenly feels uneasy.
He’s tired, dehydrated, and stiff all over by the time they’re all released from the train car. He has to force his body to lug himself outside to the streets of Ikebukuro, stopping to catch his breath by a decrepit alleyway. He lets out a sigh he didn’t know was bubbling up in his lungs as soon as his back collides with the cold, hard wall.
He’s bombarded with notifications as soon as he unlocks his phone. He grimaces slightly when he sees texts from his mother. He’ll need to respond to those immediately. She never texts him unless it’s something deathly serious. During his entire probation, his parents never contacted him even once.
[Mom]
We need to talk.
Call me as soon as you get to Sakura-san’s.
That does nothing to allay his fears a single bit, of course. He jumps from his slouched posture against the wall when Morgana slips out of his bag and places his paws on his shoulder to look. The not-a-cat’s ears bend back in sympathy.
“I don’t know what they could possibly want now. I’m sorry,” Morgana says regretfully. He spends a lot more time in the house than Ren does, but he still sneaks out whenever he can. He knows how detached and cold his parents can be to their one and only son.
“I think I do. I don’t know why they couldn’t have waited until after the trip. Or even before,” Ren mutters. He shifts on his feet and plays with a lock of his hair. “They’re probably going to tell me that they have my entire life mapped out for me after graduation.”
Morgana has nothing to say, so he looks at Ren with his big, blue sad eyes a final time before hopping back into his bag. Ren swipes through the texts on his phone quickly, as if not even reading them fully. He shoves his phone back into his pocket and turns his heel to make his way back into the bustling sidewalk.
“Futaba says that they should be approaching this block any minute now. We’ll just have to keep an eye out for them.”
Morgana peeks out of the bag to spot Ren twisting a lock of his hair in between his fingers again. “Are you nervous?”
Ren stops playing with his hair. “Well, a little.”
“Is it about the phone call? Or is something else on your mind?”
Ren hesitates. “...It’s about the phone call.”
“It’ll be alright,” Morgana says reassuringly. “You’ll just do it and it’ll be over with. We’ve got our entire winter vacation ahead of us! Your parents can’t just ruin it with a single phone call.”
Ren nods and shrugs his shoulder, a signal to get Morgana to go back in the bag. As soon as they leave the alleyway, Ren spots Boss’s special, vintage vehicle pulling up in front of them. Ren hurries over to throw his luggage in the trunk and hops in the backseat as fast as he can.
Futaba looks back at him from the passenger seat in front of him with a smile and wave of her hands. “Hey Ren! Welcome back! Sorry it’s been so sucky so far!”
“Eh, it’s all part of the authentic experience,” Sojiro says with a sardonic smile. “Nothing like the commute at rush hour. Are you having fun yet?”
Ren weakly cheers, getting a chuckle from the both of them. Morgana pops his head out of the bag.
“Hey, what about me? Where’s my welcome?” Morgana complains.
“Duh, you too, Mona. Welcome back.” Futaba twists her torso enough so that she can reach an arm back to try to pet him. It doesn’t work out, so Ren slides the bag closer to her so she can pat the protesting Morgana on the head.
It takes Sojiro a few minutes to merge back into traffic, and from there it’s very slow sailing. Futaba becomes bored about fifteen minutes in and connects her phone to the radio so she can play her obscure video game music out loud. They have much and nothing to talk about, filling in the gaps between conversation by just enjoying each other’s company.
By the time they arrive at Leblanc, Ren wants to crash his body into one of the booth seats. He resists the urge by hobbling onto a barstool instead. It takes Sojiro awhile to make a fresh batch of curry for them, and the smell of the spices in the air only makes him hungrier and crankier. Futaba attempts to distract him by showing him nonsensical pictures on her phone and talking to him about what he’s missed in Tokyo, including all the drama from her latest shows.
Ren’s shoulders relax. The phone call can wait until after he eats. He soaks in the moment while he can. For now, he’s with the people that care about him, and he’s content.
Ren shooed Morgana away from the attic when he called his mother. Morgana will always respect Ren’s privacy, and so he complied, of course. But he couldn’t help but spend the next fifteen minutes alone in a dark, empty coffee shop worrying, twitching his tail irately, resisting the urge to silently sneak up the stairs and listen.
He spends his time waiting like he usually does when left alone back at home with Ren, which is to spend some time wandering around looking for a comfy place to sit and curl up. He supposes this behavior is much like a cat’s; lacking the stimulation of observing Ren’s day-to-day routine from over his shoulder, he seems to resort to a lot of cat-like behaviors. He finds that he prefers his cat form over the form of a supermodel after all; it’s far more convenient and inconspicuous for a mastermind like him. As a human, he couldn’t curl up into a comfy ball on the booths in Leblanc.
Morgana can hear Ren approach the stairs and hesitate before he actually hears the creaking of his footsteps on the steps. When Ren emerges, his jaw clenched tighter than usual, eyes more obscured behind his mess of hair and the glint from his glasses, Morgana can only hop out of the booth and look up at him with sad eyes.
“How was it?”
Ren looks away, expression darkening. “It went about as well as I was expecting.”
Morgana places his paw on Ren’s shoe, which usually makes Ren smile. Instead, his smile is too weak, more like a grimace.
“Thanks, Mona,” Ren says. He gently turns around to climb the stairs. “Well, I’m exhausted. Let’s go to bed.”
“Yeah…” Morgana trails on up to the attic after him. “Will you tell me what the phone call was about later, though?”
Ren soundlessly nods his reply. Morgana considers himself to be pretty good at reading the room, especially when it comes to Ren and his friends (possibly because they’re Persona users), so he’ll drop the subject for the rest of the night.
Morgana races ahead of Ren on the stairs and looks back at him from the top of the stairwell. “You know, it’s funny. I think I prefer the attic to your room back home, even if the attic is drafty, dimly lit, and furnished only with dusty second-hand furniture…”
The harsh edges of Ren’s tight-lipped grimace melt away, if only slightly. “Me too.”
Morgana rushes over to the make-shift bed that Sojiro most likely hastily made out of garbage he found out on the street. “The bed could use some work though. I prefer your futon back at home better. But overall I like the attic way more.”
Ren glances over at the flag featuring the Phantom Thieves’ logo hanging prominently behind the sofa. “Can’t really hang up any of my custom Phantom Thief memorabilia at home, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah! I wonder why your parents are so strict about that kind of thing.”
Morgana has seen how precise Ren’s room looks back at home, filled with neat bookshelves of studying materials and a clean desk. Ren’s own personal manga and fiction books make up only a small fraction of the shelf space. Ren isn’t allowed to hang anything up on the walls that his parents don’t approve of, nor is he allowed any unapproved knickknacks. Ren jokes sometimes that this room should go back to being his father’s study, but sometimes Morgana thinks he’s being completely serious.
“I dunno, really,” Ren mutters, but Morgana suspects that he has at least a few theories. Morgana’s own theory is that they’re just the type of person who would have had their hearts changed by the Phantom Thieves, so they’re not fans.
Morgana sometimes wonders if it was always like this for Ren, or if his probation period made his relationship between his parents more strained. Come to think of it, he never remembers Ren calling his parents or even getting texts from them even once during his entire probation. Morgana’s not sure if that’s even legal.
Ren crawls into bed as silently and cautiously as a mouse, and Morgana only notices it when he feels the covers move from under him. Morgana instinctively gets up to climb on top of Ren’s chest, spin in a circle or two, and then plop down. The most comfortable spot on the whole bed is on Ren’s chest for some reason, but Morgana’s not about to question it. It just feels right.
Morgana closes his eyes. He can sense that Ren isn’t asleep yet. “Are you excited for tomorrow?”
Ren takes a moment to reply. “...Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I dunno. Maybe I should have asked instead, are you nervous for tomorrow?”
“Well, maybe just a little bit. I think that’s to be expected though. Are you?”
“...Yeah, I am a little bit.” Morgana’s ears twist so they’re practically flat on his fuzzy head. “Why do you expect it? I thought there’d be no reason to be nervous to see your friends again.”
“Well, it’s been awhile. Around six months, to be more precise. At this point in our lives, people are changing pretty rapidly,” Ren says, breathing slowly. Morgana is comforted by the steady rise and fall of his chest.
“You think so? I don’t feel like I’ve changed that much,” Morgana mumbles, raising his head from where he was resting on his paws.
“That’s another reason you can be nervous to see your old friends. The feeling that they’ve left you behind while you’ve stayed pretty much the same is never fun.”
Morgana huffs and dejectedly plops his head back onto his paws. “Why do humans have to be so complicated when it comes to relationships? I thought it was either you like someone enough to be friends or you don’t.”
Ren reaches a hand up to scratch the back of his ears playfully. “Isn’t that right?”
Morgana can’t help but lean into the scratch and purr. Morgana stretches his limbs out more in an attempt to make himself more comfortable.
“I’m excited for the meteor shower tomorrow,” Morgana yawns out. “I just gotta think… of a good… wish to make…”
Morgana can feel the drowsiness overtaking him like a warm blanket draped around his body. He gives in and falls asleep before Ren, as he usually does. Ren falls asleep a few minutes afterwards, lulled to sleep by the rhythm and sounds of Morgana’s breathing and the soft city ambience outside his window.
Ren can still feel the presence of the Velvet Room tucked away in the furthest reaches of his mind. A faint presence, almost like a phantom pain, that stores all of his memories of the events of last year in one convenient place to replay and replay. His memories play out in his dreams like a disjointed film reel that was cut up and placed back together at random.
Taking a treasure for the first time, then immediately hanging out in the gym with Ryuji. Stepping out of one room and entering a train on the other side of Tokyo. Discussing the mechanisms of fate with Akechi in a dimly lit jazz bar, blinking, and then watching him from a multicolored stage from in between the gaps between people. Rarely does he dream of anything else. Dreams indistinguishable from a hazy form of reality.
Returning to Tokyo tonight, Ren can feel it somehow. A dread similar to what he felt when he was fading away into the Metaverse after failing to take on the Holy Grail. That growing anticipation he first felt when he saw visions of the Metaverse in broad daylight the day he arrived in Tokyo. How come doesn’t Morgana feel it too?
He peeks open his eyes towards the sky out the window. Ren can spy only a small sliver of the empty black sky through a crack between buildings. His eyes feel heavy, and he is pulled to sleep by forces out of his control.
Somewhere in that mysterious realm, Lavenza must still be looking on at him with pity.