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Sumire was the last to arrive at Leblanc. She was occupied with a few things at school before she was able to get here. However, she had to hurry because it was the day of their confrontation with Dr. Maruki. Sojiro was there to greet her as she stepped foot into the café door.
“The others are waiting upstairs,” he said before proceeding to scratch his head out of confusion. “Honestly, I don’t know what you guys are planning on doing, but I just hope you guys don’t plan on hanging out for too long especially on a school night.”
“Don’t worry, Sakura-san. We’re just going out for a small break before exams….To de-stress bit.” Sumire bowed before walking through the café and up and stairs.
“Sorry I’m late everyone,” Sumire said as she landed on the final step. All the Phantom Thieves were there, but two was missing. “Where’s Ren-senpai and Akechi-san?”
The question sent a chilling atmosphere in an already awkward room.
Morgana, who was seated on the sofa next to Ann, was the first to break the silence. “They, um…” Before his voice faltered into a silent pitch.
“Where the hell is he?” Ryuji said. His often laid-back expression that Sumire knew him for became an irritated one, not the joking kind caused by all the teasing from the other Thieves. “He wasn’t even at school. Just what happened with his talk with Doc?”
Ann interjected. “Ryuji! This is no time to be angry over this.”
“You’ve noticed it, too, Ann. Ren didn’t respond to anyone’s messages all morning. Even Akechi hadn’t been responding. We had no choice, but meet up here after school when Futaba messaged us that Morgana needs our help.”
“I agree with Ann.” Makoto finally spoke up. “Ren’s interaction with Dr. Maruki must have shaken him up. We need to be more understanding about his situation.”
“Akechi was here last night” Morgana spoke up, shocking everyone in the room. “He was here when Maruki finally met up with Ren. Maruki…” Morgana hesitated, but shook his head before continuing. “Maruki revealed that Akechi is part of this reality.”
“What?” Everyone said in unison.
Sumire became confused. “What did he mean by Akechi-san being part of this reality?” Seeing everyone’s dejected expressions, Sumire finally realized and became saddened by the thought. “No…no it can’t be…”
“If we go back to our reality,” Makoto’s voice more soft than usual. “Then, Akechi will be…”
“I never put much thought about it. I was as shocked as the others when Akechi turned himself in,” Yusuke said, voice a bit drier. “Now, I’m disappointed in myself for not noticing earlier.”
“DAMMIT REN.” Ryuji slammed his fist on the table. “He’s always keepin’ things to himself. If he needs a shoulder to lean on, we’re here for him.”
“Ryuji, stop...”
“Was all our time together worth anything to him?” Ryuji continued, ignoring Ann, slamming his fist again. “Was he just puttin’ up a front all this time? Rather than staying here, we should look for that asshole and knock some sense into him.”
“Ryuji,” Morgana stopped him. “He hasn’t come home since last night.”
“And? We still have time before Dr. Maruki’s deadline. We find Ren, kick his ass, and change Dr. Maruki’s damn heart.”
After one pause, Futaba broke the silence.
“For once, Ryuji,” Futaba stood up from her chair as she adjusted her glasses. “You’re right. You’ve all been supportive of me through thick and thin. Ren, and especially you guys, taught me to stop running from the past and fight any hardships I have head on.”
Haru stood up as well. “It’s time for me to repay his kindness after all this time.”
“Do you have any ideas on where he’d be, Mona?” Makoto asked.
Morgana shook his head. “No. He loves exploring the city and he has met a lot of people everywhere.”
“Then, were there any people of interest? We can start by asking those people.”
After a brief hesitation, Morgana jumped onto the table to address everyone in the room with a bit of hope sparked in his eyes. “Alright then, you guys better start listing them down.”
•-•-•
Ren woke up with a terrible neck pain from the way he was sleeping on a small love couch. The glaring blue florescent ceiling lights greeted his eyes. He wandered all night until his feet led him to Bar Crossroads. Seeing how disheveled Ren looked, Lala-chan couldn’t help but take him to his office where he could at least have a safer place to rest the night.
Ren checked his phone. It was 6am. This memory flashed back to his argument with Akechi. It was their first argument since meeting each other last summer.
Maruki’s words still lingered in his tired mind, making him recall his conversation with Niijima-san during Christmas Eve. Was it all real? Was Akechi just an illusion back then? Like Wakaba? Okumura? But then, they disappeared after Futaba and Haru realized the illusion and Akechi didn’t.
Ren shook his head. In his heart, he knew the answer. Ren is still stuck in Maruki’s illusion. Akechi has never been here with him. He’s gone. Only two shots were heard that day.
The office door clicked opened, breaking Ren’s train of thought. “Rise and shine, darling.” Lala-chan was carrying a plastic bag as she entered. “As much as I want to let you stay here, I have to close up shop. I also don’t want to get in trouble keeping a minor at a bar.”
Lala-chan placed the bag onto the coffee table in front of the sofa.
“Here is a sandwich and water from the convenience store. It’s the least I can do for making you work here even if it’s for a while.”
Lala-chan walked away before stopping and turning back. “Eat first before leaving. It’ll give you enough energy to figure things out.”
•-•-•
Yusuke entered the chapel. Fortunately for him, he didn’t have to search for long before walking to the first row of pews.
“Togo-senpai.”
Hifumi looked up from her game of shogi.
“…Kitagawa-san?” Hifumi said. Yusuke stood by the edge of the church pew. After noticing that there was someone else behind him, she asked: “And who’s this?”
Futaba peeked out. “Hi, um, don’t mind me. We just need to ask you something.”
“Togo-senpai. Have you seen Ren?”
Hifumi blinked. “Ren? Amamiya Ren?” Hifumi’s expression changed into a concerning look. “Did something happen to him?”
“He hasn’t been at school today,” Futaba was the one that answered the question. “We checked the café he’s been living at and he hasn’t there either.”
“I see,” Hifumi sighed. “I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen today.”
A male voice interrupted. “Sorry for the intrusion. I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.”
They turned around to see a priest. “By any chance, does this person have frizzy black hair and glasses?”
“Yes.” Futaba and Yusuke said in unison.
“He was actually here this afternoon. I was a bit surprised that a teenage would visit a church so early in the day. He simply sat down in one of the pews before going up to me, asking for advice.”
“Did he mentioned anything on where he’d be going afterwards?”
“I don’t think so,” the priest responded. “He did mention something about a place he has visited with a close friend.”
“A place he visited before…” Yusuke repeated.
“Ugh,” Futaba exclaimed in frustration. “This isn’t much to go off on. We don’t have much time left before the deadline.”
Yusuke turned towards Futaba. “Perhaps it’s related to Akechi in some way.”
“Hmm,” Futaba quickly pulled out her phone and browse through every single tabloid article about Akechi. As she busied herself on her phone, Yusuke thanked Hifumi and the priest for their cooperation and walked towards the exit. Futaba unconsciously followed him, her eyes still glued to her phone.
Ren was here at the chapel this afternoon
Ann: No luck in Shinjuku
Ann: However, Ryuji and I asked the owner of Crossroads and they said he left this morning
Haru: No signs of him in Shibuya
Makoto: Sumire and I just finish looking around Inokashira Park
Makoto: We’re going to Kichijoji
Makoto: This is the last place on the list
Makoto: So let’s all meet up just in case
•-•-•
Makoto already finished asking the people in and around Penguin Sniper and was heading towards Jazz Jin to meet up with Sumire, who was still inside the club when Ann and Ryuji arrived.
“Any luck?” Ann asked.
“Not really,” Makoto responded, disheartenly. “Practically everyone here have seen a guy with black hair and glasses every day.”
“We should make him dye his hair,” Ryuji half-heartedly mumbled.
Ann sighed at Ryuji’s remark.
“Makoto-senpai,” Sumire caught up from them. “No luck on your end?”
“It seems that he’s not here,” Makoto exhaled.
“He has to be here,” Ryuji’s joking turned sour again.
A high-pitch voice behind them called out. “Looks like everyone is here.”
Haru waved as Yusuke, and Futaba walked beside her. No signs of a cat among the group. Makoto noticed this and asked: “Where’s Morgana?”
Haru’s group all turned to look around and back to where they walked from. They noticed Morgana’s tail as the cat turned into an alley far from the group.
“Mona-chan?” Haru asked.
The Thieves looked at each other before walking towards the alley. There they find Morgana sitting patiently in front of a person sitting down with his face hidden between his knees. Only when the group walked closer did the person look up. It was Ren.
“You guys…” Ren said, trying to stand up. Much to everyone’s shock, Ryuji punched Ren directly on his nose. The punch wasn’t forceful, but it made Ren stumble and fall over.
“Ryuji!” Ann said, grabbing his arm from doing more harm on their leader. Yusuke followed suit and grabbed his other arm.
Ryuji continued to struggle from being held back. “Can you at least try and stop making us worry about you by answerin’ your damn phone?”
Ren got back up, using his hands to check if his face was bleeding.
“Sorry.”
“Sorry?” Ryuji retaliated. “That’s all you hafta say? A simple sorry?”
“Ryuji,” Makoto walked between the two, trying to defuse the situation. “This is not the time to argue right now.” Makoto turned to Ren. “And Ren, can you please explain what’s been going through your mind? And where’s Akechi?”
Ren shook his head. “Our deal is off. I…I hesitated for too long.” His tired eyes looked at everyone, his face still too troubled to even care. “And he left the café.”
“Is it really true, senpai?”
Ren looked up to see Sumire walking towards him. Her hands close to her chest.
“I got the gist from Makoto-senpai, but is it really true? Is Akechi-san…”
Sumire lowered her head, letting her hands fall to her side.
“Yes,” Ren said in a flat tone, looking away. “Forgive me for keeping you in the dark.”
“Did Akechi-san tell you that he died? Or did you not question him any further?”
“What do you…” Ren turned.
Sumire was now staring at him.
“Senpai, you’ve seen what Dr. Maruki can do. Only he can see through people’s cognition, not reality itself.”
Ann chimed in. “So what you’re saying is: Akechi is alive?”
Sumire turned to Ann and the rest of the group. Ryuji was no longer in restraints, his fists were in his pockets as he and the rest of the Thieves listen into Sumire’s theory. “Yes, Ann-senpai, what if Akechi-san is really alive in the true reality…”
“Perhaps, Akechi is hiding away from Tokyo,” Makoto finished her sentence. “Is it possible, Morgana?”
“I can’t say for sure,” Morgana shook his head. “Mementos is, indeed, the palace of the collective unconscious.”
“But, Mona-chan,” Haru spoke up. “You’ve must have noticed all the requests we do as within Tokyo.”
“But Akechi felt real,” Ann added.
Morgana nodded. “Maybe because our views of Akechi reflected that.”
No one spoke a word afterwards. Cognition was fickle. Dead people live once more in a illusion. No one batted an eye when their reality were manipulated.
“Sorry to burst your bubbles,” Futaba quickly pulled everyone away from their throughts, looking at her phone. “As much as we want to discuss about Akechi, but we’re running out of time.”
“What do you think, Senpai?” Sumire looked like Ren.
Now with everyone’s eyes onto him, he thought it through. About Akechi. About the Metaverse. About Maruki. With bated breath, Ren nodded. “Let’s face Maruki.”
With all his strength left within him, he walked out of the alley.
•-•-•
In Odaiba, Ren pulled out his phone and opened his chat messages with Akechi. He never put much thought in texting him by himself. It was all within the Phantom Thieves group chat. Nonetheless, Ren typed the next few words in hopes that in these reality or not, he wanted Akechi to see them.
I hope we’ll meet each other again.
He closed the messaging app and tapped the MetaNav. Thus, the group entered the grounds of Maruki’s Laboratory, facing their last chapter of their life as Thieves.